NDBowling.com traveled East this past weekend to Alexandria, MN for the 5th annual SunOpta Sweeper. A record number of entrants traveled to Garden Center Lanes despite brutal road conditions surrounding the Alexandria area. 116 bowlers signed up for a chance to not only compete for the $1200 top prize, but to also benefit the local food shelf. The tournament raised over $3000 for the local food shelf and several prizes were raffled away to the competitors.
On the tournament side of things, all bowlers bowled 6 games to determine the top 16 qualifiers. The top 16 would then move on to a single elimination bracket where the 4 remaining bowlers after 2 rounds would be seeded into a stepladder based on total pins in their matches. When the dust settled, Tyler Pomplun emerged victorious and claimed the $1200 top prize. Finishing second was Ryan Dew who took home $850 for his efforts.
I would like to thank Nevin Brede as well as the staff at Garden Center Lanes for inviting us to cover the event on NDBowlTV. You can watch the entire webcast HERE.
On Sunday, We headed back West for the annual 8 game singles in Carrington, ND. While the field and oil pattern were a little different from past years, the outcome remained the same in 2016. Duane Sandvick got off to a slow start with a 147 in game 1. However, the final 7 games turned into a tale of two tournaments for the Hall of Famer. Sandvick raced out to the tournament lead by firing 912 (228 ave) his next 4 games. This may seem great for most people, but I think even Duane would admit that this 4 game block was heavily aided by premium carry. That’s when things changed. Starting in game 6 the premium carry was long gone. Even some of Duane’s ‘better than marginal’ shots were good for 9 at best. That’s when the experience and exceptional shot making skills that made Sandvick a Hall of Famer took over. Sandvick finished the final 3 games with a total of 676 to bring his tournament winning total to 1735 (216.87 Ave). What was impressive was that Sandvick was aware of the score needed to win the tournament in about the 4th or 5th frame due to another pair having completed their game. Jeremiah Smith fired a 256 in game 8 to bring his tournament total to 1701 (212.62 ave) meaning Sandvick needed 225 to win. It was great to see the veteran show some fire and grind his way to the victory given the circumstances of the moment.
The tournament winning 258 shot by Duane in game 8 was one of the better games I’ve seen him throw. Not only did he know what he needed to win the tournament, but carry was not on his side the final 3 games putting an emphasis on shot making. It is easy to see how Sandvick has accomplished as much as he has in his career. FINAL STANDINGS
Congratulations to Duane Sandvick on yet another 8 game singles title! Huge shout out to Randy Peterson and the staff at Central City Lanes for hosting the event.
Next weekend we will be in Minot for the annual King of the Hill tournament. Be sure to visit us on Facebook as we will be announcing a contest to win an Ebonite Gamebreaker 2 Phenom in the next couple weeks!