Damon Helgevold starts year six as the Columbia College head women's bowling coach for the 2026-2027 season. During his tenure, the Cougar bowling team has won one team tournament, qualified and been selected for three USBC ITC Sectionals, and produced six individual tournament champions, 13 All-Tournament Team members, one NAIA All-American, one Heart of America All-Conference selection, 13 NAIA Scholar-Athletes and 26 NCBCA Academic All-Americans.
The Cougars once again reset the school record book throughout the 2025-2026 season. Eight team records fell on the way to the program's best-ever USBC ITC Sectionals finish, 9th in Smyrna, Tennessee. Columbia also set season bests in Tier I finish (12th at the Hoosier Classic), USBC Power Points ranking (39th of 159) and NAIA RPI (18th). At the third annual Columbia Cougar Clash, sophomore Amara Vrell picked up the Cougars' sixth individual championship, and later in the year freshman Audrey Pense earned the program's 13th All-Tournament Team selection.
The Cougars finished 3rd at the Heart of America Conference Tournament, held in Columbia — the fourth straight year they've finished no worse than 3rd in their conference tournament. Junior Kiana Hodges was named Heart of America All-Conference Honorable Mention, the first Cougar ever to earn all-conference honors. Six Cougars were named to the NAIA Scholar-Athlete team and eight earned NCBCA Academic All-American honors. The team also posted its highest semester GPA in program history in fall 2025.
In 2024-2025, the Cougars won their first-ever tournament title at the Morningside Mustang Invite in Sioux City, Iowa. Earlier that season, playing with only five bowlers, Columbia placed second at the Jayhawk Challenge in Lawrence, Kansas, then added another runner-up finish at the Avila Eagle Invite in January. Columbia hosted its first-ever tournament on January 18-19, 2025, and later that season the Heart of America Conference held its Bowling Championships in Columbia.
The Cougars joined the Heart of America Conference as an affiliate member for bowling in 2024-2025 and reached the Conference Championship Match for the first time in program history after winning the elimination bracket. Culver-Stockton prevailed 2-1 in the title match, but it still marked the program's best-ever conference tournament finish under Helgevold. The season closed with a second straight trip to the USBC ITC Sectionals, this time in Fort Worth, Texas, where Columbia produced two All-Tournament Team members and two of the top three individual finishes at a Tier I event, along with four NAIA Scholar-Athletes and six NCBCA Academic All-Americans.
The 2023-2024 season saw the Cougars qualify for their second-ever USBC ITC Sectionals, in Addison, Illinois — their first appearance since 2021. During the Sectionals, Columbia set the school's single Baker-game record with a 257. At the Clarke Invite, the Cougars finished runner-up to champion Ottawa, and they placed 3rd at the AMC/KCAC/GPAC Conference Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas. The season ended with two All-Tournament Team members, two NAIA Scholar-Athletes and six NCBCA Academic All-Americans.
Helgevold led the Cougars to a banner year in 2022-2023. Columbia earned its first NAIA All-American in bowling as sophomore Jordyn Czerw claimed second-team All-American honors and broke five school records. As a team, the Cougars set six new school records, including a third-place finish at the AMC/KCAC/GPAC Conference Tournament in Belton, Missouri. At the Clash of the Spartans in St. Charles, Missouri, Columbia finished runner-up after entering as the No. 6 seed. The season closed with four All-Tournament Team members, four NAIA Scholar-Athletes, four NCBCA Academic All-Americans and a final NAIA RPI ranking of 29th.
Helgevold's inaugural season came in 2021-2022. Hired that August as just the second head coach in program history, he led the Cougars to a new program-best five-game team total at the Tier I Kegel Midwest Collegiate.
A native of Osceola, Iowa, Helgevold came to Columbia College after serving as assistant bowling coach at Clarke Community High School, where he helped the girls' squad qualify for the state tournament for the first time in six seasons.
Helgevold was a four-year letter winner at Clarke High School, leading the team to two state tournament appearances (2012 and 2015). He held the team's highest average three times and was a four-time All-District bowler, earning District Bowler of the Year honors twice.
Helgevold bowled collegiately at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa, where he was a member of three USBC Team Sectionals-qualifying squads and a three-time NCBCA Academic All-American.
