William Jones has become the latest St. Ambrose bowler to earn Team USA status. 

Competing in Las Vegas last week at the 2022 Team USA Trials, Jones finished in 20th place overall in a field of 159 of the nation's top bowlers. The field included professionals, amateurs and youth bowlers.

Jones' five finishes on five different lane patterns were 69th, 31st, 64th, seventh and 29th. This placed him fifth among all youth competitors (age 20 and under as of January 1, 2022) and he was selected by the National Selection Committee as a member of 2022 Junior Team USA. The junior from Anoka, Minn., rallied on Day 4 with a tie for seventh, and he battled from behind on the final day of competition by firing 276 and 233 his final two games to vault up the leaderboard. His total pinfall for 30 games was 6264, an average of nearly 209 per game.

Meanwhile, Nate Stubler, a fifth-year senior at St. Ambrose, bowled extremely well throughout the event. The talented southpaw recorded finishes of 12th, 69th, fourth, 26th and seventh for an overall fifth-place finish. The top-four finishers were some of the world's best bowlers - Darren Tang, Kyle Troup, Nick Pate and A.J. Johnson. 

Stubler recorded a pinfall of 6553, an average of 218 for his 30 games. This enabled him to snag the No. 1 seed heading into the three-player stepladder finals to determine the 2022 U.S. Amateur champion. He faced Trent Mitchell of Chicago, Ill., in the championship match, but suffered a 218-199 defeat.

Unfortunately, he was not selected for Team USA at the evening ceremony; the selection committee chose Jacob Butturff and Jacob Peters for Team USA spots. Stubler is a past member of Junior Team USA but was gunning for his first Adult Team USA berth. Last season, Stubler finished as runner-up in the voting for national collegiate player of the year.

Team USA Trials is one of the nation's biggest and most prestigious events each bowling season. It was not held in 2021 due to the pandemic. 

Jones continues a trend of St. Ambrose bowlers who have earned spots on Junior and Adult Team USA. Other past SAU Team USA bowlers include Kayla Crawford, Brent Boho, Stubler and Cameron Crowe. Freshman Zach Greim is also a member of Junior Team USA, having earned that berth in Junior Gold competition this past summer in Indianapolis.