Van Nuys’ Romeo on a Roll in Pro-Am

Robin Romeo of Van Nuys climbed from third place to a 146-pin lead over defending champion Debbie Bennett of Akron, Ohio, at the end of the fifth round of the $125,000 Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour Sam’s Town National Pro-Am on Thursday night.

Romeo, trying for her second title of the year, won 7 of 8 matches and averaged 213 to finish with a 36-game total of 7,898 pins. Bennett finished at 7,752.

Paula Drake of Broken Arrow, Okla., dropped from first to third at 7,650, followed by Jeri Edwards of Matteson, Ill., (7,647) and Lorrie Nichols of Algonquin, Ill., (7,616).

Donna Adamek of Victorville, Calif., trailed Nichols by 17 pins going into today’s final 2 rounds of match play. The top 5 qualify for Saturday’s final.