The Junior Tournament Bowlers Association of Ohio returned to Zanesville, OH for the second year of the JTBA ABI Phone Systems Open at Sunrise Bowl. Our thanks go out to Mary, Bud, Kevin and all the staff at Sunrise for the great job. Also thanks to Steve at ABI PHONE SYSTEMS we were able to award over $3100 in scholarships at this event!!!!

On the girls side of qualifying Heidi Sanders of Fremont, Ohio and Wright State was the only player on the plus side at +44. Sanders reached he Championship match by defeating her Wright State compadre Daniell Rohr of Fairborn, Ohio in the semi-final 193-201, 222-146 and 203-189. However our Champion would come from the other side of the bracket as Joy Arrigo of Westerville, Ohio defeated Sanders in the final match 212-170, 192-203 and 222-180. Arrigo arrived in the final by besting fellow Westerville star Mary Wells 200-169, 175-199 and 234-175. Along with her victory Joy took over the points race lead for Bowler of Year as she and Sanders are in a very close race. Joy also had high game for the girls at 236.

The boys division saw some hot scoring in the first 3 games and then the pace leveles off as the 37.5 Sport Pattern tightened a little as the day went on. Jay Foote of Worthington, Oh and Wright State University lead qualifying with a blistering 1375 to be plus 175. This included the high game of the day at 277 in the first game of the block. However when match play started it was a day of upsets as in the first round only two of the top eight qualifiers advanced to the round of eight. The Championship match saw the 16th Zeke Bayt another Westerville native advance by defeating lefty Josh Jablonski of Sterling Heights, Michigan ,who was on fire during match play 195-246, 227-215 and 200- 149. Eric Bracken of Brighton, Mi and the University of Michigan had to defeat the other Jablonski, Adam also of SterlingHeights, Mi and JTBA Bowler of the Year points leader. Bracken and Adam had one of the closest matches all day as Eric prevailed at 208-201, 156-221 and 217-212. In the title match Bracken took advantage of some fortunate breaks and went on to win his first ever JTBA title 192-185 and 229-180.

In two weeks we will return to Lorain, Ohio to Rebmans Recreation Center for the JTBA Doubles Championships on April 5, 2009. If you are in need of a partner and would like to participate please contact the JTBA office at (724) 779-9875 or call my cell phone at (724) 766-4174. Remember it is not required to be a JTBA member to bowl in this event!!! Also a reminder of the requirements to participate in the 30th JTBA Championships you need to make match play in one event and bowl in 2 of the last 4 events along with bowling in 5 events throughout the season!!! Also if you have attended all of this seasons events you are qualified !!! The JTBA Board Of Directors will be meeting shortly to address the issue of the new age requirements from USBC. We will issue a statement on the rule and explain how this will affect the JTBA in the 2009-2010 season.