By JUSTIN HAUSER and AARON SMITH
USBC Communications
BATON ROUGE, La. – Cassidy Schaub and Terrence Syring Jr. shook up the standings in the Regular Division on Friday at the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, taking over the top spots in all-events and singles, respectively.
Ashland’s Schaub, the 2024 Akron Open champion, secured the lead in Regular All-Events with a 2,158 total. He had sets of 743 in singles, 726 in doubles and 689 in team to jump ahead of Dylan Burns of Wichita, Kansas. Burns had posted 2,137 on Wednesday at the Raising Cane’s River Center.
Syring, of Essexville, Mich., returned to the top of the leaderboard in Regular Singles at the USBC Open Championships, rolling games of 243, 245 and 268 for a 756 series. Austin Jahnke of Vadnais Heights, Minn., had held the lead with 741.
Syring won Regular Singles at the 2010 event in Reno, Nev., with an 833 series.
Schaub was making his first appearance at the Open Championships since 2019 ahead of his trip to Allen Park, Mich., for the USBC Masters. The 2025 event runs from March 23-30 at Thunderbowl Lanes.
The former Team USA member recorded six games of 242 or higher on his way to averaging more than 239 for his nine games in Baton Rouge, and his score in singles also helped him move into second place behind Syring.
The 41-year-old lefty two-hander also concluded his 16th tournament appearance in fourth place in Regular Team (3,008 with The Armory Pro Shop 1) and Regular Doubles (1,356 with Wadsworth High School coach Chris Steele) and tied for fifth in Team All-Events (9,235).
“Going into the last game of singles, I knew I had to post around 240, and then going into the 10th, I knew if I got a double I could actually take over the lead in all-events,” Schaub said. “It’s Kind of nice. I didn’t realize the 740 was going to get me to second place in singles, but that was basically a bonus.
“Really happy with the way I bowled over the weekend.I had a good game plan … saw breakdowns right and made good moves. Spare shooting was a little iffy, but that happens sometimes.”
He returned to bowling after breaking two fingers on his left hand in a 2021 accident that required two surgeries, even trying to bowl with one finger in the ball for a while.
“At that time, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to bowl again,” Schaub said. “If this holds up, it will be awesome for my kids to see that dad still has some pep in his step.”
Schaub called the weekend “more relaxing” than in past Open appearances.
“It’s really meant a lot for me to come back to bowling like this,” Schaub said. “It’s honestly been fun, relaxing and better than years past as far as the mental grind of things and taking things a little too seriously. It was nice to be able to do a little different mental preparation.”
Syring – a 41-year-old right-hander – started his day at the River Center with 653 in doubles. He felt that the work they did to break down the oil pattern helped to shape his run during singles.
“I felt like Joe Clifford and I broke the lanes down really well, and it transitioned into singles,” said Syring, who made his 16th appearance at the Open Championships. “It felt good to actually have everything come together the last set. They were tough, and you needed to break them down.
Syring’s performance in 2010 included games of 276, 258 and 299 on the way to victory.
Friday’s run had a couple hits in the 10th frame that didn’t go his way, but he’s happy that the time and effort he put in to prepare for the Open Championships resulted with his name at the top of the standings.
“I had a bad break the first game, with 280 going into the 10th and opening to finish in the 240s,” said Syring, who finished with a 1,992 all-events total in 2025. “Here in Game 3, I left a 7 pin (with 290 out there). But, it is what it is. It still feels good. I’ve struggled out here the last few years, and I kind of dug down a little deeper and practiced a little more this year just for this. It paid off.”
Syring’s all-events total currently places him in fifth, and his team for 2025 – Just Good Enough – is tied with Schaub’s crew for fifth in Team All-Events with 9,235. The team moved into sixth place in the Regular Division on Thursday with 2,968.
The Open Championships is celebrating its third trip to Baton Rouge in 2025 and scheduled to feature more than 58,000 bowlers and 11,600 five-player teams competing across 150 consecutive days at the River Center.