Ay caramba! Wisconsin hits El Paso
After an impressive start this season, the UW softball team is eager to play this weekend at the UTEP Invitational in El Paso, Texas. Wisconsin, which received nine votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll released last Monday, enters the round-robin tournament with a 3-2 record. Its only losses have come from the defending national champions, Arizona, and No. 2 Arizona State.The Badgers will play four games in two days. They will start the tournament with their toughest competition, Utah. Although just 4-5-1 to begin this year, the Utes are better than their record indicates.”Utah is the best team we’re going to face,” coach Chandelle Schulte said. “They were a regional team last year and they can hit.”Starting pitcher Meghan Dyer is also tough. Opponents hit just .220 off of the senior and she averages 1.67 strikeouts per inning pitched.Following its game against Utah, Wisconsin will face Northern Colorado tonight, which is 1-9 on the season. Saturday morning the Badgers will face the Bulls of Buffalo, who are winless at 0-5. Looking at those records should give the Badgers a lot of confidence, but Schulte hopes her team will play to its potential regardless of the incoming records of its opponents.UW concludes the round-robin play against the tournament’s host, the University of Texas-El Paso. The Miners, 7-3, have had a fairly easy schedule to start this year. Despite UTEP’s soft schedule, UW still views this as a challenging matchup.”UTEP had almost 100 home runs last year, and right now they’re almost up to 20,” Schulte said. “If you make a mistake, they’re going to hit it.”Catcher Rachel Schaeffer, outfielder Jennifer Stalter and infielder Amber Bennett all have gone yard three times already. Bennett also hits a team-leading .567, setting the table for the Miners’ .407 team batting average. On the year, UTEP has scored 94 runs compared to UW’s 14.Even though the Badgers are still playing indoors on the football practice field, the girls are fundamentally sound and are ready to go.”We get a lot of reps in here, and although we’re not outside, we get our practice time in,” senior center fielder Samantha Polito said.Coming out on top this weekend will take a joint effort from all the girls on the team. There are 16 girls on the roster, and each one plays an important part for the team.”We talk about it all the time, that we don’t have any superstars,” Schulte said. “We don’t have one kid that is going to win us a game. We have 16, so it’s going to take a different kid every day, and that’s exactly what we see when we look at the stats.”One player the Badgers can expect big things from is senior third baseman Athena Vasquez, who leads the team with a .357 batting average and 4 RBI. Not only does Vasquez hit for average, she also has gotten hits at the right time, providing the game-winning hits in UW’s first two games this season.In addition to the third baseman, Polito has gone 5-of-17 (.294) this season. Most notably, she scored her 100th run as a Badger, leaving her 13 behind the school record. Closing in on a record herself, junior outfielder Katie Hnatyk only needs one more home run to break the school record.On the mound, freshman Letty Olivarez is expected to continue the success she’s had to start this season. Against No. 2 Arizona State, she pitched brilliantly, holding the Sun Devils to one earned run. Mix in Olivarez with senior drop-baller Eden Brock and the Badgers have a formidable one-two punch.
The Tobacco Control Bill bans the sale of tobacco products by vendors and in health care facilities; sports, athletic or recreational facilities; government buildings; educational facilities or any other place prescribed by the regulations. Those found breaking the law would be fined GUY$400,000 On Wednesday the Director of the Demerara Tobacco Company, Maurlain Kirton said the company is not opposed to the regulations. Rather, she is concerned that the measures are discriminatory, highly draconian and even unconstitutional. What are public places Kirton urged the president to send the Bill back to Parliament for it to be analyzed and reviewed by a select committee. This should be done to minimize the impact of the measures, not just for the industry but also citizens, he said. Kirton expressed concern that the definition of workplace within the Bill was too broad, believe public places should be established as adequate designated smoking areas. Among these, she said, are the definition of the term – workplace and public spaces.
