Newman University’s men’s bowling team has qualified for the post season for the 23rd consecutive year, the same length of time as the program’s existence.
An impressive performance by the Jets men’s bowling team secured the title of the 2025-26 South West Intercollegiate Bowling Conference (SWIBC) Championships held Feb. 7-8 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Newman men finished 112 pins ahead of second-place Southern Nazarene University after the qualifying rounds to claim the top seed in match play. The 13-team tournament field also included LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Kansas State.
Newman finished the opening day of qualifying in second place but started day two blazing the bowling lanes. The Jets rolled a 1,157 team game to begin, a score impressive enough that closed their 120 pin deficit and leapfrogged them in front of the pack by that same margin. 1500 is a team’s perfect game.
The semifinals on Sunday afternoon saw the Jets win a 3-2 thriller to advance to the championship match.
In the title round, the Jets handled Southern Nazarenene University 3-1 to claim the SWIBC title with stars freshman Daryus Alo, senior Noah Akiona and junior Kalin Ogata leading the way.
Alo named the SWIBC MVP. Director of men and women’s bowling Billy Murphy explained, “MVP is earned by the athletes performance each weekend, the student athlete that leads the event in scoring is named MVP.”
Akiona and Alo brought home individual all conference trophies. The all conference teams are selected by a season-long point system based on each student athlete’s finishes in the six regular season events leading up to the conference championship.
Ogata finished in fifth place overall, earning all-tournament team recognition. “Additionally, the top five scores of the event are named to the all-tournament team,” explained Murphy.
“Winning is always good, but for us it’s a sign that we are doing things the right way and growing as a group to prepare for the post season,” said Murphy.
“This year’s team has qualified for the (sectionals) post season for the 23rd year in a row, never missing it in the history of our program. We are currently ranked 5th in the National Coaches poll and are looking to make our 8th trip to the national championships in Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 13-18.”
Due to their successes, the post season awaits. A fast turnaround is inbound, with sectional assignments scheduled to be announced this week.
“There are four sectional assignments with 20 teams at each, the top four out of each sectional will qualify for the national championships,” explained Murphy.
Newman men’s bowling team has put together a stellar 2025-26 regular season with three tournament championships, 6 second-place and 3 fifth-place finishes.
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