More gold goes to Team USA at Men's American Zone Championships
06/01/07
Team USA wins team gold medal, sweeps all-events medals
Team USA continued its domination of the team event at the Men's American Zone Championships with its fifth straight team gold medal Thursday at Metro Bowl, setting another record in the process. Click on the image to enlarge it.
The team comprised of Rhino Page of Fresno, Calif., David Haynes of Las Vegas, David O'Sullivan of Orlando, Fla., Derek Eoff of Greenfield, Wis., John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., and Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, combined for a five-player, six-game record total of 6,464, beating the 6,460 mark set by Team USA in its 2001 gold-medal victory.
The last time the Team USA men didn't win the team gold medal at the American Zone Championships was 1989, when they took silver behind the Dominican Republic.
"The team cohesion is getting better every year," said Team USA veteran David Haynes of Las Vegas, who was a member of the American Zone gold medal team in 2005 and won the team gold medal along with Hoffman and Page last year at the Men's World Championships in South Korea. "We all believe in each other's games. We felt ultra-confident this time because we had three of our rookie players (Eoff, O'Sullivan and Janawicz) bowling great and winning everything."
Additionally, Team USA swept the all-events medals, with gold going to O'Sullivan, silver to Eoff and bronze to Page. Team USA has claimed gold in all five events contested so far at the Men's American Zone Championships and has eight medals total.
O'Sullivan (left) now has four gold medals to tie the tournament record with one event remaining.
"This is priceless - an experience I will never forget," said O'Sullivan, who also won gold medals in doubles and trios earlier this week. "You can't beat getting to bowl with your friends and getting to know them better. It's really cool to bowl with a team that has similar goals and willing to do whatever it takes to win."
Like it had in its previous victories this week, Team USA jumped out to a big lead and forced the competition to chase. A strong Game 2 performance on the short oil pattern resulted in 1,171 - getting 258 from Janawicz, 248 from O'Sullivan and 247 from Page - and finished the first three games with 3,245 and led by 171 over second-place Venezuela.
"We have a lot of guys who are peaking this week that and throwing the ball great," said Page, who opened the day with a 289 and led the way with 1,394 total. "For us who struggled a little bit, we felt comfortable. We felt like these guys have our backs, and it helped us bowl better."
Team USA (pictured right with coaches Jeri Edwards and Gordon Vadakin) eliminated any doubt about the gold in Game 4 - the first game of the afternoon session on the long oil pattern - with an impressive 1,182 that was highlighted by Page's 268, O'Sullivan and Eoff each with 245 and Haynes' 241 to give them a commanding 402-pin lead with two games remaining.
What remained for Team USA was an internal battle for all-events medals, won by O'Sullivan with 5,243 over 24 games since Monday. Trailing by five pins entering the final game, Eoff needed a mark and good count in the 10th frame to pass O'Sullivan for the gold. However, Eoff missed wide right on a 6-10 spare conversion to finish at 5,241. Page took the bronze with 5,178.
"I knew our scores were close, but I had no idea by how many pins," said O'Sullivan, the reigning U.S. Amateur men's champion. "It's pretty unbelievable that after all those games it comes down to two pins. That doesn't happen very often. Now our next goal is to sweep Masters. We mowed them over this week."
Mexico captured the silver medal in the team event with 6,115, while Puerto Rico earned the bronze at 6,025.
In his first international competition with Team USA, Eoff (left) has medaled in a record-tying five events - including three golds - and will look to break the record Friday in the Masters match play event, featuring the top 16 from all-events. Team USA advanced five players to Masters (O'Sullivan, Eoff, Page, Janawicz and Haynes), placing them all in the top six of all-events.
Also Friday, Team USA will look to become the first country to sweep the men's gold medals in the American Zone Championships' current format.
Competition concludes Friday with the Masters, beginning at 9 a.m. local time (11 a.m. EDT). The first two rounds will be three-game, total-pins matches, followed by the semifinal, third-place and championships to be conducted as best-of-three matches.
The Men's American Zone Championships features 18 countries and consists of six disciplines (singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and Masters). The event is in Guatemala for the first time since 1966.
Since the American Zone Championships were first held in 1961, the United States now has won 168 medals between the men and women. The next best showing is from Mexico, which has 92 medals in that time.
Beginning in 2007, the American Zone Championships moved from a quadrennial event featuring both men and women to a biennial event, with separate Women's American Zone Championships and Men's American Zone Championships alternating each year. The first Women's American Zone Championships is scheduled to be held in Chile in 2008.
