Spectrum Lanes in Wyoming, MI was the setting for the final regular season event on the 2007-08 Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association schedule. A field of 110 bowlers came to West Michigan for this double points event to try and claim their share of the scholarship money and the title.

The girls seemed determined to make their presence felt as they shot the best game of the event in the early stages with Ashley Raden (Chesterfield, MI) and Felicia Goll (St Clair Shores, MI) both shooting 256 games. But the guys were not to be out done as Tim Pfeifer (Cranberry Twp, PA) shot a fine 279 on the demanding short oil conditions. Tim was to later see his game topple as Josh Brown (Monroe, MI) shot a 298 game in the round of 16 match play.

The girl’s competition was tough and tight all the way through the event. In the first round of elimination match play two of the top four seeds failed to advance to the next round but our #1 seed Goll and #3 seed Tori Ferris (Kalamazoo, MI) did make it through. In the semi finals Goll defeated the #5 seed Addileen Pointer (Highland, MI) 200-187 and #7 seed Bethan McGeary defeated Ferris 206-167. In the title match Goll and McGeary see-sawed all the way through but Goll took a late lead only to see McGeary strike out in the tenth frame to tie the match at 203. In the one-ball tie breaker Goll threw a strike and McGeary left the 10-pin to give Goll her third MJMA title.

The guys were just as tight and just as many upsets as only four of the top eight seeds advanced to the next round. In the next round two higher seeds fell as #7 seed Tyler Gibson (Kalamazoo, MI) who was making his first match play appearance of the year, took out the #2 seed Pfeifer winning 2-0 and Abed Daher (Brownston, MI) the #13 seed defeated #12 seed Matt Anderson (Davisburg, MI) 2-0.

The semi-finals saw the higher seeds hold form as the #1 seed Cory Hines (Jackson, MI) defeated Daher 181-164 and #3 seed Josh Brown took out Gibson 223-139. In the finals, the match started out close but Hines missed a 10-pin in the fifth and that seemed to open the floodgates. Brown followed with a string of strikes and easily defeated Hines to win his first MJMA title 223-150.

This event completes the regular season for the Alro Steel – Michigan Junior Masters Association but we still have one event left, the Daniel Ottman Memorial Championships in Monroe, MI on June 13,14 and 15th at the Monroe Sport Center. The Held family will once again be hosting the event that this year 86 bowlers, a record number, have qualified for.

The three day event starts with the opening ceremonies on Friday evening at 6:00PM and wil conclude with the step ladder finals on Sunday afternoon. In between then some of the toughest competition of the season typically takes place as this marathon tests the mental, physical and emotional character of many of the competitors.

We also will hand out the year end awards which include the Bowler-of-the-Year and Rookie-of-the-Year awards. As of the event in Grand Rapids there are still questions to be answered as to who will win these coveted honors. We also will hand out the Ottman Memorial Scholarship which two $1,000.00 awards given to those members who filled out their applications and submitted the required paperwork prior to the entry deadline. These applications will be sent to our panel of judges to be reviewed and voted on. This year we have received 19 applications for the award and the judges will definitely have their hands ful in the decision process.

I would also like to thank the Glick family and all those at Alro Steel for their generous contributions over he past years. They have helped to make our organization the success that it is and we all look forward to their continued support in future years.

Invitations and entries will be going our to all those whose qualified for the championship event at the end of this week so look for those and please return them as soon as possible to the tournament office. We look forward to seeing everyone in Monroe and having another successful championship event.

For more information please contact Jerry Tarabek.