Busy squad results in three lead changes at 2023 USBC Open Championships
March 26, 2023
Pictured above: Blaine Weninger
RENO, Nev. – One of the great things about the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships is never knowing when you’ll see a potential Eagle-winning performance.
It can happen on Day 1 or Day 143, and sometimes, multiple bowlers will look to stake their claim at the top of the leaderboard all at the same time.
The latter took place Saturday at the National Bowling Stadium, as three new leaders emerged and multiple changes in the top five took place during the same squad.
In Regular All-Events, Blaine Weninger of Clackamas, Oregon, finished his appearance at the 2023 USBC Open Championships with games of 256 and 279 to secure the top spot in the standings with a 2,117 total.
Scott Sepich of Portland, Oregon, and Daisy Spellman of Gresham, Oregon, became the first pair to reach 1,200 in Standard Doubles at the 2023 event, taking the lead with 1,203.
Two-time Eagle winner Steve Novak of Louisville, Kentucky, was the final competitor to ascend to the top of the leaderboard as he delivered eight consecutive strikes to wrap his singles set with a 747 series to take the lead in Regular Singles.
Several bowlers were in position to make a run at the lead in Regular All-Events after strong showings in team Friday at the NBS, but two players emerged as the favorites to reach the number heading into the final game of singles – Weninger and five-time champion Matt McNiel of Alva, Florida.
PJ Haggerty of Roseville, California, had started the squad in the lead with 2,080.
Weninger, a 54-year-old right-hander, had started singles with 191 after sets of 749 in team and 642 in doubles. After starting Game 2 with back-to-back spares, he struck on 19 of his final 22 deliveries to take the lead into the clubhouse.
McNiel, a three-time winner in Regular All-Events (2010, 2012 and 2015), still had a chance to go around Weninger’s final tally heading into his final frames of singles, but a 7 pin ended his run in the ninth frame.
McNiel finished with sets of 712 in team, 694 in singles and 690 in doubles to move into second place with 2,096.
“I knew once I went 256 in Game 2, I was going to need a massive game with the way Matt was bowling,” said Weninger, who made his 24th Open Championships appearance. “I threw 12 really good shots in Game 3 and the Lord handled the rest. I didn’t watch Matt bowl that much once I finished, since it was out of my control. He’s going to be a hall of famer, so if he finished it out, I would have expected it.”
During his team event, Weninger started his final game with 11 consecutive strikes and was looking to become the first bowler at the 2023 event to record a 300 game. It also would have been his second perfect game at the Open Championships after posting a 300 in his final game of team at the 2013 event, also held at the NBS.
He was denied on his final ball after hitting the pocket and leaving a 7-10 split.
“I was nervous, but it wasn’t a scared nervous,” said Weninger, who finished fourth in Regular All-Events at the 2005 Open Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “I threw the first two great but just got a little bit firm during my 12th shot.”
Weninger admitted to having some struggles with his game as of late, but things have been coming together leading up to his appearance in Reno.
He is not sure if his final score will be enough to hold its spot at the top of the leaderboard, but he’s happy to enjoy the moment and see where he ends up.
“I had been in a horrible slump for about a year coming into the Open Championships,” Weninger said. “I worked with Chris Burnett out of Portland to fix some things in my game, and my bowling had progressively been getting better the last month. To perform as well as I did here is all that hard work coming to fruition.
“You can’t win a tournament without having the lead, and I was able to do that today. I’m hopeful for the win, however, I honestly don’t think this will be enough to make it to the end of July. There are plenty of great bowlers left to come through here in the next few months, and if they can break through with a really good set in team and shoot a decent score in doubles and singles, they’ll knock me down a place in the standings.”
Scott Sepich and Daisy Spellman
Before Weninger’s exciting run to the lead, Sepich and Spellman made their move on the pair to his right as the top score in Standard Doubles fell for the second time in as many squads Saturday.
Sepich led the effort with games of 186, 236 and 202 for a 624 series, and Spellman added 167, 192 and 220 for a 579 set.
Matt Kerzic of Lusby, Maryland, and Michael Mann Sr. of La Plata, Maryland, had raised the bar in Standard Doubles on Saturday morning with 1,183.
Sepich and Spellman also are part of Weninger’s group at the Open Championships, and their pairing came together based on their entering averages for the 2023 event.
“We have a group of 10 that come here every year from Oregon for the past 20 years, and this year, Scott and I averaged in the Standard Division,” said Spellman, who made her 21st tournament appearance.
Sepich added, “We usually switch up who we bowl with every year, and this year worked out to be a great pairing.”
As they made their way toward the end of doubles, Sepich and Spellman found themselves in proximity of the on-site leaderboard at the NBS and may have taken a quick glance at the scores to see if they could make it to the lead.
