Joliet Junior College Student-Athlete Repeats as NJCAA Women's Bowling National Champion

Madi Lave did it again.  

For the second time, the Joliet Junior College (JJC) student-athlete won the NJCAA women's bowling singles title as the JJC Wolves bowling teams participated in the national championship at Airport Lanes in Cheektowaga, New York.  

"I felt that last game of singles was rough since I had been consistent with making all of my spares in the doubles and singles sessions, besides the splits I had received, but ended on a missed-makeable spare," Lave said of her performance. "However, I could not be mad at my scores on Friday. It was a long day having to bowl nine games, but I was happy with my overall performance." 

Through three games, Lave bowled a 196, 234 and a 223 for a final series score of 653 points to repeat as individual national champion. The victory earned her All-American status. She finished second overall in the all-event standings. 

"I definitely felt proud knowing I had accomplished one of my main goals for the weekend, but also relief because I had some people telling me I had won the title, and some saying I had come short before the final scores were posted," said Lave. "It means a lot to me to win this title again because I worked hard over the past year to better myself and seeing that work payoff is so fulfilling. Being able to achieve such an accomplishment and represent JJC in the bowling world is a really cool thing." 

"Joining the team in New York this year, I got to witness the greatness first-hand," said Rachel Helfrich Tobin, JJC’s assistant athletic director. "I'd seen the work the team put in since stepping in to help manage the team this winter, and it was my first experience with competition at the national level. Even live, waiting for official results was brutal. Sharing Madi's stress as we tallied scores and waited to see if her efforts were enough. But seeing Madi's name in the record books as the first back-to-back singles winner since the ‘90s and only the third repeat — I've made a calendar note to put her nomination for the Hall of Fame five years down the road. She's etched in history and I'm ready to throw a parade for Madi Lave Day." 

The Wolves saw additional success on the women's side as teammate Abby Miller also earned All-American status after an 11th place finish in the singles competition with a score of 584. At the end of the weekend, the Wolves earned their second top five finish in just the second year of the women's bowling program at JJC with a final score of 11,815 to place fourth. 

The men's side saw an eighth-place team finish on Saturday with a final score of 12,741. Sophomore Tyler Richter finished 27th overall in the all-event standings to lead the Wolves.