Send bill back to parliament The Demerara Tobacco Company in Guyana, has called on President David Granger to reconsider sections of the Tobacco Control Bill before signing it into law. The director said while the Bill proposes to ban indoor smoking, advertising, sponsorship and promotions to protect non-smokers, there were several other measures that require further probing and amending. “We are of the view that some of the proposals are not balanced and justified. We believe there are less restrictive alternatives which are proportionate, effective and feasible. There are several clauses in the new law which infringe on the rights of ordinary citizens and discriminate against many who are seeking to earn their livelihood from the selling of a legal product,” Kirton said.
Two Ghanaians have been selected for the World Remit Future Stars Football Coaching Programme at Arsenal Football Club in October.Godsway Tek Agyagbo from Hohoe, Volta Region and Innocents Yeboah-Num, from Abease, Pru West District will join twenty-three other Africans for the programme.The Future Stars programme was launched in August to offer local coaches from across Africa the chance to attend an exclusive new training camp with Arsenal’s top Soccer Schools coaches in London. The programme is a new initiative set up by WorldRemit, the official online money transfer partner of Arsenal Football Club, to recognise and reward the valuable contribution that youth coaches make to the communities they serve.The programme received around 700 applications in a week from across Africa. A shortlist of 25 coaches has been selected by a judging panel of representatives from Arsenal and WorldRemit. In recognition of their hard work, the 25 shortlisted coaches will receive official Arsenal shirts for their youth team. The two shortlisted coaches from Abease and Accra expressed their intentions to use the power of football to address challenges in their community such as alleviating the challenges of poverty in achieving their full potential to empowering girls and young women and increasing the level of professionalism in football coaching in the country. From the 25 shortlisted applicants, five finalists chosen by the judges will go through to a public vote, where they will compete for the chance to train with Arsenal Soccer Schools coaches. The five finalists will be featured on the futurestars.worldremit.com website and voting will open in the last week of September. WorldRemit will pay for the successful applicant to travel to London in October to attend the Future Stars camp. The programme will equip them with coaching skills which they can take back to build a lasting legacy of coaching excellence in their country. Andrew Stewart, Managing Director Middle East & Africa at WorldRemit said: “The high volume of entries we received from Ghana is a clear indication of the importance of youth football coaching in the community and the vital role of sport in the community. We see the strength of the entries from Ghana as a very promising sign for the country’s future. “Like these coaches, our customers are helping to build a better future for others. Our goal is to make it easier for them to do so. Following their example, we hope to use opportunities like our partnership with Arsenal to have a positive impact on communities across the globe.” Simon McManus of Arsenal Soccer Schools said: “Football has the power to bring communities together, and through our relationship with WorldRemit we can really inspire confidence and encourage positive social change. We pride ourselves on excellence in all we do and we were very impressed with how strongly the commitment to outstanding coaching was reflected by Ghanaians. The work these participants have already done in developing their coaching shows the immense potential of coaching in Ghana. The standard of entries was very impressive, making this a real challenge for the judges. We are eagerly anticipating the final results and look forward to welcoming the successful coach to London.”
Jordan Spieth is happy with his game heading into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.Spieth’s last PGA Tour win was in July 2017 at The Open Championship and he’s hoping to end his drought on the West Coast when competition begins Thursday. Phoenix Open: Rickie Fowler secures win despite final round struggles “So, if I just think about it that way, it kind of certainly makes me a little happier, frees me up a bit.”Spieth will be paired with Dustin Johnson, the current world No. 3. The two will tee off at 11:11 a.m. Brooks Koepka tells Sergio Garcia to ‘grow up’ after Saudi DQ
The former world No. 1 has fallen down the official golf rankings since his last win. He hasn’t had a top-10 finish since the 2018 Open Championship and is sitting at No. 21 in the world.However, the 11-time tour champion says he’s “in a good place right now.” Related News “I feel like my game’s trending the right direction and sometimes that means results are coming soon,” Spieth told reporters Wednesday. “Sometimes it means they’re coming later, but they’re coming. I’m not going to chase them as hard as I tried to maybe force or chase them last year because you can get hurt doing that.”Spieth finished in a tie for 35th place in his last start two weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open.In last year’s pro-am at Pebble Beach, he finished in a six-way tie for 20th place (8 under).“It’s about how do I improve to get myself into contention this week and then what do I do next week and just staying very present and recognizing the longevity of a career,” Spieth said. “Your career is not defined by a couple bad years. I had an off year last year. And I could have really poor years the rest of my career and still have a pretty fantastic career.
