| Show — Mr Page 18 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday February c wkl vT kr IWMW 16 1997 American wins women’s downhill - SESTRIFRE Italy (AIM Hilary Lindh saved her best for last — and il was good enough Allwrto Tomba saved his host for hist — hut it wasn't good enough Lindh — who nearly retired a year ago — was the most surprising winner of the two-wee- k World Alpine Ski Championships which ended Saturday capturing the women's downhill it was the first medal for the Americans who fielded a team weakened hy injuries to Tommy Moc and Picaho Street Switzerland's Heidi Zurhriggen got the silver and Sweden's Pern ilia Wiherg took the bronze With Norway's Tom Slianscn claiming the gold in the men's slalom and France’s Schasticn Amiez taking silver it was Tomha's second run that saved the bronze medal for him and showed why he's the spoils most electrifying racer The Lindh claimed her first world gold hy only Oh seconds — to go with a hronc a year ago in the worlds and a silver in downhill at the 1992 Olympics Street who is recovering front a serious knee injury won the world downhill title last year and has won the past two World Cup downhill season titles Lindh of Juneau Alaska clocked minute 41 IS seconds with Zurhriggen finishiim in 1:4124 and I Wiherg in 1:4144 Lindh made a few mistakes at the lop hut still had one of the quickest times through the upper gales lint her gliding and perfect turns at the bottom won it “In the United Slates the only thing that matters is the hig events — winning the worlds or Olympics is the only way you gel recognition” Lindh said “That automatically makes us have that as our bigger goal It's hard when wc'rc away from home (in Europe) all year to ski well for a full season It's a Stiansen who earned his first World Cup win just over (wo months ago in a slalom at Ureckenridge Colo had a combined time of I:? 171) and had the quickest second run (5589) Amiez was clocked in :5 75 and Tomba in :52 14 Tomba was in seventh place and 150 seconds behind Amiez the leader after the first run Attacking till the way down the icy course Tomba clocked a second run of 5501 — the second quickest — in the final event of the championships Norway and Italy each finished with three gold medals Norway also had little easier to come up with one hig race "There's no pressure on us to perform We don’t have )eople mobbing us wanting autographs we don't have journalists that want something every duv" Lindh was America's lop woman skier in the speed events five years ago Hut a serious knee injury in ll‘H set her buck with her only three World Cup wins coming in 904 Then came a hrone behind Street in I ‘Wo This season was mostly a bust until Saturday’s gold "I was so close to not racing this year and even at the beginning of the season I was doubting whether I had made the right choice" Lindh said “All last season I thought it would Ik my last And then in the World Cup final in Norway I sprained my ankle the day before the lust race I was very disappointed and realized I didn't want that to he my final lime on a World Cup course “Now I'm so happy I stuck with it " 1 1 1 three silvers to one silver and two bronzes for the Italians Switzerland also hud six medals hut only two golds Tomba the defending world champion in both slalom and giant slalom and a live-tim- e Olympic and world chamin Wednesday's giant flopped pions slalom when he skidded out after just over a minute and almost fell three times AP photo stands on the winners' US the after gold medal in the winning podium women's downhill at the World Championships skier Hilary Lindh srjrnrfflrij'fTrii Stangs Cats keep pace in region race Sky View comes up big in final quarter to down Logan Mountain Crest holds off Ogden By Mark Olsen sports writer 16-to- -9 3 front-runni- ng 7) int f trips to the foul line scored 43 points and hauled in 15 rebounds In comparison Logan's backcourt accounted for nine points one rebound and two free throw attempts “We gave our guards two direct By Scott Dunn sports writer OGDEN — Just when you thought you might be able to leave a little early from the Mountain Crest boy's basketball game Friday night the Ogden Tigers came roaring back from an 1 deficit to tie the score at 60-6- 0 with four minutes to go But the Tigers' rally ran out of gas and the down the Mustangs outscorcd Ogden stretch to capture the victory 76-6- 9 “We just let down on the offensive rebounds” MC head coach John Nielsen said “They made their foul shots and they really worked us hard inside the paint” The Mustangs (7-- 4 in Region 5 and and 13-- 6 overall) are tied for second place in the region with Sky View a half game behind Bear River Mountain Crest was sitting on a comfortable 40-2- 9 halftime lead and appeared to have control of the game but the Tigers (5-- 5 12-weren't about to give up to the Mustangs on their own court “Our kids said that they were not going to be embarrassed in their own arena” Ogden head coach Mitch Wilcox said” so they worked extra hard and we got a few breaks As a result I think it was probably the best quarter we've played all