Returning to competition for the first time in over two months, the Barton Community College men's bowling team navigated a two-event Southwest Intercolelgiate Bowling Conference (SWIBC) weekend by finishing ninth in Saturday's SWIBC V before responding less than 24 hours later with a third-place showing in Sunday's SWIBC VI.
Saturday's action featured four individual team games followed by 10 Baker rounds, with the Cougars totaling 5,614 pins to place ninth in the 18-team field. Wichita State University claimed the team title with 6,726 pins followed by cross town rival Newman University in second at 6,550, and Southern Nazarene University rounding out the top three with 5,930.
Campbell Peterson paced the Barton varsity squad with a 33rd-place finish, rolling a four-game total of 803 (200.8 avg) highlighted by a 237 high game. Landyn Ziegenhirt followed in 37th with a 785 total (196.3 avg), while Colton Swift added a 48th-place showing behind a 762 total (190.5 avg) to pace the Cougars three top-50 varsity finishers.
Fielding a second entry, Barton's junior varsity group placed fifth in the JV team standings with 5,176 pins. Jett Cosby led the JV lineup with a 25th-palce finish overall, posting an 829 total (207.3 avg) to pace Barton's secondary lineup.
Individually, Carter Street of Wichita State University edged teammate Connor Fleming by 12 pins to claim individual medalist honors, leading the 153-bowler field with a four-game total of 1,009.
Sunday's competition shifted to a six-game team format, and the Cougars responded in a big way, finishing third with a 5,898-pin total, climbing six spots from Saturday's standings to secure their best team result of the season.
Wichita State University completed the weekend sweep, claiming the team title with 6,493 pins followed by Newman University once again in second at 6,221.
Dayden Cunningham headlined Barton's turnaround, surging to a sixth-place finish after placing 86th the previous day. Cunningham rolled a six-game total of 1,312 (218.7 avg), highlighted by games of 232, 236 and 233, as he also prevented a Wichita sweep of the top six individual spots.
Swift joined Cunningham inside the top 30, finishing 24th with a 1,189 total (198.2 avg) and a 253 high game in Game 6, while Ziegenhirt followed close behind in 27th with a 1,187 total (197.8 avg).
Barton's junior-varsity squad added another fifth place finish in the JV standings with 5,175 pins, just one shy of Saturday's 5,176 output. Hayden Raynor led the Cougars' JV group with a 1,140 total (190.0 avg) closing strong with games of 235 and 229.
Evan Dahlinghaus of Wichita State University topped the 152-particiapnt field with a 1,363 total (227.2 avg), edging Saturday's champion Carter Street by 11 pins as the Shockers placed five bowlers inside the top five and six within the top-seven.
Barton returns to action this Saturday and Sunday at the Eagle Invitational I and II, held in Belton, Missouri.