Kari Schwager Season 1999-00

College Tournament Titles

• 2001 Sam's Town Shoot-Out

Honors and Awards

• 2002 Team USA Member
• 2002 First-Team All-American
• 2001-02 Academic All-American
• 2000-01 Academic All-American
• 1998 Youth Masters Champion
• 1998 Illinois State Champion

Outlook
One of two returning first-team All-Americans, senior Kari Schwager will look to guide the Huskers to a second national championship in three years in 2002-03. The 5-foot-7 senior from Montgomery, Ill., has been a three-year starter for the Big Red and has also excelled in the classroom, garnering first-team academic All-America accolades in each of the past two seasons.

She has bowled in 28 tournaments for NU, the most of any current Husker and has 11 career top-10 finishes. In 2002, she ranked among the national leaders with better than a 207 average, while recording four top five-finishes, including her first career title, in just nine tournaments.

After earning first-team All-America honors, she capped her junior season by qualifying for Team USA and placing third at the prestigious Women's International Bowling Congress' Queens Open, an event considered the premier event for female bowlers, both professional and amateur, in the world.

"The past year has been one of many triumphs for Kari" Coach Bill Straub said. "She is one of the best players ever in college bowling."

In the classroom, Schwager is a strong contender for academic honors, as she enters her senior season with a 3.70 GPA in business management.

2001-02: Schwager played an integral role in the Huskers' success in 2002, earning first-team All-America honors as well as an academic All-America award from the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association. She competed in nine tournaments, averaging a 207.57 in 84 games, a jump of nearly 10 pins per game from her sophomore season. Schwager's average ranked sixth nationally among college bowlers.

She totaled six top-10 finishes in nine tournaments in 2001-02, highlighted by her first career title at the Sam's Town Shoot-Out in December. In that tournament, she averaged a 223.22 in nine games to outdistance a field of 147 bowlers and rolled a 300 game, becoming the first Husker to record a 300 game since Michelle Kelley in 1988. She turned in strong second-place showings at the Mid-states Invitational, where she rolled a 227.85 in 13 games, and at the Coca-Cola Classic, where she recorded her career-high average of 233.86 in seven games en route to the second runner-up finish of her career.

2000-01: Schwager made great strides as a sophomore, becoming an integral member of the Huskers' national championship team. She averaged a 197.63 in 80 games, as she competed in nine tournaments.

Schwager, who earned academic All-America honors from the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association, recorded a trio of top-10 finishes on the season, finishing fourth at the Team Match Games, where she averaged a 225.46 in 11 games, and at the Las Vegas Invitational, when she averaged a 205.82 in 11 games.

1999-2000: NU's top recruit for the 1999-2000 season, Schwager competed in all 10 regular-season tournaments for the Huskers. She averaged a 197.49 in 77 games, recording a pair of top-10 finishes in the process. She placed sixth at the ACU Regionals with an average of 196.78 in nine games and rolled a season-high average of 211.11 at the Sam's Town Shoot-Out en route to a seventh-place showing.

Before Nebraska: Schwager was a three-time Illinois All-State selection and a state champion as a senior attending Oswego High School.