The St. Ambrose men's bowling team chewed and clawed its way into the 16-team field that will duke it out for collegiate bowling's national championship. This is the sixth straight year that the Bees will be among the top 16 teams in the national finals.

The top 80 men's and women's teams qualified for sectional qualifying in 2024. Assigned to the Fort Worth, Texas, regional qualifier, St. Ambrose competed alongside 21 other bowling teams. All teams rolled 32 baker games on Saturday, and returned for 32 more on Sunday to decide the finalists.

The Bees found themselves in sixth place after Day 1, trailing fourth place by just 77 pins. SAU got off to a hot start on Sunday morning, and with just 16 games remaining, they were sitting in third place, 207 pins inside the cut. Things got interesting in the afternoon session on the final day, however, and heading into the position round, four teams found themselves within approximately 120 pins. Ultimately, St. Ambrose shot 814 for their final four games and finished in third place with 13,029 pins (a 203.57 average).

The top four from the Fort Worth qualifier were Wichita State, Grand Canyon, St. Ambrose and Lindenwood.

SAU team members included Justin Aboud, Zach Greim, Anthony Mastroianni, Kendric Siders, Lucas Finley, Lucas Hersrud, Devin Richards and Nic Kidd.

The Intercollegiate Team Championships will be held in April in Louisville, Ky.

The St. Ambrose women fell short of reaching the national championship field. The Bees got off to a slow start on Saturday, finding themselves trying to play catch up for the rest of the event. Heading into the final 16-games, they resided in 12th place, but did rally to finish ninth with a 64-game total of 11,838.

The top four women's qualifiers from the 16-team Fort Worth regional were Louisiana Tech, Wichita State, Tulane and Oklahoma Christian.

SAU team members were Erin Williams, Noelle Phillips, Amanda Bohn, Emily Barth, Kayla Devine, Marissa Bills, Sammy Upham, Tricia Alvarado.

St. Ambrose freshman Kendric Siders was one of 24 players to advance to the Intercollegiate Singles Championship as well. The Eagle River, Alaska, native finished in second place out of 203 competitors with a six-game total of 1444. Qualifying took place across four sectionals, with 24 men and 24 women advancing to the national championship finals, which will precede the team event in Louisville. The top four bowlers after qualifying and match play will advance to the televised finals.