Teens win state bowling titles

Aaron Finley and Emily Weber don't have a lot in common when it comes to bowling.

Finley, at age 17, has been bowling for 13 years, while Weber, at 16 years old, is a relative newcomer to the sport, having bowled competitively for just more than a year.

Finley is right-handed, while Weber throws from the left.

However, one thing they do have in common is a state championship.

Finley captured the boys division, while Weber won in the girls division at the Pepsi Youth Bowling North Carolina Championships, and both will be heading for Detroit in July to bowl in a United States Bowling Congress national tournament.

The tournament awards a champion based on how well the competitors bowl above their league-established average.

Finley compiled a 167 average, but bowled his highest game ever, a 274, at the state tournament and a 665 series for three games.

"I was on a roll," he said.

That put him as the top seed in his division, and he had one game to bowl for the state title. However, with the scoring based on the bowler's average, he said he wasn't sure he had won after the game was over.

"It didn't hit me at first," he said. "I didn't know I had won it, but then my mom came up to me and gave me a big hug, and I realized I had won."

Weber also earned the top seed in her division with a 496 series over three games, but unlike Finley, she knew she had captured the tournament title.

"I screamed," she said.

Weber said the competition at the state tournament allowed her game to rise to a new level.

"There were a lot of really good bowlers," she said. "I had a big adrenaline rush, especially that last game."

For winning, they earned $650 each in college scholarship money and the right to represent the state at the national championships July 14 and 15 in Detroit.

"I am sure there is going to be a lot of good bowlers and a lot of competition," Finley said of the nationals.

It is the fourth year in a row a bowler from the Craven-Carteret Youth Bowling Association has won the state title. Finley and Weber join Jessica Florian in 2005, Sarah Hicks in 2006 and Justin Joslyn in 2007 as state champions.