Kent takes lead, McEwan 7th at World Cup

ARLINGTON, Texas – Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., averaged 238 over his five-game block to take the men’s lead and teammate Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, N.Y., is in seventh place in the women’s division following Wednesday’s third round of qualifying at the QubicaAMF World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland.

Kent posted games of 237, 264, 225, 222 and 244 to push his pinfall total to 3,453 heading into the final five-game qualifying block on Thursday. He leads Hareb Al Mansoori of the United Arab Emirates by 30 pins. Second-round leader James Gruffman of Sweden dropped to fifth.

Kent WC action“I never really had a bad game today and had a couple of really good games to help gain some pins,” said Kent, who had to wait for the last squad to bowl to see if his position would hold up. “It was just a solid day. I still learned a couple of things I can use. As we’ve progressed this week, I feel like my shot-making is getting better and my execution is getting better. I still have that 300 game (by McEwan) to match, so I’ll see what I can do about that.”

McEwan dropped three spots in the standings after an up-and-down day that featured games of 203, 163, 202, 233 and 223. Her 3,284 pinfall total is 267 pins behind leader Shayna Ng of Singapore. Second-round leader and two-time defending champion Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic fell to third place at 3,402.

“Today was a really rough day, not exactly my day,” McEwan said. “I struggled the first couple of games, and it kind of threw my feel off a little bit and made me miss some spares. I was able to get it back the last two games. Ending on a good note is always a positive thing. Overall, I’m still in pretty good shape considering I’ve had two not-so-great days. There are a lot of games left, so I just need to stay up there and keep getting as many pins as I can.”

Following the fourth qualifying round on Thursday, the field will be cut to the top 24 men and top 24 women for eight additional games on Friday. The top eight in each division then will advance to Saturday’s round-robin match play to determine the top three men and top three women for the stepladder finals. The stepladder finals also are Saturday.

Kent and McEwan won their respective 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.