PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli earned top qualifier honors Thursday as he leads a field of 24 players into match play at the 2019 PBA50 River City Extreme Open.

Monacelli, who won the USBC Senior Masters last month, finished qualifying with a 16-game total of 3,666, a 229.13 average, in Monticello, Minnesota.

The Venezuelan native and the rest of the advancers will compete in two six-game rounds of match play Friday before the top five battle for the title in the stepladder finals. All rounds of the event are being broadcast live on FloBowling.

Results: PBA50 River City Extreme Open Qualifying Round 2

Monacelli sat in third place after the first round and a big push late in the second round helped him secure the top spot. Competing on the first of two squads Thursday, Monacelli closed his block with games of 290, 234 and 247 to give himself a boost.

James Campbell, who competed on the same squad as Monacelli, sits in second place with 3,652, while PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber is third with 3,630 and was the highest player on Squad A.

Steve Hoskins, a PBA Hall of Famer who is in his rookie year on the PBA50 Tour, is in fourth place with 3,580 as he will look for his best finish of the season Friday. His top finish in five events in 2019 has been 22^nd in the season-opening PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open.

Ron Mohr rounds out the top five with 3,539 with Norm Duke, who was announced as the winner of the ESPY for Best Bowler Wednesday, is sixth with 3,497.

Walter Ray Williams Jr., who fired his first career two-handed 300 game in the first round of qualifying, dropped from second place to eighth place after qualifying. He has a 16-game total of 3,483. First-round lead Don Herrington dropped down the standings to 12^th place with 3,450.

Just making the cut in 24^th place with 3,255 was Ricky Schissler, while Todd Kjell was first out with 3,253, just two pins back.