Youngstown State University
Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic
YSU Bowling Starts 2026-27 Season with Home Tournament This Weekend
10/15/2026 9:16:00 AM | Bowling
Youngstown, Ohio — The Youngstown State bowling team starts the 2026-27 season at its home center this week with the three-day Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic in Struthers.
The No. 6 Penguins will welcome 17 teams to Holiday Bowl for the seventh edition of the Penguin Classic, which is named in honor of Chelsea Gilliam, YSU's first head coach, who passed away from breast cancer in 2025 at age 35.
All 13 of YSU's matches will be streamed live on the YSUsports YouTube channel, and results will be posted throughout the weekend on the team's social media platforms and the tournament central page.
- Live Stream: YSUsports on YouTube
- YSU Bowling on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | X
- Updating Results: Google Sheet
- Mobile App: iOS Download | Android Download
Fan Information and Tournament Format
Address & Parking: Holiday Bowl is located at 777 Youngstown-Poland Road in Struthers, Ohio (44471). Spectators should park in the main lot or in the fenced lot across Wilson Street, which is located just south of the bowling center. Parking at the IGA is prohibited.
Admission: Admission is free on all three days of the tournament.
Promotions: On Friday, YSU mascot Pete the Penguin will throw out the first ball of the tournament. There will also be 200 YSU bowling T-shirts available for fans as giveaways on Friday and Sunday, courtesy of Molly Maid.
Tournament Format: The 2026 Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic will follow the standard NCAA format with a 13-match rotation this weekend at Holiday Bowl. There will be five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 9:30 a.m., and total pinfall will determine the winners of each head-to-head match. Five traditional matches will follow on Saturday starting at 9:25 a.m. with total pinfall again determining the winners. The total pins from the first 10 matches of the tournament will determine seeding for bracket play on Sunday, which will begin at 8:25 a.m. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.
A Glimpse at the Guins
Program Overview: The Penguins have earned at-large berths into the NCAA Tournament in each of the last six years under Head Coach Doug Kuberski. YSU has finished in the top 10 in the final National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll in each of the last seven campaigns, including eighth in 2025-26. The Penguins have been to the Final Four three times — 2021, 2024 and 2025 — and won the 2025 National Championship. Academically, YSU has registered one of the top six GPAs in the country in six of the last seven campaigns.
2025-26 Season In Review: Following the graduation of six seniors from its National Championship team, Youngstown State had the youngest roster in the country with six freshmen and just one returner on its eight-member roster. Even with all of the new faces working to form a new identity within in the program's history, YSU was able to maintain its status as one of the top programs in the country. The Penguins posted the third-best winning percentage in school history and advanced to the NCAA Regional for the sixth straight campaign. YSU finished the season ranking eighth in the final NTCA Top 25 poll.
Everyone Returns: While last season was a year of roster transition, 2026-27 is the opposite. For the first time in the program's 11-year history, YSU's entire roster returns from the previous season. Amy Chrzanowski, a transfer from FDU in her second season at Youngstown State, is the program's lone senior. Kara Beissel, the last remaining member of the national title team, and Maryville transfer Elizabeth Teuber are juniors, and the other seven bowlers are underclassmen. Malayna Calo is the only freshman on the roster, and the group of six sophomores includes Liv Baskin, Kaitlyn Greenaway, Leyna Kratzer, Amber Mason, Amber Spicer and Gianna Varano. Beissel, Chrzanowski, Mason, Varano and Baskin are YSU's top five returners in terms of frames bowled in 2025-26.
Calo, Teuber Look to Provide Boost: In addition to the optimism from a year of development and roster retention, YSU is excited about the potential for overall improvement from freshman Malayna Calo and transfer Elizabeth Teuber. Calo signed to join the Penguins last November, while Teuber arrived during the second week of the semester as a transfer from Maryville. Both bowlers have national team credentials, as Calo was a member of the Junior Team USA Developmental Squad in 2024 and Teuber bowled internationally for Team USA earlier this month at the Pan American Championship. Calo was also a Dexter All-American and a seven-time state qualifier in high school in Florida. Teuber was the Division II Player of the Year and a Second-Team All-American in each of her first two seasons as a collegiate bowler at Maryville.
