Wichita Runner-Up

The PBA Jr Southwest Regional Qualifier ran at Bowlero Northrock in Wichita, Kansas. The U15 Boys division drew twenty-one bowlers for fifteen games of qualifying across three PBA Jr sport patterns, five games each on the Short (Bill O'Neill), the Medium (Danielle McEwan) and the Long (EJ Tackett), with the top six advancing to a six-game match-play round, head-to-head against every other finalist plus a closing position round, and thirty bonus pins for each win.

Arryn qualified 4th of the top six at 3,110, 240 pins behind qualifying leader Joseph Parkins, and 80 behind Jackson Wordekemper, who would go on to win. He answered with a 5-1 match-play round, the best mark in the field alongside Wordekemper, passing both Dailey Max and Parkins to finish 2nd of 21 at 4,615 event pins, 43 pins behind the title. He even out-bowled the champion across match play, by 37 pins.

The story of Wichita is resilience. Arryn opened qualifying with a 947, his lowest block of the weekend, the kind of start that puts most bowlers on their heels. He stayed the course. Blocks of 1,082 and 1,081 followed, both better than 216, and he had bowled his way right back into the top group.

Match play was where he made his run. He entered it 4th at 3,110, 240 pins behind qualifying leader Joseph Parkins and 80 behind Jackson Wordekemper, and went 5-1 across six games, beating Wordekemper head-to-head 212-160 and stacking a 254 and a 256, while out-scoring the eventual champion by 37 pins over the round. His lone loss was to Dailey Max, and he answered it in the closing position round, beating Dailey 217-172 to end the day on a win. That charge carried him past Max and Parkins to 2nd, 43 pins from first. It was a real bid for the title that came up just short. Digging out and turning it into a run at the title is the kind of weekend the final standing alone doesn't capture.

Thank you to the PBA Jr team for another well-run event, to Bowlero Northrock in Wichita for hosting, and to everyone who followed along and kept the encouragement coming all weekend.

Twenty-one games, a 5-1 match-play run, and a runner-up finish to show for it.