Carver was on his game from the start in the event that utilized different scoring formats in each of the five games. With eight, nine or ten pins over on the first ball counting as a strike, Carver opened with 300, adding 268 in the next game where bowlers received automatic strikes in the third, sixth and ninth frames. Game three, nines and all ten pins over scored strikes – Carver throwing another 300. In the “beat-your-average” game four, the strong right-hander fired 236, 41 pins over his entering 195. He “eased up” in game five adding 235 for a winning total of 1,225, to finish 38 pins ahead of second placed Wendy Pase’s 1,187, followed by Orlando Ulibarri III on 1,122and Espanola’s Kenneth Friedrich next with 1,117. Individual game winners included these same four bowlers as well as Haskell Lee who won the handicap added game with 297. Center finals of the 25th New Mexico Games commence a five-day run at Tenpins & More on Thursday October 24. More than one hundred and thirty finalists are vying for a top six placing in each of the fifteen different categories, in order to advance to the state finals also at Tenpins & More next month.

BOWLING UPDATEFrom Tenpins & More * J D Nance of Rio Rancho captured his fifteenth win in the long-running Scratch Match-Play Series at Tenpins & More on Monday. Bowling on the same testing New Mexico Open lane pattern of two weeks ago, Nance carried on where he left off then, after averaging that tournament’s high 223.66 over 15 games, to not only be top qualifier but go through unbeaten in five matches. Nance shot 1,329/6 to lead Albuquerque’s Brian Skidmore 1,309 and Santa Fe’s Marcus Medina 1,286 as the sixteen bowled bracket finals. (It took only 1,073 to advance on the touchy shot). Left-handed Nance dominated proceedings demoting Haskell Lee, Gary Hadley, Jacob Gill and Skidmore on games of 212, 194, 215 and 268 then firing nine strikes from outside the first arrow for a decisive win over Pete Sheridan , whose errorless 219 would have won almost any other of the thirty matches bowled on the day. Sheridan, who is himself a two-time winner in the Series, likewise lined up outside with old urethane, winning matches against Tony Lopez, Medina, David Williamson, Gill, Kyle Pearce and Skidmore with games of 202, 170, 170, 210, 177 and 223; his only blemish a second round loss to Skidmore 202-206 that moved him to the loser’s bracket. Nance, runner-up in the New Mexico Open in successive years to Cortez Schenck in 2022, then Francois Lavoie in 2023, finished ninth last month in spite of his high average, admitting that he tried too hard to break through for a win. He overcame that Monday with “controlled aggression” at delivery to card 228.6 in his five matches, as the whole field struggled to a 182.11 mark over sixty games. * In other news, seven Australians arrive here next week to play against seven local bowlers in an International Challenge over the weekend of September 14-15. The matches will include teams of four and trios as well as male and female singles and Masters events. Rio Rancho bowlers are Isaiah Salinas, Annie Alvarado, Robin Prioleau, Tyler Grier, and three family members, Alberto, Mia and Sebastian Medina. Team mascot is Jayden Zamarron. Visitors from Brisbane in the state of Queensland include brothers Troy and Luke Howell, Renee Kyte, Izzy Leonard, Austin Saunders, Cruz Craven and Taleah Linton. Team manager is Joshua Kemp, who played for Australia here in 2012. 

Rio Rancho: Francois Lavoie of Wichita, Kansas, joined John Young of Albuquerque as only the second member of an exclusive club when he won Sunday’s final at the New Mexico Open bowling tournament at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho. Both bowlers have now won the event twice and both in consecutive years. (Young won in 2004 and 2005). Lavoie had to win three matches in the championship round, live-streamed by Emil Williams’ BowlStreamTV.com, beating first Kevin Jenkins of Arizona 201-182. Jenkins needed a tenth frame double and count but went high. Next up, unbeaten top seed, PBA star Jakob Butturff, coming off down-time, who lost 190-220 to even the two at one loss apiece. Lavoie, with confidence riding high and throwing a consistent straighter line to the pocket (on a touchy sport pattern created by Mike Miller) never missed the strike zone with four strikes, one 10-pin and two light hit 7-pins in the first seven frames. He led by 36 after six after Butturff left two unconverted splits, causing him to change balls. This gave the Arizona southpaw new life and a “better look”, resulting in five strikes from his next six deliveries, including a blower 10-pin that would have put Lavoie under pressure. Lavoie, lofting the ball a little more on each throw, fired his own four-bagger to win a tournament record$ 13,500 by 39 pins, 238-199 along with a rare place in bowling history, as the win here was his third win in a row, following on from victories in PBA events in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Denver the previous two weekends.USBC Masters champion, DeeRonn Booker of Albuquerque finished fourth losing a close one to Jenkins 178-192 suffering three open frames midway through the match. Lavoie, as cool as ice while addressing the pins, credits his early coaching at the University of Wichita for developing a strong mental game, evidenced by his two US Open wins alongside a Tournament of Champions major in addition to his clutch tenth frame double in beating Rio Rancho’s J D Nance 202-194 last year, cementing his first win at the New Mexico Open. Lavoie also attends “Amplify My Training” in Wichita that has tailored a course of stretching and balance exercises that has helped optimize Lavoie’s performance at the highest levels of the sport. The 20th New Mexico Open attracted 166 bowlers from eleven states and paid out more than $ 66,000 in prize-money mainly due to sponsorship support from forty different local and national companies. The 21st tournament dates were announced as August 15-17, 2025. e n d FYI – Further background information is available in the tournament’s Official 24-page Program at new-tenpinsmore.vaultsites.com or email Steve Mackie at tenpins@q.com.

