NM-TX INVITATIONAL

champs William Yoder & Donius Jeffries II; Girls champ Bree Vargas & runner up Adel Wahner

        William Yoder, Donius Jeffries II, and Bree Vargas emerged victorious in intense action at the 2016 JBT NM-TX Conference Invitational hosted by Silva Lanes in Albuquerque.

        After five qualifiying games on one of the toughest patterns of the year, 16 finalists competed in triple elimination matchplay, creating do-or-die scenarios across 32 lanes for over four hours of draining competition. 

        In the scratch division, Cortez Schenck cruised to the top seed, and then got through five rounds of matchplay with only one loss.  #11 seed William Yoder went one better though, going undefeated through the first five, and then handing Cortez his second loss in round six.  In round eight Yoder remained undefeated by eliminating Zach Wojciechowski in third, while Scheck ousted Angel Ortega in fourth.  That left Cortez with the challenging task of having to beat Yoder three times in a row to take the title away.  Schenck grabbed a win in game one, but Yoder slammed the door in game two with strikes in the late frames, securing the $1,000 top prize and his 8th career JBT title.  Cortez, meanwhile, came into the Invitational with an uncatchable points lead, as he grabbed Bowler of the Year for the scratch division.

        In the handicap division,10 year-old Sommer Gouviea saved her best bowling of the season for the biggest stage, easily grabbing the #1 spot for matchplay, then getting to a round five bye with only one loss.  In round eight four bowlers remained, and in those matches Gouviea (now with two losses) eliminated Jeremy Perlinski in fourth place, and Donius Jeffries ousted Kelsey LaBier in third, setting up a scenario where Sommer had to beat DJ twice to win the title.

        Jeffries came out striking in the first game, winning 238-209 for the $1,000 title, the second of his career.  Even more importantly, the win gave him just enough points to vault over Mateo Gonzalez for the handicap Bowler of the Year crown! 

        Bree Vargas and Adel Wahner surprised exactly nobody in being the finalists for the simultaneous Girls Invitational.  The two vets went at it again for yet another title, this time with Bree prevaling 194-178 for the $200 bonus as Girls Invite champ, while Adel's Bowler of teh Year points total helps boost her cause towards all-conference girls Bowler of the Year.

        Thanks to Silva for hosting a really exciting Invitational, and to all the bowlers and parents for the intense yet sportsmanlike competition throughout.   A whopping $5,100 in scholarships were awarded to all ages and averages- wow!  To be a part of this, just check our schedule and don't miss a single JBT event this summer, or when season 21 starts in September!