DALLAS – The Missouri Baptist men's bowling team capped off one of its most successful seasons in program history this past weekend at the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Singles & Team Championship Qualifier.
The Spartans earned a spot in the Dallas sectional via their Top-50 ranking (No. 48) in the final 2022-23 team rankings (RPS). Only 80 men's collegiate bowling teams made the cut to compete at one of the four qualifying tournaments. Four Spartans finished in the Top 60 of the ISC Sectional Qualifier, while MBU as a team finished 13
th out of 20 in the ITC Sectional Qualifier.
With five individual bids to ISC Nationals on the line, the Spartan men kicked off the weekend of competition with an impressive showing led by veteran leader
Dakoda Phelps. The De Soto, Mo. grad student was in the mix early, ranking 25
th after two games (214-203––417) but catapulted to sixth overall with games of 236 and 238. Phelps finished the six individual games with 1,265 pins and a 210.83 average to place 11
th. With his masterful performance, Phelps finished just six pins out of a Top-10 finish and 54 away from a nationals invite.
Phelps wasn't alone in vaulting up the standings. With identical scores of 232 in Game Three,
Hunter Jones and
Seth Harris climbed into the Top 30. Ending Friday evening within seven pins of one another, Jones (1,191) and Harris (1,184) finished 29
th and 31
st, respectively.
Cameron Peters also came on strong at the end to finish 57
th out of 178 competitors with 1,125 pins and a 187.50 average.
The ITC Qualifier was much more laborious as teams bowled 64 Baker games across the next two days. MoBap flirted with a Top-10 finish twice, once after the first block of 16 games and again after the third block of games (33-48). Highlights from the first day of Baker games included games of 224, back-to-back games of 258 and 241, and a 289 in Game 29. On Day Two of Baker games, the Spartans bowled four consecutive games above 200 with scores of 220, 210, 268, and 257.
When all was said and done, MBU amassed 12,070 pins for an average of 188.59, which was good for 13
th overall.
The trip to Dallas marked the first time in nearly 15 years that the men's and women's programs reached the USBC ITC Sectional Qualifier together.
