Statesmen Miss Qualifying for Nationals
William Penn University Athletics
Fairview Heights, Ill.–The William Penn men’s bowling team had its dream of a national crown crushed over the weekend with a disappointing finish at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectionals.
The Statesmen placed fifth out of 20 teams with 12,567 pins in 64 Baker games. The top four teams from each of the four sectionals now advance to the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships on April 19-21 in Lincoln, Neb.
William Penn, who entered ranked #4 in the nation, finished 84 pins behind the final qualifier #10 Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.) and its 12,651-pin tally. #1 Robert Morris (Ill.) won the title handily with 13,159 pins, while #21 Toledo (Ohio) took a distant second at 12,759 pins. Midwest Collegiate Conference rival and #15 St. Ambrose completed the qualifying field by taking the bronze with 12,706 pins.
The navy and gold stood in fourth at the midway point of the tourney, but despite surpassing the 200-pin mark on 28 occasions (high of 269), failed to retain the position to the end.
Prior to the team tournament, a total of 162 bowlers were also in competition in the six-game singles sectional Friday. It unfortunately was a letdown for the program as well as no team member managed to finish in the top six to advance to the national tourney.
A junior varsity player all year, Nathan Namanny (Jr., Denison, Denison HS) had a great performance by topping William Penn in 11th place with 1,274 pins, just 45 away from the last slot.
Aaron Morgan of Toledo headlined the field with 1,395 pins.
Another JV standout, Conan Mackey (Fr., Bray, Ireland, St. Kilian’s School) was next in 19th with 1,245 pins.
Alex Hoskins (Fr., Pocatello, Idaho, Century HS) had a finish of 1,220, while Drew Balta (So., Walford, Cedar Rapids Prairie HS) recorded 1,191 pins to be the final William Penn roller in the top 50 (49th).
Piet Schaeffer (So., Livingston, Scotland, The James Young HS), with 1,185 pins, and Nick Atkinson (Sr., Frostburg, Md., Vincennes CC), with 1,167 pins, were next in the standings.
Cameron Foster (So., West Jordan, Utah, West Jordan HS) and Sean Rangel (Jr., Omaha, Neb., Bellevue East HS) knocked down 1,144 and 1,143 pins, respectively, to round out the team’s scoring.
Next: The Statesmen compete for the NAIA title later this month as they travel to Indianapolis, Ind. for the NAIA Invitational from March 30-April 1.
