MOUNTAIN INVITATIONAL

champs & finalists

            Diego Lujan and Xaden Todacheenie each earned $1,000 scholarships as champs of the JBT Mountain Conference Invitational, held at Albuquerque's Silva Lanes.

            After five qualifying games, sixteen bowlers in each division advanced to dramatic triple-elimination matchplay.  #8 seed John Green remained undefeated the longest in scratch, starting 5-0 before #11 Aiden Ruiz-Jimenez stopped him.  Points leader Dmitri Richardson was eliminated in that round, giving Tyler Close a chance to run the table for Bowler of the Year, but a round six third loss ended his fine season.  In round eight, four bowlers remained, and when Green eliminated Ian Rodriguez, and Lujan eliminated Aiden, it was left to Diego to beat John twice to swipe away the title. 

            Lujan was up to challenge in game one, winning fairly comfortably, but game two came down to the wire.  Diego threw a terrific double in the tenth to force John to do the same. When Green's first shot went high and did not carry, Lujan's comeback from 1-2 after game three was complete, winning his seventh consecutive game, his fourth career JBT title, first major, and $1,000 top prize! 

            Nicco Bacoccini wowed the handicap field in qualifying, blistering the demanding lane pattern to grab the #1 spot.  Matchplay was a bit rougher, though he did survive until round six for a seventh place finish.   The youngest bowler in the field, 8 year-old Brantley Forgue, qualified 14th and started matchplay 4-0 before a first loss to #9 Mason Vandeventer.  Meanwhile, Todacheenie was plowing through the field with one loss through eight rounds.  With four bowlers left, Xaden eliminated previous day's champ Jordan Wisthoff, while Forgue took down Vandeventer, setting up a title tilt with Brantley needing to win twice.  Forgivably, it looked like Forgue started to run out of steam (in game nine after five yesterday), while Todacheenie meanwhile was a runaway train.  He went a very rare 9-0 at Silva to win the Invitational two years ago, then finished Forgue here to complete an 8-1 run this time, winning the Invite for his third career title and, like two years ago another $1,000 scholarship windfall!

            The Girls Scratch finalists were no surprise, as Kallista Fritts and Kendall Bollea qualified 1-2, and the finale was won by Fritts, for an amazing seventh girls title of the season and $200 Invite champ bonus.   Gavin Finley and Gaius Tipton were less odds-on to appear in the U17 final, but both bowled great to earn the spots.  Finley won a low-scoring match for the U17 title and $200 bonus.

            Giant thanks to the Silva extended family for another great weekend at their center.  Over $5,800 in scholarships were earned by the talented field of qualifiers from six states.  Want in on all the fun?  Just check out our season 29 schedule when released, tell a friend, and come on down!

Date: Sunday June 2, 2024  (This is ONE tournament that is one day long, open only to those who qualified for it based on their performance this season (see below). 

Start Time: Bowling begins at 9:30 AM.

Re-entries?:  There's only one qualifying squad, so there are no re-entries this event..

Reservations:  There is no need to reserve a spot, since it's an Invitational.  The tournament will not sell out- if you qualified, we will have room for you.   You can prepay (not required) at the 'Prepaying' section of this website. 

Eligibility: The Mountain Invitational is open to anyone who EITHER had TWO top-4 finishes in Mountain Conference events this season, OR finished in the top 32 in the Mountain Conference points standings after the last regular season Mountain Conference event (6/1 at Silva).  Also, simultaneous with the main Invitational are the Girls Scratch and U17 Invitationals;  (it is possible you may qualify for only the Girls and/or U17 Invites but not the main Invite; in that case you still bowl the qualifying round but cannot make the main Invite cut).   Visit the 'statistics' section of the website to check on your points.

Format: Qualifying round is 5 games.  The top 5 season-long point scorers earn a bye into the finals (but are still playing for their seeding within the finals). The next 11 bowlers also qualify for the finals, for a total of 16 finalists.  Finals are triple elimination matchplay- keep bowling until you lose three times, which will eventually leave only one bowler- the champion- standing.

Divisions/ Averages:  Scratch or handicap.  It is the bowlers' choice of division, regardless of which division you bowled in to qualify for this event.

Points:  This event counts for TRIPLE Mountain and All-Conference points.  After the Invitational, the top 20 in the final Mountain Conference points standings advance to the Touring Players Championship, July 25-28 in Las Vegas, with $2,800 scratch and handicap first place scholarships.   Visit the 'statistics' section of the website to check on your points.

Entry fee: $60.  Scholarship brackets are available for $2 each.  Raffle tickets for Ebonite bowling balls, and our PowerBowl and '28' jackpots, are available on-site. 

Sponsor Incentive bonuses:  1) IAM Bowling: Bowlers making the final match of an event (scratch or handicap) wearing an IAM patch (good), any IAM shirt (better), or an IAM JBT shirt (best) earn point bonuses towards a $5,000 IAM incentive jackpot.  (The IAM patch is requested to be worn by all bowlers).   2) Virtue Bowling: Bowlers making the final match of an event (scratch or handicap, win or lose), using a Virtue Bowling shirt or patch, and a Virtue drilled ball, earn a $25 Virtue gift card.  

Scholarships: 1:6 in each division earn scholarships, scratch and handicap.  Minimum prizes are $1,000, $500, $250, $125, $100.  The top 5 in points heading into the event earn a minimum $60 scholarship regardless of finish in the event.

Lane conditions: conditions vary from event to event, and are not posted prior to the event (unless otherwise announced).  Some events do not post the pattern until after qualifying.  Be ready for anything- it makes you a better bowler!  Check out previous patterns and corresponding cut scores at the 'lane conditions' section of this website.

Dress code:  Anything goes EXCEPT tank tops, gym shorts, clothing promoting alcohol, drugs, or firearms, or excessively ripped or short clothing, subject solely to the director's discretion.  However, bowlers wearing slacks or dress shorts/skirts, and a 'name shirt' or PBA-style 'dye-sub' shirt, or college or high school team shirt, earn an extra 10 points on their season-long points total.  If you're not sure about dress code, check with us.  If you're new to us, the vast majority of the bowlers do dress in the 'bonus' dress code, and those points become very important, so plan accordingly.

We hope you qualify for this prestigious event- do not miss it if you do!