By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 27, 2011
As the spring sports season approaches its final day, Stars and Stripes begins naming its choices for the standout performers of 2011 in each spring sport -- boys' soccer, girls' soccer, boys' track and field, girls' track and field, baseball and softball.
We'd like to make you part of the selection process. In the comment section below, tell us whom you think stood out above all the others in any of the spring sports, and tell us why. If you have any stats, please list those, too. We'd love to hear from you.
And while you're at it, how about letting us know whom you think DODDS-Europe should name as its male and female athletes of the year for the 2010-2011 school year? Your voice just might influence the coaches' decisions.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 26, 2011
In an earlier posting citing the achievements of Europe's 800-meter runners, I looked at the published results of the meet and announced that Kaiserslautern's three-time 800-meter and two-time 400-meter European champion Rio Harris anchored K-town's record 9 minute, 55.02 seconds run in the 4x800-meter relay.
She was listed as the fourth runner in the event on the official meet results, but it turns out that Harris ran the second leg of Saturday's race and that Ashley Santos ran the anchor leg, according to K-town coach Dennis DePriest.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 25, 2011
As they did with the European basketball and soccer tournaments, Stripes' webmasters will be posting results from this weekend's DODDS-Europe softball and baseball tournaments as we receive them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The two events will bring to a close the 2010-2011 scholastic sports year. If you can't attend the games scheduled for Ramstein and Kaiserslautern, follow your school's progress on the Web. Play begins at 8 a.m. Thursday in baseball; the first pitches of the softball tourneys are set for 30 minutes later the same day.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 25, 2011
There must have been something beneficial for Europe's 800-meter runners in this spring's balmy weather. Last weekend at Russelsheim, Germany, eight of them combined to set boys and girls school-system records in the 4x800 relays. And one of the eight, Rio Harris of Kaiserslautern, missed a 30-year-old record in the 800 by 0.29 seconds.
Harris, a senior and two-time defending European champion in the 800, won the event for the third straight year Friday. She ran 2:17.89, just over the 1980 record run of 2:17.60 turned in by Cara Wyndham of the American School in London.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 24, 2011
Track and field coaches chose the most valuable runners and field-event stars of each sex at the conclusion of last week's European championships, and their choices came as no surprise.
For the girls, 400- and 800-meter champion Rio Harris of Kaiserslautern, who ran the anchor leg of the Lady Raiders' record-setting 4x800 relay team, was named running MVP, and two-time long- and triple-jump champion Jasmin Walker of Lakenehath earned the nod among female jumpers and throwers.
Harris, for the second year in a row, was part of a record-setting team in the 4x800. She ran the second leg in 2010 which set a DODDS-Europe record of 9:58.43. Last week, she anchored K-town to another record in the event, 9:55.02. Individually, Harris accounted for 20 team points for the 11-time D-I champion Lady Raiders in winning the 400, for the second time in the last three years, in 58.54 seconds, almost two seconds ahead of runner-up Mercedes Ash of AFNORTH. Harris flirted with the school system's 31-year old record of 2:17.60 in winning the 800 for the third straight year in a time of 2:17.86, more than four seconds faster than the runner-up, teammate Ashley Santos.
Walker outdid Harris in the scoring department, winning four individual gold medals - which earned Lakenheath 40 team points. The 2011 100- and 200-meter sprint champion, Walker was cited for winning the long and triple jumps for the second straight year by covering 18 feet, 8.75 inches and 37 feet, 6.25 inches, respectively in the two jumps. Each of her winning distances this year supassed her gold-medal leaps of 2010 (16-4.5 and 35-6.25) by two feet or more. The DODDS-Europe records in the events are 19-2.5 and 38-6.
Among the boys, the field award went to Brennan Goodnature of Naples, who took gold in the discus with a toss of 135 feet, 11 inches, and placed second to 2011 champion Darian Billups of Bitburg in the shot put. Billups registered 46-9; Goodnature's heave traveled 45-9.
Middle-distance ace Jack Scranton of Ramstein was voted boys' running MVP. Scranton, a sophomore whose family is moving back to the States, will leave Europe as champion of the 1,500 meters, which he ran in 4:09.80, and the 3,000, DODDS-Europe's longest event, which he won in a time of 9:04.05.