The 2019 NBA Draft is over, and quite a few interesting things happened.Picks were swapped and players rose on the boards while others remained unclaimed longer than expected. Atlanta on the other hand moved up from No. 8 to snag one of its top targets — Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter. It also got Duke’s Cam Reddish at No. 10 to compliment budding stars like Trae Young and John Collins. Both sides appear to be stacking valuable assets for the future.Phoenix made some questionable decisionsThe Suns made some interesting choices on draft night.Phoenix is clearly in serious need of a point guard and probably had the worst depth at the position last season. But it neglected to pursue a floor general, despite entering Thursday with the No. 6 overall pick. The Suns instead elected to trade back and surprisingly drafted UNC’s Cameron Johnson with the No. 11 pick and passed up on top prospect Coby White. They also parted ways with TJ Warren in an apparent salary dumping effort.It appears like Phoenix could be preparing to pursue 23-year-old Nets guard D’Angelo Russell, who is close friends with Suns star Devin Booker. Russell is coming off a career year and made his first All-Star appearance in 2018-19. He could become a restricted free agent this summer and could drastically improve Phoenix’s backcourt if Brooklyn moves on from him. The Suns are reportedly interested in acquiring a veteran point guard as well though.Some notable names saw big dropsSome players were projected to be drafted in the lottery, but fell further back than expected.Among the draft’s most notable names to slip were Brandon Clarke, Nassir Little, Kevin Porter Jr., and Bol Bol.Clarke could’ve gone anywhere in the first round and was expected to be picked in the lottery in some mock drafts. But the undersized forward out of Gonzaga landed with the Grizzlies at No. 21. Little and Porter dropped to the Trail Blazers and Cavaliers at Nos. 24 and 30, respectively.But one of the biggest surprises was Bol, who dropped to the second round. Worries about the foot injury that kept him out for a large chunk of 2018-19 and his slim frame were likely significant contributing factors to his slide. Here are three takeaways from this year’s draft:The Pelicans and Hawks came up bigNew Orleans and Atlanta both brought in sizable hauls of young talent in 2019.The Pelicans secured the field’s most coveted player in Zion Williamson and managed to turn the No. 4 overall pick into two more first-round selections, via the Hawks. The Big Easy also added Texas big man Jaxson Hayes and a poised Virginia Tech Guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Not a bad night’s work considering they’ll form a young core alongside Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and other promising youth. Related News NBA Draft 2019: Bol Bol slips to second round, eventually ends up with Nuggets
NBA Draft 2019 rumor roundup: A complete list of trades, news, notes and more All of these players are talented and could turn out to be huge steals in this draft. Plenty of pieces could be still be moved in the coming weeks, but next season’s NBA rosters are beginning to take shape as next month’s summer league approaches.
