The 23rd Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association season ended this past Sunday with the finals of the Daniel C. Ottman Memorial Championships at Monroe Sport Center. The Held family once again proved to be a very gracious host for the field of 64 bowlers who were vying for the title and their share of the $25,000.00 in scholarships to be awarded. After 18 games of qualifying and two rounds of match play for both the girls and the guys, nine bowlers awaited their opportunity to claim this year’s title and their “Eagle”.

The ladies side saw four title holders in the step ladder finals with Kara Richard (Tecumseh, MI) leading the way. In the first match Sarah Lokker (New Baltimore, MI) faced Felicia Goll (St Clair Shores, MI) and when Lokker opened with splits in the first and fourth frames Goll took a 23 pin advantage. However a split of her own in the sixth opened the door a bit for Lokker and she slammed it closed in the ninth and tenth frames with a four bagger to shut out Goll before she could even come up in the tenth 193-179. Lokker next faced off against Aleksandra HUdak (Taylor, MI) who had made an impressive run in her first Monroe event. The run however would stop here as Lokker threw just enough strikes to edge Hudak 189-158. In the finals, it was the girls Bowler of the Year on the line between Richard and Lokker. Lokker had come into the event with a one point lead for the year over Richard which meant that the winner of this match would also be the ladies Bowler-of-the-Year. Richard had taken the top spot half way through the final match play round and was not about to give anything away in this title match. After a spare in the first Richard started throwing strikes, five in a row to be exact, and opened up a good sized lead going into the seventh. After a spare in the seventh, another three bagger followed and that sealed the deal for Richard to win the title and the Bowler-of-the-Year award with a 258-225 win over Lokker.

The guy’s had just as much excitement, starting with the very first match. Cory Hines (Jackson, MI) faced off against Eric Bracken (Brighton, MI) and this went down to the tenth frame. Hines had posted a 196 game and Bracken was in need of the first strike in the tenth but when only nine fell, it was Hines moving on to bowl again 196-193. Hines then faced Bobby Bures (Mentor, OH) and this went to the tenth frame as well. Bures had finished his game and Hines was in need of a mark and a good count but when Hines left a 3-4-6-7 split on his first ball it did not look good. Hines however promptly converted the split and then struck on the fill ball to win the match and move on to the semi-finals against the second seed Josh Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI)

Yes, that is right, Josh Jablonski not younger brother Adam who had won everything in sight this season, including the guys Bowler-of-the-Year award for the second straight season. Josh had put together a great run in both qualifying and match play and was very determined to do his best to capture this title. Hines was not to be denied either but a single pin miss in the seventh frame coupled with a late three bagger by Jablonski sealed Hines fate and Jablonski advanced to the final match 200 – 189. Awaiting Jablonski was Jonathan Schiller (Milford, MI) who had lead most of the way during the weekend and was sitting atop the standings waiting for his chance.

Schiller’s chances quickly disappeared as Jablonski started striking right from the start and he kept going. When he threw his seventh in a row we all began to think about the added incentive for rolling a 300 in the step ladder finals. Alro Steel – MJMA would give a $1,000.00 scholarship if that would happen and the Held family would also match that for a total of a $2,000.00 award for that accomplishment. Jablonski however saw his streak end in the eighth frame but he continued out with a win in the championship finals 255 – 186.

Scholarship money was awarded to all the bowlers who made it to the match-play portion of the tournament and the step-ladder finalists earned their share of the scholarships. For her win, Richard received $1,500.00, Lokker $900.00 for second, Hudak $700.00 for third and Goll took home $500.00 for fourth. On the guys side Jablonski earned $2,900.00 while Schiller took $2000.00, Hines $1,700.00, Bures $1,500.00 and Bracken $1,250.00 for their second through fifth place finishes.

Along with the Championship tournament scholarships there were a number of year end awards also given out. The Ottman Memorial Scholarship Award was presented to Eric Bracken and Aleksandra Hudak who each received a $1,000.00 scholarship. Adam Jablonski (Sterling Heights, MI) and Kara Richard each earned $400.00 scholarships for being named the Bowler of the Year, sponsored by Pro-Am Bowling and Trophy. For Jablonski it is back to back seasons for the award. The Rookie of the Year honors went to Aaron Lorincz (Belleville, MI) and Tori Ferris (Kalamazoo, MI) who each took home a $300.00 scholarship. The Brunswick High Average award and the $100.00 scholarships went to Adam Jablonski and Aleksandra Hudak.

One award that the bowlers themselves vote on is the Ottman Sportsmanship award. This year 16 guys and 15 girls received votes and this years winners of the $100.00 scholarships were Josh Jablonski, back to back seasons, and Sarah Lokker.

In all, we awarded nearly $25,000.00 over the weekend which took our season awards over $75,000.00 for the very first time in our history. Over the course of our 23 seasons, we have now awarded nearly $800,000.00 in scholarship money to our members. This would not be possible without the dedication of our presenting sponsor Alro Steel. The Glick family has continued to support the organization all these years and we look forward to their support for years to come so we can continue to offer these kinds of scholarship dollars to our youth bowlers.

One award that has no scholarships attached to it is the Cass Sicilia Memorial Service Award. This is given to a person / persons who have gone above and beyond to help the organization continue to proper. This year’s recipient was Pat Toole who came every tournament, except one, and helped raise money for the scholarship funds by running the raffles for the bowling balls and the 50-50 raffle. Our additions to the funds really jumped when Pat jumped in and started pulling money out of peoples pockets at the events to give back to the kids bowling that weekend. We will miss him next season as his son is now will be age ineligible for next year. Pat, thank you and best of luck to you.

With each ending comes a new beginning and we are looking forward to our 24th season as we will kick off at Lodge Lanes on August 8th. Information packets will be mailed out to the membership in the coming week so look for those in a mailbox near you.