The rain has put a bit of a damper on Cooper's opener for spring drills, but the Coogs aren't going to let one of their 18 days do to waste.

Coach Spradlin let me know that they will be out at McMurry today and will start at 4 p.m.

Posted by · April 30, 2007 12:14 PM · Comments (0)

In this morning’s field events, Abilene High's Garrison Hardin was Abilene’s best shot at Austin.

He missed it by two feet.

Hardin finished third in the discus today with a throw of 163-04, just two feet back of second-place finisher Tyler Washington of Cedar Hill. Johnnie Piggee, the overwhelming favorite coming into the event, represented De Soto well, winning it all with a throw of 177-02.

So we're still working to find a state qualifier from Abilene. I don't think we'll finish the day without one, however, and we may just get a few.

I fully expect Amanda McGill to make it in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, and the AHS sprint relay was just barely edged in the prelims, where it finished third. A perfect set of handoffs can make up that time, though, so the Eagles have a shot.

Of course in the relay, anything can happen. The Permian boys had a great shot at getting out of the region, but dropped the baton in the prelims. The same thing happened to the Mansfield Timberview girls, who were leading by a good 20 yards at the time.

Posted by · April 28, 2007 11:34 AM · Comments (0)

Here's a list of the Abilene entries for Saturday's events:

GIRLS
100 hurdles – Amanda McGill, AHS
300 hurdles – Amanda McGill, AHS
1,600 – Jourdan Ellis, AHS
Triple jump – Talicia Gobert, CHS
Pole vault – Alanna Wise, CHS
Shot put – Tenikka Collier, CHS

BOYS
100 – Jamar Sims, AHS
400 – Jordan Harris, AHS
400 relay – AHS
Discus – Mitch Harvey, AHS; Garrison Hardin, AHS
Long jump – Will Ford, CHS

Posted by · April 27, 2007 10:14 PM · Comments (0)

They aren't local, but there were several fantastic performances Friday ... here's a quick look at a few of them.

• Mansfield’s Grant Lindsey had already broken his older brother’s district record in the high jump (7-03) – he didn’t want to take away the regional record, too. Lindsey cleared 7-01 on Friday, tying the record set by Jeff Lindsey back in 2001.He had a chance to go higher but, with the gold long since wrapped up, elected to share the mark instead.

• The state’s best in the 3,200 this year, Southlake’s Colby Lowe ran an impressive 9:17.59 on Friday, breaking a six-year-old meet record by nearly two seconds. His finish, too, led a 1-2-3 finish for the Dragons in the event, giving them the first-day lead in the chase for the team title with one event.

• The 800 relay team from Lewisville High set a new meet record by just over a second in the preliminaries. The record had held since 2000.

• Triple jumper Tyron Stewart of Cedar Hill flew past the old regional record (set in 2001) by an even foot Friday, with a leap of 51-08.50. He finished more than four and a half feet ahead of the second-place finisher.

• De Soto kept the record-breaking day going in the final event of the day, the 1,600-meter relay, running a 3:11.67, besting the old time by a tenth of a second.

• Nick Jones of Amarillo Tascosa won the shot with an impressive mark of 61-01.5, a bit off his state-best of 61-6. Jones, also a standout defensive end, has signed with Abilene Christian University for both football and track.

Posted by · April 27, 2007 9:12 PM · Comments (0)

All things considered, Abilene High had a strong day in Lubbock. Cooper, on the other hand, struggled.

First, the good.

The Eagles were able to move several into today’s finals, and I was impressed with the fact that most of those running well were underclassmen. Distance ace Jourdan Ellis finished third in the 3,200 and she’s just a freshman. Sophomore hurdler Amanda McGill was even more impressive. Her time in the 100 hurdles was among the state’s top 10 so far this year – probably somewhere around No. 7, though that is without figuring in the other regionals this week. Her 300 time was even better, and would rank No. 3 without the other regional meets figured in. And Jordan Harris is a beast, and will be even better next year as a senior.

Then, the bad. Well, not so much bad, really, as unfortunate.

Cooper sent a lot of relays and field event competitors to Lubbock, and so far they haven’t managed to break into the points. The boys sprint relay, though, ran well, and Will Ford – who qualified for the triple jump and long jump – was also on a pair of relays as a sophomore. He’s also a great hurdler, but got DQ’d at the district meet. He might not have made the medal stand, but mark it down right now: Ford is going to be a major factor next season in football and will be back full force next spring.

