Rebusada, Camacho lead Masters qualifiers

Jess Rebusada and Diane Camacho were in a zone of their own over the weekend and made their presence felt in the 23rd Annual CNMI May Masters Bowling Tournament at the Saipan Bowling Center.

Rebusada and Camacho were in front of the elite pack as the competitors headed to the thrilling Masters stage, posting the best scores in the all-events competition.

Rebusada led 39 qualifiers, and began his run by posting the third-best finish in the singles tiff with a total score of 667 pinfalls. He followed up by knocking down 626 pins, while competing in the doubles and then capped off his charge by bruising 666 pins in the team competition for a total score of 1,959 pinfalls.

Right behind Rebusada was Robert Talavera, who after getting off to a slow start in the singles (561 pinfalls), bounced back and found his groove to post 663 pinfalls in the doubles competition. He got better as time went by as he improved in the team competition, recording a knockdown of 678 pins for a total score of 1,902.

Raul Dumapit and Zapanta brothers Ruselle and Raymond capped the top five.

Like Talavera, Dumapit got better while heading deeper into the tournament and finished with a total of 1,854 pinfalls. After scoring a 540 in the singles, he boosted his chances by knocking down 654 pins in the doubles and followed by posting a total of 660 pinfalls in the team competition.

Ruselle was next in line, posting a 598 in the singles, 628 in the doubles, and 611 in the team for 1,837 total pin falls, while younger brother Raymond finished with 1,789 pinfalls after scoring a second-best 679 in the singles, 576 in the doubles, and 534 in the team event.

Other notables include Richard Leong (1,787), Dannie Robles (1,759), Kitz Barja (1,756), Simon Manacop (1,744), and Noel Sicat (1,741).
Defending champion Mark “The Shark” Halstead also qualified, finishing with the 18th best-performance with a total pinfall of 1,696.

Meanwhile, Camacho was on top of the women’s qualifiers after recording a total of 1,527 pinfalls. The singles champion rolled up 506 pinfalls in the singles, knocked down 536 pins in the doubles, and connected with 485 pins in the team event.

Second on the list was Rita Palacios, who posted 504 pinfalls in the singles, 509 in the doubles, and 469 in the team for 1,482, while Lucy S. Deleon Guerrero was in third with 1,469 total pinfalls. She lit up 529 pins in the singles, 482 in the doubles, and 458 in the team.

Rounding up the top five were Emi Williams and Elena Soll, with Williams posting 1,462 pinfalls and Soll just one pinfall behind.

Other notables were Rizza Hensley (1,421), Lynn Teregeyo (1,402), Becky Reyes (1,376), Cora Muna (1,339), and Cindy Taitano (1,329). In all, 18 women qualified for the Masters.