Mason, Pluhowsky Place at Lincoln Open

Lincoln – Former Huskers Gazmine Mason and  Nebraska Assistant Coach Shannon Pluhowsky earned third and fourth place finishes respectively at the Lincoln Open.

Pluhowsky was seeded third in the stepladder finals and fell 223-245 to eventual event winner Liz Johnson. Mason entered the finals as the second seed but also fell to Johnson, who bowled a perfect game, 232-300.

“I am happy with how I bowled this week,” Pluhowsky said. “I made a bunch of physical progress before the tournament started and am happy with how it paid off! Looking forward to Cleveland this week and the first major right after.”

Mason began the tournament in 16th place with an average of 213.33, but quickly bounced back to climb to second in the next round, improving to an average of 226.50. Mason never gave up the second seed from there, posting averages of 224.56 and 218.79 in third and fourth rounds.

Pluhowsky worked her way up the qualifying leaderboard after having started tied for 12th after the first round with an average of 214.67. She moved to seventh after the second round with her average improving to 220.42. Heading into the second day and third qualifying round, Pluhowsky made her way to fourth (220.89) and earned a spot in the stepladder finals after the last round in third with a final average of 218.17.

Julia Bond was in sixth place after the final qualifying round with an average of 214.92 with Liz Kuhlkin in ninth, posting a 213.67 average. Erin McCarthy, who placed fourth at the Twin Cities Open, placed 17th this week, averaging 208.56, followed by Lindsay (Baker) Boomershine in 21st (204.11), Valerie Bercier (22nd, 203,89), Cassandra Leuthold (30th, 200.50) and Diandra (Hyman) Asbaty tied for 43rd (197.83).

Bond currently sits fourth in the points standings, having a total 34,650 points with McCarthy in fifth (33,950) and Boomershine in sixth (30,950). Bercier moved to 15th (20,000) as Mason jumped to 25th (13,550).