A positive for Cooper, too, is that regardless of how the team finishes here, it’s a step up from last year. The Cougars have far more representatives in Lubbock than they’ve had for a while, and that’s good to see – I’d like to think of it as the Mike Spradlin Effect.

Posted by · April 27, 2007 9:04 PM · Comments (0)

Day 1 hasn’t gotten off the best start for Abilene competitors here at the Region I-5A track meet in Lubbock.

Abilene High’s Kalli Hickman did finish sixth in the discus – Odessa High’s entry took third – but otherwise there hasn’t been much to write about. Failing to make the finals were Taylor Insall (shot) and Will Ford (triple jump) from Cooper. Pole vaulter Micah Haile, also from Cooper, was knocked out of the competition at 14 feet.

Still competing right now is Stephanie Carpenter of Cooper in the long jump. Other than that it has kind of cleared out here for now, with the running events scheduled to start at 2:30 with the girls sprint relay.

Posted by · April 27, 2007 12:25 PM · Comments (0)

Well, I made it to Lubbock and am ready to get some track in tomorrow, er, today.

Looks like the town is packed and the construction going on in town only adds to the congestion. But packed is a good thing. There are going to be some great events going on here in the next few days, and it's good to see the support. I saw a few Abilene folks here at the Days Inn as I pulled in. In fact, I'm parked right next to the white Expedition with a Cougar sticker in the bottom left hand corner of the rear window. (So watch it when you open those doors in the morning, huh?)

Hopefully I'll have a live connection at the track to do a bit of live blogging to let you know how the Abilene High and Cooper folks are doing throughout the day. If not, I'll be sure to post my thoughts at the end of the night.

Cooper will be well represented in the morning session, with four of the five Abilene field event entries. I expect Will Ford to do well in the triple jump and for Taylor Insall to do equally well in the shot, and I'll get those results to you as I can.

Time now to catch a few hours sleep ...

Posted by · April 27, 2007 12:42 AM · Comments (0)

Yes, ACU soccer.

The Wildcats will be playing women's soccer next season, and they got the team together to compete in a 7-on-7 tournament at Hardin-Simmons this weekend. They finished 1-3 at the tourney but assistant coach Thomas Pertuit said that, "overall, our girls did a good job."

Pertuit has a soccer camp coming up, and I will see about getting you all the details soon.

Posted by · April 25, 2007 11:13 AM · Comments (2)

Spring drills begin Wednesday for Abilene High with a shorts-and-shirts practice. Thursday also will be a shorts-and-shirts day, but after taking Friday off the team will return Monday with full pads.

Drills typically will begin after school, around 4 p.m., and the team will have Friday scrimmages at Shotwell Stadium. The spring will culminate with the annual Black and Gold game Friday, May 18 at Shotwell. The JV game will start at 4:30 p.m., and varsity follows at 7 p.m.

Posted by · April 24, 2007 12:00 AM · Comments (0)

Thanks to Cathy Haught for letting me know about the special stuff going on out at ACU baseball tomorrow.

Tomorrow's games against UT-Permian Basin will be Taylor and Thomas Elementary Day. Both schools have an incentive program - one with reading and the other with running - and the top 100 from both Taylor and Thomas will be represented and will get special t-shirts and a chance to meet the team for autographs before the games.

For the rest of you going to the games - again, at no charge thanks to MasterScapes - it will be a dime-a-dog day at the concessions stand, which is always a good thing.

Posted by · April 23, 2007 1:29 PM · Comments (0)

I've just heard back from Coach Warren, and Abilene High will start their spring football practice this Wednesday.

I don't have times and complete dates for you yet, but check back.

Posted by · April 23, 2007 11:05 AM · Comments (0)

Former Abilene High standout John Lackey
(who clearly doesn't mind a good tussle every now and then) has been doing well for himself the last few years in the Major Leagues, and in this week's Sports Illustrated the onetime Eagle showed up in the Pop Culture Grid - SI's "how to sports stars fit in" with the rest of us when it comes to popular culture.

(Also questioned this week were Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle, Toronto Raptors forward Joey Graham and Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Eric Byrnes.)

Among the questions answered were “In high school I was … ”

Lackey’s response: “A mess.”

