The first-ever hosted tournament in Quincy University history was played Feb. 18-19 at Casino Lanes Bowling Center. 

At the end of the bowling season stands one final tournament to qualify for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). For the men, this was the last chance to compete nationally in the Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC). For the women, this is a confidence booster to head into the GLVC tournament on March 24-26.

The first day was traditional team match games, which account for everyone’s individual score. 

Although what they felt was a bump in the road of a day, they manage to secure first place heading into the second day with three Lady Hawks placing in the All-Tournament Team. The three consist of Alyssa Vazquez (5th), Carolina Alvarado Delgado (2nd), and Kyndal Stark (1st). 

“I am beyond happy as this marks my first-ever tournament win collegiately, and I had a good focus throughout the day to maintain the top spot,” Kyndal Stark said. “It was not the easiest time, but with the support, I had with me I had no doubts today.”

As for the men on day one, only one Hawk made the All-Tournament Team. Caden Witt managed to average 231.5 on the day locking up the first-place spot by 68 pins shooting a 265 and 258 game in the set. 

“I was very shocked with the end outcome because I was unsure where I was at overall after I had a few bad games,” Caden Witt said. “I am so happy to take home first place individually not just for me, but for coach Bohanan as well.”

After the first day, the men’s team finished in 2nd, while the women’s finished 1st heading into bakers. Bakers are when everyone bowls two frames to make up only one total score. 

The women stayed on fire and managed to hold on to the lead heading into the finals where they would take on Iowa Western Reivers. The men managed to finish in a heartbreaking third, missing the finals by 17 pins total to Upper Iowa University.

The day would end for the men’s team, but they went on to cheer the women in what would be a blowout performance for the women’s program. The match was set as best of 3 games, where QU would manage to pull through in the final two frames to take the first game. With a 1-0 lead, they struck the first four frames and managed to stay hot throughout game two, where they would easily take that game and walk away with the trophy.

“After the first day, I thought there was no way we could end up not winning this trophy,” coach Nicholas Bohanan said. “The women have struggled a bit this year with team chemistry and it was great to see them pull through and really come together to walk away with the win.”

The women bowl again at Casino Lanes, this time it is an NCAA tournament. The men wait until Feb 23 to see where they end up for the ITC.