Rain washes out final 2 practices
Canceled sessions a big setback for 9 drivers using backup cars
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rain washed out the final two practices Saturday before NASCAR’s season-opening Daytona 500, a potential setback for the nine drivers switching cars before “The Great American Race.”
Former Cup Series champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. as well as front-row qualifier William Byron are among those forced into backup cars because of issues in the duels Thursday night. Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain also switched cars and will have to start Sunday’s race from the back of the 40-car field along with Keselowski, Truex and Byron.
“I think we proved as an industry last year that track time was a little overrated,” said David Wilson, head of Toyota Racing Development. “These are professional-caliber sporting organizations and the expectation is they show up to the arena, to the racetrack, prepared to race.
“Obviously, the 500 is wrapped around a lot of tradition, and we all love that and we’re grateful that we have a little bit of track time for the guys that get their hands dirty. They always like to be able to get out there on track and make sure that everything is running as it should.”
NASCAR had two practice sessions scheduled for Saturday, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Heavy rain soaked the track early, though, prompting officials to shift gears before the Xfinity Series opener later Saturday. An ARCA series race also was scheduled for the middle of the day.
The sessions would have provided two hours of seat time for drivers who have gotten little since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, a final chance for crews to fine-tune engines and check for fluid leaks and vibrations before NASCAR’s signature event.
“I’m fine without it,” said 2017 Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch.
Pole-sitter Alex Bowman avoided an engine swap and keep his prime starting spot. Bowman’s team thought it had an engine issue during the first of two qualifying races, but crew chief Greg Ives said Saturday it turned out to be something less problematic.
One of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates wasn’t as fortunate. Byron will slide into his backup and hope for the best.
“I’m still confident in the backup car the guys brought us,” said Byron, adding that it’s the car he drove to victory lane at Daytona last August to slip into the playoffs. “It’s been fast every time it’s been on track, and I think it will be again when we get to the race . ...
“Obviously, we didn’t want to go to a backup car, but I think we’re still in a really good place for the 500. We’ll definitely be good to go.”
Morgan State guard De’Torrion Ware poured his heart and soul into Saturday’s matchup against Norfolk State, scoring a game-high 25 points. Unfortunately for the Bears, it wasn’t enough to avoid a 74-69 loss to the visiting Spartans.
Tied at 63 with just 5:19 left, Norfolk State (11-7, 6-4 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) had an answer. Devante Carter and Kashaun Hicks drove to the basket for easy layups to give the Spartans a 67-63 lead.
The Bears (11-5, 6-3 MEAC) began to inch back with 41.3 seconds remaining after Ware’s two converted free throws, trailing 69-66. However, Morgan State was cut down by Norfolk State’s 4-for-5 shooting from the free-throw line in the closing seconds.
Norfolk State hit key 3-point shots down the stretch and shot 44.4% from 3-point range in the second half. As impressive as their marksmanship was from that range in the late stages, it was just a slight improvement over its 40% in the first half.
Carter scored a team-high 20 points for the Spartans, followed by Hicks and Joe Bryant with 18 points apiece.
Morgan State shot 10-for-24 in the first half, but dropped to 9-for-25 in the second half. While the Bears’ shooting woes were evident in the second half, Norfolk State stayed consistent — shooting 12-for-29 for a 34-30 lead at the half. The Spartans finished the second half shooting 12-for-27. The Bears had an opportunity to take the lead with a flurry of free throw attempts, but they were just 24-for-36 from the line.
Northeastern 76, Towson 67: Tyson Walker scored a career-high 36 points as Northeastern topped Towson, giving coach Bill Coen his 250th win.
Coen’s coaching win tied him with Northeastern legend Jim Calhoun for most wins in the program. Walker was 13 of 20 shooting with a career-high seven 3-pointers, and also had five assists.
Greg Eboigbodin had 13 points for Northeastern (9-6, 8-1 Colonial Athletic Association), which earned its fourth consecutive road victory. Jason Strong added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Lafayette 97, Loyola Maryland 94, 3OTs: Santi Aldama set the Loyola Maryland record, and matched the Patriot League record, for rebounds in a game with 22, but Lafayette came from behind to record a triple-overtime win.
His 22 were one more than Jimmy “jump shot” Smith had on Feb. 23, 1976 against American. The rebound total also ties Adonal Foyle’s 22 in a Colgate game against Army West Point in 1995.
Aldama tied his career-high with 30 points in the game and posted his third double-double in as many games. He has five this season and seven in his 18-game collegiate career.
His output was the first time a Loyola player has had 20 or more points and 20 or more rebounds in a game.
He was one of three Loyola players with double-doubles in the game, as he was joined by Golden Dike (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Jaylin Andrews (12 points, 10 rebounds). Those three were part of five Loyola players who scored 10 or more. Isaiah Hart had a season-high 13, and Kenneth Jones tallied 10 for the Greyhounds (1-7).
