ARLINGTON, Texas – Team USA’s Bill O’Neill and Chris Barnes will represent the United States in the men’s division at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October.

The two stars on the Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour survived a qualifying process that gave them points based on their finish at the Pan American Games Trials (60 percent), the United States Bowling Congress Masters (20 percent) and the U.S. Open (20 percent).

O’Neill led with 100 points, earning the maximum of 66 points for leading the Trials, while Barnes finished with 94 total points. Tommy Jones just missed advancing with 92 points.

All 11 Team USA men competed in 32 games on Tuesday and Wednesday at the International Training and Research Center to finalize the rankings. O’Neill led the field with a total of 7,386, an average of 230.8, while Patrick Allen was second with 7,185. Barnes finished third with 7,160.

“I was feeling really good and even when I was struggling a little bit I still was throwing the ball well,” O’Neill said. “Going to the Pan Am Games is going to be pretty neat. It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s an Olympic setting, and I’m looking forward to watching some of the other sports as well.”

For Barnes, it will be the second time he has competed in the Pan American Games. He represented Team USA in the 1995 event in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and relishes the idea of going back again.

“I really wanted the opportunity to go back again,” said Barnes, who won two gold medals at the 1995 event. “I think the Pan Am Games are very reflective to what bowling would be in the Olympics. I thought it was one of the coolest events I have been a part of in my bowling career.”



The Pan American Games are an Americas version of the Olympic Games which includes the Olympic program sports and others that are not part of the Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee has specific requirements for selecting players to compete in the event.

In each of the three events, the players were ranked in order of finish with the highest finisher in each event earning 11 points, second gets 10 and so on. If a player did not compete in an event, they get the same amount of points as the final finisher.

The Masters and U.S. Open each made up 20 percent of the points total, while the Pan American Games Trials represented the other 60 percent.

The two representatives in the women’s division will be determined based on finishes at the USBC Queens and U.S. Women’s Open. The women will bowl their Pan American Games Trials the first week of May.

With the Pan American Games Trials completed, the Team USA men will now take part in specialized training at the ITRC, which is considered the home of Team USA, throughout the rest of the week.

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2011 TEAM USA PAN AMERICAN GAMES QUALIFYING
(Final ranking points; top two advance to Pan American Games)

1, Bill O’Neill, 100. 2, Chris Barnes, 94. 3, Tommy Jones, 92. 4, Patrick Allen, 88. 5, Mike Fagan, 70. 6, Wes Malott, 58. 7, Walter Ray Williams Jr., 54. 8, EJ Tackett, 32. 9, Scott Boyle, 30. 10, Steven Smith, 24. 11, Jarret Mizo, 18.

2011 TEAM USA PAN AMERICAN GAMES TRIALS
(32 games, makes up 60 percent of qualifying points)

1, Bill O’Neill, 7,386. 2, Patrick Allen, 7,185. 3, Chris Barnes, 7,160. 4, Tommy Jones, 7,128. 5, Wes Malott, 7,074. 6, Mike Fagan, 7,052. 7, Walter Ray Williams Jr., 6,986. 8, Scott Boyle, 6,818. 9, Steven Smith, 6,766. 10, EJ Tackett, 6,756. 11, Jarret Mizo, 6,587.