Statesmen Sweep Tournament Championships in Season Opener
Omaha, Neb.–The first bowling event of the season took place this past weekend as the Statesmen competed in the Midland Open.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have a surplus of talent on their rosters and were looking to make an immediate splash. Day one of the tournament seemed to live up to the hype as the men sat in first place after individual play, while the women were in second.
A total of 16 Baker games were then thrown on Sunday to set up bracket competition and the men continued to hold the top spot as they finished with 9,028 pins. The women joined the men as the top seed with a strong Baker showing, ending up with 7,998 total pins.
The bracket competition was limited to one title match on both sides with the men meeting Hastings and the women taking on Midland.
In a back and forth battle with Hastings, the men emerged victorious 3-2. After taking the first game 268-201, a low scoring affair in game two saw Hastings win 175-146. The third game was a close one with the Statesmen squeaking out a 194-184 victory, but Hastings once again came back with a 208-189 victory on the verge of defeat. A decisive game five left no doubt, however, and the Statesmen clinched their tournament victory with a 206-155 victory.
The women’s championship was much less stressful, as the Statesmen swept Midland in three games. After a close match saw the navy and gold win 190-182, game two witnessed a strong 223-162 victory. William Penn wrapped up the title with a 199-188 win in game three.
The Statesmen title sweep is the first for the programs since the Midland Tournament in 2013-2014.
Albert Liggins (Jr., Ravanel, S.C., Exercise Science) led an impressive display of individual performances for the men. Liggins earned all-tournament honors after finishing with the fifth-highest pin count. The junior knocked down 1,173 pins over his six games, good for an average of 195.5. Jake Cook (Jr., Keokuk, Iowa, Physical Education), Aleksander Kostric (Sr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management), and Jayson Miner (Jr., Silvis, Ill., Business Management) all turned in top-10 finishes as well, finishing seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively. Cook and Kostric finished a tick behind Liggins with totals of 1,172 and 1,171, and Miner trailed just behind them with 1,169.
Although he only bowled four games out of six, Brandon Freese (Sr., Marshalltown, Iowa, Software Engineering) had both the highest game average (205.0) and highest single-game score (279). He was also able to do the highly improbable by executing a nifty 7-10 split conversion. (Direct link to Twitter video is https://twitter.com/WPUbowling/status/1309963865317310466?s=20
The Statesmen collected an all-tournament performer in the women’s competition as well with Destiny Rottman (So., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Digital Communication) finishing third with a pin count of 1,114, coming out to an average of 185.7 per game. Miranda Pelant (Jr., Waterville, Minn., General Accounting) and Cydnee Whiteleather (Fr., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Elementary Education) also earned top-10 finishes. Pelant totaled 1,057 pins and Whiteleather totaled 1,050, good for 176.2 and 175.0 averages, respectively. Pelant also had the ladies’ highest single game score of 275.
What’s Next: The Statesmen are back in action next weekend in their first-ever hosted competition. They will be taking on Iowa Central CC at Statesmen Lanes on October 4.
