Prill to bowl in college

Manawa grad receives scholarship

By Greg Seubert

A love of bowling has led to a college scholarship for a recent Little Wolf High School graduate.

Cassie Prill will soon head to Quincy, Illinois, to join the women’s bowling team at Quincy University.

A chance meeting with Quincy coach Nicholas Bohanan earlier this year at the Wisconsin High School Bowling Club State Championships led to a scholarship offer to join the program.

Bohanan approached Prill after watching her place second in the girls’ singles competition at the tournament, held March 6-8 at Dale’s Weston Lanes in Weston.

“Going into March, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do and I stumbled on this awesome opportunity to bowl at Quincy University,” Prill said. “I’m really excited to see what the future holds for me.”

Prill entered the competition as the fifth-seeded bowler and knocked off the No. 4, No. 3 and No. 2 seeds before coming up short in the final.

“Coach came up and started talking to me and was really interested,” Prill said. “When I qualified into the top five for the finals, that experience of having all the lights shining on you and everyone watching you, I used that energy against my opponents. This was their first time being in front of everyone and everyone watching them bowl.

“I didn’t really think that a bunch of coaches were watching me,” she said. “I just did my thing and it paid off.”

Prill isn’t the first Manawa bowler to have the opportunity to bowl in college.

Two of her former teammates – Carlene Beyer and Kelsey Jaeger – recently wrapped up their sophomore seasons at Stephen A. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, respectively.

All three bowled on Manawa’s girls’ team that competed at state in 2018 and eventually placed second in Division 2.

“That really started our program,” Prill said. “We were pretty good because we have two girls bowling in college and there’ll be another one this fall.”

Beyer won two individual state championships in high school and also bowled on Stephen F. Austin’s national championship team last year.

Prill competed in the girls’ singles competition at state as a sophomore, junior senior and qualified for the team competition as a freshman, sophomore and senior.

“We’re from a small town and we’re doing big things with our lives,” she said. “It’s great.”

Prill’s team at Quincy will make history, as the college will unveil its new Division II women’s and men’s bowling program this year.

“When coach told me he was starting a new program, I was really excited to be a part of that and what this program’s going to be all about,” Prill said.

Prill’s love for bowling came at an early age.

“I started bowling when I was 7 years old with my parents and my sister,” she said. “We’d go down to the lanes in Manawa to have a good time and I fell in love with the sport. I’ve been bowling ever since. When I was younger, I just did it for fun. Middle school came around and I was like, “Hey, I like this, I’m going to keep doing this.’

“My sophomore year, I spent a lot of time at the lanes practicing every day after school trying to improve,” she added. “Then, I was put on varsity and bowling with upperclassmen. It made me feel like I could do this. I qualified for state singles my sophomore year and that really showed me that I can do this.”

Manawa offers bowling for grades 5-12

“We’re lucky that our school recognizes bowling as a sport,” Prill said. “They give us send-offs every year we go to state in front of the entire school. We have our trophies and plaques displayed. Everyone in school knows bowling is a great sport to do and it’s highly successful.”

Prill eventually began thinking of bowling in college.

“In the beginning of my senior year, I toured other colleges that have bowling programs so I got the feel for it,” she said. “When state came around is when I started to think I could bowl in college.”

COVID-19 has kept Prill from visiting Quincy, a city of 40,000 residents on the Mississippi River.

“My tour was all planned, but then the virus came and my tour was canceled,” she said. “It’s a beautiful campus right on the Mississippi. I had heard of the town before, but I didn’t know much about them. To take the tour, I’ll have to wait until July to see everything there. The alley is not on campus, but it’s within walking distance.”

In the meantime, Prill is spending a lot of her time at Keglers Bowling Center in Manawa, where she learned to bowl.

“I’m down there every day getting the feel for it again after having two months off,” she said. “The nerves haven’t hit yet. It’ll hit me when I’m down there that my family’s in another state, but I’ll adjust.”

Prill’s scholarship covers her tuition to attend Quincy.

“I’m really glad my parents introduced me to bowling and that I stuck with it,” she said. “I’m excited to meet my team, build a great bond with them, bowl with the team. I love when you get up on the lanes, you throw this amazing strike, you turn around and your team is cheering you on. I love that part.”