Only a dozen of the top youth bowlers in the USA are now in contention to win the 2006 Teen Masters National Championship.

After Friday afternoon matchplay at Boardwalk Entertainment Center, the top 16 were established, and Friday evening, the top eight girls competed in a unique arena environment at Universal Studios Sound Stage 33. The eight boys who remain will face off in best-of-five matchplay Saturday at noon and 1 pm in the arena.

The top four girls are 16-year-old Brittni Hamilton, Webster, NY, 17-year-old Ashly Galente, Palm Harbor, Florida, 18-year-old Jasmine Coleman, Manteca, California and 18-year-old Ashley Stahurski, Bexley, Ohio. In Friday evening's action in the arena, Hamilton defeated Jenny Brown, Deland, Florida 3-1, Galente defeated Jessica Earnest, Vandalia, Illinois 3-2, Coleman defeated Erica Perez, Carteret, New Jersey 3-1, and Stahurski defeated Joi Bell, Pflugerville, Texas 3-1.

All of the girls were very excited to bowl in the incredible arena setting. Stahurski summed it up by saying, "It was really exciting, but the silence was kinda creepy. I really wanted the crowd to make more noise." The sound was definitely different. With no pinsetter noise, the only sounds heard were cheers from the crowd, the crashing of pins, and a few moments of dead silence.

The boys remaining in the competition are John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, NY, Jake Peters, Decatur, Illinois, Chris Johnson, Myrtle Creek, Oregon, Robert Warren, Danville, Virginia, Brett Cunningham, Clay, NY, Craig Wellbrock, Calverton, NY, Jon Brady, Clearwater, Florida and Matthew Tuckfield, Miami, Florida.

The unique arena setting for this year's Teen Masters Championship Round features four Kegel synthetic lanes, big screen electronic scoreboards and C.A.T.S. data and a tribute to bowling's rich history with retro above ground ball returns and human pinsetters.

Young volunteers from the University of Central Florida and others spent Friday evening and will spend the next two days setting pins for the contestants. One of the pinsetters said after Friday evening's competition "I now have a new respect for all of those old guys who sit around the bowling center drinking coffee and talking about the good ole days when they set pins. This is hard work."