2019 Junior Gold Championships youth bowling event starts this weekend in Detroit

ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2019 Junior Gold Championships presented by the Brands of Ebonite International kicks off Saturday in Detroit with registration and the trade show at the Suburban Collection Showplace and five champions will take to the lanes Monday to begin defense of their titles.

The Junior Gold Championships is the premier event for the nation’s top youth bowlers, who will compete for national titles in four divisions – 12-and-under, 15-and-under, 17-and-under and 20-and-under – plus spots on Junior Team USA and scholarships.

The event, which runs July 13-20 and is hosted by the city of Detroit and the Detroit Sports Commission, has sold more than 4,700 spots to establish a tournament record for participants. Competition will be held in eight bowling centers with the stepladder finals in all divisions at Thunderbowl Lanes.

CBS Sports Network will televise the stepladder finals of each division and BowlTV.com will provide livestream coverage from selected centers throughout the week.

Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center will be the host venue of the Junior Gold Championships Opening Ceremony at 7 p.m. Sunday, with the drum team rePercussion headlining the show. The Brands of Ebonite International, the event’s presenting sponsor, will kick off the day’s festivities with EBI Game Day starting at 3 p.m. at Eastern Michigan’s football stadium.

The first of four days of qualifying gets underway Monday at eight bowling centers in the Detroit area – AMF Rose Bowl Lanes in Roseville, Astro Lanes in Madison Heights, Bowl One Lanes in Troy, Century Bowl in Waterford Township, Skore Lanes in Taylor, Sterling Lanes in Sterling Heights, Super Bowl Lanes in Canton, and Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park.

Five of the six champions from 2018 are in this year’s field, though two will move up a division.

Anthony Neuer of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, was eligible to compete in the U17 division, the first year of the division, but will stay in the U20 division to defend the title he won last year. He also won the U12 boys title in 2014 and seeks to become the first boy to win three Junior Gold titles.

Annalise OBryant of Ball Ground, Georgia, has the opportunity to defend her U15 girls title while Silas Lira of Tampa, Florida, who won the U15 boys title last year, is moving to the U17 division.

Katelyn Abigania of San Diego beat the defending champion in last year’s U12 girls title match and now will seek to defend her title. Joseph Dominguez of Manalapan, New Jersey, moves into the U15 division after winning the U12 boys title as the No. 3 seed.

Starting Monday, competitors in all divisions will bowl 16 qualifying games over four days (four games each day) before the first cut of the field is made. The remaining bowlers in the U20, U17 and U15 divisions then will bowl five games before a second cut is made, and those remaining will bowl an additional five games to determine the 16 bowlers for match play.

In the U12 division, after the initial cut, competitors will bowl an additional four games before the field is cut to the top eight for match play.

Match play for each division will be a double-elimination bracket. Each match will consist of two games with total pinfall determining the winner. The two finalists in the match-play bracket will bowl to determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the three-person stepladder final, and the winner of the Elimination Bracket will be the No. 3 seed for the televised finals.

The stepladder finals will be one-game matches, with the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds facing off in the opening match and the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed for the title.

For the stepladder finals at Thunderbowl Lanes, the U12 finals will take place Friday, July 19, at 5 p.m. with the remainder of the finals on Saturday, July 20 – U17 at 2 p.m., U20 at 5 p.m. and U15 at 8 p.m.

CBS Sports Network will air the U12 finals on July 23, the U15 finals on July 30, the U17 finals on Aug. 6 and the U20 finals on Aug. 13. All TV shows will start at 8 p.m. (Eastern).

BowlTV.com will provide livestream coverage of the Junior Gold Championships from selected centers starting Monday. It also will have live coverage on Saturday from the trade show and from Sunday’s Opening Ceremony.

In addition to the Junior Gold Championships, the USA Bowling National Championships presented by Sixlets and Bowling.com Youth Open Championships will take place in the Detroit area.

The USA Bowling National Championships is a team competition of 16 U15 teams and 16 U12 teams that qualified through regional events. Taking place at Astro Lanes, teams will have qualifying on Thursday, and then Friday’s match-play bracket will determine the teams for the televised finals. Both the U12 and U15 finals will take place Friday, July 19, at Thunderbowl Lanes and will be taped for broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

The Youth Open Championships, a non-qualifying tournament open to all USBC Youth bowlers, has competition in singles, doubles and four-person team, and will be held at Sterling Lanes on July 11-12, 19-21, and 27-28.

The Survivor Tournament presented by Hammer is July 19 and 20 at Super Bowl Lanes and is a 2020 Junior Gold Championships Qualifying Event.

Visit BOWL.com/JuniorGold for more information on the Junior Gold Championships, including how to purchase Adult Spectator Passes on-site. All spectators age 18 and over are required to purchase a Spectator Pass to enter the bowling centers.