03/26/2012--The Youth Bowlers of Missouri began their assault on Ellisville’s West County Lanes this past weekend, and some of them sparkled in their performances in Team, Doubles, Singles, and All-Events competitions.  Additionally, the MSUSBC offers a special and optional Scholarship Singles division where our youth have a chance to add to their SMART Fund with the USBC by using their singles scores.

The MSUSBC Youth Championships uses divisions based on averages, and crowns champions in each of those divisions.  You can see a breakdown of the divisions on the Standings Search Page.

In Division 1, the “All In The Family” team from the Greater Kansas City USBC Association bested only one other team in their division, but it was enough to hold First Place for the inaugural weekend.  Aidan and Miles McWilliams were in the first two spots, and shot series’ of 238 and 180, respectively.  Trevor Norton added 209 in the third spot, and Gage Schwery anchored with 330.  Their 957 total, plus their 1,662 pins of handicap yielded a 2,619 total, good for a  45-pin lead over PB4-2, from the Poplar Bluff USBC.

Gabriel & Arts is at the helm of Division 2 Team Event with 2,606.  Abigail Terry shot 122 to lead off, and the namesake Gabriel Blanton added 165 just afterwards.  Austin Terry tossed a 470 set, and Anthony Terry, Jr. contributed 385 in the bottom spot.  The team totaled 1,142 scratch, and received 1,464 handicap pins.  They currently lead the Pin Strikers from the Northeast Missouri USBC by 7 pins.

Youth Division 3 is in the possession of the Scenic Rivers USBC’s Black Widows team, who enjoy a 153-pin cushion over the King Pins from Neosho USBC.  Merle Dewitt started the Widows off with 407, followed by Allisya Mullins and her 452.  Kirsten Mullins shot 315, and Quinton Clark finished the job with 591.  They had 1,765 scratch, and with the addition of 1,020 handicap pins, totaled 2,785.

Leading Division 4 is the team called Star Lanes #2 from the Carthage USBC.  Bryce Henry had 438, Ethan Pickett 376, Tim Logan 403, and Jakob Stratton tossed a nice 583 at the bottom.  Their total of 1,800 plus 897 handicap pins gives them 2,697, and a 106-pin margin over team Pacific White, from the St. Louis USBC.

It takes 2,646 to lead Division 5, with four teams competing so far.  Hometown Wireless, from the West Central Missouri USBC, totaled that much with contributions from Remington Wahn, who shot 280; Ethan Wahn added 579, Jackson Forkner tossed 587, and Sterling Wahn anchored with a 606.  They receive 594 pins handicap, and totaled 2,052 actual pins.  In a nice second-place effort, Enterprise Mayhem from the Greater Springfield MO USBC posted 2,581 and trail by 65 after Week 1.

The higher divisions have only a couple of teams each, but were not short on good bowling in the first weekend.  In Division 6, Oasis Lanes from the Four Rivers USBC Association tossed a 2,530 score, including 378 pins handicap.  Lucas Willer started off with a 267 set, followed by Cody Smith’s 590.  Austin Pritchard had games of 215-259-204 for a very nice 678, and Aaron Pritchard added 617 in the bottom spot, including a 226 game.  They currently lead the team called “Win” from the St. Charles County USBC by 171 pins.

Finally, beginning one of the outstanding performances of the tournament, was Timothy Gruendler from the St. Charles County USBC.  Bowling for “3 Dudes and a Chick,” Tim shot a 709 set in the two-hole, and wasn’t even close to being the star of this team.  The “chick,” Anna Zobrist, started the team off with a 479 set on games of 147-142-190.  Gruendler’s 265-219-225 effort was next.  Timothy Barbeau helped out with his 713 set on games of 279-244-190.  Holding the team up and finishing off big was Kristopher Aldrich with 234-267-265, a huge 766 set.  These youngsters totaled 2,667 scratch, a 222 average, and they receive 108 pins handicap.  The posted a 2,775 total, good for a mere 72-pin lead.

The high scratch team set for the tournament so far belongs to the second-place team in Division 7, “Bowling Is Our Game,” a team of bowlers from multiple associations.  Entering with an 862 average, they receive no pins handicap.  Michael Hodde from Florissant, MO started off with 211-194, and finished with the tournament’s first 300 game, for a 705 set.  Springfield’s Ben Hogan, highest average on the team with 224, shot 249-205-255 for 709.  Kyndall Martin, also from Springfield, had a good start, shooting 258-218 before stumbling with a 159 finish.  Brendan Williams, Rogersville, added 215-202-237 in the bottom spot, for a scratch team total of 2,703.  Outstanding bowling all around!

The tournament continues six more weekends, skipping Easter Weekend and the first weekend in May.