BOWL EL PASO

champs Ahkeen Williams & Dillon Bridge

        Ahkeen Williams and Dillon Bridge captured JBT victories in terrific matchplay JBT action at Bowl El Paso.

        After a cut to the top half, bowlers competed in best 2-of-3 matchplay in early rounds.  Andrew Esparza shot 545 for his last tqo games of qualifying to grab the top seed from Cameron Smith, but got upended by #4 Joe Lewandowski in the semifinals, 235-162.  Smith (with the aid of the event's only 300 game, the eighth of his amazing JBT career) hug on to the #2 seed, but he too was stopped in the semis, 232-220 by Williams, to set up the title game.

        Ahkeen hadn't made a title match since the season-opener in 2009, and took the most of this long-awaited opportunity to put away the match by mid-game, with the eventual 220-185 score earning his his second career JBT title.

         Nick Lloyd has struggled in JBT events for a while, but found the pattern this day to his liking, firing +338 for qualifying the second best total in JBT history!  He cruised through all his matches, including a 216-174 decision over #4 Ryan Doan to reach the title match.  Meanwhile, #2 Bridge had a fine day of his own, punching his ticket for the final with a big 272-256 decision over #3 Steven Acuff.  Acuff tied KJ Martinez for the most handicap top-5 finishes in history. 

        In the #1 vs. #2 title match, both bowlers slowed down off their meteoric paces a bit with the pressure of the title on the line.  In the end, Dillon spared a five-pin in the tenth for the 213-206 win and the title, the first of his JBT career.

       Bailey McFarland averaged 220 in qualifying, then defeated previous day's champion Amber Robinson 176-168 to win the day's Women's Series event, the first of three wins she'll need to qualify for the Girls All-Conference Championship this summer.

        Thanks as always to the team at Bowl El Paso for another great job hosting us.   Over $1,200 was awarded to bowlers of all averages- if you want in on all this fun, just check out our schedule and come on down!