July 23, 2016
INDIANAPOLIS—Jordan Newham’s valiant run at junior bowling’ a biggest prize fell just short Saturday morning.
The Vanderbilt sophomore from Aurora, Ill., finished tied for fifth out of an original field of 792 at the USBC Junior Gold Tournament after losing in the quarterfinals to defending champion Sierra Kanemoto, 414-340, in the two game match play format.
Newham had a dominating Friday to push her way into the match play round of 16 and began Saturday with victories over No. 13 seed Madysen Keller, 384-371, and ninth seeded Lauren Pate, 459-379.
“I was not looking at the standings throughout the tournament,” Newham said. “I had a good day Thursday and was just happy to make the first cut. I was focused on having fun and thinking maybe I could move up.”
The strong Friday came with one glitch, a 150 in the fourth game in which Newham thought she had blown her chance to make the cut to 16.
“After the 150 I figured I wouldn’t make it so I stayed focused on having fun and ended better,” she recalls. “We had to wait to see final standings and I knew it would be close and that was stressful.”
Sneaking in at the No. 16 seed, she faced No. 1 seed Heather Penazer and scored a resounding victory, 543-314 – two games that included 17 strikes in succession.
“Once I made the final cut, which was my goal starting the tournament, I just wanted to have fun bowling,” Jordan said. “I was fortunate to be on a good pair and was throwing it well. I was not thinking about the strikes, just trying to throw good shots and the pins were falling.”
Newham was philosophical after being ousted by Kanemoto in the double-elimination format.
“I didn’t match up that well on the lanes but I thought I was making good first shots, they just weren’t carrying well,” she said. “I feel good about my tournament, I accomplished my goals and had a great time.”
Vanderbilt’s most heralded bowlers have also enjoyed success at this major event. First-team All-Americans Josie Earnest (second), Brittni Hamilton (first) and Robyn Renslow (first) made lasting marks in this event, which offers automatic roster spots on Junior Team USA to the top four finishes and four additional bowlers chosen after the tournament concludes.