Statesmen Place High All Three Days of NAIA Invitational Weekend

Topeka, Kan.–The William Penn men’s bowling team performed well enough to make it to the third and final day as it competed in the NAIA Invitational Friday through Sunday.

On Friday, the field competed in five individual games with WPU placing sixth out of 18 teams with 4,924 pins. Mount Mercy topped the grouping with 5,390 pins.

Jacob Bockstie of Mount Mercy led all bowlers with 1,232 pins in five games (246.0 average).

Gavin Unger (Fr., Columbus, Neb., Engineering Technology) headlined the navy and gold performance in 10th with a 209.0 average.

Aidan Piet (Jr., Meridian, Idaho, Business Management), with a 195.5 clip, and Ethan Licht (So., Victor, Iowa, Sports Management), with a 194.0 mark, also started all five rounds.

Ethan Zieglowsky (Sr., Washington, Iowa, Biology), at 205.3 in four games, and Mathew Smith (Jr., Mountain Home, Idaho, Sports Management), at 201.0 in three games, matched Unger by averaging over 200 pins on Friday.

Carter Boley (Sr., Grimes, Iowa, Exercise Science) posted a 168.0 average in two rounds, while Gavin Broussard (Fr., Durant, Iowa, Software Engineering and Mathematics) knocked down 174 pins in his lone start.

William Penn placed second in Saturday’s 25 Baker games with 5,053 pins, while Mount Mercy was first at 5,084.

Friday and Saturday’s scores were then combined to determine the top eight teams for Sunday’s match play event.

The Statesmen qualified third, but was eliminated by Ottawa (Kan.) 4-2 in the quarterfinals (190-229, 200-188, 198-234, 158-183, 183-182, 176-183).

SCAD Savannah ended up winning Sunday’s bracket competition.

“Overall, it was a great weekend,” Head Coach Kirstin Foster said. “Our guys did awesome with a standout performance on Saturday. They led the field for part of the day and ended up beating several top-ranked teams. It was great seeing them make match play, and start realizing some of their potential.”