WATERLOO, Iowa – Men's bowling captured its first conference title in program history after winning the Mid Iowa Bowling Conference (MIBC) #3 event on Saturday, Feb. 1 and then winning bracket play for the MIBC championship the following day.
Jace Goedel was named the MIBC Player of the Year for the second-straight season along with a First-team All-Conference honor as well as an All-Tournament team honor.
Dylan Obowa was also named First-team All-Conference for the Knights.
Team Results (MIBC #3)
Rank - Team - Total
1 - Wartburg College - 5503
2 - Coe College - 5400
3 - Iowa Western Community College - 5387
4 - Waldorf University - 5279
5 - Iowa Central Community College - 5257
6 - Nebraska, University Of - 5245
7 - Hawkeye Community College - 5074
8 - Iowa State University - 4552
Top Performers (MIBC #3)
Jace Goedel: 4th (223 average) - All-Tournament team, First-team All-Conference and Conference MVP
Louis Shontz: 7th (215.3 average)
Dylan Obowa: 18th (205.7 average) - First-team All-Conference
Conference Championship Final Standings
1st - Wartburg College
2nd - Coe College
3rd - Iowa Western Community College
4th - Iowa Central Community College
5th - Waldorf University
6th - Univ. of Nebraska
7th - Hawkeye Community College
8th - Iowa State University
Coaches Comments
"A weekend to remember for Men's Bowling Program," said head coach Alexis Neuer Runk. "Coming into the season as a program without a win, we added two more wins to the season tally, which is now up to four total championships. Saturday at the final regular season conference event, the men had a steady day and ultimately finished their dominate performance in the regular conference season with another win. This gave us the top seed in the bracket heading into championship Sunday where we would just need to win two matches to secure the conference title."
"The day did not start off well for the knight falling the first match to Coe 0-3," said Runk. "That put us in a position to need to win the next two matches for the conference title. We saw ourselves down yet again 0-2 to Iowa Western, but in game three, freshman Louis Shontz threw a clutch double in the tenth to give the men their first game win of the day. With a mental reset and important ball/lane play adjustments the men went on to reverse sweep Iowa Western, earning their spot into the championship match. It was a back-and-forth match with Coe College (conference rivals) ultimately coming down to the final frame of game five, an unfortunate break for Coe's anchor gave Louis a chance yet again to step up and secure the teams conference championship. He did again what he had done all weekend and delivered a beautiful shot striking to give the Wartburg Program their first conference championship title. Hoping to continue this level of bowling heading into our last regular season event and into our postseason play."
Next Time Out
The Knights are back in action next on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 8-9 for the Cedar Valley Invite in Waterloo, Iowa.
