TOURING PLAYERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

champs Brandon Allred & Alesha Pannier

Allred, Pannier Capture JBT Touring Players' Championship;

Over $16,000 Awarded!

Brandon Allred, Las Vegas NV, and Alesha Pannier, Lake Havasu City AZ, won the $2,000 top scholarship prizes as scratch and handicap champions of the 2006 JBT Touring Players' Championship, hosted by Glenfair Lanes.

The scratch division featured bowlers challenged by four different lane conditions and a format that had some rolling as many as 23 games over two grueling days.  The field was eventually carved down to the final five.  In round one of the stepladder, Kevin Saunders used a steady game to defeat NM T of C winner Justin Medina 204-165.

Saunders, a 7-time JBT winner, was just as solid in round two, upping his score to 205 to get past AZ Invitational champion Cayson Coyle.  In the semifinals, both bowlers struggled, but Kris George put together a late string to defeat Saunders 192-169, advancing him to the title match.

George has had an incredible year, winning 4 titles, the So Cal Invitational, and making the Mojave All-Star team.  Top-seed Brandon Allred didn't have the wins, but still put together a very solid season, including runner-up for Mojave Bowler of the Year and points.  He also was the runner-up at our regular season stop at Glenfair, and led a squad at Junior Gold (beating 1,000 other bowlers to do so), so he came in very confident.

Brandon's confidence was rewarded, as he recovered from some early opens on the demanding conditions to get the 9 pins he needed in the tenth for a 172-170 win over Kris.  With his bonuses, Allred won a total of $2,161 for his fourth career JBT title and second career major.  George settled for $1,155 for second.

The handicap division finals featured bowlers from all four of our conferences going for the top prize.  In round one, Rebeca Reguero, still looking for her first title, snuck by Californian Kyle Ruzylo, 208-180.  

Round two featured two of this season's Sportsmanship Award winners going head to head.  In a match therefore filled with loud cursing and kicked ball returns (just kidding!), Susan Kurzeka defeated Reguero 224-199.  In an exciting semifinal match, 2-time winner Kyle Frederick doubled in the tenth frame to sneak by Kurzeka 227-215, as Susan raced out the door (yet again) to catch her flight back to Albuquerque.

Top seed Alesha Pannier has already had a dream season, capturing Mojave Bowler of the Year honors and finishing second in the Invitational as well.  Alesha electrified the crowd by converting the 6-7-9-10 in the second frame and never looked back, rolling a clean game en route to a 217-185 victory over Frederick.  She totalled out with $2,165 for her second career JBT title.

Saturday evening featured our first ever Awards Dinner, in which our stars from all over the southwest gathered for great food and presentations of all our year end awards.  Thanks to Judy at Buca diBeppo Arrowhead for the great grub, and La Quinta Inn Greenway for a great hosting job!

Huge thanks to Di Tormanen and everyone at Glenfair for a spectacular job hosting the most prestigious event on the JBT calendar.  In all, $16,913 was awarded to the 92 bowler field.  With one event left, the JBT will award over $250,000 this season alone.  Wanna be part of this action?  You can!  ANY AGE AND ANY AVERAGE can and does do well in JBT events!

The JBT returns for its 11th season of Arizona Conference action this September- check our ad in this paper and our website, www.bowljbt.com, for all the details!