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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Thursday, April S, 2004
Local Sports
Cumming Waves
host registration
The 2003 NGSL Champion
Cumming Waves swim team will
host open enrollment for the 2004
season on Saturday, April 24, from
9 a.m. to noon. Enrollment and
swimsuit fittings will be at the
Cumming Parks and Recreation
office on Pilgrim Mill Road.
Arrive early, as the team is limited
to 150 swimmers.
Fees $l2O for the first child
and sllO for additional children.
Team suits will be available for
approximately $55 for girls and
S4O for boys. Practice sessions
start May 17, with the first meet on
June 4 A copy of the swimmer's
birth certificate is required at regis
tration. Contact Jeff McLean for
more information at (770) 886-
5251.
Braves 400 Club,
Hot Stove League
to host events
The Forsyth County Hot Stove
Night at the Rome Braves w ill be
Saturday, April 24.
Tickets are $lB each and
include a pregame meal of hot
dogs, hamburgers, chicken and
BBQ. For more information, call
Johnny Tailant for tickets (before
April 19) at (770) 887-5537.
Adult baseball
league forming
A new adult baseball league
associated with Stan Musial
Baseball is seeking teams in
Forsyth and surrounding counties
to begin play in late spring and
summer of 2004. For more infor
mation. call Dennis Holbrook at
(770) 887-4036.
Park and Rec
hosts Challenger
Softball event
The Forsyth County Parks and
Recreation Department is hosting
Challenger Softball on Thursdays,
April 15, 22 and 29. and Tuesdays,
May 4 and 11 at Central Park Field
No. 3 from 6:30-8 p.m.
There is no charge for taking
part. Every one who attends will
receive a T-shirt on Tuesday, May
11. The event is open to all special
education students, grades K-12.
Softball stars
eye showcase
Perfect Game Softball will host
an Identification Camp at Georgia
Tech on April 24. This one-day
event is for softball players ages
13-18 interested in showcasing
their skills in front of Perfect
Game Scouts. For information,
call Perfect Game Softball at (319)
261-2923.
Running Camp
gearing up
The Mountain High Running
Camp will take place July 12-17
and July 19-24, at Tallulah Falls.
The staff is composed of elite
Kenyan and international distance
runners and internationally experi
enced coaches. For information,
contact Scott Simmons via email
at simmons@minotstateu.edu, or
call (800) 777-0750, or visit the
camp’s Web site at:
www.mountainhighrunning.com.
Hoops camp
seeks applicants
Applications are now being
evaluated for the Ten Star All-Star
Summer Basketball Camp. The
camp is by invitation only. Boys
and girls ages 10-19 are eligible to
apply. A camp will take place this
summer in Atlanta. Call (704) 373-
0873 for more information.
Sports EXTRA
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If NASCAR and the owners of Texas Motor Speedway can agree to terms, it would mean there would
be 10 Cup races held west of the Mississippi River. Above, team owner Jack Roush watches the track
last Friday, during qualifying for this past Sunday’s Radio Shack 500.
NASCAR heading west
By Gerald Hodges
For the Forsyth County News
If NASCAR and Texas Motor
Speedway reach an agreement over
a plan that is currently being tossed
around by the various news agen
cies. then the center of NASCAR
racing would no longer be in the
Carolinas.
It would be somewhere out west,
between Texas and California.
What has prompted all these sto
ries is a lawsuit that was filed two
years ago in a Texas court by a
member of the Board of Directors of
TMS. charging that NASCAR
promised TMS a second race date,
but failed to follow through.
The reports say that NASCAR
does not want to go to court to reply
to these charges, because they are
afraid of what might come out if
they have to answer questions under
oath.
In order to avoid a court trial, the
following scenario has been tossed
out as a possibility.
International Speedway
Corporation (ISC), which is owned
by NASCAR and the France family,
would sell North Carolina Motor
Speedway (Rockingham) and
Darlington Raceway, to Bruton
Smith’s organization, which also
owns TMS and Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.
Two race dates would then be
taken from Rockingham and
Darlington and given to TMS and
LVMS.
Yoculan’s Gym Dogs
A year ago I wrote in this space
about the accomplishments of
University of Georgia gymnastics
coach Suzanne Yoculan’s program
as she entered her 20th year in
Athens. Yoculan took the time to
write a nice “thank you” note
which makes it even more exciting
for me to realize her squad has a
really good chance to win another
national title next week.
