Third round of qualifying wraps up at 2020 USBC Team USA Trials
January 05, 2020
Day 3 results: Men | Women
Overall standings: Men | Women
LAS VEGAS - Tyrell Ingalls of Loganville, Georgia, has been making a habit of stringing strikes on the biggest stages in bowling, and a perfect game Sunday at the 2020 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials helped propel him to the top of the men's third-round standings.
The 18-year-old two-hander delivered one more crucial strike in his final frame to solidify his place ahead of the 175-player men's field on a high-scoring 37-foot World Bowling Stockholm oil pattern.
Since he's not a scoreboard watcher, Ingalls had no idea the last strike of his six-game block at the Gold Coast Bowling Center moved him ahead of clubhouse leader Matt Russo of Fairview Heights, Illinois, who had finished minutes earlier one pair of lanes to the left.
"I don't pay attention to how others are doing because it puts unwanted pressure on you," Ingalls said. "You want to keep the load off your mind as much as possible, so I only worry about my game and what I'm doing."
Ingalls finished the round with a 1,488 total, a 248 average, while Russo ended with 1,484. Brandon Runk of Enola, Pennsylvania, was third with 1,481, TJ Rock of nearby Henderson, Nevada, was fourth with 1,461 and Solomon Salama of Beverly Hills, California, a member of both Team USA and Junior Team USA in 2019, was fifth with 1,441.
Young left-hander Spencer Robarge of Springfield, Missouri, started his block on Stockholm with a perfect game and went on to finish 19th for the day.
Four other players put themselves in position to join Ingalls and Robarge in the record books Sunday, but they all finished with 299 games. Andrew Guba of Las Vegas rolled the first 300 of the week during Saturday's second round.
"When it came to the 300 today, I made sure to stay as focused as I could and stayed in the settee area to keep the same routine and avoid any possible distractions," Ingalls said. "I'm not going to lie, when I was in the 10th frame, the nerves set in, but I'm sure that happens for everyone. When I tripped the 4-9 on the first shot, a lot of weight actually came off me, and then it was just about being consistent."
How he performed following the perfect game was equally as important for Ingalls, who was not in unfamiliar territory.
During the summer of 2019, he rolled one of two 300s at the Junior Gold Championships and tossed a 299 game on the way to the U20 Boys Scratch Singles and U20 Boys Scratch All-Events titles at the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships with scores of 770 and 2,208. Both events were held in the Detroit area.
"My first thought after the 300 today was to put it behind me and turn my attention to the next game," Ingalls said. "Every game was a restart, including the same routine to get a feel for how different the lanes might be from the last pair, before adjusting from there. I wanted to make sure I didn't lose myself. I tried my best to stay focused and relaxed."
The Team USA Trials isn't just about one great day on the lanes, however. It's about who can be the most versatile over five days on a variety of challenging lane conditions.
Competitors earn ranking points based on where they finish in the daily standings. The leader earns one point, second place earns two and so on.
Through three days of competition on oil patterns ranging from 37 to 45 feet, Alex Glinski of Linfield, Pennsylvania, tops the men's overall standings with 44 ranking points. He has finishes of 18th, second and 24th.
Cameron Crowe of Orland Park, Illinois, owner of one of Sunday's 299 games, is second with 47 points and followed by Russo (48), Salama (49) and two-time Team USA member Nick Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota (52).
On the women's side Sunday at the Gold Coast Bowling Center, 19-time Team USA member Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, had a breakout day and outdistanced the 164-player ladies field by nearly 140 pins.
The 37-year-old left-hander had four games of 267 or better on the way to a 1,518 total, a 253 average.
Junior Team USA member Mabel Cummins of Antioch, Tennessee, closed with a 280 game to catapult into second place with 1,382 and was followed by Elizabeth Ross of Schenectady, New York (1,377), 15-time Team USA member Shannon O'Keefe of Shiloh, Illinois (1,373), and Kayla Smith of Salem, Illinois (1,359).
