Street, Stretch remain in advancing position after Round 2 at IBF World Cup

Women's Qualifying Standings (Through Round 2)
Men's Qualifying Standings (Through Round 2)

LIMA, Peru
– Despite experiencing some ups and downs during Tuesday’s second round of qualifying, Junior Team USA bowlers Carter Street of Dublin, Ohio, and Jenna Stretch of Auburn Township, Ohio, remain in position to advance to the round-robin portion of competition at the 2024 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup, which is being contested at VIDENA Bowling Center of La Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) in Lima, Peru.

Street recorded a six-game total of 1,186 on Tuesday thanks to games of 182, 235, 215, 197, 202 and 155. That moved his two-day, 12-game tally to 2,421 (a 201.75 average) and kept him in 10th place in the 21-player men’s field.

Sweden’s Robin Ilhammar used a 1,359 effort during Round 2 to move into the overall lead at 2,703 (a 225.25 average). 

The remaining spots in the men’s overall top five were secured by Day 1 leader Samuel Calderon of Colombia (2,677), Malaysia’s Megat Zaqrul Msiqal and Singapore’s Aiman Raedyn Lim Jen (2,592) and Guatemala’s Diego Aguilar (2,581). 

Costa Rica’s Mateo Gordienko (2,163) currently holds the 16th and final men’s advancing spot heading into Wednesday’s last six-game qualifying block, but his position is far from secure as he has four competitors trailing him by less than 100 pins.

The stakes aren’t as high just yet on the women’s side as all 14 competitors will advance to the round-robin portion of the event; nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the first two rounds of qualifying action have been any less intense.

Junior Team USA’s Stretch had an up-and-down day on Tuesday, firing scores of 183, 220, 138, 179, 156 and 238 for a six-game mark of 1,114 that pushed her two-day total to 2,289 (a 190.75 average) and has her sitting in sixth place with one more qualifying round to go.

Malaysia’s Nur Hazirah Binti Ramli is the women’s overall leader with a 12-game total of 2,452 (a 204.33 average). 

Opening-round leader Sara Duque of Colombia is second at 2,411 while the remaining positions in the women’s top five are held by Sweden’s Nora Johansson (2,382), Czech Republic’s Eliska Krummerova (2,378) and Peru’s Yumi Yuzuriha (2,343).

Although Stretch would like to fire some high scores and place herself among the leaders on Wednesday, her focus during Round 3 will be to continue learning so that her bag of tricks will be completely full during round-robin play and possibly the medal rounds.

“It would be great to stay up high on the list, but I just want to use tomorrow to gather as much information as I can and keep gaining confidence going into Thursday,” Stretch said. “Thursday is when it really matters because that’s when we’re going to need to use all of that information to try to do the best we can.”

Stretch obtained some vital information during Tuesday’s second round when a couple of tricky pairs halted her momentum; nevertheless, she thinks that she’s learned from those difficulties and will be able to tackle those pairs more effectively during the rounds to come.

“We were just a little bit late moving and making a ball change on those pairs today, but once we did, I had a big last game,” Stretch said. “We just need to stay on top of those moves, and now we know.”

Street made the right moves during most of his block on Tuesday, but a closing 155 took the wind out of his sails and forced him to end the day in the same position from which he began, 10th place.

Like Stretch, for Street, the low finishing game was simply a matter of not quite seeing the right change at the right time.

“I sort of got trapped in the middle that last game,” Street said. “I played right most of the day until then, but when I went left, I don’t think I went far enough. I’m going to mess around with that a little bit tomorrow to see what my options are.”

Street has that luxury as he will enter Round 3 more than 250 pins ahead of 16th place, which is the lowest he can finish to advance to round-robin match play; nevertheless, Street can’t help but admit that he was hoping for better results up to this point.

“This isn’t how I would’ve liked to bowl, but pins drop after tomorrow, and it’s a new tournament,” Street said. “I’ve got another gameplan for tomorrow, which hopefully works and allows me to keep doing that the rest of the way.”

All competitors in both divisions will bowl a final six-game qualifying block on Wednesday.

After qualifying has been completed, all 14 women and the top 16 men will advance to round-robin match play, which will be contested on Thursday.

Only eight men and eight women will survive round-robin play and remain in medal contention when best-of-three-game matches are contested during the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds on Friday, which will be the final day of competition at the 2024 Youth World Cup.

Quarterfinal-round matchups will see the No. 1 seed facing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed battling the No. 7 seed and so on.

The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round while those that fall will be eliminated.

Once the semifinals are completed, the two winners in each division will advance to bowl for gold and silver. The bowlers who come up short during the semis will square off to decide who takes home the men’s and women’s bronze medals.

After all medals have been conferred, the day will end with athletes and coaches taking part in the closing ceremonies and banquet to officially bring the 2024 Youth World Cup to a close.

For tournament results, standings and information, visit the Peruvian Bowling Federation’s website, FEDEPERUBOWLING.com/World-Youth-Cup.

For more information on Junior Team USA, visit BOWL.com/JuniorTeamUSA.