Airport Lanes in Jackson, Michigan proved to be a challenging place for our bowlers but Bethan McGeary , New Kensington, PA., solved the lane condition and pulled out her second straight MJMA title in the hometown of our presenting sponsor, Alro Steel.

McGeary moved into the top spot in the next to last game of qualifying and held the spot in the position round game which meant she now had to wait to see who was going to come out of the step ladders to face her for the title. In the first match, five-time champion Christine Bator (Warren, MI) faced a newcomer to the step ladder finals in Valerie Calberry (Brampton, Ont.). The maych went back and forth but in the end it was Bator converting a needed spare in the tenth frame to win the match 180-171. Next for Bator was our second place qualifier Sarah Jaeger (Highland, MI). Bator seemed to run into some trouble in this game but Jaeger kept things clean and rolled an all spare game to advance to the finals, winning the match 179-159. Jaeger continued her good bowling throughout the championship match staying clean again in the game but McGeary threw a couple of strikes at the right time and defeated Jaeger 199-198 to win her third MJMA title.

The guy’s were not to be outdone as the step ladders feature five bowlers who were all looking for their very first title. Trey Raynes (Wayne, MI) and Brian Odom (Wayne, MI) faced off in the first match. These two bowl together in a junior league back home but this was not home. Raynes started strong and threw a number of strikes, some not so pretty, to win the match 245-190. Next was Kevin Black (Port Clinton, OH) to face Raynes and again Raynes threw plenty of strikes while Black found it hard to carry pins which led to Raynes wining again 254-177. In the semi-finals match Raynes faced off against a long time MJMA member in Ryan Van Hecke (Sterling Heights, MI). Van Hecke finished in the top 16 at the recent Junior Gold Championships and he showed why as he out dueled Raynes with a 212-178 victory to advance to the title match against David Carroll (Kentwood, MI). Carroll was making his very first step ladder appearance and the nerves may have got to him a little. Carroll had led the tournament all the way through but in the one game to decide the champion, Van Hecke over came some missed spares to win his first ever MJMA title, 176-160.

Our next event is the 5th Annual Sunnybrook Sport Challenge at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights, Michigan. This event normally draws a big crowd of bowlers because of the $5,000.00 in scholarships that are awarded. Get your entries in early and we will see everyone on December 9th.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Holiday!