Gotchall, Lokker move into Team USA Trials lead
January 05, 2014
LAS VEGAS - The top of the leaderboard shifted Sunday after the second round as Robert Gotchall of Lincoln, Neb., and Sarah Lokker of New Baltimore, Mich., took the lead at the 2014 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials.
Gotchall is on top of the men's field with 12 points (four points for fourth place in Round 1 and eight points for finishing eighth in Round 2), while Lokker leads the women with 13 points (two in Round 1 and 11 in Round 2) at The Orleans Bowling Center.
The players in the field earn points based on their finishing position in each round. After five rounds, the top three men and top three women with the least amount of points will advance to the stepladder finals Wednesday at 7 p.m. Pacific live on BowlTV.
Gotchall moved into the lead Sunday after his second consecutive top-10 finish. He shot 1,374 for six games on the 43-foot Tokyo pattern to take the lead by just one point.
"My goal was to keep the ball in play and hit the pairs where I had a good look," Gotchall said. "I wanted to be in the top 20 every day because I think 100 points will be enough at the end of the week to be in the top three."
Matthew Farber of Plainview, N.Y., moved into second place over all with 13 points, while first-round leader John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., is third with 17 points. PBA star Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, sits in fourth with 19 points.
Lokker, a 2014 Junior Team USA member, continued her solid tournament showing thus far and is in the lead by nine points on the field. Kelsey Muther of Wichita, Kan., is second with 22 points, while Elysia Current of Ephrata, Pa., is third with 23 points.
"My biggest goal is to make Team USA, but I was never expecting to be leading at this point," Lokker said. "I had a feeling I would do well this week, but just didn't think I'd be in this position. But I'm not complaining."
Action shifts to the third round of the event, which will be contested on the 34-foot Stockholm pattern on Monday. All rounds of the Team USA Trials are being broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV.
The top three men and top three women after five rounds of qualifying will be guaranteed spots on Team USA in 2014 and will bowl in the stepladder finals for the right to be declared champion, a spot in the QubicaAMF World Cup and prize money.
Two more men and two more women from the event will be selected to join Team USA, while five men and five women will be selected from a pool of eligible bowlers based on their bowling resumes and Trials performance if they competed.
A total of eight Junior Team USA spots - four boys and four girls - also are available. The top two boys and top two girls in the final points standings will earn automatic spots, while two boys and two girls spots will be at-large selections taken from either the Team USA Trials field or the finals field from the Junior Gold Championships held in July 2013. All bowlers 20 and under as of Jan. 1, 2014 are eligible for Junior Team USA.
For more information on the Team USA Trials, including live streaming, live scoring and complete standings, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSATrials.
Gotchall is on top of the men's field with 12 points (four points for fourth place in Round 1 and eight points for finishing eighth in Round 2), while Lokker leads the women with 13 points (two in Round 1 and 11 in Round 2) at The Orleans Bowling Center.
The players in the field earn points based on their finishing position in each round. After five rounds, the top three men and top three women with the least amount of points will advance to the stepladder finals Wednesday at 7 p.m. Pacific live on BowlTV.
Gotchall moved into the lead Sunday after his second consecutive top-10 finish. He shot 1,374 for six games on the 43-foot Tokyo pattern to take the lead by just one point.
"My goal was to keep the ball in play and hit the pairs where I had a good look," Gotchall said. "I wanted to be in the top 20 every day because I think 100 points will be enough at the end of the week to be in the top three."
Matthew Farber of Plainview, N.Y., moved into second place over all with 13 points, while first-round leader John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., is third with 17 points. PBA star Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, sits in fourth with 19 points.
Lokker, a 2014 Junior Team USA member, continued her solid tournament showing thus far and is in the lead by nine points on the field. Kelsey Muther of Wichita, Kan., is second with 22 points, while Elysia Current of Ephrata, Pa., is third with 23 points.
"My biggest goal is to make Team USA, but I was never expecting to be leading at this point," Lokker said. "I had a feeling I would do well this week, but just didn't think I'd be in this position. But I'm not complaining."
Action shifts to the third round of the event, which will be contested on the 34-foot Stockholm pattern on Monday. All rounds of the Team USA Trials are being broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV.
The top three men and top three women after five rounds of qualifying will be guaranteed spots on Team USA in 2014 and will bowl in the stepladder finals for the right to be declared champion, a spot in the QubicaAMF World Cup and prize money.
Two more men and two more women from the event will be selected to join Team USA, while five men and five women will be selected from a pool of eligible bowlers based on their bowling resumes and Trials performance if they competed.
A total of eight Junior Team USA spots - four boys and four girls - also are available. The top two boys and top two girls in the final points standings will earn automatic spots, while two boys and two girls spots will be at-large selections taken from either the Team USA Trials field or the finals field from the Junior Gold Championships held in July 2013. All bowlers 20 and under as of Jan. 1, 2014 are eligible for Junior Team USA.
For more information on the Team USA Trials, including live streaming, live scoring and complete standings, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSATrials.