Plum bowlers relish experience at high school national championships

By: Michael Love
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 11:46 PM

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When the Plum boys and girls bowling teams punched their tickets to the state championships in March, they also secured return trips to the U.S. High School Bowling National Championships on June 7-9, in Fort Wayne, Ind.

For seniors Cade Schimmer and Vince Rossetti on the boys side, and the lone girls senior, Bobbie Meli, it was one final chance to lead their teams into competition.

And the others helped make the most of the opportunity to put up solid game scores and show the rest of the nation what Plum bowling is all about.

Boys

In addition to the team competition on the first day, all six team members — Schimmer and Rossetti; juniors Grayson Byass-Rascoe, Grayson Koontz and Brian Krall; and sophomore Tim Ellefson — were able to bowl in the singles tournament on days two and three.

The top 24 teams advanced past the initial team qualifying to the survivor rounds, and Plum made it happen by the smallest of margins.

The Mustangs rolled traditional games of 966 and 967 before six Baker games which featured high scores of 214 and 205 for a grand total of 3,025 pins.

That put them in a tie for 24th with Dixon High School from Illinois, just three pins ahead of New York State’s East Islip High School.

Plum then rolled 198 and two games of 166 in the first survivor round to increase its total to 3,555 for a 22nd overall finish.

“What’s great about these guys is that they always fight to the very end,” Plum boys coach Ty Kirkpatrick said.

“When they saw that (qualifying number) and saw they were three pins ahead and knew they were moving on, they were ecstatic. We just had to keep our composure and go for another three games. It was a sense of relief to qualify for the survivor round because (the qualifying round) was so competitive, as we expected.”

Schimmer (38th), Byass-Rascoe (105th) and Grayson Koontz (152nd) survived singles qualifying. The top 160 advanced to the survivor rounds.

Schimmer, who tallied a four-game 881 series in the qualifier, slipped to 85th after the first survivor round with games of 210, 143, and 210 for a final pin total of 1,444.

Koontz made the most of his survivor round as he moved up to 110th overall with game scores of 163, 236, and 225.

Byass-Rascoe finished in 117th (1,386 pins) with scores of 238, 154, and 181 in his survivor rounds.

Kirkpatrick said competing at nationals last year gave the boys team a lot of motivation to do well throughout the winter season and the postseason tournaments to make it back to this spot against bowlers from Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, New York, Maryland, Oregon, and Missouri.

“The guys were a little nervous at nationals last year,” Kirkpatrick said.

“It was a bigger tournament from what we had seen before with all of these teams from all over the country. But that experience really excited them, and it was awesome to see them have that chance to do it all over again. Nationals was a big goal for them from the start of the season.

“Nationals is awesome to see because there are so many bowlers there who are humble and who love the sport. The camaraderie and sportsmanship among the bowlers were amazing.”

Girls

Meli, juniors Addison Then and Alexandria Fulmer, sophomore Callie Schimmer and freshman Brooklyn Then pooled their talents to finish 18th in the team qualifying round with 2,713 pins.

The top 20 girls teams advanced to the survivor rounds, and the Mustangs were 137 pins clear of the cut line. The Plum quintet bowled traditional game scores of 915 and 822 with Baker scores of 138, 169, 173, 195, and 145.

Plum bumped up one place to 17th after the first survivor round with scores of 223, 175, and 173. But only the top 14 made the cut to the next survivor round, and the Mustangs were eliminated.

“These girls were really bowling well at the end of the season and at states, and they were excited to see what they could do at nationals,” Plum girls assistant Rich Grilli said.

“They got that taste of nationals last year (10th place) and saw what it took to compete and do well. It was on their mind from the very start of the season.

“In the end, I don’t think the girls thought they bowled as well as they felt they could have (in the team tournament). They knew they would’ve had to pass up several teams to make it to the next survivor round. It was a challenge at that point, but they competed well as a team the whole tournament. They were pretty loose and relaxed in that survivor round and were having some fun.”

Schimmer, Brooklynn and Addison Then, and Fulmer all produced game scores in the singles tournament qualifying round which advanced them to the survivor round.

“To have four girls advance was pretty impressive,” Grilli said.

Schimmer led the way in the qualifier with scores of 211, 222, 184, and 179 for a 796 series (42nd place), and Addison Then was right behind her in 43rd with a 794 series.

Then rocketed up the leaderboard in her two survivor rounds to secure 21st overall. She completed her singles-tournament run with six of her nine games at 200 or better with a top score of 224.

“Addison bowled with so much confidence the whole tournament,” Grilli said.

Grilli said Meli, a team captain this year, enjoyed the opportunity to close out her Plum varsity career at nationals.

“There were a few tears after she threw her last ball, and it set in that it was the end,” Grilli said.

“It was pretty emotional for everyone. She was a great captain, and she had a really good final season.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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