Wisconsin group has big week at 2026 USBC Open Championships
March 27, 2026
Pictured above (from left): Nicholas Heilman, Zachary Woelfel, Trevor Yonan, Rob Warren, Andy Mills
RENO, Nev. – Over a two-day stretch at the National Bowling Stadium, a Wisconsin-based crew connected for multiple honor scores and took over the lead in multiple events at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships and Bowlers Journal Championships.
On Wednesday, the members of Nicholas J’s Pro Shop – Chris VanAkkeren, Colin Fakler, 2012 Regular Team champion Greg Pizl, Thomas York and Geoff Schewe – grabbed the lead in Regular Team at the USBC Open Championships with a 3,265 total.
Pictured above (from left): Chris VanAkkeren, Colin Fakler, Greg Pizl, Thomas York, Geoff Schewe
Their companion team – Raise the Woof Pet Resort – moved into third place, posting 3,194. That group included 2012 Regular Team champions Nicholas Heilman, Andy Mills and Trevor Yonan, 2023 Team All-Events champion Zachary Woelfel and Rob Warren.
S & B Pro Shop #1 of Spring Lake, Michigan, previously held the lead with 3,250.
The strong performances continued Thursday morning at the National Bowling Stadium, as Heilman rolled games of 300, 299 and 214 at the Bowlers Journal Championships to set the bar in Open Singles with 813 and Open Doubles (1,445 with Woelfel).
A few hours later, the momentum rolled on as the members of Raise the Woof Pet Resort took hold of the lead in Team All-Events with a 45-game total of 10,050. Mills led the way with 2,056 and was followed by Warren (2,042), Yonan (1,995), Heilman (1,988) and Woelfel (1,969).
Mills and Heilman also took over the top spot in Regular Doubles with a combined score of 1,421, which included a perfect game by Mills to start the set. Mills closed with 246 and 187 for 733, while Heilman had 217, 247 and 224 for 688.
Woelfel also added a 300 to the group’s tally for the week during his singles set at the Open Championships, finishing with a 669 series.
Watch the 10th frame of both 300s below.
S & B Pro Shop #1 was leading Team All-Events with 9,398, and Wyatt Moore Jr. of San Antonio and Nick Smith of Muskegon, Michigan, entered the day leading Regular Doubles with 1,306.
In Regular Team, Nicholas J’s Pro Shop had games of 1,083, 1,074 and 1,108 to get to the top spot.
Anchoring the team, Schewe stepped up in the final frame of Game 3 needing the first strike to take over the lead. The left-hander delivered two strikes, plus a seven count on his fill, to secure the top ranking.
York led the way for Nicholas J’s Pro Shop with a 690 series and was followed by VanAkkeren (687), Fakler (633), Schewe (629) and Pizl (626).
Watch the video below to hear from Schewe on the team’s performance.
The 300s for Mills and Woelfel added to the team’s collection at the Open Championships, joining VanAkkeren (2002 – singles) and Yonan (2011 – doubles).
“It’s just an unbelievable experience,” Mills said. “It’s always been a goal of mine since I’ve been coming out here. I never really thought I would get one. I had the front nine one other time back in 2014, but I just always thought it would never happen until it did.”
Mills knew he had his work cut out for him during doubles after watching Heilman start his squad at the Bowlers Journal with the first 23 strikes. A 10 pin ended his string going for back-to-back 300s.
“My strategy was to give Nick Heilman the most I could possibly give him, because after watching him strike for 23 straight shots in the Bowlers Journal on the fresh and shoot 300 and 299, I thought I better get going,” Mills said. “Otherwise, he’s going to shoot about 780 and I’m going to shoot about 540, and that wouldn’t have looked very good. I felt really confident in our game plan. It couldn’t have started any better.
“I think it just kind of shows all of the hard work that each one of us puts in every single year to prepare for nationals. It takes 45 games to win Team All-Events, and there are highs and lows. Obviously, the highs were Zach and I shooting 300, and we had multiple other big games, but I also remember a lot of the low games that everybody had. It’s a total combination of all of that and all the emotion over two days. To leave with the lead is unbelievable, and if it holds, it holds. If it doesn’t, it was still a good year.”
Woelfel had made a run at perfection during the first game of doubles, starting with nine strikes and posting 275. The right-hander wasn’t going to be denied on the second opportunity.
The emotions were pretty high,” said Woelfel, who had a 299 game during singles competition at the 2021 Open Championships. “It was pretty surreal, and being able to capitalize on Andy’s 300 was pretty cool. I was glad I was able to calm the nerves, center in and make some quality shots.”
