AREA

AREA

SRU tennis team earns NCAA berth

INDIANAPOLIS — The 29th-ranked Slippery Rock University women’s tennis team received a berth in the NCAA Division II championships.

The Rock (20-4) will play a second-round match against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference rival Kutztown University (11-5) on May 8 in an Atlantic Regional Preliminary Round competition hosted by Bloomsburg University.

The Rock-Kutztown match will be a replay of last Saturday’s consolation match in the PSAC Championships, also held in Bloomsburg, which The Rock won by a 5-1 score to finish third in the conference standings.

SRU is in NCAA postseason competition for the ninth time in school history and the eighth time in the last 10 seasons.

Slippery Rock HOF announced

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock’s 26th athletic hall of fame class includes Garry Benford (Class of 1977, ‘79), Roger Flynn (1968), Laurel Heilman (1986, ‘88), Duane Kirklin (1964), Robert Ogoreuc (1996), William Rometo (1946) and Charles Vietmeier (1982).

Rometo will be honored posthumously.

Induction will be prior to The Rock’s home football game Sept. 26 vs. Indiana (Pa.).

Croes finalist for Ashe away

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock sophomore Shardea Croes was named as a finalist for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award presented by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine.

The female and male winners of this year’s award will be announced and profiles in the May 28, 2009 issue of the magazine.

A two-year starter in right field on The Rock softball team, Croes is the only non-NCAA Division I female student-athlete included in the finalist pool.

Sharon Speedway adds hobby stock

HARTFORD, Ohio — Sharon Speedway will add an entry level 4-cylinder front wheel drive hobby stock class to its weekly racing card for the 2010 season.

The new hobby stock class will be open to both domestic and foreign produced front wheel drive cars that are powered by stock four-cylinder engines.

The new class is slated to debut at the beginning of the 2010 season, although an earlier starting date is possible. For more details, visit www.sharonspeedway.com.

Penn-Ohio golf

CANFIELD — Scott Porter shot a 70 to earn medalist honors in Penn-Ohio Golf League action recently at the par-72 Tippecanoe Country Club.

Porter plays for Canfield, which finished third. Youngstown was first and Poland second. Grove City finished fourth.

NATION

Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bubba Watson overpowered Quail Hollow and wound up with a perfect day — he tied a course record with a 30 on the front nine, shot 7-under 65 to share the lead, and doesn’t have to play with Tiger Woods.

Retief Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open champion who thrives on fast greens, had another 68 on Friday to join Watson atop the leaderboard at the Quail Hollow Championship with an 8-under 136.

Woods seized control with a 55-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and had a two-shot lead for most of the back nine until a sloppy finish, making bogeys on two of the last three holes for a 72 that left him one shot behind.

WORLD

Rome Masters

ROME — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic posted straight-set wins Friday to set up a semifinal meeting in the Rome Masters, and three-time champion Rafael Nadal advanced in the other half of the draw.

Nadal cruised past eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3, improving to 8-0 against his fellow Spaniard. He will play 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, who struggled past Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Federer overcame net-charging German qualifier Mischa Zverev, advancing 7-6 (3), 6-2. Djokovic stayed on course to defend his title in this clay-court warmup for the French Open with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro.

Spanish Open

GIRONA, Spain — France’s Thomas Levet shot a 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead in the Spanish Open, while John Daly’s 72 left him 11 strokes back in his first tournament of the season.

Vindicator staff/wire reports