TITLES DETERMINED AT 2019 USA BOWLING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Champions in 12-and-under and 15-and-under divisions were determined Friday as the 2019 USA Bowling National Championships presented by Sixlets came to a close with the title matches at Thunderbowl Lanes.

The event brought together the top youth teams in the country to compete for national championships in the two divisions. The finals were taped for broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

CBS Sports Network will televise the U12 title match on Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. (Eastern) and the U15 final will air Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. (Eastern).

The Chesapeake Bay Strikers, the Northeast Region champions, faced South Central Region champion USA Bowl for the 15-and-under team title.

The opening game of the best-three-of-five Baker matches started with a string of strikes before each team went 9-spare in the fifth frame. When USA Bowl failed to convert a 6-8 split in the seventh, the Strikers took a 10-pin lead and held it the rest of the way in a 247-237 victory.

Both teams struggled in Game 2, but James Bennett’s pair of strikes in the final frame was enough to lift the Strikers to a 180-167 victory.

With a chance to sweep USA Bowl, the Strikers strung together seven consecutive strikes for a 249-207 victory to claim the U15 national title.

In addition to Bennett, teams members include John Banfield, Nicholas Menendez, Nate Trentler and Laney Wells.

The USA Bowl team was comprised of Jacob Ballenger, Ellie Drescher, Ethan Gomez, Bryant Griffith and Matthew Reed.

In the U12 title match, SDLV opened with a 189-169 victory over DKJ Pro Shop, but then proceeded to drop the next two games, by scores of 136-189 and 166-188, before rebounding with a 174-154 victory to force a deciding fifth game.

DKJ Pro Shop, the Northeast Region champion, had five open frames in the final game, and the Southwest Region champion SDLV Strikers were able to hold on for a 155-144 victory and the title.

The Strikers are comprised of Katelyn Abigania, the two-time U12 Junior Gold champion, Sebastian Huffman, Avery Domaguin and Elias O’Hollaren.

Kai Strothers, who rolled nine consecutive strikes over Games 2 and 3 to pace DKJ Pro Shop, was joined on the team by William Cunningham, Donaven Kline, and Ronin Rivera.

The USA Bowling National Championships brought together the champions from 16 regional tournaments in the U12 and U15 divisions. The 32 teams bowled 15 Baker matches in qualifying to determine seeding for the double-elimination match-play bracket. Teams bowled the best-two-of-three Baker matches to determine the teams for the national title matches.

BowlTV.com provided livestream coverage of qualifying and the match-play bracket.

Visit BOWL.com/USABowling for more information on the national championships.

About International Bowling Campus
The International Bowling Campus (IBC) is the headquarters for the bowling industry and directly serves the more than 69 million bowlers in the United States. The IBC houses the resources of the United States Bowling Congress, the governing body and membership organization for the sport; the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, representing the business interests of bowling centers; IBC Youth Development; Strike Ten Entertainment, the marketing arm for the industry; the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame; the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association; the International Bowling Media Association; the Bowling News Network; the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America; and the International Training and Research Center.