Area sports digest 8/21/02

Otahks hire Guccione as assistant soccer coach

Former Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year Beth Guccione has been hired to replace Kelley Poole as an assistant coach for the Southeast Missouri State University women's soccer program.

Guccione graduated from Southeast Missouri with a degree in computer science in May. She will be in charge of the goalkeepers, becoming the first true goalkeeper coach in the program's three years. Off the field Guccione will assist coach Heather Nelson with recruiting.

She replaces Poole, who left in January for a position at Austin Peay.

Valparaiso transfer will join Southeast team

Mike Nelke, who started 13 games last season at Valparaiso, has officially transferred to Southeast and will practice with the Southeast team this year while sitting out games under NCAA transfer rules.

The 6-foot point guard from St. Louis played in all 33 games at Valpo last season when the Crusaders advanced to the NCAA tournament. He averaged 3.4 points per game and had 87 assists.

A graduate of McCluer High School in St. Louis, Nelke was a four year starter who became the all-time leading scorer at McCluer.

Nelke announced his intention to transfer to Southeast two weeks ago.

Dow leads Chip-A-Ways with victory in A-flight

Sharon Dow won the A flight with a 43 at the Chip-A-Ways' weekly event at Cape Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

Bev Wink finished first in the B flight while Linda Williams claimed low putts and Mari Davis won play of the day -- longest drive on No. 17.

Teams tie for win in Jack's-n-Jennies event

JACKSON, Mo. -- The team of Matt Rueble and Morgan Rueble tied with Harry Sharp and Lisa Hunter for first place in the championship flight at the Jack's-n-Jennies Tournament over the weekend at Kimbeland Country Club.

The Ruebles had rounds of 58 and 65 to finish with a 123 total, while Sharp and Hunter equaled the score with rounds of 59 and 64.

Norris Johnson and Barb Johnson finished a stroke behind in third.

Thomason takes win in Sikeston super pro class

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Royce Thomason of Malden, Mo., posted his first win of the season Saturday in the super pro division at the Sikeston Drag Strip.

Thomason ran 6.23 seconds (109 mph) with a reaction time of 0.503 seconds. Dave McDonald of Cape Girardeau was second, running 6.25 (107 mph) seconds on a 6.26 dial. He had a reaction time of 0.514.

Blake Jones of Caledonia, Mo., also won for the first time this year in the pro class. He had a 6.65-second dial and ran 6.66 seconds (101 mph) with a reaction time of 0.550. Bear Nichols of LaCenter, Ky., was second with a 7.28 dial, running 7.29 (92 mph) with a reaction of 0.603.

Colby Gossett of Van Buren, Mo., won in the ET division. He had a 7.64-second dial and ran 7.64 (86 mph). His reaction time was 0.531.

Jeff Hays of Herrin, Ill., was second with a 8.24 dial. He ran 8.25 (83 mph) with a 0.581 reaction time.

-- From staff reports