The North Carolina A&T State University bowling program announced the signing of five talented bowlers to join the Aggies for the 2012-13 season.

“All in all, the coaching staff is really excited about this year, really excited about what [the recruits are] bringing to the table, and knowing that this is the first step in returning A&T back to winning MEAC championships, which is what we used to do quite often,” said A&T head coach James Williams, referring to the Aggies previous four MEAC titles, the last one occurring during the 2003-04 season.

Joining the Aggies this fall are freshmen Najah Owens (Sanderson, Knightdale, N.C.), Briana Jackson (Davie County, Winston-Salem, N.C.), Emily Strombeck (Kestrel Heights School, Durham, N.C.) and Khadijah Clark (West Johnston, Garner, N.C.) and junior college transfer Courtney Crook (GTCC, Jamestown, N.C.)

Three of the recruits—Owens, Strombeck, and Crook—have qualified for the 2012 North Pointe Junior Gold Championships, a national tournament for the top youth bowlers in the country which was held July 14-21 in Indiana.  Youth bowlers have an opportunity to earn a spot on the USA Junior Team at the tournament as well.

“For the coming season, we were looking for spare consistency, we were looking at approach consistency as far as if you are able to reproduce the same thing over and over again, and just basically overall talent with the releasing of the ball, generating revolutions and just making sure that you are able to make a quality shot and leave yourself a makeable spare,” Williams said.  “We were able to get that with each one of the girls.  But each one also brings her own special piece to those things.”

Each of the ladies has competed in state youth leagues and travel leagues because of the lack of organized high school bowling in North Carolina, Williams said.  He added that his recruits have run across each other in these tournaments as opponents.  Now they will join forces in an effort to lead the Aggies back to MEAC dominance. 

Owens earned plenty of accolades in competition over the last two years.  She earned a top-10 finish in the 2012 N.C. State High School Bowling Championship in individual play for Sanderson High School.  She also helped her league team garner a first-place team finish in the All-Stars Interstate Tournament, and as an individual she earned first place in the High Game at the Sectional Pepsi Tournament, a third place finish in the 2012 State Pepsi Tournament, and a second place finish in the 2012 N.C. State Youth Championship Tournament with a 2,010 score. She also earned a first-place finish in the 2011 Premier Junior Gold Tournament, which allowed her to compete in the Nationals and North Point Tournament in Las Vegas in July 2011.   She also had a strong high school career in varsity golf as well.

“With Najah, she has a quiet assassin-type demeanor.   She’s very focused, very raw in talent and just has a tremendous upside,” Williams said, adding that she’ll be a major asset in bakers play with her accuracy.

Williams is also excited about Strombeck’s accuracy. She took first place in the 2012 N.C. United States Bowling Congress Association Pepsi Youth Championship Finals, and finished fifth in the 2011 N.C. USBC Pepsi Youth Championship Finals.  She also finished ninth in the 2012 N.C. USBCA Youth Championship Tournament with a 1,786 score.  At home, she has a collection of rings that the North Carolina State Association of the USBC gave her commemorating her 300 game performances. She also played women’s basketball in high school.

“Emily brings a strong background in bowling.  Her drive is really off the charts as far as what she wants to accomplish,” Williams said.  “Her accuracy is phenomenal.  I’m really looking forward to her.  I know Emily has multiple perfect games, multiple 300 games, which is really neat.  It really shows her accuracy.”

Jackson has participated in several state bowling youth league competitions as well.  She finished eighth with a 2,034 score in the 2012 N.C. State USBCA Youth Championship Tournament in the Division II section.  In addition to being a solid athlete, her enthusiasm and energy will be an asset, Williams said.  He added that he looks forward to seeing Jackson taking her game to the next level at A&T. 

Clark is probably the least experienced of the 2012 recruiting class, but Williams thinks her learning curve will be short. 

“Khadijah is just raw talent.  She hasn’t been bowling long but for what we’ve seen of her, and in talking to the guy that’s been coaching her, she’s strictly raw talent.  She’s very athletic, so she’s going to pick up on a lot of things very quickly,” Williams said.

Crook is transferring to A&T after earning her associate’s degree at Guilford Technical Community College. She participated in league bowling as well, including the Pepsi Regional and State Tournaments, and also competed in the Right Approach Training Tour.  She participated in competitive gymnastics and fishing in high school, collecting several awards in team and individual performances.   She also joined Owens and Strombeck at the North Pointe Junior Gold Championships in July.

“Courtney, she’s just consistent.  Nothing fazes her.  She’s going to be the same all the way through,” Williams said.

With the strong competition the Aggies face in the conference, including the defending NCAA Champion Maryland Eastern Shore, the Aggies are looking forward to an exciting season with their incoming freshmen.  Williams said the incoming class will help the Aggies make a statement on the lanes this season. The recruiting class will add to the Aggies two returnees in Amber Brown and Cherise Poole.

“I think everybody’s games are very complementary to each other.  It’s not where it was last year where we had one individual whose game was completely different from somebody else’s.  It’ll be a whole lot easier for them to make adjustments off each other versus last year,” Williams said.