TRIANGLE BOWL

champs Jordan Yoke & Courtney Nikolas

    Jordan Yoke and Courtney Nikolas captured their first career JBT titles each in exciting Pacific Northwest Conference action at Longview's Triangle Bowl.

    The scratch division used our 'PBA' format, where for a second straight day a challenging shot was put out, with 16 bowlers advancing to a best 2-of-3 matchplay finals.  Catherine Rawsthorne led every round of qualifying en route to teh top seed, but let game two of her match against #16 Brandon Dunson get away with an errant fill ball, opening the door for Dunson to win game three and take out the #1 seed.  #2 Yoke fared better, sweeping #15 Jared McNeal.  #4 Marshall Kent also advanced, but #3 Jordan Plunkett was upended in two straight by #14 Justin David.

    In the round of eight, Yoke beat #5 Nick Bachteler 2-0; #9 Chris Kirk beat Dunson 2-1; #11 Josh Jackson swept David, and #6 Shay Thompson survived a 2-1 thriller against Kent, 221-213 in the deciding game.

   In single game semifinal matches, Thompson outlasted Kirk 215-201, while Yoke neat Jackson in easily the best matchof the day, 259-247 setting up a title match between two good friends and Triangle Bowl local bowlers, a very rare event in the scratch division.

   Yoke had his career high series on the pair picked for the title game, and used that confidence to build an early lead which Thompson, though bowling well,  could not recover from.  Jordan's 236-210 win was good for his first carre JBT title, worth $300 thanks to an extra $100 scholarship for winning with an Ebonite ball.

   The handicap division bowled on the house lane condition, and the extra room was readily evident, with the +77 cut the third-highest ever in a 5-game JBT qualifier, and over 100 pins higher than the previous day's cut.   Quanmtified another way, 21 bowlers finished ahead of the previous day's 5th-place total of +34.

   Krissy Nagasawa opened the stepladder finals with a 224-204 win over Nathan Coigny.  Courtney Nikolas, who had led after five games, then beat Nagasawa 223-201, setting up one of our favorite events, and all-sibling match, this time between Courtney and Ryan Nikolas.   This time, sister beat brother 206-203 to advance to the title match. 

   Top seed Travis McAllister took over from Courtney to lead the semifinal rounds, so it was appropriate that the two met for the title.  They both had been striking all day, but it was Nikolas that came up with teh big strings in the title match, winning 247-206 for her first career JBT title.

   Thanks to the whole crew at Triangle for a wonderful weekend at their fantastic center.  Over $1,800 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages- want in on the fun?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!