JTBA rolled into Bowling Green, Ohio this past Sunday to Jay Young's Varsity Lanes where 92 players sought the championship and the top scholarship awards that went with the trophy. A big thank you to Jay and his staff for once again providing a great starting place for this season. Jay's 40ft Sport Pattern was just challenging enough to keep the scoring pace to a fair, but equitable number. Of 92 players only 9 managed to average over 200 in qualifying which is 10%. Also Varsity provided a great lunch at a great price and helped to make a long day of intense competition go much smoother. Thanks to Jay and Brunswick for adding $1000 in scholarship dollars for this event.

Joy Arrigo of Westerville, OH led the girls through 6 games of qualifying at -24 while the boys were led by Mentor, OH's Bobby Bures at +73. Cut for the girls was -142 and it took -46 for the guys. On the girls side our top qualifier Arrigo couldn't get past the 8th seed Felicia Goll from St Clair Shores, MI in the first round of match play. Felicia then met up with Walbridge, OH's Nicole Monto besting her with a pair of 192's to 183-169. Thus putting our 8th seeded player in the Finals. On the other side of the bracket the #3 seed Danielle Rohr of Troy, OH took on the 6th seed Addileen Pointer of Highland, MI and defeated her 2-1 . In other 1st round action, Last years JTBA Player of the Year and Freemont, OH's Heidi Sanders took on Westland, MI's Brianne Schmansky and advanced 2-0 to set up a match between Wright State roommates and bitter rivals Rohr and Sanders. Heidi parlyed a couple of good breaks in the match to defeat her 2-1. Heidi also had our high game for the event at 241. Goll and Sanders then provided everyone with a thrilling close Championship Match starting with a 2 pin victory in game 1 for Felicia, 174-172 and then a 1 mark win for Goll in game two 169-159.

On the boys side, after two rounds of play, our bracket shook out with Bures, our #1 seed in the final four. Joining him were 4 seed Mike Johnson of Youngstown OH, 3 seed Mike Kirian of Lima OH, and 10 seed Aaron Okonski of Toledo. In one semi, Johnson knocked off Bures 2-1. Meanwhile, Okonski, who had been on fire in the round of 8 shooting 300 and 268, continued his hot streak in the semis, defeating Kirian 2-0. In the Final, Okonski continued his excellent play, besting Johnson 246-214 and 209-179. Okonski's 300 was the high game for the boys.

Our next event will be the 2008 JTBA Isaly's Championship, hosted by Coach Fred Borden's Stonehedge Place in Akron. Check in will begin at 7:30 AM for the event, with practice beginning at promptly 8:45. We encourage you to enter early, as the event will be getting underway on time, regardless of walk in entries. Anyone not entered by the cut off time, will be shut out, or miss practice time. For the remainder of the season, we will be capping our events at 6 bowlers per pair. Entry limits will be printed on the entry forms starting with the Dayton Open in September. Only pre-paid entries are reserved spots in the field. No phone calls or emails will be accepted as a reservation. We hope to see everyone in Akron on the 17th!