Collegiate Ticker - Nov. 17, 2021

The William Penn men and Mount Mercy women captured the bracket win in their respective divisions last weekend at the Leatherneck Classic.

Varsity competition was contested across two states and bowling centers. The 42 men's varsity programs bowled at Big River Bowling in Davenport, Iowa, and the 34 women's varsity teams competed at Highland Park Bowl in Moline, Illinois.

The format featured six traditional games Saturday and 16 Baker games Sunday, with the top eight teams in each varsity division advancing to a Baker bracket. All bracket matches were contested in a best-of-three format.

In the men's division, William Penn qualified for the bracket in fifth place and defeated No. 4 Lindenwood (2-1) and No. 8 Midland (2-0) to set up a showdown with No. 3 McKendree for the title.

McKendree earned its spot in the championship round with wins over No. 6 Newman (2-1) and No. 2 Wichita State (2-0).

In the finals, William Penn took the first game, 224-208, and the Statesmen completed the sweep over the Bearcats with a 238-235 victory in Game 2 to claim the title.

St. Ambrose qualified as the top men's team heading into the bracket, finishing with a 10,113 total. Wichita State finished with 9,998, and McKendree had 9,924. William Penn earned its spot with a 9,568 total, and Midland claimed the final spot with 9,421.

St. Ambrose's Nate Stubler bounced back after a 182 start to roll games of 279, 287 and 246 on his way to a six-game total of 1,432 (238.66 average) and top individual honors in the men's division.

He was joined on the all-tournament team by Lindenwood's Andrew Sacks (1,427), McKendree's Jake Feher (1,396), Morningside's Dylan Hamil (1,367) and Wichita State's Spencer Robarge (1,367).

Midland's Kristopher Yadao rolled a 300 in Game 2 of the traditional block on his way to a 19th-place finish (1,313).

On the women's side, Mount Mercy qualified second for the bracket with an 8,812 qualifying total. The Mustangs defeated No. 7 Rock Valley (2-1) and No. 6 St. Francis-Illinois (2-0) to advance to the title match against No. 8 William Penn.

William Penn knocked off top seed Wichita State (2-0) and No. 5 Newman (2-1) to earn its spot in the finals.

Mount Mercy took the early advantage in the title tilt, winning Game 1, 181-152. William Penn put together a big win to even the match in Game 2, 280-152, but the Mustangs were able to record the win with a 201-186 victory in the deciding game.

Wichita State earned the top seed after qualifying with a 9,336 total. St. Ambrose was third with 8,723, and William Penn secured the eighth seed for the bracket with 8,474.

Wichita State's Olivia Komorowski rolled games of 258, 278 and 247 to start her traditional block to claim the top spot in the women's individual standings, finishing with a 1,353 total (225.5 average).

She was joined in the top five by Davenport's Karine Bouchard (1,318), St. Francis-Illinois' Megan Allensworth (1,315), St. Ambrose's Megan Hess (1,311) and Mount Mercy's Katrina McCarthy (1,305).

In other collegiate action:

- At the SHU Halo Invitational in Adrian, Michigan, the Spring Arbor women and men rolled to the top spots.

- At the Sonic Boom Invitational in Brandon, Mississippi, the Tulane women put together five games of 200 or better in the finals against Louisiana Tech to record the victory, 4-1.

- At the SFA LadyJack Classic in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Nebraska women swept McKendree in the title match, 4-0.

- At the Adrian College Open in Adrian, Michigan, the Spring Arbor men completed the weekend sweep, while the Adrian women finished the weekend at the top of the standings.

- At the Falcon Fall Classic in Lodi, New Jersey, the Fairleigh Dickinson women recorded eight victories on the way to leading in total pinfall.

- At the Roto Grip Raider Classic, the Tennessee Wesleyan men and Notre Dame-Ohio women each captured wins by less than 85 pins.

- At the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference No. 1 in Baltimore, the North Carolina A&T women cruised to the top spot in the all-Baker event.

- At the Northeast Classic in Lodi, New Jersey, the William Paterson men put together an 843-pin victory, with Stevens Institute of Technology pacing the women's division.

For the full schedule of collegiate events, results and more, visit BOWL.com/Collegiate and CollegeBowling.Bowl.com.