River Bend Times

The St. Ambrose men's varsity and JV were both victorious in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this past weekend. Competing in the annual Kohawk Invitational, hosted by Coe College, the varsity bowlers continued a dominant run at the annual event, capturing the title for the third consecutive season.

In a two-day seesaw battle with Mount Mercy, the Bees came out as the No. 2 seed, trailing the top-seeded Mustangs by a razor-thin four pins at the end of Sunday qualifying. Those two teams pulled 560 pins ahead of the remainder of the field. The top-three seeds were Mount Mercy (8782), St. Ambrose (8778) and Judson (8218).

In the match play finals, SAU cruised by Judson 2-0, while Baker upset Mount Mercy 2-1. That set up the title match between St. Ambrose and Baker, which the Bees won 2-0. This was the second straight season in which St. Ambrose has beaten Baker University for the championship. A total of 19 varsity teams competed in the event.

Cameron Crowe was the top bowler in the lineup, as he averaged 228.2 for his five games (1141), landing him on the All-Tournament Team. Other team members were Justin Aboud (1075-5 games), Jordan Monnens (1000-5 games), Ryan Speer (969-4 games), Zack Denton (664-3 games), William Jones (423-2 games) and Zach Greim (163-1 game).

The men's JV squad also returned with a title this weekend. They turned in a dominating performance in qualifying, leading all 10 JV squads with a 8284 total. Mount Mercy JV1 was next with 8049, followed by Mount Mercy JV2 with 8022. St. Ambrose battled Mount Mercy in an exciting match, which was tied at 1.5-1.5 before SAU took the tiebreaker in a deciding fourth game, and the title with it.

Corey Roth was the star of the show, leading all Bee bowlers with 1087 for his five games, and that landed him on this year's All-Tournament Team. Assisting were Anthony Mastroianni (1049-5 games), Alex Nolan (1030-5 games, Mitchel Guzzle (968-5 games), Adam Kowalik (814-4 games), William Young (202-1 game) and Brendan DeWerth.

The St. Ambrose women finished fifth in the 17-team field, falling short of match play by one spot. The top-three seeds in qualifying were Mount Mercy (8401), William Penn (8021) and Baker (7967). The Baker women knocked off Mount Mercy to claim the championship.

Marissa Bills led the varsity women bowlers with 1027 for her five games (a 205.40 average). Other team members included Kayla Devine (928-5 games), Erin Williams (876-5 games), Amanda Bohn (656-4 games), Bailey Tripilas (589-3 games), Tricia Alvarado (336-2 games) and Sarah Fox.

The women's JV squad turned in a great team effort, leading six teams with a 7283 qualifying total. They were followed by Mount Mercy JV1 (7260) and Mount Mercy JV2 (7050). Mount Mercy knocked off SAU to claim the title. St. Ambrose JV team members included Noelle Phillips (1032-5 games), Samantha Upham (1018-5 games), Kayla Lampe (856-5 games), Maddie Ksobiech (783-5 games) and Makenna Verdon (742-5 games).

The varsity teams are off for two weeks before heading to Indianapolis, Ind., for the annual Hoosier Classic.

Original source can be found here.