WPU Visiting Fort Worth for Sectional
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen bowling teams will travel to the Lonestar State in a couple weeks to compete in the USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectionals.
The women and men, ranked #21 and #44 respectively in the USBC rankings at https://collegebowling.bowl.com/rankings, will be in Fort Worth, Texas on March 9-10 for the event at Cityview Lanes. The tournament is a Baker format consisting of 64 total games–32 each day.
The other sectional tournaments will be held at Smyrna, Tenn., Allen Park, Mich., and Addison, Ill.
The top four teams from each of the four sectionals advance to the Intercollegiate Team Championships held on April 17-20 at Kingpin Lanes in Jeffersontown, Ky.
The four sites will also host the Intercollegiate Singles Sectionals on March 8 with individuals bowling six games. The top 24 men and the top 24 women–top four from each sectional plus eight additional bowlers based on size of field at each location–advance to the National Singles Championship that begins on April 15.
The WPU women have not missed a sectional event (15-for-15), while the men are making their 14th trip in 15 campaigns. The men are attempting to qualify for nationals for the seventh time, while the women are looking for their fourth appearance.
On the men’s side, Wichita State (Kan.) is the #1 seed and will headline the Fort Worth field, while #2 Webber International (Fla.) is going to Smyrna. #3 Mount Mercy will be topping the Addison grouping, while #4 Lawrence Tech (Mich.) will be the top-ranked squad in Allen Park.
Fellow top-10 programs #6 St. Ambrose and #9 Newman (Kan.) are also favorites in the Fort Worth field. According to the rankings, William Penn is the 13th-best team in the field.
The Fort Worth sectional includes 22 teams. The men’s field includes (alphabetically):
#48 Arizona Christian
#50 Arizona State
#78 Baker (Kan.)
#39 Fresno State (Calif.)
#77 Cal-Davis (Calif.)
#74 Drury (Mo.)
#18 Grand Canyon (Ariz.)
#58 Iowa Western CC
#79 Kansas Wesleyan
#21 Lindenwood (Mo.)
#42 Midway (Ky.)
#56 Nebraska
#9 Newman (Kan.)
#16 Oklahoma Christian
#25 Ottawa (Kan.)
#69 Peru State (Neb.)
#75 San Jose State (Calif.)
#27 Southern Nazarene (Okla.)
#6 St. Ambrose
#35 Texas-San Antonio
#1 Wichita State (Kan.)
#44 William Penn
Bryce Keykal (Jr., Princeton, Minn., Education) enters the postseason as William Penn’s top male bowler with a 196.1 average.
On the women’s side, #2 Wichita State is the best program in Fort Worth, while #1 overall Mount Mercy leads the Addison field. #3 SCAD-Savannah (Ga.) will head the Smyrna group, and #4 Pikeville (Ky.) is first in Allen Park’s grouping.
Ottawa (Kan.) and St. Ambrose, at #8 and #9 respectively, are also top-10 teams going to Texas. The Statesmen are the sixth highest-ranked bowlers in the field.
The entire 18-team event includes (alphabetically):
#75 Alabama-Birmingham
#39 Baker (Kan.)
#67 Barton CC (Kan.)
#66 Iowa Western CC
#14 Lindenwood (Mo.)
#42 Louisiana Tech
#18 Midway (Ky.)
#31 Morningside
#44 Newman (Kan.)
#33 Oklahoma Christian
#8 Ottawa (Kan.)
#81 Southern Nazarene (Okla.)
#80 Spring Hill (Ala.)
#9 St. Ambrose
#54 Tulane (La.)
#2 Wichita State (Kan.)
#21 William Penn
#51 William Woods (Mo.)
Gabi Evans (Sr., West Liberty, Iowa, Psychology and Sociology) headlines the women’s squad with a 192.4 average.
Sectional assignments are based on Team Ranking System (TRS) points. Fields are determined by taking geographic distance, economics, and field size into consideration. To sort teams evenly throughout each sectional, the USBC attempts to place no more than two of the top eight schools and no more than four of the top 16 schools in a sectional based on final TRS totals.