year” The Tigers caught up and even had a chance to take their first lead in three quarters but after Jared Elliot pulled down one of his nine rebounds his putback attempt rimmed out Mountain Crest’s Tony Brown was there to scoop up the missed shot and the Mustangs brought the ball down the court and fed it inside to Matt Hansen who promptly dropped it in the basket and drew the foul His play put Mountain Crest on top for good and Mustang fans were finally able to exhale “This game was really important because we have been kind of sluggish lately” Hansen said Mitch MascaroHerald Journal “Wc needed this one to give us the momentum we need to go into the State tournament” Logan guard Matt Smith left ducks under pressure applied by Sky View guard Phil Foster during the first half of Friday's night battle at the Recreation Center The Bobcats See STANGS on Page 19 used a big fourth quarter to beat the Grizzlies 65-4- 9 foul-plagu- ed With 1:13 left in Sky View’s 65-4- 9 victory over Logan Friday night Grizzly head coach Kohn Smith scanned his bench Logan swingman Paul Smart orders tonight” Baldwin remarked “Wc wanted them to shorten up had just fouled out and Smith was Logan's passing lanes to make it difficult for them to feed into the post and we wanted them to help on the back side when a lob pass came into (Logan center) Brandon Stephens “Other than that we just turned them looking for a replacement First Smith motioned to Andy Hyer Hyer shrugged He already had five fouls So did fellow guards Matt Smith and K C Comadena who flanked him “I don't have anybody left to put in” an acerbic Smith said turning to the referee The official then cracked a loose” to which Smith curtly responded: “It’s not funny” half-smil- e Nor to Grizzly fans at least was the final margin And game's things could've been worse had the 16-poi- nt Bobcats not turned in a lackluster formance from the charity stripe per- The Bobcats reached the bonus before the first quarter horn only to misfire on half of their 14 opening tan- i freebie attempts and they converted' just27 of a whopping 43 trips to the free throw line for the game While the Bobcats were racking up charity-strip- e visits the Grizzlies were racking up personal fouls in-tu- rn Hyer and Smart Smith Comadena were each tagged with three transgressions before intermission and all of them ended up fouling out “We took the ball at them and forced a lot of the action ourselves” Sky View head coach Terrell Baldwin said of his offensive effort team’s contact-creatin- g “I foil like they were a little tentative on defense and we attacked them and forced them to foul us” Wrecking the most havoc was Sky View’s guard trio of Trevor Stokes Phil Foster and Brandon Thur-goo- d Between them they made 32 cat-qui- ck ' And one of them ran amuck Ahead by just a point at the end of three quarters Sky View outscorcd the Grizzlies 29 to 14 in the final period and the onslaught was Stokes The sophomore poured in 13 points and pulled down four rebounds in the quarter and he ended the 21 points and a night with a game-hig-h ' team-hig- h seven boards We weren't able to stop Stokes all night really” said Hyer one of those who tried' “Wejpt him get away from us” Kohn Smith added “He was the difference in the ball game in the fourth quarter He just came out and took over” On the first possession of that final period with his team clinging to a 36-3- 5 advantage Stokes buried a baseline “It was supposed to go inside to (center) Matt (Huff) but when I came off the pick I was wide open so I just took the shot” Stokes explained Two possessions later Stokes lost Hyer on a screen and sliced into the paint for a layup to give the Cats a cushion After that the Grizzlies were forced to play catch-u- p “Where we lost the game was the See CATS on Page 19 Aggie gymnasts prepare for road tussle with Utes By Shawn Harrison sports writer It's never easy traveling to the Hunts- man Center for a gymnastics meet against Utah but this year may be different for the Aggies No 13 Utah State has had nine days to rest and heal from its last meet a 19375-1925- 0 loss at Brigham Young The No 3 Utes competed at Minnesota Saturday night and must fly back for the Monday night meet at Salt Lake City March-i- n is set for 7 pm Utah also suffered an upset loss at No on 10 Oregon State 19490-19457- 5 Feb 7 So the Utes may be tired and not at full strength That’s just the opposite of the Aggies — at least USU head coach Ray Com hopes so “I’m looking forward to the outing against the University of Utah in the Huntsman Center” Corn said “At this point in time the prcseason virtually ends for us Experimentation with lineups needs to end because we will have a honaflde regional qualifying score (after the Utah meet) “We have to go out and start replacing scores We have eight opportunities to accomplish that” The first coming Monday night The last time these two got together was the home opener for the Aggies on Jan 24 Com had hoped for an upset but a fall from the balance beam and some minor mistakes on the floor exercise gave Utah an easy 19675-19362- 5 win An Aggie