"During the practice session, this was a pattern I was able to throw quite a few strikes on," Pluhowsky said. "I just stuck with the same plan and urethane ball, and I was able to ride it out. Everything else was going crazy, but it was nice and smooth. I got out to a good start, and then after a rough Game 3, I was able to get back on track."
In the women's overall standings, USBC Hall of Famer Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey, used a seventh-place finish to remain ahead of the field. With first-place finishes in each of the first two rounds, she now has nine ranking points.
O'Keefe is second overall with 17 points and followed by Lauren Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota (23), defending U.S. Amateur champion Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina (27), and 2019 Team USA member Sydney Brummett of Fort Wayne, Indiana (28).
Pluhowsky, who has been on Team USA every year since 2001, had a slow start to the week, finishing tied for 60th place on the 39-foot World Bowling Beijing oil pattern, but she was able to rally to a seventh-place effort Saturday on the 45-foot World Bowling London pattern. She's now 12th overall with 68 points.
"The 20th year has been in the back of my mind without trying to think about it too much," said Pluhowsky, now an assistant coach for the University of Nebraska bowling team when she's not competing on the Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour. "After a slow start to the week, I just wanted to put four good days together and see what happens.
"Team USA has meant so much to my bowling career, from working with the best coaches to getting to wear the red, white and blue on the lanes. You can't really put into words what that means, and I'd love for it to continue for another year."
Ingalls, who is a freshman at the Savannah College of Art and Design-Savannah and studying sound design, is as passionate about music as he is about bowling.
He certainly has made some noise at Gold Coast this week, but he knows there's too much competition left to begin thinking about beginning his own Team USA legacy.
After three days, Ingalls is in 35th place with 146 points.
"To be part of Team USA would be a very big accomplishment, and I would love more than anything to do that, but I can't think about that now, with two more days of bowling to go," said Ingalls, also a U15 champion at the 2016 USA Bowling National Championships. "I need to just act like today was another day, move on and go out there and have fun with my friends."
Next up for the nearly 340 bowlers (175 men and 164 women) will be the 33-foot World Bowling Sydney oil pattern.
The women will return to the lanes first Monday, getting underway at 11 a.m. Eastern, and the men will bowl their fourth round at 5:30 p.m. EST, all live on BowlTV.
The 2020 Team USA Trials also includes the United States Amateur Bowling Championships.
After all rounds of competition, the U.S. Amateur stepladder finals and the introduction of Team USA and Junior Team USA for 2020 will broadcast live at BowlTV.com.
In addition to the Team USA Trials title and spot on the team, the winner of each division again will represent Team USA at the World Cup. The 2020 event will be held in Kuwait.
The top four men and top four women at the 2020 Team USA Trials, based on ranking points, will earn automatic spots on Team USA, while two additional men and two additional women will be selected by the National Selection Committee from the pool of players that competed during the week at the Gold Coast Bowling Center.
The National Selection Committee also will select a maximum of five men and five women for the team based on submitted resumes. Those applicants must have been Team USA or Junior Team USA members within the last 10 years or among the top 25 in earnings during the 2019 Professional Bowlers Association Tour season or top 25 in points during the 2019 PWBA Tour season.
After the final qualifying round at the Team Trials, the top three amateur men and top three amateur women will advance to a stepladder final to determine the U.S. Amateur champions. Both winners will earn spots on Team USA.
If the U.S. Amateur champion already has earned a spot on the team, the spot will be awarded to the next-highest Team USA Trials qualifier based on ranking points.
To be eligible for this year's U.S. Amateur, a bowler must not hold or have held a professional membership (PBA or PWBA) in 2019. Also, anyone who has won a professional title (regional, national or senior) as a professional is not eligible to compete as an amateur.
For youth competitors, the top four boys and top four girls, based on ranking points, automatically will earn spots on Junior Team USA 2020. Two additional boys and two additional girls also will be selected by the National Selection Committee based on performances from either the 2020 Team USA Trials or 2019 Junior Gold Championships.
They will join the youth competitors who already earned their spots on Junior Team USA 2020 through qualifying at the 2019 Junior Gold Championships.
