# Nebraska Cornhuskers bowling

The Nebraska Cornhuskers bowling team competes as part of NCAA Division I, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as an independent. The program was founded as a club team in 1983 and became a varsity sport in 1997.
Nebraska is the most successful collegiate program in bowling history, winning eleven national championships and qualifying for every NCAA championship. Most of this success came under Bill Straub, who founded the team in 1989 and coached for thirty-six years. The team has been coached by longtime assistant Paul Klempa since Straub's retirement in 2019.

## History

Nebraska's bowling program began in 1983 under head coach Bill Straub, who led the team to Women's International Bowling Congress-sanctioned national titles in 1991 and 1995. Women's bowling became an official varsity sport at NU in 1997, though its two-time club champion men's program did not, and the school granted Jennifer Daugherty the first full scholarship in collegiate bowling history. Nebraska won three more WIBC titles before the NCAA sanctioned its first bowling tournament in 2004. The Cornhuskers won the first two NCAA championships under Straub, who retired in 2019 as a ten-time national champion and was elected to the United States Bowling Congress Collegiate Hall of Fame in 2025. The program has never been ranked lower than seventh.
In 2019, Straub retired and longtime assistant Paul Klempa was named head coach. Klempa led NU to its eleventh national title in 2021.

## Conference affiliations

* Independent (1997–present)

## Coaches
### Coaching history

| No. | Coach | Tenure |
| 1 | Bill Straub | 1990–2019 |
| 2 | Paul Klempa | 2019–present |

### Coaching staff

| Name | Position | First year | Alma mater |
| Paul Klempa | Head coach | 2019 | Nebraska |
| Julia Bond | Assistant coach | 2021 | Nebraska |

## Championships and awards
### Team national championships

* WIBC: 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001
* NCAA: 2004, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2021

### Individual awards

* National bowler of the year: Kim Berke (1992), Diandra Hyman (2000), Shannon Pluhowsky (2001, 2004, 2005), Lindsay Baker (2006), Amanda Burgoyne (2007), Cassandra Leuthold (2010), Lizabeth Kuhlkin (2015), Raquel Orozco (2020), Crystal Elliot (2021)
* NCAA championship most outstanding bowler: Shannon Pluhowsky (2004), Amanda Burgoyne (2005), Cassandra Leuthold (2009), Lizabeth Kuhlkin (2013), Julia Bond (2015), Crystal Elliott (2021)
* National coach of the year: Bill Straub (2005, 2013, 2017)

### NCAA champions

* Amanda Burgoyne – 2005
* Julia Bond – 2016
* Kelly Belzeski – 2017

### All-Americans

* Kim Berke – 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
* Jennifer Wilson – 1991
* Carrie Machuga – 1993
* Shelly Machuga – 1993
* Andrea Rigby – 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
* Brenda Edwards – 1995, 1997
* Jennifer Daugherty – 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
* Brenda Norman – 1996
* Kimberly Claus – 1998
* Jennifer Davis – 1998
* Diandra Hyman – 1999, 2000, 2001
* Shannon Pluhowsky – 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005
* Kari Schwager – 2002
* Paola Gomez – 2003
* Amanda Burgoyne – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
* Lindsay Baker – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
* Jamie Martin – 2005, 2006
* Adrienne Miller – 2005, 2007
* Cassandra Leuthold – 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
* Katie Ann Sopp – 2008
* Valerie Calberry – 2009, 2012
* Danielle van der Meer – 2009, 2011
* Kayla Johnson – 2012
* Kristina Mickelson – 2012
* Elise Bolton – 2013
* Lizabeth Kuhlkin – 2013, 2014, 2015
* Julia Bond – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
* Gazmine Mason – 2015, 2016, 2017
* Briana Zabierek – 2016
* Kelly Belzeski – 2017, 2018
* Meghan Straub – 2017, 2018, 2019
* Raquel Orozco – 2018, 2019, 2020
* Allison Morris – 2019
* Cassidy Ray – 2020, 2021
* Crystal Elliot – 2021, 2022
* Kayla Verstraete – 2021, 2022
* Kendyl Hofmeister – 2022
* Jillian Martin – 2023, 2024
* Brenna Hartzler – 2024

## Seasons

* National champion
| Year | Coach | Postseason |
| Independent (1997–present) |||||||||
| 1997–98 | Bill Straub | WIBC 4th |
| 1998–99 | Bill Straub | WIBC Champion |
| 1999–00 | Bill Straub | WIBC 3rd |
| 2000–01 | Bill Straub | WIBC Champion |
| 2001–02 | Bill Straub | WIBC 9th |
| 2002–03 | Bill Straub | WIBC 7th |
| 2003–04 | Bill Straub | NCAA Champion |
| 2004–05 | Bill Straub | NCAA Champion |
| 2005–06 | Bill Straub | NCAA 3rd |
| 2006–07 | Bill Straub | NCAA T–3rd |
| 2007–08 | Bill Straub | NCAA T–7th |
| 2008–09 | Bill Straub | NCAA Champion |
| 2009–10 | Bill Straub | NCAA Runner-up |
| 2010–11 | Bill Straub | NCAA T–3rd |
| 2011–12 | Bill Straub | NCAA 3rd |
| 2012–13 | Bill Straub | NCAA Champion |
| 2013–14 | Bill Straub | NCAA Runner-up |
| 2014–15 | Bill Straub | NCAA Champion |
| 2015–16 | Bill Straub | NCAA Runner-up |
| 2016–17 | Bill Straub | NCAA Runner-up |
| 2017–18 | Bill Straub | NCAA 4th |
| 2018–19 | Bill Straub | NCAA T–3rd |
| 2019–20 | Paul Klempa | Canceled |
| 2020–21 | Paul Klempa | NCAA Champion |
| 2021–22 | Paul Klempa | NCAA T–5th |
| 2022–23 | Paul Klempa | NCAA 3rd |
| 2023–24 | Paul Klempa | NCAA Regional |