Champions crowned at 2024 Junior Gold Championships in Detroit
July 21, 2024
Spoiler Alert: Only scroll down if you want to know the champions of this event prior to the CBS Sports Network telecasts on July 30, Aug. 6 and 13.
DETROIT – The 2024 Junior Gold Championships officially came to a close on Saturday as the U12, U15 and U18 divisions determined who left Detroit as champions at historic Thunderbowl Lanes.
More than 3,100 United States Bowling Congress Youth members competed at Junior Gold 2024, traveling across eight bowling centers in the Detroit area in hopes of winning a piece of the approximately $500,000 scholarship fund, making a run at a national title and claiming a spot on Junior Team USA.
This year’s champions included Eli Franco of Fishers, Indiana (U12); Elliott Gordon of Colombus, Ohio (U15); and Ernesto Reynoso of Folsom, California (U18), in the boys divisions. On the girls side, Alyssa Randisi of Brooklyn, New York (U12); Bella Castillo of Odessa, Texas (U15); and Karina Capron of Fremont, Nebraska (U18) were victorious.
BowlTV provided livestream coverage of every round of the 2024 event leading up to the stepladder finals in each division. All stepladder finals were taped Saturday and will be aired on CBS Sports Network.
Junior Gold telecasts will adhere to the schedule that follows: U12 (Tuesday, July 30, at 7 p.m. Eastern); U15 (Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 10 p.m. Eastern) and U18 (Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 5 p.m. Eastern).
U12 Girls
No. 1 Randisi, one of the few two-handed bowlers on the girls side of the field, took home the U12 Girls title, defeating No. 3 seed Aliyana Debina-Gasper of Mililani, Hawaii, 198-153.
Randisi led wire to wire and it was only fitting that she was the winner of the U12 Girls division, putting a stamp on an excellent week after years of hard work.
“To me, it means I’ve come a really long way,” said Randisi. “I used to just take the ball in my hands and throw it down the lane, I’ve seen myself grow throughout the years and throughout Junior Gold.”
Randisi opened the title match with three strikes in a row while Debina-Gasper had the first two, but Debina-Gasper had three straight splits. Debina-Gasper was unable to make up the ground the rest of the game, as an additional two open frames for her sealed the win for Randisi, who only had one open prior the 10th frame and had a double in frames seven and eight.
Randisi was not satisfied with just winning this year, as she has her sights set on getting even better for 2025.
“I’m going to work a lot harder because I know what I did this year is not enough to get to the top of the U15 Girls and I want to be at the top there too. I’m going to train a lot harder, work on what I struggled with this year and hopefully be better.”
Before the title match, Debina-Gasper faced off against No. 2 seed Daisy Newton of Honolulu, Hawaii. Both competitors struggled to start the match, but a key five-bagger for Debina-Gasper put the game out of reach to advance, 213-175.
U12 Boys
No. 1 seed Franco was able to parlay a big four-bagger in the middle of his match to a Junior Gold title, taking down No. 2 seed Eason Taylor of Chicago in the title match, 205-179.
Franco and Taylor traded opening frames in the second, but both immediately got back on track with a couple of strikes. Taylor had disaster strike when he opened in frames five and seven while the two-handed Franco stayed clean the rest of the way until the 10th frame, where the match was already decided.
“I just tried to make good, quality shots and avoid the early hook,” said Franco after winning. He had previously not made it past qualifying in the last two years and put in the extra work to get himself into the position of the No. 1 seed, and is now feeling the effects of all the games this week.
“Feels exhausting after this week, but it’s great. We got through it, that’s the most important part.”
Taylor was able to take on Franco after winning a high-scoring match against No. 3 seed Thomas Ault of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Both players kept striking, but it was Taylor who prevailed, 268-257, and advanced to take on Franco.
Franco admitted to feeling a little nervous watching the strikes pile up as he waited.
“I thought I was going to have to bowl the game of my life. I had to focus on myself, make good shots and not focus on the lights or the cameras. Getting here, winning this, it’s really a dream come true.”
