County bowlers on a roll in Top Eight Tournament
Two years ago, Margate’s Chip Mountcastle competed in the Broward County United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Top Eight Tournament and came up short of qualifying for the final four.
Mountcastle left little doubt of his acumen this year as he cruised to the Junior Boys Division championship at Sawgrass Lanes in Tamarac with a 237-132 win over Tamarac’s Austin Albarado. Mountcastle rolled a four-game qualifying score of 979, then waited out the other bowlers to ascend to the title.
“This is my first tournament win ever so it feels really good,” said the 18-year-old freshman at Broward College who beat his former Coral Springs High School teammate for the title. “It was difficult to bowl against him, but it was also good. You would rather win or lose against people you know and like. This gives me a little more motivation to keep bowling.”
Albarado, a 17-year-old senior at Coral Springs High School, was making his debut in the tournament featuring the top eight bowlers from Broward County centers. There were bowlers from Broward, Palm Beach and MiamiDade counties.
“I was bowling with the best bowlers in Broward, so that feels pretty good,” Albarado said. “It is bittersweet because most of them are my friends. This gives me a lot of confidence.”
Another Margate resident, Katarina Hagler, dropped a hard-fought 182-159 decision to West Palm Beach’s Nichole Lewis in the Junior Girls Division championship match-up. It was Hagler’s second straight runner-up finish.
Rhoda Rodriguez, 38, was the lone bowler to defend her title as she shot past Tina Smith, 233-186, in an all-Plantation Women’s Division title encounter. Rodriguez has bowled in the event three times, winning the last two.
“It was very tough to defend because all of the women who bowl here are very good bowlers,” Rodriguez said. “It feels fantastic. This ranks pretty high because it shows all of the hard work that I have done during the season pays off, and to defend the championship is amazing. I would like to three-peat next year.”
The Broward County congress also introduced a new Senior Division for bowlers 55 and older. Howie Crowder of Tamarac topped Plantation’s Lloyd Reinhardt, 258-236, for the Senior Men’s Division title.
Crowder, 59, has bowled in the Top Eight event for 20-plus years and won it five times. He would have qualified for the Men’s Division this year as well.
“I have bowled in the regular tournament, but once you hit a certain age, they automatically put you in the senior division,” Crowder said. “There is a lot of prestige. This is the best of Broward County. Anytime you win something it’s good.”
Gary Hofer, a vice president of the Broward County — Rhoda Rodriguez, 2-time Women Division
USBC, said the new division was meant to let more seniors get in on the action.
“It was brought up at a meeting that we had enough senior participation that maybe we could include title winner
them in this,” he said.
Hofer said there are an estimated 3,500 bowlers in the county. In order to qualify for the Top Eight play, adults had to bowl in two different centers and bowl two-thirds of the league schedule. The juniors just had to bowl at one center. Bowlers won gift cards based on performance.
“The interest in this tournament is coming back again, and now that we are adding seniors it give it a big boost,” Hofer said.
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