By Lucas Wiseman
USBC Communications

Brent Bowers
PABCON Youth Championships homepage

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Brent Bowers of Mulvane, Kan., won the gold medal in boys Masters on Friday, capping off a week in which Junior Team USA won 10 out of a possible 12 gold medals at the 2008 Pan American Bowling Confederation Youth Championships.

Bowers defeated Michael Piccari of Venezuela, 2-0, in the best of three match to claim the title and complete a sweep of the boys gold medals in the PABCON Youth Championships. Lilia Robles of Mexico won the girls Masters gold medal.

Needing all three strikes in the final frame to take the second game, Piccari left a 7 pin and allowed Bowers to take a 247-215 victory. Bowers won the opening game 221-205.

"This week was extremely difficult even though I think people will look at this and think it was easy," Bowers said. "The level of competition was high, and we had to work very hard in every event. It was different people stepping up in each event to get us to this point."

On the way to the title, Bowers took out teammate Geoffrey Young of Denton, Texas, in the semifinals, 2-1. The pair put on a classic battle with Bowers coming back from a 253-225 loss in Game 1 to win the next two 236-225 and 258-246. Young shared the bronze medal with Daniel Melo of Colombia.

"That was the toughest match of the day for sure," Bowers said. "Once I got some momentum in the third game against Geoffrey, I just rode that right into the final match."

In the girls Masters, Junior Team USA's Jenny Brown of DeLand, Fla., lost in the semifinals to Maria Jose Rodriguez of Colombia, 2-1, and shared the bronze medal with Jennifer Cuicas of Venezuela. Rodriguez went on to lose in the championship match to Robles, 2-1.

The conclusion of the PABCON Youth Championships finished off a week of dominance by Junior Team USA as it claimed gold medals in every event with the exception of girls doubles and girls Masters.