The Midwest Collegiate is in the books and both Warrior teams had successful weekends. Last year the men's team finished in 22nd out of 38 teams, while the women were 26th out of 27. This year saw improvement on both sides with the men finishing in 19th out of 42 and the women finishing 23rd out of 30. The men's team was also only 35 pins from moving all the way up to 14th place!

For individuals Justin Rice lead the way on the men's side. Justin averaged an amazing 225 for 8 games. On the women's side Ashley Saari was the top performer averaging 178 over 7 games. 

Both teams have been working hard in practice and are awaiting the chance to compete again at WCBC II in Madison, WI on October 20-21.
 
This past weekend the Warrior teams went to St. Paul, MN for the final event of the Wisconsin Collegiate Bowling Conference schedule. The format for the tournament was to bowl the regular tournament before making a cut to a bracket style match play to determine the conference champion. The top 4 women's teams and top 6 men's according to the points accumulated throughout the season made match play.

The women's team ended up in a tie for fourth place with Carthage and went to a one game roll off to determine who got the fourth seed. They came up just a few pins short in that game and missed the playoff.

The men went into the bracket with the 3 seed. The first and second seed received byes. In the first round we faced UW-Milwaukee and came out victorious winning the first two games of the best of 3 match. Then in a true battle against 2 seed UW-Madison the Warriors came away with the win going 3-2 in the best of 5 match. So on to the championship match against UW-Whitewater. The teams split the first four games and the conference championship came down to the final game. In the tenth frame Mike Meekma threw a beautiful shot and stoned an 8 pin opening the door for UWW. Their anchor bowler hit pocket the first ball in the tenth and struck. In his second frame he pulled the ball to the left of the head pin but again carried the strike. The Warriors lost the game by 5 pins and got second place in the conference. 

Next up is the Intercollegiate Team Sectionals where we will fight for a spot at the national championships!
 
The third event of the Wisconsin Collegiate Bowling Conference is in the books and the Warriors made great showings for both men and women. The tournament was conducted at Schwoegler's Entertainment center in Madison, WI on a modified shark oil pattern. 

On the first day of competition both teams came out strong. The scoring pace was fairly good and the WSU teams kept up. After the first day both teams were in 2nd place in there divisions. The second day consisted of 20 baker games on the same oil pattern. While the pattern was the same both teams struggled to have all five bowlers clicking at the same time. Both teams slipped down in the rankings with the men finishing in 4th place out of 15 teams and the women finishing 3rd out of 8 teams. 

This was still a great tournament for both teams with the women having their highest finish in a conference tournament this season. Ashley Chlebowski also finished second in individuals and Lauren Barker placed 4th. Both earning places on the All-Tournament team will their finishes.

Men's Ball Choices:
Mike Meekma: Roto Grip Critical Theory
Joe Braatz: Columbia 300 Ransom Demand, Hammer Backlash
Paul Peterson: Storm Victory Road
Kyle Schade: Ebonite Mission, Brunswick Slingshot, Storm Marvel
Hunter Daveler: Motiv Raptor, Brunswick Avalanche Pearl
Matt Meekma: Brusnwick Wicked Siege, Columbia 300 Freeze
 
Just one week after kicking off the second semester, the Warriors will be heading to Madison, WI to compete in the third event in the Wisconsin Collegiate Bowling Conference. This event will be held at Schwoegler's Entertainment Center. The teams will be looking to better there conference standing before heading into the final conference event in St. Paul, MN
 
The first tournament of the second semester has been completed. While both teams did not bowl to their potential, there was success after having a two month layoff. The men's team finished in 5th place out of 12 teams narrowly missing the cut to the top four for match play. The women finished in 9th out of 9 teams. They struggled during the tournament but saw improvement the second day after shaking off some of the cobwebs from winter break. The team also saw success individually, Grant Peterson placed fourth in the individual standings which earned him a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Grant had a score of 1,052 for five games.
 
The V-Hawk Invitational is less than a week away. The Winona State men and women are practicing hard for the first tournament of second semester. Both teams must make strong showings at the last three tournaments to earn there way to the Intercollegiate Team Sectionals.