The 41st annual Mel Westrich Classic was held this past weekend at Delphos Bowling and Recreation. Please forgive me for not remembering the exact year that the Bowling Proprietors of America finally wrestled control from the old time PBA for these elite events. What is known is that it was the 17th Westrich title for octogenarian Brian Kretzer.
But that was not the strangest occurrence.
“It happened again Jack,” was the feedback offered by now Dr. Alex VanMetre, “I simply had to enforce the rules and not permit our defending champion Chandler Stevens from participating in the event. His amazingly talented right arm has reached the point that his knuckles were now touching the flooring of the bowling center as he walked through. Luckily his wonderful wife Allison was there to give support.”
Co-Proprietor Brittany Rahrig, the sister of Alex quickly added, “It is always tough to DQ a great bowler, especially a former champion. This was as tough as a few years ago when we had to disqualify Ryan Cimenelli when his left arm did not fit through the door to get into the center. The years of maximum revolutions for two great bowlers has finally taken its toll.”
Never in my 100 years did I ever imagine that the game would come to this. Really hated to see this happen to Chandler and Allie, left me as sad as when family commitments got in the way of me attending their wedding. Just happy to see that two of my UNOH favorites are still supportive of one another this many years later. Love is for the young I guess. [Congrats guys, hope to see you soon!]
Is the above mere fabrication or an accurate reproduction of what is to come? Only time will tell but one does have to think that the day has to come when bowlers will pay the price.
Interestingly enough time will tell if recent changes in the lane patterns recently directed by the PBA will save the toll on the bowler’s arms in the coming seasons. One school of thought would appear to be yes as reportedly there will be a higher demand on accuracy the other school of thought is no as some bowlers, both professional and recreational will feel the best way to beat the new conditions will be to find even greater revolutions. Opinions of some professionals and even some bowling experts in the field is that it could at the least lead to end of two handed bowlers.
We will continue to study, seek added opinions and keep you updated.
Youth of 20TH Century dominates first Lima Bowling Association Event of the season … yet another future glimpse
To say that the young bowlers of 20th Century dominated the first tournament of the season for the LBA would be, as the saying goes, putting it mildly.
The youngsters made the trip across down and in one other case down the highway and walked away with virtually all the hardware in the team tournament.
The A Division champion had not only strong 20th family ties but also a strong Shawnee High School feel. Megan Atkinson, Julia Riepenhoff, DJ Riepenhoff and Abbey Ambroza gained the gold.
The B Division also fell to 20th Century young’uns. Two sets of brothers, Alex and Dylan Felter as well as Camren and Brayden Dalton took the honors and seemed to be extending their family resumes as well. The Felter brothers are the grandchildren of the late Mike Fitzgerald whom we all still miss and the Dalton duo are the children of the very talented Thomas Dalton.
The C Division fell to brothers Terry and Robert Blake and Payton Gonzalez and James Morgan.
Brayton Businger of Bluffton’s Southgate Lanes may well be the best junior bowler in this area not named Tyler Miller. Businger claimed series honors for the young men with a 672. Solomon Smith also of Shawnee took high game honors with a 258.
Yet another fine Shawnee bowler, Abbey Ambroza continues to improve. The 20th Century regular topped the scoring for the young ladies with a 631 and actually followed that up later on in the week with another 600 in league play. Julia Riepenhoff, the reigning bowler of the year took game honors with a 211.
The 10-14 division was also in the clutches of 20th bowlers with Brayden Dalton rolling a 602 and Olivia Miller extending her title resume with a 501 at the ripe old age of eleven. Cousins Louis Knotts and Ariana Compton, also of the Riepenhoff family nation were the series titleist in the 9 and under division.
Jenna Sprague and Joey Brown with games of 167 and 210 took game honors in the 10-14 division while Cooper Twining and Lillypad Sifrit added to their growing trophy collections with games of 136 and 109 in their age division.
What a haul for some great kids … with more to come in the future I am quite sure as this tournament is merely a glimpse of the young talent we have in this area. Now if we can reduce the two handed crankers things will do nothing than get better.
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