JOHNSTON — Governor Kim Reynolds is revealing details of a “Test Iowa” initiative with private companies to increase the number of Iowans who are screened for COVID-19.“It will help us gather critical information from Iowans that will help our health officials better target and fight the virus,” Reynolds says.The governor says Iowans can go online — to www.testiowa.com, answer questions about their symptoms, where they work and if they’ve been around someone who has COVID-19. “This type of information helps assess your eligibility for testing,” Reynolds says, “and it will also help us identify potential hot spots across the state.”Eligible test-takers will get a code that gives them a time and place for a drive-through testing location.The State of Iowa has signed a contract with private companies that promise to ensure three-thousand Iowans can be tested DAILY for COVID-19. Silicon Slopes and Nomi Health launched a similar plan in Utah a couple of weeks ago. The companies say the health and employment data Iowans provide will be “owned” by the state. Governor Reynolds says the state is using federal economic stimulus money to pay the companies and she says Nebraska will be signing a similar contract soon.The first drive-through Test Iowa sites will be set up this weekend in Des Moines and Tama. Kicking off the #TestIowaChallenge. It’s as easy as 1…2…3! I challenge @IALtGov, @TheCarsonKingF1, @SenJoniErnst, @ChuckGrassley, @aplusk, @MurphyKeith, @MikeHousholder to visit https://t.co/sVbrUxkDhB, take the assessment & then challenge 5 people you know to do the same. pic.twitter.com/wmwlrtfo85— Gov. Kim Reynolds (@IAGovernor) April 21, 2020
LPGA Tour Statement on the 2020 Honda LPGA Thailand and 2020 HSBC Women’s World Championship Due to the continued health concerns and recent advisories in some Asian countries that large-scale events should be cancelled or postponed as a result of the coronavirus, the LPGA and its partners have made the decision to cancel the 2020 Honda LPGA Thailand, which was scheduled to take place February 20-23 in Pattaya, Thailand, and the 2020 HSBC Women’s World Championship, which was scheduled to take place February 27-March 1 in Singapore.It is always a difficult decision to cancel events and the LPGA greatly appreciates the understanding and all the efforts made by our title sponsors (Honda and HSBC) as well as IMG to host incredible events for our players. The health and safety of our players, fans and everyone working on the event is always our highest priority. While we are disappointed that these tournaments will not take place this season, we look forward to returning to Asia soon.Media ContactKelly Schultz, VP, Communications, LPGAkelly.schultz@lpga.com, 810-599-6492
Citizens lining up to receive VP Boakai and his entourage in the districtBy S. Micah Yeahwon in Western LiberiaCitizens of Gbarma and Kongba districts in Gbarpolu County on Saturday, May 20, presented a statement of support for the presidential bid of Vice President Joseph N. Boakai.The statement of endorsement was read by the county’s former Superintendent, Boima Q. Taweh, and presented to the Vice President by Representative Gerude T. Lamie and Senator Danie F. Natehn.In the statement, the citizens, comprising students and other youths, tribal leaders, chiefs, women’s groups, elders, and officials of the districts, said the decision to support Boakai’s candidacy was predicated upon his requisite experience to lead the nation, his immaculate personality, which is an example of decency that he has demonstrated over the years.The statement also described the Vice President as an agriculture-minded person; and as such, he would encourage Liberians to go back to the soil when he ascends to the nation’s highest office.The citizens later gowned VP Boakai and the Senate Pro Temp Armah Z. Jallah. They also presented a gift to the Vice President which they referred to as the “Insignia – the mantle of the leadership that he is to assume in 2018.”In response to the statement, Boakai thanked the citizens for their commitment in serving the government and the nation over the last 11 years. He called on the leadership of the two districts to join him and work collectively to improve the lives of their people.“We want to see the lives of our citizens be touched for the better,” he said.The VP then promised the citizens a community radio station and the installation of telephone towers in their district for easy access to communication.The colorful ceremony, which took place in a large unfinished town hall, brought together hundreds of citizens and residents, traditional mask dancers, the student community of the two districts, as well as government officials.Other dignitaries and government officials who graced the occasion included Bomi County Superintendent Samuel Brown; Senator George Tengbeh of Lofa County; Gender Minister, Julia Ducan Cassell; Senator Matthew Jaye of River Gee County; Unity Party chairman, Wilmot Paye; Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Henry Youton; Gbarpolu County Superintendent Armah Sarnor; and Gbarma Statutory District Superintendent, Elijah David, among others.The ceremony was climaxed with the gowning of VP Boakai in Yauqayah Town, where he and his entourage drove to shortly after the program.Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
The storybook run to last year’s CIF-Southern Section Division III finals still is fresh on the minds of the Arcadia High School boys soccer players. Those who seeded Monday’s division playoff pairings apparently have a shorter memory. After finishing second in the Pacific League, Arcadia coach Jason Franz was surprised to learn the Apaches (12-7-5) are in a wild-card game this afternoon against visiting Lompoc Cabrillo (9-11-3), a fourth-place team from the Los Padres League. In the final division poll, there weren’t any Pacific League teams in the top 10. Only champion Hoover was awarded with a first-round game while Arcadia, Crescenta Valley and Burroughs from the eight-team league were forced to go the wild-card route. “Should a second-place team from an eight-team league be in a wild-card game?” Franz wondered. “I’m not in favor of that. “But CIF has a bigger problem because there are too many teams competing for six divisions. We need to add another division, otherwise this sort of thing will keep happening.” The Division VI pairings are a bigger mess. The first round consists of only league champions playing wild-card winners; there are 49 teams competing in the division. There are 17 wild-card games in Division VI, and Westmark (7-0-4), an undefeated champion from the Omega League, was placed in a wild-card game. 