“We were watching the board scrolling behind us to confirm if we had a shot to take the lead going into the 10th frame,” said Spellman, who added sets of 520 in singles and 512 in team for a 1,611 all-events score. “Scott led the way with his great bowling today, and I just kept making the best shots I could to keep us in range for the lead and not let my partner down. Winning this would be awesome. I come here to compete and put myself and my team and teammates in contention to win.”
A little luck never hurts along the way, and a chance encounter for Sepich inside of THE ROW Reno, the presenting sponsor of the 2023 Open Championships, may have included some foreshadowing for their run in Standard Doubles.
“I sat down to play Pai Gow at Silver Legacy earlier today, and I was sitting at the table with a guy who had just bowled and mentioned he and his partner took over the lead in Standard Doubles,” said Sepich, who made his 20th tournament appearance. “I mentioned I was about to head over to the Stadium to shoe up for doubles and singles and was also in the Standard Division. Little did I know, I was going to end up part of the team leading tonight.”
Sepich also made a run at the lead in Standard All-Events on Saturday, moving into second after adding 612 in team and 564 in singles for a nine-game total of 1,800.
Clackamas’ Rick Stone leads Standard All-Events with 1,802.
His knee was giving him some trouble down the stretch in singles, but the overall performance was his best in his career at the Open Championships.
“I knew I had a chance at the lead, but my knee really started to give out after our doubles set,” Sepich said. “I am due for knee replacement surgery, and these nine games really did a number on my knee today. This is the only real competition I bowl in other than league, though, so to end up winning (in doubles) would be something I would not have imagined.”
Standard Doubles features bowlers with combined entering averages of 311-350.
Steve Novak
The run to the lead in Regular Singles nearly mimicked the excitement in Regular All-Events as Phoenix's Mathew Jones entered the squad with the top score of 736.
Several competitors had the number in sight heading into their final game, and Justin Veitch of Kenner, Louisiana, was the first to surpass Jones. Veitch, a member of the 2022 Regular Team champion, rolled games of 248, 234 and 258 to get to 740, which included three strikes in the 10th frame of Game 3.
This put Novak, a 39-year-old right-hander, in a must-strike position for several frames to take the lead.
Novak started singles with 10 consecutive strikes before a 6-10 combination ended the streak for 288. He followed with 223 but found two early opens in Game 3.
He rolled his first strike of Game 3 in the fifth frame and did not miss for the rest of the night, finishing with 236 to get past Veitch by seven pins.
After starting doubles with games of 198 and 188, Novak noted his trips to the Bowlers Journal Championships helped him get going as he finished with 234 for a 620 set ahead of singles.
The 76th Bowlers Journal Championships is taking place on the low end of the fourth floor at the NBS and features the same oil pattern as doubles and singles at the Open Championships.
“The change started in Game 3 of doubles,” said Novak, a two-time winner in Team All-Events at the Open Championships (2013 and 2015). “It was basically like bowling in the Bowlers Journal. This is the closest I’ve seen them from there over to here. There were some differences – subtle – but they were there.”
Novak’s navigation through singles included a few different bowling balls and using a few different aspects of his game to stay ahead of the moves and put himself in position to take the lead.
“In the middle of Game 2, the two lanes were playing different and I actually started throwing two different balls to save that game,” said Novak, who made his 18th tournament appearance and now holds a lifetime average of 219.3. “Then, that stopped working out of nowhere after the 10th frame. The ball that was smoother on the lane that was jumping became too smooth on that lane as well. I threw a couple of bad shots and one really good one (4-9) to start Game 3, so I made a tweak and went to a ball that was stronger down the lane, got a little left, added a little loft to get it farther down the lane and threw the last eight.”
His overall performance also included 653 in team for a 2,020 all-events total, and he’ll leave Reno in the top three of three events.
On Friday, Novak helped Enhancements of Alva, Florida, to second place in Regular Team with a 3,408 total, and the group’s 45-game effort placed them in third for Team All-Events with 9,622.
Las Vegas’ Chili Garlic Edamame leads both Regular Team (3,422) and Team All-Events (9,884).
The team includes three additional members of the 2013 and 2015 Team All-Events champions – Jeffrey Mersch (1,965 all-events total), Matthew Tuckfield (1,919) and Erik Vermilyea (1,910) – and Casey Shephard (1,808).
“Overall, with the two patterns, I think the gap in the level of difficulty is bigger than it’s been since it went to two patterns,” Novak said. “We were just a little slow to react a couple times. It cost us some pins yesterday, and it cost us some pins today.”
The Regular Division includes bowlers with entering averages of 176 and above.
