Update

107 Years

THE 2010 USBC Open Championships won’t conclude until July 5, but there’s a pretty good chance Minnesota bowler Matt McNiel will still be atop the all-events leaderboard at the end of the nearly five-month tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., which is featuring 14,189 teams this year. After all, the 24-year-old

lefthander from Chanhassen, Minn., didn’t just take the 2010 all-events lead; he set the record. Bowling in late April,

McNiel scored a 2,326, the highest nine-game total in the 107 years of Open Championships competi- tion. The all-events score is totaled from a bowler’s per- formance in singles, doubles and team competition at the Open Championships.

in the Making

Minnesota bowler breaks all-events record at USBC Open Championships.

McNiel

scored an 806 in singles, 780 in team and 740 in doubles to break the all- events record of 2,321 set by Ron Vokes of Racine, Wis., at the 2009 tour- nament in Las Vegas. This is just

my mind started to wander, I told myself to stay in the now and make one good shot at a time.” McNiel was

Matt McNiel

McNiel’s fourth appear- ance at nationals, but he performed like a 20-year vet as he entered his final game knowing he had a shot at the lead in singles and all-events. “I fell into a good

rhythm, and one good shot at a time is what I kept tell- ing myself,” said McNiel, whose previous-best all- events total was 1,891 at the Stadium in 2007. “Every time

so focused on the lanes that he had no idea he broke the all-events record until he was mobbed by his

teammates. “All I can say is that I

have never experienced such a Zen moment or whatever you want to call it, where I was just strictly focused on making pure shots, the best shot I could, one at a time,” McNiel said. “I am the last guy who would think I would break a record in this building. I can’t tell you how good this feels. This is unbelievable.”

TEAM RECORD SHATTERED

It seems no record was safe at USBC’s national tournaments this year as Bowlers Choice Pro Shop of Tonawanda, N.Y., posted the all-time high team total at the USBC Women’s Championships on April 22. The team, which featured

2009 USBC Queens champi- on Liz Johnson, fired games of 1,160, 1,085 and 1,179 to finish with a 3,424 series, surpassing Together Once Again of North Richland Hills, Texas, record-setting score of 3,350 shot in 2006. Nikki Lunsford led

the record performance with a 717 series, and was joined by Michelle Sterner (702), three-time Women’s Championships titlist Johnson (690), 2007 Classic Division doubles champion Sue Jeziorski (665) and Sue Nawojski (650). The pressure was even

higher for Bowler’s Choice Pro Shop, as their crossing team, Great Balls of Fire of Peekskill, N.Y., kept pace to finish with the second-high- est team score in the event’s history with 3,351. Kay Roush

TEAM EFFORT: Bowlers

Choice Pro Shop (from left): Sue Jeziorski, Nikki Lunsford, Sue Nawojski, Michelle Sterner and Liz Johnson.

38 USBOWLER SUMMER 2010