Statesmen Qualify in First Place, Upset in Semis at MCCs
William Penn University Athletics
Dubuque–In a case of déjà vu, the William Penn men’s bowling team headlined qualifying, but came up short in its pursuit of a league title at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships Saturday and Sunday.
The Statesmen scored 6,173 pins in six regular games Saturday and 3,079 pins in 16 Baker games on Sunday to earn the top seed for the bracket tournament with a tally of 9,252 pins. That gave the navy and gold their first tourney title of the year at the Clarke Invitational, the qualifying tournament for the Championships.
Viterbo was second with 9,115 pins.
From there, the six MCC squads (Ashford was also in competition) faced off in the single-elimination event. William Penn drew a first-round bye, but was then swept 2-0 to #4 seed St. Ambrose in the semifinals. The Fighting Bees went on to sweep Viterbo 2-0 in the finals.
One year ago, the Statesmen also topped the qualifying list only to get knocked off in the semifinal round.
Drew Balta (Jr., Walford, Iowa, Education) was his team’s top bowler in qualifying by placing third with a 216.8 average (1,301 pins), while Ashford’s Shane Schaefer led everyone with a 225.2 clip.
Cameron Foster (Jr., West Jordan, Utah, Business Management) was fourth, only four pins back of Balta with a 216.2 average. Both Balta and Foster were named to the all-tournament team.
Brandon Barboza (So., Brick, N.J., Sociology) just missed landing on the team by taking sixth at 214.0, while Piet Schaeffer (Jr., Livingston, Scotland, General Mathematics) owned a 202.3 mark.
Jacques Kaune (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska, Business Management), with an average of 190.3, and Conan Mackey (So., Bray, Ireland, Public Accounting), with a 168.7 mark, concluded the varsity’s scoring by starting three games each.
The Statesmen JV was also in competition at the Clarke Invite, taking fourth out of five teams in the JV standings with 7,792 pins.
Travis Scott (Fr., West Saint Paul, Minn., Physical Education) was the best roller with a 185.2 average. Ethan Noble (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Business Management) was next at 171.7, while Michael Applegate (Fr., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Undecided) had a 167.5 mark. Connor Frederick (So., Ottumwa, Iowa, History/Government), at 167.0, and Cory Rissman (Fr., Yorkville, Ill., Industrial Technology), at 153.8, rounded out the JV scoring. All five individuals started all six games.
Next: William Penn travels to Indianapolis, Ind. to compete in the Backhaul Direct Hoosier Classic next weekend.