The 2023 Open Championships kicked off March 4 and will conclude July 24. The 143-day tournament will feature more than 9,700 five-player teams and nearly 50,000 bowlers making their way to compete in The Biggest Little City in the World.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
RENO, Nev. – One of the great things about the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships is never knowing when you’ll see a potential Eagle-winning performance.
It can happen on Day 1 or Day 143, and sometimes, multiple bowlers will look to stake their claim at the top of the leaderboard all at the same time.
The latter took place Saturday at the National Bowling Stadium, as three new leaders emerged and multiple changes in the top five took place during the same squad.
In Regular All-Events, Blaine Weninger of Clackamas, Oregon, finished his appearance at the 2023 USBC Open Championships with games of 256 and 279 to secure the top spot in the standings with a 2,117 total.
Scott Sepich of Portland, Oregon, and Daisy Spellman of Gresham, Oregon, became the first pair to reach 1,200 in Standard Doubles at the 2023 event, taking the lead with 1,203.
Two-time Eagle winner Steve Novak of Louisville, Kentucky, was the final competitor to ascend to the top of the leaderboard as he delivered eight consecutive strikes to wrap his singles set with a 747 series to take the lead in Regular Singles.
Several bowlers were in position to make a run at the lead in Regular All-Events after strong showings in team Friday at the NBS, but two players emerged as the favorites to reach the number heading into the final game of singles – Weninger and five-time champion Matt McNiel of Alva, Florida.
PJ Haggerty of Roseville, California, had started the squad in the lead with 2,080.
Weninger, a 54-year-old right-hander, had started singles with 191 after sets of 749 in team and 642 in doubles. After starting Game 2 with back-to-back spares, he struck on 19 of his final 22 deliveries to take the lead into the clubhouse.
McNiel, a three-time winner in Regular All-Events (2010, 2012 and 2015), still had a chance to go around Weninger’s final tally heading into his final frames of singles, but a 7 pin ended his run in the ninth frame.
McNiel finished with sets of 712 in team, 694 in singles and 690 in doubles to move into second place with 2,096.
“I knew once I went 256 in Game 2, I was going to need a massive game with the way Matt was bowling,” said Weninger, who made his 24th Open Championships appearance. “I threw 12 really good shots in Game 3 and the Lord handled the rest. I didn’t watch Matt bowl that much once I finished, since it was out of my control. He’s going to be a hall of famer, so if he finished it out, I would have expected it.”
During his team event, Weninger started his final game with 11 consecutive strikes and was looking to become the first bowler at the 2023 event to record a 300 game. It also would have been his second perfect game at the Open Championships after posting a 300 in his final game of team at the 2013 event, also held at the NBS.
He was denied on his final ball after hitting the pocket and leaving a 7-10 split.
“I was nervous, but it wasn’t a scared nervous,” said Weninger, who finished fourth in Regular All-Events at the 2005 Open Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “I threw the first two great but just got a little bit firm during my 12th shot.”
Weninger admitted to having some struggles with his game as of late, but things have been coming together leading up to his appearance in Reno.
He is not sure if his final score will be enough to hold its spot at the top of the leaderboard, but he’s happy to enjoy the moment and see where he ends up.
“I had been in a horrible slump for about a year coming into the Open Championships,” Weninger said. “I worked with Chris Burnett out of Portland to fix some things in my game, and my bowling had progressively been getting better the last month. To perform as well as I did here is all that hard work coming to fruition.
“You can’t win a tournament without having the lead, and I was able to do that today. I’m hopeful for the win, however, I honestly don’t think this will be enough to make it to the end of July. There are plenty of great bowlers left to come through here in the next few months, and if they can break through with a really good set in team and shoot a decent score in doubles and singles, they’ll knock me down a place in the standings.”
Scott Sepich and Daisy Spellman
Before Weninger’s exciting run to the lead, Sepich and Spellman made their move on the pair to his right as the top score in Standard Doubles fell for the second time in as many squads Saturday.
Sepich led the effort with games of 186, 236 and 202 for a 624 series, and Spellman added 167, 192 and 220 for a 579 set.
Matt Kerzic of Lusby, Maryland, and Michael Mann Sr. of La Plata, Maryland, had raised the bar in Standard Doubles on Saturday morning with 1,183.
Sepich and Spellman also are part of Weninger’s group at the Open Championships, and their pairing came together based on their entering averages for the 2023 event.
“We have a group of 10 that come here every year from Oregon for the past 20 years, and this year, Scott and I averaged in the Standard Division,” said Spellman, who made her 21st tournament appearance.
Sepich added, “We usually switch up who we bowl with every year, and this year worked out to be a great pairing.”
As they made their way toward the end of doubles, Sepich and Spellman found themselves in proximity of the on-site leaderboard at the NBS and may have taken a quick glance at the scores to see if they could make it to the lead.
