BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – McKendree University women's bowling coach Shannon O'Keefe recently collected a medal in each event at the World Games 2022 held here at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex from July 7-11. Bowling is one of more than 30 sports represented at the 2022 World Games.

At the event, O'Keefe, who was one of two female bowlers competing for Team USA, won a gold medal in singles and partnered with Julia Bond of Aurora, Ill., to earn a silver medal in doubles.

Both medal rounds took place on July 11 as O'Keefe began the day with a 2-1 victory in the best-of-three finals in singles against Colombia's Clara Guerrero.

In singles, O'Keefe, who is an 18-time Team USA member, started the match with Guerrero with nine consecutive strikes as she posted a 279-194 win in the first game. She just missed recording a perfect game as she had a 10 pin on her first roll in the final frame.

Guerrero took an early lead in Game 2, but O'Keefe, who is a two-time Professional Women's Bowling Association Player of the Year, rallied as she recorded strikes in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames, but Guerrero recorded a key double in the eighth and ninth to post a 216-205 win to even the match.

In the third and deciding game, O'Keefe, who was named the NTCA Division II Coach of the Year this past season for the seventh consecutive time after leading the Bearcats to the program's second-ever NCAA National Championship, began with six straight strikes to take an early lead. Her opponent, Guerrero, would begin with three strikes, but leaving and converting a 3-4-6-10 split.

After a 10 pin and spare in the seventh frame, O'Keefe left the 3-4-6-7-10 in the eighth frame, but she was able to convert the split to maintain her lead and then filled the ninth and 10th frames en route to a 245-225 win to secure the gold medal in singles play.

Earlier in the year, O'Keefe announced she was going to retire from the Team USA program at the end of 2022. Her goal was to not let that influence her during the week, but she allowed herself a moment to reflect on all that she's accomplished while wearing the Red, White and Blue as she wrapped up the win over Guerrero.

"When I was standing on the approach for my fill shot and the crowd started clapping, I started to get emotional, and I wasn't expecting that," O'Keefe said. "Anytime I've been able to represent Team USA, it's been such an honor. With this potentially being one of the last go-arounds, I really tried to put that out of my head for this tournament. I didn't want to be emotional. I just wanted to stay focused and do what I do. When it ended and I won, it caught me off guard. I told (Team USA Coach) Bryan (O'Keefe) I guess I wanted to win this more than I thought. It was really great."

A total of 16 countries qualified in each gender-based division for the 2022 World Games through their federations, with each country allowed to send a maximum of two male and two female athletes to Birmingham.

In singles, the 32 athletes in each division were divided into two draws of 16. A single-elimination format was used, with each match featuring a best-of-three format.

The winner of each draw advanced to the gold-medal match, while the two players who lost in the semifinals bowled an additional match to determine the bronze medalist.

O'Keefe won four consecutive matches to claim the gold medal in singles. In the bronze-medal match, Sweden's Jenny Wegner defeated Germany's Janin Ribguth, 2-1.

In singles action, O'Keefe opened the Round of 32 with a 2-0 win over Denmark's Mai Ginge Jensen, before picking up a 2-0 win over Australia's Rebekah Commane and then she earned a 2-1 win in the quarterfinals over France's Solene Goron. In the semifinals, O'Keefe earned a 2-1 win over Wegner to advance to the finals against Guerrero, who defeated Ribguth, 2-1, in the other semifinal match.

Meanwhile, the women's double final also went to a deciding match, as Denmark was able to record the win by a 2-1 margin over Team USA's O'Keefe and Bond. Denmark's team featured Mika Guldbaek and Jensen.

In Game 1, Denmark was able to string three consecutive strikes together, starting in the fourth frame, to take a lead over Team USA. In the seventh frame, both teams opened to give Denmark a 15-pin lead in the Baker format. Denmark would be able to hold onto its lead as they posted a 199-184 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

O'Keefe and Bond were clean in Game 2, while Denmark was unable to recover from two splits in the first six frames as O'Keefe and Bond picked up a 226-182 win to force a third game.

Denmark started the deciding game with a spare, before rolling five consecutive strikes, while Team USA was able to only record three strikes in Game 3. Denmark led by 50 pins after Team USA had an open frame in the fourth. Denmark would ultimately prevail in Game 3, 226-177 to earn the gold medal.

For doubles, 16 teams competed in each division using the Baker format. Doubles also featured a single-elimination bracket, with best-of-three contests determining which team advanced to the next round.

In doubles, Team USA began with a 2-0 win in the Round of 16 against Sweden, before earning a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Australia. In the semifinals, Team USA earned a 2-1 win over Colombia to advance to the finals against Denmark, who defeated Malaysia, 2-0, in the other semifinal match.

The final two teams from the bracket met in the title match, while the teams that lost in the semifinals bowled one additional match to determine the bronze medalist in each division.

The bronze medal in the women's doubles division went to Malaysia after they posted a 2-0 win over Colombia. Malaysia's team included Sin Li Jane and Natasha Roslan.

Portions of this release appear courtesy of Aaron Smith, USBC Communications