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Men's State Tourney
All or nothing at all.
That was the situation for 11 bowlers, five from the south, five from the north and one from mid-state during the 2006 Minnesota State Open Bowling Championship Tournament which concluded recently at Jack's Place in Brainerd.
Bogart's I of Mankato and Zee Lanes Travel #2 of Frazee captured the scratch and handicap team events for Division I and Division II respectively. They also won the R & G Tessman team all events titles.
The 11th bowler to win three awards was Dave Lutz of Pine City. He captured the actual (scratch) and handicap all events in Division I and won the Bill Hengen Memorial award for high scratch series in the team event.
Four other bowlers won two titles each, with Jason Barnhouse and Carl Fietek winning scratch and handicap doubles in Division I and Brian Helgren and Duane Hermanson duplicating the feat in Division II.
Anchor Chad Nelson set the pace for Bogart's in the team event with a 764 series. Other bowlers and scores were Tom Korth 683, Dan Langer 714, Travis Hersrud 748 and Dan Bock 702. Langer, with three 700 series, set the pace in team all events with a 2168 total. Other totals were Korth 2,030, Hersrud 2,019, Bock 2,093 and Nelson 2,045.
Prior to this year's meet, Langer had won four previous state titles, followed by Korth with three, Nelson two and Bock one. These three titles this year were the first state titles for Hersrud.
It was "old hat" for the members of the Zee's Lanes quint. They all had four state titles, and all in the same years. They won scratch team and team all events in 2000, won scratch team in 2003 and team all events in 2004.
Anchor Mark Kemper set the pace in the team event with a 647 total. Dave Holmer had 597, Davis Brenk 608, Rick Woth 588 and Bill King 608. Kemper was also high in all events with 1,884, followed by Holmer 1,815, Wothe 1,732 and King 1,755.
Lutz, entering the tourney with a 229 average, posted an 801 in the team event and followed with 667 in doubles and 762 in singles for a winning all events score of 2,260. He had won two state titles prior to this year.
Barnhouse, who had one of seven 300 games rolled in the tournament, posted games of 279-300-259 for an 838 series as he and Fietek won the Division I doubles. Fietek had a 746 series to give them a 1,584 total. It was Fietek's fifth & sixth state titles and the first for Barnhouse. Their 1,584 total is a state record, surpassing the 1,563 by George Peterson (801) and Tim Mayer (762) in 1994.
The Division II titles for Helgren & Hermanson, both of Cannon Falls, were their first state titles. Helgren had a 640 series and Herman 649 for 1,289 actual. With 222 pins handicap they claimed the second title with a 1,511 total.
Rounding out the Division I titles were Doug Bourne of Eden Prarie in scratch singles and Richard Bru of Red Wing in handicap. Bourne had games of 258-259-279 for a 796 total, while Bru posted scores of 224-226-289 for 739. His 79 pins handicap gave him a winning score of 818.
Mike Burnside of Hawley and Mark Farrier of Ham Lake won the Division II actual and handicap singles. Burnside had games of 225-265-230 for a 720 score and Farrier, with an entering average of 159, had games of 199-224-265 for 688. With 159 handicap, he finished with 847. Farrier's singles score of 847 won him the Elmer Beyer award for high series in any event with handicap.
Amie Ramsdell won the Division II actual all event. He posted 705 in team, and back to back 621 totals in doubles & singles for a winning 1,947 score. Lee Aho of Frazee, with a 164 average, posted 626 in team, 635 in doubles and 658 in singles for a 1,919 scratch. Aided by 435 pins handicap, he won the handicap all events with a 2,354 total. It was the first state title for Burnside, Farrier, Ramsdell and Aho.
The 2007 Men's State Tournament will be held in Winona.
©2006 - Max Bowling, Inc.
Reproduction without written permission is prohibited
Photo of Bob Schabert courtesy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
Used by permission