(From left to right:) Tish Johnson; Chris Barnes; Sharon Powers; John Janawicz; Dana Ausec; Tom Hess; Jodi Woessner and Parker Bohn III

CALI, Colombia – When Team USA bowlers travel around the world to compete in international tournaments, they don’t just go for the experience; they expect to win.

The eight members of Senior Team USA competing at the International Bowling Federation 2023 World Senior Championships did plenty of that on Tuesday, capturing seven medals – three gold, one silver and three bronze – by the time singles and doubles competition came to an end at Cali’s sports complex.

Senior Team USA rookie Dana Ausec of Colorado Springs, Colorado, captured the first gold of the day for the Americans as she defeated teammate Jodi Woessner of Oregon, Ohio, 257-228, during the women’s singles finals.

Ausec earned her spot in the gold-medal match by virtue of a 221-216 semifinal victory over Italy’s Alessandra Morra.

Woessner, who is also making her Senior Team USA debut at this year’s World Senior Championships, topped Colombia’s Sandra Montealegre, 204-194, in the other semifinal before falling to Ausec in the finals. The effort netted Woessner Team USA’s lone silver medal on the day.

The Americans also netted a medal in men’s singles after Tom Hess of Granger, Iowa, the reigning World Senior Championships men’s singles gold medalist, walked away with bronze.

Hess’ semifinal bout with Rolando Sebelen of the Dominican Republic was definitely one of Tuesday’s most exciting matches as it took a one-ball roll off to determine the winner.

Sebelen had a chance to win the match in regulation with a double and nine pins in the 10th frame, but after recording the necessary strikes, his final shot crept slightly high and only knocked down eight pins, which caused the match to end in a tie, 182-182.

Undaunted, Sebelen quickly recovered by firing a strike to open the sudden death roll off. Hess tried to match it and extend the extra session with a strike of his own, but his delivery would only net nine pins, allowing Sebelen to move on to the title match and ending Hess’ bid to repeat as men’s singles gold medalist.

Instead, this year’s gold medal went to Sebelen, who defeated Mexico’s Mario Quintero, 226-174, in the finals.

Quintero took home silver while the other bronze went to England’s Ian Hollands, who fell to Quintero by a final score of 213-196 in the other semifinal.

For most teams, capturing three medals during singles competition would have been more than enough success for one day, but Team USA was just getting started.

The Americans swept the available gold medals in doubles as Chris Barnes of Denton, Texas, and John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Florida, were victorious on the men’s side while Woessner and Sharon Powers of Lakewood, Colorado, were tops among the women.

Barnes and Janawicz began their march to gold with a 486-453 semifinal win over fellow Team USA bowlers Parker Bohn III of Jackson, New Jersey, and Hess.

Janawicz led the way during that encounter, firing a sizzling 276 to go along with Barnes’ score of 210.

Bohn and Hess put up 248 and 205, respectively, in the losing effort. The duo settled for bronze.

Janawicz and Barnes, meanwhile, were on their way to the title match to face the Dominican Republic’s Jose Perez and Sebelen, who entered the match seeking his second gold medal of the day.

He made a very strong bid to get it, notching a score of 248 to go along with Perez’s final mark of 236, which gave the team from the Dominican Republic a very respectable final score of 484.

The Americans were just a little bit better though as Janawicz fired a 258, and Barnes added 235 to push the Team USA total to 493, which was enough to keep the Dominicans at bay and give Barnes and Janawicz the men’s doubles gold medal.

Even though Janawicz managed the higher two-game series during the march to gold, he was quick to talk about how much respect and admiration he has for Barnes and how much he enjoyed having him as a partner.

“It’s definitely an honor to get to bowl with one of the best ever by far,” Janawicz said when referring to Barnes. “I think we work pretty well together because we communicate effectively, and we kind of see the lanes the same way. We bowled a really good game to win the gold.”

Barnes also pointed to communication as being one of the keys to the pair’s success, and he felt like improved strategy played a role as well.

“It was definitely a team thing, and that’s really what allowed us to even be bowling today,” Barnes said. “We took advantage of the format a little bit by getting to start at zero today, and we used a few good breaks and some better strategies to get the job done.”

Although Hess and Bohn certainly would have enjoyed winning gold themselves, they were happy for their teammates and content with their own efforts on the day.

“Any time you can come to a world competition and represent Team USA, any medal is special,” Hess said. “Unfortunately, it worked out that we had to bowl one another in the semifinals, which meant we didn’t get to stand side by side on the podium getting gold and silver, but I’m really happy for Chris (Barnes) and John (Janawicz).”

