Team USA men earn silver medal in doubles at 2019 Pan American Games
July 28, 2019
Results
LIMA, Peru - Though Team USA's Jakob Butturff was able to maintain his record pace during the second half of the doubles event at the 2019 Pan American Games, the effort wasn't enough to catch Puerto Rico's Cristian Azcona and Jean Perez, who captured the gold medal Saturday with their own record score.
Azcona (2,927) and Perez (2,889) averaged more than 242 during their 12 games at the Bowling Center of La Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) to claim the doubles title with a 5,816 total, more than 200 pins better than the previous record of 5,607, set by Canada's Dan MacLelland and Francois Lavoie in 2015.
Butturff's 1,538 set Saturday, 256.3 average, included games of 280, 247, 225, 279, 248 and 259 and was 22 pins better than his record-setting performance Thursday during the first half of the event. His 12-game total of 3,054 topped the 2,930 MacLelland shot on the way to the gold medal four years ago.
Pate overcame some of the struggles he experienced in Thursday's 1,172 set and added a 1,319 effort for a 2,491 total and 5,545 team score.
A 515 final game helped Colombia's Manuel Otalora (2,763) and Alfredo Quintana (2,752) secure the bronze medal with 5,515.
"Jakob had a phenomenal set again today, and Nick was able to settle in and put together some big games, which helped us sneak in for the silver, and that's really special," Team USA head coach Rod Ross said. "What Puerto Rico did was incredible, and they earned the gold with a terrific performance. Now, we're going to reset, regroup and focus on getting a strong start in singles."
In any team environment, each player usually has a role. With competitors as versatile as Butturff and Pate, those roles sometimes change.
So far this week, Pate is serving more of a supportive role, while making the adjustments he hopes will help him continue to improve during singles. He said that during Saturday's block, his execution was better and he was more focused mentally.
"Being up close to watch Jakob break his own record was impressive, and it's amazing what he can do," said Pate, a 24-year-old right-hander. "When he gets it going, it stays going. It really was a team effort, though, and I guess my job so far has been to keep the enthusiasm up, even through my struggles. Even though I didn't bowl as well as I hoped, I had fun."
As doubles concluded on the biggest stage Team USA will compete on this year, Butturff shied away from the attention and praise.
Part of being on Team USA is about competing with a one-team mentality. There's also a hard-to-describe pride that comes with wearing a jersey with USA across the back.
"It's amazing being here to represent our country in what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and to win a medal, whether it's gold, silver or bronze, is very special," Butturff said. "That's something not a lot of people can say they've done, and it's something we were able to do together. When it comes to events like this, there's no I in doubles or team, so you're out there fighting together and trying to keep your teammate's spirit up, no matter what it takes."
The men's field this week in Peru includes representatives from 16 countries.
The last time the Team USA men won the doubles gold medal at the Pan Am Games, which are held every four years, was at the 2011 event in Guadalajara, Mexico. That win included Bill O'Neill and United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Chris Barnes.
The 32 men at this year's event now will turn their attention to singles, which gets underway Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern. They will take the lanes first, and the women will begin their first six games of singles at 5 p.m. EDT.
All competitors will complete 12 games of qualifying over two days, before the field is cut to the top eight bowlers in each division for round-robin match play. The top four bowlers after match play will advance to Tuesday's knockout-style semifinals.
The 2019 Pan American Games officially kicked off Friday night with a formal opening ceremony and will continue through Aug. 11. The bowling competition, featuring 16 men's countries and 16 women's countries, will conclude Tuesday.
This year's Pan Am Games is expected to bring more than 6,700 athletes to Lima to compete in 39 sports and 61 disciplines.
Since bowling was added to the Pan American Games in 1991, Team USA has won 22 of a possible 34 gold medals and claimed 37 medals overall, 20 more than the next-closest country.
LIMA, Peru - Though Team USA's Jakob Butturff was able to maintain his record pace during the second half of the doubles event at the 2019 Pan American Games, the effort wasn't enough to catch Puerto Rico's Cristian Azcona and Jean Perez, who captured the gold medal Saturday with their own record score.
Azcona (2,927) and Perez (2,889) averaged more than 242 during their 12 games at the Bowling Center of La Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) to claim the doubles title with a 5,816 total, more than 200 pins better than the previous record of 5,607, set by Canada's Dan MacLelland and Francois Lavoie in 2015.
Butturff's 1,538 set Saturday, 256.3 average, included games of 280, 247, 225, 279, 248 and 259 and was 22 pins better than his record-setting performance Thursday during the first half of the event. His 12-game total of 3,054 topped the 2,930 MacLelland shot on the way to the gold medal four years ago.
Pate overcame some of the struggles he experienced in Thursday's 1,172 set and added a 1,319 effort for a 2,491 total and 5,545 team score.
A 515 final game helped Colombia's Manuel Otalora (2,763) and Alfredo Quintana (2,752) secure the bronze medal with 5,515.
"Jakob had a phenomenal set again today, and Nick was able to settle in and put together some big games, which helped us sneak in for the silver, and that's really special," Team USA head coach Rod Ross said. "What Puerto Rico did was incredible, and they earned the gold with a terrific performance. Now, we're going to reset, regroup and focus on getting a strong start in singles."
In any team environment, each player usually has a role. With competitors as versatile as Butturff and Pate, those roles sometimes change.
So far this week, Pate is serving more of a supportive role, while making the adjustments he hopes will help him continue to improve during singles. He said that during Saturday's block, his execution was better and he was more focused mentally.
"Being up close to watch Jakob break his own record was impressive, and it's amazing what he can do," said Pate, a 24-year-old right-hander. "When he gets it going, it stays going. It really was a team effort, though, and I guess my job so far has been to keep the enthusiasm up, even through my struggles. Even though I didn't bowl as well as I hoped, I had fun."
As doubles concluded on the biggest stage Team USA will compete on this year, Butturff shied away from the attention and praise.
Part of being on Team USA is about competing with a one-team mentality. There's also a hard-to-describe pride that comes with wearing a jersey with USA across the back.
"It's amazing being here to represent our country in what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and to win a medal, whether it's gold, silver or bronze, is very special," Butturff said. "That's something not a lot of people can say they've done, and it's something we were able to do together. When it comes to events like this, there's no I in doubles or team, so you're out there fighting together and trying to keep your teammate's spirit up, no matter what it takes."
The men's field this week in Peru includes representatives from 16 countries.
The last time the Team USA men won the doubles gold medal at the Pan Am Games, which are held every four years, was at the 2011 event in Guadalajara, Mexico. That win included Bill O'Neill and United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer Chris Barnes.
The 32 men at this year's event now will turn their attention to singles, which gets underway Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern. They will take the lanes first, and the women will begin their first six games of singles at 5 p.m. EDT.
All competitors will complete 12 games of qualifying over two days, before the field is cut to the top eight bowlers in each division for round-robin match play. The top four bowlers after match play will advance to Tuesday's knockout-style semifinals.
The 2019 Pan American Games officially kicked off Friday night with a formal opening ceremony and will continue through Aug. 11. The bowling competition, featuring 16 men's countries and 16 women's countries, will conclude Tuesday.
This year's Pan Am Games is expected to bring more than 6,700 athletes to Lima to compete in 39 sports and 61 disciplines.
Since bowling was added to the Pan American Games in 1991, Team USA has won 22 of a possible 34 gold medals and claimed 37 medals overall, 20 more than the next-closest country.