Samantha JohnsonAaron GroendykOnce again this season, Cherry Hill North Lanes in Clarkston, Michigan proved to be a severe test for the Michigan Junior Masters Association members at the Brunswick Cherry Hill Classic event held on August 28th and 29th. The 2003 WTBA World Championship pattern held everyone in check as none of the 108 bowlers averaged over 200 for the entire event. As a matter of fact, the high tournament average went to Mary Wells (Westerville, OH) who averaged 198.9 for her 16 games while Aaron Groendyk (Grandville, MI) led all the boys with a 195.6 avergae for his 20 games. Both Wells and Groendyk sat atop the leader board heading into their respective step-ladder finals but had to wait and see who would make it through to challenge them for the event title and the winners share of the nearly $4,000.00 in scholarships to be awarded for the event.

On the girls side, the first match pitted five-time champion Sarah Lokker (New Baltimore, MI) against three-time champion Samantha Johnson (Wyoming, MI). The match was expectedly tight until Johnson threw a double on her first two balls in the tenth frame to close out Lokker 190-161. Johnson next faced last years Co-Rookie-of-the-Year Jordan Richard (Tecumseh, MI) who had won the award along with her sister Haley, who was not bowling in the event due to injury. Johnson started right where she left off in the previous match and dominated the match 236-163 to advance to the finals against Wells.

Wells, making her second straight trip to the championship finals, looked like the wait may have hampered her a bit but Johnson was certainly showing no signs of cooling off either. In the fourth frame it was either bowlers match to win but Johnson then went on a striking spree and strung six straight to win the match and her fourth MJMA title, 249 – 167.
The guys’ had a very up and down finals starting with the forst match with Trevor Smith (Howell, MI) and Jonathan Bandy (new Hudson, MI). In a very back and forth and tight match it was Bandy taking advantage of a Greek Church being left by Smith in the 8th frame to mark in the 8th and 9th frames and double in the 10th to seal the win and advance to the next match 174-142. Nic Sutherland (Grand Blanc, MI) was awaiting Bandy and in yet another very close match it was Sutherland throwing the strikes he needed in the late going to beat Bandy’s clean game 207-194.

Charles Easton (Sylvania, OH) was making his very first MJMA step-ladder appearance and he took advantage of the opportunity as he threw a double in the 8th and 9th frames and covered the spare in the tenth to close out Sutherland and advance to the title match 205-184.

Groendyk and Easton were not exactly lighting this up in the final but the match was seprated by one pin in the seventh frame after both bowlers opened with splits. Groendyk pulled himself together and marked out in the 8th, 9th and 10th frames giving Easton the chance to pull out a win with a double in the tenth frame. Easton carried a strike on the first ball in the tenth but had a 6-7 split show up on the second delivery and that gave the win, and his forst MJMA title, to Groendyk.

We also crowned two Junior Gold qualifiers at this event and Charles Easton and Samantha Johnson will receive their entry into the National Tournament which is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada this coming July.

Brunswick, the event sponsor, also contributed additional money for a separate scholarship which went to the three highest finishers on botht he girls and guys side who were throwing Brunswick equipment. The six bowlers who qualified for these scholarship are Samantha Johnson, Tori Ferris (Kalamazoo, MI) and Marissa Campbell (Brighton, MI) on the girl’s side while Trevor Smith, Kyle Tisler (Sterling Heights, MI) amd Bill Wortinger (Belleville, MI) were the receipients on the guy’s side.

I want to thank Brunswick for their contiunued support of MJMA and for the time they took to have both Robert Laurence and Tom Smallwood be at the event during the day and to run a Brunswick Demo Day for not only the youth bowlers but also for a number of the alumni bowlers who were their for the alumni tournament that was held on Saturday as well.
The continued support of sponsors like Brunswick are the main reason we are able to continue to offer the scholarship money we do and we thank them for all they do to assist us in promoting youth bowling and the conituing education process for these young athletes.

Our next event will be at Plaza Lanes in Plymouth, Michigan on September 18th and 19th. I know John Kohler, Jerry Johnson and all the staff at Plaza Lanes wil be ready for the 120 bowlers expected to be there to test their skills on yet another challenging shot. We are limited to the first 120 bowlers for the event and as of this printing, we had about 30 spots left so if you have not gotten your entry in you had better hurry so you won’t miss out on the opportunity for a MJMA title and scholarships to be awarded.

For those of you looking to make hotel reservations please note that the Comfort Inn – Clocktower has extended special rates for MJMA bowlers. Please look to the website for more information. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in September.