Colorado crew leads Standard Team at 2025 USBC Open Championships
May 06, 2025
PHOTO (from left): Joshua Dundas, Michelle Schafer, Amanda Nowasell, Russ Schafer and Steven McCracken
BATON ROUGE, La. – Powered by a strong start Saturday at the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, the members of Leave Your Mark Pro Shop #3 moved into the lead in Standard Team with a 2,845 total at the Raising Cane’s River Center.
The group – based out of Colorado – fired games of 963, 991 and 891 to secure the top spot by 33 pins. DiLaura Brothers 6 of Clinton Township, Michigan, had held the lead since April 10 with 2,812.
Steven McCracken led the charge for Leave Your Mark Pro Shop #3 with a 698 series and was joined by the husband-and-wife duo of Russ and Michelle Schafer (614 and 413, respectively), Amanda Nowasell (570) and Joshua Dundas (550).
The team performed well in the 10th of each game, filling every frame. In Game 3, four of the five teammates delivered strikes to start their final frame, and Schafer and McCracken added to the lead with a triple and double, respectively.
“After I threw that first strike in the 10th, I heard the crowd going crazy and wondered what was going on,” said Russ Schafer, who made his 39th appearance at the USBC Open Championships. “Then it dawned on me – I think we must be close. I’m glad I got the second strike, and Steven caught the double in the 10th, too.
“I had a good friend of mine come up to me and ask if I knew what the lead was, and I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t want to know what we had to have. Being in the middle division, though, to start with almost 2,000 for the first two games, you know you might be in the hunt.”
The group they travel with consists of 18 teams mixed from Texas and Colorado, and Schafer oversees the 12 teams from Colorado.
He tries to mix and match the teams to fall into the Standard or Classified Divisions, giving everyone the opportunity to feel competitive at the tournament.
“Over the years, we’ve encouraged many people to come and bowl, and we’ve introduced this tournament to a lot of bowlers,” Russ Schafer said. “About three years ago, I bowled with a group from Texas. It was the last minute, and they didn’t have anybody else. They were really good, and I didn’t belong in that class anymore. I looked around and wondered if we could put together a group of bowlers for the middle division. We could put together some teams to be competitive. So, for the most part, my teams are in the Standard or Classified Division, and we have fared well building it that way.”
The groups still focus on working together and communicating, but he noted one more thing to keep in mind.
“We work together as a group on how we want to address the lanes and work with each other, and it’s very important to close frames,” Russ Schafer said. “In the middle division, you really need to close a lot of frames. In the higher group, you need to throw a lot of strikes.”
Schafer gives his time at home to the Greater Denver USBC and serves as the vice president of the association. After a successful showing from the state at last year’s Open Championships in Las Vegas (the winners in Standard Doubles, Classified Doubles and Classified Singles all hailed from Colorado), he’s hoping the team can add another win from the Centennial State.
“Last year, we gave out four Eagles in Denver,” Russ Schafer said. “We presented them at our annual meeting. To be able to touch them and lift them up and everything makes you feel like you have to get one before it’s all said and over. It would mean the world.”
In addition to the team success over the weekend in Baton Rouge, McCracken also moved into the top 10 for Regular All-Events with a 2,099 total. Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, leads with 2,158.
McCracken added 705 in doubles – which included a 299 in Game 3 – and 696 in singles.
Standard Team features five-player groups with combined entering averages from 776-875.
The Open Championships is celebrating its third trip to Baton Rouge in 2025 and scheduled to feature more than 58,000 bowlers and 11,600 five-player teams competing across 150 consecutive days at the River Center.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
BATON ROUGE, La. – Powered by a strong start Saturday at the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, the members of Leave Your Mark Pro Shop #3 moved into the lead in Standard Team with a 2,845 total at the Raising Cane’s River Center.
The group – based out of Colorado – fired games of 963, 991 and 891 to secure the top spot by 33 pins. DiLaura Brothers 6 of Clinton Township, Michigan, had held the lead since April 10 with 2,812.
Steven McCracken led the charge for Leave Your Mark Pro Shop #3 with a 698 series and was joined by the husband-and-wife duo of Russ and Michelle Schafer (614 and 413, respectively), Amanda Nowasell (570) and Joshua Dundas (550).
The team performed well in the 10th of each game, filling every frame. In Game 3, four of the five teammates delivered strikes to start their final frame, and Schafer and McCracken added to the lead with a triple and double, respectively.
“After I threw that first strike in the 10th, I heard the crowd going crazy and wondered what was going on,” said Russ Schafer, who made his 39th appearance at the USBC Open Championships. “Then it dawned on me – I think we must be close. I’m glad I got the second strike, and Steven caught the double in the 10th, too.
“I had a good friend of mine come up to me and ask if I knew what the lead was, and I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t want to know what we had to have. Being in the middle division, though, to start with almost 2,000 for the first two games, you know you might be in the hunt.”
The group they travel with consists of 18 teams mixed from Texas and Colorado, and Schafer oversees the 12 teams from Colorado.
He tries to mix and match the teams to fall into the Standard or Classified Divisions, giving everyone the opportunity to feel competitive at the tournament.
“Over the years, we’ve encouraged many people to come and bowl, and we’ve introduced this tournament to a lot of bowlers,” Russ Schafer said. “About three years ago, I bowled with a group from Texas. It was the last minute, and they didn’t have anybody else. They were really good, and I didn’t belong in that class anymore. I looked around and wondered if we could put together a group of bowlers for the middle division. We could put together some teams to be competitive. So, for the most part, my teams are in the Standard or Classified Division, and we have fared well building it that way.”
The groups still focus on working together and communicating, but he noted one more thing to keep in mind.
“We work together as a group on how we want to address the lanes and work with each other, and it’s very important to close frames,” Russ Schafer said. “In the middle division, you really need to close a lot of frames. In the higher group, you need to throw a lot of strikes.”
Schafer gives his time at home to the Greater Denver USBC and serves as the vice president of the association. After a successful showing from the state at last year’s Open Championships in Las Vegas (the winners in Standard Doubles, Classified Doubles and Classified Singles all hailed from Colorado), he’s hoping the team can add another win from the Centennial State.
“Last year, we gave out four Eagles in Denver,” Russ Schafer said. “We presented them at our annual meeting. To be able to touch them and lift them up and everything makes you feel like you have to get one before it’s all said and over. It would mean the world.”
In addition to the team success over the weekend in Baton Rouge, McCracken also moved into the top 10 for Regular All-Events with a 2,099 total. Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, leads with 2,158.
McCracken added 705 in doubles – which included a 299 in Game 3 – and 696 in singles.
Standard Team features five-player groups with combined entering averages from 776-875.
The Open Championships is celebrating its third trip to Baton Rouge in 2025 and scheduled to feature more than 58,000 bowlers and 11,600 five-player teams competing across 150 consecutive days at the River Center.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.