BUCYRUS — Mike Lear defended his title in winning the 58th Bill Rahm Invitational Bowling Tournament at Suburban Lanes on Saturday.
Lear came out of the winners’ bracket to face Brock Lykens in the final. Lear rolled an impressive 1007 four-game series, with games of 255, 248, 257, and 247.
Lykens lost on the first day of the tournament and fought his way through the losers’ bracket to the final, bowling 28 games to get there. On Saturday, he rolled games of 207, 210, 258, and 194 for an 869 series.
Making his seventh appearance in the field, Lear won previous championships in 2020 and 2023 and was runner up in 2021 and 2022. He becomes just the sixth bowler to win back-to-back titles. There has not been a three-peat in tournament history.
Lykens was making his first appearance in the final. He entered the tournament with the third highest qualifying average at 224. Lear was the top qualifier at 226.
This was the first time in 10 years that a fifth game roll off was not needed, as the winners’ bracket representative won the four-game series.