Jennifer Wright of West Columbia, S.C., and Matthew O'Grady of South Amboy, N.J., were crowned U.S. Junior Amateur champions Friday at the 2006 United States Bowling Congress Junior Gold Championships.

The championships featured nearly 1,450 of the top youth bowlers in the country competing for $80,000 in scholarships, individual titles and berths on Junior Team USA 2007.

Wright came up clutch down the stretch as she converted the 2-8 spare in the final frame of the tournament to win the title with 9,475, including 100 match-play bonus pins. Wright and Cassie Leuthold of Black Hawk, S.D., entered the finale tied after 45 games, and Wright won the deciding match 226-217 at Don Carter University Lanes.

"It felt pretty incredible to spare the 2-8 to win the tournament and make Junior Team USA again," said Wright, a 20-year-old who is a current Junior Team USA member. "It's amazing, and I wanted to win this the whole time."

Leuthold ended up in second place with 9,456 while Jenny Brown of Deland, Fla., was third with 9,201.

O'Grady had a comfortable lead heading into the final game and won the championship with 9,794, including 90 bonus pins. The 19-year-old current Junior Team USA member beat out Tim Pfeifer of Cranberry Township, Pa., who was second with 9,723. Jason Wunderlich of Homestead, Pa., was third with 9,580.

"It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but I think it will soon," O'Grady said. "I bowled great, and I threw the ball well on every pattern, every day. I can't believe how strong of a bowler I've become and how the competition continues to get tougher every year."

The top five finishers in each division earned automatic spots on Junior Team USA 2007 with the National Selection Committee picking three boys and three girls to join the team. Selections were made from the pool of athletes who advance to match play competition.

Joining Wright, Leuthold and Brown on the female squad is Bryanna Caldwell of Tucson, Ariz., and Josie Earnest of Vandalia, Ill. Additional members of the male team are William Haverland of Round Rock, Texas, and Josh Blanchard of Clovis, Calif., who earned the last spot by just five pins.

The National Selection Committee added Kyle Bischoff of St. Cloud, Minn.; Jesse Buss of Freeport, Ill.; Ronnie Sparks Jr. of Wayne, Mich.; Brigette Harrelson of Orlando, Fla.; Christina Peak of Machesney Park, Ill.; and Samantha Linder of Winter Haven, Fla., to Junior Team USA 2007 as at-large members.

Athletes in both the male and female divisions rolled 18 qualifying games July 10-12 at Don Carter University Lanes, Don Carter Tamarac Lanes and Boca Raton Lanes. The qualifying field then was trimmed to the top 155 males and top 66 females for the July 13 semifinals, which consisted of two six-game blocks at University Lanes.

Among the notable stories at this year's Junior Gold Championships was Robert Mushtare of Carthage, N.Y., who is the first bowler to record two USBC-certified 900 series. Mushtare, who missed the cut into qualifying, was shadowed by a camera crew from ESPN's "Outside the Lines." The segment is tentatively scheduled to air in late July.

The Junior Gold Championships were conducted on demanding Sport Bowling lane conditions. Sport Bowling is an optional program of leagues and tournaments in which lane conditions must meet precise and challenging requirements much less forgiving than a standard league condition.