Montana Teams Claim 2008 QubicaAMF International Family Tournament Titles

Each First Place Team Received $5,000 Scholarships

Arlington, Texas - The state of Montana was well represented as Heather and 11-year-old daughter Keilei Kohlman of Billings, Mont., won the Parent-Youth division and Tana and 15-year-old Jake Lambert of Missoula, Mont., won the Parent-Teen competition at the 2008 QubicaAMF International Family Tournament held August 1-2 at Don Carter’ All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge, La. Both first-place teams each won $5,000 scholarships to go towards their college education. Scholarships totaling $70,000 were distributed. All in all, 66 teams from 27 states, as well as Canada, competed in the Parent/Youth (33 teams) and Parent/Teen (33 teams) divisions at the IFT, celebrating its 33rd year. Each division's top 8 teams after Friday's competition advanced to a 'Baker Game' match play final round on Saturday morning, August 2nd. At the conclusion of the 8 games of match play, the top three teams in each division then competed in the 'Baker Game' stepladder finals to decide the titles Saturday afternoon.

The Kohlmans grabbed the qualifying lead with a 176 scratch game in the opening match that went to a 299 when you added the 103 pins handicap and 20 bonus pins. They fell in the third game when the Louisiana No. 2 team from Baton Rouge, Deborah Variest and 9-year-old Jarryd Cornelious, won their second straight game with a 222-215 handicap decision.

The Baton Rouge team won four straight games and went to the seventh game in second place, needing to finish in the top three to advance to the final. In the seventh match against Missouri’s Casey and Andrew Murphey, the Missouri team posted a series of three strikes, while the Louisiana pair settled for two spares.

The Variest-Cornelious team dropped to third entering the position round and needed a win over Rita Danner and 6-year-old Justin Hackney of New Mexico.

Even though Cornelious picked up a 5-10 split late, "Danner marked consistently and Hackney - with his two-handed delivery - was getting good count on marks as they won 240-225." Their last chance to get to the final was denied when the Kansas team won over Montana with a series of three strikes late in the one-two position round match.

Cornelious finished fourth and won a scholarship worth $2,000.

In the Parent-Youth stepladder finals, the New Mexico team beat Kansas, 225-197, in the first match setting up the New Mexico-Montana match.

"It’s really exciting to be here. I’m glad we won. We worked real hard," Keilei said.

"To have the time to bowl with your daughter is awesome," mother, Heather, said. "It’s great to win your state and regionals is great, then to come to nationals and be first the whole weekend, you can’t ask for any more."

In the Parent-Teen division, the Texas team of Dominick Savage and Sandra White led qualifying Friday but was only able to win one of the eight Saturday matches as teams from Montana, Alaska and Florida made the stepladder finals.

In the semis, the Florida team of Greg and Gregory Hindeliter defeated Helen Ware and Wendell Larsen of Alaska, 251-211 setting up the final with the Lamberts. With only a 13-pins difference in handicap, the Montana team got a quick advantage and continued to fill frames to win the title, 245-222.

"It feels unreal. It was never anything I thought we could do and now that it’s done I’m relieved, but thrilled," Tana Lambert said of winning with her son Jake.

The two runner-ups each received a $3,000 scholarship while third place bowlers earned a $2,500 scholarship.

Additional scholarships of $500 each for boys and girls in each division were also awarded to Youth Division bowlers Julia Reynolds (Ontario, Canada) and Joshua McLellan (Colorado) as well as Teen Division bowlers Amy Husband (Louisiana) and Dominick Savage (Texas) for bowling the highest six-game scratch total during the qualifying round.

Contestants from across North America won their State competitions qualifying them for a trip to Baton Rouge, La., where they competed for the scholarships. This is the only sporting event in the United States in which parents participate with children and youth for an International Championship and scholarship funds.

Contestants and their families were also joined by professional bowlers Norm Duke and Mike Machuga for autographs and a bowling trick shot demonstration Saturday afternoon and a Q & A session as well as autographs during the tournament’s banquet on Saturday evening.

The 2008 International Family Tournament was made possible by the generous contributions of title sponsor QubicaAMF Worldwide and presenting sponsors Pepsi-Cola, the official soft drink of bowling along with Frito Lay and Nestle. Full final standings are available on here.

BPAA and QubicaAMF Worldwide would like to thank the staff at Don Carter’s All Star Lanes for their hospitality and hard work in hosting the IFT. A special note of thanks also goes out to Kent Lowe of The Advocate for his newspaper coverage of the tournament prior to and during the competition and his contributions to this release.

Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, the 76-year-old Bowling Proprietors' Association of America represents the business interests of bowling center owners worldwide.

# # #