Baskin, Chrzanowski Earned Rewards: Two of YSU's newcomers received awards last season for their performance on the lanes. Amy Chrzanowski was voted the Conference USA Newcomer of the Year as a transfer from FDU, and Liv Baskin was named to all-rookie teams by the conference and the NTCA. Chrzanowski ranked second on the team in scoring average and total frames while leading the squad in traditional games over 200. Baskin ranked third on the team in scoring average and posted three top-25 finishes individually at tournaments. Chrzanowski was YSU's first-ever conference newcomer of the year, and Baskin became the third Penguin to earn all-rookie accolades from the conference.
Kuberski at the Helm: This is Youngstown State's 11th season as an intercollegiate program, and Doug Kuberski is entering his eighth full season as head coach. He took over midway through the 2018-19 season, and he has gone on to lead the Penguins to six NCAA tournaments, three Final Four appearances and a National Championship. Kuberski is a two-time National Coach of the Year (2020 and 2024) and a two-time conference coach of the year (2020 and 2023). Andrew Brabant, who bowled collegiately at Pikeville and has been a high school head coach in the Youngstown area, is in his first season as YSU's graduate assistant.
The Schedule Ahead: ??The Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic is Youngstown State's only home tournament of the season. YSU is scheduled to compete in two more tournaments this fall before beginning a slate of six tournaments in the spring leading up to the Conference USA Championship. The conference event will be in Lincoln, Neb., for the first time this season on March 17-21. The NCAA Championship will be contested at the same site for the first time since 2021, as teams will compete April 6-10 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tournament Preview
The Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic will be an early showcase of the top teams in the country as five of the top six, seven of the top 10 and 15 teams total ranked in the preseason National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll will compete. Defending National Champion and unanimous preseason No. 1 Jacksonville State and No. 2 Vanderbilt are both making their second consecutive appearance at Holiday Bowl, while No. 4 Arkansas State and No. 5 Nebraska have become regulars at the event. Youngstown State was ranked sixth in the preseason poll, and additional top-10 teams include No. 9 North Carolina A&T, a first-time participant at the Penguin Classic, and No. 10 Sacred Heart.
A Look at the Field
Ranked Teams (15): #1 Jacksonville State, #2 Vanderbilt, #4 Arkansas State, #5 Nebraska, #6 Youngstown State, #9 North Carolina A&T, #10 Sacred Heart, #11 Wright State, #13 Maryville, #14 Niagara, #16 Duquesne, #18 Mount St. Mary's, #19 Bryant, #21 Valparaiso, #25 Maryland Eastern Shore
Teams Receiving Votes (1): Mercyhurst
Unranked Teams (2): Western Illinois, William Smith
Conference USA Teams (8): Arkansas State, Jacksonville State, Nebraska, Sacred Heart, Valparaiso, Vanderbilt, Wright State, Youngstown State
Format and Schedule
Friday at 9:30 a.m. — Five Baker matches
Match 1: YSU vs. No. 21 Valparaiso — Lanes 7-8
Match 2: YSU vs. No. 4 Arkansas State — Lanes 11-12 (approximately 10:45 a.m.)
Match 3: YSU vs. No. 18 Mount St. Mary's — Lanes 29-30 (approximately noon)
Match 4: YSU vs. No. 9 North Carolina A&T — Lanes 13-14 (approximately 1:15 p.m.)
Match 5: YSU vs. No. 1 Jacksonville State — Lanes 23-24 (approximately 2:30 p.m.)
Saturday at 9:25 a.m. — Five traditional matches
Match 6: TBD vs. team in pool based on Friday's standings
Match 7: YSU vs. Western Illinois — Lanes 19-20 (approximately 10:45 a.m.)
