Colorado team climbs into lead at USBC Open

RENO, Nev. - Professional Bowlers Association 50 Tour titlist Mike Dias and his teammates are the first of more than two dozen groups that will be featured on BowlTV live from the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships this year, and they built some excitement and momentum by taking the lead in Regular Team on Thursday.

Coach's Corner 1 of Lafayette, Colo., fired games of 1,054, 1,068 and 1,114 for a 3,236 total at the National Bowling Stadium and passed Palpac Industries Inc., of Lima, Ohio, which previously held the lead with 3,179.

Mike Dray, who rolled a perfect game at the 1996 USBC Open Championships in Salt Lake City, paced Coach's Corner 1 with a 703 series and was joined by David Anthony (672), Mat Rush (661), Mike Dias (644) and Alex Dias (556).

Although this is the first time the group has bowled together as a team, they executed their game plan well and created a good look on the 43-foot Sport Bowling-certified lane condition to help them to the big final game.

"This is really the first time this team bowled together," said Dias, a 57-year-old left-hander who made his 22nd Open Championships appearance. "We just gelled really well. We stayed a little bit to the right early and have enough players to complement each other really well to break down the track area and not get too far left too quick. With the way we broke them down, we were able to keep a nice, clean area in the track but still have a little bit of hold down the lane to left."

Three additional teams cracked the top 10 in Regular Team during the squad, but only Byllye Lanes of Kill Buck, N.Y., was able to put together a bigger finale than Coach's Corner 1. Byllye Lanes finished with 1,143, the highest team game of the 2014 event, to move into fourth place with 3,139.

The members of Coach's Corner 1 will be joined by Ron Hosler, who fired a perfect game at the NBS during the 2010 Open Championships, for doubles and singles Friday. With the momentum gained Thursday, and the team's name at the top of the standings, the group is eager to see if they can put together a repeat performance. All six games of doubles and singles will be shown live at YouTube.com/BowlTV beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.

"It just gets us off to a good head of steam," said Dias, who won the 2011 PBA50 Don Carter Open. "I feel good about our number. I don't think it'll hold up, but I feel like it's a good, strong number. We'll go out tomorrow, make good shots and see what happens."

Nearly 30 events will be broadcast live from Reno during the run of the 2014 Open and USBC Women's Championships. The Women's Championships will be held at the nearby Reno-Sparks Convention Center and is scheduled to start April 11.

For the full schedule of live stream broadcasts from the 2014 Open and Women's Championships, click here.

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Presenting sponsors for the 2014 USBC Open Championships include Circus Circus Reno, Eldorado Hotel Casino Reno and Silver Legacy Resort Casino Reno.