July 18, 2008
By: Mark Martin
USBC
YOUTH COMPETITION
A
feverish two-week period of the national spotlight on youth bowling in the metro
Detroit market has come to a very successful conclusion with the finals of the
USBC Junior Gold, USBC Pepsi Youth Championships and USBC Youth Open completed.
The
Junior Gold finished with Kristie Petravich of
The
metro Detroit market was represented very proudly by Christine Bator of Warren
who finished second in the girls division after averaging 209.2 over five
grueling days of qualifying, semi-finals and match play to earn an automatic
spot on the 2009 Junior Team USA team. She compiled a 7-8-1 record in match play
which garnered her 150 total bonus pins and a grand total of 9,775. She was the
only
Young
compiled 10,345 including 220 bonus pins which is an average of 220.1 in the
five-day test to outlast Daniel Spink of
Joining
Petravich and Bator on the 2009 Junior Team USA girls team are Ricki Williams of
Wichita, Kim Yioulos of Rochester, N.Y., Brittni Hamilton of Webster, N.Y. and
Jessica Earnest of Vandalia, Ill.
Tim
Pfeifer of
“This
means a lot because I didn’t think I would ever win,” said the 18-year-old
Petravich. “I never thought I was good enough to win this tournament. This
boosts my confidence and I’m definitely happy to win.”
“This
win proves to me that I was able to make the team two years in a row,” said
Young, 18. “After spending a year on the team working with the coaches and
going to training camp, I just really wanted to experience that again.”
The
USBC Pepsi Youth Championships featured 200 bowlers from all 50 states, Puerto
Rico,
The
top four players in each division received scholarships in the amount of $3,000,
$2,000, $1,500 and $1,000 respectively. Other lesser dollar value scholarships
were awarded for high games, high qualifiers and high qualifying blocks.
The
top four in the boys Division 1 were Adam Keith of
Tyler
VanNiman of
Katie
Jones of
The
top four in the girls Division 2 were Desirea Holmes of
During
the course of all the tournaments there were many very positive comments about
the family’s experiences in the metro
The
results from the USBC Youth Open are still being verified at this point and
final results will be posted on www.bowl.com
when finalized.
------
HONOR SCORES
300
Games
Date,
Name, Hometown, Center, League
July
9, Jim Burton, Novi,
July
12, Adam Brandy, Auburn Hills,
800
Series
Mark Martin writes a weekly bowling column for The Daily Oakland Press and is the association manager of the Metro Detroit USBC Association. He can be reached at (248) 443-2695, faxed at (248) 443-2690 or e-mailed at mark.martin@mdusbc.com.