Leshikar takes Po-Boy title at TBird

The summer of 2024 Po-Boy series was a huge success, exceeding 50 players on most of the nine weeks that the event was held at Thunderbird Lanes.

That is more than any league participation this summer and something that tournament official Richard Jacoby is looking into making a league format, paying off every week with a grand finale at the end.

If you are interested, let him know so that he might pursue the endeavor.

In the meantime, results from the grand finale showed 3-time champ Zach Leshikar taking charge from the start.

When intimidation did not work, skill certainly did as he beat out one contender after another to claim the end of the series title.

So who is this young bowler anyway?

A little research put light on where this talented bowler came from and what his story is.

Leshikar, who hails from Altus, is currently attending Wichita State University where he is majoring in Industrial Engineering, but to those of us in the bowling world, he is a member of the renowned Wichi-ta State Shockers bowling team (believed by some to be one of the best collegiate bowling organiza-tions in the country).

His current achievements include seven 300 games and a high series of 831. He also won the 2021 Illinois State Pepsi Championship.

And most recently, Zach was part of the Wichita State bowling team that competed in the USBC Intercollegiate Singles and Team Championship in Las Vegas.

The final Po-Boy played out as followed with Leshikar leading after two games of qualifying with a 505 on games of 279 and 226.

Blaine McKinney came in with 471, and JP Nauman, Andrew Petering and Tony Faustner put the top five on the board, all three with 463.

The remaining field lined up as follows: DJ Pyfer, 462, Connor Macdonald, 458, Andy Vitense, 457, Rick Olson, 452, Derek Bennett, 445, James Halstead, 442, Noel Gordon and Steve O’Harris, 441,

Kellan Hill, 432, Camden Sublett, 431 and Robert Hempel drew the line at 422 for the top 16 qualifiers.

High scratch game winners during qualifying were Leshikar for a tournament high 279 and Hill for a 223 in game one.

Pyfer led with a 258 in game two and Petering took second for a 238.

Results from the first round of the single elimination bracket went as follows. Leshikar 226 – Hempel 175, Olson 282 – Vitense 166, Gordon 259 – Faustner 231, O’Harris 210 – Petering 200, Hill 257 – Nauman 202, Pyfer 268 – Halstead 195, Macdonald 237 – Bennett 202 and Sublett 247 – McKinney 214.

Leshikar continued his mission with a win over Olson in the round of eight, 248-187, Gordon passed O’Harris 262-242 and Pyfer beat Hill 223-217 and Macdonald bested Sublett 237-197 to advance to the semis.

Leshikar could have been ousted at any given time but the pins fell in his favor with a win over Gordon 234-216 and Macdonald nabbed his spot in the final with a win over Pyfer 199-197 to set up for the finals.

It was reported that Macdonald needed a double in the tenth to take the title from Leshikar but a blow-out nine nixed the quest and Leshikar won the match 227-223.

Richard Jacoby and Thunderbird Lanes wishes to thank all who supported the event and are looking forward to the next ‘Almost World Famous’ Po-Boy tournament series.

League News

The summer of 2024 is over as far as leagues go and we are now looking forward to a great fall/winter 2024-2025 bowling season.

Check out league information at your favorite bowling center for details. Some leagues are already maxed out but there is still room at other times if you hurry.

Finishing up in the Roudy Bunch, a huge shout-out goes to first year league bowler Nick VanHaastert for a super 740 series off a 172 average. Nick had made up the career high set on games of 234, 240 and 266.

No-Tap News

Steve Mans had the no-tap game of the week of 298, bowled on the last day of Socialites no-tap sen-ior league at TBird.

Mans added 230 and 252 for a 780 set, trailing Richard Jacoby for high series.

Jacoby started the day with a 290 before adding 264 and 243 for a 797.

Don Gettens took first place in the senior no-tap Colorama at Thunderbird Lanes last Friday afternoon with an 800 even for series.

Tony Faustner got second for a 790 and Sam Bowman rolled 778 for third.

Teri Jester took first place for the ladies with a 796 and claimed the scratch series purse for a 730.

Bowman fell into second for scratch series with a 721.

Mystery doubles winners were Michael Sneed/Steve Jester, 547, Tony Faustner/Don Gettens, 580 and David Jones/Sam Bowman, 541.

Strike pot winners included Diane Frame, Ron Estelle, David Jones, Kathy Zerbe and Teri Jester and there were a couple of challenge shots won as well.

Kathy Zerbe wowed the crowd with a late nine-count to roll “21” on the nose for the money and Sue Avis turned the 1-5-6-8-9 leave into pocket change after knocking them all down for the “Make that Spare” challenge.

Join senior bowlers age 50 and up every Friday afternoon at 1pm at Thunderbird Lanes for the senior 9-Pin No-Tap Colorama.