McEwan has 300, Kent second at World Cup

ARLINGTON, Texas – Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, N.Y., used a 300 game to jump into fourth place while teammate Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., moved up a spot to second after Tuesday’s second round of qualifying at the QubicaAMF World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland.

McEwan, in eighth place to start the day, came out strong with games of 247, 224 and 217 before becoming the first woman in the field to roll a perfect game. She finished the five-game block with a 195 game.

“It’s pretty exciting,” McEwan said. “They said I’ll get a cool trophy for being the first woman in the tournament to shoot it. It gave me a good little jump. I still have a lot of games left and a lot of work to do, so I’ll apply what I learned today, make better shots and keep improving.”

Danielle WC actionMcEwan has a 2,260 pinfall total through 10 games, the midway point of qualifying. Two-time defending champion Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic continues to lead the women’s field with a 2,344 total. She is trying to first bowler, male or female, to win the title three years in a row.

Kent started a little slow but picked up steam throughout the block. He had games of 189, 219, 220, 244 and 257. With a 10-game total of 2,261, he trails only James Gruffman of Sweden who is at 2,290. And Kent also pointed out he slipped past his teammate.

“I had a rough start to the day and just didn’t execute well at the beginning,” Kent said. “I started throwing it better toward the end, finally made a little move and went 101 over for the last two games. I’m plus-261 – just happened to snap off Danielle by one pin – and learned a little bit today that should help.”

Tuesday was the second of four qualifying rounds; each qualifying round consists of five games. After four qualifying rounds, the field will be cut to the top 24 men and top 24 women for eight additional games. The top eight in each division then will advance to round-robin match play to determine the top three men and top three women for the stepladder finals.

McEwan and Kent each won their division at the USBC Team USA Trials last January to earn the opportunity to compete in the World Cup. The World Cup is being contested for the 48th year and is one of the most prestigious singles titles in the world.

The World Cup is the largest international bowling tournament in the world in terms of the number of countries competing. This year’s event is features 81 men and 68 women from more than 80 countries.