Quirk rebounds, leads Junior Team USA girls to trios gold

Quirk rebounds, leads Junior Team USA girls to trios gold
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PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic - Sometimes bowling with the elite brings out the elite in you. That was the case for Junior Team USA's Michelle Quirk on Thursday at Punta Cana Lanes.

The Roseville, Calif., native put behind mediocre showings in the first two events at the 2005 International Youth Friendship Tournament and registered a 1,306 six-game block in trios, leading her and her veteran teammates, Amanda Burgoyne, Newport, Minn., and Stefanie Nation, Miami, to the girls gold medal.

Burgoyne added 1,244 and Nation 1,233 to compile their 3,783 total. Quirk led the way with a 217.67, including a 246 high game and only a 202 low.

"The first two days I was 160-under (combined singles and doubles). Bowling with Stefanie and Amanda helped me a lot," Quirk said. "This was the first day I actually got a read on the lanes. We read off each other and held each other up. We bowled awesome - all three of us."

Junior Team USA's Kayla Bandy, Danville, Va.; Samantha Linder, Winter Haven, Fla.; and Elysia Current, Ephatra, Pa., finished second and earned silver with 3,602. Puerto Rico's Stefanie Aviles, Grace Rodriguez and Jessica Santiago took the bronze.

In the boys division, Brian Crane recorded 1,365 to lead himself and Junior Team USA teammates Clay Herrbach, Naperville, Ill., and Shawn Ryan, New Port Richey, Fla., to a tie for the gold medal at 3,874 with the Dominican Republic's Manino Fernandez, Fidel Marchena and Alejandro Prats.

"I've been lined up all week. I haven't moved too much," said Crane, the San Jose, Calif., native who averaged 227.5 and finished with 235, 245 and 225 games. "I have great teammates telling me to keep my feet slow. That helps me out a lot because sometimes I need that guidance. Today I had two great partners holding me up whenever I made a mistake."

Herrbach posted a 1,326 six-game total, closing with 249 and 242 games, while Ryan had 1,183. Junior Team USA's P.J. Haggerty, Weimar, Calif.; Mark French, Ventura, Calif.; and Erik Vermilyea, Maplewood, Minn., earned the bronze with 3,792.

The tournament began Monday with six games of singles competition. The six-game doubles event was featured Tuesday followed by a day off Wednesday. The tournament resumed Thursday with six games of trios followed by the six-game, five-player team event on Friday Each country's top two all-events scores in each division will qualify for the Domincan-televised Masters competition on Saturday.

Since the World Tenpin Bowling Association is not conducting any youth tournaments in 2005, the International Youth Friendship Tournament is the only international event Junior Team USA 2005 will compete in this year. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic round out the tournament's field.

Previous International Youth Friendship Tournaments were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2003 and Orlando, Fla., in 2001.

Athletes earned Junior Team USA 2005 berths by being the top finishers among an approximate field of 1,300 at the 2004 USA Junior Gold Bowling National Championships, which were held last July in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Junior Team USA is designed to be part of a feeder system for the U.S. national amateur team, Team USA.

More than 1,500 athletes will attempt to gain berths on Junior Team USA 2006 at the 2005 USA Junior Gold Bowling National Championships, a United States Bowling Congress Event, which will be held July 11-15 in Indianapolis.