A-State head bowling coach Justin Kostick calls me promptly at 11:30, but our interview is not his top priority.

“I’m kinda doing double duty right now,” he admits. “I’m talking to you while I’m oiling the lanes.”

A-State Bowling, the second-ranked college program in the nation, practices at The Social in Jonesboro, and the head coach is oiling the lanes himself, attempting to duplicate the pattern he expects to see at the NCAA Regional held in Rochester, New York. This isn’t as easy as it may sound to the layman – there are roughly 1,000 known lane patterns on file. But Kostick has rolled in Rochester. He has a pretty good idea what to expect from the lanes.

When Arkansas State enters tournament play on April 5, it will bring with them a crate full of balls and an 82-26 regular season record. It will also bring with it the lingering sting of losing a 3-1 lead in last year’s final against Vanderbilt, who Kostick will see in his quarter of the bracket. If he burns for revenge, he’s concealed it nicely from me.

“You try to instill in your team that life can be difficult,” says Kostick, waxing philosophically while oiling his practice lanes. “A lot of teams might have crumbled after being so close to winning it all. We entered that tournament a three-seed. We’re a two-seed this year.”

All five members who rolled in last year’s finals are back for Arkansas State – Brooklyn Buchanan, Emily Stull, the two-handed roller Maggie Thoma, Faith Welch and Karli VanDuinen, who according to Kostick has put up the team’s best numbers this season. However, Kostick has confidence in all of his bowlers.

“I’ll probably lead with experience and put Buchanan at anchor to start the tournament,” said Kostick. “But really, anyone on the team can be in that role. This year, I’ll probably go with the hot hand.”

A hot hand will be needed in this expanded, 18-team tournament format, which begins April 4 with single elimination games between Albany State vs Belmont Abbey, and Willian Smith vs Fayetteville St. A-State will see the winner between the latter set. However, Kostick is careful about over-focusing on the opponents. “Bowling has no defense,” he explains. “We compete against the pins. Take care of the pins, and you take care of the wins.”

A-State is making its 16th consecutive NCAA Bowling Championship appearance. Nebraska (20) and Vanderbilt (18) are the only teams with longer active streaks of making the NCAA Bowling Championship field. However, while Kostick admits that anyone can win, he has particular admiration for two programs this year.

“Naturally, Vanderbilt is a tough draw in our quarter bracket,” said Kostick. “But outside of our side of the bracket, the teams that stand out are Youngstown State and Jacksonville State.” Jacksonville State, like A-state also a member of CUSA, is the tournament’s #1 seed. Youngstown is seeded third.

The Red Wolves have been close enough to taste a national championship three times, coming in second in 2008, 2021 and in 2023 – when the Red Wolves allowed a 3-1 lead to slip to Vanderbilt.

The 2024 National Collegiate Bowling Championship is a double-elimination tournament using the mega-match format (traditional team game, 5-game Baker set and, if the teams split those, a best-of-seven Baker series. Sessions begin on April 4 at 8 a.m. (CT) and 2 p.m. (CT) daily at Bowl-A-Roll Lanes in Rochester, N.Y. You can watch live on BOWL.TV. The championship game will be televised live in Detroit on ESPNU.

PHOTO CREDITS: A-State Athletics

Oiling the lanes as we speak, you get the oil pattern 10 days in advance. Medium length oil pattern. I’ve designed an oil pattern myself that gives the as Rochester. It allows for multiple styles. allows for the outside part of the lane.

Your up three one, you go to the right lane, in game six, we had ball in hand, Maggie (two handed bowler)

Yeah, that’s kinda the goal. I told the team a lot of teams crumble after that. But we’re ranked 2nd this year. Third last year.

You try into instill that life is difficult, but you keep banging on the door and good things will happen. Five people are back.

Broolyn has led in years past, but I’, going with the hot hand this year because so many have become excellent in that role. The team is very deep. No set anchor position. But I will lean on experinece to start with Brooklyn,

Van Dien best numbers on the team this year.

You can’t take anybody lightly.

Vanderbilt in our region, out of the region, the two best teams are Jacksonville State and Youngstown. There are seven teams who can win it. Gap between us, JS and Y, (i never look past anyone)