Whitefish teens nab state bowling titles

These kids don't fit the mold.

Doug Cuffe, 17, and Zac Wooten, also 17, are talented three-sport athletes who just happen to excel in …

… ah …

… bowling.

Yes! Bowling.

Not your most popular high school sporting endeavor around, but one these teenagers are very successful at.

"You're kind of a nerd," said Wooten of the stigma often attached to youth bowlers.

"Bowling geeks."

But Wooten begs to differ.

"It's actually really competitive," he said of his sport of choice. The other two - baseball and golf.

"Tournament are fun to go to. I have a lot of friends (who bowl)."

He's also willing to challenge anyone who thinks bowling is easy and requires little skill.

"It's not as easy as it looks," he said with a smile.

Cuffe has tried to get some of his friends hooked on the sport, but "they say they are just too busy," he said.

"They look at it like it's too easy; for geeks."

Hardly so.

Wooten, a 5-foot-5, 140-pound right-hander, is headed for Junior Gold National Championships, which begin Saturday in Indianapolis, Ind.

Wooten qualified by winning the Montana State Pepsi Tournament in Butte last spring. He averaged 220 for eight games in scratch play at Star Lanes, posting a high of 255 and a low of 201.

"I usually bowl well in Butte," said Wooten.

"It's clean, lanes are in good condition and the tournaments are usually run very well."

It's also tournament conditions that seems to bring out the best in Wooten's game. Which is why he's excited at the challenge that lies ahead.

"My goal is to average 200 and not make a fool of myself," he said.

"I should do all right.

"I expect to win," he continued.

"I've had a good year this year. I had high expectations."

Wooten, a junior at Whitefish High School, says he hopes bowling will one day help pay for his college expenses.

"And hopefully see where it goes from there," he said.

Wooten started bowling at the age of five, "fiddling around," he said.

Soccer took his attention away from bowling for a couple year.

He said he " finally got serious about it," at age 12.

His dad, Joe, is his coach. His mother, Wanda, also bowls.

"I beat my dad, but my mom is a different story," he said.

"My dad is no pushover. She (mom) gets zoned in and you don't mess with her."

Wooten has rolled six 289 games in his career and owns a series high of 748.

Wooten bowls, during season at Pin and Cue, "usually every day," he said. Competitively, it's twice a week in the Thursday Advanced league and Saturday in Juniors.

"I can change my speeds, pretty accurate and I can adjust everything according to the lane conditions," he said of his bowling strengths.

"You just gotta be able to handle the pressure and you have to bowl consistent."

Wooten said this will be the first time he's left Montana to compete in bowling.

Cuffe, like Wooten, started when he was five. But this is his first year back fulltime with the sport.

He won the YABA State Bowling Tournament in Anaconda last April for Division 1 (handicap 160 and above).

He rolled a 628 scratch series, which handicapped, was 733.

Not his best, but still good enough to win.

"All-around, not a good tournament for anyone," he said.

"I wasn't really expecting to win. I was expecting to do well."

Cuffe competed the first weekend of the tournament and his scores held up through two more.

He also bowls in two leagues, Thursday Advanced and Saturday Juniors, and competes on the same teams - Crazy 8's and Deuces Wild - with Wooten.

Wooten's team has won league the last two years.

If that wasn't enough, the two are practically neighbors in Happy Valley. And yes, Cuffe also plays baseball and golfs, but "for fun."

"I'd put baseball before bowling, probably," said Cuffe.

"Utility (players). I pitch, infield and outfield. It doesn't matter."

Cuffe, 5-8, 200, bowls right-handed. He also uses a MoRich 15-pound ball, but his is red/yellow/orange.

Cuffe, who sports a bowling handicap of 35, is also a league president. His high game is a 268, high series a 657.

"I'll try and stick with it (after high school)," he said.

"Go as far as I can with it."