Lackey says, too, that “when I see Anna Nicole Smith
I change the channel,” his favorite Web site is hitting.com, “the one talent I wish I had is the ability to ride 50-foot waves,” “The Billabong wallet” is what’s in his pocket right now and the star he’d like to dance with … Jessica Alba.

Posted by · April 22, 2007 12:22 PM · Comments (0)

Cooper basketball standout Ryan Harp got a mention in SMU's campus newspaper Friday, in a story talking about the signing class the coach Matt Doherty has been able to land.

Overall it looks as if Doherty has been able to get a good group of players, and the Mustangs may wind up being a bit of a threat in the next few years as those guys develop.

Individual workouts start in August at SMU and the team workouts will start in September. The first practice of the season, the story said, will be on Oct. 12.

Posted by · April 21, 2007 6:30 PM · Comments (0)

Cooper's spring drills will be starting up on April 30th.

The Cougars will run six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Wednesdays will be a half-and-half with practice and scrimmage. Saturdays Cooper will be out at Shotwell at 9 a.m. for scrimmages, and through the week will practice after school through the week.

The "spring game" is set for the 19th at 6 p.m. at Shotwell.

I'm not sure when AHS starts its spring drills, but I will find out and get you that information shortly.

Posted by · April 19, 2007 1:16 AM · Comments (0)

Cooper high school assistant football coach Danny Freeman has left the school to take a job as associate principal at Breckenridge High School.

Freeman has been going to school to get his degree for the administrative side of things. When they offered him a spot at Breckenridge - he took it. His oldest son was a senior last season, and his youngest will be an eighth grader this year, so now was probably the best time for him to make that move - glad to see him move on with what he wants, but it'll be tough for Cooper to lose him. He's a great guy and a great coach, too.

Coach Mike Spradlin has hired a linebackers coach out of Dumas to fill the spot on the coaching staff.

Posted by · April 18, 2007 8:16 PM · Comments (0)

No worries about me infecting you with whatever it is I've been saddled with lately ... the official word is a severe sinus infection coupled with an equally severe ear infection. Fun times.

For most, you probably couldn't care less. But for those that have shaken my hand in the last week to 10 days, fear not.

Posted by · April 18, 2007 6:32 PM · Comments (0)

Just a note to let you all know that former Cooper High School and Hardin-Simmons University football standout Will Galusha is going to get paid to play the sport he loves.

Galusha was contacted late Monday evening by the Frisco Thunder of the Intense Football League with a job offer, and late Tuesday night he decided to take up on that offer.

His new coach, Jon Loudermilk, incidentally, is a Hardin-Simmons graduate and was also on the staff with Art Briles and current Cooper coach Mike Spradlin at the University of Houston as a grad assistant.

The Thunder, in its first year of existence, the newest franchise in the IFL, an indoor league with teams spread across the country and as far north as Alaska.

The most exciting thing about the job for Galusha is that he will get to step back under center and play quarterback for the Thunder, a position he played while at Cooper. Of course, with a travel roster of 19 players, Galusha is also going to be seeing time at wide receiver, defensive back, kick returner and punt returner. He left Abilene on Wednesday to report to the team Thursday.

Posted by · April 18, 2007 4:05 PM · Comments (0)

For those who have been checking in regularly over the last week or so, my apologies for the lack of updates. I’ve been down with some sort of bug that simply won’t go away, and after 10 days I’m still coughing. My suggestion would be to not get too terribly close to the screen ... I don’t know how this thing is spread, but you certainly don’t want it.

I’m working on a story for next week, previewing all of the upcoming Class 5A regional meets in Lubbock. I’m pretty sure I’ve gathered all of Abilene’s qualifiers, so I thought I’d post the list on here for you to see.

Quite a few athletes from both schools will be competing in Lubbock next week. Here’s hoping we move on a good majority of those to Austin.

