Team USA is the host for the 2012 Pan American Bowling Confederation Championships next week as 18 countries send teams to Las Vegas, the United States Bowling Congress reported.
The event at Sunset Station serves as the qualifier for the 2013 World Tenpin Bowling Association World Championships.
Team USA will feature Patrick Allen, John Janawicz, Steve Smith, Bill O'Neill, Tommy Jones and Marshall Kent for men and Liz Johnson, Stefanie Nation, Josie Earnest, Diandra Asbaty, Shannon Pluhowsky and Leanne Hulsenberg for women.
It will be the Team USA debut for Kent, Earnest and Hulsenberg, although the first two have bowled on Junior Team USA.
"Regardless of our history, we work very hard all year to prepare for these events," Nation, who won gold in singles and team at the 2010 PABCON Women's Championships, said in this USBC news release. "The PABCON field continues to get stronger and stronger. With so many great players competing in this event, nothing is a given. We will have to work hard for every medal."
The event began as the FIQ American Zone Championships in 1961 and I was part of the 1985 team that competed in Bogota, Colombia. I won gold medals in trios and 5-man team and it remains one of the cherished highlights of my career.
Team USA has won 61 percent of the gold medals in the event's history, USBC reported.
Medals will be up for grabs in singles, doubles, trios, team, all-events and Masters next week with live webcasts on on BOWL.com's BowlTV.
USBC's Lucas Wiseman announced in a Twitter post that the lane patterns will be the 44-foot London and 34-foot Stockholm Team USA patterns.
For more details previewing the event, go to the release.
