August 2, 2024 Nolan Hughes

Updates from Qualifying Round 2

PBA Standings | PBA50 Standings | PWBA Standings

Brad Miller, Crystal Elliott and Paul Fleming each led their division during Thursday's opening round of PBA/PBA50/PWBA Jonesboro Trios qualifying.

This tournament marks the first time all three professional bowling tours have come together in a single event. A national title on each respective tour is at stake.

On Friday, each of the three divisions will bowl a second five-game qualifying round on the 40-foot Monacelli oil pattern at Hijinx Entertainment Center in Jonesboro, Ark.

The top 16 players in each division after 10 games will advance to match play.

Trios teams will be formed based on qualifying seed — the top qualifier in the PBA, PBA50 and PWBA divisions will form Team 1, and so on — and pinfall will be dropped.

All games of round-robin match play and the stepladder finals, each using the baker trios format, will take place Saturday, Aug. 3.

Qualifying, match play and the stepladder finals will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

This story was updated throughout the second round of qualifying on Friday.

PBA50 Division — Standings

Paul Fleming led the opening round of qualifying and staved off the second-round efforts of the red-hot Mika Koivuniemi, who has made five consecutive PBA50 Tour stepladder finals.

Fleming finished with a 10-game total pinfall of 2,193 (+193) to lead the PBA50 division into match play.

After Koivuniemi, Brad Angelo, Tom Hess and Mario Quintero round out the top five. Quintero did not make his PBA50 Tour debut until the Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship in mid-July, the the Mexican native has made a furious charge to the top of the PBA50 Rookie of the Year race. 

Quintero made match play in all four PBA50 World Series of Bowling II events, including his PBA50 World Championship major victory. Despite a seven-event difference, he trails Randy Weiss by just 340 points on the season.

Dan Knowlton, John Janawicz, Dino Castillo, Tom Adcock, Chris Barnes, Mitch Beasley, Brian Link, Jason Couch, Parker Bohn III and David Taylor each advanced to match play.

Jon Rakoski (-20) earned the final berth inside the cut.

“After shooting 177 the last game, I thought I was done. I actually brought my balls to the car,” Rakoski said.

Fortunately for the Floridian, the cut plummeted from +6 to -20 during the last game. Rakoski, who said he loves the baker format, now essentially enters match play tied for first place with pinfall resetting.

Billy Froberg, who won the Senior Classic division of the PBA LBC National Championships, finished three pins behind Rakoski.

PWBA Division — Standings

In the final game of PWBA division qualifying, former PWBA Rookie of the Year Stephanie Zavala usurped current Rookie of the Year front-runner Crystal Elliott for the top seed.

Zavala finished with a 10-game total pinfall of 2,255 (+255). She will be paired with Fleming and the PBA division leader.

“I knew I put myself in a pretty good position yesterday, so today was all about getting arm swing loose, building confidence and getting ready for the mayhem that’s coming,” Zavala said. “I thought if I pair myself up with the leaders in every division, then that means we all saw the lanes pretty well. We’re just looking to find a little bit of chemistry right off the bat and be able to communicate as best we can.”

“My Luci doubles partner (Sean Rash) is just trying to hang on, so I think that’s out,” Zavala said when asked about which PBA player she hopes to be teamed up with. “There’s so many guys up there that I would potentially love to be with. You’ve got EJ Tackett and Kyle Troup in the field, why wouldn’t you want to match up with any of those guys?”

Elliott, the Round 1 leader, sits in second place followed by Jordan Richard, Breanna Clemmer and Verity Crawley rounding out the top five.

Danielle McEwan, Diana Zavjalova, Ashly Galante, Julia Bond, Josie Barnes, Sydney Brummett, Laruen Russo, Alexis Runk and Erin McCarthy also advanced to match play.

Bryanna Coté, the 2021 PWBA Player of the Year, earned the final berth in match play at -74, just two pins ahead of Lauren Tomaszewski.

PBA Division — Standings

Zavala got her wish as EJ Tackett ended qualifying with the front-10 and 289 to surge to the top seed. Tackett finished with a pinfall of 2,328 (+328). 

Brad Miller qualified second, followed by Nick Pate, François Lavoie and Kyle Troup to round out the top five.

Brian Robinson, Ryan Barnes, Nathan Bohr, AJ Johnson, Brandon Flora, Kyle Sherman, Matt Russo, Stu Williams, Justin Knowles, Michael Davidson and Sean Rash also advanced to match play.

Rash (+129) qualified in 16th, finishing eight pins ahead of DJ Archer.

Teams are available here.

Tournament Schedule

All times listed in Eastern

Friday, Aug. 2
9 a.m. — PBA50 Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
2 p.m. — PWBA Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
6 p.m. — PBA Qualifying Round 2 (five games)

Top 16 players in each division advance to match play
Trios teams matched up by seed; #1 seed in each division joins Team 1, etc.
All pinfall is dropped entering match play

Saturday, Aug. 3
9 a.m. — Trios Match Play Round 1 (eight baker games)
3 p.m. — Trios Match Play Round 2 (eight baker games)

Top five teams advance to stepladder finals

8 p.m. — Stepladder finals (baker games)

More information on the PBA/PBA50/PWBA Jonesboro Trios is available here.