Trailing throughout the day in trios, the Junior Team USA boys climbed into the top spot in the final game, claiming the gold medal and keeping their hopes alive for sweeping every event at the 2008 Pan American Bowling Confederation Youth Championships.

The United States totaled 3,909 over six games Wednesday and moved into the lead with a closing effort of 636, more than enough to overcome a 25-pin deficit to Colombia, which took silver with 3,879. Puerto Rico earned bronze with 3,759.

Geoffrey Young of Denton, Texas, led Junior Team USA with 1,351, while John Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, N.Y., totaled 1,291. Brent Bowers of Mulvane, Kan., shot 642 and Daniel Spink of Florissant, Mo., shot 625 as they shared the third spot in the lineup.

"We just really gelled well and made sure that we kept making great shots," Young said. "We quit paying attention to what we had to do and just got the job done. There's a great chance that we could sweep all the gold medals as long as we stay focused and keep making great shots like we have all week."

The Junior Team USA girls, meanwhile, had little problem in locking up the gold medal in trios. They took the lead from the start and built it up to more than 200 pins heading into the final game, allowing them to cruise to the victory.

The United States finished with 3,817 over six games, topping Venezuela's 3,585 by 227 pins. Colombia took the bronze with 3,558.

Josie Earnest of Vandalia, Ill., led Junior Team USA with 1,317, the highest block in the field by 50 pins. Jenny Brown of DeLand, Fla., added 1,179, while Christine Bator of Warren, Mich., shot 711 and Kristie Petravich of West Palm Beach, Fla., had 610 as the pair shared the third spot in the lineup.

"I think that coming into this tournament communication was going to be very important for us and we did that very well today," Earnest said. "We were able to communicate with each other and with the coaches. We didn't know how many pins we were winning by that last game, so I don't think we put it in cruise control. We wanted to go for it every shot, and that's what we did."

Powered by his big trios set, Young extended his lead in boys all-events. With six games in team event remaining, Young has totaled 4,115 for 18 games, an average of 228. Szczerbinski is second with 3,921,

Earnest remained in the lead in girls all-events with 3,868 for 18 games, an average of nearly 215. Bator is second with 3,748,

After the final six games of team, the top 16 players in the all-events standings (boys and girls) will advance to Friday's Masters competition.

1, Geoffrey Young, United States, 4,115. 2, John Szczerbinski, United States, 3,921. 3, Daniel Melo, Colombia, 3,905. 4, Carlos Cottone, Venezuela, 3,868. 5, Alberto Lizano, Costa Rica, 3,857. 6, Brent Bowers, United States, 3,854. 7, Juan Rodriguez, Colombia, 3,824. 8, Raymond Lussier, Canada, 3,794. 9, Israel Hernandez, Puerto Rico, 3,794. 10, Daniel Spink, United States, 3,767.

1, Josie Earnest, United States, 3,868. 2, Christine Bator, United States, 3,748. 3, Maria Jose Rodriguez, Colombia, 3,686. 4, Jenny Brown, United States, 3,577. 5, Lilia Robles, Mexico, 3,565. 6, Aseret Zetter, Mexico, 3,553. 7, Kristie Petravich, United States, 3,531. 8 (tie), Angie Ramirez, Colombia, and Patricia de Faria, Venezuela, 3,527. 10, Patricia Contreras, Mexico, 3,475.