LIMA, Peru – Louisiana Tech's Jenna Stretch won the women's silver medal on Friday at the 2024 International Bowling Federation Youth World Cup in Lima, Peru.
In her debut tournament as a member of Junior Team USA, Stretch went 2-1 on the final day at VIDENA Bowling Center of La Villa Deportiva Nacional.
"I was just grateful for the opportunity to come here and represent Junior Team USA for the first time, so to have this result feels really great," Stretch said. "I gave it my all during that last match; she (Weinstok) just bowled pretty good."
Stretch opened the tournament with an 18-game total of 3,425 to finish sixth during the qualifying rounds and advanced to the round-robin match-play block. She would go 10-5 during the round-robin stage and qualify in the final spot for the best-of-three round.
Sweden's Nora Johansson dominated the field during the qualifying and round-robin matches to secure the No. 1 seed heading into the final day of competition. Stretch stayed focused and threw games of 237 and 208 to sweep Johansson, who had games of 234 and 189.
The semifinals proved tricky as the pair of lanes were conducive to low scoring the entire week. Stretch converted her spares and made the breaks when needed to beat Colombia's Sara Duque 2-0 (152-148; 186-178).
"I struggled with that pair (Lanes 15-16) all week, but my opponent was also struggling, so it was a spare battle sort of match where both of us just wanted to hit the pocket," Stretch said. "I knew that I just needed to stay calm and get all the pins I could, and that ended up being enough."
"After that, I went into the title match feeling like whatever happened, I was just grateful to be on the podium, especially during my first time competing for the team. It feels really good."
Stretch closed out the tournament with solid games of 188 and 185, but Costa Rica's Elena Weinstok was able to get by with identical games of 213 to take gold.
Friday marked the final day of the 2024 Youth World Cup, which kicked off on Jan. 21 and will conclude this evening when athletes and coaches will participate in the closing ceremonies and banquet.
Stretch is expected to join No. 4 Louisiana Tech this weekend as they conclude the Prairie View Invitational at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.
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