victory Monday night would make history because USU has never topped the Utes on their home floor Utah holds a 62-- 3 advantage in the overall scries including 27-- 0 mark at home against the Aggies Still Com believes a big score is just waiting to happen Falls and minor setbacks have cost the Aggies from breaking the 194 barrier They have a season-hig- h score of 193825 “When you look at what we've done not having put everything together yet I'm extremely pleased with the program and what we've accomplished” Corn said “My mission now is to make sure that Amber Jamison gets back into the picture She is an important key to the success of the team” Jamison missed the first two meets with an ankle injury As a freshman last In her year she was the top two meets back Jamison has vaulted and performed on the uneven bars scoring a season-hig- h on the vault with a 975 and on the bars with a 9775 a career-hig- h Trio Box Elder's James Madsen for the 2 decision “It was a little harder than last time” Ricks said “He came out wanting it and I had to step it up I had bigger guys in the weight limit I was a little worried but not to much I lost the bad weight not the good 5-- weight” According to Mountain Crest head coach Davie Swenscn winning a championship is the driving force behind the athletes “This is why coaches coach and wrestlers wrestle to get a state championship” Swenscn said “It was determination and a little bit of luck They are my hardest work-Mounta- Crest's Brian Kangas left attempts to bring down Box Elder's d class Saturday night Kangas captured Denton Harper in the the State title with a 6--4 decision 152-poun- Senior Shannon Passe has been cleared to compete She hurt her knee while warming up for the vault at BYU Passe has a team-hig- h 38667 average 38th best in the nation Jessica Porter Sophomore has also been very consistent with a 38594 average 45th in the country The only other Aggie to compete in the so far this season has been freshman Christy Denson A sore hamstring has slowed Denson and she is doubtful for the Utah meet Utah is led by the eighth and ninth best in the country in Angie Leonard (39232 average) and Traci Sommer (39208) Denise Jones is 19th in the with a 38983 country in the average Sommer is ranked second on the beam with a 9875 average and Leonard is second on the bars with a 9906 average nd a fifth-plafinish Brown was one of two Logan players to make it to the state tournament In team scoring it was Pleasant Grove that put together a run on Friday to demolish a lead by Box Elder The Bees had taken a commanding lead after Thursday's competition but couldn't get the job done in the semifinal matches ce Continued from Page 17 that he saw at the region championships From the opening whistle Ricks took it to in crs- - Logan wrestler Kayson Brown made a good show for himself as he came away with f 30-poi- nt They only put two wrestlers into the finals while the Vikings were able to slide eight wrestlers into the championship finals Box Elder did come back in the placing rounds to get 12 wrestlers in placing posi- tions One killer for the Bees was when Brandon Ripplingcr went out in the semifinals with a broken ankle He had advanced far enough to finish in sixth place but Box Elder would have seen more points had he been able to wrestle lead Box Elder did hold a slim nine-poigoing into the finals but with both finalists losing and Pleasant Grove getting five cham nt “Each meet gets bigger and more important and yet we constantly have to go out and find our comfort zone and just perform routines” Com said “When you add up all the high scores of the top five performers we approach the 196 mark (196025 to be exact) I’m confident it will happen “We just have to be patient I think that rankings are great for publicity I think that scores are great too but we just have to go out and hit routines” Senior Deanna Palmer has the top score on vault with a 9825 Senior Beth Neilson is ranked 15th nationally on the bars with a 9817 average and set the school record in the season opener at Boise State with a 990 Passe has the top score on the beam with a 9825 Sophomore Krissy Richards leads on the floor with a 9875 Porter has the top score with a 38975 pions they ending up finishing in second with 2095 points nine points behind the Vikings Sky View was in contention after the firsj day sitting in third place but a tough semifinal round hurt the Bobcats as they had 10 placers but only one in the finals Sky View was able to hold on and finish in fifth place with 1455 points “We had 10 placers” Swenson said “Our goal was to place 1 1 and have three or four in the finals If that would have happened I think we would have had a shot But our places were to low to help us As a group and team effort I am really happy” Mountain Crest’s only other placer was Brandon McBride who fin140-pound- er ished in third place The Mustangs scored 84 points good enough to finish in eighth place “We have a bunch of good kids coming back” Swensen said “They saw this and feel part of it They know what it takes and I think we will see a lot of hard work” |
