Yaba

Scott Holden of Ellicott City bowls at Brunswick Normandy and Country Club lanes. On Thursday nights it's a mixed league at Country Club, Friday it's the Gas & Electric league at Normandy.Bowling since he was 12 years old, Holden has built his average to 206, and this season is posting some big numbers.In February, in the Friday league at Normandy, he fired his career high three-game series, a 799.On April 15, again in the Friday Gas & Electric league, he rolled his second career 300 game using a new Nitro R2 reactive resin bowling ball.

Ed Kess of Columbia had a novel reason for being Bowler of the Week last month in the Club 55 League at Brunswick !B Columbia.Retired after a career in federal government, Kess pounded out a strong 622 series on Dec. 21 that was 97 pins over average, good for Bowler of the Week honors.The reason?"Well, it's kind of strange," Kess said. "I was feeling tired and a little run-down, but this is my first season with Club 55 and I didn't want to miss any sessions so I bowled and, of course, had the 622 set."

The second-annual Cecil Harford Mixed Team Championship Tournament at Forest Hill Lanes drew 53 four-member teams the last weekend of January, and for the second year Chele Rutherford and Barbara Blevins were part of the winning team."

Six-year-old Jason Mullinix catches on quickly.A member of the Young American Alliance Association at Normandy, Jason shot a career-high game of 113 on Week 24 of the season, earning Bowler of the Week honors.The Sykesville resident who lives with his parents, Ann and Brian, is a student at West Friendship Elementary School."We're a bowling family," Ann said. "I met Brian at [Brunswick] Normandy and, of course, we both bowl tenpins. Last September it was natural for Jason to start bowling."

The Baltimore Young America Bowling Alliance Championship Tournament results are final, and the Fair Lanes Southdale youth bowlers walked away with a pile of trophies.Robert Burck won the Bantam Boys singles, and Colleen Anderson won the Prep Girls singles.The Prep Boys team event was captured by The Terminators -- Timmy Frampton, James George, Scott Crawford and Chris Moore.The Prep Girls team, Wild, consisting of Amy Shachlock, Kristen NTC Shachlock, Crystal Oliver and Amanda Jenkins, won their division.

The youth league at Columbia has finished its season.In the Bantams (ages 8 and under), Robert Brownlee finished with the boys high average (98) and threw the high game (153) and set (288).The Bantam Girls high average went to Patricia Maestas with 83.In the Prep Boys (9-11), Kerry Simms shot the high game (215) and set (553), and Brandon Fox took high average with 150.Chrystal Sutherland captured the Prep Girls honors with a 180 game, a 424 set and a 122 average.In Junior Varsity (12-14)

Jon Aluisy first picked up a duckpin ball seven years ago at Seidel's on Belair Road. Last season he averaged 143 in a single league, the Monday night Greater Grace."

Kirk Janney, born and raised in Harford County, began bowling tenpins as a teen-ager; now 22, he carries a 208 average in three leagues -- Monday and Tuesday at Bel Air Bowl, Thursday at Fair Lanes Edgewood.Last month he had a night to remember."I wasn't doing anything different that night," Janney said. "My first game wasn't even up to my average."That first game was a 198; his last game of the three-game set was a 215. But that middle game was a beauty.Twelve strikes for his third career perfect game.

Last month National Amateur Bowlers Inc. drew 216 entries and paid a prize fund of $4,320 at its weekend tournament at Annapolis Bowl."I try to bowl in every NABI tournament," said Dawn Petr of Annapolis. "I think I've only missed one since I joined the club."And it has paid off. Petr fired a 640 series to qualify for the stepladder finals and, while defeated by Jacqueline Hartman, Petr took home a check for $110 for fifth place.Petr, an ex-duckpin bowler, has been throwing the big ball for "about 20 years."

The third annual Carroll County Youth Tenpin Bowling Tournament drew 37 entries in two divisions to County Lanes last Sunday.Division I (141 and up averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 200; Division II (140 and down averages) handicaps were 80 percent of 140.Dave Brown Jr. of Taneytown, a YABA Saturday morning County Lanes youth bowler, won Division I's top spot in a eye-catching manner."I think he may have been the youngest person to ever throw a perfect game in Carroll County history," said Ken Frock Sr., manager of County Lanes.