Team USA Trials headed to final day

HENDERSON, Nev. - Heading into the final round, John Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, N.Y., and Diandra Asbaty have put themselves in prime position at the 2013 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials.

Asbaty SzczerbinskiSzczerbinski has a solid lead on the men's field with 27 points, while Asbaty has also tallied 27 points to top the women's division after the fourth round Sunday at Sunset Station's Strike Zone 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 Monday night.

Szczerbinski finished third in Sunday's fourth round on the Atlanta lane condition to solidify him at the top of the standings. He also has finishes of first, 17th and sixth to make up his point total. In order to secure a spot in Monday's stepladder finals, Szczerbinski needs to finish 50th or better in Monday's final round.

John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., is second with 63 points, while Kyle King of Glendale, Ariz., is third with 72 points.

"I'm pretty excited with where I'm at because a lot of hard work is really paying off," said Szczerbinski, who had a six-game total of 1,388 in the fourth round. "I'm just coming to bowl another six games tomorrow like I have the past four days, and I'll just try to continue making great shots."

Casey Shephard of Portage, Mich., earned the top spot in the fourth round with 1,466, while Wesley Low of Palmdale, Calif., was second with 1,418.

In the women's division, Asbaty had the top finish in the fourth round with a six-game total of 1,443. The one point she earned for that finish was added to her sixth place, 16th place and fourth place finishes in the first three rounds.

Jackie Carbonetto of Blauvelt, N.Y., is second with 39 points, while Sarah Lokker of New Baltimore, Mich., is third with 42 points. Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, N.Y., who previously held the lead, dropped to fourth with 44 points.

Asbaty has the opportunity to secure a spot in the stepladder finals by finishing 17th or higher in the final round Monday.

"Going into today I did a good job keeping my head down and really focusing on just my ball reaction and not what's going on around me," Asbaty said. "Going into the last day, I couldn't be in a better position to make Team USA for the 15th year and that's why I'm here."

Action shifts to the fifth round of the event, which will be contested on the 44-foot London 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 2013 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 will be 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 North Pointe Junior Gold Championships held in July 2012. All bowlers 20 and under as of Jan. 1, 2013 are eligible for Junior Team USA.

For more information on the Team USA Trials, including live streaming, live scoring, full player stats and complete standings, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSATrials.