Qualifying concludes at 2017 USA Bowling National Championships, Junior Gold continues
July 19, 2017
PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio - The road to a national championship continued Wednesday for 32 teams of youth bowlers, who hit the lanes for qualifying at the 2017 USA Bowling National Championships presented by Sixlets.
The teams - 16 in the 12-and-under division and 16 in the 15-and-under division - bowled five and six one-game Baker matches, respectively, at Yorktown Lanes, with their win-loss records determining the seeding for their respective double-elimination match-play brackets Thursday.
The schedule originally called for 15 matches, but a citywide power shortage forced the day to be cut short. Ties were broken by total pinfall.
Leading the way in the U12 category was Cloverleaf, the Pacific Southwest representative, with a 5-0 record, besting the Lower Great Lakes squad, AllieMo's Next Gen Bowlers, also 5-0, in total pinfall. The Upper Great Lakes team, Minnesota Blizzard, set the pace for the U15 teams with a 6-0 mark.
Competition will shift to nearby Freeway Lanes of Parma in Cleveland, and teams will battle in best-of-three Baker matches to see who advances. Match play will begin Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, and by day's end, only two teams will remain in each division.
The finals for the U12 and U15 USA Bowling National Championships will take place Saturday at Game of Wickliffe in Wickliffe, Ohio, and will be televised on CBS Sports Network for the second consecutive year.
The televised portion of the event will feature a best-of-five Baker format and crown the second national champions in the event's brief history.
This year's U12 show will air Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern, and the U15 finals will run Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern.
All rounds of qualifying and match play leading up to the televised finals of the USA Bowling National Championships will be broadcast on BowlTV.
The USA Bowling program was introduced at the regional level in 2013 and grew to include the first USA Bowling National Championships last year in Indianapolis.
The 32 teams competing in the Cleveland area this week all earned their spots at the national event by winning one of 16 regional tournaments held across the country throughout the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017.
This and that from the 2017 USA Bowing National Championships and 2017 Junior Gold Championships
Faces in the crowd: There are a few celebrities among the coaches and parents at the USA Bowling National Championships this week.
The most recognizable is United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, New Jersey, who has gotten to serve both roles.
Bohn and his wife Leslie, the International Bowling Campus Youth Committee's Volunteer of the Year, helped lead the U15 team from the Northeast, Bring It On, while two of their children, Sydney and Brandon, and their niece, Natalie Kent, competed on the Northeast's U12 team, #TeamLit.
The Bohns have three children competing in the Junior Gold Championships this week - Sydney (U12 girls), Brandon (U12 boys) and Justin (U15 boys) - along with Natalie, the daughter of USBC Hall of Famer Doug Kent and Leslie Bohn's sister, Chrissie Kent. All are among the top 20 in their respective classifications.
"It has been truly awesome to see the turnout the few years I've been a part of Junior Gold, and this really is the pinnacle for youth bowling, not just in the eyes of bowlers in the United States, but across the world," said Bohn, also a member of the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame. "This is such a great learning experience for these bowlers, and it gives them a feeling like they're out on tour for a week. They get to experience different centers and lane conditions and get to live at a hotel. All while doing something they love."
The balance of being a coach, parent, autograph signer and ambassador definitely give Bohn a balanced perspective.
"I'm very proud to be here to help, and I really enjoying seeing these young bowlers have such a memorable time," Bohn said. "And, as a dad in the back, I'm just trying to do my part. I definitely feel their ups and downs."
Back on track: Two coaches in the field this week in Ohio are very familiar with the path to the winner's circle at the USA Bowling National Championships and look to complete the journey for the second time.
Bill and Ellen Johnson, who coached the South region's The Strikers to the U15 title in 2016, return in 2017 with Georgia All-Star, which won the South regional with the help of returning team member Dawson Stewart.
