EL PASO, Texas - Chris Pounders of Madison, Wisconsin, and Ken Duffield of Platteville, Wisconsin, have shared past success at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, but, this year, they each found individual success at the El Paso Convention Center.

Pounders, a 34-year-old right-hander, moved into the lead in Regular All-Events on Sunday with a 2,008 total for his nine games, and Duffield, a 45-year-old right-hander, finished his 18th tournament appearance with a 739 series to take the lead in Regular Singles.

Tyler Jensen of Fort Worth, Texas, previously held the top spot in Regular All-Events with 1,981, while Brandon Nelson of Fargo, North Dakota, led Regular Singles with 712.

Pounders and Duffield also helped Team Dirty of Evansville, Wisconsin, into the top spot in Team All-Events with a 9,055 total, squeezing by Team Kegel of Winter Haven, Florida, which previously held the lead with 9,044. Pounders and Duffield (1,838) were joined by Jay Heinzelman (1,828), Heath Haug (1,726) and Brian Hoffman (1,655).

At the 2007 USBC Open Championships in Reno, Nevada, Pounders and Duffield took the lead in Regular Doubles, before settling for a third-place finish. On Sunday, they relied on each other for advice, even though they competed on separate pairs of lanes.

"I was talking to Ken in the second game of singles because I noticed my ball reaction was changing," said Pounders, who posted the highest all-events total of his 15-year career at the Open Championships with sets of 691 in team, 676 in doubles and 641 in singles. "He was telling me to switch balls, and I ended up making the change in the ninth frame and stayed with it the rest of the way."

Pounders has been on a good run leading up to the 2015 Open Championships, including a 300 game last week at the Wisconsin State Championship Tournament. He was happy to throw the ball just as well in Sun City this weekend and credited his team's preparation and game plan in helping him make his way to the top of the leaderboard.

"We bowled a little earlier this year, so we didn't get as much time to practice on the patterns," Pounders said. "During the team event, we stuck to a game plan that ended up working well, and I came into minors with the same game plan, knowing it would be just a little tighter, since it is a foot longer. I just moved a little right, and it worked. I had been throwing it well, and I just wanted to keep doing that this week. I feel pretty good about my performance, but I don't know if it's a winning score."

Duffield is just one of 35 competitors in the 112-year history of the Open Championships to record both a 300 game and 800 series on the tournament lanes. He recorded his perfect game during singles at the 2006 tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas, and followed that performance with an 801 series in doubles in 2007.

After shooting 576 in doubles this year, Duffield found the right combination to finish with games of 267, 245 and 227.

"I moved to where I didn't think I could play on the lanes, and it worked out," Duffield said. "It feels good, but I was hoping for more than that. I thought I threw it good enough to get more, but I didn't get the strikes when I needed them."

Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open/Women's Championships page.