Statesmen Take First, Third in First-Ever Home Tournament
Oskaloosa–It was an historic weekend for the William Penn bowling program as they hosted their first-ever tournament at Statesmen Lanes Saturday and Sunday.
Five teams were in attendance for the first annual Storm Navy and Gold Invitational, including WPU Baker, Culver-Stockton, Grand View, and Morningside. The smaller 16-lane venue forced the tournament to be split into morning (WPU, BU, MU competed) and afternoon (GVU and C-SC competed) sessions.
The men finished first with 8,417 pins in five individual games and 16 Baker games, including 5,258 pins in regular play. Baker was a distant second, roughly 400 pins back of the navy and gold.
It is the men’s second win in as many tournaments this fall.
Jayson Miner (Jr., Silvis, Ill., Business Management) led the men with 1,135 pins (high of 265) for second place overall. Jake Cook (Jr, Keokuk, Iowa, Physical Education) was next with 1,084 pins, while Brandon Freese (Sr., Marshalltown, Iowa, Software Engineering) joined his aforementioned teammates on the all-tournament team by placing fifth with 1,065 pins.
Aleksander Kostric (Sr., Koper, Slovenia, Sports Management) just missed all-tournament honors, finishing with 1,050 pins.
The women took home third place in the five-team standings with 7,032 pins, while Baker was first and Grand View earned the runner-up spot.
Gabi Evans (So., West Liberty, Iowa, Psychology and Sociology), with 920 pins, and Evie Roen (Jr., Troy, Mich., Applied Mathematics), with 898 pins, were both named to the all-tournament team to pace the women.
William Penn also swept the JV team titles as the men squeaked out a 70-pin victory over Grand View and the women cleared the Vikings by 350 pins. Austin Czerwinski (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Computer Science) was the top men’s JV performer with 972 pins, while Cydnee Whiteleather (Fr., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Elementary Education) just fell short of earning all-tournament honors on the women’s side with 892 pins.
“I am really happy with how the whole event went. I can’t thank enough all the people who helped make this tournament a success,” said Head Coach Brandon Brooks.
“To be able to bring in teams of that caliber and come away with three first-place finishes is incredible. Having five first-place team finishes and seven all-tournament team finishers in just our first two events is a pretty special start to the season,” Brooks added. “As a whole, our teams did really well. We were smart, communicated well, and learned a lot. It’s a pretty young roster for the most part and we are going to have some learning pains, but to come away with three division wins while learning as much as we did is really fun!”
What’s Next: The Statesmen will be back in action two weeks from now at the Jayhawk Challenge in Topeka and Lawrence, Kan. over Halloween weekend.