Lancaster Bible 67, Salisbury 65: The Sea Gulls erased a 14-point Lancaster Bible lead in the second half, but the comeback fell short. Johnny Fierstein led Salisbury (4-3) with 13 points.
Women’s basketball
Towson 90, Northeastern 69: Towson earned its sixth straight win and its first road Colonial Athletic Association victory in the Cabot Center.
Towson’s Kionna Jeter scored her third performance of 30 or more points in a row and fifth of the season. Jeter put up 30 points in addition to shooting over 60% from both 3-point range (5-of-8) and the floor (11-of-18) for the Tigers (11-3, 6-1 CAA)..
Navy 69, Loyola Maryland 60: Playing its first game in 20 days, Navy (3-6, 3-2 Patriot League) shot 58% over the final three quarters, including 72.7% from the field in a 20-point third quarter against the host Greyhounds (0-7).
PITTSBURGH — Samantha Snider remembers the rules — be they real or implied — during her collegiate gymnastics career at Arkansas.
This is how you’re going to do your hair. This is how you’re going to do your makeup. This is how you’re going to represent the program.
“There was very much this message, ‘You need to fit in this box,”’ said Snider, now the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
Snider, who jokes she often felt like the only Puerto Rican in the state during her time competing for the Razorbacks in the mid-2000s, isn’t being critical. Her experience at Arkansas was simply reflective of the culture at large in the sport at the time.
A time, it seems, that is finally over, particularly at the NCAA level. From Pittsburgh to California, female gymnasts are using their platform to empower, educate and bring light to causes they believe in. When the Panthers host Temple on Sunday at the Petersen Events Center, they will compete in leotards with “BLM” emblazoned in all its sequined glory on their left arms, while coaches and staff members wear “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts. The idea for such a visible statement arose during a video call last summer after the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and other Black Americans gave rise to intensified calls for social justice.
Pitt’s women’s program is largely comprised of white athletes, and simply telling their Black teammates they had their unconditional support wasn’t enough. Putting on a shirt before a meet — only to pull it off while on the competition floor — wasn’t enough. A sticker on their bag wasn’t enough. Even putting together a public service announcement in which the Panthers vowed to “promote active change” wasn’t enough.
So they brainstormed, eventually deciding to add “BLM” in big, bold, silvery sequins to the left sleeves of their leotards. The fact it’s the same sleeve the Panthers use when they huddle and break as a team isn’t a coincidence. They believe the image of more than a dozen arms of athletes of various races leaning in together is a powerful one, particularly for sophomore Ciara Ward, one of two active Black gymnasts on the team.
“They wanted to support me as a Black athlete,” Ward said. “At the end of the day, they wanted to speak out against what they know is wrong.”
Ward remembers watching the 2012 Summer Olympics when Gabby Douglas became the first Black woman to win an all-around title. That victory resonated with Ward, then a 12-year-old growing up in Maryland who wondered how far the sport could take her.
“Personally I would say (gymnastics) is a predominantly white sport,” Ward said. “Sometimes when you don’t see representation, you feel like you can’t do something.”
Watching Douglas have Olympic gold draped around her neck changed Ward’s whole mindset. It carried her to Pitt, a place she said
greeted her with open arms. More than a year into her collegiate experience, Ward understands she and her teammates have the ability
— and in some ways, a responsibility — to make an impact in ways that stretch far beyond her sport.
If that means taking a risk by
turning their meets into a crossroad of sports, society and politics due to their wardrobe choice, so be it.
“I think it’s extremely important to provoke a larger conversation,” Ward said.
A conversation that’s one of many being held in her sport these days. Over the last decade, gymnastics in general and women’s college gymnastics in particular has been at the forefront of the fight for inclusion and diversity. North Carolina sported T-shirts promoting the “Be True” campaign in 2017 to support the LGBTQ community, and “Pride” meets are becoming more commonplace.
Amid the fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal, Olympic champion Simone Biles rocked a teal leotard at the 2018 USA Gymnastics championships honoring survivors of sexual abuse, a group of which she is a part. College gymnastics became a sanctuary of sorts, a place for the sport to begin healing itself from the inside out, a place where those harmed by Nassar and other abusers found strength.
The platform keeps growing, extending to the empowerment of Black athletes and social justice movements. UCLA senior Nia Dennis’ floor exercise routine — which she dubbed “The Culture” — went viral last month thanks in part to her music, a mash-up of hip-hop icons Kendrick Lamar and Tupac Shakur.
“The purpose of my floor routine is to open the eyes of those around me and also shine a light on Black excellence,” Dennis said.
Michelle Obama noticed. Alicia Keys and Biles, too. Yet Dennis stressed the goal isn’t to wow as much as it is to inspire.
“I didn’t have very many people to look up to,” she said. “So my goal is to always inspire young Black gymnasts.”
The link between the performance of Dennis and teammate Margzetta Frazier — who unleashed a Janet Jackson-inspired routine this week that caught the legendary artist’s attention — and what is happening at Pitt this weekend is real. Call it the byproduct of taking the paradigm of what coaches used to think the idea of being a “good teammate” was and turning it on its head.
