Barnes, Jones win doubles gold in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A day after Team USA's Bill O'Neill broke the singles record, his teammates Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones smashed the doubles record at the 2009 Pan American Bowling Confederation Championships.

Barnes and Jones combined to shoot 2,788 on the first of three squads Wednesday morning and held on throughout the day to win the title at Carolina Bowling Center.

Jones led the duo with 1,404 for six games, an average of 234, while Barnes totaled 1,384, an average of 230.67. Their total broke the previous record of 2,709, set by Mexico's Victor Mar and Vicente Mendez in 1989.

"We are really pleased with how we performed, especially since the lanes played completely different today than they did in the practice session a couple days ago," Barnes said. "We came in with a strategy and had to change that quite a bit. We could have given away a lot of pins, but we
changed our strategy."

Barnes and Jones used a huge final game of 536 to push their score over the record mark. Jones closed with 279, while Barnes added 257.

"It was a huge advantage for Tommy and I to get to bowl together," Barnes said. "We see the lane very similarly, and we both had a veryclear picture of what was going on. We talked our way through everything today."

Their teammates, David Haynes and O'Neill, earned the silver medal with 2,583. O'Neill led the pair with 1,325, while Haynes contributed 1,258. Puerto Rico's Frankie Colon and Luis Rodriguez took the bronze with 2,569. The final Team USA pairing of Cassidy Schaub and Patrick Allen
ended up eighth with 2,476.

On the women's side, Team USA's Kim Terrell-Kearney and Lynda Barnes held the lead going into the final squad with 2,438 but ended up in fourth place, narrowly missing a medal by two pins. Terrell-Kearney shot 1,275, while Barnes had 1,163.

Guatemala's Zussie Machon and Sofia Granda earned the gold medal with 2,621, Mexico's Daniela Alvarado and Sandra Gongora took silver with 2,457, while the Dominican Republic's Paula Vilas and Aumi Guerra wonthe bronze with 2,440.

Team USA's Diandra Asbaty and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard finished fifth with 2,398, while Shannon O'Keefe and Shannon Pluhowsky were eighth with 2,341.

Competition continues Thursday with trios. For more information on the 2009 PABCON Championships, visit BOWL.com.

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2009 PABCON CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Carolina Bowling Center (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Wednesday's Results

DOUBLES
(Top 5; six games)

MEN

1, Tommy Jones/Chris Barnes, United States, 2,788. 2, David Haynes/Bill
O'Neill, United States, 2,583. 3, Luis Rodriguez/Frankie Colon, Puerto
Rico, 2,569. 4, Daniel Falconi/Alejandro Cruz, Mexico, 2,555. 5, Edgardo
Ruiz/Gabriel Sanchez, Puerto Rico, 2,545.

WOMEN

1, Zussie Machon/Sofia Granda, Guatemala, 2,621. 2, Daniela
Alvarado/Sandra Gongora, Mexico, 2,457. 3, Paula Vilas/Aumi Guerra,
Dominican Republic, 2,440. 4, Kim Terrell-Kearney/Lynda Barnes, United
States, 2,438. 5, Diandra Asbaty/Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, United States,
2,398.

ALL-EVENTS
(Top 5; 12 games)

MEN

1, Bill O'Neill, United States, 2,800. 2, Chris Barnes, United States,
2,735. 3, Tommy Jones, United States, United States, 2,712. 4, Frankie
Colon, Puerto Rico, 2,697, Jorge Rosado, Mexico, 2,681.

WOMEN

1, Karen Marcano, Venezuela, 2,602. 2, Kim Terrell-Kearney, United
States, 2,588. 3, Diandra Asbaty, United States, 2,554. 4, Clara
Guerrero, Colombia, 2,526. 5, Sofia Granda, Guatemala, 2,516.