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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
Eagles look to improve home effort
PECOS, Sept. 26, 2000 -- Trips through the mountains have brought out the
best in the Pecos Eagles' volleyball team during their time as a member
of District 2-4A, and that streak was extended on Saturday with a win against
the Fabens Wildcats.
But the Eagles have not been at their best at home, and that includes
last Tuesday's district-opening loss to the Clint Lions.
This week, the Eagles will hope to reverse that habit, as they play
a pair of home matches at the Pecos High School gym, starting this evening,
with a match against the Canutillo Golden Eagles.
Pecos hosts Canutillo in varsity, junior varsity and freshmen matches.
The JV and freshmen will start about 4:30 p.m. in the new and old PHS gyms,
with the varsity to follow the JV in the new gym, sometime around 6 or
6:30 p.m.
The Eagles overcame a district-opening loss to Fabens two years ago
to win nine straight 2-4A matches to claim the championship, and last season
went 8-2, losing only to the Lions in Clint and Pecos. But in both years
the Eagles have been more alive on the court in their matches after three-hour
bus rides through the mountains to the El Paso area than they have been
playing at home.
On Saturday the Eagles played their best match in three weeks, going
to Fabens and routing the Wildcats by 15-4, 15-5 scores. "The first game,
when we had them down 12-2 I thought we might start losing our focus, but
no, they pretty much stayed focused," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado.
The Eagles played the game minus senior hitter Ashley Salcido and with
hitter/setter Dee Dee Molinar bothered by an elbow injury.
Canutillo started off the season with a respectable showing at the Monahans
Sandhills Tournament, beating Presidio while losing a close match to Alpine,
but have struggled since then. The Golden Eagles are 0-2 in district following
losses to Fabens and El Paso Mountain View last week. Gracie Borjas, an
all-district pick from last season, is the Golden Eagles' leading hitter.
U.S. gets softball gold,
Romanian loses medals
By JOHN AFFLECK
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 26, 2000 - Sometimes you win, sometimes you
lose and sometimes it rains.
The U.S. softball team completed a comeback almost as amazing as the
fact that it lost three Olympic tournament games in the first place, beating
Japan 2-1 in eight innings Tuesday to win its second straight gold medal.
On a day featuring team sports at the Olympics, the U.S. men's soccer
team finally lost, falling to Spain 3-1 in a semifinal match. The Americans
will play Chile on Friday for the bronze.
The U.S. baseball team was the one washed out. After playing its semifinal
against South Korea in eight innings of misting rain, the game was finally
delayed when a window-rattling thunderstorm hit Olympic Park.
The score was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, with one out and
a U.S. runner on third base.
In softball, the Americans went into extra innings again, but came out
on top this time.
Laura Berg knocked a ball over the left-fielder's head with runners
on first and second and the score tied at 1. Shiori Koseki had the ball
in her glove, but dropped it as she fell backward, allowing pinch-runner
Jennifer McFalls to score and setting off a World Series-esque celebration
among the Americans.
"We've been very unlucky in this whole tournament, but luck finally
went our way," Berg said.
The gold medal favorites entered the Olympics with a 110-game winning
streak. They lost in the prelims to China, Australia and Japan and barely
made the medal round. The Americans then defeated all three teams that
beat them the first time around to collect the gold.
The softball victory gave the United States a total of 62 medals (25
gold, 15 silver, 22 bronze). Russia was next with 51 (17-14-20), followed
by China 50 (22-14-14).
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- DRUG TESTING: A tiny Romanian gymnast lost a gold medal for taking
cold medicine Tuesday, while a renowned defense lawyer rushed to the side
of a giant shot putter facing drug accusations to match his size.
Welcome to the 21st century Olympics, where a pharmaceutical dictionary
can be as helpful as a souvenir program.
IOC officials stripped gymnast Andreea Raducan of her gold medal in
the women's all-around because she tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine,
an ingredient in cold medicine her team doctor prescribed.
"We consider it was an accident," IOC drug chief Prince Alexandre de
Merode said. "The fault falls with the medical doctor."
Small comfort for Raducan, who appealed to the Court of Arbitration
for Sport late Tuesday to get her gold medal back. The 82-pound teen-ager's
performance in Sydney brought back memories of fellow Romanian Nadia Comaneci's
victory at the Montreal Games in 1976.
"We're all devastated," said Comaneci, now a coach in Norman, Okla.
The International Olympic Committee allowed Raducan to keep her medals
from Romania's triumph in the team competition and her individual silver
in the vault. She wasn't checked for drugs after the team event and passed
a test following the vault.
De Merode also released details of the steroid use charges against shot
putter C.J. Hunter, the husband and coach of gold-medal sprinter Marion
Jones. He said Hunter failed four separate tests for the anabolic steroid
nandrolone this summer.
With a day off from her quest for five track and field golds, Jones
kissed her husband at a news conference, where he tearfully denied wrongdoing.
Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. stood nearby and nutritionist Victor
Conte said Hunter's positive tests were not the result of steroid use,
but rather were caused by iron supplements contaminated with nandrolone.
The 330-pound Hunter said he loves his wife and children and would never
"do anything to jeopardize their opinion of me."
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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