“We were watching the board scrolling behind us to confirm if we had a shot to take the lead going into the 10th frame,” said Spellman, who added sets of 520 in singles and 512 in team for a 1,611 all-events score. “Scott led the way with his great bowling today, and I just kept making the best shots I could to keep us in range for the lead and not let my partner down. Winning this would be awesome. I come here to compete and put myself and my team and teammates in contention to win.”
A little luck never hurts along the way, and a chance encounter for Sepich inside of THE ROW Reno, the presenting sponsor of the 2023 Open Championships, may have included some foreshadowing for their run in Standard Doubles.
“I sat down to play Pai Gow at Silver Legacy earlier today, and I was sitting at the table with a guy who had just bowled and mentioned he and his partner took over the lead in Standard Doubles,” said Sepich, who made his 20th tournament appearance. “I mentioned I was about to head over to the Stadium to shoe up for doubles and singles and was also in the Standard Division. Little did I know, I was going to end up part of the team leading tonight.”
Sepich also made a run at the lead in Standard All-Events on Saturday, moving into second after adding 612 in team and 564 in singles for a nine-game total of 1,800.
Clackamas’ Rick Stone leads Standard All-Events with 1,802.
His knee was giving him some trouble down the stretch in singles, but the overall performance was his best in his career at the Open Championships.
“I knew I had a chance at the lead, but my knee really started to give out after our doubles set,” Sepich said. “I am due for knee replacement surgery, and these nine games really did a number on my knee today. This is the only real competition I bowl in other than league, though, so to end up winning (in doubles) would be something I would not have imagined.”
Standard Doubles features bowlers with combined entering averages of 311-350.
Steve Novak
The run to the lead in Regular Singles nearly mimicked the excitement in Regular All-Events as Phoenix's Mathew Jones entered the squad with the top score of 736.
Several competitors had the number in sight heading into their final game, and Justin Veitch of Kenner, Louisiana, was the first to surpass Jones. Veitch, a member of the 2022 Regular Team champion, rolled games of 248, 234 and 258 to get to 740, which included three strikes in the 10th frame of Game 3.
This put Novak, a 39-year-old right-hander, in a must-strike position for several frames to take the lead.
Novak started singles with 10 consecutive strikes before a 6-10 combination ended the streak for 288. He followed with 223 but found two early opens in Game 3.
He rolled his first strike of Game 3 in the fifth frame and did not miss for the rest of the night, finishing with 236 to get past Veitch by seven pins.
After starting doubles with games of 198 and 188, Novak noted his trips to the Bowlers Journal Championships helped him get going as he finished with 234 for a 620 set ahead of singles.
The 76th Bowlers Journal Championships is taking place on the low end of the fourth floor at the NBS and features the same oil pattern as doubles and singles at the Open Championships.
“The change started in Game 3 of doubles,” said Novak, a two-time winner in Team All-Events at the Open Championships (2013 and 2015). “It was basically like bowling in the Bowlers Journal. This is the closest I’ve seen them from there over to here. There were some differences – subtle – but they were there.”
Novak’s navigation through singles included a few different bowling balls and using a few different aspects of his game to stay ahead of the moves and put himself in position to take the lead.
“In the middle of Game 2, the two lanes were playing different and I actually started throwing two different balls to save that game,” said Novak, who made his 18th tournament appearance and now holds a lifetime average of 219.3. “Then, that stopped working out of nowhere after the 10th frame. The ball that was smoother on the lane that was jumping became too smooth on that lane as well. I threw a couple of bad shots and one really good one (4-9) to start Game 3, so I made a tweak and went to a ball that was stronger down the lane, got a little left, added a little loft to get it farther down the lane and threw the last eight.”
His overall performance also included 653 in team for a 2,020 all-events total, and he’ll leave Reno in the top three of three events.
On Friday, Novak helped Enhancements of Alva, Florida, to second place in Regular Team with a 3,408 total, and the group’s 45-game effort placed them in third for Team All-Events with 9,622.
Las Vegas’ Chili Garlic Edamame leads both Regular Team (3,422) and Team All-Events (9,884).
The team includes three additional members of the 2013 and 2015 Team All-Events champions – Jeffrey Mersch (1,965 all-events total), Matthew Tuckfield (1,919) and Erik Vermilyea (1,910) – and Casey Shephard (1,808).
“Overall, with the two patterns, I think the gap in the level of difficulty is bigger than it’s been since it went to two patterns,” Novak said. “We were just a little slow to react a couple times. It cost us some pins yesterday, and it cost us some pins today.”
The Regular Division includes bowlers with entering averages of 176 and above.
The 2023 Open Championships kicked off March 4 and will conclude July 24. The 143-day tournament will feature more than 9,700 five-player teams and nearly 50,000 bowlers making their way to compete in The Biggest Little City in the World.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.