Former Idaho school chums take first place in Division 3 Doubles at USBC Women's Championships

5/20/2006



By Bob Sagan USBC Communications

RENO. Nev. - Friends since their middle-school days in Bear Lake, Idaho, Teresa Singleton and Ronda Lutz were able to experience one of life's unexpected pleasures when they learned they had taken over first place in Division 3 Doubles at the 2006 United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships, presented by the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus.

Singleton, with a 547 series (187, 174 and 186) and Lutz with 536 (185, 165 and 186) combined for a 1,083 pinfall to take the lead from Nebraskans Jamie and Connie Huyser, who had held first place in the division with 1,062,

The two 37-year-olds live in Montpelier and Paris respectively, about seven miles apart, and have bowled together for eight years at the Jolara Lanes in Montpelier. Their team is sponsored by the Ireland Bank, which won the city tournament last year.

Both women bowled well above their averages -151 for Singleton and 130 for Lutz - to move into their division's doubles lead. Lutz also shot a total 1,437 to take over fifth place in Division 4 All Events.

"We've been good friends a long time," said Lutz. "So I said, why don't we just go to Reno and have some fun and see what we can do. As it turned out, we knew we bowled well, way above our averages, so maybe we'd be into some money somewhere."

But neither woman realized how well they had performed until after they'd left Reno and were contacted at home the next day by USBC officials. "We were very surprised," said Singleton. "It may not hold up, but it's definitely an incentive to return to the nationals."

While Singleton admits to throwing a pretty good hook, Lutz says she "just throws a plain old straight ball, which just happened to go straight where I wanted it that night in Reno."

Kegel is the official lane maintenance supplier for the USBC. For more information on the USBC Women's Championships, visit www.usbcwomenschampionships.com.