NM-TX INVITATIONAL

champs Geoffrey Young and Marcos Armijo

      Geoffrey Young, Denton TX, and Marcos Armijo, Santa Fe NM, each picked up $1,000 scholarships as champions of the JBT NM-TX Invitational Tournament, hosted by Silva Lanes in Albuquerque.

     Five games of qualifying on a tricky Viper pattern gave eleven bowlers trips to the finals, joined by five exempt bowlers from the season long points list, creating a 16-person, triple elimination matchplay finals.  Young was the scratch division top seed, thanks in part to a brilliant 300 game, on a pattern where the second high scratch game was only 237- wow!   Geoffrey maintained the momentum in matchplay, getting to round six with a 4-1 record.  Only #6 seed Hannah Stedman fared better, getting through 5-0, and then handing #15 Dan Romero his second loss in that round. 

   In round seven, six bowlers remained.  In those matches, Young eliminated #12 Amanda Falk, Stedman eliminated Romero, and #8 Stephen Planer eliminated #10 Nathan Shock, suddenly leaving only three players.  That earned Stedman a bye, while Young eliminated Planer, setting up a finals situation where Geoffrey and Hannah, both with only one loss, played a best-of-3 showdown for the title.

   In the finals, it was all Young, as he won game one 233-192, and then locked up the major win with a 243-213 triumph.  Stedman earned $500 for her outstanding performance, while Young earned a cool $1,000 for his ninth career JBT title.

   Armijo had a tougher route to the win, qualifying in the #11 position, but turned it on in matchplay, going 5-1 through the first six rounds.  With six bowlers left in round seven, Armijo gave #8 Angela Walls her second loss, while #6 Stacia Cilley eliminated #10 seed and defending champ Andrew McKinsey, and #9 Caleb Goehring eliminated #14 Ahkeen Williams.   Now with four players left, Armijo eliminated Cilley, and and Goehring eliminated Walls, setting up a situation where Caleb would have to beat Marcos twice to win the title.

    If anyone could pull off that task, it was Goehring, who lost his first two matches, then ran off the next seven wins to stay alive, recalling prior survival stunts in Lubbock and Amarillo this season.  However, Armijo was not about to let that happen, winning the first game 234-213 for the win, the first of his JBT career, and with it came the $1,000 scholarship windfall.

   Thanks to everyone at Silva's for another fine job hosting our Tour.  A whopping $6,830 in scholarships were awarded to juniors of all ages and averages.  The top 20 in season long NM-TX points now advance to the 2009 JBT Touring Players' Championship, competing for a $2,000 top scholarship.  Be sure to spread the word about the next season of JBT action beginning in September!