3rd in the Nation

Arryn Odujebe and his Northeast teammates capped off the USA Bowling National Championships in the U15 Division with a third place finish in the country, earning the number one overall seed out of qualifying and battling three rounds deep into bracket play.

Qualifying was a grind. Fifteen Baker games, head to head against all 15 other teams in the field, and Strikers 3.0 came out on top of the entire country. They finished 11 wins and 4 losses with 3,204 total pinfall, the best mark in the division, and locked up the top seed by closing with a 256, a 237, and a 236 in three of their final four games.

Bracket play brought a new kind of pressure. In best of three Baker matches, every game matters and there is no room to settle in. As the No. 1 seed, Strikers 3.0 drew byes in rounds three and five. They opened with a win over Pacific, took down Lower Great Lakes, and handled Upper Great Lakes to reach round six as the top line in the Red Bracket.

The run ended against Heartland, a team Strikers 3.0 had beaten in qualifying. Heartland climbed all the way up through the contender side and turned the tables when it counted, taking both round six matches. Strikers 3.0 finished third in the nation, a top three result out of a national field of the best U15 teams in the country.

Izzabella Dixon, Vinny Piccillo, Alex Hanicak, Matthew Wenger, and Arryn Odujebe.

Baker bowling is the ultimate team game. Five bowlers, one line, and nowhere to hide. To finish first in the country in qualifying and place third in the nation against the best teams in the field is something this group should be proud of.

Thank you to coaches Lance Gordon and Danielle Dixon for guiding this team all the way to Minneapolis and through a long week of high level bowling, and to everyone who supported these kids along the way.