News and Notes

Marion Jones is now officially a member of the Tulsa Shock. I hope she is able to take advantage of her athletic second chance, though she has not played much organized ball since winning a national title with North Carolina in 1994.

Top swimmers recently competed in the Charlotte UltraSwim, the first long-course race of the season. In the upset of the meet, Nick Thoman beat Micheal Phelps in the 100m back. I am a huge Thoman fan and am always excited to see him win. I hope that he is able to make the major world or Olympic team that has always eluded him. Peter Vanderkaay won two individual races and captured the overall Grand Prix series title. Rebecca Soni and Chloe Sutton also captured individual titles to secured second and third place finishes in the overall Grand Prix standings respectively. Another personal favorite, Dagny Knutson, also took home two individual titles. Her short course swimming is generally better than her long course swimming, but I expect that to change once she begins college in the fall and has access to better training facilities. Other winners from the weekend included Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Elizabeth Beisel, Eric Shanteau, Emily Brunemann, Missy Franklin, and Ryan Lochte.

Lindsey Vonn was named the US Ski and Snowboard Association Athlete of the Year, while Nordic Combined Coach Dave Jarrett was named the coach of the year. Other athletes recognized include Alana Nichols (adaptive athlete), Kikkan Randall (cross country), Hannah Kearney (freestyle), Johnny Spillane (Nordic combined), Sarah Hendrickson (ski jumping), and Seth Wescott (snowboarding).

Tyson Gay set a world record of 19.41 seconds on a 200m straight track.

Bobsled gold medalist Curt Tomasevicz got to play on stage with Pearl Jam at concert in Kansas City.

Pairs skaters Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski officially retired.

A friend of mine will be guest blogging about the World Cup. Get excited!

Euros Teams and More

The Romanian senior team for Europeans is Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, and Cerasela Patrascu. The junior team will be Diana Bulimar, Larisa Iordache, Anamaria Baicu, Maria Balea, and Madalina Neagu.

The Russian training squad consists of Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, Ramila Musina, Tatiana Nabiyeva, and Aliya Mustafina. Five of these women will compete in the senior division. Personally, I prefer Semenova, Afanasyeva, Myzdrikova, Nabiyeva, and Mustafina.

The Germans will be sending Oksana Chusovitina, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Elisabeth Seitz, Lisa-Katharina Hill, and Dorothee Henzler. Katja Roll, Désirée Baumert, Janine Berger, Rosa-Lynn Schmitz, and Isabelle Marquardt will compete as their juniors.

Chloe Sutton won the 200 and 800 meter freestyle races at the Ohio State Grand Prix. Elizabeth Pelton won the 200 IM and Corrie Clark won the 100 breast. Minot, ND's Dagny Knutson notched two 2nd place finishes (gotta love Minot). Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 free while Mathias Gydesen won the 100 fly and Marcus Titus won the 100 breast.

Jim Tracy is stepping down as the head coach of the US women's ski team.