A 1978 graduate of East High School, a 1982 graduate of Ohio Northern, and a master's degree recipient of Rio Grande, Jani Sturgell will be in her ninth season coaching as an assistant to her husband, Bryan Sturgell, when the 2025-26Â season commences.
In 2024-25, Sturgell helped lead the SSU men's bowling program to its best-ever USBC Sectional finish in '25 (11th place) while helping Shawnee State qualify for back-to-back sectional appearances in 2024 and 2025 as part of the program's three overall trips to the USBC Sectional in its history.
Additionally, Sturgell led the Shawnee State men's bowling program to two event wins -- the 2025 Greater Pittsburgh Collegiate Classic and the 2025 Western Pennsylvania Baker Classic -- while sophomore Zach Ison won an individual event, claiming victory at the American Heartland Bowling Association's Event No. 3. Shawnee State bettered Akron by 121 pins (5,214 to 5,093) to win the Greater Pittsburgh Collegiate Classic, then won the Western Pennsylvania Baker Classic by 12 pins over Akron and 16 pins over St. Vincent (Pa.), winning the event by knocking down 5,197 pins to Akron's 5,185 and St. Vincent (Pa.)'s 5,181. A total of four players finished inside the top-11 overall in both events.
Ison, meanwhile, won his first career event by bowling a terrific 234.5 pin average, knocking down 938 pins over four games.
From a women's standpoint, freshman Onesti Evans and seniors Hannah Rearick and Olyvia Bittner enjoyed strong averages all season, with Evans averaging over 185 pins per game, Rearick knocking down over 183 pins per rack and Bittner dropping over 179 pins per set.
During the 2023-24 season, the Shawnee State men's and women's bowling programs enjoyed terrific seasons under the direction of Jani and her husband, SSU head coach Bryan Sturgell -- as the SSU men edged St. Vincent (Pa.), 7,364 pins to 7,301 pins, to outclaw the Bearcats by a scant 63-pin margin to win the Greater Pittsburgh Collegiate Classic -- the men's program's first-ever tournament victory. Led by three bowlers who finished inside the top-10 -- Shawnee State junior Sam Clay, Shawnee State freshman Zach Ison and Shawnee State sophomore Parker Lauders -- and, counting SSU freshman Jaylen Sumler, four who claimed top-20 overall showings, the Bears cleaned up in fine fashion as none of the aforementioned hurlers finished below 13th place of the 80 bowlers who participated on the men's side of the spectrum.
In addition to the above achievement, Shawnee State men's bowler Zach Ison bowled the first 300 game in the history of either the men's and women's bowling programs in Ohio Bowling Conference competition, and both the men's and women's bowling programs qualified for their second-ever Intercollegiate Tournament Championship (ITC) Sectional, with the men finishing 15th and the women 16th.
Shawnee State women's bowler Hannah Rearick, who enjoyed a tremendous individual season, finished 27th out of 149 women's bowlers at the 2024 Intercollegiate Singles Sectional Qualifier by dropping 1,180 pins in six games. Rearick finished just 130 pins back of finishing in the top-five in her sectional, which would've advanced Rearick to national competition. The finish is the highest of any individual bowler in program history.Â
In 2022, Sturgell helped lead the Shawnee State women's bowling program to its first-ever invitational victory at the 2022 Orange and Black Classic, with the Bears knocking off Notre Dame College, Milligan (Tenn.), and No. 21-ranked Pikeville to collect the women's bowling program's first-ever tournament victory.
Sturgell played a major role in fighting off the shortened COVID season alongside Bryan, by leading the Bears to one of its best years yet on the lanes. Zach Otto became the first bowler in school history to ever obtain First-Team All-Mid-South Conference honors while the women's bowling program won the school's first-ever conference championship by bringing home the Ohio Bowling Conference crown.
Additionally, Chloe Long, the top bowler off of the women's lineup, became the first bowler in the history of the program to earn All-America status, with Long earning NAIA All-American honors as one of only 12 bowlers nationally to obtain such an award on a yearly basis. Long also earned CoSIDA-NAIA Academic All-District honors for her work in the classroom and on the bowling lanes.Â
Both the men's and women's programs also qualified for their first-ever Intercollegiate Tournament Championship (ITC) Sectional, with the women finishing 13th and the men 16th in April 2021.
Sturgell was a three-sport athlete in both high school and college, serving as a four-year basketball and track letterwinner while also cheerleading for the Tartans. She later played basketball for a year at Ohio Northern and participated in track and cheerleading for three seasons each prior to her graduation.
Later, Sturgell later taught for 32 years at East before retiring. She coached East's cheerleaders for 15 years -- leading them to national championship competitions -- and coached either junior high or high school track at either Portsmouth or East for 29 years, including high school track for four seasons at East. He coached junior high basketball at either Portsmouth or East for eight years.
In addition to bowling and golf, Sturgell likes to read and perform volunteer work in her spare time, and has done volunteer work for Main Street Portsmouth in Bloom as well as Friends of Portsmouth.