Rio Rancho: Ten states are represented in the 20th New Mexico Open bowling tournament being held this weekend, Friday August 16 through Sunday August 18 at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho. Defending champion, Francois Lavoie, of Wichita, Kansas, who is also a two-time US Open champion, is hoping for a rare “three-peat” of titles as he has won his last two starts the past two weekends in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He will be faced with strong opposition from five other previous winners of the event, including Jakob Butturff of Tempe, Arizona, on the comeback trail after recovering from injury and national Hall-of-Fame member, Andrew Cain from Phoenix. Hopes for a New Mexico victory seem to rest with recent USBC Masters winner, DeeRonn Booker of Albuquerque and past two-time runner-up J D Nance of Rio Rancho. Booker won last month’s Albuquerque Masters beating Brad Harvey of Amarillo, Texas 212-184 in the final, while Nance won Monday’s pre-tournament event, averaging 220 on the difficult lane condition created for the New Mexico Open this weekend. Other locals including Zach Harvey, Jacob Gill, Scott Wiley, Joseph La Pointe and last Sunday’s winner, Eric Vanderlip have good current form to challenge visiting bowlers such as Steven Novak of Louisville, Kentucky, former US Open champion, Robert Lawrence of Del Valle, Texas and stylish Steve Kloempken from Pleasant View, Utah who was runner-up here in 2019. Qualifying squads, over eight games are set for Friday at 9am and 2pm, then Saturday at 7am, 12.30pm and 6.30pm. The top 32 will advance to bracket play Sunday from 7.45am until only four remain to contest the championship round Sunday after 3pm. The winner will receive a record check for $13,500. Live coverage of all bowling sessions is available at the YouTube channel of BowlStreamTV.com as well as a live radio remote on Saturday from 10am-Noon on KDSK 92.9FM. — FYI – Complete tournament details are listed in the Official 24-page Program ready for download at new-tenpinsmore.vaultsites.com NMO tab. Or email tournament organizer, Steve Mackie at mailto:tenpins@q.com.

BOWLING UPDATEFrom Tenpins & More * Entries are picking up, as they always do after the 4th July holiday, for the annual New Mexico Open, worth a record $ 76,000, that will be held for the 20th year at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho from August 16-18. Defending champion, Francois Lavoie of Wichita, Kansas is entry number one as he attempts to become only the second person to win the sought-after title in successive years. Lavoie, who is also a two-time US Open winner, has also been runner-up twice here losing to Arizonan’s Jakob Butturff and Dylan Taylor in recent years before throwing a pressure-packed strike to beat Rio Rancho’s J D Nance last year. Other top-level bowlers include Steven Novak from Louisville, Kentucky, national Hall-of-Famer, Andrew Cain, rookie PBA member, David McKay of Artesia and local hope, DeeRonn Booker who won the US Masters in Las Vegas over Easter. First prize is a record $ 13,500 as an estimated field of more than 200 is expected for the prestige title. * Summer Games were held last week at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho with teams, doubles, mixed doubles, singles and Masters events completed on Independence Day. Sunday night league bowlers, Martin Neal, Marc Lucero, Peter Silva and Tom Thornhill won teams of four by 13 pins after lead-off Lucero fired a much-needed 255 final game to seal the deal. Men’s doubles went to coach Perry Hampel and former student, Trevor Anderson by 16 pins with Hampel’s 224, 219, 212 (655) the deciding factor ahead of Dashaun Hereford and Greg Hoyt in second place. Joe LaRosa and Robin Prioleau won the mixed event as the former New York City police-man closed with 251 and 257 to beat husband-and-wife Ron and Tammy Michel by 30 pins. Prioleau then won singles with 259, 233 and 226, while John Lund, recovering from recent invasive knee surgery threw 244, 232, 231 for the men’s title. In the youth division, Donald Gallegos and Justin Lucero won doubles while Lucia Griego included a 100 pins-over-average 230 opener to capture the singles prize. Masters, run over six games in separate divisions for me, women and youth, went to Socorro’s Joseph Paterson, Melissa Danks and Sebastian Medina respectively. Paterson closed strongly with 255, 205, 218 and 233 after a so-so start to beat Mikey Guevarra by 11 pins; Danks included a near-perfect 289 over Sue Robertson with a 42-pin margin and Medina, 13, won by 80 from Xavier Provencher with all six games above his current league average. * Sunday’s King of The Hill was bowled on a brutal short-oil lane condition that produced only nine scores above 200 from the 56 games played. Brian Bledsoe, who recently altered his approach to delivery to an unusual three steps, including the first in “reverse”, finished with five strikes from seven deliveries to run down early leader Jacob Gill 187-171 to notch his first win in the series. Next up for scratch bowlers is a qualifier this Saturday July 13 to win paid entry to the New Mexico Open.