Moser Makes Olympic Trials Cut

Posted Jun 26, 2008 by Bill Ward

Updated Jun 26, 2008 at 02:23 PM

Former Wharton High track and field standout Natalie Moser, a senior at the University of Florida, has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the pole vault.

Moser had been on the bubble to make the trials. She was tied for the 24th and final qualifying spot with three other vaulters with a mark of 14 feet, 1.25 inches. Wednesday, USA Track and Field officials decided to take the entire field of 24 qualifiers in both the women’s and men’s pole vault.

Moser was a state champion for Wharton her senior year and the Southeastern Conference indoor winner last year. She went on to set the Gators’ indoor pole vault record at the NCAA Indoor Championships by clearing 14-1.25. With that mark, she wound up second at the NCAAs after three rounds of a jump-off.

Moser has since been hampered by a knee injury but has recovered this spring and summer to return to the vault and the U.S. trials. The top three finishers in the women’s vault earn spots in the Beijing Olympic Games. The top seed is 2008 World Indoor Champs silver medalist and two-time USA Outdoor champion Jenn Stuczynski, who is the current American record holder at 16-0.75.

Joining Moser at the meet as a Wharton and UF alumnus will be Alex Harris, who qualified in the triple jump with his mark of 52 feet, 2 inches.

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Pena, Beckham in minors tomorrow

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 07:42 PM

MIAMI—Just got word that Carlos Pena will indeed play for Vero Beach at Sarasota tomorrow. He’ll DH in the 7 p.m. game from picturesque Ed Smith Stadium and rejoin the Rays in Pittsburgh.

The team hasn’t said for sure that Pena will be activated Friday, but expect him to come off the DL sometime during the Pirates series.

Also, forgot to pass this along earlier: Tim Beckham will make his pro debut—also as a DH—tomorrow night for Princeton against Burlington.

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Boxing Laughs. Go Get It.

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Eddie Daniels

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 07:36 PM

Looking for a giggle? A good laugh with a local twist? Listen, well, read, up.

Three weeks after its premier in Tampa, which came after a limited release on the West coast, Adam Carolla’s The Hammer has been released on DVD.

Here’s the local twist: St. Pete super middleweight Jeff Lacy has about a 10 minute role in the film, in which he plays the role of Malice Blake, a professional boxer training in the gym in which Carolla’s character, Jerry Ferro, works.

He and Carolla get in the ring and the laughs go from there. The movie is a loose autobiopic of Carolla, who was a amateur boxer as a youngster.

Just before the movie came to Tampa, Lacy offered: “It’s not a real big part in the movie, but man, I give actors and actresses a lot of credit,” Lacy said of the four to five days he spent shooting in Southern California. “It’s a lot of hurry up and wait, a lot of different camera angles and footage. Being that we were in action shots, me and Adam sparring in the gym, it was a lot of work. I kid you not, I was tired just doing it, but I give a lot of credit the actors and actresses.”

The event in Tampa was used as a Red Cross fundraiser.

Rent it or buy it - just plan see it.

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Fingers crossed at Dolphin Stadium

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 05:47 PM

MIAMI—By my unofficial count, the tarp has been on and off the field twice in the last couple of hours. It’s off now after the last set of showers passed through around 5:00. The grounds crew then set the field up for the Rays to take batting practice, but the Rays already had planned to just hit inside in the batting cages, so the grounds crew is now taking everything down.

Still sort of wait-and-see on the weather for tonight. No one wants to play a doubleheader in the middle of the afternoon tomorrow, I can assure you of that.

Enough of that; here’s the big news of the day: Jason Bartlett’s wife, Kelly, gave birth to their first child at 4:03 p.m. today. Jayden Anthony Bartlett weighed in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces and is “healthy and lovin’ life,” according to a text message Bartlett sent to director of team travel Jeff Ziegler. Congratulations to the Bartletts! The new dad still plans to join the team in Pittsburgh on Friday.

On the Rays front, it sounds like Carlos Pena could make a cameo for Vero Beach at Sarasota tomorrow. It would be a one-game trial run to let him see some live pitching before potentially coming off the DL to open the Pittsburgh series.

