MAST held the qualifying round of its 2018-2019 Year-End invitational tournament at Schwoegler’s Entertainment Center in Madison Saturday. A full field of 40 bowlers competed on Kegel’s 35-foot Boardwalk oil pattern, with the top twelve qualifiers advancing to round-robin match play on Sunday.
The field averaged just over 206 in the opening game, with 12th place at +25. Jay Heinzelman led at +65, followed by Derek Eoff and Corey Schmidt (+57) and Matt Krueger (+52).
The second game cut to 12th climbed to +40, with the field averaging just under 205. Victor Cortez claimed the lead at +94, followed by Heinzelman (+92), Eoff (+76), and Kevin Thompson (+74).
The field average climbed to 208.5 in game three, with 12th place at +52. Cortez maintained his lead at +127, following by Eoff (+109), Jeff Richgels (+104), and Tony Oliva (+96).
The game four average rose again to over 210 as the cut to 12th climbed to +67. Going into the break, Richgels took over the lead at +168, followed by Ryan Zagar (+161), Cortez (+141), and Eoff (+130).
Coming out of the break, the field’s game five average dropped for the last time, down slightly to 209, but the cut to 12th jumped to +91. The top four shuffled positions with Zagar taking the lead at +218, followed by Richgels (+182), Eoff (+174) and Cortez along with Chris Pounders (+173).
The cut after six games moved to +111 as the field averaged almost 214. We saw our first of two ties at the top spot with Richgels and Zagar at +239, followed by Eoff (+223) and Pounders (+198).
The field average held steady at just under 214 for game seven as the cut climbed to +127. Eoff took over the lead at +291, followed by Richgels (+272), Zagar (+263) and Pounders (+213).
The cut to 12th spiked to +168 as the field averaged nearly 219 in game eight. Cortez capped off his qualifying set with a 300 game (the day’s only honor count) to tie Richgels at +307. Other bowlers advancing to match play Sunday are Eoff (+275), Zagar (+262), Pounders (+193), defending champion Nathan Michalowski (+183), Heinzelman (+182), David Labinski (+180), David Beres (+172), Jeff Prein (+171), Mike Hoffman (+170), and Matt Mysliwiec (+168). The match play segment begins Sunday at 11:00am. MAST paid out three additional cash spots Saturday, going to Oliva for 13th (+150 – $110), Todd Saeger in 14th (+141 – $105) and Schmidt in 15th (+139 – $100).
MAST also recognized individual bowler achievements during the past season. Chris Gibbons received $500 for winning this year’s points title. The rest of the top ten points earners this season were Tony Oliva ($325), Cody Roedner ($275), Mike Hoffman ($235), Chris Pounders ($200), Jeff Prein ($170), Dal Geitz ($145), Kevin Thompson ($125), Ken Duffield ($110), and David Beres ($100). Congratulations to each of these bowlers for a great season.