“There is no better ending to the week than getting that team gold medal and listening to your national anthem being played,” Via said.
The Springfield native is in his fifth year competing on the adult Team USA squad. He has now won 10 medals — five gold, three silver and two bronze.
“It’s always such a great feeling to be able to represent your country,” Via said. “We have such a big talent pool here in the United States, so I’m very fortunate to be one of the individuals representing our country.”
Via used his challenging singles and doubles experience as a foundation for the team event. The 31-year-old finished fourth in both singles and doubles competition, missing the awards podium by just a single pin in both events.
“I felt pretty good about the start of my week, even with just missing out on the podium in both events. I felt like I had a good look on the lanes, and I was making good decisions,” Via said. “We were gathering a bunch of good information on how each lane was playing differently from another. That information really started to pay off down the stretch with both our trios teams medaling and the team winning gold.”
Via, along with Darren Tang, Nevada, and Nick Pate, of Minnesota, medaled in the trio event, winning the bronze while teammates John Janawicz, of Florida, Matt Russo, Missouri, and Brandon Bohn, New Jersey, took gold. Team USA held a slight overall lead heading into the team event and finished the day in the same position to take the gold medal at Sebelén Bowling Center.
“It’s always incredible to be able to get up on that podium as a team — that’s always our goal,” Via said. “The other events are always bonus medals, but this is the one that we all want. I’m glad that we were able to get it done.”
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