St. Ambrose University competed this past weekend in Wichita, Kan., placing high in the 62nd Annual Mid-States Tournament, one of collegiate bowling's oldest events. The Tier 1 double-points event has been on the St. Ambrose schedule for the past four seasons.

Freshman Joshua Collins, a Fortson, Ga., native, made his collegiate debut a successful one, as the two-handed southpaw averaged 236.5 for his six games (a 1419 pinfall) to lead the field of 285 players; this garnered Collins the Tournament MVP award. 

Joining Collins on the men's All-Tournament Team was Jordan Monnens, who led the varsity squad with a 1415 total, resulting in a runner-up finish for the junior from Ham Lake, Minn. Sophomore Kayla Devine also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team; she tallied a score of 1163 for her six games on the extremely demanding women's lane pattern to finish fourth in the field. This represented the Minnesota resident's first collegiate All-Tournament Team performance.

As a team, the men qualified second in a field of 28 teams with a total of 10,275 for their 50 games, just 27 pins behind tournament co-host and leader Wichita State. The third-place qualifier went to Lindenwood University with 10,143.

In the match play finals, St. Ambrose stopped No. 7 seed Hastings 3-1 before being eliminated by the No. 6 seed Mount Mercy 3-2 in the semifinal match. Wichita State then defeated Mount Mercy to retain the championship. 

In addition to Monnens, other team members were Zach Greim (1321-six games), Dakota Solonka (1190-six games), Nate Stubler (1167-six games), Corey Roth (566-three games), William Jones (354-two games), Seth Sikkema (173-one game) and Anthony Mastroianni.

On the women's side, St. Ambrose qualified fourth in the field with a 9,056 pinfall total. The top-3 qualifiers were Sam Houston State (9265), Wichita State (9178) and Mount Mercy (9153). St. Ambrose met Newman University, the No. 5 seed, and was eliminated 3-2 in an exciting opening-round match.

Team members included Devine (1163-six games), Tricia Alvarado (1112-six games), Karsyn Burgess (1085-six games), Megan Hess (914-five games), Addy Nelson (840-five games), Sam Rodenbostel (158-one game) and Bailey Tripilas (149-one game).

On the JV side, the men qualified atop a field of 16 teams, but were beaten by Wichita State 3-0 for the championship. Team members were Collins (1419-six games), Justin Aboud (1240-six games), Caleb Gillmore (774-four games), Jorell Morris (736-four games), Zack Denton (701-four games), Alex Nolan (559-three games) and Avery Wolf (554-three games).

The women's JV squad, consisting of one sophomore and five freshmen, qualified third in a field of five teams. Team members were Kayley Fangman (1114-six games), Kayla Lampe (1047-six games), Hailee Hospodar (1019-six games), Madisyn Bradford (729-five games), Sammy Upham (589-four games) and Macy O'Mary (352-three games).

Although the college bowling season is just five weeks old, in the latest collegiate bowling power rankings, the men are ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation (out of 153 teams who have competed so far in 2021-2022), while the women rank No. 2 (out of 125 teams). Varsity and JV squads will take to the lanes next on Oct. 30-31 at the Five Seasons Classic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.