Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - The final four 2010 PAL National Championships bouts took place on Oct. 10 as four men's open division boxers earned berths in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Lightweight Kenneth Simms (Chicago, Ill.), light welterweight Pedro Sosa (Brooklyn, N.Y.), welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) and middleweight D'Mitrius Ballard (Temple Hills, Md.) all scored victories to advance to the upcoming U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Simms, Sosa, Spence and Ballard join light flyweight Louie Byrd (Denver, Colo.), flyweight Rau'shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio), bantamweight O'Shanique Foster (Orange, Texas), light heavyweight Marcus Browne (Staten Island, N.Y.), heavyweight Steve Geffrard (Boca Raton, Fla.) and super heavyweight Lenroy Thompson (Lenexa, Kansas) in earning the first berths to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Nine open division women won national titles on Oct. 10 as well, beginning with a walkover win by light flyweight Jessica Ponce (Napa, Calif.). Joining Ponce as national champions were flyweight Christina Cruz (New York, N.Y.), lightweight Stephanie Han (El Paso, Texas), middleweight Kalita Marsh (Smithfield, N.C.), bantam Nephateria Miller (New Haven, Conn.), featherweight LaTonya King (Detroit, Mich.), 141lbs. Brittany Inkrote (Red Lion, Pa.), welterweight Tiffanie Ward (Hacienda Heights, Calif.) and heavyweight Tameka Stephens (Houston, Texas).
CANOE/KAYAK: Johnson Wins Three Medals at Pan American Games
Team USA fared well this weekend at 2010 Sprint Pan American games in Mexico City, Mexico where two-time Olympian Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) dominated the racing on Oct. 10, winning three medals. Johnson controlled the women's K1 500m final and won the gold medal by open water, won a bronze in the K1 200m and teamed up with Maggie Hogan (San Diego, Calif.) to win the silver medal in the K2 500m. Hogan also went on to win the gold in the women's K1 1000m.
Canoe tandem Itzel Reza Flores (Glenn Dale, Md.) and Pam Boteler (Arlington, Va.) added to the Team USA medal haul, winning the bronze medal in women's C2 1000m.
In men's action, Ryan Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii) won the bronze medal in the men's K1 500m final and then teamed up with Tim Hornsby (Atlanta, Ga.) to place second in the men's K2 200m semifinal on their way to the final.
Angela Wang (Salt Lake City, Utah) led the U.S. junior paddlers in the medal count with five at the 2010 Sprint Pan American Championships.
Wang took third in the women's Jr. C1 500m and C1 200m and then teamed up with Sarah Rucci (Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team) to claim bronze in the Jr. C2 500m and Jr. C2 1000m. To end the event, she added another bronze in women's Jr. C1 200m.
CYCLING: Tostado and Kirkland Win Solo Titles at 24-Hour Mountain Bike Nationals
Thirteen national titles were awarded on Oct. 10 in Moab, Utah as the nation's top ultra-endurance mountain bikers wrapped up 24 grueling hours of racing at the USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships.
In the solo competition, Josh Tostado (Breckenridge, Colo.) successfully defended his title as he successfully completed 18 laps, while rival Kelly Magelky (Golden, Colo.) took second with 17 laps.
Jari Kirkland (Crested Butte, Colo.) put forth a dominating performance to win the women's solo category as she completed 14 laps to edge silver medalist Kris Cannon (Steamboat, Colo.) and bronze medalist Laureen Coffelt (Memphis, Tenn.) who completed 13 and 12 laps, respectively.
In the solo single speed competition, Cameron Chambers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) completed 16 laps and climbed onto the top step of the podium. The women's solo single speed saw Cat Morrison (Grand Junction, Colo.) earn the national title over silver medalist Karen Rishel (Las Cruces, N.M.).
EQUESTRIAN: U.S. Team Takes Gold in Team Vaulting on the Final Day of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games ended this weekend in Lexington, Ky., with the U.S. team finishing strong. Team USA won the team gold medal in the vaulting event on Oct. 10 as Devon Maitozo (Woodside, Calif.), Blake Dahlgren (Santa Clarita, Calif.), Mary Garrett (Seal Beach, Calif.), Emily Hogye (Ben Lomond, Calif.), Mari Inouye (Redwood City, Calif.), Rosalind Ross (Aptos, Calif.) and Annalise VanVranken (Mays Landing, N.J.) earned a combined freestyle score of 8.779 and a final composite of 8.029 to edge second place Germany and third place Austria.
FIGURE SKATING: Dornbush Wins Gold in Dresden
Richard Dornbush (Corona, Calif.) earned the gold medal at the 2010 Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Dresden, Germany on Oct. 10. Dornbush scored 195.23 points - nearly 10 points ahead of second-place Gordei Gorshkov of Russia.
