Over the past year, SNU’s bowling team has earned a reputation as one of college bowling’s hottest teams going into the 2026-2027 season, and there is no better way to kick off the new season than the first annual Crowne Classic at Holiday Lanes.
The tournament consisted of four teams: SNU, Muskingum University from Ohio, Oklahoma Christian, and Dallas Baptist rounding out the field. The teams bowled Saturday and Sunday to crown a champion. The format began with four players from each team bowling 4 games of singles matchplay, winning each matchup was worth 4 points. The highest-total player from each team advanced to the one game showcase match, the showcase winner earned 8 bonus points. This same format was then repeated for doubles matchplay, with 4 teams from each school. Sunday featured the championship match and the third-fourth place match to conclude the tournament.
Last season, SNU and Oklahoma Chrisitan competed in the Crosstown Clash, where OC came out on top. Coach Mark Jeffreys talked about what he learned from last year and what the team can do better this year.
“The format is a little different,” Jeffreys said. “We switched everything to a points format, so there’s seventy two points available in period one, and sixty in period three, and this makes it much more competitive.”
Jeffreys also talked about people who helped him set up the unique format.
“This whole thing would not have taken place if it wasn’t for the help of senior vice president at Brunswick, Brian Graham,” Jeffreys said. He talked about the benefit for collegiate teams saying, “The other thing is, no entry fee, and I think kicking off the season, a lot of people are going to notice what we’re doing.”
The first day of competition was led by SNU, who had a slight lead over Muskingum heading into Sunday’s finals. Doubles and singles were packed with action as the four teams battled for the seeding in the finals. SNU led period one over Muskingum 58-44, and period two 48-36.
The ten baker games at the end of day one were rescheduled due to time constraints.
In Sunday’s finals, Muskingum got the best of SNU in every period, besting them in the singles and doubles rounds then finishing the baker games five to one; SNU was mathematically out of the tournament. Led by coach Smith, the Musky’s went +150 in the baker portion, shooting over 200 in every game.
Despite finishing second in the event, Riley Speer, star member of the bowling team, described how he enjoyed the new tournament format and support from other students.
“I had a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the format of the tournament,” Speer said. “I really felt that the support from all of the other students gave us motivation to do our best, even when things weren’t necessarily going our way.”
Tons of students, athletes and faculty showed up to holiday lanes to support the bowling team, and that just further fueled the fire to compete.
All of the teams that competed in this year’s crowne classic said they enjoyed the format and would be back next year to chase the crown. The College Bowling Athletic Association, led by coach Jeffreys and Johnathan Beyer, plan to create and put on more head to head matches in the near future.
Photo by: Jack Perrett