“It felt like if you let the reins go with your student-athletes, that somehow they’re going to run down a terrible dark path, and them discovering who they truly are would be antithetical to being the best team player they can be,” said UCLA women’s coach Chris Waller. “It’s been a long process to realize that it’s the opposite that’s true.
“As an adult, the more we’re willing to let them discover who they are, the more they’re willing to give themselves to the team. They find themselves standing very intentionally on their own two feet.”
At Pitt, that movement is capturing a moment while also attempting to make a lasting impact. The “BLM” leotards have captured attention. But they’re not going away Sunday night. Instead, they will remain in the program for years to come, a tacit understanding that progress can’t be made in a day or a week or a month but a generation. Persistence and vision are a vital part of that process.
“We wanted to make a point that this is something we live by,” Snider said. “It’s something we feel very strongly about. So we want it to be bold.”
Lacrosse weather it was not!
The forecast was 31 degrees with steady freezing rain as Navy and George Mason lined up inside the draw circle for the start of the women’s lacrosse season opener for both teams.
For Reagan Roelofs and her Navy teammates, it might as well have been 70 degrees and sunny. They were so happy to be playing lacrosse again the nasty weather didn’t matter.
Roelofs use the word “unreal” to describe how it felt for Navy to play a game for the first time in 339 days.
“We’ve been waiting that long for this game to come. We didn’t care, rain or shine we were going to play” Roelofs said. “It was an awesome feeling to get back out there with the team. It’s definitely a great feeling to be back.”
Roelofs helped the home team dominate possession by winning 10 draws and also contributed two goals and an assist as No. 17 Navy defeated George Mason, 10-4, Saturday. A crowd of 214 braved the elements to watch the Midshipmen make a triumphant return to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
“I could almost cry,” said Navy coach Cindy Timchal, who did get choked up during the postgame news conference. “It’s been 300-some days since we played. What a big opener for Navy women’s lacrosse. Our team was so ready to play today.”
Senior attacker Nicole Victory scored four goals to spark the offense for Navy, which improved to 9-1 in home openers. Senior attacker Ellie Lecker added two goals for the Mids, who captured 13 of 15 draws and outshot the Patriots 35-11
“Possession wins games. It all starts with the draw. We work every day on it,” said Roelofs, who credited Lecker and Erin Carson for doing a “great job” with boxing out. “We fought really hard for the draw.”
Added Timchal: “It started and ended with Reagan. She was spectacular on the draw.”
Conditions made ball handling challenging with a combined 44 turnovers. Wet sticks were quickly freezing, making it extremely difficult to throw or catch the ball.
Navy’s offensive players hurried over to the sideline every time George Mason had the ball to have team managers warm the head of their sticks using a portable heater.
“It was like playing with a tennis racket. The string was absolutely frozen, and the ball wasn’t heavy enough to make a difference. It was definitely an adjustment with the frozen mesh,” Roelofs said.
Roelofs grew up playing ice hockey in her home state of Minnesota and wished she’d had the heavy gloves used in that sport. She was asked what was worse, the frozen stick or hands.
“It’s kind of a combination because the stick is an extension of your hands. When you can’t feel your hands it’s tough to control a stick that already feels like a tennis racket,” she said.
Senior attack Karoline Nease and sophomore midfielder Athena Corroon both had a goal and assist for Navy, which went 0-for-6 on free position shots. The Midshipmen could easily have reached the mid-teens for goals if not for so many errant shots along with nine saves by Patriots goaltenders Fiona Rickels and Maggie Donohue. Meanwhile, Navy goalie Abbi Young was rarely tested and finished with just one save. Senior captain Caroline Kwon was credited with three caused turnovers to lead the line defense, which made it tough for George Mason to run its offense.
“The defense came up huge,” said Timchal, who was equally impressed the starting attack came up with four caused turnovers.
“Great riding. The riding provided us with several fast break opportunities that we really needed to gain some momentum,” she said.
George Mason hurt itself with 24 turnovers, while Navy wasn’t far behind with 20. Timchal wasn’t going to draw any conclusions from the sloppy play because of the conditions.
“It was like playing at Lambeau Field. We were doing more of the running game; the passing game wasn’t going to be there. Everything was literally frozen,” Timchal said. “Just very difficult to execute anything offensively.”
Roelofs seconded that assessment: “I would definitely say it was the weather because the ball was bouncing out [of sticks] and there wasn’t much we could do about it,” she said.
Towson 10, Mount St. Mary’s 7: Lindsey Marshall had a hat trick to lead the Tigers to victory in the season opener for both teams. Blair Pearre added a pair of goals for Towson, while Jordan Groover and Sara Moeller each scored twice for the Mount.
Men
No. 1 Duke 17, Mercer 8: Duke attackmen Michael Sowers and Joe Robertson combined for eight goals and 11 points total to lead the top-ranked Blue Devils (3-0) to a victory over visiting Mercer (1-2). Twelve players registered a point in the victory.