On Paper, Navy and Gold Favored to Defend MCC
William Penn University Athletics
Oskaloosa–With this weekend’s Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships looming, the William Penn bowling teams should feel confident it will be tough to deny them from defending their league titles.
William Penn won both the men’s and women’s inaugural MCC Championships last year and is poised to do so once again.
The Statesmen are ranked fourth in the current collegebowling.com rankings. With eight tournaments under their collective belt, the navy and gold have secured two crowns, three runner-up finishes, and three more top-ten tallies. The program’s lowest finish of the year is eighth.
Leading the charge is Sean Rangel (Jr., Omaha, Neb., Bellevue East HS), who headlines the entire MCC in scoring average at 216.9. He has one win in his junior campaign to go along with two top-fives and three top-tens (eight top-25s).
Right on his heels are four of his teammates as William Penn has the top five scoring marks in the conference and eight of the top ten.
Nick Atkinson (Sr., Frostburg, Md., Vincennes CC), with a 210.1 mark, Cameron Foster (So., West Jordan, Utah, West Jordan HS), at 208.6, Brandon Brooks (Sr., Sigourney, Vincennes CC), at 208.5, and Alex Hoskins (Fr., Pocatello, Idaho, Century HS), at 206.7, round out the MCC’s top five.
Drew Balta (So., Walford, Cedar Rapids Prairie HS) and his 203.1 average is ninth, while the 200.3 clip by Brandon Barboza (Fr., Brick, N.J., Brick Townshie Memorial HS) is tenth.
The Lady Statesmen, who are #15 in the collegebowling.com ranking, have also yet to finish outside of the top ten. The navy and gold have taken the silver once and been in the top five on two other occasions.
Breanne Underwood (Sr., Treynor, Treynor HS) tops the MCC with a 192.9 average, including two top-fives and three top-tens (six top-25s overall).
Jessica Ganem (Jr., Austin, Texas, Leander HS) has only competed in one event, but her 188.6 average is good for third, while Samantha Powell (Jr., Herriman, Utah, Bingham HS) holds the #5 spot with a 187.6 clip.
Kelsey Johnson (Fr., Montgomery, Ill., Oswego East HS) is eighth at 183.9 and Samantha McCauley (So., Mason City, Mason City HS) is ninth at 182.1.
