In the second event of the Alro Steel / Michigan Junior Masters Association season, Cherry Hill Lanes North, the place where it all started 21 years ago, provided us with outstanding hospitality and a very challenging condition for our all 108 bowlers. Our last event had 12 bowlers average over 200 for the event but this time only one person made it through the weekend averaging over 200.

On the boy’s side, it was John Kelley (Sterling Heights, MI) who put together the right amount of strikes with spares in between to win for the second time this season and for the fifth time overall in his MJMA career. Kelley fought off a very tough 111 game in Sunday’s match play and put together a very impressive run over the next 9 games, averaging 217, to take the top spot going into the step ladder finals. Before Kelley could try to earn back-to-back titles this year he had to see who was going to bowl him in the championship match.

In the first match it was Randy Churchill Jr. (Windsor, Ont.) who had lead qualifying by averaging 212.6 while shooting 1701 facing Chris Creeks (Zelienople, PA) who was the fourth place qualifier. Creeks, who graduated from Pennsylvania Technical Institute in May, made short work of Churchill with a 221-140 victory. Creeks next faced fellow Pennsylvanian and Junior Team USA member Tim Pfeifer (Cranberry Twp., PA) in the next round. Creeks again came out victorious with a resounding 224-167 win to put him into the semi-finals against Scott Honeysett (Lansing, MI).

This match went back and forth the whole way but in the end it was the Michigan State University team member, Honeysett, coming out on top 227-212 to advance to the championship finals against Kelley. This match was even almost all the way through and if Honeysett could have thrown a strike on the right lane the outcome could have been different but, in the end, it was the consistency of Kelley making the difference as he won the match 202-195. Kelley also won the Junior Gold qualifying spot for the boy’s at the event with his victory.

The girl’s were not to be outdone as some of the closest stepladder finals in recent memory were bowled. Jaeger was matched up against three time champion Jennifer Churchill (Windsor, Ont.) in the first match. This one was close all the way until Churchill threw a 4-7-10 split in the 8th frame and opened the door for Jaeger to advance to the semi-finals. In the semis Jaeger faced Bethan McGeary (New Kensington, PA) who just could not get 10 pins to fall down in the game and Jaeger tossed her only clean game of the tournament to win 202-171. This set up Jaeger in the finals against 4-time MJMA winner Christine Bator (Warren, MI). Bator ran into some early problems with difficult spares and Jaeger continued her consistent play to run the ladder and win her second MJMA title with a 180-166 victory. Jaeger also received the Junior Gold spot for the girls from this event.

The total scholarship paid in the event was $3,300.00. Thanks to the full field of 108 bowlers, the donation of our presenting sponsor Alro Steel and the generosity of the parents and guests at the center for our Dyno-Thane bowling ball raffle and 50-50 raffle we were able to pay out everyone who made match play. This was a first for MJMA and it is something we hope we will be able to do with future events.

Our next event will be at AMF Sturgis Lanes in Sturgis, MI on September 16th, 2006. Due to the 32 lane limit at AMF Sturgis Lanes our field will be limited to the first 96 bowlers who enter, so entries need to be in early for this one. This will also be on the same weekend as the Michigan – Notre Dame Football game in South Bend, IN so make sure you get your hotel reservations early or you may be staying farther away than you would like.

For further information on upcoming Alro Steel / MJMA events please view our 2006-2007 schedule or contact Jerry Tarabek (at jtar2830@yahoo.com or by calling 616-780-2095). We are looking forward to our return trip to AMF Sturgis Lanes and the 2nd annual event. I know Mike Converse and the stall at the center will provide us with the same challenging conditions as we had in our first event last season.