WICHITA, Kan. – McKendree women's bowling won the Mid States Championship in underdog fashion by defeating No. 3 Wichita State, Ottawa University and No. 12 Newman University to claim the victory this past weekend.
McKendree ended the first day in seventh place with a total pinfall of 5,322. Jaycie Smith led the team rolling all six games and averaging 175.83. Addysen Case finished with five accredited games and averaged 198.4 with a high game of 264. Finishing 83rd was Vicki Andrews with five accredited games averaging 187. Just outside the top 100 was T.J. Cruz who finished with a 173.2 average in 104th. Rounding out the scoring for the Bearcats was Athena Martin, Miranda Duff, and Gabryelle Martin who averaged 167.75, 172, and 143.5 respectively.
After 16 baker games on Sunday, the team found themselves in the eighth seed position and a first-round matchup with top seed No.3 Wichita State. McKendree handled the matchup in a three-game sweep firing off 203, 204 and 220 games to handle the Shockers. In the next round against fourth seed Ottawa, the Bearcats fell in the first two games to become one game from elimination. However, the team came back and won three straight to advance to the championship match against No. 12 Newman. In the championship, they would beat the Jets in four games to claim the team's first trophy of the season.
This victory would mark Head Coach Shawn Bibee with his first United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Tier-1 win for McKendree.
On the junior varsity side, Bailey Secrest led the team and rolled a 174.17 average to finish in 38th. Alexa Valadez also finished inside the top 100 with a 154.83 average to secure and 88th place finish. Marisa Loft, Kaitlynn Doerner, Avan Rhodes all had five accredited games finishing with averages of 170.4, 168.6 and 156 respectively. Finishing out the individual scoring was Ava Lewis with three accredited games and an average of 165. They would finish the final day with 16 bakers and a third-place finish in the JV division.
The team will be back on the road to Rockford, Ill. To compete in the Warhawk Classic hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
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