Katie Gerrard runs away with 2025 Princeton Women’s Masters crown

Katie Gerrard finished in a tie and lost out in a bowl-off in last year’s Princeton Women’s Masters Bowling Tournament, finishing second.

She didn’t let it get that close again this year.

Gerrard took the lead on Day 1 and never gave it up on the way to capturing the 2025 Masters crown, her second title in four years. She ran away from the field with 93.05 Peterson Points, defeating runner-up Shannon Allen (86.14) by more than seven points.

“Not having a bowl-off is nice. But even the position round at the end, I had a little leeway there so I didn’t have to stress who I was going up against too much,” Gerrard said. “I still wanted to finish well, of course. But a little bit of that pressure was off.”

Gerrard, a Kewanee bowler, held nearly a four-point (48.30-44.33) lead over Danielle Hoopes after the first weekend. She increased her lead to nearly five points over Hoopes after Day 3 heading into the final round.

“It was a fun tournament. All the girls had fun and I had great lane partner that followed,” said Gerrard, who bowls in the Monday night league at Pin Splitter Lanes.

This was Gerrard’s fourth year bowling in the tournament, having also won in 2022, her first year.

Other top-10 bowlers were Anna Flaig (86.12) in third, Hoopes (85.32) fourth, Sherry Allen (84.10) fifth, Tieg Carpenter (81.23) sixth, Nicole Walker (81.07) seventh, Gabbie Cummings (80.46) eighth, Emma Nicoli (78.29) ninth and Terrianne Oestel (76.03) 10th.

Correna Eggers won the Darlene Shepard Sportsmanship Award.