MOJAVE INVITATIONAL

champs DJ Sloan and Andrew Kellogg

      DJ Sloan and Andrew Kellogg earned $1,000 scholarships each as champions of the JBT Mojave Conference Invitational, held at Gold Coast bowling center.

     Sloan qualified 13th for the 16-person triple elimination matchplay finals, and then raced through the first four rounds of matchplay unscathed to gain the advantage.  Qualifying leader James Hawkins, who blasted a 290 on the difficult 09 USBC Nationals pattern to earn that #1 spot, suffered the opposite fate, lasting only four rounds and finishing in 12th.

    By round seven, only six bowlers remained.  In that round, Sloan gave #9 Matt Herbert his second loss, #16 Kris George eliminated #10 Matt Jones, and #14 Cameron Smith ousted #6 Kyle King.  Now with four bowlers left, Smith gave Sloan loss #2 234-221, and George eliminated Herbert 197-186.  That gave DJ a much needed bye.  Smith and George then fought it out for the right to face Sloan for the title, with Cameron winning 224-187 to advance to the final game.

    Smith, the defending Mojave Invitational champion, was looking for the fourth 'major' of his JBT career, but DJ came up with perhaps the best title match effort of his JBT career, beating Cameron 228-194 for the fifth title of his JBT career, and a $1,000 scholarship windfall.

    Marina Stever easily led the handicap division qualifying round with a great performance, but suffered the same unfortunate fate of Hawkins in matchplay, dropping 3 of 4 matches to finish in 12th.  It was fellow female bowler Randi Speiler who got the hot hand in the triple-elimination rounds, as the #4 seed went 5-0 to grab a big advantage, before suffering her first loss to #14 Ian Hanuscin in round six.  In other round six action, #9 Aaron Watkins eliminated #3 Tyler Ottenschot, #8 Andrew Kellogg eliminated #7 Austin Signoretti, and #15 Justin Givler ousted #13 Josh Shoup, who finished just high enough to capture the Mojave Conference handicap points title. 

    With five bowlers remaining, Speiler enjoyed a much-needed bye, while Hanuscin handed Watkins his second loss, and Kellogg eliminated Givler.  Now with four bowlers alive, Kellogg eliminated Watkins, while Speieler and Hanuscin fought again, this time with Randi winning to give Ian two losses.

   This left three bowlers, which meant that Andrew caught a bye at the perfect time, leaving Ian and Randi to battle it out a third straight time, and this time Ian won 216-201 to stay alive and give Speiler loss #2.   Thus, all three bowlers survived, Ian was next to get a bye, and Kellogg and Speiler played an elimination game, with Andrew winning 198-182 to advance to the title match, while Speiler finished in third for a $300 payday.

    Hanuscin, like Smith, was the defending Mojave Invitational champ, but unfortunately for him, he struggled just as Cameron did in his match.  Meanwhile, the relatively untested Kellogg put on a brilliant performance, defeating Ian 234-187 for the championship and its $1,000 top scholarship.   

    In this thrilling wrapup to the 08-09 JBT Mojave Conference season, $7,380 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages.  Want in on the biggest fun and prizes in junior bowling?  Get on out to the next JBT action you can, it's really that simple!