ARIZONA INVITATIONAL

champs Randy Cote & Nick Wade

   Randy Cote and Nick Wade earned $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the JBT Arizona Conference Invitational tournament, hosted at Chandler's Kyrene Lanes.

   Cote was the top seed for the 16-person, triple elimination matchplay finals, as the two-hander was able to overpower the demanding Shark lane condition.  However, he went 2-2 in early matchplay rounds to get to the brink of elimination.  He did survive to round six, and in that round eliminated fellow Tucsonan Labriel Leach.  With six bowlers left in round seven, #13 Kyle King ousted #3 Miguel Lopez, #2 Eduardo Perez handed #9 Martika Cabezas her second loss, while Cote gave #7 Kris George loss #2. 

   Now with five players left, George earned a bye, while King eliminated Perez and Cote eliminated Cabezas.  With three players left, it was King's turn for the valuable bye, and he watched Cote oust George 246-149 to reach the title match against Kyle.

  When the shark pattern dries out there's still out of bounds, so King and Cote had to make big adjustments to find the pocket.  While Kyle stepped in front of the ball return on the right hand lane, Cote took one finger out of the ball to cut down rev rate.  It was the right move, as the two-handed, one-fingered strike machine blasted a 222-191 win over King for the title, the $1,000 scholarship, and his 7th career JBT title.

   Travis Johnson found a pocket full of strikes en route to the top seed for matchplay, but went 2-2 early to dig a hole for himself, eventually bowing out in round six in 7th place.  In the round of seven, six bowlers remained, and in those matches, #12 Alex Pellegrino was eliminated by #7 Justin Givler, #11 Kalya Goad ousted #3 Steven Acuff, and #2 Nick Wade, the previous day's Tournament of Champions winner, gave #13 JD Sweet, the last non-exempt player in the finals, his second loss. 

   With four bowlers left, Wade eliminated Goad 216-198, while Sweet eliminated Givler 213-179, setting up a scenario where JD had to beat Nick twice to win the title.  In the first game, Nick rolled a clean game through eight frames to seal a 223-176 win and wrap up the title and the $1,000 scholarship.  This was a dream weekend for Wade, with two titles (he had only one previous) and over $1,500 in scholarships!

   Over $7,000 in scholarships were awarded to the field of talented qualifiers.  The top 20 point scorers now advance to the 2009 Touring Players Championship, featuring $2,000 first place scholarships per division.  Want in on all this action?  Be sure to check our schedules and come on out to 2009-10 JBT events starting this August!