N10 adds bowling to list of winter sports

The Northern 10 Athletic Conference recently announced that for the first time since its founding in 2012, it has added bowling to the league's winter sports list."It was time to do so," N10 commissioner Michael Reinhart said. "Enough of our league schools have bowling teams and that's part of our rules."Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus, Wynford, and Seneca East all have official varsity teams, with the most recently established being Upper Sandusky.Buckeye Central and Colonel Crawford have bowling as a club sport currently, but they will compete right along with the major four."The number of teams needed to meet the threshold was met this year," Reinhart said. "There was no reason to wait until next year."When 50% or more of the schools reach the requirement, the sport is automatically added to the conference.The N10 expansion of adding six schools next school year would have made the rule kick in, but because it was already met this year, it will give the opportunity for the six schools next year to add their bowling teams.The six schools joining the N10 are Sandusky Bay Conference River Division schools Hopewell-Loudon, New Riegel, Old Fort, and Calvert, SBC Bay Division school Willard, and Mid-Buckeye Conference school Lucas.Out of those six schools, Willard, OF, NR, and H-L all have bowling teams as well, which makes the N10 all the more interesting with the sports it offers."There are more opportunities for students to compete in a different sport," Reinhart said. "The conference is very excited to offer more opportunities for students to be able to represent their schools."Bowling is a sport that adds opportunity and a pathway for those that may not have an interest in traditional sports such as basketball, volleyball, or football. Certain colleges have started to tap into the potential pool of athletes as well and have started to offer scholarships for those that make the college teams. For local area athletes that wish to continue bowling in college, there are a few options open to them.The Ohio Bowling Conference is a collegiate conference that offers Ohio colleges the opportunity to be able to have their teams bowl, and acts similar to the Northwest Ohio Bowling League for high schools. OBC members include Baldwin Wallace University (Division III), University of Northwestern Ohio (NAIA), and Tiffin University (Division II).Current Great Midwest Athletic Conference bowling teams compete with Conference Carolinas and those affiliate members are Ursuline College (Division II), and Walsh University (Division II).Colleges such as Youngstown State University, as well as Wright State University (both Division I schools) are affiliate members of Conference USA.As the sport of bowling grows not only collegiately, it is continuing to grow in high schools as well.A great example of a school that didn't have a bowling team to go right into varsity is Upper Sandusky. Last winter was its inaugural season for bowling and not only had enough athletes to make the JV and varsity team for both boys and girls, but they made a run into tournaments. This season, they are back, and have grown even bigger, as they have 15 girls and 21 boys. Last season, they only had 10 girls and eight boys."We are very glad that the N10 finally added bowling to their winter sports list," USHS boys coach Caleb Carroll said. "This has been in the making for a long time now, and we are incredibly excited about it. As bowling continues to grow and be accepted as a varsity sport, we're hoping that the other conferences in the area follow suit."The numbers are showing no sign of slowing down.According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the number of student bowlers last school year was 61,291 with 19 states recognizing bowling as a varsity sport and another 28 offering the sport in the club stage. Altogether, there are 47 states that have both.Other high school conferences in the local area that have bowling as part of their conference sports include the SBC, which has the Lake Division with their own, while Bay and River Divisions combine together. It's currently where Willard, OF, NR, and H-L are all bowling one last season.For the Rams, they not only belong with the N10, but they have been bowling in the NOBL and compete against teams in both. For right now, USHS will compete in both leagues."We do this because some of the teams that we have traditionally bowled against have not yet transitioned, or will not transition to the N10," Carroll said. "Our current N10 competitors include Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, Seneca East and Wynford. Our NOBL competitors include Liberty-Benton and North Baltimore."Liberty-Benton is currently part of the Blanchard Valley Conference, but will be leaving at the end of the 2025-2026 school year to go to the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division and North Baltimore is a member of the Northwest Central Conference. Both L-B and NB have been front runners for NOBL title contention for the last few years and their conferences do not have bowling as a sport.Between the combination of the current schools in the league and the ones coming in next school year, Carroll sees the N10 adding bowling as a sport as beneficial for the league."The N10 schools that currently have teams have become impressively competitive over the last few years," Carroll said. "The new conference play will definitely shake up the current competition."Carroll hopes to see when and if schools such as Carey and Mohawk add bowling, and see when Buckeye Central will come out of the club bowling stage and become an official varsity sport.Even with the addition of the six new schools next year, there will only be one division at this time, according to Reinhart.As the N10 becomes one of the few conferences to add bowling, it makes it an exciting time for the conference, and with talks of other sports possibly being added down the road, it speaks to how the schools in the N10 collaborate together on important decisions."It seemed like a natural next step with how many of the schools have bowling teams now," Carroll said. "It is truly exciting to see how our competitors will change over the next few years, as well as the talent that will be added to each team."