By GENE J. KANAK
USBC Communications
Crystal Elliott capped her run at the 2026 PANAM Bowling Champion of Champions with a Women’s Singles gold medal Saturday, leading Team USA on the final day of competition in Costa Rica.
Elliott finished atop the standings with a two-day, 16-game total of 3,632 (a 227 average), while teammate Jordan Snodgrass placed sixth with 3,439 (a 214.9 average), finishing 44 pins shy of the podium.
Elliott, a 25-year-old right-hander from Palm Bay, Florida, completed her run to gold at the Bowling Center of the Costa Rica Country Club in San Jose with games of 196, 202, 225, 235, 172, 235, 222 and 249 during Saturday’s final round. That gave Elliott an eight-game total of 1,736 and a 217 average for the day.
Elliott’s lead shrank to just 55 pins after Saturday’s fifth game, but she responded well down the stretch, averaging better than 235 during her final three games. She closed Game 7 with six consecutive strikes and struck on six of her final seven shots in Game 8 to secure the title.
Elliott finished 77 pins ahead of Aruba’s Kamilah Dammers, who earned silver with a 16-game total of 3,555 after shooting 1,785 on Saturday. Canada’s Jade Cote claimed bronze with 3,483, including a final-round total of 1,810.
Even though Elliott had won Champion of Champions singles gold before – she took first place at the 2024 event in Lima, Peru – Saturday’s victory was an emotional one.
“I’m so happy. I started to cry when I struck in the ninth frame of the last game,” Elliott said. “I just couldn’t contain my happiness anymore.
“Costa Rica will always hold a special place in my heart. The country is beautiful, and the people are amazing. There was a great group of people that came to watch this week. In that crowd, I had some people from the area come support me, which meant everything.”
But it was Team USA assistant coach Kelly Kulick who Elliott turned to on Saturday when things began to get a little too interesting.
“I started to press. I shouldn’t have, but I did,” Elliott said. “The lanes weren’t as easy as they were for me yesterday, so I got frustrated a little quicker. Coach Kelly (Kulick) and I worked well together to brainstorm ideas on what to do. I knew I could make the shots; it was just about getting the right ball in my hands.”
Elliott said team training with Kulick at the International Training and Research Center in Texas helped them stay on the same page throughout the week.
“Team camp was a great opportunity to work with Coach Kelly and ask questions about where she felt I needed to turn my focus to,” Elliott said. “With a little fine tuning, we really took advantage of those days at the ITRC.”
Snodgrass finished with a closing eight-game effort of 1,718 (a 214.8 average). The 30-year-old right-hander’s Saturday scores were 219, 212, 238, 226, 190, 249, 180 and 204.
Snodgrass remained within striking distance of the podium throughout the day, drawing within 18 pins of third place after Game 6. Her deficit grew to 56 pins after Game 7, however, marking her largest deficit of the day.
Elliott joined Julian Salinas as Team USA’s singles gold medalists at this year’s tournament. Salinas won Men’s Singles on Wednesday, while teammate AJ Johnson took silver.
Saturday’s final round and Women’s Singles medal presentations brought this year’s PANAM Bowling Champion of Champions to a close.
The American contingent finished with five medals in six opportunities in San Jose: Women’s Doubles gold, Men’s Doubles silver and three singles medals.
See complete results here: https://bowl.com/team-usa/2026_panam_champion_of_champions