Do you agree with the coaches' choices? Have any better candidates? Weigh in, please. The floor is yours.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 17, 2011
The first three days of the 2011 DODDS-Europe Divisions I, II and III boys and girls soccer tournaments will be played at four widely spaced venues in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. But interested fans won't have to burn lots of pricey gasoline to keep up with the results, or wait until they are all posted at the end of the day.
DODDS-Europe athletic director Karen Seadore has pledged to email scores to Stars and Stripes from her Blackberry as they become final. Our staff will then post the results on the Web — stripes.com — in real time.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 16, 2011
University of Dubuque admissions director Bob Broshous emailed over the weekend that Nick Garcia, a 2009 graduate of Heidelberg High School, has been chosen to compete in the NCAA Division III tennis championships to be held May-27-29 in California.
Garcia, a three-time Euroepan singles champion at Heidelberg who is a sophomore at Dubuque, is one of 32 singles players selected for the event, according to a UD news release. Garcia's coach, Bryan Mours, is quoted as saying Garcia is the only player selected for the NCAA event from the Iowa Conference of which Dubuque is a member.
According to the release, Garcia currently is ranked No. 6 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Garcia finished siixth nationally in the ITA's 2010 small college championships.
To read more about Garcia and his career, visit the UD website at dbq.edu. To track Garcia's progress at the NCAAs, visit ncaa.com/sports/tennis-men/d3.
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 10, 2011
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- Reader Scott Davis emailed Tuesday to ask whether I or my Pacific counterpart, Dave Ornauer, could recall any other track athlete who's ever qualified, as Kaiserslautern sophomore Ashley Santos finished doing last Saturday, for the European or Pacific championships in all eight running events -- the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters and the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.
Neither Ornauer nor I could, but perhaps some of you can.
Let us know about anyone -- male or female -- you can recall who's equaled Santos' feat. We'd love to go down memory lane with you.
In the meantime, consider what Santos has accomplished so far this season, courtesy of Bavaria District Superintendent Mike Thompson. Here's his list of the qualifying marks in each event, followed by Santos' best time so far in each race:
100 meters--13.10 seconds, 13.10
200 meters--27.40, 27.37
400 meters--64.00, 62.33
800 meters--2:36.00, 2:27.75
1,500 meters--5:26.00, 5:15.50
3,000 meters--12:07.00, 11:32.27
100-meter intermediate hurdles--18.20, 17.43
300-meter low hurdles--53.00, 50.22 (best in Europe so far in 2011)
By Rusty Bryan
Published: May 9, 2011
Americans invited to enter international tourney July 30-31 in Holland.
Charles Williams, a Germany-based former soldier who runs a barnstorming softball team called BBK, has invited American teams to participate in the third annual BBK Jamboree, scueduled for Julu 30-31 in Oldezaal, Netherlands.
The tourney is a match-up of co-ed teams from around Europe, Williams said, with the stipulation that every team have at least two female players on the field at all times.
Entry fee is 100 Euros per team, and registration information is available by calling Williams at (+49)(0)176-527-44426 or by email at cjwreachout@yahoo.com. Intereted players also may contact Arti Bosschaart at arti@bosschaart.net.
Camping is possible at the field, Williams added.
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Today, 1,600 days into Obama’s presidency, none of those promises has been fulfilled.
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For years, Hal Miller wouldn’t talk about landing on Utah Beach and the subsequent D-Day invasion. How, with his twin by his side in Normandy on June 6, 1944, he witnessed history. But now — thanks to the social networking platform Twitter — his story is being shared to remind younger generations of the sacrifices and horrors of World War II.
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Gregory Broome is an experienced and accomplished community sports journalist. Officially a native of Iowa, Broome grew up a Department of Defense dependent at sites all over the United States and Germany.
He finally settled in Florida, earning a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Central Florida.
Broome began his journalism career in in 2004 as a sports writer for the Ocala Star-Banner in Ocala, Fla., covering high school, college and community sports and earning recognition for his work from the Florida Press Club. In 2009 Broome was named the first sports information director at College of Central Florida, an NJCAA member school, where he launched the program's website and social media pages and revamped its promotional and game-day operations.
Broome joined Stars and Stripes in October of 2012.
Contact
broome.gregory@stripes.com
Twitter: @broomestripes
Phone: DSN 583-9301; Civ 0631-3615-9301
