Ryan Evans Wins $7,500 Scholarship in National High School Tournament

Buffalo (the Jr Gold Championship) didn't turn out as well as Ryan Evans (Acton, MA) had hoped, only came in 432nd. However his family did manage to have a nice time and vacation. While in Buffalo they learned about the North Pointe Insurance $100,000 High School Singles Championship, a tournament for High School Seniors graduating this past June being held in Michigan July 24 - 26.

A top prize of $15,000 was offered to both the top girl and top boy. They took the top 24 boys and top 24 girls from Tuesday, and the Top 24 boys and 24 girls from Wednesday giving them the top 48 for each the girls and boys division to continue on to bowl six more games on Thursday. After the six game block they cut the field down to the top 16. So they got home from Buffalo and turned around headed to Michigan.

Ryan had been in the cut until game five, holding on to the last spot. Then his ball fell off his hand at the line onto his ankle bone. After a momentary mental melt-down, he finished the game with a 199, out of the sixteenth spot by five pins. Still dealing with his ankle he managed to fight back rolling a 203 in his last game to take the 16th qualifying spot. At this point he was guaranteed to earn at least $300 in scholarships as they paid out $300 to 44th-48th place.

In match play, competing against the 9th place qualifier, Ryan came out of the gate with a 235 against a 224. The next game Ryan came out with the first nine in a row and shot a 279 against a 254. His third match he met up with the number one seed of the tournament. He came out of the gate with the first seven in a row and shot a 252 against a 182. This one was difficult to watch as the number one seed just couldn't get anything to fall after he had been doing so well. The next match Ryan shot a 267 against a 232 and found himself in the finals against a boy Ryan had bowled with on Wednesday. Up until the 8th frame Ryan was leading by one pin, a great match, then he threw a ball that got away and leaving a greek church which cost him the match. Ryan shot a 182 and Richard shot a 224. Richard Novak of MN won the $15,000 and Ryan brought home $7500 in scholarships.

The tournament is sponsored by North Pointe Insurance Company and the bowling association that hosts this is the BPAA. A link to their site: www.bpaa.com