Spots in Pan American Games up for grabs for Team USA men next week

When the men of Team USA descend upon the International Training and Research Center next week for their annual training camp, they also will battle for spots in the Pan American Games.
The Pan American Games Trials will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday with the top two players advancing to represent the United States in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October. The Pan American Games are an Americas version of the Olympic Games which includes the Olympic program sports and others that are not part of the Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee has specific requirements for selecting players to compete in the event.

The 11 members of Team USA, made up of the biggest stars in bowling, will compete in four eight-game blocks over two days. Total pinfall will determine finishing position, which will assign points to each player that makes up 60 percent of the Pan American Games Trials.

The other 40 percent of the equation is based on how each player finished at the United States Bowling Congress Masters and the Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open this year.

The players are ranked in order of finish with the highest Team USA finisher in each event earning 11 points, second gets 10 and so on. If a player did not compete in an event, they get the same amount of points as the final finisher.

With the Masters and U.S. Open completed, Tommy Jones (pictured right) leads the standings with 880 points (two first-place finishes among Team USA for a total of 22 points multiplied by 40). Chris Barnes is second with 800, while Bill O'Neill and Mike Fagan are tied for third with 640 points each.

In addition to the Pan American Games Trials, the Team USA members will take part in specialized training at the ITRC, which is considered the home of Team USA, throughout the week.

The two representatives in the women's division will be determined based on finishes at the USBC Queens and U.S. Women's Open. The women will bowl their Pan American Games Trials the first week of May.

1, Tommy Jones, 880
2, Chris Barnes, 800
3 (tie), Bill O'Neill and Mike Fagan, 640
5, Patrick Allen, 560
6, Walter Ray Williams Jr., 480
7, EJ Tackett, 440
8, Wes Malott, 360
9, Jarrett Mizo, 280
10 (tie), Scott Boyle and Steven Smith, 240.

Canada names team for 2011 Pan American Games