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Bowling News USA - May 13, 2011 Team USA Takes Gold, Silver In Trios At PABCON

GUADALAJARA, Mexico - Team USA's Bill O'Neill, Mike Fagan and Chris Barnes broke the all-time Pan American Bowling Confederation Men's Championships trios record en route to the gold medal Wednesday.

 

The Americans totaled 4,179 for six games, an average of 232.17, while competing on dual lane conditions. The 44-foot London pattern was on the left lane, while the 34-foot Stockholm pattern was on the right lane at Bolerama Tapatio.

 

O'Neill led the way with 1,560, an average of 260, and was followed by Barnes' 1,330 and Fagan's 1,289. The other Team USA squad of Walter Ray Williams Jr., Patrick Allen and Wes Malott earned the silver medal with 4,035. Canada took the bronze with 3,936.

 

"Our first couple days here were pretty rough, but we're pretty smart and once we see a pattern for six games, we know what it takes out there," said O'Neill, who helped the trio break the record of 4,024 set by Team USA in 1989. "We've gotten more comfortable with this bowling center, and we utilized one of our biggest strengths, which is communication."

 

Team USA got off to a strong start as O'Neill began the squad with 11 straight strikes before leaving the 2-4-5-8 on his final shot for a 296 game. Barnes added 230 and Fagan shot 215.

 

"There are so many great bowlers here, and we just wanted to get our foot on the gas and get going," O'Neill said. "It was nice to throw the ball well today."

 

Malott led the other Team USA trio with 1,388, while Allen shot 1,348 and Williams had 1,299 as they finished nearly 100 pins ahead of the Canadians.

 

Dan MacLelland led the Canadian effort with 1,363 and was joined by Michael Schmidt (1,321) and George Lambert (1,252).

 

With 18 of 24 games completed in the all-events race, O'Neill surged into the lead with 4,198, a 233.22 average, while MacLelland is second with 4,165. Allen is third with 4,158.

 

Williams sits in fifth place, Fagan is seventh, Barnes is ninth and Malott sits in 10th place. The top 16 players in the all-events standings after 24 games advance to Friday's match-play Masters.

 

Competition will shift to the marquee event of the PABCON Championships, the five-player team event, on Thursday as all teams will complete six games.

 

The PABCON Men's Championships features teams in the American Zone competing in five-player team, trios, doubles, singles, all-events and match-play Masters.

 

For more complete coverage of the PABCON Men's Championships, including photos, videos, stories and results, visit BOWL.com.

 

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The interactive home of USBC is BOWL.com. Go to twitter.com/USBC for the fastest USBC headlines.

 

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