Standard team soars to lead at 2024 USBC Open Championships
March 27, 2024
LAS VEGAS – The members of Sunoco Midwest Clean Fuel of Waynetown, Indiana, banded together to put up their best performance at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, taking the lead in Standard Team at the 2024 event with some strong scores and some help from friends and former teammates in spirit.
The team took over the top spot Monday at the South Point Bowling Plaza with games of 943, 959 and 896 for a 2,798 total. Cedar Creek of St. Michael, Minnesota, previously held the lead with 2,718.
Chad Fetterman led the charge with a personal best at the USBC Open Championships – 718 – and he was joined by Denise Vaughan (561), Chris Hettinger (555), Heather Hettinger (502) and Carl Schwabe (462).
This group has been bowling together for a few years now, with Heather Hettinger filling in for a bowler who had unexpectedly passed away this past year after strictly serving as the sixth bowler of the group to help fill out pairs of doubles.
“My good friend, Jerry Orr, and Carl’s father, Dolph Schwabe, previously bowled with our group and passed on this last year,” Fetterman said. “I believe they were watching over us bowling today, helping us with a few extra spares and strikes along the way.”
Fetterman credits the team’s success to a mix of teamwork and taking advantage of the team practice sessions available at the South Point Bowling Center.
“We all bowled great this year, and it really was a team effort to get to this point,” Fetterman said. “Before we started team event, we all had a practice session in the bowling center, so we were extra loose coming into the event.”
Fetterman has been participating at the Open Championships since the 2018 event in Syracuse, New York, with a high series of 606 through his first five appearances.
Looking to add a spark to his game this year, he visited one of the on-site vendor booths after the team practice session to get a new bowling ball. It resulted in games of 224, 267 and 227.
“I just bought this Motiv Evoke and had never even thrown it, so I thought why not try it during the team event,” Fetterman said. “Turns out, I didn’t need to throw anything else and ended up shooting my highest series ever here.”
While there still is plenty of time left at the 2024 event, Fetterman and his teammates are hopeful that their score holds on for the win.
“Getting a call to tell us we won at the Open Championships would mean so much to all of us,” Fetterman said. “We know that Jerry and Dolph were looking down and smiling on us today, and we want to do them right and make them proud with a win here.”
Standard Team features five-player groups with combined entering averages of 776-875.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
The team took over the top spot Monday at the South Point Bowling Plaza with games of 943, 959 and 896 for a 2,798 total. Cedar Creek of St. Michael, Minnesota, previously held the lead with 2,718.
Chad Fetterman led the charge with a personal best at the USBC Open Championships – 718 – and he was joined by Denise Vaughan (561), Chris Hettinger (555), Heather Hettinger (502) and Carl Schwabe (462).
This group has been bowling together for a few years now, with Heather Hettinger filling in for a bowler who had unexpectedly passed away this past year after strictly serving as the sixth bowler of the group to help fill out pairs of doubles.
“My good friend, Jerry Orr, and Carl’s father, Dolph Schwabe, previously bowled with our group and passed on this last year,” Fetterman said. “I believe they were watching over us bowling today, helping us with a few extra spares and strikes along the way.”
Fetterman credits the team’s success to a mix of teamwork and taking advantage of the team practice sessions available at the South Point Bowling Center.
“We all bowled great this year, and it really was a team effort to get to this point,” Fetterman said. “Before we started team event, we all had a practice session in the bowling center, so we were extra loose coming into the event.”
Fetterman has been participating at the Open Championships since the 2018 event in Syracuse, New York, with a high series of 606 through his first five appearances.
Looking to add a spark to his game this year, he visited one of the on-site vendor booths after the team practice session to get a new bowling ball. It resulted in games of 224, 267 and 227.
“I just bought this Motiv Evoke and had never even thrown it, so I thought why not try it during the team event,” Fetterman said. “Turns out, I didn’t need to throw anything else and ended up shooting my highest series ever here.”
While there still is plenty of time left at the 2024 event, Fetterman and his teammates are hopeful that their score holds on for the win.
“Getting a call to tell us we won at the Open Championships would mean so much to all of us,” Fetterman said. “We know that Jerry and Dolph were looking down and smiling on us today, and we want to do them right and make them proud with a win here.”
Standard Team features five-player groups with combined entering averages of 776-875.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.