The Greater Iowa Bowling Association has released its 2017-18 schedule, which again will include the 11thFrame.com Open and a pair of Fusion Realtors/Community 1st National Bank Open tournaments.

GIBA, which is sponsored by Ebonite, is run by Joe Engelkes, his wife Rosie and daughter Jennifer Wittenburg. They are among the best, if not the best, tournament operators I’ve seen this side of the PBA, running efficient events, taking no expense fees and putting half of the bracket proceeds back into the prize funds at each event — the only money they take out of a tournament is the other half of the bracket proceeds. They also do a great job getting sponsorship for tournaments, and/or working with centers that do that.

I detailed the 11thFrame.com Open, which is Aug. 11-13 at Cherry Lanes inside the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque, in this story.

The second event of the GIBA season is the first Fusion of the season Sept. 16-17 at Maple Lanes in Waterloo.

Update: The dates of the second Fusion have been moved to Feb. 10-11 at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo, which Engelkes said was acquired recently by the owners of Maple: Fran and Rich Eighme and Fusion Realtors owner Zach Beschorner.

It originally was scheduled for Feb. 24-25, but that is the first weekend of the Iowa Women's State Tournament that is being held at Cadillac and Maple in Waterloo, and Engelkes said he wants to avoid a conflict with the huge Hoosier Classic college tournament Feb. 17-18 because the Fusion tourneys draw so many college bowlers.

And the Bowlerarma tournament has been moved to Oct. 1.

The updated schedule is attached to the bottom of this story as a PDF.

Cadillac is undergoing remodeling and the center is being reduced from 50 to 36 lanes in the process, Engelkes said.

Qualifying for the Fusions will be cut to six games from seven to try to keep Saturday’s squads running on time, Engelkes said.

Although Cadillac will be just 36 lanes, Engelkes said the GIBA/SSBA 50/50 4-Man and Doubles tournaments still are scheduled to be held there Dec. 2-3. How Sunday’s doubles will be formatted has not been set yet.  

Other highlights include the Iowa Open Nov. 19 at May City Bowl in Cedar Rapids, and the Doubles and Triple Elimination events Feb. 3-4 at Leisure Lanes in Davenport, Iowa.

Regarding the Iowa Open, Engelkes said this in his email announcing the schedule:
“The USBC has changed the policy on qualifying events for the U.S. Open, and I have sent an application to them asking that our Iowa Open be recognized as a qualifier so the winner can earn a spot in the U.S. Open.  As of this date, I have not been notified as to whether USBC has approved my application.  If the Iowa Open is not accepted as a qualifier, the winner will be awarded with a paid entry to the USBC Masters instead of the U.S. Open.  I did receive confirmation that our format for the Iowa Open is approved so I could apply for the qualifier tournament, but the final determination by USBC has not been made yet.”

Here is the GIBA website and Facebook page.