WINNETKA BOWL

champs Solomon Salama & Brandon Criss with Ryan Lee and DJ Soperanaz; Kaylee Am-Khong and Salama

        Two familiar names, but only one familiar face, claimed JBT titles in exciting action with season-long implications at Winnetka Bowl.

        Tim Hill began the scratch division stepladder finals with a 214-186 win over Anthony Schanen.  Ryan Lee then took over, plucking the "Bird" with a 243-185 win, and continuing to pile on the strikes in a 257-241 thriller over Josh Mabry to advance to the finals.

        The good news for Ryan was that he was in another title match.  The bad news was that top seed Solomon Salama awaited him, and Solomon has had Lee's number of late in JBT matches.  In fairness to Ryan, Solomon has had most kids' numbers nationwide the last few years with his phenomenal performances.  Unfortunately for Lee, it was more of the same, as both players bowled well but in the end Salama came up with a 233-203 win, good for the 8th title of his JBT career.

       Elias Luna watched his big brother win scratch yesterday, and must have been motivated as he began a title run of his own with a 229-205 win over Kaitlynn Martin to begin the handicap division stepladder finals.  Zach Greim, finally busting out of some near-misses, then stopped Luna 216-195.  Another younger sibling, Cameron Criss' brother Brandon, then beat Greim 214-190 to reach the title match.

       Top seed DJ Soperanaz had taken the lead from Criss at the end of qualifying then coasted to the #1 spot with great bowling.  The title game was close throughout, but in the end Brandon joined his borther as JBT champions with a 222-217 win over DJ for his first career JBT title.

      It was a dual repeat in the subdivisions (the picture even came out exactly the same, go figure), as Salama beat Greim for the U17 win, while Kaylee Am-Khong got past Martin for the Priority Girls Scratch win.

     Big thanks to the team at Winnetka for their usual great job hosting our Tour.  Over $3,700 in scholarships were awarded on the weekend- want in on all the fun for all ages and averages?  Just check out our schedule and come on down!