Statesmen Qualify Fifth, Posts 2-2 Record in Bracket Play at USBC Nationals
Wyoming, Mich.–The William Penn men’s bowling team made a strong run at being the best team in the land, but came up a few rounds short as it competed at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships Thursday and Friday.
WPU opened the even with 12 games of qualifying, finishing fifth out of 16 teams with 2,447 pins. Wichita State (Kan.) was the top qualifier with 2,672 pins.
As the #5 seed, the navy and gold met #12 seed Calumet-St. Joseph (Ind.) in Round 1. William Penn reeled off three wins to start the bout with game scores of 233, 201, 236, and 180, but could not put its opponent away, dropping the next four games (168, 217, 194) and falling to the consolation bracket.
Round 2 started bright and early Friday and the Statesmen again started well with back-to-back wins (229, 180) over #13 seed Lindenwood (Mo.). WPU gave back the next two (189, 219) and split the fifth and sixth rounds (278, 203), but stayed alive with a 256 in the last game to advance with a 4-3 victory.
Momentum abounding, William Penn rolled to a 4-0 sweep of #9 seed Wisconsin-Whitewater as the team produced scores of 188, 235, 236, and 190.
Unfortunately, Round 4 was not as kind as the campaign came to a close with a 4-0 loss to #8 seed Indiana Tech. The Statesmen could not get much going with games of 149, 161, 169, and 200.
Team members include Jake Cook (Jr., Keokuk, Iowa, Physical Education), Ryan Dudley (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska, Business Management), Brandon Freese (Sr., Marshalltown, Iowa, Software Engineering), Dawson Greene (Fr., Ottumwa, Digital Communication), Aleksander Kostric (Sr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management), Rok Kostric (Sr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management), Albert Liggins (Jr., Ravanel, S.C., Exercise Science), and Jayson Miner (Jr., Silvis, Ill., Business Management).
Wichita State eventually claimed the title on Saturday, defeating St. Ambrose 3-2 in the championship match.
“Our players showed a ton of fight this week,” Head Coach Brandon Brooks said via the team’s Twitter page. “With everyone returning, big things are coming for this program. We will be back.”
