U.S. sweeps team titles at PABCON Youth

ARLINGTON, Texas - Junior Team USA captured the boys and girls team gold medals at the 2013 Pan American Bowling Confederation Youth Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico on Thursday.

The U.S. girls needed a big final game to move from third to first place, while the U.S. boys rolled to a 293-pin victory at Bolera Caribe.

"We couldn't be happier with the performances of the team during the last week," Team USA assistant head coach Kim Terrell-Kearney said. "There are so many talented bowlers in the PABCON region and to have the success we had at this event really is an accomplishment for these players."

In Thursday's team competition, the U.S. girls were in third place and trailed leader Puerto Rico by 16 pins entering the final game. But the U.S. team rolled a 919 game, the highest game of the girls' team event, to take the title.

In the final game, Mary Wells shot 249, Sarah Lokker added 246, Robyn Renslow had 213 and Natalie Goodman had a 211 game on the 44-foot London pattern.

"All along they felt like they had an advantage on the long pattern," Terrell-Kearney said. "They were confident going into the day and had an unbelievable finish."

With games of 785, 778 and 919, the U.S. girls finished the six-game team competition with a 4,763 pinfall total. Puerto Rico (4,677) took the silver medal while Colombia (4,623) claimed the bronze. Lokker led Junior Team USA with a 643 series, followed by Wells (626), Renslow (608) and Goodman (605).

The U.S. boys had a 13-pin lead over Puerto Rico to start the day and never relinquished the lead. They opened with an 888 game, then cranked out games of 983 and 939 to outdistance the field with a 5,447 total to win the gold medal. Puerto Rico (5,154) took silver and Costa Rica (4,927) won the bronze.

Kamron Doyle led the team on Thursday with a 726 series that included a 279 game, Wesley Low had a 709 series, Matthew Farber added 688 and Gregory Young had 687.

"They had the lead to start today and put the pressure on the other teams with their performance," Terrell-Kearney said. "The way both teams handled themselves this week, the composure they have shown, sometimes makes you forget they are still young bowlers."

Junior Team USA also picked up four medals in all-events. In the boys' division Doyle took the gold medal with a 5,469 pinfall total (227.9 average) for the 24 games and Low (5,374) won silver. Puerto Rico's Kristie Lopez (5,032, 209.7 average) won the girls all-events gold medal with Lokker (4,974) earning silver and Renslow (4,919) taking bronze.

The PABCON Youth Championships will conclude Friday with Masters competition. Junior Team USA players are scheduled to take part in the North Pointe Junior Gold Championships in the Detroit area and, with official practice sessions for the event scheduled for Saturday, they will not compete in Masters.

For more information on the PABCON Youth Championships, visit the Puerto Rico Bowling Federation website at www.febopur.com.

PABCON YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEDAL WINNERS

At Bolera Caribe, Ponce, Puerto Rico

BOYS TEAM
Gold - United States (Kamron Doyle, Matthew Farber, Wesley Low, Gregory Young), 5,447
Silver - Puerto Rico (Cristian Azcona, Josh Encarnacion, Jorge R. Rodriguez, Eisam Hussein), 5,154
Bronze - Costa Rica (Rodolfo Madriz, James Stanley, Jose Garcia, Juan Rodriguez), 4,927

GIRLS TEAM
Gold - United States (Natalie Goodman, Sarah Lokker, Robyn Renslow, Mary Wells), 4,763
Silver - Puerto Rico (Kristie Lopez, Cristina Rodriguez, Alexandra Rodriguez, Valerie Bermudez) 4,677
Bronze - Colombia (Tatiana Mu¤oz, Alexandra Mosquera, Laura Plazas, Juliana Franco), 4,623

BOYS ALL-EVENTS
Gold - Kamron Doyle, United States, 5,469
Silver - Wesley Low, United States, 5,374
Bronze - Andre Fors, Mexico, 5,319

GIRLS ALL-EVENTS
Gold - Kristie Lopez, Puerto Rico, 5,032
Silver - Sarah Lokker, United States, 4,974
Bronze - Robyn Renslow, United States, 4,919

BOYS SINGLES
Gold - Matt Farber, United States, 1,391
Silver (tie) - Andre Fors, Mexico, and Kenny Kishimoto, Peru, 1,356

GIRLS SINGLES
Gold - Kristie Lopez, Puerto Rico, 1,262
Silver - Juliana Franco, Colombia, 1,258
Bronze - Sara Pelayo, Mexico, 1,251

BOYS DOUBLES
Gold - United States (Matt Farber, Wesley Low), 2,656
Silver - United States (Kamron Doyle, Greg Young), 2,654
Bronze - Canada (Anthony Carrier, Kevin Maurice), 2,651

GIRLS DOUBLES
Gold - United States (Sarah Lokker, Mary Wells), 2,619
Silver - United States (Natalie Goodman, Robyn Renslow), 2,592
Bronze - Mexico (Raquel Orozco, Sara Pelayo), 2,468

BOYS TRIOS
Gold - Mexico (Andre Fors, Enrique Kassiani, Fabian Lopez), 3,900
Silver - United States (Kamron Doyle, Wesley Low, Matthew Farber), 3,758
Bronze - Canada (Mitch Hupe, Francois Lavoie, Kevin Maurice), 3,686

GIRLS TRIOS
Gold - Colombia (Laura Plazas, Juliana Franco, Tatiana Munoz), 3,557
Silver - United States (Robyn Renslow, Natalie Goodman, Sarah Lokker), 3,522
Bronze - Canada (Miranda Panas, Brittany Crawford, Mykaela Mitchell), 3,438