Lavoie Goes Nuclear: 1,691 Shatters Records at the PBA Ohio Classic
The scoring pace at the PBA Ohio Classic inside Columbus Square Bowling Palace was absolutely cooked from the jump. We’re talking video-game numbers, the kind where you just know somebody’s about to rewrite the record book—it’s just a matter of who.
You had Ryan Barnes out front, shredding racks like it’s league night with house money. EJ Tackett? Feels like he’s flirting with history every time he laces ‘em up. And guys like Packy Hanrahan have already proven they can go nuclear over long blocks.
Then there’s the lefty crew—Graham Fach, Spencer Robarge, and Cam Crowe—where it’s honestly more shocking when they don’t strike.
But if you were putting money on someone to drop a historic number, François Lavoie probably wasn’t your pick.
And that’s exactly why this game is so good.
Lavoie—known for touch, control, and that surgical ball motion—went full send in Round 4 and flipped the script completely. We’re talking 290, 226, 300, 299, 299, and 277 for a ridiculous 1,691 six-game total. That’s not just a record—that’s a mic drop. He blew past the previous mark of 1,635 (set by Norm Duke and Dave Wodka) by 56 pins.
Yeah… fifty-six.
“It was surreal. I was in autopilot,” Lavoie said. And honestly, you could see it—just locked in, shot after shot, trusting the process and letting it rip. No scoreboard watching, no chasing numbers—just elite execution. That’s how you accidentally make history.
Meanwhile, Barnes kept the pedal down, leading the 120-player field with a monster 6,061 total on the 47-foot Dragon pattern. He and Lavoie were dead even through four games in Round 4 before things went sideways for Barnes late, finishing just 48 pins short of Pete Weber’s 24-game record.
Hanrahan slid into second with 6,030—casually averaging over 250 for the block—while Lavoie made a massive jump from 32nd to third, dropping 266+ for the day like it’s nothing.
Rounding out the top 10: Tackett sits seventh, with Kyle Sherman, Matt Russo, and hometown guy Chris Via holding it down.
Cut line drama? Oh yeah. Bailey Mavrick snagged the final spot by just six pins over Kyle Troup, who was chasing a win in the same building where his dad, Guppy Troup, hoisted a title back in ‘84.
Next up: top 40 are back on the lanes, grinding through six more games before the field gets trimmed again. From there, it’s a sprint to the top five—and a shot at Sunday lights.
Bottom line? The lanes are hot, the scores are stupid, and if this week has proven anything—it’s that anybody can go off.
Even the guy you didn’t see coming.
