Tenpins: Woman advances to NMO, youth siblings qualify to battle Australians

• Melissa Danks of Albuquerque has advanced to this year's New Mexico Open Bowling Tournament by beating an otherwise all male field at Tenpins & More June 2. The bowling open takes place Aug. 16-18.

Tenpins owner Steve Mackie says Danks had only one blemish in her six games, then finished with a strike-filled 241 to hold off big closing games from Jason Schindwolf (235) and Matthew Vargas (239) to win by eight and 14 pins respectively from her two closest opponents.

Those already entered for the open include the defending champion and two-time U.S. Open winner Francois Lavoie of Whichita, Kansas; previous winners such as Vernon Peterson of Lake Wales, Florida; Chris Kierk of Chandler, Arizona; and national hall-of-famer Andrew Cain of Phoenix, Arizona; and last year's third- and fourth-place finishers, Fero Williams of Baltimore and Steven Novak of Louisville, Kentucky, respectively.

Bowlers will have another chance to win a spot at the open at 1:30 p.m. June 15. Competitors in the New Mexico Open will vie for $76,000 in prize money.

• Youth siblings Sebastian (13) and Mia Medina (15) of Rio Rancho qualified Sunday for the New Mexico squad to bowl against seven visiting Australian youth traveling here from Brisbane in September.

Sebastian, off a 165 average, bowled 180, 183, 155 and 191 for a handicap-added 905, while Mia, entering on 185, shot 182, 214, 149 and 229 for an adjusted 898.

A schedule of upcoming Tenpins events can be found on the website.

• A recent email challenge between teams from Tenpins & More and Keon Park Bowl in Melbourne, Australia, saw the Aussies get the victory with an handicapped average of 219, compared to 216.4 for the local team.

• Sam Pinge of Albuquerque won the Match-Play tournament May 27 out of a field of 66. Billy Grant and Justin Medina of Rio Rancho rounded out the top three.

• The opening night of the summer Scratch Lead was led by Jacob Gill (1,059) and Brian Hare (1,055).