Bohn’s sentiments were largely the same.

“We posted a great score during qualifying, but if you can’t win it in the matches, unfortunately, you’re not going to walk away victorious,” Bohn said. “But by all means, we’re happy as all get out for John and Chris and what they stood up for not only in our match but in the match that was worth the gold.”

Sebelen and Perez walked away with silver while the other bronze went to Mexico’s Jose Covarrubias and Quintero, who lost their semifinal matchup, 454-450, to Sebelen and Perez.

Powers and Woessner didn’t have to endure any matches nearly that close en route to capturing the women’s doubles gold medal.

The duo began its run by defeating Italy’s Monica Di Paolantonio and Elga Biagia Di Benedetto by a final score of 450-360.

Woessner led the way, shooting 233 while Powers contributed a solid 217; meanwhile, the Italians struggled with Di Paolantonio coming in with a score of 200 and Di Benedetto only mustering 160.

At that point, the possibility of an all-Team USA women’s doubles final still existed as the other American duo, Tish Johnson of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Ausec were in the midst of their own semifinal battle, theirs against Italians Alessandra Morra and Paola Barison.

Unfortunately for the Team USA faithful, Morra and Barison got the better of that matchup, taking down Ausec and Johnson by a score of 446-430.

Ausec was just as strong during that doubles match as she had been to finish singles, shooting another nice game of 257. Unfortunately, Johnson’s look on the lanes wasn’t nearly as good, and that resulted in a score of 173 and a bronze-medal finish for the duo.

Johnson, who is not only a legendary talent but is also one of the fiercest competitors to ever take to the lanes, was disappointed with her performance and expressed feeling a bit like she’d let her partner down.

However, Ausec quickly attempted to dispel any such talk.

“If it weren’t for Tish (Johnson) working long and hard with me over the last several years to help me get better, I wouldn’t be here, and we would never have been in that situation together,” Ausec said. “I love the fact that we got to do that together, and even though it didn’t work out the way that we’d hoped, a bronze medal is nothing to shake your head at. I’m beyond proud.”

After defeating Ausec and Johnson, Morra and Barison moved on to the finals to meet Powers and Woessner.

That match was all Team USA as Powers and Woessner stayed strong, filled frames and threw enough strikes to keep their numbers constantly going up while the Italians struggled to keep their heads above water.

When the final shots had been delivered, Woessner (221) and Powers (205) had a score of 426 on the board while the Italian ledger read just 322 as both Morra and Barison barely broke 160.

That sent the Italian duo home with the silver medal and allowed Team USA to secure the women’s doubles gold.

For Powers, the win was gratifying for two reasons. The first was because it demonstrated her ability to shake off the tough start from the opening round and come back strong, and the second was because it meant being there for her teammate.

“Being here as long as we have now, I think I finally got used to my surroundings and got comfortable,” Powers said. “I wanted to do something good for Jodi (Woessner), so I just tried to relax a lot more, and that helped remind me that I can do this.”

Woessner always knew she could do it – win on the international stage – but because she never attempted to bowl for Team USA until now, she was never able to prove it, which is why Tuesday’s performances were particularly meaningful.

“I feel amazing; there aren’t words to describe how awesome this feeling is,” Woessner said. “To finally be able to bowl for your country and to win gold and silver, I don’t know; it was mentally and physically draining, but it was amazing.”

One would think that with all that Woessner and her teammates had already accomplished on Tuesday, they would have been able to take the rest of the day off, but that wasn’t the case; instead, all four Team USA ladies had to be back on the lanes just a short time later for the opening round of women’s team qualifying.

But not surprisingly, the talented group was more than up to the challenge as it put up scores of 894, 799 and 847 for a 2,540 total, which was more than 200 pins better than the 2,328 put up by second-place Mexico and more than 250 ahead of the 2,276 authored by Puerto Rico, which finished third.

Ausec led the Team USA effort with a score of 678 on games of 268, 208 and 202. Woessner was next in line with 634 while Johnson and Powers came in with 624 and 604, respectively.

Wednesday’s schedule will see the opening round of men’s team qualifying kick off at 8 a.m. Eastern with Round 2 for the women following at 1 p.m. Eastern.   

The 2023 World Senior Championships started with official practice sessions on Dec. 7 and will end with the men’s and women’s team finals and a farewell dinner on Thursday.

Livestreaming coverage and updated standings are available by visiting worldseniors2023.com.

For more information on Senior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/Team-USA/Team-USA-Senior-Bowling.