Building a wrestling legacy

Building a Legacy is the phrase that adorns each Culpeper Team Cobra wrestler’s warm-up attire.

At this past weekend’s 2010 Virginia Challenge Elementary and Middle School State Wrestling Championships, Team Cobra added to its foundation by capturing the Middle School State Team Championship trophies.

In addition, Team Cobra placed third in the Elementary School State Team Championship, crowned six individual champions, gained two outstanding wrestler awards and placed 27 of its 47 wrestlers who entered in the arduous, double elimination tournament held in Hampton.

Team Cobra began its championship quest in the Elementary Division, where Drew Shurina seized his first State Championship at 60 pounds, while Zachary Brown earned his second State Championship at 112 pounds.

Runner-ups in the championship round featured, Dillon Werth at 50 pounds, Dayne Harrison at 55 pounds and Mikey Keen at 85 pounds. Other placements in the Elementary Division for Team Cobra included Cameron Sheads third at 40 pounds, Malcolm Robinson third at 65 pounds, Spencer Maryk fourth at 50 pounds, Johnny Laird, Jr., fifth at 50 pounds and Blake Sheads sixth at 45 pounds. Jamal Robinson and Nicholas Pickering rounded out Team Cobra’s Third Place Elementary School team.

In the Middle School Division, Team Cobra excelled in the Championship Round with Ty Foster at 60 pounds, Yarhoski Aldiva at 75 pounds and Bret Shurina at 85 pounds obtaining their first State Championships. Team leader Austin Jenkins at 135 pounds won his third State Championship.

Runner-ups in the Championship Round for Team Cobra included, Brady Drew at 75 pounds, Brandon Walker at 95 pounds, Wyatt Fettig at 130 pounds and Joshua Racer at 140 pounds.

Team Cobra’s other placements in the Middle School Division were Garrett Tingen third at 90 pounds, Bryan Ramey third at 95 pounds, David Laird third at 110 pounds, Tyler Keen third at 140 pounds, Logan Shurina third at 145 pounds, John Early fourth at 175 pounds, David Smoot fifth at 145 pounds, Jordan Miner fifth at 175 pounds and Dillon Kincaid sixth at 75 pounds.

Team Cobra’s Middle School State Championship Team also included Toby Pickering, Eric Galloway, Shane Maryk, John Cannon, Austin Lusk, Matthew Laird, Eddie Russell, Ethan Pendelton, Andrew Kopjanski, Nathaniel Aldiva, Jared Engh, Tim Moy, Channing Von Steinner, Dylan Hitt, Richie Ekins, Denver Jenkins, Amrit Tamang and Cody Vicks.

Team Cobra State Champions Drew Shurina and Austin Jenkins were also recognized at the Virginia Challenge as the Elementary and Middle School outstanding wrestlers of the tournament.

There is no doubt that Culpeper Team Cobra is truly building an illustrious, championship legacy for its wrestling club by winning all the trophies they can.

Saints’ Super Bowl prayers answered

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees hoists the Vince Lombardi trophy after the Saints upset the Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Feb. 7, 2010.

It might have take the Saints the first two quarters to get there groove on but after halftime they looked like a whole new team. I would of loved to been a fly on the wall of the locker room for that half team speech. Instead of winning one for the Gipper it was win one for the 9th ward, and that they did. The battle for the trophy of trophies was on and the Saint’s walked away victorious. Congratulations to the Siants and everyone else who lives and loves New Orleans as much as I do!

Pat Cash brings Wimbledon trophy home

The 1987 Wimbledon trophy won by tennis legend Pat Cash would have to be among the most precious of Australia’s sporting silverware.

Along with the photograph of Cash leaping into the stands to celebrate his historic grand slam win with his family, it is a reminder of Australian tennis’s last golden era.

Yet for about 10 years, Cash has had no idea of the whereabouts of the exquisite urn.

Scared after a home burglary, he put it in safe storage – but quickly forgot where, or with whom.

Fortunately for sports lovers, the trophy has turned up at last, at a mate’s place in France, and Cash was on hand when it was produced at his induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame yesterday.

Presented with a medallion on a sash, Cash said that unlike his other trophies, he would keep the medallion close at all times.

“This I can find a place for, definitely,” he said at the National Sports Museum at the MCG.

As usual, Cash has made the trip to Melbourne for the Australian Open to meet work commitments, take part in the legends’ celebrity matches and soak up the atmosphere of the “most fun and best run grand slam there is”.

“We may not have any Aussies left in the tournament, but we’ve still got some fantastic champions there,” he said. “It’s obviously grown at Melbourne Park and getting bigger and bigger.”

Cash took mum Dorothy, 78, to his induction into the Hall of Fame. His dad Pat Sr died in 2008.

“It is a very special honour for me to be included with all the legends of Australian sport. To be thought of in the same light, in the same museum and the same Hall of Fame as my heroes, is something very, very special,” Cash said

“I didn’t ever think it would happen but it has and I am absolutely honoured.”

2009 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year

2009 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Joey Logano will be on the track for Saturday night’s Toyota All-Star Showdown at the sparkling Irwindale Speedway in California. It’s the “Daytona 500 of Short Track Racing” and pits the champions of every NASCAR regional series (think AA baseball) in a door-banging 225-lap bunkhouse stampede. Last man standing is the undisputed King of the NASCAR Short Tracks.

But why would Logano, who pocketed nearly $6 million in earnings last year, fly cross-country to run an off-season bullring race? The same reason that his cohorts are down in Daytona.

“Because I want that trophy,” he replied during the media tour, cocking his head and looking at me like I was a moron for even asking.

“But didn’t you win it two years ago, in your first try?”

“Yep. And I should have won it again last year. There’s nothing wrong with having two trophies from the same race. Though it would have been cooler to have all three …”

Trophies for local robotics teams

When Rochester’s two Lego Robotics teams grabbed first- and second-place trophies with honors in December, it wasn’t a trophy that impressed coach John Lage.

It was moments before, when the fourth-graders high-fived all of the other teams who walked past them.

The “Bot Bashers” and the “Robot Squad,” two seven-member teams of local fourth-graders, will compete at the 2009 Smart Move First Lego League state tournament Jan. 30.

The students are learning about basic computer programming and engineering, as well as teamwork.

At the Division 1 Regional Competition in Minneapolis, the “Robot Squad” took first place and the “Bot Bashers” took second place.

The students had to create a robot using Legos, which will complete tasks using computer programs that the students have written. The robots race around an eight-foot by four-foot course and complete different tasks, like raising a Lego bridge and grabbing rings.

The students are judged by their robot’s time through the course, but they also are evaluated on a research project presentation, an interview with the judges and how well they displayed teamwork during the competition.

Lage, who is one of the coaches for the “Bot Bashers,” said he was most pleased that the students were learning about teamwork and sportsmanship, in addition to computer programming and problem solving.

“It was probably my highlight of the competition,” Lage said.

The teams are currently practicing and honing their robots for later this month. The parents said the Lego competition teaches the students about problem solving and working through several failed solutions until one works.

The kids haven’t been deterred by plans that didn’t pan out.

“We’ve had hundreds of ideas and barely any of them worked,” team member Austin McCoy said.

Bart McCoy, Austin’s dad, said he was pleased how the students haven’t given up.

They started out reluctant, he said, but the students soon embraced the challenge of finding out the answer.

The students are also fine-tuning their research project, which is about transportation. The students needed to pick one mode of transportation and then research it.

“I think we’ve really learned how to work as a team,” fourth-grader Claire Schleusner said. “Teamwork is really important in life.”