U15 Girls
No. 1 seed Castillo prevailed over No. 2 Trishna Desai of Nesconset, New York, 197-157, continuing the streak of two-handers and No. 1 seeds winning 2024 Junior Gold titles to this point.
Neither bowler could find a groove, combining for four strikes, but Castillo stayed clean by converting everything she left as Desai opened three times. Castillo had been practicing her spare shooting before the event and it paid off in a big way in the title match.
“I worked on spares a lot before coming so I knew I had a chance to go in and make all my spares,” said Castillo. “I just went in there with my head open, just being confident in myself. Hit the pocket, keep it controllable and make my spares.”
Being the top seed can be daunting for some as they have to potentially wait a while before heading to the TV pair, but Costillo wasn’t worried about that, instead having the mindset that has she already accomplished so much to this point and to let the pins fall where they may.
“I think it has its benefits and other qualities, but being the number one seed gave me some confidence in that, regardless, I was still going to have a high finish in this tournament. Just keeping my mind in the right positive state was the best thing I did today.”
She had the highest possible finish, and it made her one of her lifelong dreams come true.
“I have been dreaming about this moment forever, since I was a little girl I remember thinking that it's going to me.
Desai had advanced after taking down the defending U15 Girls champion and No. 2 seed Larielle Tharps of Orlando, Florida, using a clean 191 game to Tharps’ 155.
U15 Boys
Gordon entered the stepladder as the No. 1 seed and prevailed over No. 2 seed Kristofer Wagner, 225-208, leaving two-handers four for four in title matches and Wagner claiming second place in the U15 division for the second straight year.
The two competitors were neck and neck after Gordon started with five strikes in the first six frames and Wagner recovered from a first frame open to keep it close. Wagner’s string of strikes ended in the eighth frame after a bad shot went high and converted the 3-6-10 combo, before the ninth frame saw a good shot go light for the 2-8 leave, which he also converted.
Another strike by Gordon in the ninth put the pressure on Wagner, who stepped up in the 10th and went flush pocket for a 4 pin, the match slipping away. After converting the single pin spare and getting six on the fill for 208, Gordon went up and ended the match with his own single pin spare and count in the fill to finish with 225 and the title.
“It feels great, I feel really happy,” said Gordon. “I knew I could do this coming into this, but I didn’t know how far I was going to get. I just wanted to make match play.”
Gordon never missed the pocket until the fill, crediting his ball selection and shot making to stay in the pocket as well as the added confidence from the No. 1 seed.
“I had a good look with multiple balls so I decided to with the one I was most confident with and just throw it as well as possible, which I did. The top seed helped me confidence-wise.”
This was his last year in U15 but isn’t looking too far ahead for the step up into the U18 division, wanting to stay in the moment and enjoy it without putting any big expectations on himself.
Wagner advanced to the title match after defeating No. 3 seed Lincoln Moyer of Merritt Island, Florida, 244-184. That match saw each competitor never miss the pocket, but the pins fell for Wagner, as Moyer had five frames where the back row of pins refused to budge for him.
Junior Team USA Developmental Team
The U15 division also served as a qualifier for automatic spots on the 2025 Junior Team USA Developmental Team. In the boys and girls divisions, the top two qualifiers after 26 games of qualifying, the event champion, and the event runner-up earned places on the team.
Based on those criteria, the automatic qualifiers for the 2025 Junior Team USA Developmental Team are as follows:
Girls
*Anna Antony, Farmington, Connecticut (third after qualifying)
Lindsay Greim, Poway, California (second after qualifying)
U15G Runner-up - Trishna Desai, Nesconset, New York
U15G Champion - Bella Castillo, Odessa, Texas
Boys
*Ryan Campbell, Clinton, South Carolina (third after qualifying)
Zachary Mayne, Parma, Ohio (second after qualifying)
U15B Runner-up - Kristofer Wagner, Deland, Florida
U15B Champion - Elliott Gordon, Columbus, Ohio
*Since event champions Castillo and Gordon were also first after qualifying, the next available spots went to Antony and Campbell as the third-place finishers after qualifying.
