SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INVITATIONAL

champs and finalists

          Katelyn Abigania and Caden Sham put on clinics to capture $1,000 top scholarships as champions of the 2024 JBT Southern California Invitational Tournament, hosted by Winnetka Bowl.

          After five games, bowlers advanced to triple elimination matchplay, creating do-or-die moments center-wide for hours on end.  Abigania was the top scratch seed on the demanding pattern, and rolled through matchplay with only one loss through seven rounds.  In the ensuing round, Katelyn eliminated Brendan Bobersky, and Brandon Rother eliminated Zach Greim (who still earned enough in cameo appearances to qualify for TPC), setting up a scenario where Brandon needed to beat Katelyn twice to swipe the title away.  In the first game, Katelyn’s incredible consistency on the day came through again, filling enough frames for the win, and 13^th title of her JBT career.

          Jonathan Hernandez had a fantastic qualifying round to grab the top seed, but struggled in matchplay, bowing out in round six.  16-seed Seth Le was making a furious run at Bowler of the Year, but after a round seven elimination by his friend Hunter Cao, had to wait and see how the remaining rounds would shake out.  In round eight, Neel Kankariya eliminated Nicholas Dorn, while Cao was eliminated by Caden Sham, who after squeaking into the cut, caught fire, getting to this point with only one loss, meaning Neel would have to beat him twice.  Sham gave Neel no chance for that, saving his best for last with a 230 scratch game, 259 with pins, to not only win the Invitational but squeeze out Handicap Bowler of the Year, what an exclamation point for Caden!

          The only thing that went wrong for Katelyn was the subdivisions, as Nathan Harnit beat her for the U17 win, and Kendall Bollea defeated her in Girls Scratch.  Elias O’Hollaren defended scratch and U17 Bowler of the Year with a consistently excellent season, while Abigania dominated Girls Scratch in addition to the Open Scratch All-Star Team.

          Huge thanks to Daniel and the wonderful team at Winnetka for a flawless hosting job all weekend.  Over $9,000 in scholarships were awarded to the talented field- if you want your chunk of that, check out the new season schedule and come on down!       

Date: Sunday June 16, 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 So Cal Invitational is open to anyone who EITHER had TWO top-4 finishes in So Cal Conference events this season, OR finished in the top 32 in the So Cal Conference points standings after the last regular season So Cal Conference event (6/15 at Winnetka).  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 So Cal and All-Conference points.  After the Invitational, the top 20 in the final So Cal 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!