Sports in brief

YSU

Athletes graduate

YOUNGSTOWN — Thirty-six former YSU athletes recently earned their degrees.

Eight of them graduated with honors. Brittany Jones (golf), Irena Lanc (tennis), Regan O’Brien (golf), Keeley Rice (soccer) and Carrie Wack (soccer) graduated summa cum laude.

Diego Cerzosimo (tennis) and Stephanie Jarvis (track and field) graduated magna cum laude.

LOCAL

Camp of Champs

YOUNGSTOWN — The Cardinal Mooney Camp of Champions for football players from the fourth through ninth grades will be held June 29-30 at Mooney High School.

The camp will be headlined by collegiate coaches Bo Pelini of Nebraska and Mike Stoops of Arizona, both Mooney alumni.

Other special guests will be assistant coaches Jay Paterno of Penn State, D.J. Durkin (Stanford), Tim Beck (Nebraska), Nick Siciliano (Ohio State), Reno Ferri (Akron), Pete Rekstis (Kent State), Mark Stoops (Arizona) and Carl Pelini (Nebraska).

Beck, Ferri, Mark Stoops and Carl Pelini also are Mooney graduates, while Durkin is from Boardman High and Siciliano from Austintown Fitch.

Informational brochures are available at the Field of Dreams, Sports World, YMCA and Creekside Fitness, all located in Boardman; and Friendly’s Ice Cream in Poland, Katie’s Corner in Canfield and at Cardinal Mooney (330-788-5007).

Blaney Classic

HARTFORD — Presale tickets for the inaugural Boardman/Diamond Steel Lou Blaney Memorial Classic on July 7 at Sharon Speedway will go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The event, which will honor the memory of Hall of Fame driver Lou Blaney, and help raise awareness of Alzheimer’s Disease, will feature both the Warren Harley-Davidson 410 Sprint cars and Gibson Governor Insurance Big Block Modifieds.

Both divisions will square off in 30-lap feature contests, paying $3,000 to the winner.

Early entries in the sprint car class include NASCAR Nextel Cup stars Tony Stewart, Dave Blaney and Kasey Kahne. Three time and defending All Star Circuit of Champions kingpin Dale Blaney has also confirmed his attendance

Adult tickets ($18) and student (ages 9-13) will be sold until July 3. Kids under 8 are free.

For tickets, visit www.sharonspeedway.com, or call (330) 772-1186.

Game of Hope accepting nominations

NILES — The Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley is accepting player nominations for its second annual “Softball Game of Hope” Classic,” in conjunction with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Aug. 1 game at Eastwood Field.

The game is a celebrity/benefit softball game that will benefit chronically/terminally ill children of the Mahoning Valley.

The teams will be comprised of local community leaders, dignitaries and media from Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Tickets are $7 for both games with a $3 donation going to the cause.

To nominate a player, visit www.hopemv.org. Deadline is June 12.

Latest Line

Wednesday’s Latest Line was not available at press time.

NATION

USA Basketball could retain stars

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the core of the Olympic basketball champions could be back in USA uniforms next summer for the world championships.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo met with half of the team during the NBA All-Star break and said it’s a “distinct possibility” that some of the gold medalists will play in Turkey in 2010.

During the meeting, which also included Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh, Colangelo said he wanted only a two-year commitment this time, with those years being 2010 and 2012. If the Americans win the world championships, they would automatically qualify for the London games and not have to play in ’11.

“They said they bought into that, let’s do that,” Colangelo said. “Now I think it’s important, as far as I’m concerned, that’s what they indicated then. I think that’s really where they are. A lot of things could happen between now and ’10, and we just have to play it by ear. I think right now we have the buy-in.”

Vindicator staff/wire reports