JACKSONVILLE – It didn't take long for the Jacksonville State bowling team to climb to the top of the collegiate rankings.
 
The Gamecocks, two months into their inaugural season and less than 12 months after Jax State announced it was adding bowling in January, are ranked No. 1 in the latest Coaches Poll that was released by the National Tenpin Coaches Association on Thursday. They received 43 of the 50 possible first-place votes and had 1,933 total points to climb from the No. 7 spot they held in the preseason poll.
 
The climb in the rankings makes Jax State the first No. 1 national ranking by a Gamecock team since football was ranked No. 1 in FCS at the end of the 2015 regular season and just the third sports to be ranked No. 1 at the Division I level. The rifle team also earned the nation's top ranking early in the 2013 season.
 
"What an exciting accomplishment for our girls and for Jacksonville State to achieve the top ranking in the nation so quickly in the first season of bowling here," head coach Shannon O'Keefe said. "When Bryan (O'Keefe) and I decided to come and start this program, we knew there was a chance none of our girls would come. It was a risk we were taking for an opportunity like no other. When they decided follow us to Jax State we knew we were going to have a team that would be in the mix to compete for a national championship and this is just the first step towards that vision."
 
The Gamecocks (33-6) have played just three tournaments in their young history, but they have made every one of them count. They've won the title in their last two after a runner-up finish in their first. Their .846 winning percentage is the second-best in the nation but comes against the top-ranked strength of schedule in the country. It includes an NCAA-bet 12-3 record against teams in the Top 10 of the RPI, another ranking that features Jax State at the top.
 
That record started with a 2-3 record on the first day of the season and has since seen the Gamecocks go 31-3, including a 25-1 record since falling in the title match of their debut event. 
 
Jax State boasts the nation's best scoring average with a 216.3 that is over seven pins better than second-place. The Gamecocks' success is more impressive when you consider that they have brought out the best in their foes, with their opponents' scoring average sitting over five pins higher than the next closest in the nation.
 
Individually, the Gamecocks' names are littered throughout every category in the national rankings. In overall scoring average, four of the top-five ranked players in the nation bowl in a Jax State jersey, including four of the top eight in traditional and four of the top six in Baker format.
 
That roster includes six players that transferred in from the O'Keefe's previous stop at McKendree University, where they won four national titles and were ranked No. 1 in 2023. Add one more transfer and a pair of talented freshman signees, and you have what has been the recipe for Jax State's quick rise to the top of the bowling rankings.
 
The Gamecocks will return to the lanes immediately following the holidays, competing in Mount St. Mary's Stormin' Blue & White Vegas Classic on Jan. 8-10 at the South Point Bowling Plaza.