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Rosko honored

CONWAY, S.C. — Canfield High graduate Joe Rosko has been named to the Coastal Carolina University all-academic team and Dean’s scholar team.

Rosko is a redshirt sophomore linebacker on the Coastal Carolina football team. The son of Kathy and Fred Rosko of Canfield, he has a 3.65 grade-point average and is majoring in musical theater with a minor in history.

Poland has tickets

POLAND — Tickets for the Poland High-Perry High regional tournament semifinal basketball game Thursday at the Canton Civic Center at 8 p.m. will be on sale Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Poland High School office.

The schedule for ticket sales: Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for parents of players and cheerleaders, and for school personnel and students; Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for reserved seat holders, season ticket holders and students; and Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for school passes, general public and students.

state

Fairborn takes title

LANCASTER, Ohio — Kindra Snyder led the way but it was Fairborn’s depth which powered it to the title at the second annual girls state high school bowling championship on Saturday at Tiki Lanes.

Fairborn edged Kettering Fairmont by a single pin to take the title.

Fairborn totaled 2,908 pins to Fairmont’s 2,907. Centerville was third with 2,762, followed by Troy with 2,752 and Cincinnati McAuley with 2,709.

Jennifer Grady of Kettering Fairmont had games of 276, 237 and 217 to total a 730 series to easily win the individual title. Kelsey Zumfelde of Napoleon was second with 665 pins, followed by Kathryn Cox of Beavercreek (647), Troy’s Alicia Simpson (643) and Fairborn’s Snyder (635).

Snyder was supported by teammates Casey Fulton (10th, 617), Roniqua Scott (17th, 584), Audra Mrenak (37th, 540) and Samantha Weinert (43rd, 532).

Kmiecik wins state

HILLIARD, Ohio — Rocky River Magnificat’s Kayla Kmiecik erased the memory of a second-place finish a year ago to win the all-around title at the state girls gymnastics championship Saturday at Darby High School. Kmiecik, a senior headed to Ball State, captured event titles on the uneven parallel bars and on the floor exercise en route to becoming the 12th Magnificat gymnast to win the state all-around crown with a score of 37.825 points.

Kmiecik, who was second in the all-around last year after falling off the balance beam, won the uneven bars for the third year in a row with a score of 9.475 and also won the floor exercise with a score of 9.500. She was fourth in the vault and second on the beam.

The Blue Streaks claimed three of the top five places in the all-around, helping to overcome the sting of finishing second to Brecksville-Broadview Heights in the team competition, which was held on Friday. Freshman Kelly Nortz was second in the all-around and senior Kelsey Reddy was fifth. Nortz earned her runnerup spot in the all-around by winning the vault, finishing second on the bars, fourth on the floor and fifth on the beam.

Senior Morgan Spellacy, of Columbus DeSales was sixth in the all-around.

nation

Sham Stakes results

ARCADIA, Calif. — Colonel John held off the closing charge of El Gato Malo to win the $200,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds by a half-length Saturday at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Colonel John covered 1 1-8 miles under a light drizzle in 1:50.15 on the all-weather surface and paid $5, $2.40 and $2.10.

Trained by Eoin Harty, Colonel John hadn’t run since Dec. 22, when he finished second to In Mischief in the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. Gomez was aboard Saturday in place of Corey Nakatani, expected to return Sunday after being out with a broken collarbone.

Iditarod under way

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A record field of mushers drove dog teams through Alaska’s largest city Saturday in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Well-bundled fans braved wind-chills hovering just above zero to line up along the 11-mile run from downtown’s Fourth Avenue. Many in the crowd traveled to Alaska just to experience part of the race.

“I decided if I wanted to see the Iditarod, I better get to doing it,” said 91-year-old Roberta Moore, of Sarasota, Fla., who has read about the Iditarod for years.

The actual start of the 1,100-mile race begins today in Willow, about 50 miles to the north. That’s when mushers start seriously chasing after this year’s $875,000 purse, to be paid out among the top 30 finishers to cross the burled arch in Nome. Snowboarding update

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Lindsay Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner gave the United States a first-place sweep in the U.S. Snowboarding Cup snowboard cross event at Whiteface Mountain on Saturday.

Jacobellis and Baumgartner each won all of their qualifying races as well as the final heats in the men’s and women’s World Cup contest.

Jacobellis, from Stratton Mountain, Vt., also won her fourth straight SBX title at Whiteface.

“Today, getting a good start was very important because the course was too narrow up top to pass,” Jacobellis said.”

Hamm, Liukin in lead

NEW YORK — Paul Hamm showed the world he’s back while Nastia Liukin reminded everyone she’s still very much here.

Hamm and Liukin won the American Cup on Saturday, a prestigious international meet that often serves as a preview for the Olympic all-around competition. And with the Beijing Games less than six months away, the Americans firmly established themselves as contenders for gold.

This was Hamm’s first international meet since he won the gold medal in Athens almost four years ago, and he dominated as if he’d never been away. His score of 94.4 points was more than three points ahead of that of fellow American Sasha Artemev (91.150) and reigning world bronze medalist Hisashi Mizutori (90.950).

world

Americans go 1-2-3 in figure skating

SOFIA, Bulgaria — It was an all-American finish at the junior world figure skating championships.

Rachael Flatt won the title and led a U.S. sweep in the women’s competition Saturday. Caroline Zhang, who’d won the title last year, was a close second while new U.S. senior champion Mirai Nagasu took the bronze medal.

Vindicator staff/wire reports