NM-TX INVITATIONAL

champs Sam Cuevas & Zachary Barnard

An exhausting day of competition that saw 55 bowlers share in over $7,500 in scholarships ended with Sam Cuevas and Zachary Barnard scoring major victories in the JBT SW's NM-TX Invitational Tournament.

In the scratch division, Cuevas only qualified #13 for the finals, but tore through the first four rounds unbeaten, while #4 Justin Medina,, #8 William Haverland, and #7 Steven Black all lurked with one loss.  After round five, only Cuevas and Bryanna Caldwell, at #14, were still alive with a #9 or lower seeding.

In round six action, Cuevas handed Black his second loss, Haverland stayed alive by handing Andy Byer his second loss, Justin Medina eliminated #1 seed Bill Grant, while Caldwell eliminated #3 seed Justin DeDera.  In round seven, Byer stayed alive by finally handing Cuevas his first loss, while Black eliminated Haverland, and Medina eliminated Caldwell.  hat set up two semifinals, with Cuevas eliminating Black 216-125 in one match, while Byer defeated Medina 175-155 in the other, setting up a title match where Byer would have to beat Sam twice to win the title.

The first match was close all the way, but in the tenth frame, Sam came up clutch as he had been doing the entire matchplay round, tripping a 4-pin for a double that locked out Byer.  The 177-153 win was good for his 2nd career JBT SW title and a huge $800 payday.  Runner-up Byer was consoled not only with a $595 take, but his performance was just good enough to claim scratch division Bowler of the Year honors.

In the handicap division, Zachary Barnard quietly qualified in the number 10 position, then absolutely took off in the matchplay rounds, going undefeated through the first five rounds with easy wins every time.  Also surviving to round six were top seed Christina Waldron and #4 Wendy Shelton with only one loss each, as well as two-loss bowlers Cody Mansfield, Josh Arceo, Janeyl Carper, Sara Vargas, and last-chance quad winner and #16 seeded Mark Mares.  In that round, Barnard handed Waldron her second loss, #6 Mansfield stayed alive by beating Shelton, Mares eliminated #3 Arceo, and #9 Vargas eliminated #7 Carper.

In round 7, Barnard did it again, this time eliminating Mansfield, while Shelton eliminated Waldron, and Mares ended Vargas' run.  This gave Shelton a bye in round 8, while Mares finally gave Barnard his first loss.  Ironically, Barnard got the next bye and time to regroup, while Mares eliminated Shelton in round 9, to set up a rematch against Barnard for the title.

In order to become only the second #16 seed to win an Invitational (Nick Arguellez did it in 2000), Mares would need to beat Barnard two more times.  Barnard left no question about the outcome by starting with a spare and reeling off six strikes in a row.  Despite an excellent 230 effort from Mark, Barnard's 274 overwhelmed him like he did to everyone else, and Zach claimed his second career JBT SW title and a big $855 scholarship prize.

Huge thanks to Sun Lanes for hosting an outstanding event, and to Barbara DeDera, Bill Rollins and the Las Cruces YABA for unbelievably large scholarship donations throughout the year, allowing for this enormous prize fund to be possible!   

NM-TX Invitational- final results and optional scholarship winners
5/21/2005      
New Mexico-Texas Conference    
     
Scratch Division    
rank name city, state prize
1 Sam Cuevas Lubbock, TX $800
2 Andy Byer Albuquerque, NM $595
3 Justin Medina Santa Fe, NM $360
4 Steven Black Phoenix, AZ $470
5 William Haverland Round Rock, TX $160
6 Bryanna Caldwell Tucson, AZ $115
7 Bill Grant Rio Rancho, NM $255
8 Justin DeDera Las Cruces, NM $165
9 Jerod Florez Bosque Farms, NM $105
10 Jason Arnold Phoenix, AZ $110
11 Brandy Silva Albuquerque, NM $95
12 BJ Baker Tempe, AZ $210
13 Jeremy Medina Santa Fe, NM $95
14 David Sevier Gilbert, AZ $50
15 Stephen Gaucin El Paso, TX $50
16 Jarrad Espinoza Albuquerque, NM $50
     
Handicap Division    
rank name city, state prize
1 Zachary Barnard Albuquerque, NM $855
2 Mark Mares Los Lunas, NM $500
3 Wendy Shelton Albuquerque, NM $360
4 Christina Waldron Albuquerque, NM $400
5 Cody Mansfield Albuquerque, NM $385
6 Sara Vargas Albuquerque, NM $165
7 Josh Arceo Albuquerque, NM $180
8 janeyl Carper Rio Rancho, NM $235
8 Jerrico Palma Roswell, NM $95
10 Jamison Spam Rio Rancho, NM $50
11 Angelo Espinoza Albuquerque, NM $60
12 Charlie Elliott Santa Fe, NM $150
13 Amanda Johnson Rio Rancho, NM $100
14 Emily Milbank Albuquerque, NM $125
15 Nathan Hughes San Jose, NM $80
16 Paul Carper Rio Rancho, NM $50
17 Christopher Kopp Las Cruces, NM $50
18 Kyle Pearce Espanola, NM $25
19 Eric Kear Albuquerque, NM $45
20 Camille Martinez Santa Fe, NM  
21 Travis Gudelj Albuquerque, NM  
22 Thomas Sanchez Las Cruces, NM  
23 Austin Mansfield Albuquerque, NM  
24 Ashley Burns Las Cruces, NM  
25 Jessica Palma Albuquerque, NM  
26 Justin Salazar Espanola, NM  
27 Stephanie Gonzalez Las Cruces, NM $10
28 Annalicia Martinez Roswell, NM  
29 Jamie Tillman Hobbs, NM  
30 Jeremy Baca Albuquerque, NM  
31 Heaven Pajala Albuquerque, NM  
32 Susan Kurzeka Albuquerque, NM  
33 Justin Shipler Roswell, NM  
34 Juan Romero Albuquerque, NM  
35 Mark Benson El Paso, TX  
36 Greg Milbank Albuquerque, NM  
37 Danielle Rogers Las Cruces, NM  
38 Janine Rogers Las Cruces, NM  
39 Alex Bell El Paso, TX  
     
     
High Scratch Qualifiers: BJ Baker ($100), Steven Black ($50)
High Handicap Qualifiers: Janeyl Carper ($100), Cody Mansfield ($100)
Storm Ball Winner: Andy Byer    
     
TOTAL AWARDED THIS EVENT: $7,575