Erin Pendleton falls short at NCAA championships
Erin Pendleton didn't have the kind of NCAA Championships performance she expected.

The University of Michigan sophomore, a two-time state discus champion at Woodmore, finished 21st out of 24 throwers on June 8 at the NCAA outdoor meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

“My goal was to get All-American, so top eight (placers),” Pendleton said. “I didn't do that, but I felt pretty good going into it.”

Pendleton qualified to the NCAA Championships by throwing 169-01 to finish ninth at the NCAA East Prelims at Indiana University on March 26-28. The top 12 placers advanced to the finals in Des Moines.

University of Michigan's Erin Pendleton (Woodmore) competing in the hammer throw.(photo courtesy U-M Athletic Media Relations)

Her personal best during the 2011 season was 179 feet, at the Drake Relays. Her career best is 186-0, when she was a freshman at Michigan.

Pendleton came up well short of that effort in Des Moines. She fouled on her first-round attempt and did the same thing again in the second round. Both times the discus flew out of bounds.

“I threw them out of bounds on the right sector,” she said. “I felt pretty good, I just wasn't finishing my finish. I was going left and the discus was going right. I was feeling really good, I just wasn't keeping them inbounds. They were pretty far throws that would have gotten me to the finals. I wasn't really nervous, I just wasn't keeping them in.”

Pendleton's final attempt stayed inbounds and traveled 155-5, but it wasn't enough to send her to the finals. Trecey Rew, a senior from Northwestern State, won the discus title with a throw of 192-4 on her final attempt.

“It was disappointing,” Pendleton said. “It makes you want to come back stronger next year.”

Pendleton, 20, will compete with her sister, Emily, who redshirted at Michigan this season, as an unattached athlete later this month at the USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. She placed fourth in the discus (170-7) and sixth in the shot put (47-6.25) and hammer throw (175-3) at this year's Big Ten Championships.

IBC Grant
Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Stranahan Foundation, the International Boxing Club (IBC) is adding new technology and more academic assistance and after-school programming to its Learning and Vocational Centers for Toledo’s at-risk youth.

The IBC created the Learning Center in 2007 with generous start-up grants from the Stranahan and Toledo Community Foundations. The IBC’s Learning Center is a safe haven for area youth who come from troubled and disadvantaged homes, are failing in school and are exposed to gang violence in their daily lives. The center was expanded in 2010 (with the generous financial support of Toledo Rotary Foundation) to create a complementary Vocational Training Center.

“Our Learning and Vocational Centers feed the bodies and minds of youth who have few role models and even fewer opportunities to receive the academic assistance and leadership mentoring they need to succeed,” says East Toledo native Harry E. Cummins III, executive director, IBC.

“The generosity of the Stranahan Foundation allows us to expand our programming to reduce academic failure, gang involvement, substance abuse, suicide, teenage pregnancy and other destructive behaviors among at-risk youth in the central city Toledo,” Cummins says.

Funding from the Stranahan Foundation (the second year of a two-year grant) will be used to equip the Centers with additional technology for the photography club, expand after-school programming, and enhance academic, vocational and social opportunities for at-risk youth.

The IBC has provided after school programs to more than 3,000 youth since its incorporation in 1998.  It serves 400 to 900 physically, socially, and ethnically diverse underserved at-risk youth between the ages of 8 and 19 years every year. The IBC Learning Center offers reading clubs, math and science games, motivational speakers, and skills development through computer assembly projects, computer training, home-improvement classes, culinary arts, life skills training, vocational training, character education, and more. Area speakers provide motivation and information on different professions and examples of how they overcame disadvantaged backgrounds to become successful.

Owens Golf
Prospective high school graduates interested in playing intercollegiate golf at Owens Community College are invited to a four-day open qualifier June 21-24.

The first two days, June 21-22, of the open tryouts will take place at Maumee Bay State Park Golf Course in Oregon. The third round will occur on June 23 at Stone Ridge Golf Club in Bowling Green. The final round will take place June 24 at Heather Downs Country Club in Toledo. Open tryouts will begin each day at 8 a.m.

Led by Coach Gilbert Guerrero, the Express golf team captured one match and invitational title during the season, highlighted by a third-place finish in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) Championship Invitational. The program also finished third in the NJCAA Region XII Sub-Regional Championship after rounds of 329-309 (638) at Belmont Country Club in Perrysburg. Additionally, Owens placed eighth in the NJCAA Region XII Golf Championship.

Registration is required prior to open tryouts and the green fee for the four-day tournament is $60. For more information on the open tryouts, call 567-661-2643 or 1-800-GO-OWENS, ext. 2643.

Szyperski first team
Northwood junior catcher/outfielder Cindy Szyperski is a first team Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press softball player. Szyperski was omitted from last week’s graphic listing the selections. Szyperski hit .388 with a team-high nine steals. She will receive a certificate along with teammates Sammie Brisbin and Jordan Edwards. In addition, Ottawa Hills coach Paul Komisarek is Toledo Area Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, not Northwood coach Dan Fuller, but Fuller is Press Coach of the Year.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed