Colombia earns gold, USA takes silver in team at PABCON

ARLINGTON, Texas – Colombia grabbed the gold medal in the team event at the 2015 Pan American Bowling Confederation Men's Championships on Thursday, snapping Team USA’s 26-year run of team titles in the event.

Colombia posted a 6,223 pinfall total (207.4 average) to beat Team USA (6,162) by 61 pins with Puerto Rico taking third with a 6,075 total. Jaime E. Gonzalez led the way for Colombia with a 1,354 total for the six games, followed by Andres Gomez (1,257), Jaime Monroy (1,238), Manuel H. Otalora (1,216) and Santiago Meija (1,158).

Marshall Kent posted the high six-game block in this year’s competition with 1,437 (239.5 average) to lead Team USA. He was followed by Bill O’Neill (1,241), John Janawicz (1,158), Tommy Jones (1,124), Sean Rash (641) and Chris Barnes (561).

The last time a team other than the United States had captured the gold medal in the PABCON Men’s Championships was in 1989 when the Dominican Republic took a 49-pin victory over Team USA in Wichita, Kansas. Team USA then reeled off eight consecutive team titles in the event.

Kent, who won gold in trios and bronze in doubles, captured the All-Events title with a 5,383 total (224.3 average). Colombia’s Gonzalez took silver with a 5,227 total while Cristian Azcona (5,053) of Puerto Rico took bronze. Team USA’s Jones had a 5,014 total to finish fourth.

The 2015 PABCON Men’s Championships will come to a close Friday with Masters competition. The top 16 players after 24 games advanced to the best-of-three single-elimination bracket. All six members of Team USA earned a spot in the bracket.

The PABCON Men’s Championships features the best bowlers from the American Zone competing for medals in singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and match-play Masters.

United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress serves as the national governing body of bowling as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). USBC conducts championship events nationwide including the largest participation sporting events in the world – the USBC Open and Women’s Championships – and professional events such as the USBC Masters and USBC Queens.

Founded in 1895, today USBC and its 2,500 state and local associations proudly serve more than a million members. USBC is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, working toward a future for the sport. The online home for USBC is BOWL.com. 

2015 PABCON MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
At AMF Bolera Paradise Lanes, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Thursday’s results

TEAM (Six games)
Gold – Colombia (Andres Gomez, Jaime E. Gonzalez, Jaime Monroy, Manuel Otalora, Santiago Mejia), 6,223
Silver – Team USA (Bill O’Neill, Chris Barnes, John Janawicz, Marshall Kent, Sean Rash, Tommy Jones), 6,162
Bronze – Puerto Rico (Cristian Azcona, Israel Hernandez, Javier Diaz, Jean F. Perez, Michael Fonseca), 6,075

ALL-EVENTS (24 games)
Gold – Marshall Kent, USA, 5,383
Silver – Jaime E. Gonzalez, Colombia, 5,227
Bronze – Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, 5,053