local

local

Campbell basketball

IRONTON — They came to play basketball, but one of the teams in the inaugural Ironton Classic basketball showcase decided to extend a hand of friendship and holiday spirit during its visit to Ironton.

Monday night, the Campbell Memorial High School team played a team from Largo, Md.

But on Monday afternoon they delivered gift bags to the residents at Jo-Lin Health Center.

“The superintendent (Dean Nance) asked us what we wanted to do while we were here and instead of going bowling I said we wanted to visit a hospital or something like that,” Red Devils coach Brian Danilov explained to The Ironton Tribune.

“So we got some fruit and candy and some little stuff like that and we split into groups and went through the halls. Some of them sang Christmas carols. It was nice, nice for everybody.”

Danilov said the team is very familiar with community service.

They volunteer weekly at a local food bank.

state

Szczerbiak out

CLEVELAND — Cleveland Cavaliers forward Wally Szczerbiak will miss at least one week with a bruised right knee.

The team said in a statement Saturday that Szczerbiak suffered right knee contusions during the last several games.

He had an MRI at the Cleveland Clinic on Saturday that confirmed the contusions.

Szczerbiak is averaging 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds this season.

Blue Jackets call up

COLUMBUS — The Columbus Blue Jackets recalled forward Craig MacDonald from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse on Saturday.

The 31-year-old has eight goals and 11 assists in 31 games with Syracuse this season.

Hartford’s third pick and the 88th overall selection in the 1996 draft, MacDonald played in 65 games last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring two goals and adding nine assists.

He has 10 goals and 23 assists in 229 career NHL games.

Reds sign Taveras

CINCINNATI — Willy Taveras and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a two-year contract Saturday, plugging the team’s hole in center field.

The speedy Taveras is coming off a down season with Colorado.

He batted .251 with a paltry .308 on-base percentage in 133 games, though he did lead the major leagues with 68 stolen bases.

“Willy Taveras fills two significant needs for our ballclub, a speed base-stealing threat at the top of the order and superior defense in center field,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said in a statement.

nation

Fabulous Strike takes Gravesend Handicap

NEW YORK — Fabulous Strike, the 1-2 favorite, rolled to a 1 3‚Ñ4-length win over True Quality on Saturday in the $103,100 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct.

One of the leading sprinters in the nation, Fabulous Strike made the task easier by scaring away half the competition.

Eight horses were entered for the six-furlong race, but only four showed up.

True Quality took charge early and Ramon Dominguez let Fabulous Strike settle in second, an ideal stalking trip.

Fabulous Strike, fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in late October, simply overpowered the pacesetter in the deep stretch.

The time was 1:09.74 over a track rated good at the foggy Big A.

Fabulous Strike, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Todd Beattie, earned $64,860 for owner Walter Downey.

He got his 12th victory in 19 career starts, paying $3.10 and $2.30.

Davis wins 500, Hedrick takes 5,000

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Chad Hedrick edged rival Shani Davis in a 5,000-meter race on Saturday after Davis had beaten him earlier in the 500 at the U.S. Long Track Speedskating National Championships at the Pettit National Ice Center.

Skating in the same pairing, Hedrick won the 5,000 in 6 minutes, 26.76 seconds, well off his Pettit Center record of 6:16.23 set on Oct. 26. Davis was second in 6:28.07.

Davis and Hedrick were also paired in the 500, which Davis won in 36.03.

Hedrick was second in 36.61.

Slow, frosty ice kept the times down on the first day of the four-day meet, where skaters are chasing U.S. titles and spots on the U.S. World Cup team.

world

Icy course a worry

BORMIO, Italy — The bottom section of the Stelvio course is so hard and icy that even Bode Miller is wondering if he has the stamina to ski it.

Miller, who won the World Cup downhill here last year and took gold in both downhill and super-G at the 2005 world championships on the Stelvio, said conditions this season are as challenging as he’s ever seen them.

“The top is bumpy, so you get tired, then the bottom is icy and dark and when it’s all in the shade like it is now you can’t see anything,” Miller said Saturday after placing 10th in the final training session ahead of today’s race.

“The bumps rattle you so much because it rained down here and it’s all ice.”

Nordic skiing

OBERHOF, Germany — Todd Lodwick made an impressive return to Nordic combined skiing’s top circuit, finishing second to Magnus Moan of Norway in a photo finish Saturday in the American’s first World Cup event in nearly three years.

Moan finished seventh in the morning ski jumping portion and then edged Lodwick and overall leader Anssi Koivuranta of Finland in the 10-kilometer cross-country race to finish in 25 minutes, 22.8 seconds.

The trio skied together for the last 1.5 kilometers before Moan won the final sprint, beating Lodwick by 0.3 seconds and Koivuranta by 0.4. Bill Demong of the U.S. was fifth.

Wild Oats XI wins

HOBART, Australia — Wild Oats XI overcame an encounter with a 7-foot shark to win the Sydney to Hobart yacht race for a record fourth consecutive time on Sunday.

Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards steered the maxi yacht across the finish line at Constitution Dock on the island state of Tasmania 1 day, 20 hours, 34 minutes, 14 seconds after leaving Sydney Harbour on Friday.

The time was about two hours slower than the record it set in 2005 for the 723-mile race.

On Saturday night, while dueling with another maxi for the lead, Wild Oats hit a shark that became entangled in the rudder.

Vindicator staff/wire reports