Two East Coast and two Nevada teens look the lead in their respective divisions as the
14th annual Teen Masters got underway at the National Bowling Stadium Sunday.
Zack Hattori, 17, of Las Vegas and
Thea Aspiras, 18, of Chesapeake, Va., led the boys and gilrs High School divison, while
Jeffrey Juarez, 14, East Meadow, N.Y., and
Chevelle Holstein, 14, Sparks, Nev., took the lead in the boys and girls Under 14 division. Qualifying in the Teen Masters continues Monday with a second six-game round on a short oil condition for all players.
Two bowlers who upset top seeds are among the survivors after Wednesday's high school division Round of 8 match play in the 14th annual Teen Masters at the National Bowling Stadium. Four surviving boys and girls in their respective high school divisions along with the two surviving boys and girls in the 14-under divisions will bowl the concluding head-to-head single-elimination matches Thursday.
Top seed Kristopher Prather (l.) of Milton, Fla., went 4-0 in his best-of-seven-game match Tuesday to join 15 others who advanced to the Round of 16 of the boys high school division in the Teen Masters at the National Bowling Stadium. In the Girls High School division, Thea Aspiras (r.) of Chesapeake,
Va., held on to her qualifying lead after 18 games and will be the top
seeded player in her division when match play competition gets underway Wednesday.
The PBA will provide exclusive live Xtra Frame on-line coverage of the match play finals of the 2010 Teen Masters from the National Bowling Stadium in Reno in late July, and will reward two players in both the Collegiate Masters and Teen Masters with paid entries into the PBA World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas in October. The Teen Masters is the nation’s longest-running national championship tournament for youth bowlers. 
Their paths to victory were different, but for 18-year-old Brandon Fietek (l.) of Eden Prairie, Minn., and 17-year-old Danielle McEwan (r.) of Stony Pointe, N.Y., the title bestowed upon each under the bright lights of national television was the same: 2009 Teen Masters champion. In front of a packed audience and bowling on a specially constructed lane inside Las Vegas' glamorous Fashion Show mall, Fietek and McEwan each dispatched their opponents with relative ease and claimed $7,500 first-place scholarships.
America's best youth tournament, the Teen Masters, is back and better than ever due to new long-term sponsorship from some of the industry's top companies. Three major bowling brands, Dexter Shoes, Ebonite International, and Kegel have all made multi-year, major commitments to the Teen Masters for the 2008 event and beyond. After 50 TM Qualifying events across the nation, the top 480 athletes will advance to the Teen Masters National Finals July 19-26 at Michael Gaughan's beautiful South Point Resort on the famous Las Vegas Boulevard. 
The 2007 Teen Masters National Champions are Ashly Galante and Geoffrey Young. Galante, Palm Harbor, Florida and Young, Denton, Texas both posted a 3-1 record in the best-of-five games championship match at The Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nev., and each earned a $7,500 scholarship for their performance. Both 18-year-olds were bowling in their second Teen Masters.
Teen Masters bowlers rolled on a mixed pattern Wednesday morning and the field of 88 boys and 42 girls was cut to 32 and 16 at the Orleans in Las Vegas. Florida's Andrew Koff and Ashly Galante held on to the lead they have had the past couple of rounds to capture the top seeds going into the match play. Koff rolled a 1,243 in the third round to finish the 18 games of qualifying at 3,891, a 216.1 average. Galante leads the girls division with 3,666, an average of 203.6 for qualifying.
Andrew Koff, Miami, Florida and Ashly Galante, Palm Harbor, Florida held on to the leads they established in the afternoon squad Tuesday to lead all Teen Masters Qualifiers into today's third round. The top 88 boys and 42 girls will bowl six more games Wednesday morning, after which the field will be cut again to the top 32 boys and 16 girls.
Jonathan Buckert, Rochester, New York, and Ashly Galante, Palm Harbor, Florida are the leaders after the first round of qualifying in the 10th annual Teen Masters. Buckert, bowling in C squad, dominated the boys division with a 1409 on the long oil pattern Monday. In the girls division, Galante rolled a 1261 Monday to lead round one. Ashley finished second in the 2006 Teen Masters to Brittni Hamilton.
17-year-old Jake Peters, Decatur, Illinois and 16-year-old Brittni Hamilton, Webster, New York are the 2006 Teen Masters National Champions, each winning the title at Universal Studios Orlando August 6. The show was taped for airing on ESPN2 October 16. The qualifying portion of the event was held at Boardwalk Entertainment Center in Orlando. 