Bowling World Aug/Sep 2019

August/September 2019- www.bowlingworld.com 43 U20 TITLES DECIDED AT 2019 JUNIOR GOLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SaveShare by Terry Bigham ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Top-seed Patricia Rosales of Orlando, Florida, captured the U20 girls title and Alec Keplinger of Coldwater, Michi- gan, won two matches to take home the U20 boys title at the 2019 Junior Gold Championships presented by the Brands of Ebonite International. Keplinger is the son of Sandra Jo Shiery, a former Team USA member who won 10 titles on the pro women‟s tour, and he said his parents have had a big influence on his bowling career. “She used to bowl on the pro tour and was a huge role model for me; both my parents were,” said Keplinger, who will bowl at Wichita State in the fall. “My whole family is full of bowlers. Just having her there – she‟s more men- tally tough than pretty much anyone I know.” Keplinger, the No. 3 seed, faced Tom Hankey Jr. of Great Barrington, Massachu- setts, in the opening match. Hankey Jr., who won the Intercollegiate Singles and Team Championships titles in April in his freshman season at Webber International, struck on his first five shots. Keplinger, meanwhile, opened in the fourth frame after leaving the 2-8 and failing to convert the spare, allowing Hankey Jr. to quickly build a 42-pin advantage. “I know he‟s a great bowler and knew it would be a tough match,” Keplinger said. “There was a lot of cheering going on. I try not to look when (my opponent) throws the ball. But Hankey Jr. left the 3-4-6-10 in the seventh and the 4-6-10 in the ninth and could not convert either spare, while Keplinger stayed clean to take a 234-209 victory. In the title match, two-hander Daniel Chin of Daly City, California, missed a single- pin spare in the fourth frame and Keplinger got just enough of the single pins he left in the fourth and fifth frames to take a 22-pin lead. “I caught my leg on the one and told myself not to do it on the next one,” Keplinger said about the back-to-back 10-pin conversions. “And then I overcorrected. I just turned around and smiled. That‟s all you can really do.” Keplinger couldn‟t convert a 4-9 leave in the seventh but Chin followed with an open frame in the eighth after leaving the 3-10. Keplinger then strung together three strikes, starting in the eighth frame, on his way to a 215-182 victory and the title. In the girls opening match, Taylor Davis of Burton, Michigan, struck on five of her first seven shots against Cameron Strombeck of Durham, North Carolina, to build a 32 -pin lead. But Davis left the 2-8-10 in the eighth frame to open the door. Strombeck, looking at a chance to pull even, left the 4-9 split in the ninth fame and couldn‟t covert, and Davis stayed clean to lock down a 200-169 victory. In the title match, Davis left the 1-2-4-6-10 in the second frame and couldn‟t make the spare, then spent the remainder of the match trying to catch Rosales. While Rosales stayed clean, she couldn‟t string together any strikes, and a double by Davis allowed her to pull within four pins. In the eighth frame, Davis left the 2-10 split and couldn‟t convert. But she had a spare and struck out in the final frame to force Rosales, who only had two strikes to that point, to mark in the 10th. Rosales, who had third-place finishes in 2014 (U12) and 2016 (U15), and a seventh- place finish in U15 in 2017, was ready for the moment. “I just told myself to make a big shot,” Rosales said. “I‟m only 17, so I have more years to go, so just try my best.” Rosales then struck on her first two shots in the final frame to wrap up the title with a 198-188 victory. “That made me feel great; I was actually really happy,” Rosales said about the first two shots in the final frame. “I made sure I stayed down and did everything I was sup- posed to. I needed it.” Rosales, who will attend Prairie View A&M in the fall, said she had many ups and downs during the week but just wanted to stay near the top and reach match play. “It feels great,” Rosales said about winning the title. “I‟ve been at every cut for the last six years and to make it is just really awesome.” The 2019 Junior Gold Championships had a record field of more than 4,000 partici- pants competing for national titles and, through their performances at the event, six boys and six girls automatically earned spots on Junior Team USA for 2020. Joining Patricia Rosales and Taylor Davis on the girls team are Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio; Elise Chambers of Ocoee, Florida; Faith Welch of Savannah, Tennessee; and Angelique Dalesandro of Rolling Meadows, Illinois. In addition to Alec Keplinger and Daniel Chin, earning a spot on the boys team were Anthony Neuer