ESU table tennis player wins national championship
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Alfred Najem, a student at Emporia State originally from Lebanon, recently took first place in the men’s singles division at the 2008 College Table Tennis National Championships in Rochester, Minn.
With more than 250 athletes representing 56 schools from 23 states and Puerto Rico, Najem came out on top out of a field made up of participants from mostly Division-I schools.
After beating the No. 2-ranked player in the country, Texas Wesleyan’s Carlos Chui, in the quarterfinals, Najem pulled off a huge upset in the semifinals of the tournament, as he took out the top-seeded player in the field, Princeton’s Adam Hugh.
In a best-of-seven match, Najem won the first set before dropping the next two to go down, 2-1. The two players split the fourth and fifth sets, with Najem winning the fifth set after he faced elimination.
Najem then earned a spot in the finals with a victory in the decisive seventh set, giving him the 4-3 victory and a spot against Queens College’s Tahl Leibovitz for a shot at the national crown.
Najem had an easier go of things in the final.
With the match tied at 1-all, Najem rattled off three straight set victories to dispatch of Leibovitz by a score of 4-1.
Najem also took third in doubles action.
Olpe girls track finishes 2nd out of 16 teams
The Olpe High School track and field team competed at Waverly’s Gene Farrow Invitational in Burlington last week, with the girls squad finishing second out of 16 schools behind only Jayhawk-Linn High School. The Olpe boys finished sixth in the team standings.
The Olpe girls were paced by wins in the distance races.
In the 800-meter run, Katelyn Henderson and Kelsey Camien finished 1-2, with times of 2 minutes, 32.96 seconds and 2:33.87, respectively. Henderson also finished 1-2 with Sharon Zeller in the 1,600-meter run, with times of 5:48.61 and 5:58.10, respectively.
Zeller won the 3,200-meter run in a time 12:29.37.
Camien, Henderson and Zeller teamed with Kathryn Flott to win the 4x800-meter relay in a time of 10:29.08.
Megan Woods also had a big day for Olpe, as she broke her own school record in the shot put with a throw of 35 feet, 8 inches, which placed her third in the event.
Flott also finished third in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:07.80.
Other individual placers on the girls side were: Natalie Kuhlmann, fifth in the 300 hurdles (54.58) and the 100-meter dash (13.79); the 4x400-meter relay squad of Camien, Flott, Kuhlmann and Kandice Schreiner, sixth (4:49.26); Katie Moyer, fourth in the javelin (100-9); and Rachel Hall, sixth in the long jump (13-9).
On the boys side, Olpe was led by Bradley Argabright, who won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:03.53.
Olpe’s 4x400-meter relay team also took first in a time of 3:41.68, with the quartet consisting of Argabright, Josh Klumpe, Luke Miller and Trey Stead.
Other individual placers were: Argabright, sixth in the high jump (5-6); the 4x100-meter relay team of Josh Lambert, Bryant Duenas, Wade Schmidt and Luke Miller, fifth (48.66); Matt Redeker, sixth in the javelin (144-8); Miller, fifth in the 400-meter dash(55.08); Ethan Hall, fourth in the 1600-meter run (5:10.00); and Colby Nuessen and Colton Bess, fifth and sixth in the 1,600 in times of 12:20.32 and 12:30.30, respectively.
Olpe competes today at the Council Grove Invitational.
Perfect game highlights Chase County softball’s sweeps over Ell-Saline
On Monday, the Chase County softball team swept a doubleheader against Ell-Saline High School in Brooksville, winning the first game, 15-0, before taking Game Two by a score of 13-0.
In the first game, the highlight of the day came from Chase County starter Taylor Rains, who pitched a perfect game to lead the Lady Bulldogs to the shutout victory. Rains recorded four strikeouts along the way.
Robin Grokett had a two-RBI triple and Ashley Cahoone had a double that allowed another run to score to lead the Chase County offense in Game One.
In Game Two, Briana Talkington followed Rains’ performance with a shutout of her own to earn the win in the circle.
Rains had a double in Game Two to lead the Lady Bulldogs offensively.
Chase County takes 2 from Ell-Saline
The Chase County baseball team came away with a two-game sweep over Ell-Saline on Monday, as the Bulldogs won Game One, 12-7, before run-ruling Ell-Saline, 11-0, in six innings in the second game.
In Game One, Chase County got off to a hot start, as its first six batters recorded hits to score four runs. The Bulldogs’ threat ended only when Ell-Saline got two batters to strike out with the bases loaded.
Ell-Saline came back with a five-run first inning to take the lead at 5-4, but Chase County’s offense was simply too much. The Bulldogs took back the lead for good in the second frame with another four runs on four hits and three walks, which made it 8-5.
The Bulldogs scored single runs in the fourth and sixth and then plated another two runs in the seventh, while Ell-Saline could only muster one more run, that coming in the fifth inning.
Greg Davis picked up the victory on the mound in relief of starter Cole Starkey, as Davis pitched four innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out four.
“With the way the first two innings went, I thought we were going to have a 25-20 slugfest,” CCHS coach Jay Talkington said, “but our pitchers settled in, and we did a good job except for one inning.”
Starkey led the CCHS offense in Game One, going 4-for-5 with one RBI and a run scored. Davis and Kyle Hannigan each drove in three runs.
In Game Two, the Bulldogs (5-1) did all of their offensive damage in three innings, scoring four runs in both the second and third innings and plating another three in the sixth.
The bigger story was the pitching performance of starter Shawn Talkington, as he pitched five innings and allowed just one hit and struck out 11.
Brian Palermo went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Nate Phipps went 1-for-3 with three RBI.