Division 3 Team lead changes rapidly at USBC Women's Championships
On Saturday, the Idaho Pick-up Gals from Pocatello, bowling together for the first time, took the top spot with a 2,501 pinfall. Two nights later, the Unbowlievables from Meridian, Idaho, Grass Valley, Calif., and Chicago, have eclipsed that mark with 2,530. Prior to those changes the division lead had remained intact for more than three weeks.
According to Unbowlievables team captain Valerie Robinson of Meridian, "We found out we were in the lead on Tuesday morning when we came back to the bowling stadium and checked the leaderboard. We had to take digital pictures of it so that people back home would believe us," she laughed.
The teammates weren't total strangers, seeing as how Robinson and her mother-in-law, Lois Robinson, used to bowl together in Grass Valley. Renee Isack, now living in the Chicago area, also bowled with them occasionally before she moved. She brought Bonnie Borms, another Chicago-area resident with her to Reno. The fifth Unbowlievable, Angela Shelly, is Valerie Robinson's neighbor in Meridian.
But this is the first time they bowled together as a team, adopting a team name they concocted a couple of weeks ago. Apparently it won't be their last appearance together since they're already hatching plans for Charlotte next year.
Captain Robinson led her team with a 539 series. Borms registered a 518; Isack, 513; Lois Robinson, 487; and Shelly shot a 473. The bowling gods must have been smiling down on the Unbowlievables as each member shot above her average.
"We got lucky," Robinson admitted. "As soon as one of us cooled off, it seemed another team member got hot and picked up the slack. We were pretty excited."
The ladies are a disparate group off the lanes. Lois Robinson is retired, but her daughter-in-law owns a construction company in Boise. Borms described herself as a bookkeeper for a grain elevator. Shelly is a mother of four and a "sky-diving instructor in-training," she claimed. Finally, Isack called herself simply, a homemaker.
Additional standings changes for the day included Washington Mojo, Ferndale, Wash., moving into second place in Division 1 Team play with a score of 2,818. Also, the Valley Bowl Pro-Shop from Spokane, took over fourth place in the Classic Division Team with a 2,911 pinfall.
Kegel is the official lane maintenance supplier of the USBC. For more information on the USBC Women's Championships, visit www.usbcwomenschampionships.com.
5/24/2006
By Bob Sagan USBC Communications