Brandon Soedarmasto of Levittown, N.Y., and Brigitte Jacobs of Freeport, Ill., captured the boys' and girls' titles in the Teen Masters Championships at South Point Bowling Plaza Friday, each earning $7,500 scholarships.

2015 Teen Masters champions: L-R Trey Brand (U14 boys), Brandon Soedarmasto (Teen Masters boys), Brigitte Jacobs (Teen Masters girls), Allie Leiendecker (U14 girls).

Soedarmasto and Jacobs (pictured left) also earned berths in the Teen Masters Grand Championship match that will be contested as part of the Professional Bowlers Association's PBA Challenge Finals during GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VII at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.

The PBA Challenge Finals also will include PBA50 Tour, PBA Regional and PWBA-PBA Women's Regional Challenge matches. The finals will be held on Dec. 19 and will air on ESPN in early 2016.

Soedarmasto, 17, took the lead in the second round of qualifying and never looked back, averaging 231.52 for 42 games while winning 13 of his 18 match games for a 10,114 pinfall total, and a 165-pin margin of victory over Trey Brand of Battlefield, Mo.

Brand, a 13-year-old two-handed player, also won the boys' 14-and-under title. Pablo Cerda of Sunrise, Fla., finished third with 9,904 pins, 45 behind Brand.

Soedarmasto, in his fifth Teen Masters, said experience in the past four events was a big help. "The previous years I wasn't as sharp with my spare game or my mental game, so those were what I worked on the most," he said.

"I wasn't really watching the scoreboard, but I was watching the players around me when I struggled to see what they were doing. From block to block, I didn't feel like I was as focused as I needed to be, but when I got the distractions out of my head, I was able to bowl to the best of my ability."

Brand, who bowled in his first Teen Masters, said he didn't expect to win at age 13, but "I was expecting to make match play. I'm happy I did as well as I did."

Jacobs, 17, who trailed Paige Beeney of Salado, Texas, by 181 pins after 24 qualifying games, won 12 of her 18 match games and averaged 207.69 to finish with 9,083 pins, including match play bonus pins, to defeat Beeney by 243 pins in the girls' competition.

"After qualifying, I kept telling myself, you can do it, you can do it, so I just concentrated on making good shots and picking up my spares," Jacobs, a first-time Teen Masters competitor, said. "I wanted to bowl the tournament because the playing field is level with the bowling balls and conditions, and it went really well."

The U14 Division girls' winner was 14-year-old Allie Leiendecker (right with boys' winner Trey Brand) of Wooster, Ohio, the only U14 player to qualify for match play on the girls' side.

"I did a lot better than I thought I was going to do," Leiendecker said. "I practiced a lot on house shots with the bowling balls, but not on the tournament patterns. It worked a lot better than I thought. I did a lot better than I did last year (when she finished third in the U14 division)."

The Teen Masters, created in 1997 by Killer B Promotions founder Gary Beck as an elite challenge for high school age boys and girls, drew an open-entry field of 160 boys and 76 girls to Las Vegas.

All qualifying rounds were conducted on PBA-caliber short- and long-oil lane conditions. In match play, the short-oil pattern was applied to one lane and the long-oil pattern to the other. All players were required to use special PBA Skill Balls 2.0 (polyester) and 3.0 (urethane), emphasizing player skills rather than exotic equipment.

Teen Masters champions who have gone on to become PBA Tour titlists include Mike Fagan (1997), Jason Sterner (2003), Ryan Ciminelli (2004), and Jake Peters (2006).

 

Teen Masters High School Championships - Boys' Division

Final standings after 42 games including match play bonus pins; prizes listed are scholarship awards; u-denotes U14 competitor

1, Brandon Soedarmasto, Levittown, N.Y., 13-5, 10,114, $7,500
2, Trey Brand, Battlefield, Mo., 13-5, 9,949, $3,750
3, Pablo Cerda, Sunrise, Fla., 14-3-1, 9,904, $2,000
4, Michael Martell, Brooklyn, N.Y., 13-5, 9,764, $1,000
5, Alex Martin, Smyrna, Ga., 13-5, 9,535, $750
6, Justin Wisler, Davenport, Fla., 12-6, 9,444, $500
7, Jarek Vincent, Fort Smith, Ark., 8-10, 9,404, $480
8, Adam Zimmerman, Deer Park, N.Y., 8-9-1, 9,288, $460
9, Collin Smith, Huron, S.D., 7-10-1, 9,287, $440
10, Jacob Yoder, Wooster, Ohio, 8-10, 9,181, $420
11, Donovan Thomas, Longmont, Colo., 9-9, 9,172, $400
12, Parker Capra, Spring, Texas, 7-11, 9,150, $390
13, Benjamin Hardin, Tampa, Fla., 8-10, 9,114, $380
14, Daniel Watkinson, Palm Bay, Fla., 8-10, 9,106, $370
15, Andrew Guba, Las Vegas, 4-13-1, 9,082, $360
16, Basil Ng, Singapore, 5-13, 9,000, $350
17, EJ Baradas, Roseville, Calif., 4-14, 8,967, $340
18, TJ Rock, Henderson, Nev., 6-12, 8,733, $330

 

Teen Masters High School Championships - Girls' Division

Final standings after 42 games including match play bonus pins; prizes listed are scholarship awards; u-denotes U14 competitor

1, Brigitte Jacobs, Freeport, Ill., 12-6, 9,083, $7,500
2, Paige Beeney, Salado, Texas, 8-10, 8,840, $3,000
3, Megan Eaglehouse, Cibolo, Texas, 13-5, 8,723, $1,500
4, Bryanna Leyen, Perry Hall, Md., 9-9, 8,720, $750
5, Ashley Dunn, Palmdale, Calif., 12-6, 8,718, $500
6, Natalie Koprowitz, Girard, Ill., 6-11-1, 8,694, $400
7, Crystal Elliott, Melbourne, Fla., 11-7, 8,679, $360
8, Allie Leiendecker, Wooster, Ohio, 9-7-2, 8,677, $340
9, Krystina Nealon, Coral Springs, Fla., 8-10, 8,654, $320
10, Samantha Johnson, Apopka, Fla., 6-12, 8,605, $300
11, Candace Taylor, Dalton, Ohio, 10-8, 8,552, $280
12, Jenna Williams, Homosassa, Fla., 10-7-1, 8,510, $260
13, Madison Kasza, OFallon, Ill., 10-8, 8,499, $240
14, Christie Draper, McKinney, Texas, 7-11, 8,327, $220
15, Heather Trapp, Chester, Va., 7-11, 8,229, $200
16, Heather Duncan, Middleburg, Fla., 6-12, 8,198, $180
17, Mallory Liversedge, Meridian, Idaho, 7-11, 8,074, $160
18, Jasmine April, Port Orange, Fla., 9-9, 7,858, $140