The Annual Tournament of Champions is always my favorite event, as all entrants earned the right to be there by winning an event at least sometime in their career. Anyone who is a champion can attend, provided that you compete in at least one event per year AND have your champion shirt.

This year, we had 76 champions attend for the 5 game qualifying round, including 3 former champions (Mychael Samson from 2021, Leo Funari from 2022, and the reigning champion Nick Losli). None of them though would be in the running for another title, thought Leo gave it a run with a 287 game to start the proceedings. There were a number of huge games early on.

Keith Stoner, the reigning Grand Finals champion, started with 277-279 to give him a great head start. Zachary Osburn shot a 276 i game one, Tanner Acosta shot 290, giving himself a century award after his 190 in game 1. Sean Daniels, this year Player of the Year runner-up, also erased a bad first game with the high game of the day with a 297 in game 2. And Melissa Germann shot her personal best game, a 278, in game 2 to jump into second early behind Stoner.

After game 3, Stoner retained the lead, with Chad Gibbs of Sweet Home moving into the 2 spot, Cody Renfro from Dallas having a dream day was in 3rd, and Melissa Germann slipped to 4th, but still looking good. Rebecca Cole from Bend was sitting in the final transfer spot at +97, but it was a tenuous lead with multiple competitors still well in the running,

Game 4 saw Stoner retain the lead and Renfro move into the 2 spot as Gibbs fell back a bit. Thomas Grimraider Brannon shot a huge 258 to jump into 5th, just ahead of Daniels. James Donaldson shot his 3rd straight 200 game to get into a 3 way tie with Tanner Acosta and Nate Moore at +135. And Rebecca continued to hold the 16th spot by just 1 pin over Matt Ramshaw. It would all depend on the 5th and final game to see who made the finals.

The top 4 bowlers stayed the same, with Renfro overtaking Stoner for the overall top spot, and Brannon jumping Eric Stern for 3rd and 4th. Daniels remained top 5, just barely ahead of Jeff Blindguy and Tanner Acosta. Melissa Germann held on to lane choice by grabbing the 8 spot. David Gunn and Nate Moore tied for 9th, with David getting the 9 spot by virtue of having the higher scratch game. Chad Gibbs remained in the field in the 11 spot. Lucas Richard Cobb jumped from 18th to 13th with a 235 game. And Brendan Smith shot 238 to go from 20th to the final spot in 16th.

The biggest moves came from Amanda Whitcomb and Zachary Wenger. After 4, they were tied at +91 in 24th. They both fired huge games, Amanda with 246 and Zach followed up his 279 with a 247. This allowed Zach to jump to 14th, tying with Donaldson and getting the spot over Opie due to his scratch game. Whitcomb bounced all the way up to 12th, setting up a first round duel with her good friend and frequent ball rep Daniels.

While this locked up the top 16, there were 3 other paying spots. Brian Penn had been in the top 16 most of the day, but he slipped with a 191 in game 5 ti finish in 17th, just 4 pins out of the bracket. 15 year old Rasna Som came all the way from Pendleton and fired a scratch +70 to snag the final cashing spot, which will go to his SMART account. And finally, Brett Day jumped all the way from 33rd up to 18th with a 244 game to get a check.

17. Brian Penn +138 $160

18. Brett Day +128 $155

19. Rasna Som +125 $150 (SMART)

We also were gifted a 900 Global Sublime Focus from Play Well Pro Shop, which raised an awesome $350 for the prize fund. Cody Renfro took home the ball, extending his dream day.

The single elimination bracket awards the higher seeds with lane choice, except they cannot camp on a pair. So each higher ranked seed selected their pairs, no surprise that 1&2 were the last ones taken. Most of the matches were fairly cut and dry, with the exception of the 4/13 match between Cobb and Stern. That match went down to the very last shot, with Stern taking the nod 211-205.

There were a couple shocking upsets in round 1. Amanda Whitcomb pulled off a shocker, beating her good friend Sean Daniels 256-185. And in a real stunner, Keith Stoner was knocked out after leading most of the tournament by James Donaldson 214-174.

