GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Former Junior Gold champions Mabel Cummins and Amanda Naujokas of Vanderbilt have both advanced into bracket play at the prestigious Junior Gold Championship.
Cummins, fresh off a silver medal performance on the USA Junior Team at the World Junior Championships, earned the No. 1 seed in the talented field while Naujokas nabbed the 12th seed as the big field was trimmed to 16 on Wednesday.
Cummins will meet Prairie View’s Cheyenne Washington in Thursday’s first round of bracket play while Naujokas squares off with Sacred Heart junior Hannah Manetta.
Bracket matches will consist of two games, with total pin fall determining the winner. Three players will emerge from bracket play to compete in the stepladder finals to determine the champion. The two finalists in the match-play bracket will bowl to determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the stepladder, while the winner of the Elimination Bracket will be the No. 3 seed.
The U20 champion will be decided Friday.
Several other Commodores did not survive the various cuts, including Kailee Channell, who just missed the cut to 24 by one spot, former champion Caroline Thesier (30th) and Kaylee Hitt (56th).
Cummins has been a dominating force in this tournament for years and knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“It’s 26 games across six different patterns,” Cummins told reporters earlier in the week. “In the end, the people that are the most consistent generally are going to rise to the top. So, that’s what I kept reminding myself. Just be consistent across the patterns and clean up what you leave.”
Bowl.com has complete results.