Woelfel also felt the trip to the Bowlers Journal Championships helped the team prepare for doubles and singles in the afternoon.
“I think the preparation with the Bowlers Journal really helped us, especially dialing in surface changes and adjustments,” Woelfel said. “We came in with a plan, but maybe didn’t think we’d need as much surface as we ended up needing. It really helped us center in on the surface tweaks that we needed and set up a good game plan, and we were able to execute it.
“This is my first year with the team, and they were gracious enough to accept me, so I’m very thankful for the opportunity. I’ve bowled with a lot of these guys over the years, and one of my teammates I actually grew up bowling with – he was kind of a mentor of mine. It was really cool for it to come full circle and get back to those roots, join a great group of guys that worked well together and have a lot of fun on and off the lanes. It was just a really good experience. It’s pretty surreal having the same opportunity with a new team. Crossing the 10,000-pin mark is usually a good threshold. I’m hoping it’s strong enough to stay inside the top three and hopefully hold on for the victory.”
Mills added, “It was unbelievably awesome. He’s such a great fit for our team, especially for Nick, because he’s very knowledgeable about the game. Nick likes having people he can bounces ideas off of, and Zach fit that perfectly. We were honestly scrambling a bit, reaching out to people because we needed someone about three months ago, and then Zach reached out. It just felt like karma that everything lined up, and we were able to bowl well together.”
Heilman’s run at the Bowlers Journal Championships was all about gathering ideas for later in the day, and the right-hander was able to see the shape just right.
About the only thing that didn’t go right was a 7-10 split in his final frame, but he’s happy to again be in contention on one of bowling’s biggest stages.
“We were just trying to get some practice for our minors set today,” said Heilman after his set at the Bowlers Journal. “Just trying to throw the bowl well and feel like you’re getting in that groove of knowing what the equipment is going to do and hopefully playing the right part of the lane. It’s still frustrating with the ending of it, but it might take a couple hours or days for it to set in. Once it does – whether it stays at the top or not – to be leading any event when you come out to nationals – whether it’s the Open Championships or Bowlers Journal – is always a really cool feeling.”
The Open Championships is celebrating its 122nd edition in 2026 and making its 15th trip to Reno, Nevada. The 2026 event is scheduled to feature more than 55,000 bowlers and 11,000 five-player teams competing across 128 consecutive days at the National Bowling Stadium.
Follow the action from the tournament’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts.
RENO, Nev. – Over a two-day stretch at the National Bowling Stadium, a Wisconsin-based crew connected for multiple honor scores and took over the lead in multiple events at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships and Bowlers Journal Championships.
On Wednesday, the members of Nicholas J’s Pro Shop – Chris VanAkkeren, Colin Fakler, 2012 Regular Team champion Greg Pizl, Thomas York and Geoff Schewe – grabbed the lead in Regular Team at the USBC Open Championships with a 3,265 total.
Pictured above (from left): Chris VanAkkeren, Colin Fakler, Greg Pizl, Thomas York, Geoff Schewe
Their companion team – Raise the Woof Pet Resort – moved into third place, posting 3,194. That group included 2012 Regular Team champions Nicholas Heilman, Andy Mills and Trevor Yonan, 2023 Team All-Events champion Zachary Woelfel and Rob Warren.
S & B Pro Shop #1 of Spring Lake, Michigan, previously held the lead with 3,250.
The strong performances continued Thursday morning at the National Bowling Stadium, as Heilman rolled games of 300, 299 and 214 at the Bowlers Journal Championships to set the bar in Open Singles with 813 and Open Doubles (1,445 with Woelfel).
A few hours later, the momentum rolled on as the members of Raise the Woof Pet Resort took hold of the lead in Team All-Events with a 45-game total of 10,050. Mills led the way with 2,056 and was followed by Warren (2,042), Yonan (1,995), Heilman (1,988) and Woelfel (1,969).
Mills and Heilman also took over the top spot in Regular Doubles with a combined score of 1,421, which included a perfect game by Mills to start the set. Mills closed with 246 and 187 for 733, while Heilman had 217, 247 and 224 for 688.
Woelfel also added a 300 to the group’s tally for the week during his singles set at the Open Championships, finishing with a 669 series.
Watch the 10th frame of both 300s below.
S & B Pro Shop #1 was leading Team All-Events with 9,398, and Wyatt Moore Jr. of San Antonio and Nick Smith of Muskegon, Michigan, entered the day leading Regular Doubles with 1,306.
In Regular Team, Nicholas J’s Pro Shop had games of 1,083, 1,074 and 1,108 to get to the top spot.