U18 Girls
The No. 3 seeded Capron avenged her runner-up finish at last year’s Junior Gold to win the U18 Girls title in her final Junior Gold over No. 1 seed Kaitlyn Stull of Raleigh, North Carolina, 204-173.
Capron advanced to the title match after a narrow 192-180 win over No. 3 seed Kayla Starr of Crofton, Maryland. Both bowlers traded strikes early on in the match and open frames in the fifth and seventh, but it was Capron’s double after the second open that moved her forward against Stull.
After a single pin spare to open the game, Capron threw three strikes in a row to gain an early lead over Stull, who was using two different balls in the match. Stull was in the pocket but the right lane was not giving her the hits she needed through the first five frames, going high flush for a 4 pin and a weak 10 pin, converting both.
The wheels started to come off for Stull in the sixth frame, who had a shot go right off her hand for the 1-2-4 combo that she converted, before back to back opens in the seventh and eighth, giving Capron the opportunity to close the door.
Capron promptly did just that, with an open in the ninth not enough to let Stull back in the match, ending with 204 and her second Junior Gold title, previously winning in U12 in 2017.
Not even injury could stop Capron from claiming what she wanted.
“I went to Junior Team USA camp just before this and my quad was hurting really bad, but we thought it was just a stress thing,” said Capron. “I stopped bowling and it was fine for a couple of days, but it got really bad during qualifying so we got cupping therapy shipped to the hotel.”
The silver lining for her was that it made her focus even more on bowling to not think about the nagging pain.
“I couldn’t focus on my leg, I had to focus on what I was doing out there on the lanes. I put that in the back of my mind and kept thinking to post shots, be you and don’t worry about it.”
Her runner-up finish last year gave her extra motivation for 2024 to continue to put in the work behind the scenes at practices.
“It just pushed me harder to keep working on what I know how to do and make myself better.”
U18 Boys
Reynoso made his mark after winning the U18 Boys title in Detroit, becoming the first person in Junior Gold history to win back-to-back titles in two different divisions after winning U15 in 2023. He also won in the closest match of all the others, defeating No. 1 seed Ethan Crouse of Lowville, New York, as the No. 3 seed, 206-199, in a match that came down to the final frame.
Before the title match, Reynoso had to beat No. 2 Owen Williams of Tipton, Michigan, to have a shot at history. The two competitors had clean games, but Reynoso’s 207 topped Williams’ 190 as the left lane started to play a little tricky.
That prompted Reynoso to make a ball change that enabled him to switch up his lines a little, sticking with it even after one shot went light for a baby split that he really liked and put his arms up in the air in confusion.
Reynoso threw the next three strikes in a row and would’ve continued his striking ways if not for a brutal pocket 7-10 split in the seventh, leaving the door open for Crouse to pull ahead. Crouse was clean to that point, before a missed 10 pin brought new life for Reynoso.
The 2023 U15 Boys champion answered the call, doubling in the eighth and ninth to apply pressure on Crouse, who had a double heading into the second shot of the 10th. But Crouse went light and left the 2-4-5-8 bucket, only getting two of the four pins to finish with 199.
Reynoso clinched the win with a strike in the first ball in the 10th and left Detroit as a back-to-back champion with a 206.
“It means a lot to me because I know how much I’ve put in at Junior Team USA camp, off the lanes and mentally,” said Reynoso. “I’m really proud of how I just stayed present in the moment all week.”
He came into the week with higher expectations of himself, exuding the confidence of someone who has been there and won before.
“I expected a lot from myself because I know I’m capable of it, I know I can strike more than anyone out here and held myself to high expectations. I expect to have a good showing every year here.”
Junior Team USA 2024
Six boys and six girls from the U18 division also earned spots on Junior Team USA for 2025 based on their performances this week at the Junior Gold Championships.
Joining Stull and Capron on the girls side is Sydney Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey; Taylor Kretz of Erie, Pennsylvania; Eliana Occhino of Fulton, New York; and Melia Mitskavich of Du Bois, Pennsylvania.
