The NDBowling.com Classic was held this past weekend in East Grand Forks and Moorhead, MN. Like many tournament weekends in the great state of North Dakota, the weather proved to be a factor once again. Blizzard warnings made travel difficult on Friday and kept a few entries from even making the trip. This particular tournament has been a tradition for many local bowlers each year, but recent changes have hindered the tournaments success. Despite the weather and the tournaments recent struggles, 44 bowlers entered for a chance at becoming a major champion and claiming the $1500 top prize.
Following the qualifying rounds at Liberty Lanes and Sunset Lanes, 16 bowlers advanced to the second round to be held at Sunset Lanes Sunday Morning. Highlighting the 16 qualifiers was 2014 Manitoba Open Champion, Mike Schmidt. Making his first ever appearance at the Classic, Schmidt survived 12 grueling games of match play on a 42 flat pattern to claim the top spot in the stepladder finals. Joining him was former Classic Champion Travis Hersrud, Thomas Wolf, Steve Krabbenhoft, and Eric Parvey. (Krabbenhoft was subbed in for Barry Zimmerman after Zimmerman was called into work)
Stepladder Finals Results:
Krabbenhoft def Parvey, 191-170
Wolf def Krabbenhoft, 217-181
Wolf def Hersrud, 212-189
Schmidt def Wolf, 233-220
Sunset Lanes Qualifier
Liberty Lanes Qualifier is Unavailable
Day 2 Match Play
The win gives Schmidt his second NDBowling.com Major Championship this season and a record 6th Career Major. Schmidt joins Mike Morris as the only two bowlers to have won both the Manitoba Open and the NDBowling.com Classic. Mike also joins a long list of bowlers who have won two legs of the career grand slam. (No bowler has won more than 2 different Majors) Nice bowling Mike!
A video of the final match between Thomas Wolf and Mike Schmidt was recorded via cell phone by Sunset Lanes management and can be seen here.
I would like to thank all bowlers who braved the elements to bowl this season. I understand the frustrations that many bowlers had and promise changes to this tournament starting next season. Next season, the tournament will be exclusively held at Sunset Lanes in Moorhead, MN with tentative dates of January 24th and 25th, 2015. This is a tournament you won’t want to miss.
NDBowling.com will be traveling to Mandan, ND the next two weekends for the Super Bowl Baker Doubles event and the seasons final Major, the KFYR TV Bowling Classic. Please tune in to NDBowling.com to stay updated with news and results from these great tournaments.
Once again, congratulations to the 2014 NDBowling.com Classic Champion, Mike Schmidt! Thank you for visiting NDBowling.com!