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Local bowlers� huge score holds up for national title A bowling team from Southern Oregon officially went into the record books earlier this week. Jason Bieghler and Greg Hafner of Medford, Greg Newtson of Klamath Falls and Allan Reyes and Steve Mead of Medford posted the second-highest score in the history of the American Bowling Congress Championships on April 2. The four-month long tournament ended Sunday in Albuquerque, N.M., and, not surprisingly, no other team was able to match the local fivesome. More than 53,000 bowlers from throughout the country competed in the tourney at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The Southern Oregon contingent, known as Team 8 Ball, finished with a 3,513 score, rolling three games apiece. Hafner led the Oregon squad with a 755 series. Newtson (747) and Mead (714) also topped the 700 mark, while Bieghler had a 655 and Reyes a 642. "Frankly, it was an amazing evening of bowling," Mead said Wednesday. "I could spend the rest of my life describing it." Mead held a barbecue at his home on Sunday to celebrate the accomplishment, even though close to 100 teams were still on the lanes. "I heard from a friend at the tournament that there wasn�t a real good team left," Mead said. "We were sipping champagne." As it turned out, ABC Hall-of-Famer Ernie Schlegel of Vancouver, Wash., still had a squad competing. But their total of 3,340 fell 173 pins shy of the local team. The all-time mark is 3,537 by Bruegger�s Bagels of Albany, N.Y., in 1993 in Tulsa, Okla. The tourney has been going on for 97 years. Mead credited Trinity Lanes owner Kenny Wilkinson with preparing the team for the lane conditions it encountered in Albuquerque. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA