The Missouri Western Bowling Club is in its fourth season as a Sanctioned Intercollegiate Bowling Team. Two members of the team have had an excellent year: junior Carson Field and sophomore Jacob Dec.

Collegiate bowling is the minor league of professional bowling, with more than 200 teams from across the country competing in more than 140 tournaments per season. Within the team competitions, bowlers also compete as individuals. Field and Dec have done very well in individual competition. Over 55 colleges in the MINK region have collegiate bowling programs.

At the Midstates Championship hosted by Wichita State and Newman University (Wichita, KS Oct. 19-20), there were over 300 individual bowlers. Field placed 56th in the singles event averaging 188 for 6 games.

At the Jayhawk Collegiate Challenge (Lawrence, KS Nov. 2-3; sponsored by Jayhawk Bowling Supply), Dec finished 13th out of 184 bowlers averaging 202 for the 6 games, and Field finished 37th averaging 192.

At the Bronco Open hosted by Hastings College (Hastings, NE Nov. 16-17), Field finished 8th out of 132 bowlers averaging 198; just 8 pins shy of All Tournament Team (Top 5 finishers). Dec finished 37th averaging 175. Dec also shot the highest individual game of the season shooting a 279 game six.

College tournaments are contested on a sport-certified lane condition. Most all leagues and recreational bowling are contested on a lane condition conducive to scoring. Most bowlers who average 200 or more in their league will only average 150 on a sport-certified condition.

Field and Dec hope to compete in the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles Qualification March 13-15, 2020.

“The bowling team was one of the reasons I decided to come to Missouri Western,” Field said. “It was so much fun (on the high school team) I didn’t want it to end.”

There are four regional qualification tournament sites. The top qualifiers from each region will bowl six games. The top six finishers in each region will qualify for the 24-man field to compete in the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championship. The championship round will be televised on ESPN.