Tony Oliva defeated Nick Wetzel 257-200 to win the MAST event at Spartan Bowl in McFarland Sunday. Oliva qualified second at 1,009, and followed that up with an incredible 1,089 over four matches en route to the win. This marked Oliva’s fifth career MAST title and third this season, having also won at Leisure Lanes in Monroe in December and at the doubles event at Middleton Sport Bowl with Nathan Michalowski last month.
Oliva earned $543 for the victory, with Wetzel taking home $300 for second. The other match-play payouts Sunday were $192 for 3rd-4th, $145 for 5th-8th, and $112 for 9th-16th.
Forty-eight bowlers competed on Spartan’s house shot. The cut after four games of qualifying was 934. Joe Janz led qualifying at 1,023, he receives twenty-five bonus points in the M & J Truck and Auto Points Race. Three bowlers posted honor counts Sunday, with 300 games by Wetzel, Paul Bloemer and Victor Cortez. There were also several near misses with 299’s by Oliva and Corey Schmidt, and a 297 from Jeff Richgels.
Tour co-sponsor M & J Truck and Auto added $300 to the tournament prize fund for this event. Tour co-sponsor Bob Holzbauer and Phoenix Pro Shop donated a Storm Super Son!Q bowling ball, won by Jeff Prein. Host center Spartan Bowl provided a lineage discount and added three $10 gift cards, won by Dave Erickson, Shaun Taliaferro, and Kevin Thompson. Total proceeds resulted in $697 added to the prize fund for this event. MAST extends a huge Thank You to M & J Truck and Auto, Phoenix Pro Shop, and Spartan Bowl for their generosity.
This was the final regular-season event of the 2018-2019 MAST season. In the unofficial final tallies, Oliva finishes as the top money winner with $2,334 on the strength of his three titles and eight cashes in twelve events bowled. Chris Gibbons’ quarter-final run Sunday helped him lock up both the average title (230.2273) and the M & J Truck and Auto Points Race (2,128). Congratulations to both gentlemen for their outstanding performances this season.
Our Year-End invitational event will be held at Schwoegler’s Entertainment Center in Madison on Saturday & Sunday April 6th-7th, with competition starting at 11:00am both days. That event will be contested on the 35-foot Kegel Boardwalk oil pattern.