Troy Percival said today it’s going to be a day-to-day thing with his leg and how it will hold up, and it seems the Rays are committed to just gauging his availability on the fly.

Also, Aki Iwamura had his appeal hearing via teleconference this afternoon. It lasted about an hour and Aki said he felt like he stated his case. The Rays aren’t sure when the decision will be handed down, but Friday seems to be the best guess.

Here are the lineups for tonight:

Rays
Iwamura 2B
Crawford LF
Upton CF
Hinske 1B
Longoria 3B
Navarro C
Gross RF
Zobrist SS
Shields P

Marlins
Ramirez SS
Hermida RF
Cantu 3B
Willingham LF
Uggla 2B
Jacobs 1B
Ross CF
Treanor C
Tucker P

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McGill Named All-Arena

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Adam Adkins

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 04:38 PM

Tampa Bay defensive lineman Tim McGill was named to the All-Arena second team on Wednesday and the nose tackle was the only Storm player named to either of the two all-league teams.

McGill, 6-foot-3 and 310-pounds, finished the season with 15.5 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks, and three forced fumbles.

“Tim is definitely deserving of this award,” Storm coach Tim Marcum said in a statement. “He was a beast on the defensive line this season and will help anchor our line next season.”

McGill signed a contract extension with the Storm during the season that will keep him in Tampa Bay through 2010.

The complete All-Arena first and second teams:

FIRST TEAM

QB: Matt D’Orazio, Philadelphia
FB: Marlion Jackson, Cleveland
C: Will Rabatin, Columbus
OL: Phil Bogle, Philadelphia; Martin Bibla, Philadelphia
WR: Chris Jackson, Philadelphia; Huey Whittaker, Utah; T.T. Toliver, Orlando
DL: Aaron McConnell, Colorado; Colston Weatherington, Dallas; Henry Taylor, New York
MLB: Steve Watson, San Jose
JLB: DeJuan Alfonzo, Chicago
DB: Dennison Robinson, Chicago; Marquis Floyd, San Jose; Billy Parker, New York
K: A.J. Haglund, San Jose
 
SECOND TEAM

QB: Joe Germaine, Utah
FB: Brian Johnson, San Jose
C: Kyle Moore-Brown, Colorado
OL: Howard Duncan, Columbus; Shane Grice, Georgia
WR: Otis Amey, Cleveland; Kenny Higgins, Grand Rapids; Damian Harrell, Chicago
DL: Bryan Save, Philadelphia; Gabe Nyenhuis, Philadelphia; Tim McGill, Tampa Bay
MLB: Duke Pettijohn, Dallas
JLB: Norman LeJeune, New Orleans
DB: Clevan Thomas, San Jose; Eddie Moten, Philadelphia; Kenny McEntyre, Orlando
K: Remy Hamilton, Dallas

 

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Gallon Ready For College

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Katherine Smith

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 04:44 PM

Former Plant wide receiver Cornelius Gallon will hold a press conference on Thursday to announce his plans for college.

Gallon is expected to sign with a Division I program, which is a testament to the hard work he’s put in since suffering a season-ending knee injury last year. One of Hillsborough County’s top receivers, Gallon tore his ACL in the Panthers Oct. 26 game against Chamberlain.

Up to that point, Gallon had received some Division I offers and a lot of interest from others.

Also on Thursday, defensive lineman Jamar Williams will be signing his letter of intent. The 6-foot, 300-pound Williams led a strong defensive unit that often got overshadowed by the Panthers high-powered offense.

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Samuels Named Ironman Of The Month

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Adam Adkins

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 04:26 PM

Two days after picking up the weekly league honor, Storm veteran Lawrence Samuels was named the league’s Ironman of the Month.

“What more can I say about Lawrence,” Tampa Bay coach Tim Marcum said in a statement.  “He really picked up his play and helped us out a lot this season.  He has a knack for making plays.”

