Triple Crown at 22: Former Husker Jillian Martin Makes History

Husker Nation, one of your own just did something nobody in professional women’s bowling has ever done this young.

Jillian Martin won the PWBA Tour Championship on Tuesday night in Parma Heights, Ohio, beating Germany’s Birgit Noreiks 247-221 at Yorktown Lanes — and became the youngest bowler ever to win three majors on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour.

She is 22 years and 24 days old.

That title also completed the Triple Crown: the USBC Queens, the U.S. Women’s Open and the PWBA Tour Championship. Martin is the first bowler to sweep all three since the PWBA Tour relaunched — and the youngest ever to do it. The names she passed on the way there? PWBA Hall of Famers Wendy Macpherson (22 years, nine months, 20 days) and Aleta Sill (22 years, eight months, two days).

Before any of that, she was a Husker — a four-time All-American at Nebraska and the 2025 NTCA Bowler of the Year.

“It’s shocking,” Martin told PWBA.com after becoming a five-time champion with three major titles at 22. “I would not necessarily expect to be here. Have I imagined being here? Did I know it could happen? 100%. But I never truly, truly was like, ‘Wow, this is going to happen, and it’s going to happen now.’”

Here’s the number that says the most about how she is rolling right now: Tuesday was her 10th consecutive stepladder match win, a streak stretching back to her 2024 USBC Queens run. She entered the finals as the top seed, and she was the only bowler to win twice all season on the 2026 PWBA National Tour.

Five career titles. Three majors. A Triple Crown. At 22.

Husker Nation, remember where she learned it.