DUBOIS, Pa. – Bowling is in Melia Mitskavich’s blood, and now the DuBois Central Catholic senior will be taking her talents to one of the premiere college programs in the country.
Mitskavich recently committed to Jacksonville State in Alabama to continue her academic and athletic career.
“I’m very excited,” Mitskavich said. “Jacksonville State after the fall semester was the No. 1 team in the country. I’m excited to go down there, but nervous, too.”
Mitskavich’s parents, Tom and Jackie Mitskavich, own DuBois Lanes, and Jackie is a three-time champion on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour.
Not unexpectedly, she caught the bowling bug at a young age.
“I probably started bowling in leagues at four or five (years old),” Mitskavich said. “I’ve been around it my entire life. My mom used to bowl on the professional women’s tour. I’ve always gone to tournaments, especially with my brother. I just thought my brother is going, I should go. I realized as I got older it’s something I could go to college for.”
Mitskavich’s first visit the school ended with mixed feelings.
“I visited there in October and at first when I came back, I wasn’t too sure that was the place for me,” she said. “I really loved the bowling coaches and the girls on the team, I just wasn’t sure if the school was the right fit for me.”
But after several conversations, she started warming up to the idea that Jacksonville State might be the right fit after all.
“I want to study biology and become an optometrist,” Mitskavich said. “I talked to a couple of academic advisors and students on the bowling team. After talking to them, I started to get a good feeling about the school, and it started to feel right.”
Mitskavich’s accolades are impressive.
She has bowled six 300 games, placed at numerous national tournaments, and also won a regional title, among many standout performances.
She’s also had the high youth average in the nation for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, with a 237 average in 2021-22 and 236 in 2022-23.
Melia Mitskavich
“One of those 300 games was at Junior Gold, which is the largest youth tournament in the country,” she said. “It’s a national tournament during the summer and you bowl a lot of games. The oil pattern depends on how you play the lanes. At junior gold, the oil patterns are very difficult. Repeating shots and doing same thing every time is very important. Bowling a 300 there felt really good.”
She also recently just bowled her first 800 series.
“I’ve been trying to do that for a while,” she said. “At Junior Gold, there were about 500 competitors and I finished 17th. Last year I think I finished 20th out of about 500 competitors.”
She also goes to the Storm Youth Championships, where she has excelled.
“Those are held all over the country,” she said. “Those are pretty big tournaments. I’ve won those two times. It’s just over a weekend and you bowl five games on a short pattern, five on a medium pattern and five on a long pattern. They combined total pins and whoever has the highest total is the winner. I recently just won my second one in Myrtle Beach.
She’s also competed in Las Vegas at a venue with over 70 lanes.
“It was pretty cool to travel there,” she said.
While bowling will continue to be a big part of her life, she’s excited about getting on the road to her future career as well.
“My aunt really inspired me,” Mitskavich said. “She’s an ear, nose and throat doctor and also graduated from DCC. She started in the same place, and it’s been cool to see her success. I want to help other people, too.”
While she finishes her senior year, she’ll continue to make lasting memories with lifelong friends.
At the same time, she’s also looking forward to what’s ahead.
“I’ll definitely miss all of my friends,” she said. “My graduating class is 30 and I’ve really gone to school with most of those kids since kindergarten. Obviously, we’re really close. It’s going to be difficult, and I will miss them. But I’m also looking forward to going to college and being in an bigger environment and meeting new people.”
