Bowling
NEW CHAMPIONS EMERGE IN APRIL KING AND PRINCE OF THE LANES
Duenas, Kim are first-time winners
PRESS RELEASE – A pair of first-time champions were crowned during the monthly King and Prince of the Lanes held at the Central Lanes Bowling Center on Sunday, April 24, 2022.
16-year-old Evan Duenas finished in seventh place during the qualifying round held earlier in the day, then found his groove in the elimination rounds which took him all the way to his first-ever King of the Lanes championship. Duenas escaped several close battles as he climbed the ladder in the elimination rounds outdueling his uncle and 6th seed Gregory Borja in round one 204-194. After trailing 10th seed Juan Blas early in round two, he found a couple of opportunities to overtake Blas and move into the semi-final round 189-175. Duenas was in the hole again in the opening stanza against top seed RJ Santos, but a crack in the fifth frame was all it took for Duenas to seize and inched his way to the final match with a one-pin win, 231-230.
In the final match, Duenas took full advantage of the struggles 9th seed Ceasar Villanueva encountered during the opening frames. The high school Junior made his presence known by connecting five strikes in a row to jump to a 56-pin advantage early in the match and never looked back as he went on to claim his title in convincing fashion, 230 to 188.
Villanueva’s route to the finals included a grueling win against 2nd seed Ray San Nicolas, 237-224, edging 4th seed and multiple grand champion Brian Manibusan in the second round 210-200 and slipping past 3rd seed Aaron Elliott in the first round by a pin, 215-214.
RJ Santos and Ray San Nicolas shared top honors during the qualifying round with 866 pins followed by Elliott, Manibusan, Jeremiah Camacho, Greg Borja, Duenas, Darien Borja, Villanueva, and Juan Blas who rounded off the top ten and advanced to the elimination rounds.
In the Prince of the Lanes division, Miyuki Kim used a three-bagger mid-game to distance herself from top seed Gomes Martinez and eventually cruised to her first-ever title, 188 to 130. It was a tight contest during the first half of the game as one pin separated the two keglers after four frames until Kim produced the consecutive strikes.
In the earlier matchups, Kim bettered 3rd seed Corey Granillo using her handicap advantage to take the second spot in the finals with a 180+41 to 202+12 victory. Gomes outshined 7th seed Sheila Bang 186-125.
Martinez led all Prince competitors in the qualifier followed by Kim, Corey Granillo, Cris Leal, Aron Hernandez, Rolly Hernandez, Sheila Bangs, Trinity Nalundasan, Mike Brown, and Arlene Reyes rounded off the top ten.
The next Budweiser King and Prince of the Lanes will be held on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at 1:15 p.m. at the Central Lanes Bowling Center.