Husker bowlers Gazmine Mason, Julia Bond and Kelly Belzeski will compete this week for a chance to qualify for Team USA at the 2017 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Team USA Trials, held Wednesday through Sunday at Sunset Station’s Strike Zone Bowling Center in Henderson, Nev.
Shannon Pluhowsky, who competed for Nebraska from 2000-05, and Kayla Johnson, who competed for Nebraska from 2010-2012, will also compete at the event in hopes of making the Team USA squad for the 2017 season.
The top four women at the 2017 Team USA Trials, based on ranking points, will earn automatic spots, while two additional women will be selected by the National Selection Committee from the pool of players that competed during the week at Sunset Station. The National Selection Committee also will select a maximum of five women for the team based on submitted resumes.
Junior Team USA will consist of twelve women. The top four finishers at the 2017 Team USA Trials, based on ranking points, will earn automatic spots on Junior Team USA for the 2017 season, while two additional bowlers will also be selected at the trials. Six other competitors have already earned a spot on the team following their performance at the 2016 Junior Gold Championships.
Mason and Bond competed for Junior Team USA in 2016, and each earned multiple medals at the 2016 World Bowling Youth Championships held at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln. Mason earned gold medals in singles and all-events, silver in doubles and team-of-four and bronze in masters, while Bond earned silver medals in doubles and team-of-four and bronze in singles.
Competitors will earn ranking points based on their finishing positions in each of the qualifying rounds - the top bowler of the block earns one ranking point, second place earns two points, etc. - with the lowest total of ranking points after the five blocks determining the Team USA Trials champion, which will earn an automatic spot on Team USA for 2017.
Live scoring and a link to a live stream of the competition can be found at Bowl.com.