Georgia will enter the NCAA
Championships as the second seed
and will compete in the afternoon
preliminary session on April 15 at
4 p.m. at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
Six teams compete in two prelimi
nary rounds with the top three from
each advancing to the Super Six
Finals on April 16.
Stanford, Florida, lowa,
Oklahoma and Nebraska join
Georgia in the afternoon session
while UCLA, Arizona State, Utah,
LSU, Alabama and Michigan will
compete later that night.
Georgia opens its meet on a bye
and will move to the floor exercise,
vault, another bye, bars and beam.
The Gym Dogs’ region score of
197.525 was second among the six
region winners as Utah took the
first seed with a 197.625 in the
That would leave Darlington and
Rockingham only one race date to
split between the two tracks. The
one date could be alternated
between the two of them on a yearly
basis.
If this race-date game is final
ized, it would mean there would be
10 Cup races held west of the Mis
sissippi River.
That would leave two Cup races
and the Nextel Cup Open Exhibition
race at Charlotte, plus the one other
left-over race to be split between
Darlington and Rockingham.
Just a few years ago. this region
hosted nine Cup races.
If these races are transferred
west, how will that affect the
Charlotte area where most of the
major teams are located'.’ Will some
of them move? Will newer teams be
reluctant to locate in an area that is
losing momentum?
But most of all. what will be the
reaction of the fans in the Carolinas,
Virginia, Georgia and other areas
where stock car racing was born?
To be honest, we don't know.
Several months ago, I received a
tremendous amount of emails from
long time fans, expressing displeas
ure at the direction NASCAR was
taking the sport.
It is my opinion that NASCAR
and television is going to lose a
tremendous audience in the south
eastern part of the country, but they
will gain new fans in the western
portion of the United States.
Only time will tell how the fan
Danny
Daniels
South Central region.
LSU is the third seed with a
Central region score of 197.500
and defending national champion
UCLA is the fourth seed after a
Southeast region title at 197.325.
The Super Six is scheduled for
Friday, April 16, at 10 p.m. NCAA
Championships Seeding (by region
score) 1. Utah, 197.625 2. Georgia,
197.525 3. LSU, 197.500 4. UCLA.
197.325 5. Oklahoma? 197.100 6.
Florida, 197.050 7. Alabama,
196.900 8. Stanford. 196.575 9.
Arizona State, 196.500 10.
Michigan, 196.375 11. Nebraska,
196.375 12. lowa, 195.700.
In case you haven’t been keep
ing up, the Gym Dogs won their
17th NCAA Regional champi
onship in team history on Saturday
night with a score of 197.525 in
Penn State’s Rec Hall.
Coincidentally, Penn State is
Yoculan’s alma mater.
base will balance itself out if new
changes like the ones that are now
being tossed around are adopted.
Martin Truex gets
Busch win
BRISTOL, Tenn. Martin Truex
Jr. won his first career Busch series
races after taking the Sharpie
Professional 250 under caution.
Saturday. March 27.
Finishing order: 1. Martin Truex
Jr., 2. Kevin Harvick, 3. Kyle Busch,
4. Greg Biffle, s.David Green, 6.
Tony Raines, 7. Michael Waltrip. 8.
Jason Keller. 9. Ron Hornaday, 10.
Mike Wallace. 11. Joe Nemechek,
12. Tim Fedewa, 13. Johnny Benson,
14. Johnny Sauter, 15. Steve
Grissom. 16. Kenny Wallace, 17.
Mike Bliss, 18. David Stremme. 19.
Stacy Compton, 20. Hermie Sadler,
21. Regan Smith, 22. Robert
Pressley, 23. Robby Gordon, 24.
Bobby Hamilton Jr. 25. Stan Boyd,
26. Brad Teague. 27. Kasey Kahne,
28. Paul Menard. 29. Andy Ponstein.
30. Derrike Cope, 31. Ashton Lewis,
32. Jason Leffler. 33. Jason White,
34. Casey Atwood. 35. Gus Wasson.
36. Randy Briggs, 37 Jeff Fuller. 38.
Jason Schuler. 39. Jay Sauter. 40.
Morgan Shepherd. 41. Mike
Harmon, 42. Stanton Barrett. 43.
Donnie Nuenberger
Top-10 points leaders after sos
34 races: 1. Harvick-790, 2. D.
