The Kansas men’s and women’s bowling teams look to two national stars to guide them through the season’s second half. The Kansas bowling team has strung together several top-10 finishes in the season’s first months and also look for guidance through April’s Intercollegiate Bowling Championship tournament.

The men’s team looked to defend its 2004 IBC title when it started its season in October.

The team had lost four members from last year’s championship team to graduation. The team did not miss a beat as it started off the season with two victories at the Midwest Collegiate Championship and the Mid-States Tournament. The team then lost top bowler, Rhino Page, for the rest of the fall semester when he headed off to play with the Team USA bowling team.

Losing Page did not hinder the team at first, as it reeled off top-five finishes in its next three tournaments. The absence of the Lawrence junior has meant more opportunities for others, coach Mark Fine said.

The team was ranked third by collegebowling.com heading into winter break. After the Colgate Invitational and the Keystone Quaker Classic, the team broke its streak of top-five finishes and it did not even finish in the top 10. At the Colgate they finished 14th overall and were 11th overall at the Keystone.

Page said he wanted his return to add fire to the team.

“I’m going to make sure these guys are ready to play, without a doubt,” he said.

While the men are working on defending their national title, the women’s team is looking to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish at the IBC.

So far the women have seen the same sort of success that the men have, as they have finished in the top 10 in all seven tournaments. They have finished second in two tournaments, the Midwest Collegiate Championship and the Jayhawk Classic, while their worst showing was an eighth-place finish at the National Team Match Games.

Kelly Zapf, Rochester, N.Y., senior, was part of the past two women’s teams that finished in the top five at the IBC. In her senior campaign, she has finished with three top-five finishes and five top 10s. Only once this season has Zapf not finished in the top 20 at a tournament.

Besides Zapf, the women’s team has three other bowlers who returned from last year’s team.

The other two slots have been filled by freshmen, who have impressed Zapf and Fine.

“All of our freshman have really stepped up to the plate,” Fine said. Zapf said that she expected more from this team because she wanted to leave on top.

“We have a lot more talent than we’ve had in years past,” said Zapf.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will continue their road toward the IBC as they head to South Bend, Ind., this weekend. They will be bowling in the Blue and Gold Classic, where both teams finished in the top five a year ago.

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Kansas Bowling Season Accomplishments

Midwest Collegiate Championships, Oct. 2-3: Men-First Place, Women-Second Place

Mid-States Tournament, Oct. 30-31: Men-First Place, Women-Fifth Place

Jayhawk Classic, Nov. 13-14: Men-Fourth Place, Women-Second Place

National Collegiate Team Match Games, Nov. 26-27: Men-Fifth Place, Women-Eighth Place

Leatherneck Colgate Invitational, Dec. 4-5: Men-14th Place, Women-Sixth Place

Keystone Quaker Classic, Dec. 29-30: Men-11th Place, Women-Fourth Place

COMING UP: Blue and Gold Classic, Jan. 22-23, South Bend, Ind. Last year, men were third and women were fifth. Source:www.collegebowling.com