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, closing with a 256, a 237 and a 236 in three of their final four games. The Southwest region's Desert Strikers matched the 11-4 record at 3,051 pins, and USBC's recap of the day notes that seeding came down to total pinfall, which gave Strikers 3.0 the top seed.

All sixteen teams advanced to a double-elimination bracket of best-of-three Baker matches, with the last two standing meeting in a best-of-five final. 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, Alexander Hanicak, Arryn Odujebe, Vincenzo Piccillo and Matthew Wenger.

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 Minnesota and through a long week of high level bowling, and to everyone who supported these kids along the way.