Reynoso, Williams and Crouse will be joined by Chance Mclane of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland; Keaton Ostrowski of Rochester, New York; and Nicolas Trentler of Phoenix, Maryland.
DETROIT – The 2024 Junior Gold Championships officially came to a close on Saturday as the U12, U15 and U18 divisions determined who left Detroit as champions at historic Thunderbowl Lanes.
More than 3,100 United States Bowling Congress Youth members competed at Junior Gold 2024, traveling across eight bowling centers in the Detroit area in hopes of winning a piece of the approximately $500,000 scholarship fund, making a run at a national title and claiming a spot on Junior Team USA.
This year’s champions included Eli Franco of Fishers, Indiana (U12); Elliott Gordon of Colombus, Ohio (U15); and Ernesto Reynoso of Folsom, California (U18), in the boys divisions. On the girls side, Alyssa Randisi of Brooklyn, New York (U12); Bella Castillo of Odessa, Texas (U15); and Karina Capron of Fremont, Nebraska (U18) were victorious.
BowlTV provided livestream coverage of every round of the 2024 event leading up to the stepladder finals in each division. All stepladder finals were taped Saturday and will be aired on CBS Sports Network.
Junior Gold telecasts will adhere to the schedule that follows: U12 (Tuesday, July 30, at 7 p.m. Eastern); U15 (Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 10 p.m. Eastern) and U18 (Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 5 p.m. Eastern).
U12 Girls
No. 1 Randisi, one of the few two-handed bowlers on the girls side of the field, took home the U12 Girls title, defeating No. 3 seed Aliyana Debina-Gasper of Mililani, Hawaii, 198-153.
Randisi led wire to wire and it was only fitting that she was the winner of the U12 Girls division, putting a stamp on an excellent week after years of hard work.
“To me, it means I’ve come a really long way,” said Randisi. “I used to just take the ball in my hands and throw it down the lane, I’ve seen myself grow throughout the years and throughout Junior Gold.”
Randisi opened the title match with three strikes in a row while Debina-Gasper had the first two, but Debina-Gasper had three straight splits. Debina-Gasper was unable to make up the ground the rest of the game, as an additional two open frames for her sealed the win for Randisi, who only had one open prior the 10th frame and had a double in frames seven and eight.
Randisi was not satisfied with just winning this year, as she has her sights set on getting even better for 2025.
“I’m going to work a lot harder because I know what I did this year is not enough to get to the top of the U15 Girls and I want to be at the top there too. I’m going to train a lot harder, work on what I struggled with this year and hopefully be better.”
Before the title match, Debina-Gasper faced off against No. 2 seed Daisy Newton of Honolulu, Hawaii. Both competitors struggled to start the match, but a key five-bagger for Debina-Gasper put the game out of reach to advance, 213-175.
U12 Boys
No. 1 seed Franco was able to parlay a big four-bagger in the middle of his match to a Junior Gold title, taking down No. 2 seed Eason Taylor of Chicago in the title match, 205-179.
Franco and Taylor traded opening frames in the second, but both immediately got back on track with a couple of strikes. Taylor had disaster strike when he opened in frames five and seven while the two-handed Franco stayed clean the rest of the way until the 10th frame, where the match was already decided.
“I just tried to make good, quality shots and avoid the early hook,” said Franco after winning. He had previously not made it past qualifying in the last two years and put in the extra work to get himself into the position of the No. 1 seed, and is now feeling the effects of all the games this week.
“Feels exhausting after this week, but it’s great. We got through it, that’s the most important part.”
Taylor was able to take on Franco after winning a high-scoring match against No. 3 seed Thomas Ault of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Both players kept striking, but it was Taylor who prevailed, 268-257, and advanced to take on Franco.
Franco admitted to feeling a little nervous watching the strikes pile up as he waited.
“I thought I was going to have to bowl the game of my life. I had to focus on myself, make good shots and not focus on the lights or the cameras. Getting here, winning this, it’s really a dream come true.”
U15 Girls
No. 1 seed Castillo prevailed over No. 2 Trishna Desai of Nesconset, New York, 197-157, continuing the streak of two-handers and No. 1 seeds winning 2024 Junior Gold titles to this point.
