Stanhope Elmore bowler Ryan Best signs with Webber University
Ryan Best averaged 220 and hit 277 as Stanhope Elmore won its first boys bowling title, then took that run to Webber University.
Ryan Best has turned a historic season at Stanhope Elmore High School into a college opportunity, signing with Webber University after helping lead the Mustangs to the first boys bowling state championship in program history.
Best’s senior year gave Millbrook another local athlete moving on through a niche sport that has become a real recruiting path. He averaged 220, posted a high game of 277 and finished fourth in the Alabama Pepsi State, numbers that helped put his name in front of college programs and kept his season in the conversation well beyond Autauga County.
The best-known milestone came on Jan. 30, 2026, when Stanhope Elmore won the Class 6A/7A state title at Bowlero Bowling Center in Mobile. The Mustangs entered the championship as a fourth seed, overcame a 50-pin deficit and beat Hoover 1,586 to 1,559. The victory was the first boys bowling state championship in school history, adding to a girls title Stanhope Elmore had already captured in 2024.
That run came with a short bench. Coach Wilson said the boys roster had only six bowlers, a limited number that made trust and accountability critical all season. Best, Seth Wilson and Drake Abbott were named to the All-Area team, and Best also finished second at regionals, further building the resume that made his move to the next level possible.
Webber gave Best a setting that matched his ambition. The university is in Babson Park, Florida, on a 110-acre campus on Crooked Lake, and its men’s bowling program won the Intercollegiate Team Championship in 2024. Webber bowling also trains at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, about seven miles from campus, offering the kind of high-level resources Best was looking for.
Best said he met Webber coach Del Warren four years before the May 18 announcement, visited campus in the summer of 2025 and planned to move there in early August 2026. He said he intended to major in computer information sciences and hoped to keep pushing toward a professional career through the Professional Bowlers’ Association.
The Stanhope Elmore championship drew recognition from the Alabama Legislature, which introduced and enrolled SJR44 in 2026 to commend the team for winning the AHSAA Division 6A/7A Boys Bowling Championship. For Millbrook and the wider Autauga County community, Best’s next step shows how a local team title can open a direct lane to college athletics.
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