BOWL EL PASO

champs Cortez Schenck, Adel Wahner, & Nathan Nguyen

        Three veterans won JBT titles, but one Nguyn was a first time win, in exciting JBT TX-NM Conference action at Bowl El Paso.

        William Yoder kept up the scoring typical of the day with a big 255-227 win over Andrew Esparza, who earlier fired one of the event's perfect 300 games.  Blayne Hurst then defeated Yoder 207-182.  Stefan Wood then got the count he needed in the tenth to seal a 236-235 exciting win over Hurst to move on to the title match.

        Everyone knows Cortez Schenck is a threat to win any tournament he enters, but he's building up a winter session to remember, even by his standards.  He blasted 300-826 out of the gate at this event to cruise to the top seed, and kept up the pace in the title match, firing 10 strikes in a 267-213 win over Wood, good for the 72nd title of his JBT career.

        Newcomer Alan Enriquez won the opening round of the handicap stepladder with a 218-198 win over Josie Herson.  Mateo Gonzalez, in the thick of the Bowler of the Year race, then beat Enriquez 227-219.  Nathan Nguyen then stopped Gonzalez 212-171 to advance to the title game.

        Top seed Dusten Eichensehr was as dominant in handicap as Schenck was in scratch, leading all eight rounds in an excellent performance.  He struggled a little in the title match though, and in a close game, Nguyen edged Dusten 223-217, earning Nguyen the first win of his JBT career.

        Adel Wahner kept piling on the girls wins this season, defeating Elizabeth Romero in her first finals, 216-176.

        The individual highlight of the day came outside the stepladders, though, as Matteo Bergonzi got the 5-count he needed to win the PowerBowl jackpot, for a cool $1,000 scholarship windfall- congrats Matteo!

        Thanks as always to Bowl El Paso and John Murphy for a great hosting job.  Want in on all this fun for all ages and averages? Just check out our schedule and come on down, that's all you have to do!