Kuusela Places 4th in First PBA Event

(Lincoln, NE) – Junior Kaden Kuusela competed in his first ever professional bowling tournament at the 2025 PBA QubicaAMF BES NV Midwest Open on August 29-31. Kuusela bowled an average of over 220 against some of the best professional bowlers in the country to place fourth. Full results can be found here.

"Competing against some of the best in the world was a sight to see. I really enjoyed bowling next to Mitch Hupe, who won the tournament and is a multi-team Canada member. It made me realize that I have to be on top of every little thing that goes on during a tournament but also gave me confidence because I am now amongst the top bowlers in the world," Kuusela said.

"Kaden is an incredibly talented individual, and an even better teammate," Head Coach Brian Fink said. "This performance shows all of the work he has put in, on and off the lanes to get to this point. There is no limit to what he can achieve with his work ethic and faith. He has truly stepped into a key leadership position at HC bowling, and I cannot wait to see what he and the rest of the team are able to do this year, we have something truly special."

Kuusela advanced through the qualifying rounds of the tournament by knocking over 1558 pins, a 222.57 average in the seven games. He had even better success in the advancers round, totaling 945 pins for an average of 236.25 in the four games. In the final game of the Advancers round, he bowled a 279.

"What really helped in the Advancers round was the confidence in myself in the beginning. I knew how the lanes would play and really reminded myself to stick to what worked during qualifying. The fourth game my dad, Kyle, and I had conversed about a ball I tried in the previous game in the tenth frame. I had made the decision to go with it because of the look it gave me on Saturday and it allowed me to play a line nobody else could touch," Kuusela said.

He added, "Another thing that helped was my spare shooting, it was a little shaky during qualifying and happened to miss said spares when I didn't have that many pins to lose. I only opened once during the Advancers round and it was only due to a split. In match play I ran into a bit of an issue with my thumb not staying in the ball for as long but I still managed to squeak a few wins including the eventual winner."

After bowling a 243 in the positional round, Kuusela ended up going 4-2-1 in match play to take fourth, averaging 215.42. He won his first match against the eventual champion Hupe, 235-208, then after two losses and a tie, he won his final three matches to finish fourth with 4,254 pins and a 225.79 average.

"With a fourth place finish I'd say the confidence for the season is at an all time high so I'm definitely going to put some pretty high expectations for myself. Whether it's being an NAIA All-American or even a USBC Collegiate All-American, considering one day I would like to be out there competing week in and week out with the best in the world," Kuusela concluded. 

Kuusela and the Broncos begin their fall portion of the season on Oct. 4-5 at the Midwest Collegiate Championships in Detroit, MI, looking to build off their NAIA Tournament appearance last season.