AGGIES GO FOR CHAMPIONSHIP NO. 5 IN SEVEN YEARS

GREENSBORO, NC, January 26, 2006 – North Carolina A&T bowling coach Courtney Stith won three MEAC titles as a player. This weekend she is looking for MEAC title No. 1 as a coach.

 The Aggie bowling team will go for its fifth title in the last seven years when it competes in the MEAC Bowling Championships in Norfolk, Va. The Aggies are 60-29 overall and 18-2 in MEAC Southern competition. They are 34-11 when facing an MEAC opponent.

 “I think last year we were disappointed in the way things went last year,’’ said Stith about the Aggies fourth place finish last season. “I think our ladies want to come up here and prove that we are still the best team in the conference. It will be difficult, but we’re ready.”

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats are the defending champions. N.C. A&T has defeated the Wildcats in several tournaments this season, but the Wildcats are responsible for one of two of the Aggie losses in MEAC Southern Divisional play.

 When the Aggies bowl this weekend they will see a team comprised of the minimum amount of players that can be on a collegiate bowling roster. They will see a team that has continued to prosper despite losing one of its best bowlers.

 They will also see an Aggies volleyball player turned to bowler, and a freshman bowler in Erica Johnson who could be helping N.C. A&T win championships for years to come.

 “They’ve done an outstanding job,’’ said Stith. “I’m proud of what we have been able to do considering our numbers. We haven’t finished lower than first or tied first in any MEAC event we’ve bowled. It says a lot about the kind of people we have on this team.”

The Aggies did not fair well the first time they bowled without top bowler Hilary Cox in the Aggie Invitational. They did recover and fair well at the Releaser’s Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla., a month ago.

Hilary Cox is out for the season with various illnesses.

 Cox, a Clayton, N.C., native, is one of the most courageous student-athletes on campus. She has already returned to compete after having a kidney transplant 17 months ago. Cox was born with one kidney. As a freshman in high school she discovered it was having complications. The problem escalated in 2003, forcing Cox to miss the 2004 fall portion of the bowling season as she awaited a match.

 The donor and recipient matching are divided into three distinct areas: blood type matching, tissue type matching and crossmatching. Each of these is a distinct and important aspect of donor and recipient matching, and each must be met before a transplant can take place.

 Cox’s mother offered to donate her kidney to help, but as she prepared for the procedure, a kidney became available one day prior. Cox had a successful transplant on July 18, 2004 and returned to the bowling team for the 2005 portion of the ‘04-05 season.

 “I kept asking myself, ‘Why me?’ “ said Cox. “But I stopped doing that. I had to accept that I was going to miss some time. I just made up in mind that when I returned I was going to make up for loss time.”

 It’s exactly what she did. She had a strong end to the 2004-05 season. She was well on her way to completing her comeback this season. She was averaging a score 193.7 – tops on the team – in 33 games bowled in team-match play. On nine different occasions, she bowled a 200 or better.

 Stith knew however, she could be losing her senior leader. Cox developed some leg problems and a skull condition that will sideline her for the remainder of the season, thereby ending her Aggie career. 

 “Hilary is one of those great people who does what you ask her to do in competition,’’ said Stith. “Losing her, yes, is a big blow to the bowling team in terms of tournament play, but it’s bigger than that. She is a leader, an inspiration to our team outside of bowling and she is a super person.”

 “She is truly missed in all aspects. Now, we have to figure out how to be a team. We can’t rely on Hilary to bail us out with a great game. We have to come together as a team.”

 There are no teams in Virginia this weekend willing to throw a pity party for the Aggies. Volleyball player turned bowler – Shea Stark – could make a difference after being with the team for two months ago.

 “If Shea had a couple of more semesters here, she could really develop into an outstanding bowler for us,’’ said Stith. “But we really don’t have much time. I’ve got about two months to get her to do some of things we need her to do before we start competing for championships. It’s not a lot of time, but we must get it done.”

Jamie Brungard will need to have a great weekend in order for the Aggies to be successful. Brungard has an average score of 191 on the season has bowled 200 or better five times this season.  

Outstanding freshman Erica Johnson should also come up big this weekend. She has bowled 11 games of 200 or better in team-match play and has an average score of 180.1 in 47 games bowled. Four of those 200-plus games came in November when Johnson helped the Aggies go 5-0 in MEAC Southern Division play. She posted a season-high 234 against Winston-Salem State.

 The wonderful thing about Johnson, who is from suburbs of Washington D.C., is that she wanted badly to be an Aggie. She made an initial visit to N.C. A&T last year but ran into some complications in the admission process.

 Not discouraged by the turn of events, Johnson called Stith and asked her if she could make a one-day visit to Greensboro. Stith agreed. Johnson wowed her. By August 2005, Johnson was enrolled at N.C. A&T as a scholarship athlete.

 “I absolutely love the way she bowls,’’ said Stith. “She has been doing it for me all year. She is one of those freshmen who will do everything you ask her to do. This is her first time bowling competitively, and she completed my five-month goal for her in three months. That’s how dedicated she is.”

Fellow junior Danielle Hanna (181.7) has five games of 200 or better and freshman Jessica Florit (174.8) out of Sanford, NC has contributed with six games of 200 or better.