Neither bowler could find a groove, combining for four strikes, but Castillo stayed clean by converting everything she left as Desai opened three times. Castillo had been practicing her spare shooting before the event and it paid off in a big way in the title match.
“I worked on spares a lot before coming so I knew I had a chance to go in and make all my spares,” said Castillo. “I just went in there with my head open, just being confident in myself. Hit the pocket, keep it controllable and make my spares.”
Being the top seed can be daunting for some as they have to potentially wait a while before heading to the TV pair, but Costillo wasn’t worried about that, instead having the mindset that has she already accomplished so much to this point and to let the pins fall where they may.
“I think it has its benefits and other qualities, but being the number one seed gave me some confidence in that, regardless, I was still going to have a high finish in this tournament. Just keeping my mind in the right positive state was the best thing I did today.”
She had the highest possible finish, and it made her one of her lifelong dreams come true.
“I have been dreaming about this moment forever, since I was a little girl I remember thinking that it's going to me.
Desai had advanced after taking down the defending U15 Girls champion and No. 2 seed Larielle Tharps of Orlando, Florida, using a clean 191 game to Tharps’ 155.
U15 Boys
Gordon entered the stepladder as the No. 1 seed and prevailed over No. 2 seed Kristofer Wagner, 225-208, leaving two-handers four for four in title matches and Wagner claiming second place in the U15 division for the second straight year.
The two competitors were neck and neck after Gordon started with five strikes in the first six frames and Wagner recovered from a first frame open to keep it close. Wagner’s string of strikes ended in the eighth frame after a bad shot went high and converted the 3-6-10 combo, before the ninth frame saw a good shot go light for the 2-8 leave, which he also converted.
Another strike by Gordon in the ninth put the pressure on Wagner, who stepped up in the 10th and went flush pocket for a 4 pin, the match slipping away. After converting the single pin spare and getting six on the fill for 208, Gordon went up and ended the match with his own single pin spare and count in the fill to finish with 225 and the title.
“It feels great, I feel really happy,” said Gordon. “I knew I could do this coming into this, but I didn’t know how far I was going to get. I just wanted to make match play.”
Gordon never missed the pocket until the fill, crediting his ball selection and shot making to stay in the pocket as well as the added confidence from the No. 1 seed.
“I had a good look with multiple balls so I decided to with the one I was most confident with and just throw it as well as possible, which I did. The top seed helped me confidence-wise.”
This was his last year in U15 but isn’t looking too far ahead for the step up into the U18 division, wanting to stay in the moment and enjoy it without putting any big expectations on himself.
Wagner advanced to the title match after defeating No. 3 seed Lincoln Moyer of Merritt Island, Florida, 244-184. That match saw each competitor never miss the pocket, but the pins fell for Wagner, as Moyer had five frames where the back row of pins refused to budge for him.
Junior Team USA Developmental Team
The U15 division also served as a qualifier for automatic spots on the 2025 Junior Team USA Developmental Team. In the boys and girls divisions, the top two qualifiers after 26 games of qualifying, the event champion, and the event runner-up earned places on the team.
Based on those criteria, the automatic qualifiers for the 2025 Junior Team USA Developmental Team are as follows:
Girls
*Anna Antony, Farmington, Connecticut (third after qualifying)
Lindsay Greim, Poway, California (second after qualifying)
U15G Runner-up - Trishna Desai, Nesconset, New York
U15G Champion - Bella Castillo, Odessa, Texas
Boys
*Ryan Campbell, Clinton, South Carolina (third after qualifying)
Zachary Mayne, Parma, Ohio (second after qualifying)
U15B Runner-up - Kristofer Wagner, Deland, Florida
U15B Champion - Elliott Gordon, Columbus, Ohio
*Since event champions Castillo and Gordon were also first after qualifying, the next available spots went to Antony and Campbell as the third-place finishers after qualifying.
U18 Girls
The No. 3 seeded Capron avenged her runner-up finish at last year’s Junior Gold to win the U18 Girls title in her final Junior Gold over No. 1 seed Kaitlyn Stull of Raleigh, North Carolina, 204-173.
