COUNTRY CLUB BOWL

champions Randy Cote & Cameron Peck

  Randy Cote capped off a dream tournament with his first victory, while Cameron Peck continued a dream season by anyone's standards with a third win, in exciting JBT SW action at Country Club Bowl.

  Both divisions featured our exciting 'PBA Format', creating do-or-die matches for the top 16 qualifiers.  In the scratch division, qualifying was highlighted by Jerimiah Wiltfang and Derek Thurber both averaging 240+, and a big 290 effort from a quickly improving Amanda Falk.  However, each of these efforts would be negated by first-round matchplay losses- in fact, #3 seed Christina Jensen was the only one in the top six to win their opening best 2-of-3 match!

  In the round of 8, #16 Greg Garbera swept out #8 Forrest Holland, Cote defeated #13 DeShaun Jefferson, #5 Grant Sudbeck took care of Jensen, and Jerod Florez survived some nailbiting tenth frames to defeat #7 Kevin Saunders.

  In the semifinal matches, Cote, the #11 seed, converted a 2-8 spare to defeat Garbera 208-207.  In the other match, Sudbeck made it to the title match for his second straight event by eliminating Florez 205-172.

  Just making the cut was satisfying for Cote, who accomplished that for the first time in his 13 regular season JBT SW events.  However, he remained as tough in the title match as he had all through matchplay, and was in control the whole game, cruising to a 218-190 win, and his first title.  Of course we want everyone to do well in our events, but it's especially nice to see a bowler who had been struggling with us come up so clutch all day and grab his first title.

 The top seeded handicap division bowlers suffered a similar fate as the scratch leaders, as five of the eight lower seeds won their first round matches.  #1 seed Joshua Downs survived the first round, though, but fell to #8 seed Tyler Rhinehart in the quarterfinals in three tough games.  In other round of 8 action, #6 CJ Crowley defeated #13 Jenny Ortag 2-1, #14 Cameron Peck ousted #12 Kyle Ruzylo in an all-California matchup, and #10 Kyle Frederick came back to defeat #15 Kylee Bonneville 2-1.

 In the semifinals, Rhinehart advanced to his first career title match with a 235-180 win over Crowley, who also had his career high finish.  It sometimes takes a little luck to win multiple titles, and in a thrilling other semi, Peck got his luckiest break of the day at the expense of Frederick, whose perfect shot to win the match left a solid-8, giving him a 221-219 win and a trip to the finale.

  The title match was close the whole way, but in the end Peck was too much for Tyler, and Cameron's 231-218 victory was good for his third title of the young season, and a prohibitive lead in the Handicap division all-conference point list.

  Everyone who finished in the top 5 qualifies for the 2006 JBT SW Arizona Invitational Tournament, the regular season's year end event, featuring a guaranteed minimum $1,000 first place scholarship in each division.  Top season-long point scorers also qualify for the 2006 JBT SW Touring Players' Championship, featuring a guaranteed minimum $2,000 first place scholarship per division! 

  Thanks as always to Jay Means and everyone at Country Club for being our hosts for this event, and for being one of JBT SW's biggest supporters.  We'd also like to publicly thank the ACBA for solving a scheduling conflict by moving their senior event- thank you VERY much, guys!

  108 entrants shared in over $2,400 in scholarships awarded at the event.  Please continue to  help spread the word about the terrific benefits of bowling JBT SW events! 

For more info, feel free to write us at jbtsouthwest@aol.com.