EL PASO, Texas - Andy Bunkoske of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and his Janz's H.I. teammates soaked in every moment of their experience at the 2015 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, which included being introduced as tournament champions for the first time.

They found the added attention and fanfare that comes with being the team to beat enjoyable, but it was the extra pressure they put on themselves in their return to the championship lanes that had them a little slow out of the gates at the El Paso Convention Center on Thursday night.

The group got progressively better during its nine games, and although they will not repeat as Team All-Events champions, they made their presence known across this year's standings. Janz's H.I. also turned in a strong singles performance to catapult into second place in Team All-Events with a 9,118 total. ND Storm of Mandan, North Dakota, leads with 9,393.

"Coming in this year, we practiced a lot more, and we definitely put some pressure on ourselves to do well again, so we were a little tight to start," said Bunkoske, who made his 10th USBC Open Championships appearance. "Personally, my goal was to make good shots and get to 1,900, especially with the lanes being a little tougher this year."

The 37-year-old right-hander, eclipsed his all-events goal with help from a 736 singles series. After games of 259 and 268, he found himself in position to make a run at the lead with seven frames to go, but a few miscues left him short of Chad Oachs of Mankato, Minnesota, who leads Regular Singles with 772. Bunkoske landed in fourth place.

Bunkoske picked up momentum with a 250 in his final game of doubles, which helped him and Tim Janz of Beaver Dam into sixth place in Regular Doubles with a 1,270 total. Tom Woodworth and Jeremy Sonnenfeld of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, lead with 1,372.

"I was hoping to get to at least 750 after my start in singles, but I had a few mental errors in the last game I wish I could have back," Bunkoske said. "After my last game of doubles, I felt like I had a good look and could keep that going."

Collectively, Janz's H.I. averaged more than 217 in singles, nearly completing the tough task of climbing back to the top of the leaderboard.

Bunkoske cruised into a tie for sixth place in Regular All-Events with a 1,974 total and was followed by 2014 all-events runner-up Tim Damerow (1,916), Tim Janz (1,844), Joe Janz (1,758) and Randy Hupf (1,626).

"For us, coming from a small town, it was nice to go through this whole experience, from taking the lead last year, to everything that came along with it this year," Bunkoske said. "To win an eagle really was a dream come true for me, and to bowl well again this year was special, too."

Defending Regular All-Events champion Anthony LaCaze of Melrose Park, Illinois, the only bowler to beat Damerow in 2014, was at the El Paso Convention Center this week to see Janz's H.I. in action, and he set out in his title defense just after Bunkoske and his teammates left the lanes.

LaCaze is looking to become the second bowler in tournament history to win titles in three consecutive years. He entered last year's tournament as a defending Team All-Events champion with Junior Team USA Support 1 of Mansfield, Texas, and now hopes to match USBC Hall of Famer Les Zikes of Palatine, Illinois, who had victories in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

LaCaze will return to the lanes Saturday afternoon for doubles and singles, which will be broadcast live on BowlTV beginning at 3 p.m. EDT.

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