Overall standings: Men | Women
LAS VEGAS - Tyrell Ingalls of Loganville, Georgia, has been making a habit of stringing strikes on the biggest stages in bowling, and a perfect game Sunday at the 2020 United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials helped propel him to the top of the men's third-round standings.
The 18-year-old two-hander delivered one more crucial strike in his final frame to solidify his place ahead of the 175-player men's field on a high-scoring 37-foot World Bowling Stockholm oil pattern.
Since he's not a scoreboard watcher, Ingalls had no idea the last strike of his six-game block at the Gold Coast Bowling Center moved him ahead of clubhouse leader Matt Russo of Fairview Heights, Illinois, who had finished minutes earlier one pair of lanes to the left.
"I don't pay attention to how others are doing because it puts unwanted pressure on you," Ingalls said. "You want to keep the load off your mind as much as possible, so I only worry about my game and what I'm doing."
Ingalls finished the round with a 1,488 total, a 248 average, while Russo ended with 1,484. Brandon Runk of Enola, Pennsylvania, was third with 1,481, TJ Rock of nearby Henderson, Nevada, was fourth with 1,461 and Solomon Salama of Beverly Hills, California, a member of both Team USA and Junior Team USA in 2019, was fifth with 1,441.
Young left-hander Spencer Robarge of Springfield, Missouri, started his block on Stockholm with a perfect game and went on to finish 19th for the day.
Four other players put themselves in position to join Ingalls and Robarge in the record books Sunday, but they all finished with 299 games. Andrew Guba of Las Vegas rolled the first 300 of the week during Saturday's second round.
"When it came to the 300 today, I made sure to stay as focused as I could and stayed in the settee area to keep the same routine and avoid any possible distractions," Ingalls said. "I'm not going to lie, when I was in the 10th frame, the nerves set in, but I'm sure that happens for everyone. When I tripped the 4-9 on the first shot, a lot of weight actually came off me, and then it was just about being consistent."
How he performed following the perfect game was equally as important for Ingalls, who was not in unfamiliar territory.
During the summer of 2019, he rolled one of two 300s at the Junior Gold Championships and tossed a 299 game on the way to the U20 Boys Scratch Singles and U20 Boys Scratch All-Events titles at the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships with scores of 770 and 2,208. Both events were held in the Detroit area.
"My first thought after the 300 today was to put it behind me and turn my attention to the next game," Ingalls said. "Every game was a restart, including the same routine to get a feel for how different the lanes might be from the last pair, before adjusting from there. I wanted to make sure I didn't lose myself. I tried my best to stay focused and relaxed."
The Team USA Trials isn't just about one great day on the lanes, however. It's about who can be the most versatile over five days on a variety of challenging lane conditions.
Competitors earn ranking points based on where they finish in the daily standings. The leader earns one point, second place earns two and so on.
Through three days of competition on oil patterns ranging from 37 to 45 feet, Alex Glinski of Linfield, Pennsylvania, tops the men's overall standings with 44 ranking points. He has finishes of 18th, second and 24th.
Cameron Crowe of Orland Park, Illinois, owner of one of Sunday's 299 games, is second with 47 points and followed by Russo (48), Salama (49) and two-time Team USA member Nick Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota (52).
On the women's side Sunday at the Gold Coast Bowling Center, 19-time Team USA member Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, had a breakout day and outdistanced the 164-player ladies field by nearly 140 pins.The 37-year-old left-hander had four games of 267 or better on the way to a 1,518 total, a 253 average.
Junior Team USA member Mabel Cummins of Antioch, Tennessee, closed with a 280 game to catapult into second place with 1,382 and was followed by Elizabeth Ross of Schenectady, New York (1,377), 15-time Team USA member Shannon O'Keefe of Shiloh, Illinois (1,373), and Kayla Smith of Salem, Illinois (1,359).
