Area sports digest 8/18/04

Southeast grad coaching Olympic softball squad

Linda Wells, a 1972 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University and for 15 years the softball coach at Arizona State University, is coaching Greece's national team in the Olympics.

Wells, who played five sports -- softball, volleyball, basketball, tennis and field hockey -- at Southeast, went on to coach several sports at the University of Minnesota from 1973 to 1988. She has 851 career victories as a college softball coach, including 533 at Arizona State. She plans to retire after the 2005 season.

Wells was recommended as the coach to start up the Greek team by the International Softball Federation. She took the post in August 2002 and began to fill a roster primarily with American players of Greek heritage.

Greece, 2-1 in the Olympic qualifying rounds, plays the unbeaten United States on Thursday. The game will be broadcast live on MSNBC beginning at 4 a.m.

The women's semifinal round and is Sunday with the gold-medal game set for Monday.

Huffman captures seventh world title

Rodney Huffman of Benton, Mo., won his seventh career International Bowhunting Organization World Championship on Sunday in Snowshoe Mountain, W.Va., claiming his first world title since 1999.

Huffman, 42, was in the top five in the 22-man field after Saturday, allowing him to advance to the five-way shoot-off Sunday, when he finished first in the Professional Male Fingers Class.

Southeast athletes grab OVC academic honors

Eight student-athletes at Southeast Missouri State University have claimed 11 Ohio Valley Conference Academic Medals of Honor, and 92 Southeast student-athletes have been named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll for the 2003-04 school year.

The Medal of Honor is given annually to the students who achieve the highest grade point average in a conference-sponsored sport. The 84 of the OVC Medal of Honor winners achieved a 4.0 grade point average.

Southeast Medal of Honor winners were Jennifer Burke, Kim Krieger and Kaci Pilcher in both cross country and track; Matt Boyack in football; Jennifer Cross in soccer; Jamie Birk in softball; Kay Ehlke in tennis; and Michele Jett in track.

A complete list of Southeast's OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll recipients -- individuals must have achieved at least a 3.25 grade point average -- appears in Scoreboard on Page 2B.

Jackson U-11 team places second at regional

The Jackson under-11 Cal Ripken team finished second in the Midwest Plains Regional in Boonville, Mo., falling to Minnesota 6-1 in the championship game on Tuesday.

Clayton Baker, who took the loss on the mound, accounted for Jackson's lone hit, a third-inning double. Minnesota, which lost to Jackson 6-3 in pool play, had eight hits in the title game.

Jackson finished pool play with a 2-1 record and reached the championship game with an 8-4 victory over North Dakota on Monday. Baker had six RBIs in the win with a two-run home run and a grand slam. Neil Johnson added two hits. Bobby Clark picked up the win, allowing seven hits and striking out 10.

Lohmann tops Elks Junior Championship

Kirk Lohmann shot a 79 to win the second annual Elks Junior Championship tournament Saturday at Cape Jaycee Golf Course.

Zachary Richardet shot an 83 to win the 13-15 age division, Brandon Pleimann shot also shot an 83 to pace the 10-12 age division and Adam Pleimann won the 7-9 age division with a nine-hole 46.

Mack wins 'B' feature on MARS circuit

Joey Mack of Benton, Mo., won the "B" feature on Aug. 8 at Monett Speedway in Monett, Mo.

He finished 12th in the "A" feature that evening.

The previous night, Mack finished fifth in the "A" feature at Tri-State Speedway in Pocolo, Okla.

He is without an "A" feature win but sixth in the series points standings for the season.

The circuit next races Aug. 27 in Bolivar, Mo., and Aug. 28 in Eldon, Mo.

Billmeyer grabs medal in first cycling event

Andy Billmeyer of Cape Girardeau won the silver medal recently in the 15- and 16-year old division of the 2004 Missouri State Criterium Championship, a cycling event that took place in Jefferson City, Mo.

The race consisted of 35 minutes of racing on a .85-mile loop around the State Capitol and then six additional laps.

Billmeyer rides for CycleWerx racing team.

-- From staff reports