Capron advanced to the title match after a narrow 192-180 win over No. 3 seed Kayla Starr of Crofton, Maryland. Both bowlers traded strikes early on in the match and open frames in the fifth and seventh, but it was Capron’s double after the second open that moved her forward against Stull.
After a single pin spare to open the game, Capron threw three strikes in a row to gain an early lead over Stull, who was using two different balls in the match. Stull was in the pocket but the right lane was not giving her the hits she needed through the first five frames, going high flush for a 4 pin and a weak 10 pin, converting both.
The wheels started to come off for Stull in the sixth frame, who had a shot go right off her hand for the 1-2-4 combo that she converted, before back to back opens in the seventh and eighth, giving Capron the opportunity to close the door.
Capron promptly did just that, with an open in the ninth not enough to let Stull back in the match, ending with 204 and her second Junior Gold title, previously winning in U12 in 2017.
Not even injury could stop Capron from claiming what she wanted.
“I went to Junior Team USA camp just before this and my quad was hurting really bad, but we thought it was just a stress thing,” said Capron. “I stopped bowling and it was fine for a couple of days, but it got really bad during qualifying so we got cupping therapy shipped to the hotel.”
The silver lining for her was that it made her focus even more on bowling to not think about the nagging pain.
“I couldn’t focus on my leg, I had to focus on what I was doing out there on the lanes. I put that in the back of my mind and kept thinking to post shots, be you and don’t worry about it.”
Her runner-up finish last year gave her extra motivation for 2024 to continue to put in the work behind the scenes at practices.
“It just pushed me harder to keep working on what I know how to do and make myself better.”
U18 Boys
Reynoso made his mark after winning the U18 Boys title in Detroit, becoming the first person in Junior Gold history to win back-to-back titles in two different divisions after winning U15 in 2023. He also won in the closest match of all the others, defeating No. 1 seed Ethan Crouse of Lowville, New York, as the No. 3 seed, 206-199, in a match that came down to the final frame.
Before the title match, Reynoso had to beat No. 2 Owen Williams of Tipton, Michigan, to have a shot at history. The two competitors had clean games, but Reynoso’s 207 topped Williams’ 190 as the left lane started to play a little tricky.
That prompted Reynoso to make a ball change that enabled him to switch up his lines a little, sticking with it even after one shot went light for a baby split that he really liked and put his arms up in the air in confusion.
Reynoso threw the next three strikes in a row and would’ve continued his striking ways if not for a brutal pocket 7-10 split in the seventh, leaving the door open for Crouse to pull ahead. Crouse was clean to that point, before a missed 10 pin brought new life for Reynoso.
The 2023 U15 Boys champion answered the call, doubling in the eighth and ninth to apply pressure on Crouse, who had a double heading into the second shot of the 10th. But Crouse went light and left the 2-4-5-8 bucket, only getting two of the four pins to finish with 199.
Reynoso clinched the win with a strike in the first ball in the 10th and left Detroit as a back-to-back champion with a 206.
“It means a lot to me because I know how much I’ve put in at Junior Team USA camp, off the lanes and mentally,” said Reynoso. “I’m really proud of how I just stayed present in the moment all week.”
He came into the week with higher expectations of himself, exuding the confidence of someone who has been there and won before.
“I expected a lot from myself because I know I’m capable of it, I know I can strike more than anyone out here and held myself to high expectations. I expect to have a good showing every year here.”
Junior Team USA 2024
Six boys and six girls from the U18 division also earned spots on Junior Team USA for 2025 based on their performances this week at the Junior Gold Championships.
Joining Stull and Capron on the girls side is Sydney Bohn of Jackson, New Jersey; Taylor Kretz of Erie, Pennsylvania; Eliana Occhino of Fulton, New York; and Melia Mitskavich of Du Bois, Pennsylvania.
Reynoso, Williams and Crouse will be joined by Chance Mclane of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland; Keaton Ostrowski of Rochester, New York; and Nicolas Trentler of Phoenix, Maryland.