In the junior ladies competition, Christina Gao (Cincinnati, Ohio) won the silver medal with 155.67 points while teammate Felicia Zhang (Plainsboro, N.J.) came in seventh with 123.16 points.
LUGE: Walden Wins Ninth Career USA Luge Start Championship
2002 U.S. Olympic Team member and current national team athlete Ashley Walden (Westborough, Mass.) won her ninth Start Championship held at the USA Luge Start Training Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y. Chris Mazdzer (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) took the men's title, while the doubles team of Matt Mortensen (Huntington Station, N.Y. ) and Preston Griffall (Salt Lake City, Utah) won the doubles crown.
SOCCER: National Teams Draw China and Poland
The U.S. Women's National Team came from behind to tie China 1-1 on Oct. 6 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., as 21-year-old forward Alex Morgan (Diamond Bar, Calif.) scored her first international goal.
Morgan, a senior at California, is the only player on the U.S. roster still in college and was a star on the U.S. team that won the 2008 U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup. She scored the winning goal in the U-20 World Cup Final, but this was her first for the senior side.
In the first of their final three matches in 2010, the U.S. Men's National Team drew with Poland 2-2 behind goals from Jozy Altidore (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Oguchi Onyewu (Olney, Md.) in front of 31,696 fans at Soldier Field in Chicago on Oct. 9.
The U.S. twice took the lead, on Altidore's goal in the 13th minute and again on Onyewu's in the 52nd, but Poland was able to respond both times to earn the draw. The tie was the second straight for the U.S. against Poland on home soil as the last match between the two countries on July 11, 2004 - which was also played at Soldier Field - ended in a 1-1 draw.
The U.S. traveled to Philadelphia on Sunday to prepare for their match against Colombia on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.. The match kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and Galavision.
SWIMMING: U.S. Men Sweep Medals at FINA World Cup Stop in Cancun
Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) took first place and his U.S. teammates Chip Peterson (Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.) and Mark Warkentin (Santa Barbara, Calif.) claimed silver and bronze, respectively, at the penultimate stop on the FINA 10K World Cup Series.
Crippen finished more than 10 seconds ahead of the field, posting a time of 2:07:53 in his gold medal quest. Meanwhile, just four tenths of a second separated silver-medalist Peterson (2:08:04.2) and bronze-medalist Warkentin (2:08:04.6).
In the women's race, Christine Jennings (Longmont, Colo.) earned the silver medal, finishing just one second behind gold medalist and Series leader Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil. Jennings crossed the finish with a time of 2:17:31.
TAEKWONDO: Reyes and Brand medal at World Poomsae Championships
The United States captured two medals at the 5th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships which concluded on Sunday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
In the women's individual second senior category, Akiko Reyes (Aiea, Hawaii) took the silver medal, repeating her performance from last year's world championships. Reyes also owns a bronze medal in the second team competition from the 2007 world championships.
Korea's Suk-Kyung Lee captured the gold and the bronze went to Chinese Taipei's Chi-Lin Wu and Colombia's O. Agudelo.
Barbara Brand (Sacramento, Calif.) won the third world championship medal of her career by taking a bronze in the women's individual second master division. Korean Chung-Hee Chang took home the gold medal, Italy's Clara Cecchetti captured the silver and Patricia C. Martinez de Rodriguez of Mexico won the other bronze. Brand had previously won bronze in the female second team event in both 2007 and 2008.
VOLLEYBALL: U.S. Men Record Sixth-Place Finish at Worlds
The U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team ended the 2010 FIVB World Championship in sixth place after falling to Russia, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 on Oct. 9 in Modena, Italy. It was the best World Championship finish for the U.S. Men (6-3 overall) since they finished third in 1994.
Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawaii) was named the best server of the FIVB Men's World Championship on Oct. 10 in Rome, Italy. Stanley, who plays opposite, was also the Most Valuable Player at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He finished the tournament with 23 aces and 36 faults on 155 attempts and averaged 0.70 aces per set. Stanley started all 33 sets for the U.S. at Worlds.
WEEKLY PREVIEW - October 12-18
BOBSLED: U.S. bobsled and skeleton athletes will begin sliding on the combined track in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Friday, Oct. 15. The U.S. team will compete in a series of selection races to determine the national team before the international sliding season begins.
FIGURE SKATING: The 2010 Junior Grand Prix will take place in Ostrava, Czech Republic Oct. 13-17
GYMNASTICS: The 2010 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are set to take place Oct. 16-24 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
SOCCER: The U.S. men will face Colombia on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
SWIMMING: The 2010 FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup takes place Oct. 12-13 in Beijing, China.