Green-749, 3. Truex-740, 4. Waltrip
-724, 5. Biffle-678, 6. Keller-673. 7.
R. Gordon-637, 8. Kyle Busch-637,
9. Stremme-634, 10. J. Sauter-628.
take another title shot
Michigan was second and lowa
State (196.150) finished the night
in third place, followed by Penn
State (196.200), Missouri
(194.375) and New Hampshire
(194.125).
“We are so beat up I don't how
we did it,” Yoculan. “We’ve lost
two gymnasts in the last two weeks
so it’s been a struggle. Last week
we lost Kinsey Rowe to an ACL
and before the meet Saturday
Brittany Smith hurt her ankle. This
one was tough but we pieced it
together. Ashley Kupets deserves a
medal of honor. Once again she
was only scheduled for two events
and she went on ail four Saturday.”
Georgia started on beam in the
first rotation and scored a 49.350.
Cory Fritzinger led the Gym Dogs
with a 9.925 and Kelsey Ericksen
followed at 9.875. Chelsa Byrd,
Kupets and Sierra Sapunar all
scored 9.855.
On the floor exercise Georgia
scored a 49.4 and extended its
overall score at 98.75 after two
rotations. Byrd, Marline Stephens
and Ericksen all scored 9.9 and
Ashley Kupets and Michelle
Emmons each added a 9.85. Byrd,
Ericksen and Stephens all tied for
Learn how
to row on
Lake Lanier
From staff reports
Forsyth County residents
who have always wanted to learn
more about rowing will soon
have their chance.
The Lake Lanier Rowing
Club is hosting a seven-lesson
program this month, with the
first session of adult introducto
ry instruction taking place April
10-24 at Lake Lanier Olympic
Center on Clark’s Bridge Road.
The two hour classes, open to
all adults, will focus on funda
mentals of the rowing stroke in
sweep and sculling, boat safety
and handling, equipment termi
nology and coxing. Summer and
fall sessions will follow, each
consisting of seven classes.
Participants may row in single or
double boats, or in a group of
four or eight.
The classes are taught by
John Ferriss, head coach and
Executive Director of the rowing
club, with the help of club mem
bers.
One of these is Carolyn
Calupca, who began rowing in
college and has been coaching
“Learn to Row” classes at LLRC
since she joined.
Calupca notes that she enjoys
seeing others discover a sport
that she has loved for so long
“The program gives people a
chance to get outside and on the
water, make new friends, and get
involved in the community,"
Calupca said. “Also, since every
one is starting from the same
place, they learn and grow
together and can even start to
compete in regattas if they like.”
Most LLRC members are for
mer Learn to Row students who
fell in love with the sport and
subsequently joined the club.
Two of these are Bas and Eva
Oskam, a retired couple who
were hiking the Appalachian
Trail when medical concerns
forced them to find other activi
ties.
They became interested in
rowing during the 1996
Olympics and decided they
wanted to sign up for the Learn
to Row program.
“We enjoy the exercise, the
competitiveness, and the friend
liness of the other rowers,” said
Bas.
The cost of the Learn to Row
sessions (seven classes) is SBO,
which applies to club dues for
those who decide to join.
For more information, call
the Lake Lanier Rowing Club at
(770) 287-0077 or you can email
LLRC@mindspring.com. or
visit the Web site at llrc.ws.
first place on floor with their
scores.
The Gym Dogs upped their
overall total to 148.225 with a
49.475 on vault. Byrd led Georgia
with a 9.95 and Stephens scored a
9.925. Ericksen finished with a 9.9
and Emmons and Fritzinger both
scored 9.85.
Byrd’s score was good enough
for the overall vault win. Georgia
closed the evening with a 49.300
on bars. Byrd and Fritzinger’s
9.925 led the way and Ericksen
added a 9.875. Kupets, Sapunar
and Stephens each scored a 9.8.
Byrd closed the night with a
39.625 in the all-around, good
enough for second place overall
behind Michigan's Elise Ray
(39.700). Ericksen finished third at
39.525.
It's great when good people fin
ish first and Yoculan is one of the
most cooperative and enthusiastic
coaches in college sports. Let’s
hope she gets to hang yet another
championship banner in Stegeman
Coliseum.
Danny Daniels, sports editor at
the Barrow County News, con
tributes his regional wrapup once a
week.