Story And Photo Courtesy Of GCU
Lopes finish 7th on men’s side, earn No. 9 ranking on women’s list
By: Jim Howell/GCU Club Sports Information Director
GCU Club Sports is proud to announce that both the Grand Canyon University Men’s and Women’s Bowling teams finished in the top 10 of their respective sides of the Collegiate Club Team Bowling Final Rankings for the 2018-19 season. The Lopes’ Men’s team placed No. 7 out of the 24 teams in the final tally, while GCU’s Women’s team landed at No. 9 among the 16 women’s teams listed. The announcements help the two teams build momentum for their trip to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the 2019 Collegiate Club Championships April 6 and 7.
Even though the teams’ performances have been as strong or stronger than their 2017-18 showings in their various tournaments, the amount of opportunities for the teams to stay high up in the rankings decreased this season. That fact didn’t matter to the pollsters, since today’s announcement was a surprising bit of déjà vu for their head coach: the two teams’ rankings are identical to this time a year ago.
“It’s crazy that both teams finished with the exact same club team ranking as last season,” said Lopes’ Head Coach Ben Canfield. “I did not to expect to finish as high due to our loss of a Tier 1 event, which awards more ranking points, on the West Coast. It makes me proud, since a top 10 club ranking is something that each of our bowlers should be very proud of.”
While the Lopes’ Women’s team now has more than a month to get prepared to best their 3rd-place finish at last year’s tournament (in Smyrna, Tennessee), the GCU Men’s squad will have to put that preparation on the back burner until after their trip to Dallas, Texas, and the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championship Sectionals Tournament March 9 and 10. The men look to improve on last year’s 8th-place finish in Dallas before trying to improve on their top-5 finish in last year’s Collegiate Club Championship.
The entire Collegiate Club Team Bowling Men’s and Women’s Final Rankings are listed below:
MEN’S POLL
Rank
Team
Total Pts
1
Wisconsin-Whitewater
5427
2
William Paterson (NJ)
5346
3
Wright State (OH)
4303
4
West Texas A&M
4106
5
St. John’s (NY)
3665
6
San Jose State (CA)
3539
7
Grand Canyon
3412
8
Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
3402
9
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
3088
10
Nebraska
2922
11
Nevada-Las Vegas
2881
12
Bowling Green State (OH)
2675
13
South Florida
2583
14
Wisconsin-Madison
2553
15
Penn State
2462
16
Toledo (OH)
2413
17
Wisconsin-Lacrosse
2083
18
Ohio State
2031
19
Purdue (IN)
1954
20
Minnesota State-Mankato
1929
21
Arizona State
1910
22
Stony Brook (PA)
1802
23
Fresno State (CA)
1767
24
Penn State-Berks
1705
WOMEN’S POLL
Rank
Team
Total Pts
1
Wright State (OH)
4334
2
Bowling Green State (OH)
3636
3
Morehead State (KY)
2523
4
West Texas A&M
2467
5
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2214
6
Adrian College (MI)
1736
7
Northern Kentucky
1628
8
Ohio State
1530
9
Grand Canyon
1372
10
Illinois State
1279
11
Toledo (OH)
1116
12
Muskingum (OH)
922
13
Ball State (IN)
851
14
Bellarmine (KY)
820
15
Minnesota State-Mankato
660
16
Purdue (IN)
579