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Show . The fKs Newspaper j by Jim Murray Mnmrraiy aim pnnti Marathons are Going Too Far Wednesday, December 24, 1980 Pane 13 One Quarter is Not Enough; Miners Trampled by Mustangs It was good while it lasted. The Park City Miners, playing their most agressive defense of the season, charged to an 18-13 first-quarter first-quarter lead over the visiting North Rich Mustangs Friday night. Then the roof fell in. The Mustangs took control in the second quarter, outscored the Miners 31-9, then coasted to a 79-55 win. But at least Miner fans had something to cheer about for those first eight minutes. "In that first quarter the kids played with the most intensity in-tensity they have shown all year," Park City Coach Bruce Reid said later. As guard Trent Leavitt led the way with three steals in the first four minutes, the Miners repeatedly stopped the Mustangs before they could bring the ball upcourt. Halfway through the period they had jumped ahead 9-4. That first period was marked by wild up-and-down-the-court action. That style, which Reid described as "helter-skelter, scrambling scram-bling ball," clearly paid early dividends for the underdog un-derdog Miners. With Jeff Smith, Dick Olsen, Kenneth Palmman and Leavitt providing the scoring punch, the home team protected that five-point lead until the end of the period. Then, to start the second period, Reid brought in a new lineup, taking out everybody but Jeff Smith and bringing in John Ott, Bob Blackbourn, Steve Toly and Roger Burns.- - Suddenly the momentum-shifted. momentum-shifted. The Mustangs took control, outscoring the Miners 10-1 in the first three minutes of the second period, turning a five-point deficit into a four-point lead. Park City's "second" team did not h v- the fire that the fans had seen in the first period. The defense was less aggressive; the offense couldn't find the basket. Halfway through the period it was 29-21 North Rich. Reid started to bring the members of the "first" team back into the lineup, but they were unable to slow the Mustangs' charge. By half time it was 44-27. The suggestion was made to Reid that bringing in a new team had had contributed con-tributed to the shift in momentum in the second period. "The point wasn't that at all," he said. "I told the kids beforehand I was going to platoon them." Reid explained that he had divided the team into two squads during practice, and had promised that the squad which "won" Thursday's scrimmage would start Friday's game, and that the other squad would start the second period. "The first group played extremely well," he said, "but they couldn't have kept the intensity going all game." The Mustange onslaught continued in the second half. At the end of the third period it was 67-39. The lead reached as many as 33 points early in the fourth period before both coaches cleared their benches. A shot chart for the game would have revealed a dramatic difference in the styles of the two teams. Most of Park City's baskets came from the 10-15 foot range, as the Miners were unable to find the open man under the basket. North Rich, on the other hand, hardly scored a point (other than free throws) from beyond about 10 feet. The Mustangs scored basket after basket by getting get-ting to the ball to the open man inside the lane. More often than not, that open man was 6'5" senior Matt Dustin, who finished the game with 24 points. Teammate Craig Jex added 18. Reid said the Miners' "Helter-skelter" defense paid off for a while with several steals early in the game. But the Mustangs had enough poise to compensate, started to catch the Miners out of position and stated to hit the open man. "They took , '-v . ; S ft ' . '' 'i - l! i X 1 ' - ' U ' i 1 ' T v - lit ' .-A A , Y ' ' -;; "-t, ki ' '": I ' " -. f, J " m ' r , - , " ; " - " " " ' I - . s' - , f v Kenneth Palmman lets go with a jump Erly flatfooted. fji-;'.'-y'J --'l-- - .it' I I advantage of that overload as well as any team I've seen on the high-school level," he said. Contributing to the Miners' demise was an incredible in-credible string of fouls. They were called for 33 violations to only 17 for the Mustangs. Olsen and Smith fouled out in the third period, with Burns and Chris Sloan join:ng them on the bench beore the game was over. The Mustangs took advantage, hitting 23 of 45 free throws, while the Miners connected on 11 of 17. The leading Park City scorer was Dick Olsen with 12 points. The only other player in double figures was Trent Leavitt with 10. For a complete rundown on the scoring, see the Scoreboard section. In spite of the lopsided loss, Reid managed to find something to cheer about. "Our kids played hard, finally," he said. "North Rich was as good a team as we've played this season," he added. "They all jumped and ran real well." The Miners are now 0-2 in league play, 2-8 overall. Their next game will be Friday. Jan. 2 in Randolph against South Rich. North Rich guard Dave Iluefner (10) tights City's Dick Olsen (20) and Roger Burns (31 ). for a rebound with Park The United States Ski Team has announced that its sixth annual Celebrity Invitational Invi-tational will be held April 2-4 in Park City, site of the first celebrity event. Clearly one of the most successful and entertaining events of its kind, the three-day affair features 16 U.S. Ski Team athletes and 16 