Minnesota wrestler becomes first high schooler to qualifying for Olympics in Greco Roman since 1976; California distance runner breaks another national mark; Vermont softball team wins fourth and 74th straight.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
1. Jake Is No Fake
Jake Deitchler, a recent graduate of Anoka High School (Minn.), qualified for the summer Olympics in Beijing by stunning 2006 and 2007 world bronze wrestling medalist Harry Lester in the 145½-pound Greco Roman semifinals, then defeating Faruk Sahin in the finals at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday. Deitchler became the second high schooler in 32 years to make the U.S. Olympic team. The only other one to do it was Mike Farina in 1976. “I believe I can do anything,” Deitchler told the Associated Press. See story.
2. Babs At It Again
Christine Babcock, coming off a national federated 1,600-meter record at the California State meet, set a national high school record for 1,500 meters on Saturday, going 4:16.42 in the SoCal High Performance II at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. She broke the 1982 mark of 4:16.60 set by Kim Gallagher. What made this mark so remarkable was that there were only about 30 spectators in the stands and after two laps she ran all by herself. It was a far cry from the state meet two weeks earlier when 10,000 fans were screaming for her to break the record. “Mentally, this was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Babcock told dyestatcal.com. “I really had to push myself.” She told her coach George Varvas she seriously didn’t even want to run. “I wasn’t expecting this,” she said. Babcock just graduated from Woodbridge High in Irvine and will attend Washington in the fall.
3. More Speed
Future University of Florida running back Jeff Demps, a recent graduate of South Lake, Fla., ran the second fastest high school 100 meters ever by going 10.03 (wind-aided) in an All-Comers meet at the national training center in Clermont, Fla., on Saturday. Demps, who ran a wind-legal 10.19 the previous week, was aided by a 2.2 meters-per-second wind, just over the legal mark of 2.0. The national high school record (wind legal) is 10.08 and wind-aided is 9.8. … Rob Finnerty (Burnsville, Minn.) ran the seventh fastest mile in U.S. history, going 4:01.09 in the Midwest Distance Gala at Illinois Benedictine University (Lisle, Ill.).
4. Lyndon Streaks On
The Lyndon (Vt.) softball team continued to defy odds with its fourth straight Division II state title and 74th consecutive win overall with a 2-1 triumph over Harwood in nine innings on Saturday. A suicide squeeze bunt by Danyelle Shufelt scored pinch runner Shauna Poole with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Winning pitcher Elizabeth Hamel allowed just an unearned run and five hits while going the distance. See story.
5. SoCal 7
The latest summer high school sports craze, seven-on-seven football took full flight in Southern California this weekend. Led by Most Valuable Player Marques Thompson, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) won the six-team Adidas Los Angeles region 7-on-7 title with a 21-19 win over Upland. Both teams advance to the Adidas National Championships in Atlanta, July 30-31. This weekend 40 teams are expected at the University of Notre Dame for a Midwest regional. … Also on Saturday in Los Angeles, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) quarterback Matt Barkley, considered the nation’s No. 1 2009 recruit, led his team to a 28-26 win over Los Alamitos in a 7-on-7 showdown at Dana Hills High. Barkley, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, is on everyone’s radar including the Los Angeles Times, which did probably its first-ever summer passing league game story.
National High 5 is listing of the top current news/stories/features on the Web. If there's something even bigger, please e-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or Steve Spiewak at sspiewak@maxpreps.com.
