BRC KYRENE

champs Cortez Schenck & Rachael Berg

        One bowler's heartbreak was another bowler's relief as Cortez Schenck and Rachael Berg claimed JBT victories in exciting Arizona Conference action at BRC Kyrene Lanes.

        Adel Wahner made her first scratch division top 5 finish a success with a 224-209 win over Harley Sweigart to open the scratch division stepladder finals.  Aaron Munyon then stopped Wahner 211-181.  Cortez Schenck then turned the tables on Munyon with a 245-200 win to move on to the title match.

        Top seed Robert Douglas had by far the best day of his JBT career, averaging over 230 to lead the event comfortably.  He had a chance to lock up the title with a tenth frame double, but after leaving a 7-pin he unfortunately missed the spare, giving Schenck the room he needed for a 234-214 win.  It's a historic win for Cortez's historic JBT career as this is already the 15 year-old's 30th career JBT title, becoming only the 5th bowler in JBT history to achieve that lofty total.

        Rachael Berg began an exciting climb up the handicap division stepladder finals with a 218-199 win over Connor Lawrence.  Berg then got past Zach Rapp, who was brilliant all day except for on lanes 39-40 (which unfortunately for him was the finals pair), 253-157.  The semifinal match was an all-time great one, as Samantha Sellers rolled the third-highest handicap game of the day, but Berg came up even bigger for a 285-268 win, moving on to the title match.

        Top seed Max Polhill led almost the entire event, and now got to face Berg for the title for the second time in a month, having defeated her at Deer Valley for his first title.  This one came down to the tenth frame, where a missed bucket by Berg allowed Polhill the chance to double for the win.  A great first shot by Max let a brutal solid-9, and a relieved Rachel claimed the 193-180 win, and the first title of her JBT career.

        Wahner's already terrific day was made even better with a 215-194 win over Heather Penatzer to capture the day's Women's Series title, presented by Impact Bowling.  She needs two more wins to secure her spot in the Girls TPC this July.

        Thanks as always to the crew at Kyrene, who has been with JBT literally since the start- they hosted the first JBT event in 1997.  1,100 tournaments later, they are still great hosts.  Want in on all the fun?  Just check out our schedule, and come on down!