The Junior Team USA boys and girls continued their dominating performance at the 2008 Pan American Bowling Confederation Youth Championships on Thursday, sweeping the gold medals in Under-20 Team and All Events.

Front row from left to right: Jenny Brown, Josie Earnest, Christine Bator and Kristie Petravich. Back row: Geoffrey Young, Brent Bowers, Daniel Spink and John Szczerbinski. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Both teams won by triple-digit margins as the boys took home the gold with a six-game total of 5,305, good enough for a 167-pin victory, while the girls totaled 4,872, which won by 245 pins.

In the boys team event, Junior Team USA overcame a nearly 200-pin deficit to Venezuela after three games and surged to the title. Spink led the foursome with 1,468, Young had 1,309, Brent Bowers shot 1,276 and John Szczerbinski added 1,252.

"I think we just came out and pressed for it," said Spink, who kept Junior Team USA close with a 759 series for the first three games. "We pushed ourselves until we were rewarded with the gold medal. This is the event I thought we could come out ahead because when you look at our lineup, this team is stacked from top to bottom."

As the team event rolled on, the Junior Team USA girls were never really challenged. They moved out to a 38-pin lead after three games and pulled away from there. Earnest led the team with 1,270, Bator was next with 1,252, Kristie Petravich shot 1,229 and Jenny Brown totaled 1,121.

"It's an amazing feeling and there are so many thoughts going through my head I don't even know where to start," Bator said. "We have amazing communication and our ability to communicate with each other and our coaches was the biggest factor in us being successful. When you are up on the approach and you have your whole team behind you cheering you on, just hearing that they care as much about your country as you do, it makes it even more special."

Rounding out the team event medalists in boys was Venezuela, which took silver with 5,138, and Mexico, which claimed bronze with 4,938. On the girls side, Colombia took silver with 4,637, while Mexico won bronze with 4,575.

The United States also won the gold and silver medals in U-20 boys and girls All Events. Geoffrey Young (left) and Josie Earnest (right) both took the lead in the opening event and never looked back. Daniel Spink earned the boys silver, while Christine Bator took girls silver.

Young easily claimed the gold in boys All Events with 5,424, while Spink's big total in team vaulted him to second with 5,235. Alberto Lizano of Costa Rica earned the bronze with 5,192, striking on his first shot in the final frame of the last game to edge Szczerbinski, who finished fourth with 5,173. Bowers was fifth with 5,130.

Earnest won the girls All Events with a 5,138 total, topping Bator by 138 pins. Maria Jose Rodriguez of Colombia took the bronze with 4,884.

The boys and girls of the Under-16 Division bowled six games in Mixed Foursome. Mexico won the gold medal with 4335 pinfall total and an average of 181.46. Colombia was mere 15 pins behind to earn silver with 4340. Puerto Rico took the bronze with 4326.

Rodolfo Madriz from Costa Rica captured the gold medal in All Events after 21 games with 4185 and an average of 199.29. Trailing Madriz by 152 pins to finish in second place was Juan Pablo Castillo, Guatemala, with 4033. Andre Fors, Mexico, got the bronze with 4011.

On the girls' side, Neishka Cardona, Puerto Rico, beat out Alejandra Barreto, Colombia, for the gold medal by 10 pins, 3948 to 3938. Cardona averaged 188.00 over 21 games. Valeria Corpeño, Mexico, earned the bronze medal with 3805.

The top 8 (U-16) and the top 16 (U-20) boys and girls in the All Events standings advanced to Masters play on Friday. The opening round (U-20 only) and quarterfinals will feature three-game matches with the winner determined by the highest pinfall. The semifinals and finals will be best two games out of three matches.