Husband-and-wife pair prevails

Husband and wife Percy and Gloria Omechelang did it again, recording double victories in the Saipan Bowling Association’s Budweiser Queen of the Lanes Tournament for December over the weekend at the Saipan Bowling Center.

Percy, who took the King of the Lanes crown in May, while his wife notched the Queen of the Lanes tiara the same month, topped both days of the December tournament. He knocked down 200-plus pinfalls in all four games (223, 210, 243, and 204) in last Saturday’s roll-off to collect 880 pinfalls and lead by 72 pinfalls against Day 1 second-ranked Ador Dimaano (808).

The eventual December winner returned for the Sunday tournament and although he earned more than 200 pinfalls in only the first two games (224, 278) and logged 160 and 187 in the last two, his four-game total of 849 pinfalls still beat the scores of Lito Teodoro and Dimaano. Teodoro, who placed only seventh in last Saturday’s roll-off after getting 737 pinfalls, climbed up to second with his Day 2 total of 813 pinfalls. Dimaano, who recorded 200-plus pinfalls in three games (208, 223, and 229) in Day 1 and fell short of taking the top spot after getting 149 in Game 3, missed last Sunday’s event and dropped to third place. Bowlers are allowed to compete in both days of the tournament, but only the higher score is counted.

The Top 3 finishers all averaged 200-plus pinfalls with Omechelang tallying 220 and Teodoro and Dimaano registering 203.25 and 202, respectively.

Eighteen others joined the King of the Lanes December roll-offs.
The list includes Paul Pangelinan (783), Alex Castro (778), Roger De Guzman (776), Raymond Zapanta (775), Robert Talavera (774), Ronald Batac (763), M.J. Aldan (715), Raymond Angeles (708), Rusty Musca (699), Ariel Dumapit (697), Yong Woon Lee (688), Edgar Abalos (668), John Jimeno (649), Tito Corpus (623), and Jerry Kaneshi (619).

In the Queen of the Lanes, Gloria bested 10 other female keglers. She took the victory last Sunday after carding 731 pinfalls and overtaking Day 1 leader Elena Soll, who collected 706 pinfalls last Saturday. Kathy Mersai, who won last month, also earned 706 pinfalls last Sunday to share the runner-up honors with Soll.

Gloria, who bowled in Day 1 and had only a third best score of 667 pinfalls, came back with a mission in Day 2 and accomplished it after a strong showing in Game 2. She logged 202 pinfalls in the second game to make up for her slow start (164) and added 169 and 196 in the last two to average 182.75 pinfalls and won by 25 pinfalls against Soll, who also competed in Day 2, but got only 688 pinfalls (fifth best)
Other female bowlers who joined the weekend event were Diane Chong (702), Yho Villavicencio (669), Tess Fabie (662), Lala Taitano (662), Myrna Santos (660), Ron Cal (654), Ron Cal (654), and Gigi Zapanta (598).