Bowlers of the year: Hudson extends her streak, Lang makes furious comeback

Jun. 18—It was a year of fourths for the Lewiston/Clarkston/Orofino Bowling Association.

The LCO’s 2025-26 women’s bowler of the year Cheyenne Hudson claimed the honor a fourth straight time after putting up a league-leading average game score of 206, while men’s winner Bruce Lang broke a decade-and-a-half drought with his fourth career title, averaging 226. The organization’s league season runs from the fall through the spring and includes competition at Lancer Lanes in Clarkston, Orchard Lanes in Lewiston and Riverside Lanes in Orofino.

Hudson reigns supreme

A teacher at Lewiston’s Jenifer Middle School who moved to the valley around the start of this decade after a distinguished run coaching volleyball for Kamiah, Hudson says she loves bowling because it is “a challenge.” For other women’s bowlers in the region, competing with Hudson would seem to be the real challenge; not only did she win her fourth consecutive league title, but she did so while logging eight of the nine best three-game series in the women’s field, including a career-best performance of 756. Only Alisha Weaver’s 750 series interrupted Hudson’s sweep of the top spots.

“Luck? I don’t know,” Hudson responded when asked about the key to her league title four-peat. “I really enjoy bowling, and I love who I bowl with. I’ve spent a lot of time learning and growing and pushing myself, so I think that’s a big part of it.”

Hudson bowled a career-best 10-game series of 2,072 in the state championships at Twin Falls earlier this year. She also verged on a fifth career perfect game with a round of 299, hitting 11 strikes before leaving the 10-pin standing on her 12th throw.

“I was really consistent (this season), which I was excited about, because it’s really easy to be inconsistent,” she said. “That’s been my focus this year, was trying to work on my consistency, and I was really excited I was able to do that at State.”

Hudson fell short of qualifying for Team USA at the United States Bowling Congress Women’s Championships in Reno, Nev., registering a score of 1,753 where the cutoff was at 1,980. Nevertheless, her dominance locally shows no signs of ebbing, and she has no intention of abdicating her throne.

“I definitely plan on coming back to bowl,” she said. “I love the people I bowl with. I enjoy bowling down here in the valley.”

Lang resurgent

Lang is basking in the afterglow of what he calls “one of the best years of my life.”

The 68-year-old, who lives in Lenore and makes his home base for bowling at Lancer Lanes, racked up a whopping four perfect 300 games in the season. He registered the only 800-plus three-game series in the league, topping out at 823, with the next-best performance a 795 from Lewiston’s Randy Isbelle.

“I never thought I’d do this again,” said Lang, who last won bowler of the year honors in 2011. “Dedication, the right bowling balls — just everything lined up. It was just everything; it wasn’t just one thing. The lane condition, the bowling balls, my health was good, my experience.”

Lang is a 20-plus year firefighter, and recently became Big Canyon District commissioner. He started bowling as a small boy growing up in San Diego, where his father Walter introduced him to the game. He gave it up for a few years in the ’80s to add to his colorful life story with a jet ski racing career that saw him win two world championships, but eventually found his way back to the bowling alley on the invitation of an old friend in need of a teammate.

Lang and Hudson have both extended their involvement in bowling beyond the playing aspect of things, with Lang having served on an organizational level as a longtime USBC Idaho director while Hudson was just voted in to join him in those ranks.

“Friendships, competitiveness — that’s pretty much it,” Lang said in accounting for what keeps people returning to the sport. “The friendship, the camaraderie that you can get with bowling.”

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.