The St. Ambrose men, who finished last season as collegiate runners-up, are making a return to the Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) for the fourth consecutive season. The Bees turned back a field of 22 teams to take home sectional honors, tallying 13,313 pins for their 64 baker games this weekend in Addison, Ill.

St. Ambrose used a strong final block of 16 games to win the sectional qualifier. The Bees surpassed Wis.-Whitewater over that fourth block, finishing the 64 games with a total pinfall of 13,313. Whitewater took second with 13,126. Mount Mercy (12,814) and William Penn (12,756) rounded out the top four in the 22-team event.

Team members were Nate Stubler, Dakota Solonka, Seth Sikkema, William Jones, Jordan Monnens, Cameron Crowe, Justin Aboud and Zach Greim. 

The SAU women weren't as fortunate. The Bees mounted a Sunday charge to get within striking distance, but ultimately fell one spot short of earning an ITC berth, settling for fifth-place in the 18-team women's sectional qualifier. The Bees finished with a total of 12,518. Mount Mercy won the women's team qualifier with 13,585 total pins. Lawrence Tech was second with 12,826; Louisiana Tech was third with 12,767 and Duquesne was fourth with 12,761.

Team members included Megan Hess, Addy Nelson, Kayla Devine, Bailey Tripilas, Kayla Lampe, Tricia Alvarado and Sammy Upham.

The team sectional qualifier followed a successful singles qualifying event Friday for St. Ambrose as for the first time in program history, SAU advanced five bowlers to the Intercollegiate Singles Championship tournament.

Hess earned a spot in the top eight and a berth at nationals for the third straight year with a down-to-the-wire finish on the women's side. She put together games of 238, 244 and 214 to finish in a tie for seventh place, a mere one pin ahead of the ninth-place finisher. Hess had a six-game total of 1243.

Also competing for SAU were Nelson, who finished 16th overall with a 1201 total, Devine (1093), Upham (1048), Alvarado (1042) and Tripilas (996). There were 224 women competitors.

The St. Ambrose men dominated singles play, claiming half of the top eight spots. Crowe ed the way by winning the sectional title. He twice rolled a 255 and had no lower than a 202 in finishing with a 1369 over his six games.

Monnens rolled a 244 in his second game and followed that with a 234 before closing his run with a 229 to take fourth with a 1331 total. Stubler finished up with games of 222 and 238 to take fifth place with a 1318. Solonka gave St. Ambrose four bowlers in the top seven after ending with a 248 and a 217 for a 1299 total, good for seventh overall.

Zack Denton wasn't far off the pace, placing 22nd with a 1212. Greim was 33rd with an 1189. Also competing for the Bees were Sikkema (1162), Jones (1154), Aboud (1153), Corey Roth (1152), Anthony Mastroianni (1106) and Jorell Morris (1039). A total of 276 bowlers competed on the men's side.

The Intercollegiate Singles and Team Championships will be contested Apr. 18-23 in Addison, Ill.