Red Rock Lanes

champs Aaron Foshie & Aaron Watkins

        The Aarons made the fewest errors en route to JBT titles in exciting Mojave Conference action at the beautiful Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas.

        After a cut to the top 16 on the demanding Tournament of Champions pattern, the survivors competed in our 'pick yer poison' round, where the higher seeded bowlers could choose whoever they wanted to bowl in best 2-of-3 matches.  Top seed Dan Hansen had a great qualifying block, but didn't have the antitode for #7 Danny Varholdt, who came up with a 3-game win to eliminate Dan.  Other high seeds fared better, with #13 Foshie and #11 Mark Myers coming up with upsets.  Eventually only four remained, and in those single game matches, Foshie doubled in the tenth frame to eliminate Jakob Butturff, who finished third for the second straight day.  In the other match, Zack Hattori was unable to double in his tenth, giving Cameron Smith the 194-183 win.  Zack's 288 game earlier was by far the high game of the day, and despite going winless, it was a pretty amazing weekend for him (read about yesterday if you haven't).

        Smith got off to a slow start in the title game, and though the 24-time champ did everything he could to claw back into it, a ringing 10-pin in the late frames sealed his fate.  Foshie, who hadn't been in the winner's circle in a while, finally got back to title time with the 223-211 win, good for the seventh title of his JBT career.

        Handicap division top seed Alexis Atkin had a great day but also fell to the "#1 jinx", picking #14 Randi Speiler for her first match which Randi promptly swept 2-0.  Meanwhile, Watkins, the #16 seed, came alive with a 3-game win over Shauna Schultz, followed by 499 for two games in a round two sweep over #3 Jack Parcell.

        Down to four bowlers, Watkins rolled on again, beating Kennison Andrews 231-219, while 10 year-old Andrew Guba reached his second career JBT title match with a 234-181 win over Veronica Schleicher, who made the top 5 in both events this weekend.  Both bowlers struggled in the ensuing title match, as when the lanes dry out on this pattern, very large adjustments are usually required.  It was Watkins who made his spares though, firing a clean 192 to defeat the energetic Guba 221-192, for the third title of his JBT career. 

      Atkin avenged her earlier loss in the main tournament by capturing  the day's Women's Series event with a low scoring but exciting 165-156 win over Veronica Schleicher.  That's the first of three wins she needs to qualify for the 2012 Girls All-Conference Championship this summer in Vegas.

        Thanks as always to the team at Red Rock for another great job hosting our events.  Over $1,400 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages- want in on all this fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!