Brandon Mansell stumbled at a critical time and wasn't able to double up as a national champion this weekend.

The Portage la Prairie bowler represented Manitoba at the Master Bowler's Association National Championships over the weekend and finished the competition in 8th place, narrowly missing the stepladder playoff.

"Just kind of hit a brick wall out there," says Mansell. "After day one I was in a four-way tie for first, after day two I was in a four-way tie for second, and started day three after the first game in a four-way for first again, and just sort of met a bunch of matches where I started missing. I punched a lot of head pins, had some bad breaks, and the pins just didn't fall the way I'd like them too."

He's happy to have had the opportunity to go up against some of the best bowlers in the Country.

"It was an amazing opportunity. They piped us all into the opening ceremonies, and they read a little bio on every competitor, and it was just nice to be recognized in that sense because it's very hard to get out of Province of Manitoba. Just knowing you're playing with the best of the best and every single match I played went down to almost the last frame. The experience was bar none."

He plans to fight his way back to the Master Bowler Championship next year. Mansell was crowned the Canadian 5 Pin Open Championship in Sudbury, Ontario, with his teammates at the start of June.