Match 8: YSU vs. No. 19 Bryant — Lanes 17-18 (approximately noon)
Match 9: YSU vs. No. 11 Wright State — Lanes 23-24 (approximately 1:15 p.m.)
Match 10: YSU vs. No. 25 Maryland Eastern Shore — Lanes 7-8 (approximately 2:30 p.m.)
Sunday at 8:25 a.m. — Three best-of-seven Baker matches
Match 11: TBD
Match 12: TBD
Match 13: TBD
College Bowling 101
For new fans of college bowling, here is a guide to the different scoring formats that will be used throughout the tournament.
Friday's Format: Teams will bowl five Baker matches on Friday, with each head-to-head match consisting of five games. The winner of each match is determined by adding the pinfall of all five games together. In the Baker format, lineups are comprised of five bowlers, with each responsible for two frames in each game. The leadoff player bowls in frames one and six, the second person in the lineup bowls in frames two and seven, etc.
Saturday's Format: Saturday will feature five traditional matches, which are most similar to the "standard" scoring that fans would see in a league or during a night out with friends. Each team has five players bowl a full game, and each individual's score is added together for the team total. The team with the highest combined score from all five games wins the match.
Sunday's Best-of-Seven Format: Using the total pinfall of the first two days of the tournament, teams will be seeded into a championship bracket to determine the final standings. Head-to-head records have no bearing on the seeds, meaning a team could theoretically lose each of its first 10 matches but still be the top seed based on its cumulative scores in those 10 matches. Teams will bowl in three matches in a best-of-seven Baker format, and winners will advance toward a higher final finish. Instead of adding five games together to determine a total like on Friday, the winner of each game gets a point. The first to four points wins the match, regardless of total pinfall.
Tournament History
This will be the seventh Penguin Classic, a tournament that began in 2019 and is being held for the sixth consecutive season to begin YSU's season. It was renamed the Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic in 2025 in honor of YSU's first head coach, who passed away from breast cancer earlier that year at age 35. Holiday Bowl, Youngstown State's home center located five miles from campus, has served as the host since the tournament's inception.
Youngstown State won the inaugural event in 2019, and it has finished second three times. Arkansas State won the event in 2021 and 2023, and Nebraska claimed the title in 2022, 2024 and 2025.
Individually, Youngstown State had a top-five finisher in each of the first four tournaments, and Kirsten Moore was the individual champion in 2023. Three members of last season's All-Tournament Team — Annalise OBryant (Jacksonville State), Emma Yoder (Jacksonville State) and Alex-Anne Auclair (Arkansas State) — and MVP Abigail Starkey return for 2026.
For past results and photos of past champions and all-tournament teams, visit the tournament central page at ysusports.com/2026bowlpc.
YSU's History at the Penguin Classic
2019-20 (Columbia 300 Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 1st of 8 teams
- Head-to-head record » 10-3
- YSU's top individual finisher » Sarah Florence (2nd)
2021-22 (MOTIV Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 2nd of 10
- Head-to-head record » 9-4
- YSU's top individual finisher » Megan Grams (2nd)
2022-23 (MOTIV Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 2nd of 14
- Head-to-head record » 10-4
- YSU's top individual finisher » Kirsten Moore (5th)
2023-24 (Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 2nd of 13
- Head-to-head record » 9-4
- YSU's top individual finisher » Kirsten Moore (1st)
2024-25 (Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 3rd of 16
- Head-to-head record » 12-1
- YSU's top individual finisher » Jade Cote (9th)
2025-26 (Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic)
- Team finish » 4th of 18
- Head-to-head record » 11-2
- YSU's top individual finisher » Leyna Kratzer (7th)
Up Next
Youngstown State will have an off week before traveling to Florida for the Destination Orlando event at Boardwalk Bowl. The three-day tournament will be held Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.