"All of our kids have come from the Georgia All Star program, so we were able to bring some new kids up, and they were able to rely on Dawson's experience from last year," Bill Johnson said. "There was so much excitement after last year, and so many more teams have gotten involved, bringing better competition and bowlers to the program. We're excited to be a part of it."
A Future For The Sport: The USA Bowling program has given bowlers of alike ages the chance to compete in a team atmosphere similar to other youth sports, and each season includes instruction, practice, variety of formats, competition and the opportunity to advance from the regional level to the national event.
The success and growth of the program has the USA Bowling National Championships on the schedule for the next three years, heading to Dallas (2018), Detroit (2019) and Indianapolis (2020) to be contested alongside the Junior Gold Championships and the Bowling.com Youth Open.
Making the cut: The third round of qualifying for the 2017 Junior Gold Championships presented by the Brands of Ebonite International continued in the greater Cleveland area Wednesday, and competitors in the U12, U15 and U20 divisions only have four games left to make their moves and advance to the next round.
After Thursday's final four games, the field in each division will be cut based on the number of entrants. Here's the breakdown for the first cut:
* U12 Boys - Field will be cut from 242 bowlers to 35
* U12 Girls - Field will be cut from 122 bowlers to 18
* U15 Boys - Field will be cut from 602 bowlers to 86
* U15 Girls - Field will be cut from 327 bowlers to 47
* U20 Boys - Field will be cut from 1,419 bowlers to 203
* U20 Girls - Field will be cut from 839 bowlers to 120
Junior Team USA heading to Mexico: Several Junior Team USA members are preparing for the 2017 Pan American Bowling Confederation (PABCON) Youth Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, by competing at Junior Gold this week.
The 2017 PABCON Youth Championships will take place Sept. 2-9 at Bol Obispado, and the Junior Team USA members headed that way who also are competing in Cleveland this week are defending U20 boy's champion Jeffery Mann of West Lafayette, Indiana, Kennon McFalls of Gastonia, North Carolina, and Cortez Schenck of Phoenix, while two-time Junior Gold champion Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, will look to add a third Junior Gold title to her collection before trying collect a gold medal for Junior Team USA in Mexico.
Clemmer captured wins at Junior Gold in 2012 (U15) and 2014 (U20).
The teams - 16 in the 12-and-under division and 16 in the 15-and-under division - bowled five and six one-game Baker matches, respectively, at Yorktown Lanes, with their win-loss records determining the seeding for their respective double-elimination match-play brackets Thursday.
The schedule originally called for 15 matches, but a citywide power shortage forced the day to be cut short. Ties were broken by total pinfall.
Leading the way in the U12 category was Cloverleaf, the Pacific Southwest representative, with a 5-0 record, besting the Lower Great Lakes squad, AllieMo's Next Gen Bowlers, also 5-0, in total pinfall. The Upper Great Lakes team, Minnesota Blizzard, set the pace for the U15 teams with a 6-0 mark.
Competition will shift to nearby Freeway Lanes of Parma in Cleveland, and teams will battle in best-of-three Baker matches to see who advances. Match play will begin Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, and by day's end, only two teams will remain in each division.
The finals for the U12 and U15 USA Bowling National Championships will take place Saturday at Game of Wickliffe in Wickliffe, Ohio, and will be televised on CBS Sports Network for the second consecutive year.
The televised portion of the event will feature a best-of-five Baker format and crown the second national champions in the event's brief history.
This year's U12 show will air Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern, and the U15 finals will run Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern.
All rounds of qualifying and match play leading up to the televised finals of the USA Bowling National Championships will be broadcast on BowlTV.
The USA Bowling program was introduced at the regional level in 2013 and grew to include the first USA Bowling National Championships last year in Indianapolis.
The 32 teams competing in the Cleveland area this week all earned their spots at the national event by winning one of 16 regional tournaments held across the country throughout the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017.
This and that from the 2017 USA Bowing National Championships and 2017 Junior Gold Championships
Faces in the crowd: There are a few celebrities among the coaches and parents at the USA Bowling National Championships this week.The most recognizable is United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, New Jersey, who has gotten to serve both roles.
