The 2007-2008 JTBA Season drew to a close on June 1st with two retiring veterans claiming the titles in the 28th Annual JTBA Championships Tournament. We would like to thank our sponsors: Isaly's, Brunswick, NetServ Group, ABI Phone Systems, Varsity Lanes, Imperial Lanes, Park Lanes, and Pepsi for their help this year. Additionally, a special thank you goes out to all of the host centers who helped out by ensuring that we received the lane conditions needed for the high level of competition we expect, as well as their willingness to go the extra mile this season to make things run smoothly. Urbana was no exception, as the staff at Southwest Bowl did a fantastic job with both the lane conditions, as well as making sure that the event went off without a hitch.Host Phil Baker and Tim Pfeifer

For the fifth time this season, Tim Pfeifer claimed the boy's title, upping his career total to 8 in his last career event. Pfeifer started off slowly in Urbana, finding himself in 30th place in our 31 man field after the first three games. He recovered however, and found himself 11th after our first squad of qualifying, which was led by Austin Smith at -11. In the second round of qualifying, Pfeifer posted the highest 6 game total of the day to take the 12 game lead at -24. We had a tie for the 12th and final match play finisher, at -151. In match play Sunday, scores were all over the board, and the top 5 shuffled for the majority of the day, before Pfeifer claimed the lead for the final time with two games to go. Adam Metzger, Kenny Wichmann, Josh Burkhardt, and Kevin Beliles joined him in our stepladder finals.
Runner Up Josh Burkhardt
The boys stepladder started off with 2008 Jr Team USA Member Josh Burkhardt defeating Beliles 196-143. In match two, Burkhardt would prove to be just a bit too strong for Kenny Wichmann, and he advanced again, this time by a score of 174-160. Next up was Adam Metzger of Erie PA, our two seed, but Burkhardt poured it on with a 223-194 victory, setting up a title match in which the two bowlers had combined for 7 titles this season, in only 11 tournaments. Pfeifer was waiting in the finals, and after losing a tight title match at last years championships he was up to the challenge this year, capitalizing on Burkhardt's early stumbles with a double, and then sparing his way to his 8th career title 185-130. In an interesting side note, the top three finishers in this years Championships were all in their last JTBA events, as they all plan on moving to the adult ranks following nationals this year.

Bethan McGearyOn the girls side, Bethan McGeary also held her own going away party of sorts, claiming career title number four in a steady overall performance. The short pattern squad was led by Sarah Germano of Rochester NY at -86. Block two, and the long pattern, saw Joy Arrigo take control of the event, claiming the lead heading into Sunday at -166. Cut score was -309. Sunday saw Arrigo continuing her quest to successfully defend her title from last year, as she led the field into stepladder finals, being joined by McGeary, as well as Ashley Stahurski and Heidi Sanders.

The girls stepladder started off with a battle of the current JTBA Player of the Year Heidi Sanders taking on the 05-06 Bowler of the Year Ashley Stahurski. Sanders would sneak by with a 178-161 victory, and advance off to face McGeary in the semi-final. McGeary posted a solid 193 defeat Sanders' 177, setting up a rematch of last years title match at this event. This year, much like in the boy's division, last years runner up would claim victory, as McGeary shot 185 to defeat Arrigo's 173. Runner Up Joy Arrigo

Championships also saw us award our season ending awards, which are listed under the "Payouts" attachment. We'd like to congratulate everyone who won an award this season as well.

For those of you who will not be back with us in the fall, we thank you for your support, and hope that your time with us will help you as you advance to the adult ranks. We hope to see all of you down the road.

For those of you that will be back, our 28th season will kick off August 3rd at Varsity Lanes in Bowling Green, and we hope to see everyone there. Season opening packets will be mailed out shortly after Jr. Gold Nationals in Detroit this July.

Best of Luck to everyone at Nationals, and have a great summer!