Published: 12:25 AM, Thu Feb 18, 2010
Fuller, Mujica the Mid-South's top bowlers
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
If Treymayne Fuller from Terry Sanford and Crystal Mujica of Seventy-First are any indicators of the key to bowling success, the younger you start playing the sport, the better.
Fuller, a freshman at Terry Sanford, has been bowling since he was two or three. Mujica, a junior at Seventy-First, started the game when she was eight.
Both proved they've learned their lessons well in last week's Mid-South Conference individual bowling championships. Fuller won the boys' championship in the stepladder finals, coming from the No. 4 seed and rolling a 300 game in the final match.
Mujica was the top seed entering the girls' finals and recorded a pair of comfortable wins en route to the title.
Fuller came by his interest in the game naturally. Both of his parents have worked at bowling lanes in the area. "I'm not as interested in it as I used to be, but I still like it because I'm pretty good at it,'' he said.
He didn't have any expectations of winning the championship in his first year on the Terry Sanford team. "When I used to bowl in a Saturday morning league I averaged around 204 to 208,'' he said. "In the conference, I was just trying to do my best.''
In the first round of the stepladder finals he beat top-seeded Andrew DeJaynes of E.E. Smith, 213-173. He followed that with a 216-197 win over No. 3 seed Tristen Gibbs of Cape Fear.
That matched him with No. 2 Chris Puckett of South View. Puckett threw a solid 224, but it was no match for Fuller's perfect game.
"I don't think I would have been as nervous if there weren't so many people around,'' Fuller said. "It made me feel pretty good.''
'Sport for everybody'
Mujica wishes more of her peers found bowling as much fun as she does. "It's a sport for everybody,'' she said. "When you roll the ball and get a strike, it's the best feeling ever. You just want to keep doing it.''
This was Mujica's third year on the bowling team at Seventy-First. "I didn't expect to be No. 1 this year,'' she said. "I just wanted to see how far I could push myself.''
Mujica beat Shaunice Simpson of Pine Forest, 168-148, in her first match in the finals, then downed Ellen Starling of Cape Fear 201-159 to take the title.
"I had the support of my family, my dad and mom, and the people from the team kept pushing me,'' Mujica said.
She'd love to repeat as champion next year, but said that's not all-important. "Being No. 1 this year is all I could really ask for,'' she said.
In the battle for team honors, Cape Fear's boys and South View's girls took the titles for the season.
Cape Fear coach Todd Turlington felt his team had a good shot at the title this season. "We had most of our bowlers back, and some of our new prospects were league bowlers,'' he said. "I figured we had a good shot to take the top three.''
Among the team leaders for the Colts were Tristen Gibbs, Devon Wozniack, Tony Pingatore, Paul Faucett and Dylan Turlington.
Jamal Dunham had high hopes for his South View girls, based on the way they worked together and their performance last season.
Seniors Anna Stoudt and Rebecca Puckett led the team, along with Christina Collins.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.