Although Mr. Sizemore bowled the first 300 game in the history of the Georgia Games, he failed to win a medal when he did not advance to the finals at Brunswick National Lanes.

The weekend wasn't a total loss for the Rome, Ga., family: Mrs. Sizemore captured the gold medal for the second-straight year.

"I was proud and nervous bowling the first 300 in the Georgia Games," Mr. Sizemore said.

Mrs. Sizemore tossed games of 224 and 174 to win the top women's division by four pins over Kim Daniel of Peachtree City, Ga.

"The first game I felt really good," she said. "Then in the second game I was thinking, 'Don't lose it; you're too close to (winning)."'

More than 450 bowlers began the event with a three-game series Saturday, with the top 10 scorers in each of the 17 men's and women's divisions advancing to Sunday. After two more rounds of competition, the top three bowlers advanced to the two-game finals.

Steven Vance, of Lawrenceville, Ga., won the top men's division with a combined total of 459. Eighty-year-old Harry Hess, of Augusta, won gold with a 357 in the senior men's division 15 event.

Peggy Davis, of Augusta, won the bronze medal in the women's senior division 15. After surviving an attack of viral encephalitis in March 2001, Ms. Davis was happy to be participating in the competition.

The virus left the 69-year-old Ms. Davis, who won gold in the 1999 Georgia Games, blind for two weeks with no memory. She lost 15 pounds, and doctors told her that she nearly died. Without any medication, though, she slowly began to recover.

"I enjoy bowling," she said. "I don't plan to give it up. I can give up housework, but I'm not giving up bowling."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 114.