Statesmen Close Regular Season with Huge Hoosier Classic Title
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Indianapolis, Ind.–The William Penn men’s bowling team will enter postseason action on the highest of notes after claiming the crown at the Hoosier Classic Saturday and Sunday.
WPU was strong in qualifying, finishing seventh out of 78 teams at the Tier 1 event with 9,127 pins in six regular games and 15 Baker games.
The squad then rose to the occasion in bracket competition, beginning with a 2-1 quarterfinal win over #2 seed Wisconsin-Whitewater (203-212, 186-138, 200-167). The Statesmen dropped the opening game, but would not fall again the remainder of the day.
William Penn then swept #6 Pikeville (Ky.) 2-0 (169-139, 179-170) in the semifinals before knocking off top-seeded Wichita State (Kan.) 3.5-0.5 (169-169, 222-164, 200-180, 211-165) for the title. Wichita State won qualifying with 9,592 pins.
The 14th-ranked Statesmen (according to collegebowling.com) made a major statement at the Classic as ALL of the nation’s top teams were in the field.
The title is the team’s second of the year (second in a row, in fact) and its sixth all-time. It is also the second Tier 1 championship in program history.
Alex Glinski of SCAD-Savannah (Ga.) headlined the individual standings (518 bowlers) with a 237.7 average, while Quincy Bruce (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, General Accounting) placed 13th at 219.7 (all six games over 200).
The rest of the lineup also averaged over 200, led by Curtis Majka (Sr., Elgin, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) at 216.3. Aleksander Kostric (Fr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management) finished at 208.0, while Nick Walker (Jr., Zeeland, Mich., Business Management) tallied a 204.0 clip and Rok Kostric (Fr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management) owned a 200.5 mark.
William Penn is a lock for the postseason and will now wait to learn where it will travel for the USBC Team Sectionals on March 10-11. The USBC Singles Sectionals will be held on March 9 at the same venue.