“Nobody wants to put a league champion in a wild-card game,” CIF-SS director of sports information Thom Simmons said. “Unless someone makes a proposal to the Southern Section council to add a division, these are the cards we have to deal with.” Considering the injuries to key players and others lost because of grades, Pasadena girls soccer coach Carlos Guerrero is pleased the Bulldogs finished fourth in the Pacific League and qualified for the Division II playoffs. The Bulldogs (11-4-3) were unbeaten in their final seven games and will be on the road against Westlake (9-2-8) in a wild-card game this afternoon. The Bulldogs figured to be one of the Pacific League contenders entering the season, but midfielder Breane Joseph broke her leg midway through league, and senior forward Gilly Acedo has been out for weeks with an knee ligament injury. “It’s been a very frustrating season, but I give our girls a lot of credit for fighting through the rough times,” Guerrero said. “We have been playing without two of our top three players, and we lost other players because of injuries and grades.” fred.robledo@sgvn.com (626) 962-8811, Ext. 4485 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set!
A fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera always seemed natural. They are both from Mexico City, they’re the same age and they have been in, or near, the same weight class. They both made their money fighting out of the Forum under the Forum Boxing Inc. banner in the 1990s. However, it is not often that fighters working for the same promoter will fight each other because a promoter isn’t going to go out of his way to get one of his top fighters knocked off. With that, Marquez will finally get the chance to make an indelible mark on the sport. Marquez, 33, is 46-3-1 with 35 knockouts and has held the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation featherweight belts, as well as the World Boxing Organization interim featherweight belt. Marquez-Barrera will be available on HBO pay-per-view. Armando Garcia, chief executive officer for the California State Athletic Commission, said Wednesday that he is investigating the events surrounding the brain injury suffered by Victor Burgos at the hands of Vic Darchinyan during their flyweight title fight Saturday at Home Depot Center. Garcia, however, said little else about the fight that left Burgos seriously injured. Burgos, who lost via 12th-round technical knockout, had post-fight surgery late Saturday to remove a blood clot on his brain. On Tuesday he had come out of a medically induced coma and was responding to verbal commands given by doctors. “I don’t mean to be evasive or anything, but the state has decided to respect the family and not make any comment,” Garcia said. “I have to do some checking so I can finish up the report. At some point, I think we will be able to talk in detail.” Wladimir Klitschko will defend his IBF heavyweight belt against Ray Austin on Saturday in Germany. HBO will televise. Klitschko, of Kiev, Ukraine, will be attempting to make the second defense of the belt he won with a seventh-round technical knockout of Chris Byrd last April. Klitschko, 30, stopped Calvin Brock in the seventh round in his first defense last November. Klitschko is 47-3 with 42 knockouts. Austin, 36, is from Cleveland. He is 24-3-4 with 16 knockouts. Catch the replay of the October 1981 lightweight title fight between Alexis Arguello and Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini tonight on Versus. Arguello won via 14th-round technical knockout. robert.morales@presstelegram.com (562) 499-1338 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set!
Then again, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions doesn’t have a problem with it. The company now promotes Marquez and Barrera, and they will fight on March 17 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Barrera’s World Boxing Council super featherweight belt will be at stake. “We are looking to do the best fights with the best fighters,” said Eric Gomez, Golden Boy matchmaker and vice president. “That is what the public wants. These two warriors want to fight each other, want to face each other and give back to the boxing community.” 