Nov. 28, 2017
LAS VEGASâ€â€-Vanderbilt’s Josie Barnes won a bronze medal in doubles competition Tuesday evening at the World Bowling Championships. The Commodore assistant coach teamed with Shannon O’Keefe, who coaches McKendree University.
The medal is yet another milestone in the storybook career of Barnes, who has experienced high level success in junior, collegiate and international competition. Barnes obviously had an excellent day, stringing six games of 227-208-243-187-214-203 for an average of 213.67. O’Keefe averaged 205.67 over the same six games.
The Barnes-O’Keefe tandem lost to Malaysia in the semi-finals after enduring an opening barrage of splits to start the match.
“We didn’t bowl poorly, we made a bad ball decision to begin the match,” Barnes said afterward. “Even at that we still had a chance in the 10th. Shannon and I always seem to bowl well together. It was pretty cool to medal at the World Championships.”
Other Team USA bowlers receiving the bronze were Kelly Kulick and Danielle McEwan as the United States proved much stronger in doubles than in the weekend’s singles play.
Former Vanderbilt star Giselle Poss bowled well for her Puerto Rico team but did not place.
A duo from Korea won gold while the Malaysian team took the silver. Complete coverage is found on the World Bowling webpage.
The tournament continues throughout the week with other events; next up is trios competition Wednesday. Barnes wil team with Shannon Pluhowsky and Stephanie Johnson in the afternoon shift.
