This story doesn’t contain the intensity, and resulting hilarity, like a Big Labowski or a Kingpin.  But you can be sure Long Beach’s Darren Garcia and Junn Carlos are all business when they roll.  At least, they are now.

It’s the final four of bowling in Las Vegas next weekend, and two of Long Beach’s finest bowlers are heading to AMF’s inaugural $500,000 In-League Tournament, which is this year’s richest amateur bowling competition.

District finals were held last weekend at 27 AMF Bowling Centers across the country, and now we know the names of the 108 men and women who will compete for 4 $50,000 grand prizes (one for each division) at the Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on April 16th & 17th.  Among the 108 are two Long Beachians, Darren Garcia and Junn Carlos.

Garcia can remember bowling as a five-year-old with his family.  But after a short hiatus as a teenager is when the Cabrillo graduate found his game.  Frequenting the lanes as a high school senior with his brother Matthew, Garcia began to average close to 200, and the next step was obvious.  This is the first tournament Garcia has qualified for.

Carlos is a San Francisco transplant who moved to Long Beach for a job four years ago.  Bowling with his co-workers on the weekend got him involved at the AMF Bowl-o-drome Lanes. 

“I didn’t really know I was becoming a good bowler,” laughs Carlos.  “Someone needed to tell me.”

In order to get to this point, division winners like Garcia and Carlos worked their way through a 10-week qualifying period, followed by center-level finals at each AMF location and 27 district finals at select AMF locations.   AMF already has awarded approximately $100,000 to center and district finalists. 

AMF fans who are unable to make it to Las Vegas can keep up with live tournament stats online at www.tournament.amf.com.   Social networkers also can get play-by-play updates via Twitter at bowlatAMF and on AMF’s Facebook fan page.  Bowlers who are interested in entering the 2011 tournament can sign up for an AMF league at any AMF location this coming fall. 

Come back to LBPOSTsports.com in two weeks to find out how Garcia and Carlos fared.