What a weekend!!! Thanks to all that braved the cold weather. We had 118 entries at HiLine Lanes, sending 24 members to the Bracket Finals. The 9-Tap Jackpot was overdue to be hit by someone and Curt Sanborn stepped forward and hit it BIG, for a payday of $4,778.00. The Jackpot will still have $1,616.00 in it for the Bowlero Tournament in 2 weeks. The Jackpot payout helped push the total payout for the weekend to an amazing $12,591. John Nissen was the Top Qualifier winning both the $100 bonus for Saturday and the Hammer Black-Widow "Bite". Pat Davilier won the Sonics tickets hitting the Mystery Score in the second game of Saturday's first squad. We had 24 very diverse Finalists, with 5 ladies, 5 high average members (6 pins handicap or less), 6 members with averages of 185 or less, 7 members who have been with the Tour for 5 months or less and 9 of the 24 finalists who made the finals on re-entries. Pretty nice balance!
Our Miller/Venture Champion is Shannon Altona. This was only her 3rd Tournament, previously averaging only 160. This weekend, while she was fighting a cold, SHE WENT INTO"THE ZONE" and never shot under 211 scratch in the Finals. Shannon entered the finals as the #12 seed, but blazed through the Brackets to take home the winners share $1,771.00. She beat veteran Tour member John Nissen in the semi's and another rookie Michael Nucci in the Finals. Shannon said she overheard comments about all of her pins of handicap, so she went out and won ALL of her matches SCRATCH. She was very congested both days, but said that may have helped her not over-think too much. Of all the people she wanted to thank, Aleve and aspirin were at the top of her list. Her "Best Friend" and Coach, Ryan Baker was also on that Thank You list. Shannon used an AMF "Radar" from Revolutions Proshop at Paradise for her win. She works for Washington Mutual and also enjoys cooking and sewing. CONGRATULATIONS Shannon!
Michael Nucci also qualified for the Finals on his 3rd entry. He knocked off three Tour veterans on his way to the finals, taking $575.00 for his 2nd place finish. He could have had another $242.00, but wasn't in the Pro Pot. Which did help sweeten the Pro Pot for next week, with a jump to $1,812 for Bowlero. John Nissen and Chris Fly tied for 3rd place and a nice payday of $362 each. This was John's 6th Top 5 finish since September, while Chris had his best finish yet.
Final standings: 1st place Shannon Altona 1001 $1771, 2nd Michael Nucci 1044 $575, 3rd John Nissen 1064 $362, 3rd Chris Fly 1058 $362, 5thT Marv Suave 1036 $200, 5thT Tong Nguyen 1031 $200, 5thT Chuck Hufford 1020 $200, 5thT Joelle Reynolds 986 $200, 9thT Rollie Abella 1041 $150, 9thT Neal Nagasawa 1018 $150, 9thT Wes Puishis 1009 $150, 9thT Jason Collins 998 $150, 9thT Mike Ducay 988 $150, 9thT Mandy Haugen 967 $150, 9thT Scott Stansbury 959 $150, 9thT Bob Rouse 958 $150, 17thT Mark Andersson 1018 $100, 17thT Paul King 1010 $100, 17thT Kim Forrest 994 $100, 17thT Curt Sanborn 975 $100, 17thT Bernie Smith 975 $100, 17thT Lisa Ohm 967 $100, 17thT Stacy Hanel 960 $100, 17thT Danny Nudelman 959 $100.
Finals matches: Elite Eight - John Nissen 212 d. Joelle Reynolds 199, Shannon Altona 268 d. Marv Suave 179, Michael Nucci 283 d. Tong Nguyen 189, Chris Fly 259 d. Chuck Huffman 198. Final Four - Shannon Altona 301 d. John Nissen 232, Michael Nucci 283 d. Chris Fly 237. Final: Shannon Altona 292 d. Michael Nucci 202.