Samantha Johnson (Wyoming, MI) and Dustin Rose (New Boston, MI) capped off the 2009-10 Michigan Junior Masters Association season with wins in the 16th Annual Brunswick Grand Rapids Open held at Spectrum Lanes on May 15th. Johnson won her 3rd MJMA title and capped off a season that has her in position for Bowler-of-the-Year honors with her third win this season. Rose grabbed his first ever title and joined a group of 15 active male members with titles.

Winning a title is never an easy task and in the one-day events, like we run in Grand Rapids, it is more difficult since stamina is one mainstay for our competitors. After the eight games of qualifying, the top 16 guys and 8 girls were matched up in bracket format to face off in the first round of best of three. On the girls side, only one of the higher seeded bowlers made it out of the first round with tournament high qualifier Aleksandra Hudak (Taylor, MI) being the lone top survivor. In the semi-finals, it was Hudak again advancing as she struck out in the thenth frame to defeat Addileen Pointer 193-189. Johnson also advanced by throwing the last 5 strikes to beat Roookie-of-the-Year contender Olivia Wirtz (Battle Creek, MI) 223-211.

In the finals Johnson and Hudak both seemed to struggle a bit as Hudak had a couple of splits in the first seven frames but she still had a chance to win the match in the tenth with a double but after throwing the first strike she only got nine on the second ball and gave the match and title to Johnson 186-179. Johnson took home $250.00 in scholarship for her first place finish while Hudak earned $175.00 for second. Wirtz and Pointer each will receive $125.00 for making it to the semi-finals.

On the guy’s side, the top seeds in brackets did not fair any better than on the girl’s side as only the fifth seed, Erik Stanley (Warren, MI), advanced out of the first round of brackets. The second round was split as two of the four higher seeds left in the event made it through to the semi-finals with James Koss (Brighton, MI) the #9 seed and Eric Christensen (Wixom, MI) the #10 seed advanced.

In the semi-finals Koss was matched up against Rose and in a strike filled, exciting match Rose prevailed 244 – 235 when Koss left a solid 8 pin on his second ball in the tenth. Christensen was matched up against the # 14 seed Aaron Groendyk (Grandville, MI) and this match again went down to the tenth frame only to have Groendyk pull out the win 189-185.

The finals match pitted two unlikely qualifiers as the #13 seed Rose faced off against the #14 seed Groendyk. Rose, however, wanted to make sure this match was not going to the tenth frame as he threw strikes in seven of the first eight frames and put the match away early with a 233 – 193 win. Rose took home a $400.00 scholarship for the win while Groendyk received $300.00 for second.

In all over $3,200.00 was awarded to our bowlers for this event and Brunswick also kicked in a special scholarship award for those bowlers who were throwing Brunswick equipment during the event. The top three finishers on both the boys and girls side, who were throwing Brunswick balls, each received an additional scholarship amount from Brunswick Our winners on the girls side were Samantha Johnson ($125.00), Aleksandra Hudak ($100.00) and Tori Ferris (Kalamazoo, MI) ($75.00). On the guys side our winners were Aaron Groendyk ($125.00), Evan Luff (Riverview, MI - $100.00) and Andrew Anderson (Holly, MI - $75.00). Thanks go out to Brunswick not only for their scholarship donation to the event but to Bill Orlikowski, Frank Maresse and Larry Verble who all made the trip to Wyoming, Michigan to allow the bowlers the chance to try out Brunswick equipment during the time between the qualifying rounds and matchplay.

A special thanks goes out to Larry Verble who put his reputation and ego on the line as he was our substitute “Otter” for the annual Beat the Otter competition. This is a once a year fun competiton that our beloved founder Dan Ottman used to run., He would give the kids a chance to beat his score on the same lane conditions that the kids were bowling on that day to earn bragging rights and a t-short to commemorate the event. This year Larry Verble stepped in the shoes of the “Otter” and did a very commendable job as he shot a high score of 227 for his 4 game stretch. The kids however, did not hink that his score was that tough as 31 bowlers earned their t-shirts this by rolling 228 or better.

With the end of the regular season now upon us, we turn our attention to the year end Daniel C. Ottman Championship Tournament which will be held at the friendly confines of the Monroe Sport Center once again this year. This invitational event is hosted by longtime MJMA supporters in the Held family and we once again look forward to their hospitality on June 11, 12 and 13. With both Bowler-of-the-Year and Rookie-of-the-year awards on the line,not to mention the coveted Championship title, I am sure the bowling will be very exciting. Opening ceremonies will begin at 6PM on Friday, June 11th with the bowling starting at 7PM. Qualifying will continue at 9AM and 1:30PM on Saturday, June 12th with the match play portion of the event scheduled for 7PM on Saturday and 9AM on Sunday, June 13th. Step ladder finals will begin approximately at 2PM on Sunday, following the awards presentations.

Individual entries will be mailed to all thise who have qualified for the event so look for those early during the week of May 24th. Entries must be returned no later than June 8th so please make sure you get them in the mail as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Championship Tournament to close out our 24th season as the Michigan Junior Masters Association.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jerry Tarabek at jtar2830@yahoo.com or by calling (616) 780-2095.