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Baseball Oldtimers

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Baseball Oldtimers Association will hold its monthly meeting Thursday at Kramer Field at 2:30 p.m.

Upcoming summer events will be discussed.

NCAA qualifiers

GROVE CITY, Pa. — The Grove City College men’s swimming and diving team will send 11 swimmers to the NCAA Division III Championships March 18-21 in Minneapolis.

Grove City will be represented by four seniors who are returning NCAA All-Americans: Caleb Courage, Peter Larsen, Drew Snyder and Tim Whitbeck.

Seven of the 11 swimmers are making their first trip to the national championships, including freshmen Clay Beckner, Ben Bowser, Kirk Gagliardo and Nick Hamilton.

Sophomores Cam Coppelli, Bennett Keefer and Nate Nielsen will also make their debut at the NCAA Championships.

ITA national ranking

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — The Slippery Rock Univ. women’s tennis team moved up one spot to No. 26 in the Campbell’s/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II national rankings released Monday.

The Rock had been ranked 27th in the previous national poll, which was released at the end of the fall season Oct. 30, 2008.

Howard departs Rock

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Thomas Howard, linebackers coach for the Slippery Rock Univ. football team for the past four seasons, was recently hired as the defensive coordinator at Lincoln University in Missouri.

Rock head coach Dr. George Mihalik said a national search will begin shortly to find Howard’s successor.

Howard joined The Rock staff prior to the 2005 season after serving as defensive coordinator and defensive backs/linebackers coach at Allen University. He also served one year as assistant athletic director/compliance coordinator and two years as academic adviser/recruiting coordinator at the school.

Regional honors

NEW ORLEANS – Slippery Rock Univ. track and field coach John Papa and sophomore Whitney Hendershot have earned top regional honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their efforts during the 2008-09 indoor season.

Papa was named the Atlantic Region Women’s Coach of the Year after guiding The Rock to its third consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship. Under Papa, three individual athletes were accepted into the NCAA Division II National Championships.

Hendershot was named the Atlantic Region Female Field Athlete of the Year.

Spring schedules

YOUNGSTOWN — All area high schools are requested to send a copy of their spring sports schedules to The Vindicator.

They can be sent by fax to (330) 747-6712 or e-mailed to sports@vindy.com.

nation

Friesan Fire favorite for Louisiana Derby

NEW ORLEANS — Friesan Fire, a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby, was installed Monday as the early favorite for the Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds.

Coming into the $600,000 race Saturday with victories in the Risen Star and the Lecomte Sakes, Friesan Fire was the top choice at 5-2 and drew the No. 9 post in a field of 10 3-year-olds. The colt, trained by Larry Jones, will be ridden by Gabriel Saez.

Patena was the second choice at 7-2, followed by Giant Oak at 4-1. Among other top challengers are Risen Star runner-up Flying Pegasus and Papa Clem, which finished second in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita last month.

Mackey takes lead

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey moved from fourth to first place and was the first musher into the Rainy Pass checkpoint early in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

At midday Monday, Mackey was the only musher to have arrived at Rainy Pass after having negotiated one of the steepest parts of the 1,100-mile trail where it descends sharply into a gorge along Happy River.

In years where the trail is icy and fast, descending into the gorge can be scary. But mushers were told this year that there was less to worry about on this portion of the trail because there was good snow cover for the sled runners.

world

Canadiens fire coach

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens have fired coach Guy Carbonneau and replaced him with general manager Bob Gainey.

The Canadiens have struggled in their 100th season and started Monday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but only one point above the postseason cutoff. What was supposed to be a season of celebration has turned into one of difficulty.

Montreal (35-24-7) went into a free fall in late January and February, losing 10 of 13. The Canadiens, 5-4-1 in their previous 10 games, won 3-1 at Dallas on Sunday in their last game with Carbonneau as coach.

Vindicator staff/wire reports