Belmonte Shoots 300 while advancing to PBA World Championship Finals
Jason Belmonte fired the 21st nationally televised 300 game during the PBA World Championship semifinal rounds. The 300 game earned Belmo a $10,000 bonus and helped him advance to the finals of this event. Belmonte defeated Brian Kretzer, Mike Fagan, and Josh Blanchard to advance out of the Mike Aulby division of the PBA World Championship.
Unfortunately, Belmonte’s 300 wasn’t the biggest “news” to come from the show this week. ESPN chose to magnify Josh Blanchard’s “incident” during the first match. Blanchard had his ball stick on his thumb as he approached the foul line. Because of this, it carried him across, where he slipped on the lane. Throughout the day, ESPN has revisited this event several times, on shows such as Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, and even SportsCenter. Am I alone where I think that this is ridiculous of ESPN? You have a guy do something that requires and extreme amount of talent, something that’s only been done 20 other times, meanwhile you focus on the poor aspects of the game. ESPN’s representation of our sport has amazed me. They treat our sport like we’re just a bunch of fat drunks, while they promote other “sports” like poker. While I’ve seen the Blanchard clip (embarrassingly titled “Epic Bowling Fail”) repeated over and over again on their network, I have yet to see one clip of Jason Belmonte’s 300 game. As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s about time the PBA packs its bags and finds a new network that will respect our sport, give it the coverage it deserves, and look to do more promotion of the sport than just sucking every dollar it can out of what it thinks their viewers need to see.
That’s just my 2 cents. If you have any other thoughts, I would love to hear them.
Hoosier Classic Final Results
This weekend college bowlers participated in the final tier 1 tournament of the season. The Backhaul Direct Hoosier Classic took place in Indianapolis, IN. This is the last chance for college teams to earn power points to make it into the USBC Collegiate Sectionals tournaments.
Webber International University took home the title in the men’s division and the University of Central Florida took home to women’s title. Andro Simounet of Webber led the men with a final 9 game score of 2064 (+264, 229.3 Average). Jenn Boisselle from UCF led the women with a final 9 game score of 1943 (+143, 215.9 Average).
Webber took out McKendree University while Robert Morris University beat Fresno State in the semifinals. Webber beat RMU in the finals, 3 games to 0. Over on the women’s side UCF beat Wichita State University while Webber took out Pikeville College. UCF beat Webber in the finals, 3 games to 1.
Other All-Tournament team members included John Szczerbinski (2054, Wichita State), Michael Fujita (2048, UC Davis), Marcelo Suartz (2036, Webber), and Josh Blanchard (2029, Wichita). The women’s All-Tournament team members included Kaidee Sutphin (1899, UCF), Nicole Burke (1887, Pikeville), Josie Earnest ( 1847, Vanderbilt), and Jessica Earnest (1800, Vanderbilt)
S.I. Elite Classic Results
Wichita State University took both the men’s and women’s titles in the S.I. Elite Classic this weekend. On the men’s side, the Shockers’ D team won with a final 9 game score of 9502 (+502, 1055/game, 211.16 Ind. Average), led by Josh Blanchard. McKendree University (9291) took second place, led by tournament leader JR Raymond (2046, +246, 227.33 Average). Lindenwood University took third place, led by Dan Sprink (1920). The top 5 individual bowlers included JR Raymond, Morehead State University’s Mike Kirian (1922), Dan Sprink, McKendree’s Willie Jubiter (1917), and Lindenwood’s Brett Cunningham (1907).
Wichita State University’s C team won on the women’s side with a 9 game score of 8970 (-30, 996.67/Game, 199.33 Ind. Average). Pikeville College (8462) finished in second place. Wichita State’s A team (8456) finished in third. Wichita State’s Jessica Baker led all bowlers with a score of 1846 (+46, 205.11 Average). Wichita State had 4 of the top 5 bowlers, including Jazreel Tan (1826), Sandra Gongora (1811), and Rocio Restrepo (1802). McKendree’s Brandi Branka also finished in the top 5 with a score of 1808.
You can see the full results at McKendree University’s website at McKendree.edu
Kegel Collegiate Classic Results
The 2009 Kegel Collegiate Classic featured 31 men’s teams and 23 women’s teams.
In the men’s tournament Robert Morris University (IL) defeated Wichita State University‘s ‘Barnes’ team with scores of 225 and 192 to Wichita State’s 209 and 167. In the semifinals Wichita State defeated Rochester Institute of Technology and Robert Morris defeated Wichita State’s ‘Rash’ team. Wichita State’s Josh Blanchard lead all bowlers with a score of 1297 (+97, 216.17 Average). Other All-Tournament Team members included Michael Snell (1290) from Nebraska-Lincoln, RIT’s Tyler Hermann (1282), Robert Morris’ Mikey Hill (1269), and JR Raymond (1244) from McKendree University.
In the women’s tournament McKendree University‘s #1 team used scores of 180 and 211 to defeat Wichita State University‘s ‘Black’ team’s 157 and 185 scores in the finals. McKendree defeated Robert Morris University (IL) in the semifinals while Wichita State defeated McKendree’s #2 team. Wichita State had four bowlers make the All-Tournament team. The top bowler was Rocio Restrepo with a score of 1234 (+34, 205.67 Average). Other top bowlers included Sandra Gongora (1222), Jazreel Tan (1220), Mariana Ayala (1210), and McKendree’s Brandi Branka (1184).
This upcoming weekend will feature the Boilermaker Classic, hosted by Purdue University, in Lafayette, Indiana and the Brunswick Southern Collegiate Classic in Marietta Georgia.
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