Anchoring the team, Schewe stepped up in the final frame of Game 3 needing the first strike to take over the lead. The left-hander delivered two strikes, plus a seven count on his fill, to secure the top ranking.
York led the way for Nicholas J’s Pro Shop with a 690 series and was followed by VanAkkeren (687), Fakler (633), Schewe (629) and Pizl (626).
Watch the video below to hear from Schewe on the team’s performance.
The 300s for Mills and Woelfel added to the team’s collection at the Open Championships, joining VanAkkeren (2002 – singles) and Yonan (2011 – doubles).
“It’s just an unbelievable experience,” Mills said. “It’s always been a goal of mine since I’ve been coming out here. I never really thought I would get one. I had the front nine one other time back in 2014, but I just always thought it would never happen until it did.”
Mills knew he had his work cut out for him during doubles after watching Heilman start his squad at the Bowlers Journal with the first 23 strikes. A 10 pin ended his string going for back-to-back 300s.
“My strategy was to give Nick Heilman the most I could possibly give him, because after watching him strike for 23 straight shots in the Bowlers Journal on the fresh and shoot 300 and 299, I thought I better get going,” Mills said. “Otherwise, he’s going to shoot about 780 and I’m going to shoot about 540, and that wouldn’t have looked very good. I felt really confident in our game plan. It couldn’t have started any better.
“I think it just kind of shows all of the hard work that each one of us puts in every single year to prepare for nationals. It takes 45 games to win Team All-Events, and there are highs and lows. Obviously, the highs were Zach and I shooting 300, and we had multiple other big games, but I also remember a lot of the low games that everybody had. It’s a total combination of all of that and all the emotion over two days. To leave with the lead is unbelievable, and if it holds, it holds. If it doesn’t, it was still a good year.”
Woelfel had made a run at perfection during the first game of doubles, starting with nine strikes and posting 275. The right-hander wasn’t going to be denied on the second opportunity.
The emotions were pretty high,” said Woelfel, who had a 299 game during singles competition at the 2021 Open Championships. “It was pretty surreal, and being able to capitalize on Andy’s 300 was pretty cool. I was glad I was able to calm the nerves, center in and make some quality shots.”
Woelfel also felt the trip to the Bowlers Journal Championships helped the team prepare for doubles and singles in the afternoon.
“I think the preparation with the Bowlers Journal really helped us, especially dialing in surface changes and adjustments,” Woelfel said. “We came in with a plan, but maybe didn’t think we’d need as much surface as we ended up needing. It really helped us center in on the surface tweaks that we needed and set up a good game plan, and we were able to execute it.
“This is my first year with the team, and they were gracious enough to accept me, so I’m very thankful for the opportunity. I’ve bowled with a lot of these guys over the years, and one of my teammates I actually grew up bowling with – he was kind of a mentor of mine. It was really cool for it to come full circle and get back to those roots, join a great group of guys that worked well together and have a lot of fun on and off the lanes. It was just a really good experience. It’s pretty surreal having the same opportunity with a new team. Crossing the 10,000-pin mark is usually a good threshold. I’m hoping it’s strong enough to stay inside the top three and hopefully hold on for the victory.”
Mills added, “It was unbelievably awesome. He’s such a great fit for our team, especially for Nick, because he’s very knowledgeable about the game. Nick likes having people he can bounces ideas off of, and Zach fit that perfectly. We were honestly scrambling a bit, reaching out to people because we needed someone about three months ago, and then Zach reached out. It just felt like karma that everything lined up, and we were able to bowl well together.”
Heilman’s run at the Bowlers Journal Championships was all about gathering ideas for later in the day, and the right-hander was able to see the shape just right.
About the only thing that didn’t go right was a 7-10 split in his final frame, but he’s happy to again be in contention on one of bowling’s biggest stages.
“We were just trying to get some practice for our minors set today,” said Heilman after his set at the Bowlers Journal. “Just trying to throw the bowl well and feel like you’re getting in that groove of knowing what the equipment is going to do and hopefully playing the right part of the lane. It’s still frustrating with the ending of it, but it might take a couple hours or days for it to set in. Once it does – whether it stays at the top or not – to be leading any event when you come out to nationals – whether it’s the Open Championships or Bowlers Journal – is always a really cool feeling.”
The Open Championships is celebrating its 122nd edition in 2026 and making its 15th trip to Reno, Nevada. The 2026 event is scheduled to feature more than 55,000 bowlers and 11,000 five-player teams competing across 128 consecutive days at the National Bowling Stadium.
Follow the action from the tournament’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts.