Coastal South wins U15 division at 2025 USA Bowling National Championships
July 23, 2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The team representing the Coastal South region collected the title in the 15-and-under division at the 2025 USA Bowling National Championships. The best-of-five match finals were taped in an arena setting on specially installed lanes at the Resch Center and were televised by CBS Sports Network Tuesday night.
BowlTV provided live coverage of the qualifying and match play rounds leading up to the finals and, for the second consecutive year, scholarship money was made available with more than $120,000 awarded in this year’s event in the U12 and U15 divisions.
Coastal South, whose team name is “Going For It,” took home the title with a 3-1 victory over “The Avengers” from the South region.
The championship round featured a four-person Baker format with the lead-off bowler bowling the first, fifth and ninth frames, the second bowler bowling the second, sixth and 10th frames, the third bowler bowling frames three and seven, and the fourth bowler bowling frames four and eight.
Each team in the U15 finals featured four bowlers. Taking the lanes for Coastal South were Tristan Ellis, Liam Justiniano, Cayden Sylvester and Kristofer Wagner (member of the 2025 Junior Team USA Development Team), with head coach Eric Brewer.
The South region team was comprised of Eli Anckner, Ryan Campbell (member of the 2025 Junior Team USA Development Team and the 2023 U12 USA Bowling National Championships team), Francis “Pancho” Johnson and Ridgely Potter Jr., with head coach Mike Anckner.
The U15 title match saw a split of the first two games. Coastal South rolled five consecutive strikes in Frames 5-9 on the way to a 247-222 win. The South region flipped the script in Game 2, rolling a clean game that featured eight strikes to punctuate a 231-157 victory.
Game 3 turned out to be the pivotal point of the match. The South region team jumped out to a quick lead in that game with strikes in five of the first six frames, while Coastal South had a pair of open frames through their first six frames.
With Coastal South trailing by more than 50 pins entering Frame 7, Justiniano left the 2-8. Instead of having him try to convert the spare, head coach Brewer directed him to grab a different ball and throw a “first ball” shot to see what kind of reaction it might give him. The result, as expected, was an open frame since Justiniano wasn’t trying to make the spare, but rather was trying to get lined up for the next game.
Things got interesting from there. Following the open frame in the seventh frame, Coastal South threw four consecutive strikes and then got nine on their final shot to post a 192 final score.
The South region team couldn’t put the match away in the final frames, failing to convert a single-pin (10 pin) spare in Frame 7, sparing in Frame 8, then suffering another open frame in the ninth after leaving the 1-2-4-10. That left them needing a spare in the 10th to win the match. Another missed 10 pin on a single-pin spare attempt cost them the game by one pin, 192-191.
Suddenly, Coastal South had a victory in a game they certainly weren’t expecting to win after Frame 7 and a 2-1 lead in the best-of five final.
“Being down 50 in like the sixth or seventh frame, you would never expect a team with four of the best bowlers, not only in their region, but in the country, to have those open frames,” said coach Brewer. “I’m glad the decision I made (to not attempt the spare in Frame 7) didn’t cost us that match. In the end, Liam got the look he needed for the next game, and we got a bonus by winning that match, so it all worked out in the end.”
Brewer talked about the momentum swing that winning that game provided.
“Honestly, I thought that winning that match was it (the turning point),” Brewer said. “It had to be demoralizing for them to know that we were just trying to find something for the next game and then we end up winning that game. That game was the changing moment right there. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that we were going to win after that.”
Game 4 stayed fairly close throughout. The South region team closed strong with strikes in Frames 7, 8 and 9. They entered the 10th frame needing a double and 7 pins to shut out Coastal South and force a deciding fifth game. After getting the first strike, the next shot resulted in a 2-8 leave, which was converted for a final score of 191.
That left Coastal South needing a double and three pins in their final frame to win the U15 national championship. Anchor bowler Wagner stepped up and delivered all three strikes in the 10th to post the winning final score of 199.
Wagner talked about his mindset heading into that final frame.
“You look all around, and everyone is at the edge of their seat and everyone is looking you and you know you have a chance to win.” Wagner said. “That first strike looked awful, the pins barely fell over. So, I looked back at coach and asked if I should try a ball change. But I didn’t, and then I just hit the next shot extra hard at the bottom to make sure they all fell over.”
The atmosphere of the arena setting was not lost on the team either.
“I thought it was very exciting and very cool to get to bowl in the arena,” said Justiniano. “To get to bowl somewhere where pros are going to bowl later, and getting that feel of how the pros feel, that was cool and fun and I’m glad we got to do it and glad we finished first.”
Despite the second-place finish, the experience was rewarding for the South region team as well.
“We made a lot of clutch shots during qualifying and match to get here,” coach Anckner. “We never gave up by any means, at any time. To win regionals and to make it here, and then to make it to this show, in this atmosphere, has been an uplifting experience.”
For Coastal South, putting together a team that could win it all and enjoying their time together meant a lot to each team member.
“This team means a lot to me,” Sylvester said. “I felt we could do well together, and coach Eric is fantastic. Tristan, Liam and I put a lot of effort into the team and Kris, he’s just a different breed. He’s too good. You never have to worry about him. We all mean a lot to each other, and I’ll never forget this moment.”
The win also was a nice birthday present for Ellis, who celebrated his 15th birthday with a national championship.
At the time of the win, the 2025 Junior Gold Championships were getting ready to start, and coach Brewer talked about how important a win like this could be to team members as they entered individual play in that event.
“It’s huge from a confidence perspective,” Brewer said. “They’re getting ready to go into one of the biggest tournaments of their lives, so now they have the confidence, and they know they can win.”
The 2025 USA Bowling National Championships featured 15 regions that competed in U12 and 16 in U15 with qualifying and match play taking place at Revs Bowl Bar and Grill in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before the TV finals were moved to the Resch Cemter. Each team that competed in this year’s event earned their spot by winning their regional event.
To learn more about the USA Bowling National Championships, visit BOWL.com/youth/usa-bowling.
BowlTV provided live coverage of the qualifying and match play rounds leading up to the finals and, for the second consecutive year, scholarship money was made available with more than $120,000 awarded in this year’s event in the U12 and U15 divisions.
Coastal South, whose team name is “Going For It,” took home the title with a 3-1 victory over “The Avengers” from the South region.
The championship round featured a four-person Baker format with the lead-off bowler bowling the first, fifth and ninth frames, the second bowler bowling the second, sixth and 10th frames, the third bowler bowling frames three and seven, and the fourth bowler bowling frames four and eight.
Each team in the U15 finals featured four bowlers. Taking the lanes for Coastal South were Tristan Ellis, Liam Justiniano, Cayden Sylvester and Kristofer Wagner (member of the 2025 Junior Team USA Development Team), with head coach Eric Brewer.
The South region team was comprised of Eli Anckner, Ryan Campbell (member of the 2025 Junior Team USA Development Team and the 2023 U12 USA Bowling National Championships team), Francis “Pancho” Johnson and Ridgely Potter Jr., with head coach Mike Anckner.
The U15 title match saw a split of the first two games. Coastal South rolled five consecutive strikes in Frames 5-9 on the way to a 247-222 win. The South region flipped the script in Game 2, rolling a clean game that featured eight strikes to punctuate a 231-157 victory.
Game 3 turned out to be the pivotal point of the match. The South region team jumped out to a quick lead in that game with strikes in five of the first six frames, while Coastal South had a pair of open frames through their first six frames.
With Coastal South trailing by more than 50 pins entering Frame 7, Justiniano left the 2-8. Instead of having him try to convert the spare, head coach Brewer directed him to grab a different ball and throw a “first ball” shot to see what kind of reaction it might give him. The result, as expected, was an open frame since Justiniano wasn’t trying to make the spare, but rather was trying to get lined up for the next game.
Things got interesting from there. Following the open frame in the seventh frame, Coastal South threw four consecutive strikes and then got nine on their final shot to post a 192 final score.
The South region team couldn’t put the match away in the final frames, failing to convert a single-pin (10 pin) spare in Frame 7, sparing in Frame 8, then suffering another open frame in the ninth after leaving the 1-2-4-10. That left them needing a spare in the 10th to win the match. Another missed 10 pin on a single-pin spare attempt cost them the game by one pin, 192-191.
Suddenly, Coastal South had a victory in a game they certainly weren’t expecting to win after Frame 7 and a 2-1 lead in the best-of five final.
“Being down 50 in like the sixth or seventh frame, you would never expect a team with four of the best bowlers, not only in their region, but in the country, to have those open frames,” said coach Brewer. “I’m glad the decision I made (to not attempt the spare in Frame 7) didn’t cost us that match. In the end, Liam got the look he needed for the next game, and we got a bonus by winning that match, so it all worked out in the end.”
Brewer talked about the momentum swing that winning that game provided.
“Honestly, I thought that winning that match was it (the turning point),” Brewer said. “It had to be demoralizing for them to know that we were just trying to find something for the next game and then we end up winning that game. That game was the changing moment right there. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that we were going to win after that.”
Game 4 stayed fairly close throughout. The South region team closed strong with strikes in Frames 7, 8 and 9. They entered the 10th frame needing a double and 7 pins to shut out Coastal South and force a deciding fifth game. After getting the first strike, the next shot resulted in a 2-8 leave, which was converted for a final score of 191.
That left Coastal South needing a double and three pins in their final frame to win the U15 national championship. Anchor bowler Wagner stepped up and delivered all three strikes in the 10th to post the winning final score of 199.
Wagner talked about his mindset heading into that final frame.
“You look all around, and everyone is at the edge of their seat and everyone is looking you and you know you have a chance to win.” Wagner said. “That first strike looked awful, the pins barely fell over. So, I looked back at coach and asked if I should try a ball change. But I didn’t, and then I just hit the next shot extra hard at the bottom to make sure they all fell over.”
The atmosphere of the arena setting was not lost on the team either.
“I thought it was very exciting and very cool to get to bowl in the arena,” said Justiniano. “To get to bowl somewhere where pros are going to bowl later, and getting that feel of how the pros feel, that was cool and fun and I’m glad we got to do it and glad we finished first.”
Despite the second-place finish, the experience was rewarding for the South region team as well.
“We made a lot of clutch shots during qualifying and match to get here,” coach Anckner. “We never gave up by any means, at any time. To win regionals and to make it here, and then to make it to this show, in this atmosphere, has been an uplifting experience.”
For Coastal South, putting together a team that could win it all and enjoying their time together meant a lot to each team member.
“This team means a lot to me,” Sylvester said. “I felt we could do well together, and coach Eric is fantastic. Tristan, Liam and I put a lot of effort into the team and Kris, he’s just a different breed. He’s too good. You never have to worry about him. We all mean a lot to each other, and I’ll never forget this moment.”
The win also was a nice birthday present for Ellis, who celebrated his 15th birthday with a national championship.
At the time of the win, the 2025 Junior Gold Championships were getting ready to start, and coach Brewer talked about how important a win like this could be to team members as they entered individual play in that event.
“It’s huge from a confidence perspective,” Brewer said. “They’re getting ready to go into one of the biggest tournaments of their lives, so now they have the confidence, and they know they can win.”
The 2025 USA Bowling National Championships featured 15 regions that competed in U12 and 16 in U15 with qualifying and match play taking place at Revs Bowl Bar and Grill in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before the TV finals were moved to the Resch Cemter. Each team that competed in this year’s event earned their spot by winning their regional event.
To learn more about the USA Bowling National Championships, visit BOWL.com/youth/usa-bowling.