of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; Cerell Cardines of Las Vegas; Joey Ocello of Neptune, New Jersey; and Peyton Smith, Loganville, Georgia. This year‟s U20 division had 809 boys and 440 girls. Competitors in the U20 division bowled 16 qualifying games, with four games at a different center each day over four days, before the field was cut. After the remaining players bowled an additional five games, a second cut was made to the Final Advanc- ers Round and those remaining bowled five more games to determine the 16 bowlers for match play. In the double-elimination match-play bracket, all matches consisted of two games with total pins determining the winner. Teammates Take U12 Titles ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Katelyn Abigania of San Diego successfully defended her U12 girls title and her USA Bowling teammate, Elias O‟Hollaren of San Diego, won the U12 boys title at the 2019 Junior Gold Champion- ships presented by the Brands of Ebonite International. Both Katelyn and Elias were the No. 3 seeds in the championship rounds that aired Tues- day on CBS Sports Network from Thunderbowl Lanes. Not only did each have to win two matches on the TV show, but both had to defeat the oppo- nent who sent them to the elimination bracket during match play. “It‟s amazing, I‟m just kind of speechless right now,” Katelyn said after her victory. “Coming into this tournament, with high expectations and a lot of pressure on me, I definitely pulled it off, especially for me being only 12. And now, winning back to back … (two-time Junior Gold champion) Solomon (Salama) is like 16 now, and he‟s doing big stuff, so I can‟t wait to see what‟s in my future.” Katelyn was the top qualifier for match play, but lost her second match in the bracket to Abby Starkey of Schaumburg, Illinois, 379-359, in the two-game total-pins match. Katelyn then had to win two matches to earn the No. 3 seed for the televised finals. In the opening match against Gianna Brandolino of Joliet, Illinois, Katelyn trailed by 15 pins through seven frames. But Gianna suffered a 7-10 split in the eighth frame and then missed a single-pin spare to open the door for Katelyn, who stayed clean for a 180-174 victory. “Like last year, I said it‟s never over until the game‟s actually over,” Katelyn said. “I thought I was going to lose the first match. During match play, since I lost my second match, I thought it was over but here I am again.” In the title match, Katelyn had a rematch against Abby. Abby could not convert spares in the first, fourth and fifth frames, and though Katelyn did miss a single-pin spare in the fourth frame, she also had three strikes in the first five frames to build a 26-pin lead. She would stay clean the rest of the game, including striking out in the final frame, for a 196-147 victory. In the boys final, Elias followed his USA Bowling teammate‟s lead, winning the title as the No. 3 seed. Elias and Katelyn are on the SDLV team in the USA Bowling National Championships. In the match-play bracket, Elias lost his opening match to Duke Knudsen of Redmond, Wash- ington. But Elias also made it back through the elimination bracket to claim the title. “It feels great, especially because I was down after I lost that first match,” Elias said of winning the title. “I felt like I was done, because I bowled so poorly in the first match. I came in not want- ing to get into the elimination bracket, because I think the elimination bracket brings out the best of everyone.” In his opening TV match against Braden McDonough of Coppell, Texas, Elias strung together three strikes, starting in the third frame, to build a 32-pin lead and would go on to take a 200- 168 victory. Elias then faced Duke again, this time with the national title on the line. Trailing by three pins through seven frames, Elias watched Duke trip a 4 pin for a strike in the eighth frame. In the ninth, Knudson was able to convert his 2-4-5-8 leave, but it left the door open for Elias. He struck in the ninth and then posted strikes on his first two shots in the final frame to take the title, 211-197. “I didn‟t know he was going to miss in the ninth, so I was just thinking to put pressure on him, make him have to double in the 10th to win,” Elias said when asked his thoughts heading into the final frames. “And then he missed, and I was like, „I can shut him out now.‟” Competitors in the U12 division bowled 16 qualifying games over four days (four games each day) before the field was cut. The advancers then bowled an additional four games to trim the field to the top eight boys and top eight girls for match play. Match play was a double-elimination bracket consisting of two games with total pinfall deter- mining the winner. The U12 division had 262 boys and 134 girls.