Statesmen Bound for Dallas Sectional
Oskaloosa–The William Penn bowling teams will head south as they yet again earned a spot for the USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectionals.
The women and men, ranked #13 and #35 respectively in the USBC rankings (rankings at https://collegebowling.bowl.com/rankings), will travel to Dallas, Texas on March 11-12 for the event at USA Bowl. The tournament is a Baker format consisting of 64 total games–32 each day.
The other sectional tournaments will be held at Smyrna, Tenn., Dayton, Ohio, and Addison, Ill.
The top four teams from each of the four sectionals advance to the Intercollegiate Team Championships held on April 19-22 at South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas, Nev.
The four sites will also host the Intercollegiate Singles Sectionals on March 10 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 18.
The WPU women have not missed a sectional event (14-for-14), while the men are making their 13th trip in 14 campaigns. The men are attempting to qualify for nationals for the seventh time (sixth in a row; no tournament in 2020–COVID), while the women are looking for their fourth appearance (first since 2019).
On the men’s side, #1 Wichita State (Kan.) leads the Dallas field, while #2 Tennessee Southern is going to Smyrna. Third-ranked Webber International (Fla.) tops the Addison grouping, while #4 Pikeville (Ky.) will be the top squad in Dayton.
Fellow top-10 programs #7 Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.) and #10 Oklahoma Christian are also favorites in the Dallas field. According to the rankings, William Penn is the 10th-highest seed in the field.
The Dallas sectional includes 20 teams. Including WPU and the two aforementioned top-10 squads, the men’s field includes (alphabetically):
#80 Arizona Christian
#43 Arizona State
#71 Barton CC (Kan.)
#7 Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.)
#47 Fresno State (Calif.)
#24 Grand Canyon (Ariz.)
#68 Grand View
#20 Hastings (Neb.)
#53 Houston (Texas)
#50 Iowa Central CC
#27 Lindenwood (Mo.)
#30 Midland (Neb.)
#48 Missouri Baptist
#14 Newman (Kan.)
#10 Oklahoma Christian
#26 Ottawa (Kan.)
#62 San Jose State (Calif.)
#36 Texas-San Antonio
#1 Wichita State (Kan.)
#35 William Penn
Jayson Miner (Sr., Silvis, Ill., Business Management) enters the postseason as William Penn’s top male bowler with a 207.8 average.
On the women’s side, #2 Wichita State is the highest-ranked team going to Dallas, while #1 overall Mount Mercy leads the Addison field. #3 St. Francis (Ill.) will head the Smyrna group, and #4 Pikeville (Ky.) will be Dayton’s best squad.
#6 Oklahoma Christian is the only one other top-10 team in Dallas, making the Statesmen the third-highest group in the field.
The entire 13-team event includes (alphabetically):
#29 Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.)
#40 Grand View
#21 Lindenwood (Mo.)
#48 Midland (Neb.)
#31 Missouri Baptist
#45 Morningside
#24 Newman (Kan.)
#6 Oklahoma Christian
#15 Ottawa (Kan.)
#43 Stephen F. Austin (Texas)
#2 Wichita State (Kan.)
#13 William Penn
#47 Wisconsin-Whitewater
Caitlin Radliff (So., Belleville, Ill., Software Engineering) headlines the women’s squad with a 192.3 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.