"During the practice session, this was a pattern I was able to throw quite a few strikes on," Pluhowsky said. "I just stuck with the same plan and urethane ball, and I was able to ride it out. Everything else was going crazy, but it was nice and smooth. I got out to a good start, and then after a rough Game 3, I was able to get back on track."
In the women's overall standings, USBC Hall of Famer Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey, used a seventh-place finish to remain ahead of the field. With first-place finishes in each of the first two rounds, she now has nine ranking points.
O'Keefe is second overall with 17 points and followed by Lauren Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota (23), defending U.S. Amateur champion Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina (27), and 2019 Team USA member Sydney Brummett of Fort Wayne, Indiana (28).
Pluhowsky, who has been on Team USA every year since 2001, had a slow start to the week, finishing tied for 60th place on the 39-foot World Bowling Beijing oil pattern, but she was able to rally to a seventh-place effort Saturday on the 45-foot World Bowling London pattern. She's now 12th overall with 68 points.
"The 20th year has been in the back of my mind without trying to think about it too much," said Pluhowsky, now an assistant coach for the University of Nebraska bowling team when she's not competing on the Professional Women's Bowling Association Tour. "After a slow start to the week, I just wanted to put four good days together and see what happens.
"Team USA has meant so much to my bowling career, from working with the best coaches to getting to wear the red, white and blue on the lanes. You can't really put into words what that means, and I'd love for it to continue for another year."
Ingalls, who is a freshman at the Savannah College of Art and Design-Savannah and studying sound design, is as passionate about music as he is about bowling.
He certainly has made some noise at Gold Coast this week, but he knows there's too much competition left to begin thinking about beginning his own Team USA legacy.
After three days, Ingalls is in 35th place with 146 points.
"To be part of Team USA would be a very big accomplishment, and I would love more than anything to do that, but I can't think about that now, with two more days of bowling to go," said Ingalls, also a U15 champion at the 2016 USA Bowling National Championships. "I need to just act like today was another day, move on and go out there and have fun with my friends."
Next up for the nearly 340 bowlers (175 men and 164 women) will be the 33-foot World Bowling Sydney oil pattern.
The women will return to the lanes first Monday, getting underway at 11 a.m. Eastern, and the men will bowl their fourth round at 5:30 p.m. EST, all live on BowlTV.
The 2020 Team USA Trials also includes the United States Amateur Bowling Championships.
After all rounds of competition, the U.S. Amateur stepladder finals and the introduction of Team USA and Junior Team USA for 2020 will broadcast live at BowlTV.com.
In addition to the Team USA Trials title and spot on the team, the winner of each division again will represent Team USA at the World Cup. The 2020 event will be held in Kuwait.
The top four men and top four women at the 2020 Team USA Trials, based on ranking points, will earn automatic spots on Team USA, while two additional men and two additional women will be selected by the National Selection Committee from the pool of players that competed during the week at the Gold Coast Bowling Center.
The National Selection Committee also will select a maximum of five men and five women for the team based on submitted resumes. Those applicants must have been Team USA or Junior Team USA members within the last 10 years or among the top 25 in earnings during the 2019 Professional Bowlers Association Tour season or top 25 in points during the 2019 PWBA Tour season.
After the final qualifying round at the Team Trials, the top three amateur men and top three amateur women will advance to a stepladder final to determine the U.S. Amateur champions. Both winners will earn spots on Team USA.
If the U.S. Amateur champion already has earned a spot on the team, the spot will be awarded to the next-highest Team USA Trials qualifier based on ranking points.
To be eligible for this year's U.S. Amateur, a bowler must not hold or have held a professional membership (PBA or PWBA) in 2019. Also, anyone who has won a professional title (regional, national or senior) as a professional is not eligible to compete as an amateur.
For youth competitors, the top four boys and top four girls, based on ranking points, automatically will earn spots on Junior Team USA 2020. Two additional boys and two additional girls also will be selected by the National Selection Committee based on performances from either the 2020 Team USA Trials or 2019 Junior Gold Championships.
They will join the youth competitors who already earned their spots on Junior Team USA 2020 through qualifying at the 2019 Junior Gold Championships.