William Penn Bowling News March 13
William Penn University Athletics
Penn Men Sixth at Sectionals, Miller to Represent Squad as Individual
Euless, Texas–James Miller (Sr., Oswego, Ill., Vincennes) has extended his individual season to the biggest event of them all as he highlighted a bittersweet weekend for the Statesmen bowling team at the USBC Sectional Tournaments.
As a team, Penn finished sixth out of 14 teams and fell just shy of nationals, but Miller, one of its top bowlers and lone competing senior, had the best performance of his career to earn a bid to the final site.
The Statesmen recorded a pin tally of 12,466 (64 Baker games), just a mere 99 pins shy of Kansas and its fourth-place tally. The top four teams from the four sectional tournaments advanced to the national tournament. Wichita State (Kan.) won the event with 13,273 pins, while Newman (Kan.) and Fresno State (Calif.) also advanced out of the Euless Sectional.
Penn unfortunately dug itself an early hole, sitting in ninth place after 16 games and could not make up enough ground, moving as high as sixth at both the halfway point and at the end.
Penn was the only NAIA program in its sectional, competing against only NCAA Division I or II programs (mostly I).
Seven team members competed in the Baker games, including Miller, Drew Balta (Fr., Walford, Cedar Rapids Prairie HS), Kyle Clark (Fr., Oswego, Ill., Yorkville HS), Cameron Foster (Fr., West Jordan, Utah, West Jordan HS), Sean Rangel (So., Omaha, Neb., Bellevue East HS), Piet Schaeffer (Fr., Livingston, Scotland, The James Young HS), and Andrew Zaug (So., Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS).
Prior to Saturday and Sunday’s team competition, individuals had an opportunity to earn a spot of their own to singles nationals on Friday.
Miller entered the sectional with a respectable 194.0 season average (second for Penn), but destroyed that clip with an incredible 230.0 mark, knocking down 1,380 pins in six games to take third overall. Like the team event, the top four placers advanced to nationals, which will be held in Euless in mid-May.
Miller posted a career high with a 275 in his third game, one pin shy of the school record held by Zaug earlier this year.
Joshua McBride of Wichita State narrowly claimed the crown with 1,393 pins (232.2 avg.), while teammate Geoffrey Young beat out Miller for runner-up honors by only one pin. Matthew Pope of Newman also advanced with 1,333 pins.
Rangel, the defending USBC national runner-up, had a great showing as well with a 215.0 average (1,290 pins), but it was not enough for a return trip as he finished ninth.
The program’s unbelievable day at the individual competition did not stop there with Foster placing 13th (212.8 avg.) and Balta two spots behind him in a tie for 15th (209.0 avg.).
Nick Atkinson (Jr., Frostburg, Md., Vincennes) was no slouch either in his season debut, taking 25th with a 204.5 mark. Clark also rolled and placed in the top 50, ending up in 48th at 195.3.
Next: As a team, Penn is finished with USBC competitions, but still has one more event in which to compete. The team will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. from April 1-3 to participate in the NAIA Invitational.
Penn Women Seventh at Sectionals
Euless, Texas–Competing against the best in the biggest tournament of the year, the Lady Statesmen bowlers put on a show at the USBC Sectional Tournaments.
As a team, Penn finished seventh out of 12 teams and fell three spots shy of a nationals berth. The top four teams from each of the four sectional tournaments advanced to the national tournament.
The Lady Statesmen recorded a pin tally of 11,241 (64 Baker games). Maryland-Eastern Shore won the event with 13,234 pins, while Wichita State (Kan.), Newman (Kan.), and West Texas A&M also advanced out of the Euless Sectional.
The Lady Statesmen were second among all NAIA programs, just behind Robert Morris-Peoria (Ill.). The top six programs were from either NCAA Division I or II institutions.
Penn was fourth after the first 16 games, but then fell to fifth after the second and third rounds and failed to recover in the final 16 games.
Seven team members competed in the Baker games, including Leah Early (So., Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Jefferson HS), Amanda Edenholm (So., Marysville, Wash., Marysville-Pilchuck HS), Amanda Kilts (Fr., Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Jefferson HS), Kirstin Newberry (Fr., Holland, Mich., West Ottawa HS), Samantha Powell (So., Herriman, Utah, Bingham HS), Breanne Underwood (Sr., Treynor, Treynor HS), and Abigayle Wempen (So., Titonka, North Iowa HS).
Prior to Saturday and Sunday’s team competition, individuals had an opportunity to earn a spot of their own to singles nationals on Friday.
As she had most of the season, Underwood topped all Lady Statesmen by placing 24th with a 192.5 average in the six-game event (1,155 pins).
Maryland-Eastern Shore claimed the top three places with Kristina Frahm (223.2 avg., 1,339 pins), Maria Rodriguez, and Megan Buja, while Nicole Bring of Fresno State (Calif.) took the final spot with 1,303 pins (217.2 mark).
Newberry was next for Penn in 28th place with a 187.5 clip. Edenholm, in 40th (176.2 avg.), and Powell, in 41st (175.7 avg.), were back-to-back, while Kilts averaged 164.8 pins and Wempen tallied 163.0 sticks.
Next: As a team, Penn is finished with USBC competitions, but still has one more event in which to compete. The team will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. from April 1-3 to participate in the NAIA Invitational.
