SPORTS DIGEST | Three YSU athletes earn academic honors

Three YSU athletes earn academic honors

INDIANAPOLIS

YSU soccer player Kelsey Kempton and cross country runners Kayla Witmer and Samantha Hamilton earned academic all-Horizon League honors for the fall semester.

Witmer earned the recognition for the third straight year and for the sixth time total in her career, including track and field. The teams were chosen by vote of the league’s faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors. To be eligible, students needed a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher (based on a 4.00 scale) and have completed at least one year at the school, having earned 24 semester-hour or 36 quarter-hour credits.

Vindicator writer wins national award

YOUNGSTOWN

Vindicator sports writer Joe Scalzo earned a top-10 honor in the Associated Press Sports Editors annual contest conducted on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and judged by a panel of 94 sports editors.

Scalzo’s story “League Fatigue,” detailing Youngstown State’s struggles in the Horizon League over the past decade, was one of 10 stories selected in the Explanatory Reporting category for national newspapers in the 30,000-75,000 circulation category. The winners will be recognized at the APSE’s 38th annual summer conference this June in Boston.

Poland diver Melillo qualifies for state

CLEVELAND

Poland sophomore Celia Melillo placed fourth at Wednesday’s Division II district diving meet at Cleveland State University.

Melillo’s finish qualified her for next weekend’s state meet in Canton.

Boston Marathon revamps registration

BOSTON

The Boston Athletic Association has announced new registration procedures for the Boston Marathon in response to a growing demand that left some of the fastest runners on the sidelines this year.

Organizers said Wednesday that the top qualifiers will be allowed to enter first under a two-week, online, rolling admissions process that will begin with the 2012 race. Qualifying times will not change. In October, nearly 27,000 runners registered for the April 18 race in eight hours, the fastest the field has ever filled. The first-come, first-served registration left many qualified runners disappointed.

Polish stunt cyclist conquers skyscraper

MADRID

A Polish stunt cyclist has hopped up 921 steps to the top of Europe’s tallest hotel, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “taking the stairs.”

Krystian Herba said it took him 19 minutes and 27 seconds Wednesday to get to the peak of the 614-foot (186-meter), 52-story Gran Hotel Bali in the eastern Spanish resort city of Benidorm.

Herba does not pedal but rather bounces his way up, taking usually two steps at a time but sometimes three.

Team Australia enters 2013 America’s Cup

SAN FRANCISCO

Team Australia’s challenge for the 34th America’s Cup has been accepted by the defending Golden Gate Yacht Club.

It is Australia’s first entry in the America’s Cup since 1999-2000.

The 34th America’s Cup will be sailed on San Francisco Bay in 2013 in a new class of 72-foot, wing-sailed catamarans.

In 1983, the wing-keeled Australia II beat Dennis Conner’s Liberty to end the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year hold on the oldest trophy in international sports.

Lotus Renault replaces injured Kubica

PARIS

Formula One team Lotus Renault has announced that German driver Nick Heidfeld will replace the injured Robert Kubica.

Kubica is still recovering in the hospital after crashing while competing in a rally earlier this month, undergoing extensive surgery to repair damage to his right hand.

Vindicator staff/wire reports