Bohn and his wife Leslie, the International Bowling Campus Youth Committee's Volunteer of the Year, helped lead the U15 team from the Northeast, Bring It On, while two of their children, Sydney and Brandon, and their niece, Natalie Kent, competed on the Northeast's U12 team, #TeamLit.
The Bohns have three children competing in the Junior Gold Championships this week - Sydney (U12 girls), Brandon (U12 boys) and Justin (U15 boys) - along with Natalie, the daughter of USBC Hall of Famer Doug Kent and Leslie Bohn's sister, Chrissie Kent. All are among the top 20 in their respective classifications.
"It has been truly awesome to see the turnout the few years I've been a part of Junior Gold, and this really is the pinnacle for youth bowling, not just in the eyes of bowlers in the United States, but across the world," said Bohn, also a member of the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame. "This is such a great learning experience for these bowlers, and it gives them a feeling like they're out on tour for a week. They get to experience different centers and lane conditions and get to live at a hotel. All while doing something they love."
The balance of being a coach, parent, autograph signer and ambassador definitely give Bohn a balanced perspective.
"I'm very proud to be here to help, and I really enjoying seeing these young bowlers have such a memorable time," Bohn said. "And, as a dad in the back, I'm just trying to do my part. I definitely feel their ups and downs."
Back on track: Two coaches in the field this week in Ohio are very familiar with the path to the winner's circle at the USA Bowling National Championships and look to complete the journey for the second time.
Bill and Ellen Johnson, who coached the South region's The Strikers to the U15 title in 2016, return in 2017 with Georgia All-Star, which won the South regional with the help of returning team member Dawson Stewart.
"All of our kids have come from the Georgia All Star program, so we were able to bring some new kids up, and they were able to rely on Dawson's experience from last year," Bill Johnson said. "There was so much excitement after last year, and so many more teams have gotten involved, bringing better competition and bowlers to the program. We're excited to be a part of it."
A Future For The Sport: The USA Bowling program has given bowlers of alike ages the chance to compete in a team atmosphere similar to other youth sports, and each season includes instruction, practice, variety of formats, competition and the opportunity to advance from the regional level to the national event.
The success and growth of the program has the USA Bowling National Championships on the schedule for the next three years, heading to Dallas (2018), Detroit (2019) and Indianapolis (2020) to be contested alongside the Junior Gold Championships and the Bowling.com Youth Open.
Making the cut: The third round of qualifying for the 2017 Junior Gold Championships presented by the Brands of Ebonite International continued in the greater Cleveland area Wednesday, and competitors in the U12, U15 and U20 divisions only have four games left to make their moves and advance to the next round.
After Thursday's final four games, the field in each division will be cut based on the number of entrants. Here's the breakdown for the first cut:
* U12 Boys - Field will be cut from 242 bowlers to 35
* U12 Girls - Field will be cut from 122 bowlers to 18
* U15 Boys - Field will be cut from 602 bowlers to 86
* U15 Girls - Field will be cut from 327 bowlers to 47
* U20 Boys - Field will be cut from 1,419 bowlers to 203
* U20 Girls - Field will be cut from 839 bowlers to 120
Junior Team USA heading to Mexico: Several Junior Team USA members are preparing for the 2017 Pan American Bowling Confederation (PABCON) Youth Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, by competing at Junior Gold this week.
The 2017 PABCON Youth Championships will take place Sept. 2-9 at Bol Obispado, and the Junior Team USA members headed that way who also are competing in Cleveland this week are defending U20 boy's champion Jeffery Mann of West Lafayette, Indiana, Kennon McFalls of Gastonia, North Carolina, and Cortez Schenck of Phoenix, while two-time Junior Gold champion Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, will look to add a third Junior Gold title to her collection before trying collect a gold medal for Junior Team USA in Mexico.
Clemmer captured wins at Junior Gold in 2012 (U15) and 2014 (U20).