Sports gear, athletic equipments

HEBRON – Sports at Hebron Academy will soon have a new home as an athletic center is dedicated on Saturday.

The ceremonies will take place at 10 a.m. and will include the induction of seven alumni into a new athletic Hall of Fame and a presentation by motivational speaker Travis Roy.

The 54,000-square-foot facility, which has cost approximately $11 million to put up, is expected to open for use within five weeks, according to communications coordinator David Inglehart. It will include space for three basketball courts, a track, a climbing wall, a fitness center and squash court.

The school has also installed a National Collegiate Athletics Association regulation soccer and lacrosse field behind the center.

“This is going to be a huge increase in interior space, for those kids in the winter who need more of it,” Inglehart said.

The opening of the new center is part of the academy’s master plan, which also calls for the conversion of former athletic space in the Sargent Memorial Gymnasium to space for the school’s visual and performing arts. The student union will move into the former arts space in Sturtevant Hall.

The Hall of Fame inductees include Edward J. Jeremiah, class of 1929, who coached the United States Olympic hockey team in 1964; Charles A. Merrill, class of 1939, a ski coach at the 1956 Olympics; and Laurie Pinchbeck Whitsel, class of 1983, who served as the first female president of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Travis Roy, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a hockey accident in 1995, is the author of the book “Eleven Seconds” and founder of the Travis Roy Association. The foundation was established in 1997 to fund research into spinal cord injuries and assist survivors of such injuries.

Source :http://www.sunjournal.com/story/284985-3/OxfordHills/Hebron_Academy_to_dedicate_athletic_center/

A serious fire guts a Montrose gym early this morning.

Just before 1:00 this morning, the Montrose Fire Protection District responded to the Montrose Athletic Club on reports of flames coming from the roof and a possible explosion. Fire officials say when they arrived, flames were shooting from the roof and they weren’t able to completely enter the building because a staircase had collapsed.

According to a witness, smoke was seen coming from the roof and shortly after, he heard an explosion and called 911.

There were no injuries the building did not have a sprinkler system or fire alarms. Officials are labeling this fire suspicious and currently the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is trying determine a cause.

This is not the first time the Montrose Athletic Club fell victim to a fire. In May of last year, an electrical fire destroyed the sauna and part of the nursery.

No word yet on if the facility will be rebuilt.

Source : http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4252

Brandon Rush kept flipping the fancy wooden jewelry box open and looking down at what was inside of it.

He couldn’t help it. Rush had just received his national championship ring Friday night at a private ceremony held in the Naismith Room at Allen Fieldhouse. He stopped on the way out to his limousine to speak with reporters and continually glanced down at the blue ‘KU’ imprinted in the middle of a bed of diamonds.

“They’re kind of beautiful as you can see,” Rush said.

Fourteen of the 17 players on last year’s championship roster were in Lawrence to attend the ceremony. Russell Robinson and Sasha Kaun missed it because they are overseas playing professional basketball. Darrell Arthur couldn’t make it because he had a team function with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Older former Jayhawks also came to watch the team receive their rings including current NBA players Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Jacque Vaughn.

“It wasn’t a pep-rally by any means,” coach Bill Self said. “It was a very appreciative group of people tonight who were able to get their rings.”

Rush is clearly a better ball-handler than ring-handler. The former Jayhawk guard and current Indiana Pacer dropped his ring to the hard Allen Fieldhouse concourse floor twice in less than a minute after the ceremony.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason why he doesn’t plan on keeping it for very long.

“I’m going to give it to my grandma,” Rush said. “My grandma has all my rings framed in glass so she’s going to put it up there.”

Darnell Jackson, who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, is keeping his ring. He isn’t going to wear it, but figures it would be safer under his own control.

Jackson said he feared what might happen if he followed Rush’s lead and gave it to his family.

“I can’t give it to my mom, she’ll lose it,” Jackson said. “She’ll carry it around in her purse and leave her purse somewhere and somebody will take it out of there.”

Self used the same word as Jackson and Rush to describe the silver ring — “beautiful.”

But that doesn’t mean the national championship coach is going to wear it around. Well, at least not most of the time.

“I doubt I’ll wear it much,” Self said. “I may wear it on recruiting visits, though.”

Three top recruits were in town this weekend and went to the ring ceremony as part of their visit. John Wall, the No. 1 high school player in the nation according to Rivals.com, watched the Jayhawks receive their rings along with No. 18 Thomas Robinson and No. 22 Daniel Orton.

Jackson hopes to see the younger Jayhawks win another national championship at some point. He said they would just need to learn it takes time and hard work.

For now, Jackson is content reflecting on this year’s championship.

“A lot of guys put hard work into this,” Jackson said. “Even the older guys who were before us. They tried to go after the same thing but couldn’t pull it off. I guess it was just our turn.”

Source :http://www.kansan.com/stories/2008/sep/22/champs_rings/?sports

HYDE PARK – The high jumpers on the school district track teams this year will find their landings softer after clearing the bar.

The Hyde Park school board recently voted to spend $9,139 to purchase a new high jump pad and related aluminum athletic equipment.

The district is operating under a contingency budget that restricts spending on new equipment. Money can only be spent on items deemed necessary for the health and safety of the students.

In this case, district Athletic Director Amy McArdle said the condition of the district’s high jump landing system may pose a risk of injury to athletes in the winter and spring track and field programs.

School board member Glenn Watson said, “The (landing) pit is in bad enough shape.”

- John Davis

Source :http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/NEWS01/809150309/1006