Webb and Jordan's All Conference status highlights Heart Championship weekend for Pride

TOPEKA, Kan. - Rounding out a busy two months since the turn of the calendar to 2024, the Clarke University bowling teams competed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships this Saturday and Sunday in Topeka, Kan. where both men's and women's teams fell in their first two bracket matchups.

The weekend started with the eight men's teams and six women's teams playing 24 baker games to determine seeding for bracket play as the men placed fifth with 4,227 total pins while the women placed sixth at 3,831 pins.

Moving onto bracket play, the first round matchup for the Pride women came against No. 3 seed William Penn University as the two teams split the first two games of the best-of-five series with Clarke's second game finishing at a strong 212 but WPU closed out the victory with wins in games three and four to knock CU into the loser's bracket.

The next matchup for Clarke would be against the No. 1 seed in Baker University as this matchup would start similarly to the first for CU but the Wildcats would again win games three and four to knock the Pride out of the tournament.

On the men's side for the double elimination bracket, Clarke would meet up against No. 4 seed Grand View as they would go to a fifth game after a 145-145 tie in the fourth game where the Vikings led two games to one as GVU would close out the fifth game to advance and knock the Pride to the loser's bracket.

CU's men would end up with a similar matchup in the loser's bracket as the women with the No. 1 seed William Penn also losing their first round matchup to take on the Pride as another tie would extend the matchup further than a standard five games with the fourth game finishing even at 168-168 and Clarke earning a needed 165-146 win in game five to force a winner-take-all sixth game as the Statesmen would edge out game six 176-170 and move on.

Both Clarke men's and women's first round opponents would end up winning the championship with the Grand View men and William Penn women taking home Heart Championships for 2024.

A pair of men's competitors for the Pride earned All-Heart honors as juniors Tanner Webb and Shane Jordan were selected to All Conference teams with Webb earning a First Team selection and Jordan locking down a spot on the Second Team.