celebrities gathered together to-gether for ski tips, ski races, wining and dining. Last year's event in Sun Valley featured such personalities as Clint Eastwood, Barbie Benton, Shirley Jones and Cliff Robertson, along with such skiing greats as Phil and Steve Mahre, Alison Owen and Walter Malm-quist. Malm-quist. "We are very pleased to be able to return to Park City, our home base of operation," said Executive Director Bill Traeger. "We are looking forward to making this year's event our biggest and best yet." Sponsorship has yet to be solidified. However, the Huntsman - Christensen Corporation will provide housing for all participants at the Shadow Ridge Development, De-velopment, located at the base of the ski lifts. The Park City Ski Corporation will host the activities on the mountain. The opening schedule of events call for a kick-off party the afternoon of April 2, followed by a ski team clinic and tachnique session and two days of team giant slalom racing. Last season's celebrity event raised over $35,000 which went towards the team's training and preparation prepara-tion for the 1980-81 season. Among the things I never expect to do in this lifetime is climb into the ring with Larry Holmes, face Rich Gossage's fastball, fight a bull or run a marathon. But I am almost alone in my resistance to an event which requires lungs of steel, the heart of a lion, the legs of a race horse, and the imperviousness to pain of a charging grizzly. I sometimes doubt if I've run 26 miles, 385 yards in my entire life, let alone in an afternoon. It's well to bear in mind that the guy who ran the original Marathon, Pheidippides, fell dead at the, feet of the elders to whom he brought news of victory. Or maybe that was the French lad who brought the good news from Ghent to Aix. No matter. You wouldn't think if you knocked on a thousand doors and invited residents to join you in a 26-mile jaunt before lunch you'd get 10 takers. But Americans are absolutely mad about marathons. It's either a rise in sadomasochism sadomaso-chism or a revolt against daytime television. Someone once asked Clarence De Mars, the great American marathoner, how you get ready to run the marathon. He reflected a moment and then said, "Well, if you can get someone to push two swords through your chest without your wincing or slowing down, you're ready." It may even be the high cost of cabs, but when 14,012 apparently sane citizens lined up at the site of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge for the start of the New York Marathon awhile back, that was more people than fought the original Battle of Marathon. But it didn't surprise one Broadway wise guy who shrugged and said. "What'd you expect? They're afraid to use the subway." The growth of marathoning is eye-popping. Over 20,000 others had to be turned away at New York where, f the first time, standards were applied foi -mission. That would have meant a "field" oi 35,000 for an event which pulled only 2,000 four years ago. It was estimated by the promoters that over 2,000 starters were doctors and lawyers, and Sports Illustrated magazine reported 168 company presidents were in their skivvies. And over 90 percent of the 14,000 who showed up at New York finished. The Olympic Marathon distance is an arbitrary one. History holds the original distance run by Pheidippides to be 22 miles, 1,470 yards. The distance was variously run at the Olympics renewals at 24 miles to 26, until 1908 when the Olympics were run in London and the officials wanted to start the race at Windsor Castle, the royal home, and finish up in front of the royal box. Hence, 26 miles, 385 yards. It was inevitable that Madison Avenue would get in on the marathon craze and the Jordache Jeans people offered $250,000 in prize money for the New York Marathon. The promoters were intrigued, but the governing body of track and field, The Athletic Congress, ruled the money would have to be paid to the runners' clubs. This is a way of laundering the money before it finds it way into the hands of the athletes. But the top runners, some of whom still dream of a bigger score if they remain "amateur" through the '84 Los Angeles Olympics, threatened to boycott the race if prize money was paid. Undaunted, Jordache sponsored a professional profes-sional marathon in Pasadena, Calif., last month, with $50,000 to be divided equally among men and women, with $12,500 for the winner in each sex. What this means to other American sports which are sprinter-oriented, no one can say. I mean, would Pheidippides have made a good tailback? Point guard? Will they now have to play the Super Bowl from Miami-to-Ft. Lauderdale? Will the base paths in baseball have to be one mile long? Will the basketball court run from one city limits sign to the other? If the marathon craze grows, its effect on the economy can also be devastating. I mean, if everyone is going to start running through the streets of New York wearing only shorts and a T-shirt, what are the muggers going to do for a living? 1980 Los Angeles Times tele-free shot, catching Mustang Neil IM2AUJIMUUUUU 1700 Park Avenue 649-4949 or 649-8770 1 On the way to everywhere with Park City's lowest rentakates. Celebrity Invitational Returns To Park City Now there's even another reason to SUBSCRIBE to Newspaper the exclusive CABLE TV LISTINGS for the Park City area! See Page 22 for Details. |