SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The Drury University bowling program starts the 2018-19 season this weekend hosting the Panther Invitational at Andy B's on Battlefield Road in Springfield. The two day event starts on Saturday and concludes on Sunday.
 
Saturday's competition begins at 9 a.m. and will feature a traditional team format consisting of seven teams. Sunday is a Baker format event with 35 Baker games broken into seven, five-game matches. Play begins at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. 
 
In addition to the Panthers, the women's field includes Baker (Kan.), Columbia (Mo.), Culver-Stockton, Kansas State, Missouri Baptist, and Ottawa (Kan.). Teams in the men's tournament include Drury, Baker (Mo.), Blue Mountain State, Culver-Stockton, Kansas State, Missouri Baptist, Missouri Western, and Ottawa (Kan.).
 
"To host an event it requires sanctioning through the United States Bowling Congress, and for each event, you earn points to enable you to qualify for the postseason," said Drury women's head coach Larry Hughes. "The previous years we hosted a single event that consisted of two days; however this year we have changed the format to consist of a single event on Saturday and a different format on Sunday.
 
"This change allows everyone to earn points for each event, so in essence earn two tournaments worth of points while reducing their travel to one weekend for it. Everyone is concerned about their budgets, and this was a very attractive option for some of our new teams in this year's event."
 
The Drury women's team will enter their third year as an NCAA program in 2018-19. The Panthers return four letter winners from last year's team including honorable mention All-MIAA selection Madison Smith. Smith, a junior from Springfield-Parkview, posted a 176.0 per-game average last year. Drury has also added three freshmen to this year's roster.
 
"I'm excited about being able to have four experienced starters returning," said Hughes, who will start his fourth year leading the Drury bowling program. "It helps when you bring back a solid base that understands what I emphasize from them, plus provide some guidance and leadership to our new freshmen. We are still very young compared to most of our competition, but the experience from last year should help them grow and hopefully transition into being more competitive against some of the top teams."
 
While NCAA women's bowling competes as one division, The National Tenpin Coaches Association releases a national poll for an overall top 25 as well as a D-II/D-III national ranking. The Panthers are ranked 10th among Division II and III programs in that preseason poll. McKendree is ranked first at that level and is second overall nationally, while fellow MIAA members Central Missouri is ranked fourth (and 18th overall), and Maryville is sixth (and 22nd overall). Defending national champion Vanderbilt is the top-ranked team nationally in the overall preseason poll. 
 
The Drury men's bowling team added three to their roster from last season's team and features seven bowlers on the squad. The team is led by head coach Ted Barbee who will enter his second year leading the men's team. Next week, the Drury men's squad travels to Wichita, Kansas to take part in the Mid State tournament hosted by Newman University.
 
 
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