Girls Region I-5A Golf Championship
Cooper Competitors
Brooke Bailey
Janina Quinn
Shandra Urey
Sarah Morris
Jordan Walterscheid

Region I-5A Tennis Championship
Mixed doubles — Jaclyn Walker and Karl Bein, Abilene High; Melissa Yeakle and Jason Williams, Cooper
Girls doubles — Kara Scott and Claire Partin, Abilene High
Girls singles — Hayden Scruggs, Abilene High

Region I-5A Track Championship
GIRLS
200 — Adrianna Rogers, Abilene High
1,600 — Jourdan Ellis, Abilene High
100 hurdles — Amanda McGill, Abilene High
300 hurdles — Amanda McGill, Abilene High
400 relay — Cooper
800 relay — Cooper
1,600 relay — Abilene High, Cooper
3,200 — Jourdan Ellis, Abilene High
Long jump — Stephanie Carpenter, Cooper
High jump — Keisha Collier, Cooper
Pole vault — Alanna Wise, Cooper
Triple jump — Talicia Gobert, Cooper
Shot put — Tenikka Collier, Cooper
Discus — Kalli Hickman, Abilene High

BOYS
100 — Jamar Sims, Abilene High
200 — Keith Brown, Abilene High
400 — Jordan Harris, Abilene High
800 — Jose Montalvo, Cooper
300 hurdles — Chad Dennis, Abilene High
400 relay — Abilene High, Cooper
800 relay — Cooper
Triple jump — Will Ford, Cooper
Pole vault — Micah Haile, Cooper
Long jump — Will Ford, Cooper
Shot put — Taylor Insall, Cooper
Discus — Garrison Hardin, Abilene High; Mitch Harvey, Abilene High

Posted by · April 16, 2007 12:48 PM · Comments (2)

Graduation is fast approaching, and the Abilene Independent School District is working to get a grant to help it put on graduation parties for its seniors.

With that in mind, Caroline Kreitler, the Abilene High Project Graduation representative, passed along some information that I thought I would share.

“Please help us with Project Graduation by posting a favorable comment in support of a $15,000 grant from Hamburger Helper by clicking on the project link or simply go to the Abilene school district’s website and use its direct link to cast your vote by just saying a few kind words in favor of our project. Their foundation’s selection committee is currently reviewing our local community’s support on this event and would like to see a lot of encouragement before awarding us this grant. This would be a tremendous help for the seniors from both Abilene High and Cooper.

“If you know of someone else from scouts, church, work, or school that you can also ask to submit more comments of whether a free Project Graduation party has directly impacted their family in the past or will in the future, please forward this link to them so they could please help us, too.

Thank you.”

Head on over to the site and drop them a quick note. The setup is incredibly user friendly, and the whole process should take three minutes. Project Graduation is a great thing, and anything this community can do to help in bringing this opportunity to its high school seniors, I know, would be much appreciated.

Posted by · April 9, 2007 12:22 PM · Comments (0)

Thanks, Dennis Harp, for letting me know that Pat Williams is coming to town.

Williams is the senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, and his 90-minute talk will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at the Paramount Theatre. Admission is free, and a reception and book signing will follow the talk.

Here is some information on Williams from Dennis:

Pat Williams is the author of over 40 books and one of America's top motivational, inspirational and humorous speakers. He has addressed employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies and the Milton Dollar Round Table, been a featured speaker at two Billy Graham Crusades and two Peter Lowe Success Seminars and spoken on many university campuses.

After serving for seven years in the United States Army, Pat spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office. He then spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization before moving to the National Basketball Association. Since 1968, he has been affiliated with teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers, and now the Orlando Magic, which he co-founded in 1987 and helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995. Twenty-three of his teams have gone to the NBA playoffs, and five have made the NBA finals. In 1996, Pat was named one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history by a national publication.

In his NBA career, he has traded Pete Maravich, traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Penny Hardaway, and won four NBA draft lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992 and 1993 and most recently in 2004. He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Darryl Dawkins and signed Billy Cunningham, Chuck Daly and Matt Guokas to their first professional coaching contracts. Twelve of his former players have become NBA Head Coaches, and seventeen have become assistant coaches.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 18 to 32. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Focus on the Family, New Man Magazine, plus all the major television networks, The Maury Povich Show and Dr. Robert Schuller's Hour of Power.

Pat hosts a national and local sports radio show as well as a weekly Christian radio show. In the last seven years, he has completed 37 marathons, including the Boston Marathon ten times and has also climbed Mr. Rainier. He is a weight lifter, Civil War buff and serious baseball fan - every winter he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps and has caught Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro and Tom Seaver.

