Airport Lanes in Jackson, Michigan hosted the Michigan Junior Masters Association’s Alro Steel Classic this past weekend and 116 bowlers from all over the Midwest turned out to test their skills on the challenging conditions. Scores ran a bit higher than expected but in the end it still took good shot making and spare shooting to advance to the step ladder finals on Sunday.

The girl’s field featured last year's champion Bethan McGeary (New Kensington, PA) who was looking for her third title this season. McGeary, however, failed to make the final four and into the stepladder finals. Sarah Lokker (New Baltimore, MI) led the way with Megan Warner (Grandville, MI) in second but had to wait to see who they were going to face until our first match was decided between Amber Kwiecien (Lansing, MI) and Felicia Goll (St. Clair Shores, MI).

In that first match Kwiecien looked a bit nervous early, this was her very first MJMA event, but settled down as the match went on. Goll however, proved to be too much as she rolled a clean game while throwing 5 straight strikes to close out the match with a 225-164 win. In the semi-finals, it was Warner’s turn to throw the clean game as spare making was at a premium and with two late open frames by Goll, Warner advanced to the finals match in a 199-167 victory. In the finals, Lokker jumped out to an early lead thanks to an open frame by Warner in the first but Warner came back from that open to win the match and take her first MJMA title with a tight 199-187 win.

The guys side saw a bunch of new names represented as well in the step ladder finals. Michael Kiel (Livonia, MI) was the tournament leader while David Carroll (Kentwood, MI) made the largest jump of the day moving from 24th qualifying position to take the second spot for the finals. Joining Kiel and Carroll in the finals were Bobby Bures (Mentor, OH), Brian McMahon (Saginaw, MI) and Josh Brown (Monroe, MI).

Brown and McMahon faced off in the first match and in a match that went back and forth the whole way, McMahon pulled out a 214 – 192 win as Brown opened in the tenth. Bures was next up for McMahon and this was the tale of opposites as McMahon threw nine strikes while Bures could not throw a single strike in the entire game. McMahon pulled away early and marched into the semi finals with a 241-160 win.

In the semi finals McMahon continued his strike attack as he connected with 6 strikes in the first 8 frames. Carroll started well but three straight opens in the 5th, 6th and 7th frames seased the deal for McMahon as he advanced to the finals 213-175. Kiel was awaiting McMahon but was having a problem early as he opened in the 2nd and 3rd frames to give McMahon the early lead. Hoever, Kiel converted a split in the 5th frame and that seemed to ignite the flame as he then threw the next 5 strikes to defeat McMahon, who had a clean game, 214-196 for his first MJMA title.

Kiel and Goll were the two Junior Gold qualifiers from this event and will represent MJMA in Detroit this coming July. We also handed out over $3,600.00 in scholarships to 32 bowlers. We have been able to pay the match play field most of the events this season in large part because of the generosity of the people who are there to watch who participate in our raffles.

Brunswick has donated bowling balls to raffle off each event we have had this year and this last ball, a new Twisted Fury, brought in $464.00 to add to the scholarship fund for this event. To date, the Brunswick bowling ball raffles have brought in nearly $1,900.00 in additional scholarship money that we have awarded to our bowlers. We thank Brunswick for their participation with MJMA and we are looking forward to many more years of working together to promote youth bowling competition.

Our next event is the annual Sunnybrook Sport Challenge to be held on December 8th and 9th at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights, MI. This event normally draws a large field who will contend for the coveted title and their share of over an estimated $5,000.00 in scholarships to be awarded.

Come on out to see some of the best young bowlers around and watch them match wits against the sport shot that will be on the lanes. For more information please contact Jerry Tarabek at jtar2830@yahoo.com or call (616) 780-2095.