John Kelley of Sterling Heights, Michigan and Kayla Blanchard of Livonia, Michigan kicked off the 21st season of the Alro Steel / Michigan Junior Masters Association in grand style as they each won their respective division championships at Lodge Lanes in Belleville, Michigan.

Bob Goike, ABC Hall of Fame member, and his staff at Lodge Lanes welcomed 102 bowlers for the inaugural event of the 2006-07 season. The field was full of first time bowlers as 29 members bowled for the first time in MJMA. Rookies or not some of them showed they belonged right away, including our ladies champion, Kayla Blanchard.

Josh Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI) was bowling in his very first event but he did not show any first-time jitters as he led the boy's field through the eight-game qualifying with a fine 1823 score. Christine Bator (Warren, Mi), who won two events last season, led the girls after eight games with 1571. However, match play was ready to begin and wit the PBA style brackets being in place anything could, and usually does, happen.

This event was no exception as two of the top four girls, including Bator, and four of the top eight boys fell in the first round of match play. This set up some very interesting matches for the second round. In the second round the #2 seed John Kelley and the #8 seed Brian McMahon (Saginaw, MI) advanced to the semi finals and waiting for them was # 14 seed Justin O'Hara Westland, MI) and # 13 seed Ryan Van Hecke (Sterling Heights, MI). Our qualifying leader Jablonski was ousted by McMahon in three games. On the ladies side it was #2 Christina Huttinger (Zelienople, PA), #3 Ashley Blakley (Grand Blanc, MI), # 5 Jennifer Churchill (Windsor, Ont.) and #8 Kayla Blanchard meeting in the semi-finals.

The boys had quite the battle as McMahon ousted Van Hecke 222-171 while Kelley needed all he could get in the tenth frame to defeat O'Hara 234-233. Meanwhile the girl's were having their own little battle as Blanchard took charge over Churchill 222-178 and Blakley, bowling in very first MJMA event, ousted Huttinger 151-150. In the finals it was Kelley taking charge early and closing out with a 268-193 win to earn his fourth MJMA title while Blanchard earned her very first title with a 189-169 win over Blakley.

In all $2,800.00 was handed out in scholarships for this event with Kelley earning $350.00 and Blanchard $200.00 for their tournament wins. Also, Junior Gold spots were awarded to Jablonski and Bator as the high qualifier from this event. They will represent MJMA in Buffalo, NY this coming July at the National Tournament.

Again this year MJMA will have the Alumni event that brings back MJMA members from the past to showcase their talents to the current membership. This year's event will be run as a separate tournament with the alumni bowling after the current members finish their qualifying on Saturday, August 26th at approximately 3:30PM.

The alumni will bowl a 6-game qualifier and then the top bowlers on both the male and female sides will move on to match play to determine our winners this year. We will be offering a championship prize to the top finishers, which will be determined by the total number of entries we receive.

Make sure you reserve your spot at the alumni event and please tell everyone you know who is a former member that we will be looking to crown the champions from the past at this year’s event. If you need information regarding this year's event please look to the 2006-2007 MJMA schedule or call Jerry Tarabek at 616-780-2095.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Clarkston for the 21st Annual Cherry Hill Classic!