Top Of Class: Melia Mitskavich Announces Commitment to Jacksonville State Women’s Bowling

Photo courtesy of Jacksonville State University Athletics.

It’s not every day that a District 9 has a recruit like Melia Mitskavich. In a sport that District 9 does not even feature, this young lady has worked to become one of the top high school bowlers in the entire country. She did it through true hard work, having DuBois Lanes to her luxury, and even through seeking the best competition she could find around her age in the country to push herself.

Mitskavich, a senior at DuBois Central Catholic High School, recently announced her commitment to sign a national letter of intent with the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks women’s bowling program. In the programs first season of existence, the program has marched into the number one spot in the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) latest coaches poll. The program is led by powerhouse bowling couple Shannon and Bryan O’Keefe, who quickly helped turn McKendree University in Illinois into one of the top traditions in all the NCAA. It has not taken the O’Keefe’s long at Jacksonville State to move the Gamecocks into the thick of winning a national championship in 2024.

The longevity of the program is in excellent hands as a two-time reigning high youth score bowler in Mitskavich will join the program next school year. For those unaware, to be the top high youth bowler in the country means Melia has produced the top average score for high school girls in the nation. She hasn’t just done it once, but two years running. This would be enough to convince coaches to look at her skills, but it is far from the only accolade she’s accumulated in recent years.

Mitskavich in her outstanding career has bowled six 300 games, became a two-time Storm Youth Champion (New York and North Carolina), a 2023 State Pepsi Champion, the 2023 Pennsylvania Single’s Youth Open Champion, a Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) PBA Junior East Region Qualifier, and a 2023 PBA Junior National Finalist. The sport is one she comes by honestly as her parents Jackie and Tom have made it their life’s work being involved in the sport. Tom has been working at DuBois Lanes since he was a teenager and now is the owner of those lanes he grew up working in. Jackie bowled at Penn State during her own college days and became one of the top women’s bowlers in the world during her career. Truly, the game is a family affair.

“I’m incredibly proud to have the privilege of bowling in college,” noted Mitskavich. “I think there may be people who think my parents and especially my mom may force me to do this. This has been my choice to pursue bowling to this extent. It’s so cool to me to be continuing my career in college like she did and hopefully professionally one day as well.”

The high school senior experienced mixed feelings on her visit back in October to Jacksonville, Alabama. She loved everything about the coaching staff, the program that is being built, and the warm southern hospitality and weather she experienced. But the problem she faced was being unsure if there was a clear pathway for a biology-pre-medicine major to go from Jacksonville State to optometry school. Over the last several weeks, her fears dissipated after conversations with the admissions and career services departments to inform her that there are Gamecocks with similar career aspirations in healthcare as her.

The clearer pathway to go to optometry school, paired with some of the nation’s best women’s bowling, solidified her decision to go to Jacksonville State. She formally announced her commitment in an Instagram post back on December 10. “I have my parents and older brother (Ryan) to thank for their continued support to get to this point. It’s been an incredible opportunity to have DuBois Lanes in my family to go there when I want and if I want and need to work on anything. I know my parents and brother would do anything for me.”

Mitskavich was a talented bowler growing up, but she truly had no clue how she stacked up against girls her age until late in middle school or early high school. She won a few big tournaments, and her mind wondered if she was good enough to continue bowling in college. The answer was absolutely if she kept working. Working is exactly what she kept doing. The Storm East Championship as a 15-year-old was perhaps the defining moment of she was going to take bowling more seriously. There were 50 of the region’s top bowlers in her age group at this tournament and she finished second overall. She then advanced to the national stage and finished in the top 10 in the country. It was a true wake-up call as she finished seventh out of 500 competitors who made it to this stage.

Since this defining run back in early high school, Mitskavich has worked her way to being one of the country’s most sought after women’s bowling recruits. She took visits to some of the nation’s top schools, but has thoroughly solidified her decision to call Alabama home next fall. One of the more interesting aspects that’s different for her in her specific bowling journey is she has never been a part of a high school bowling team like many of her peers in high school. For her, this was an extremely self-motivated and sometimes lonely journey to the mountaintop. But the year 2024 will bring the change of having young women around her age to work towards the common goals of being the best student-athletes they can be and winning a national title for Gamecock nation.

While Mitskavich is one of the top bowlers in the county, bowling is not her only sport. She is a standout on the volleyball court for the Lady Cardinals and is a very accomplished softball player, too. She helped the program to a District 9 title earlier in 2023 and has also been named a Tri-County Weekend/Courier Express all-star and all-District 9 as both a hitter and pitcher. What she lacks presently in a team currently in bowling is more than made up for as a Lady Cardinals dual-sport star.

To get to this exciting time in her young life, she’s thankful for her parents’ continued investment and support in her athletic career. She also appreciates her big brother, who allowed her to tag along to some of his tournaments growing up so she could learn from the older bowlers and soak in what can be an electrifying atmosphere in large tournaments. From bowling a 300 game at Junior Gold, one of the nations top youth tournaments, to playing in her local youth DuBois league, these leagues, tournaments, and repetitions have led to a historic moment in her life and for the DuBois community.

If you haven’t already had the chance to watch Melia Mitskavich go to work and terrorize some pins, there’s room on the bandwagon before this ticket heads for Alabama come the summer of 2024. “I hope more people will realize the preparation and thought that goes into this game. There’s more to it than rolling a ball down the lane. Everything from oil patterns to selecting the right combination of balls to use during competition all matters,” she said.