BOWLING UPDATE From Tenpins & More Two-hundred-eight games bowled and there is a tie for first place in the annual Valentine’s Doubles tournament at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho. Teri and Joseph Paterson of Soccoro closed with a team game of 490 and Mike Lee/Joseph LaPointe fired 489 to end up tied for the win at 1,888, twenty pins ahead of Rio Ranchoans, Laurie and Steve Shultz who had held the lead the prior two days on 1.868. Other place-getters included Tom Garcia/Joe Romero with 1,863, followed by Adrian Brown/Jeremiah Martin 1,862 then Jeanne Hietpas-Carver and Andrew Carver 1,851 and Trent Irwin/LaPointe 1.850 in one of the most closely held events in months. A sell-out field with a lengthy wait list is on tap in this weekend’s annual Junior Bowlers Tour “double-header” at Tenpins & More. The doubles event Saturday (February 22) has more than 160 sign-ups while the youth singles on Sunday is likely to also be over-subscribed. The following Sunday (March 2) a first prize of $ 1,500 is attracting bowlers from West Texas, Arizona and Colorado as well as all over New Mexico but it’s not just the strong check. The event is being bowled with dual lane oiling patterns on each pair of lanes, presenting quite a challenge in both physical and mental game preparation. One lane will feature “short oil” and the other “long oil” requiring the use of different bowling balls on the pair. Adding to the affair is that bowlers change lanes each game for five games, before the field is cut in half or more for further cuts before the championship round.

BOWLING UPDATE From Tenpins & More Consistent bowling by both, along with an average match win by 35 pins, gave Monica Redman and Ward Stoffer their first win in the Doubles Marathon Series at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho on the weekend. The pair went 7-1 in match-play to win outright from twenty-three other combinations, with Redman averaging 180.5 and Stoffer 1917, both slightly above their entering averages. It was their consistent scoring that won them the event, with game winning scores ranging from 401 and 359. Three teams, tied at 6-2 played off for second through fourth place with Robin Prioleau and Jon Arevalo taking the higher spot with 226 and 258 respectively. Third went to Trent Irwin and Joseph LaPointe, followed by Cameron and Haskell Lee. Prioleau, the Albuquerque area “Woman Bowler-of-the-Year”, was on her game at a record pace opening with 278, 280, 247 (805) then adding 236, 252, 265 (753) for a personal best 1,558/6. Arevalo, found form his last six games, averaging 239.5 after a slow – for him – start. Rounding out the top eight were the teams of Will Hall/Joseph Paterson 5th, Land and Josh Matthies 6th, Kimble Platz/Steve Quintana 7th and Brian Bledsoe/Jeremiah Martin 8th. This weekend, more than one hundred and sixty bowlers from as far away as Arizona, Colorado and Texas as well as all over New Mexico will descend on Tenpins & More for the annual Junior Bowlers Tour “double-header” weekend. Action starts at 9am Saturday with the doubles event, then concludes Sunday with the singles tournament. The following Sunday (March 2) the NM Central Tournament Series makes it’s first stop at Rio Rancho in the “Dual Pattern Challenge”. In this unique event, the left lane and right lane of each pair of lanes has a completely different oil pattern laid down, requiring increased concentration and careful ball selection to be able to score well. The winner will receive $ 1,500, largest singles prize offered outside of the New Mexico Open tournament.

BOWLING UPDATE From Tenpins & More Four bowlers have won their divisions in the 25th annual “Champion of Champions” tournament held this month at Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho. Ken Friedrich of Espanola (who drives down at least twice a week to bowl in Rio Rancho) captured the men’s final by almost a 200-pin margin from Lucius Sandoval of Albuquerque and Trent Irwin of Rio Rancho in third place. Friedrich led from start-to-finish in the 143-game event, after opening strongly with 255, 267 and 279 for a rare 801 series. His low game was 202 as he went 11-3 in match-play. Sandoval finished well with nine wins from his last eleven games as did Irwin winning six of seven to push newcomer, Scott McDonnell and Seth Muller into minor placings by virtue of those win bonus pins. Local bowler, Linda Herrera, competing in her record twenty-fifth tournament closed with clean games of 209 and 213 when only 22 pins ahead of fourth place at that point in a tightly-bunched women’s field. She beat Johanna Friedrich by 114 pins in final standings followed by Becky Fisher of Rio Rancho third 25 pins back. Lane Grado, who learned to bowl in Southern California’s bowling hotbed in the 1960’s and 1970’s held a commanding 86-pin lead going into the senior’s final match and all but threw it away with a nerve-wracking 151 game, this after averaging 221 the previous five matches. He won by twelve pins from Friedrich with Dan Brenning, Pete Sheridan and Terry Schmidt finishing three through five. A somewhat different story in the youth final when late starter, Sebastian Medina of Rio Rancho secured a run when an Albuquerque bowler has to withdraw.  He took full advantage of the unusual opportunity to go 7-1 and win the title over nine-year-old “prodigy”, Genesis Bajonero of Rio Rancho and third-placed Liam Martinez. * Jacob Gill has become the first bowler to successfully defend his “King of the Hill” title in action at Tenpins & More on Sunday. Barely surviving in round two of the eliminator format (with a 184 game), Gill added 210 and 207 before facing left-hander, Haskell Lee for the championship. It was close throughout the ten-frame match, only one pin the difference in the eighth frame however a solid two strikes in a row by Gill and a difficult spare conversion in the tenth gave him the win, and  $400, 193-175. * Four area league members won their respective age divisions in the Northern New Mexico Senior Olympics bowling tournament at Strike Gold Lanes this month. Ken Friedrich, Arthana Hampel, Willie Edwards and Perry Hampel came away with gold medals from the tournament that packed the 16-lane Center for two days during the multi-sport festival. * Calendar:Sun Feb 2: Color Pin Cash at 9.30am: Annual NMAA Foundation Bowlathon at 1pmSun Feb 9: Superbowl Sunday Doubles Marathon at 8am