The Barton Community College women's bowling team opened the 2023-24 season Wednesday at Great Bend's Walnut Bowl with a big margin victory over Kansas Wesleyan University.

The two teams, along with a second wave of Cougars, competed in a four-game series of individual placings capped with six games of Baker competition.

Barton came out on top by 191 pins over the Coyotes, compiling a 4496 total over KWU's 4305 pins while the Cougars' second grouping compiled 3960 pins.

Leading the nineteen competitors in individual competition was Olivia Oliver with an 810 series, 92 pins ahead of fellow sophomore Jasmine Bridges' 718 with freshman Cassidy Eschliman taking third overall with a 700. Oliver stacked up her victory behind a pair of 200-plus games, rolling a 222 in the second game of competition before capping the singles play with a 250.

Freshman Chailyn Scott was the only other competitor to exceed the 200 mark, rolling a 202 in game two on the way for a 665 fifth overall standing giving Barton four in the top five of the field.

In Baker games the Cougars dominated by 229 pins in compiling a 3463 in the six games, KWU scoring 3234 pins with Barton's second grouping accumulating 3101 pins.

The tune-up leaves Barton with a quick turnaround for its first big meet of the year, traveling to Texas this weekend for a pair of tier-1 tournaments in the SWIBC-I and SWIBC-II held Saturday and Sunday at City View Lanes in Fort Worth.