Team Results
All Events Results
Masters Results
Guatemala
Team USA wins team gold medal, sweeps all-events medals
By Kevin Hazaert, USBC Communications
Team USA continued its domination of the team event at the Men's American Zone Championships with its fifth straight team gold medal Thursday at Metro Bowl, setting another record in the process. Click on the image to enlarge it. The team comprised of Rhino Page of Fresno, Calif., David Haynes of Las Vegas, David O'Sullivan of Orlando, Fla., Derek Eoff of Greenfield, Wis., John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., and Bill Hoffman of Columbus, Ohio, combined for a five-player, six-game record total of 6,464, beating the 6,460 mark set by Team USA in its 2001 gold-medal victory.
The last time the Team USA men didn't win the team gold medal at the American Zone Championships was 1989, when they took silver behind the Dominican Republic.
"The team cohesion is getting better every year," said Team USA veteran David Haynes of Las Vegas, who was a member of the American Zone gold medal team in 2005 and won the team gold medal along with Hoffman and Page last year at the Men's World Championships in South Korea. "We all believe in each other's games. We felt ultra-confident this time because we had three of our rookie players (Eoff, O'Sullivan and Janawicz) bowling great and winning everything."
Additionally, Team USA swept the all-events medals, with gold going to O'Sullivan, silver to Eoff and bronze to Page. Team USA has claimed gold in all five events contested so far at the Men's American Zone Championships and has eight medals total.
O'Sullivan (left) now has four gold medals to tie the tournament record with one event remaining."This is priceless - an experience I will never forget," said O'Sullivan, who also won gold medals in doubles and trios earlier this week. "You can't beat getting to bowl with your friends and getting to know them better. It's really cool to bowl with a team that has similar goals and willing to do whatever it takes to win."
Like it had in its previous victories this week, Team USA jumped out to a big lead and forced the competition to chase. A strong Game 2 performance on the short oil pattern resulted in 1,171 - getting 258 from Janawicz, 248 from O'Sullivan and 247 from Page - and finished the first three games with 3,245 and led by 171 over second-place Venezuela.
"We have a lot of guys who are peaking this week that and throwing the ball great," said Page, who opened the day with a 289 and led the way with 1,394 total. "For us who struggled a little bit, we felt comfortable. We felt like these guys have our backs, and it helped us bowl better."
Team USA (pictured right with coaches Jeri Edwards and Gordon Vadakin) eliminated any doubt about the gold in Game 4 - the first game of the afternoon session on the long oil pattern - with an impressive 1,182 that was highlighted by Page's 268, O'Sullivan and Eoff each with 245 and Haynes' 241 to give them a commanding 402-pin lead with two games remaining.What remained for Team USA was an internal battle for all-events medals, won by O'Sullivan with 5,243 over 24 games since Monday. Trailing by five pins entering the final game, Eoff needed a mark and good count in the 10th frame to pass O'Sullivan for the gold. However, Eoff missed wide right on a 6-10 spare conversion to finish at 5,241. Page took the bronze with 5,178.
"I knew our scores were close, but I had no idea by how many pins," said O'Sullivan, the reigning U.S. Amateur men's champion. "It's pretty unbelievable that after all those games it comes down to two pins. That doesn't happen very often. Now our next goal is to sweep Masters. We mowed them over this week."
Mexico captured the silver medal in the team event with 6,115, while Puerto Rico earned the bronze at 6,025.
In his first international competition with Team USA, Eoff (left) has medaled in a record-tying five events - including three golds - and will look to break the record Friday in the Masters match play event, featuring the top 16 from all-events. Team USA advanced five players to Masters (O'Sullivan, Eoff, Page, Janawicz and Haynes), placing them all in the top six of all-events.Also Friday, Team USA will look to become the first country to sweep the men's gold medals in the American Zone Championships' current format.
Competition concludes Friday with the Masters, beginning at 9 a.m. local time (11 a.m. EDT). The first two rounds will be three-game, total-pins matches, followed by the semifinal, third-place and championships to be conducted as best-of-three matches.
The Men's American Zone Championships features 18 countries and consists of six disciplines (singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and Masters). The event is in Guatemala for the first time since 1966.
Since the American Zone Championships were first held in 1961, the United States now has won 168 medals between the men and women. The next best showing is from Mexico, which has 92 medals in that time.
Beginning in 2007, the American Zone Championships moved from a quadrennial event featuring both men and women to a biennial event, with separate Women's American Zone Championships and Men's American Zone Championships alternating each year. The first Women's American Zone Championships is scheduled to be held in Chile in 2008.
All Events Results
Masters Results