BRC Kyrene

champs Cameron Smith & Danny Varholdt

     Cameron Smith made it 3 for 4 to open the Arizona Conference season, while Danny Varholdt finally broke the family jinx, in exciting JBT Arizona Conference action at BRC Kyrene Lanes.

    Matt Herbert had no problem with the PBA Scorpion pattern in round one of the scratch division stepladder finals, with a 266-199 win over Labriel Leach, who made back-to-back finals on the weekend.  Herbert and Kyle King, who rolled the event's only 300 game (and the sixth of his JBT career, tops among active bowlers), then engaged in a thriller, with Matt converting a 6-10 in the 11th frame for a 233-232 win.  Despite that, with the 4th place finish, Kyle becomes our all-time career JBT money leader, passing BJ Baker and Steven Black, with over $39,000 in career scholarships, with plenty of time to increase that total.  Congrats Kyle!    Allie Ijams, our all-time female scholarships leader, then defeated Herbert, who clanked a lot of corner pins, 232-196, to advance to the title match.

    Top seed Smith, the previous day's champ, had only taken the lead in the last game of the semifinals, but consolidated that lead with a dominant final game, winning the title 245-208.  The victory was the 13th of his career, and helps him open up a dominant lead in the early Arizona and all-conference points races.

    Travis Johnson bowled a 190 in his first handicap finals appearance of the season, but could only watch as his two opening round opponents, Ashley Benicki and Danielle Stewart, tied at 218.  Stewart won the rolloff 44-38 to advance, but tired out in game two a bit, and Marina Stever rolled a 232 to advance over Stewart (181) and points leader Derek Iozzio (221).  The semifinal match was a well-bowled thriller.  Taylor King shot a fine 232, but was relegated to the sidelines as Marina Stever's tenth frame washout conversion helped her to a 247.    Brandon Turner then had a chance to double to win, but a stubborn 10-pin in the second shot left him with 246 and a heartbreaking loss, as Stever advanced to her first title match in almost a year.

    Top seed Danny Varholdt had had a quiet start to the season, but absolutely dominated all day long on the tricky pattern to easily lead.  The title match was anything but easy against the always-tough Stever, but in the end Danny pulled ahead for a 227-188 win and the title.  Big brother Chris (who also bowled well on the day) and Danny each have made title matches before, but Danny's win finally breaks the Varholdt family into the JBT winner's circle.

    Sam Amaral and Brooks Gould each picked up $25 scholarships as winners of the Impact Challenge, sponsored by Impact Pro Shop, located at 99th and Bell in west Phoenix.  Stop by and thank them today for their support of our Tour!  Thanks as always to Kyrene for hosting our event, which awarded over $1,700 in scholarships to bowlers of all averages.  Want in on all this fun?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's that simple!