Statesmen Back to Nationals for First Time Since 2012
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Dallas, Texas–The William Penn women’s bowling team overcame the odds to get back to nationals after a strong effort at the Intercollegiate Team Sectionals Saturday and Sunday.
WPU qualified for nationals after placing fourth out of 13 teams with 11,758 pins in 64 Baker games. The navy and gold join sectional champion Wichita State (12,435 pins) as well as McKendree and Newman as national qualifiers.
The Statesmen are making their second trip to nationals in program history and first since the 2011-2012 campaign. The program was seventh in qualifying that year, but was 0-2 in bracket action.
WPU put itself in the top four right away with 2,970 pins in the first 16 games and never wavered. The crew moved up to third at the midway point (6,010 pins) and stayed in qualifying position the remainder of the way, closing strong in the final 16 games to hold off Midland by 223 pins for the last spot.
WPU will now travel to Lincoln, Neb. on April 16-21 to compete at the Intercollegiate Team Championships at Sun Valley Lanes.
The Singles Sectionals tournament was also contested Friday, but unfortunately none of the Statesmen were able to make it to nationals.
Bailey Palmer (So., Ottumwa, Iowa, Undecided) guided the navy and gold, taking 17th with 1,151 pins; the sophomore was 74 pins shy of qualifying. Kayla Gifford (So., Camanche, Iowa, Biology) was also over 1,100 pins with 1,123 pins.
Ashton Anderson of Newman headed the field with 1,258 pins; she will be joined at nationals by Kristen Machacek (Newman), Kaitlyn Rudy (Wichita State), and Abigail Goldsberry (Iowa Central CC).
Abbey Fangman (Fr., Waterloo, Iowa, Elementary Education) led the rest of the rollers with 1,095 pins, while Nicole Mottier (Fr., Madison, Wis., Computer Science) (1,076), Audra Farley (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Education) (1,063), Amber Ovel (Jr., Waterloo, Iowa, Business Management) (985), Nicole Craft (So., Wakefield, Neb., Physical Education) (973), and Kaylee Gerken (Jr., Dubuque, Iowa, Elementary Education) (961) also competed.
