William Penn Wins First-Ever Match at Nationals, Ends Up 1-2 at ITC

William Penn University Athletics

by Wade Steinlage

Dayton, Ohio–The Statesmen women’s bowling team accomplished something that had not been done in two prior trips to nationals as it finished 1-2 at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships Thursday and Friday.

WPU qualified 11th out of 16 teams with 4,434 pins in 24 games. McKendree (Ill.) topped the standings with 4,978 pins.

William Penn, which was winless in its first two appearances at the ITC, finally got the proverbial monkey off its back by upsetting #6 seed Wichita State (Kan.) 4-2 in the opening round.

The Statesmen unfortunately could not build off the victory, falling 4-3 in the second round to #14 seed Robert Morris (Ill.). The following morning, the navy and gold were eliminated from competition with a 4-3 setback to #7 seed Duquesne (Pa.).

Team members included Nicole Craft (Jr., Wakefield, Neb., Physical Education), Abbey Fangman (So., Waterloo, Iowa, Elementary Education), Kaylee Gerken (Sr., Dubuque, Iowa, Elementary Education), Kayla Gifford (Jr., Camanche, Iowa, Biology), Jade Klinefelter (Fr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Nicole Mottier (So., Madison, Wis., Computer Science), Amber Ovel (Sr., Waterloo, Iowa, Psychology), and Bailey Palmer (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa, Biology).

The tournament ends the collegiate careers of Gerken and Ovel.