Cochrane's Jordan Loewen was crowned Canada's junior boys' singles bowling champion on July 12 in Oshawa, Ont.
He won the gold medal match of the Youth Bowling Council (YBC) nationals with a 265, 43 pins ahead of Saskatchewan's Keeran Pillai.
He played 14 games at the three-day championship; his highest score was a 333, and he carried an average of 232.7.
Loewen also earned gold as a member of Alberta's boys' trio team that combines the best bantam, junior, and senior youth bowlers in the province. The trio had a total pinfall of 3,250, 19 pins ahead of the second-place Southern Ontario team in a five-game series.
He says he was very excited about the results in Oshawa.
“Now I can go for a triple crown next year,” he said.
The 15-year-old has now won the Canadian championship at the bantam (2018) and junior levels (this year) and will be after the senior crown in the upcoming season, which starts in September.
He’s a very calm individual but said there was some excitement in the lanes in Oshawa when he was in the championship game.
“At the last game, everyone cheered me on, gave me high fives,” he said.
There was no big celebration that night, just a plane ride home.
He plays three or four days a week. On non-game days he practices by playing seven or eight games.
Dwayne Lamontagne runs Cochrane Lanes with his wife Sherri. He was in Oshawa cheering on Jordan.
"He's been bowling with us since he was three years old," Lamontagne said.
His grandparents brought him to the lanes while they were bowling and he did the rest.
"You could tell from day one he had a special passion for the game," he said. "We're so proud of him. It was extremely exciting."
The win didn't come without its share of adversity.
"It's an extremely difficult tournament to win," Lamontagne said.
"He had some struggles in a few games, just a lot of really bad breaks. You could see him getting a little discouraged, but with the experience he has, and the tournaments he's been in, he really pulled through. He was just amazing."
It was Loewen's first appearance at the junior national championship and his last chance to compete at that level. Next year he becomes a senior YBC bowler.
He has now won four medals in the national tournament over the years. Besides two gold medals this year, he previously won the national bantam boys' singles championship and silver in a team event.
Loewen won the provincial title earlier this season to earn a berth into nationals.