In the Storm’s three games in June, Samuels had 26 catches for 244 yards and five touchdown receptions on offense, while totaling 7.5 tackles and one interception on defense.

This season, Samuels became the AFL’s all-time leader in receptions. He ended the year with 1,020 for his career after an 11-reception performance in the season-ending victory over Los Angeles.

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‘Community coalition’ to study stadium effort

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 03:47 PM

Here’s the press release just sent out by the Rays regarding the future of the stadium plan:

With the support of officials from the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, a coalition of community leaders will be formed to study ways to ensure community support for a long-term commitment to the Tampa Bay Rays and Major League Baseball.

Following the announcement by the Rays that the team would no longer seek a November referendum on a proposed waterfront ballpark, this new group, to be chaired by Progress Energy President Jeff Lyash, will now take the lead in studying and reporting back to the community on a wide array of issues related to this goal. 

“This is a very important milestone for the Rays, St. Petersburg, Pinellas County and the surrounding area,” declared Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg. “This coalition and the actions it will take in the coming months will play a pivotal role in securing a stable and successful future for the ballclub.” 

“We are excited that the business and political leadership of this community have embraced the Rays and our efforts to make this an organization we can all take pride in,” added Rays President Matt Silverman. “The Rays are committed to working in concert with this community group to help ensure our future here.”

In announcing the decision not to seek a November referendum, the Rays praised the recent public dialogue regarding the waterfront ballpark.  While the Rays organization maintains its belief in the benefits and transformational promise of the ballpark initiative launched last November, the Rays recognize that the efforts will be better served by withdrawing its request for a referendum in favor of a broad-based effort led by the community itself.

Area political leaders who came together for today’s announcement supported the Rays decision and the formation of the new group.

“The City worked hard to secure Major League Baseball and the Rays are very important to our community,” said         St.  Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. “This coalition will help determine how to enhance community support for the Rays and navigate how we move forward on a possible new stadium and the long-term success of baseball here. 

“We came together as a community more than 20 years ago to help make baseball a reality here – it is time we upped our game to show we’re committed to professional baseball well into the future,” Baker added.

County Commissioner Kenneth Welch agreed, “There has always been a need for this to be a community-wide effort.  The Rays started this discussion and got us this far, but it is now time for the community to assume leadership of these efforts.”

New Coalition Chairman, Jeff Lyash, now responsible for directing this effort, echoed those sentiments.

“It is important to engage the entire community to rally support for the Rays and ensure their future in our community.  I look forward to leading this collaborative effort that will enable the Rays to succeed and our entire community to prosper.”

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In Miami, ominous weather

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 03:38 PM

MIAMI—Three and a half hours before game time, the tarp has just gone on the field here at Dolphin Stadium.

The weather.com forecast calls for a “slight chance of showers and thunderstorms,” but the radar shows quite a system out to our west, so we’ll see.

We’ll keep you posted as the situation warrants…

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McConnell Qualifies For Public Links Championship

Posted Jun 25, 2008 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 25, 2008 at 03:51 PM

Ian McConnell of Riverview has qualified for the US Amateur Public Links Championship after shooting a 5-under par round of 67 at Bloomingdale Golf Club on Wednesday to finish with a two-round total of 138. McConnell was the tournament medalist, and will compete for the USGA-sanctioned championship at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora, Colorado on July 14 - 19.

McConnell started to make his move at the ninth hole, recording three consecutive birdies to move to 4 under for the tournament. He added birdies on the 14th and the 16th to qualify along with David Johnson of Palm Bay.

“You just start to get into a rhythm” McConnell said of his play around the turn. “Especially when you’re playing well, you get that rhythm you just want to keep playing.”

McConnell said one of his goals every year is to reach one of the USGA Championships, and with McConnell’s qualifying tournament for the U.S. Junior Championship coming this weekend, and the U.S. Amateur after that, he said it has taken some pressure off him for those events.

“One of my big goals for each year is to qualify for a USGA Championship,” McConnell said. “Now I’ve got that out of the way playing at the junior qualifier this weekend, and the U.S. Amateur qualifying in August, it takes the pressure off those.”

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