College bowling kicked into gear last weekend, with Belmont Abbey and Northwestern Ohio capturing titles during the DO Apparel-Brunswick Collegiate Open at HPL Lanes in Columbus.
Twelve varsity men’s teams and eight varsity women’s teams laced up their bowling shoes for three traditional games and 12 Baker games before heading to a best-of-three match-play bracket.
On the men’s side, Belmont Abbey started by defeating No. 8 seed Capital, two games to none, then knocked off No. 4 seed Northwestern Ohio in the semifinals during a full three-game set. That set up a title match between Belmont Abbey and No. 3 Ohio State, which went the full three games before Belmont Abbey clinched the win with 258 to Ohio State’s 212. It was Belmont Abbey’s second straight win of the event.
Muskingum ended up with a second-place finish, rolling a tournament high game of 1,122 that gave the Muskies the lead after the opening three teams games.. All five Muskie starters averaged over 203 during the team games, led by junior Talon Newton with 661, sophomore Caelan Guthrie with 654, and senior Brody Wildenmann with 647.
Rio Grande’s Dominic Catanese led all men during the individual block with a 768 series, followed by Belmont Abbey’s Randy Richeson (711), Ohio State’s Jay McCorkle (708), Tiffin’s Jared Vrabel (694) and Belmont Abbey’s Ethan Litt (693).
Heading into the 12th and final Baker game, the Muskies were in third place behind Belmont Abbey and Ohio State. In the final game, the Muskies reeled off nine strikes, including three in the 10th from junior Jacob Willard, to shoot 233. With that clutch performance, the Muskies were able to pass Ohio State for second, finishing just 35 shy of Bellmont Abbey
Capital finished eighth in the field. Individually, Individualll, Zac Abbott (Lake) led the team with a 652 series after throwing a high game of 223.
On the women’s side, Northwestern Ohio made quick work of No. 8 seed Tiffin to open the bracket and faced No. 4 seed Rio Grande in the semifinals. The match went the distance after Rio Grande edged out a 183-182 win in Game 2. Northwestern Ohio responded with a decisive Game 3 victory, winning by nearly 90 pins to advance to the final against No. 3 seed Muskingum. It was another sweep for Northwestern Ohio as they clinched the win to start the season off right.
University of the Cumberlands’ Paige Frantz led all women with a 639 series during the individual block with Northwestern Ohio’s Olivia Fehlner not far behind at 636. The rest of the top five included Capital’s Olivia Hicks (576), Rio Grande’s Payton Goodman (576) and Muskingum’s Faith Smith (572).
OTHER ACTION
* CAPITAL CLASSIC: Also at HPL Lanes on Sunday in Columbus the Ohio State men and Rio Grande women clinched decisive wins during the Capital Classic. Capital finished second among the five varsity teams with 5,307 pins, with Abbott again leading the way with a 700 series for three games. Kornosky added 6581. On the women’s side, Capital finished third of five teams at the varsity level after combining for 4,195 pins. Jolene Powers led the Comets with a 561 series.
* At the 2025 Cougar Classic in Jackson, Mich., the Spring Arbor men and women swept the event in convincing fashion.
* At the Maple City Classic in Goshen, Ind., the Olivet men and women began the season with victories.
For the full schedule of collegiate events, results and more, visit BOWL.com/Collegiate and CollegeBowling.Bowl.com.