January 9, 2009
By: Mark Martin
NOLEN
HITS BIG TIME
John
Nolen of
As a result of winning the event he earned one of eight exemptions awarded for the 2009-10 season of the PBA Lumber Liquidators Tour, which will begin in Oct. 2009. He will be one of 64 bowlers competing each week as an exempt player with a guaranteed check.
Nolen
also becomes eligible for the PBA Tournament of Champions Jan. 19-25 at Red Rock
Lanes in
The week of competition was very grueling with five rounds of six games each on the five PBA lane patterns over three days.
Nolen
dominated the field leading four of the five rounds and finishing an astonishing
219 pins ahead of second place finisher P.J. Haggerty of
“Three
weeks before the event I felt I was going to win,” said the 29-year-old.
“The previous week in
“The exemption is great however to be honest I was focusing on winning and being able to bowl the Tournament of Champions in January. With eight exempt spots available, focusing on winning took the pressure of the exemption off.”
In
order to qualify for the RPI Nolen bowled the final nine events of the PBA
Central Region and fared well in order to amass enough points to be eligible to
go to
Nolen will join Hartland’s Mika Koivuniemi as local players participating regularly on the PBA Tour in the fall.
While
Nolen has always been confident of his ability, making the top 24 at the U.S.
Open in
He
has been chasing his dream and this season has competed in the weekly Tournament
Qualifying Rounds (TQR) in advance of each PBA Tour event in an effort to
qualify for the “big show”. Of the eight TQR events thus far he’s cashed
in seven of them and advance to the main event twice in
Even though he has the exemption for the 2009-10 season he will continue going to the tour stops each week for the balance of the 2008-09 season and participating in the TQR’s in an effort to advance to the main event. Besides by participating this year he’s preparing for next season already.
“Now that I’ve got the spot I’m never going to lose it.” the mild mannered Nolen said confidently.
Nolen has been plagued by injuries for the past few years and spent this past summer remaking his game to simplify his release to avoid the nagging injuries.
Nolen
is the owner of Bud’s Pro Shop on
Congratulations to John and now we will have a local to follow, watch and root for.
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LISA
MC CLENAHAN
Lisa
McClenahan of Auburn Hills recently bowled an 808 series in the Airway First
Ladies League at Airway Lanes in
McClenahan was scheduled for arm surgery in August after being stricken with tendonitis. Due to the delicacy of the surgery she could have been kept out of action from six weeks to five months depending on the progress of the rehabilitation.
Originally she postponed the surgery until September and then she bowled her first career 300 game in the Ladies Masters League at Airway Lanes en route to a 701 series.
Surgery was pushed back again until October when she put in a bid for an 800 series, but came up short settling for 772 in the Airway First League. Surgery was again delayed until December.
At the end of November she started her league session with a pair of 255 games. Recalling her October flirt with an 800 series she explained, “Everything felt so good that I knew I was going for an 800. All I needed was the front 11”.
In the third game she began with 11 consecutive strikes before getting an eight-pin count for a 298 game and the 808 series.
After the fantastic start to her 2008-09 season the surgery for McClenahan has been postponed indefinitely because as she says, “I’m having a career year and someone is telling me something – to not have the surgery”.
She has a lifetime high average of 210 and presently averaging 203 and 213 in the two leagues at Airway Lanes. Her first year to average over 200 was 1994.
The 808 series is historical at Airway Lanes in that it was bowled in the Airway First Ladies League, the first league to bowl at Airway Lanes on Sept. 5, 1961, a mere 47 years ago.
Congratulations to Lisa McClenahan on a fine accomplishment and keep up the good work.
Thanks to Gary Benning, proprietor of Airway Lanes, for his contribution to this story.
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BOWLING
ON TV
The
Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour will resume on television this week with the
National Bowling Stadium Championship from
The National Bowling Stadium Championship will feature a mixed lane pattern with the left lane conditioned with the Shark pattern and the right lane with the Cheetah pattern.
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HONOR SCORES
300
Games
Date,
Name, Hometown, Center, League
Dec. 1, Orlandus Smith Sr., Bloomfield Hills, Regal Lanes, Hoosier Men’s League
Dec.
9, Donald Rutkowski,
Dec.
9, Jerry Jenkins,
Dec.
9, Daniel Williams,
Dec.
9, Steven Radtke,
Dec.
9, Andrew Jones,
Dec.
9, LeAndre Thomas,
Dec.
10, William Kitson,
Dec. 10, Richard Lapanowski, Rochester Hills, Van Dyke Bowl, Wednesday Nite Men
Dec.
10, George Merchant II,
Dec. 10, Stephen Amolsch, Howell, Country Lanes, Country Keglers
Dec.
11, Harry Amenda,
Dec. 11, George Schester Jr., Madison Hts., Universal Lanes, Thursday Community
Dec. 12, Kevin Whitty, Oak Park, Regal Lanes, Father Kramer K of C
Dec.
12, Christopher Sallie,
Dec.
12, Michael McCurry,
Dec.
12, Joseph Thomas,
Dec.
13, Peter DeVera,
Dec.
13, Heather Kline,
Dec.
13, John Parafinowicz,
Dec.
14, Michael Busch,
Dec.
14, James Winn,
Dec.
16, Jason Battishill,
Dec.
22, Bryan Hodges,
Dec.
27, William Hatten,
Dec.
29, Matthew Desnoyer,
Dec.
29, J. Walter Roberts,
Dec.
30, Mario Bastianelli II,
Jan.
2, Gerald Gerard Jr.,
Jan.
2, Kevin Montalbano,
Jan.
2, Jawwaad Muhammad,
Jan.
2, Michael Steenbergh, Madison Hts., Fairlanes,
Jan.
3, Jeremy Thomas,
Jan.
4, Allen Bordui Jr.,
Jan. 6, Corey Miller, Grand Blanc, 300 Bowl, Tuesday Shootout
Jan. 6, Daniel Essinger, Madison Hts., Bowl One Lanes, Tuesday Night Men’s Trio
Jan.
7, Chris Dupre,
800
Series
Dec. 4, Paul Szumny (826), Commerce Twp., Cherry Hill Lanes, Thursday Nite Men’s Invitational
Dec.
8, Edward Grear (826),
Dec. 10, Richard Lapanowski (801), Rochester Hills, Van Dyke Bowl, Wednesday Nite Men
Dec.
11, Christopher Chaltron (811),
Dec.
12, Kevin Whitty (822),
Dec.
18, Marc Sample (823),
Dec.
29, Matthew Desnoyer (801),
Dec.
30, John Robertson (826),
Dec.
30, Jeffrey Grego (825),
Dec. 30, Corey Miller (803), Grand Blanc, 300 Bowl, Tuesday Shootout
Dec.
30, Jason Neiman (807),
Jan.
2, Kenneth Wyatt (812),
Jan.
2, Allen Bordui Jr. (834),
Jan. 4, Allen Bordui Jr. (808), Hazel Park, Hazel Park Bowl, Hamtramck Singles Classic Tournament
Jan.
6, Michael Legault (812),
Jan.
7, Chris Dupre (800),
Jan.
7, Keith Kalish (801),
Mark Martin writes a weekly bowling column for The Daily Oakland Press and is the association manager of the Metro Detroit USBC Association. He can be reached at (248) 443-2695, faxed at (248) 443-2690 or e-mailed at mark.martin@mdusbc.com.