Sioux City, Iowa - The Cougar bowling team traveled to Sioux City, Iowa this past weekend to compete in the Mustang Open sponsored by Morningside College.  There were eleven varsity teams and three junior varsity teams from around the country.  Both the Cougar Navy and Silver teams placed third in their respective competitions.
 
Day one for the cougars Navy team, consisting of Hailey Collins, Ashley Westbrook, Rachel Doran, Katie Leonard and Katyn Fischer, saw them bowl six regular games, totaling 5,144 pins and putting them in fourth place.  All five of Cougars on the Navy team placed in the top 25 of averages with Collins coming in at eighth place with a 178 average for the six games.  On day two of the tournament the Navy team bowled very well, scoring 2,910 pins in the 16-game Baker format, moving them up one spot to third and putting them in the match play portion of the tournament.  They battled Ottawa (Kan.) University in a best two out of three match.  The Cougars lost their first game by the score of 125 to 173 but came back strong and defeated Ottawa by the score of 188 to 156 in game two. Ottawa outlasted the Cougars by the score of 179 to 182 in the final game, leaving Columbia with a third place finish in the tournament.
 
The Silver team, consisting of Zaria Combs, Lindsay Tribble, Megan Phillips, Claire Sandstrom, Sammie Degenhardt and Emma West, totaled 4,305 pins in the first day of competition, leaving them in third place.  On the second day the Silver team bowled in the Baker format of the tournament and scored 2,408, but it wasn't enough to put them into the match play round.  Zaria Combs was high on the pair for the Silver team averaging 156.
 
The Cougars take a winter break and return to competition on January 18^th and 19^th when they travel to Addison, Ill. to take part in the Kegel/ISBPA tournament.