USA Sweeps Trios Gold Medals at PABCON Championships

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Team USA's men and women swept the gold medals in trios Thursday at the 2009 Pan American Bowling Confederation Championships.

Lynda Barnes, Shannon O'Keefe and Shannon Pluhowsky earned the American women their first gold medal of the championships by finishing with a six-game total of 3,980. For the men, Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones and Bill O'Neill earned the gold with 3,915 at Carolina Bowling Center.

"It was a total team effort by both the men's and the women's teams," Lynda Barnes said. "It was just plain fun out there tonight and we worked together as a team."

O'Keefe led the threesome with 1,353, an average of better than 225 per game, while Pluhowsky was a close second with 1,344. Barnes finished with 1,283 as Team USA pulled away from the field in Game 5 with a 759 game.

O'Neill led the men with 1,333 and was followed by Jones with 1,307 and Barnes with 1,275. The Team USA men closed out their six-game set with a 732 game on the day's opening squad to give them what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.

Team USA also earned the silver medal on the men's side as David Haynes (1,320), Patrick Allen (1,283) and Cassidy Schaub (1,247) finished with a total of 3,850. Colombia's Manuel Otalora, Jaime Monroy and Andres Gomez took the bronze with 3,800.

Colombia's women's team of Rocio Restrepo, Clara Guerrero and Paola Gomez won the silver medal with 3,794. Venezuela's Patricia de Faria, Karen Marcano and Alicia Marcano took the bronze with 3,645.

Competing on the first squad of the day, the other Team USA women's threesome of Kim Terrell-Kearney (1,200), Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (1,174) and Diandra Asbaty (1,170) finished sixth with 3,544.

In all-events after 18 of 24 games, the top three women are all Team USA bowlers. Pluhowsky leads with 3,811, an average of 211.13, Terrell-Kearney is second with 3,788 and O'Keefe is third with 3,786.

The top three men in the all-events standings are also from the United States as O'Neill leads with 4,133, Jones is second with 4,019 and Barnes is third with 4,010.

The top 16 players in the all-events standings after 24 games advance to Masters match play on Saturday afternoon.

Competition continues Friday with team. 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)
Thursday's Results

TRIOS
(Top 5; six games)

MEN

1, Chris Barnes/Tommy Jones/Bill O'Neill, United States, 3,915. 2, David
Haynes/Cassidy Schaub/Patrick Allen, United States, 3,850. 3, Manuel
Otalora/Jaime Monroy/Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,800. 4, Luis
Rodriguez/Antonio Santa/Frankie Colon, Puerto Rico, 3,794. 5, Ryan
Reid/Mark Buffa/Joe Ciach, Canada, 3,771.

WOMEN

1, Shannon Pluhowsky/Shannon O'Keefe/Lynda Barnes, United States, 3,890.
2, Paola Gomez/Rocio Restrepo/Clara Guerrero, Colombia, 3,794. 3,
Patricia de Faria/Karen Marcano/Alicia Marcano, Venezuela, 3,645. 4,
Sandra Gongora/Adriana Perez/Daniela Alvarado, Mexico, 3,629. 5,
Alejandra Mora/Maria Jose Rodriguez/Luz Adriana Leal, Colombia, 3,551.

ALL-EVENTS
(Top 5; 18 games)

MEN

1, Bill O'Neill, United States, 4,133. 2, Tommy Jones, United States,
4,019. 3, Chris Barnes, United States, 4,010. 4, Frankie Colon, Puerto
Rico, 3,984. 5, David Haynes, United States, 3,966.

WOMEN

1, Shannon Pluhowsky, United States, 3,811. 2, Kim Terrell-Kearney,
United States, 3,788. 3, Shannon O'Keefe, United States, 3,786. 4, ClaraGuerrero, Colombia, 3,781. 5, Karen Marcano, Venezuela, 3,747.