Pat was raised in Wilmington, Delaware and earned his bachelor's degree at Wake Forest University and his master's degree at Indiana University. He has a doctorate in Humane Letters from Flagler University. He is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame after catching for the Deacons baseball team, including the 1962 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship team. He is also a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

Posted by · April 6, 2007 10:41 PM · Comments (0)

A video of Nicodemus Naimadu's world-class 10,000 win at Stanford (see previous entry) is available online, along with a short post-race interview.

Now the race took 28 minutes, so you might not want to watch the whole thing. But skip to the last five or six minutes, for sure. Any time someone tried to make a break, Nicodemus was right there. And, with about 150 meters left, he just throws on an incredible kick to leave the favorites battling for second.

Nicodemus' win is even more impressive after you watch his post-race interview, in which he says that he hasn't run the 10K in about two years, and he just thought he'd go out and have fun and see how well he could do. Catch that? This was a fun run for this kid! Six miles! He doesn't even train for this race, as his events are the 3,000 steeplechase and the 5,000. He's just such an incredible athlete.

As an aside, two of the kids Nicodemus beat in that race have signed with Nike and Asics, so don't think there aren't companies out there that don't know about him. Nicodemus is a nursing major at ACU, so could do a lot with that degree. But if he sticks with running, he could make upwards of $100,000 a year.

Posted by · April 5, 2007 10:53 AM · Comments (0)

In case you missed it in Monday’s section, Abilene Christian University’s Nicodemus Naimadu won yet another race over the weekend — and this time did it in world-class time.

I’ve been telling people for the last three years that this kid is something special. I fully expect to see him in the Olympics one day. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him on the medal stand. He’s that good … and he’s now proved it.

After dominating the Division II world since his arrival in the states, Naimadu proved what he’s capable of against some of the best at a meet in California on Saturday.

Running against an incredibly tough field that included American distance ace Ryan Hall, Naimadu won the Stanford Invitational’s 10,000 in 28:06.26. It is the best time in the world this year. In the world.

(If you don’t know much about the track and field world, Ryan Hall just may be an American Olympian soon. Last year Hall set the American record in the half-marathon. After winning the NCAA Division I title in the 5,000 last year, he finished third at the USA Track and Field Championships and earned a spot on the U.S. team for the World Championships. He’s pretty good.)

“The way he ran should tell everyone two things about him,” ACU coach Derek Hood said of Naimadu. “No. 1, he’s the most competitive runner I’ve ever been around. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have been a factor in the race. And No. 2, it just shows how blessed with talent he is.”

Posted by · April 2, 2007 12:11 PM · Comments (0)

One hundred people participated in the 5K Walk/Run to Benefit Autism Research Saturday, helping to raise $2,000.

One of those 100 was yours truly.

Now, I get to the gym fairly often, and usuallly for about two hours, splitting time between cardio and strength training, so I’m not completely out of shape. I do fine on a treadmill, bike or elliptical ... but actually getting onto the road and taking part in a race like this is a completely different animal.

I didn’t sign up for the race with any delusions – a good thing when, as I was nearing the halfway point of the race (which, for the metrically challenged is just a hair over three miles), I was passed by a grandmotherly lady in a knee brace. A few more steps down the road, I crossed paths with a set of stroller-pushing participants headed in the opposite direction. I’m pretty sure the second was a double-occupancy stroller. A gentleman who had to in his early 70s was there as well and, yes, he was done long before my race ended.

So, no, I didn’t win. I didn’t even come close. The winner, in fact, lapped me before I’d even gotten halfway, and I’m pretty sure he was reading a magazine as he passed – he really was making it look that effortless. I did finish in front of seven other racers, though, and was back home within the hour, which was a pretty good accomplishment, I felt.

(And speaking of feeling, I’m pretty sure I’ll be feeling this accomplishment until at least Monday.)

The whole point, though, was that I was out there among the stroller pushers and students, parents and grandparents, fit and not so fit. We were out there to do something we could be proud of – and we all finished the race. Some certainly faster than others, but we all crossed that finish line and, in doing so, helped fund some valuable research.

There is actually another 5K coming up here in a few weeks – the Mayor’s Roundup, which benefits educational programs at Frontier Texas! I recommend folks give it a shot. You don’t have to run the whole thing. I certainly didn’t. Just give it your best, and I promise you’ll feel better for it. Maybe I’ll see you out there.

For more information on the Mayor’s Roundup or other upcoming events, check out the Abilene Runner's Club Web site.

Posted by · April 1, 2007 4:06 PM · Comments (0)