Smyrna, TN – The Webber International men's and women's bowling team began their journey to qualify for the national tournament by traveling up to the Smyrna Bowling Center to battle in the ISC and ITC Sectional tournaments this past weekend. Three individual Warrior bowlers earned a bid to ISC sectional round, as both the men's and women's squad earned top-five finishes to qualify for the national tournament in April.
 
The Warriors began with individual play on Friday morning with the Warriors men's bowlers up first. The individual round consisted of six games with the top five bowlers overall qualifying for the ISC National tournament. The Warriors would end up with four bowlers placing in the top 12 overall with Michael Weyl finishing in 12^th with a game two high of 254 and 1,334 pins overall. Austin Grammar notched a 10^th-place finish with a day high of 268 in game four and 1,338 total pins dropped. Brandon Bohn fell just outside the qualifying line with a sixth-place finish, a game one high of 236 and just four pins behind the fifth-place finisher from SCAD – Savannah who finished with 1,350 pins total.

Nicholas Larsen had a career-high day on Friday morning earning a first-place finish. The senior got things rolling with 233 pins hit in game one before he knocked 248 in game two to shoot up the leader board. The Cape Coral, FL native hit 235 and 245 in the next two games to remain high in the rankings. A 201 is all Larsen needed to take home the victory as he held an eight-pin lead over second place. 

The Warriors also had a member of their team compete in the Allen Park, Michigan qualifier, Jayvion Colston. Colston garnered a second-place finish with an average of 232.67 pins per game and 1,396 pins overall to punch his ticket to the ISC National competition.

Seniors Jacqueline Witura and Linda Himes led the charge for the Warriors on the individual front. Himes would earn herself an eighth-place finish with a total pin count of 1,263. Witura struck 1,310 pins through six games to climb the leaderboard and earn a fifth-place finish and the final bid to the ISC national tournament next month. After a slow start, Witura hit 235 in game two to boost her standing. The Austria native clipped over 645 pins through the final three games to solidify her spot in the top-five. 
 
Saturday morning would begin the team portion of the ITC sectional with the Warriors competing against 18 other schools across the nation to qualify for the ITC national tournament. The tournament consisted of 64 baker games, broken up into four blocks of 16 games, with two blocks played on Saturday and two on Sunday.

The Warriors men's team sat in ninth place after hitting a 187 in game one. A 218 in game two bumped Webber up three spots as they hit 200 in nine more games in round one to sit in fifth place. A 254 in game 26 skyrocketed the Warriors into third place to end day two in Smyrna, TN. 

The women's team sat in ninth place after round one with 2969 pins knocked through 16 games. WIU averaged 186.44 over the next 16 games to end day two in seventh place as the Warriors sat 214 pins out of the national tournament. 
 
Webber's men's team went to work in day three as they knocked 3,357 pins through 16 games to sit in second place. The Warriors averaged nearly 210 pins through round two as a 235 in game 48 held them in the top two going into the final stretch. 

The Warrior men would not settle for a second-place finish, as they hit 230 pins in game 52 and 268 in 56 to overtake Indiana Tech. Webber averaged 197.63 pins through the final eight games to finish the ITC sectional tournament with a first-place team finish to claim their ticket to nationals.

The Warriors women hit 236 pins in game one to rise in the standings. With an average of 202 pins per game, WIU jumped to fourth place with 38 pins between them and fifth place. Webber held their spot with a 246 in game 53 as they knocked 3,208 pins in the final round to earn their spot in the National Tournament.
 
The Warriors will have a month of preparation before they travel for the ITC and ISC National tournament on Monday April 15^th - Saturday April 20^th.
 
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