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Tarpon Springs teen tears up the lanes

By ERIC MUSKATEVC
Published November 26, 2006

Sure, Robert Mushtare had a great year. Two perfect 900 sets at the Pine Plains Center in Fort Drum, N.Y., and leading the nation's youth averages with a 242 average for 78 games in standard play. Let's see if he, like Ashly Galante, can do it again next year.

Galante, a Tarpon Springs High bowler, again posted the country's top female sport bowling average. For the second straight year in the Scott Russell Junior Gold Sport League at Countryside Lanes, Galante averaged 200 or better - 200 for 90 games this season.

"I practice and put a lot time into bowling," said Galante, who also bowled her way to the Pinellas County High School league's top average for boys and girls this year. "I really love the sport. I love the challenge of sport bowling. It really is a great honor and achievement."

University of Central Florida's Michelle Carcagente had the high series for female youths with a 709 at the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships at Olympic Lanes in Milwaukee.

Among other honors bestowed last week by the USBC for the 2005-06 season were two additional 900s in standard play and an 800 in sport. Lonnie Billiter Jr. in the Bergeron Memorial League at Fairfield Ohio Lanes and Mark Wukoman in the Saturday Night Men's Special League at Classic Lanes in Greenfield, Wis., Scored 900s in adult competition and Michael Jacobs led all sport bowling participants with an 814 series in the Hawthorne Lanes Sport Bowling League in Vernon Hills, Ill.

GOOD MEASURES: Earlier this year, the USBC (a charter member of the National Council of Youth Sports) and the National Center for Safety Initiatives tested and began a national roll out of USBC's Registered Volunteer Program, designed to serve as a model for other organizations dedicated to preventing abuse of their young athletes.

The "red light/green light" background check system provides vital results information while maintaining the privacy of individuals being screened. The goal to protect young athletes from sexual predators received a major boost recently when the U.S. Olympic Committee revealed details of its new background screening procedure for team leaders, coaches and additional officials involved in the 2007 Pan-American Games.

For more information, contact (866) 833-7100 or visit safetyinitiatives.com.

JUNIOR GOLD QUALIFIER: From the Loschetter files for Junior Gold qualifying, the first annual Jimmy Keeth Memorial Junior Tournament is offering $10,000 in SMART scholarships. The Keeth Memorial will be at Verdes Tropicana Bowl in West Palm Beach on Dec. 2. Pre-registration is $80 including a T-shirt and walk-ins are $100. An additional $25 gets you a shot at the Junior Gold. Contact Erik Galganski at EJG888@aol.com or (561) 309-1674.

NABI: It was another working Sunday for St. Petersburg's Lori Lloyd, earning $165 for another National Amateur Bowlers Inc. tournament title - this one at Countryside for Club 570 last weekend. Taking her 165 average into the semis, Lloyd defeated third-place finisher Mark Michel of Lutz (193 average) by just 247-245 and escaped Clearwater's Don Wells (192 average) in the finals 216-201.

Club 577 will be at Orange Bowl Lanes today for a $110 jackpot and a $67 strike-pot. Call (863) 667-4779 for more.

BOWLSPACE: The PBA teamed with ONEsite to launch BowlSpace.com. Custom features of BowlSpace include pages designed for pros, pages designed for recreational bowlers, a "virtual coach," highlights from events and a common platform for bowling centers to interact with their local customers. Exclusive content such as interviews with the pros following events will be provided as well.

[Last modified November 25, 2006, 22:20:19]