Round 1 Results

Cody Renfro def Brendan Smith 226-204

David Gunn def Melissa Germann 192-159

Tanner Acosta def Nate Moore 211-165

Jeff Blindguy def Chad Gibbs 198-165

Thomas Grimraider Brannon def Zachary Wenger 220-197

Stern def Cobb 211-205

Whitcomb def Daniels 256-185

Donaldson def Stoner 214-174

Round 2 Saw Renfro's dream day continue. He fired a huge 276 wigh handicap game to knock out Gunn's 216. Cody only started bowling this year and he's already rapidly improving and will be challenging for more titles next season. Whitcomb put a beating on Stern with a 272-229 win. Tanner ended the dream of Opie, but they had fun doing it. Tanner just had too much with a 247-187 win. And finally, in a very exciting match, Jeff Harkins was able to strike out in the 10th to get past Thomas Brannon 230-206.

The second round losers went home with a nice check of $350/ea.

The Semi-finals brought on the big bucks. Amanda and Cody battled through the match to see who would go to the finals. Cody had had am incredible day, only shooting two games below 200, pretty crazy for a new bowler. But this time, his luck ran out. Amanda put together a solid 199 scratch (225 handicap) game as Cody struggled to a 155 scratch (197 handicap) game. Amanda would move to the finals against either Tanner or Jeff.

Jeff Harkins had won MegaBuck Mania this year and stood a decent chance to win the two highest paying events of the year. He had to battle the young fireballer Acosta, known for his incredible skill and shotmaking and fiery energy. They would battle shot for shot with every frame being critical to the match. Tanner started with a double and then started a trend that would define the match. He threw a great shot on lane 5 and left a bouncing 10 pin. He would clean it up and then strike on lane 6. But in the 5th, again a bouncing 10 pin. You could see it was getting to him. Jeff, however, was not able to take much advantage, with a bunch of spares and only one strike. The 6th frame was another beautiful strike on Lane 6, and then AGAIN a 10 pin on Lane 5. Another spare and another beautiful strike on lane 6.

Jeff found a line and was able to strike, which set up a thrilling finish. Tanner, having gotten a pep talk from Sean Daniels, came back to lane 5 and made a minor speed and line adjustment and buried the pocket for a clutch strike. This gave him the opportunity to go to lane 6, his good lane, and shut out Jeff. He blasted the pocket on the first shot and struck. One more strike and 6 would lock up the match. But that stubborn 10 pin again reared its ugly head. This gave Jeff the chance to win. Jeff needed the first two strikes to win. He struck on the first shot but was not able to contact for the second and that ended the dream. He spared and struck for a 224 handicap game, but Tanner's 228 moved his to the finals against Amanda.

Cody and Jeff each got $575 for their semi-final finish.

The final, featuring the #7 seed Acosta, an unlikely finalist due to his late decision to enter and his scratch status, and the #12 seed Whitcomb, who is having a resurgence after a lifetime away from bowling and two hip replacement surgeries and years of rehab to walk comfortably again. The match started out good with a spare strike from Amanda and a strike spare from Tanner. But then Amanda lost her ball reaction on the right lane this would drastically alter the complexion of the match. She was able to stay clean, albeit not able to strike much, while Tanner motored along, but was not able to really extend his lead much. The 26 she was getting was keeping Amanda close. She finally struck again on the left lane, but again the right lane left her with a 6 count. She cleaned that up and moved to the 9th frame, still with a shot.

But what looked to be a good pocket shot left one of the worst breaks in bowling. The pocket 8-10, which was pretty undeserved. She plucked off the 8 pin and it tried to clip the 10 off, but missed it. This gave Tanner a near insurmountable lead and he completed the job by striking in the 9th and 10th for a solid 223 game to eclipse Amanda's 193 handicap game.

Amanda, coming off her win at NWWBT at Linn Lanes, took home a great $950 check for runner-up.

Tanner took home a cool $1500 for RTB title #2 and earned the special TOC jersey and the replica mini RTB title belt, when it gets here 

He thanks his sponsors Roto Grip and ZEALO Gear, as well as his family and friends for all the support.

Thanks to Justin Backus and the team at SuperPlay, as well as owner Terry Pierce. Aside from one minor issue, everything ran very well with minimal issues all day. And that was all while they were managing multiple birthday parties and prepping for their first live concert that night.

We conclude the season next week as we visit Walnut City Lanes for the final time. We plan to send them off with a bang as we crown the final champion of the season and the silver replica RTB belt.

Thank you to all the champions who came out to compete and we will see many of you next season. We open the Willamette Valley Warfare to start the 2025 season on December 16th!!! BE READY!!!!