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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, February 10, 2000
Eagles shoot for regional glory, state finals
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 10, 2000 -- This is what they've all be waiting for.
Coaches and all the swimmers from Class 4A and below schools around
the state who've been butting their heads against the wall for years against
bigger schools at the regional meets. But they'll finally get a chance
at some titles of their own this weekend, when the first-ever Region I-4A
swimming and diving finals are held today through Saturday at the Lubbock
ISD swimming pool.
Diving starts at 6 p.m. tonight, while the swimming preliminaries will
begin at 9 a.m. Friday and the finals at 9 a.m. Saturday. Class 5A diving,
prelims and finals will be held after the sub-5A meet is completed each
day.
A decade of success at the district level has translated into just one
trip to state for the Pecos Eagles, going up against top Class 5A schools
from El Paso, Amarillo, Midland and San Angelo every year. But this time,
Pecos' boys will be favored to win the regional title, while Pecos' girls
figure to battle for second in the region, behind Monahans.
Eagles' coach Terri Morse said unlike track, where the top two finishers
from the four regionals advance to state, only the winner in each of the
eight regionals is assured a state berth, with the other state finalists
coming from at-large slots based on times.
"I think a couple of regions that are a little stronger than this, but
I think there are areas where we'll pick up a few," Morse said of the at-large
spots.
"They all seem to be pretty rested. Hopefully we're going to have a
good one (meet), at least we're sure going to try," she said. "Everybody's
been well. We haven't had anybody sick, and that's what I was afraid of."
Based on the regional seedings, most of Pecos' competition for state
will come from the same swimmers they faced two weeks ago at the District
3-4A meet in Fort Stockton. "The 500 and 200 free are the close ones, basically
it's among our district to see who has the better taper," Morse said, since
most teams didn't rest their swimmers for district the way they have this
past week prior to regionals.
Sophomore Randall Reynolds is involved in both those races. In the 500
freestyle, he tied Abilene Wylie's John Ouimette for second, and both were
just .36 seconds behind winner Justin Waldrop of Andrews. Pecos' Patrick
McChesney also has a shot, after finishing two seconds behind the leaders
at Fort Stockton.
In the 200 Reynolds will be trying to keep his No. 1 seeding over Andrews'
Michael Ashabranner and Isaac Pepper of El Paso High. Reynolds won at district
by .43 seconds over Ashabranner, while Pepper won the District 1-4A with
a time just .12 seconds behind Reynolds.
Morse said the 100-yard butterfly would be one of the closest races
on the boys' side. Tye Edwards is seeded first there, but by just .22 second
over Ouimette. Edwards has a more comfortable margin over Ashabranner in
the 100-yard backstroke.
The only race where a swimmer from District 3-4A is not seeded No. 1
is the 200 individual medley. El Paso's Roberto Gandara swam a 2:15.19
time at district, just ahead of Andrews' Waldrop and Pecos' Grant Holland,
who is seeded third. Holland is also seeded third and Jason Lopez second,
one second behind Monahans' Chris Cain in the 100 backstroke.
Senior Kevin Bates will be favored in both his races. He had the best
time by one second over Cain in the 50 free and was just under four seconds
better than teammate Cortney Freeman in the 100 freestyle. The Eagles also
will go into regionals seeded No. 1 in all three relays, with the closest
being the 200 yard freestyle.
On the girls' side, JoAnn Wein is seeded first in both of the distance
freestyles, the 200 and 500. She has a 13 second advantage over Tamara
Henthorn of Pampa in the 500 and is No. 1 going in be four seconds over
T.Z. Marsch of Big Spring in the 200.
After that, Sarah Flores has the next-best rankings going into the meet.
She's seeded second to Big Spring's Melissa Sheedy by two seconds in the
200 medley and is No. 2 by a three second margin to Monahans' Autumn Ware
in the 100 breaststroke.
The girls' 200 medley relay team will also go into the preliminaries
seeded second to Monahans, while both the 200 and 400 freestyle teams are
seeded third at regionals.
"I think it looks pretty good going into the meet. I hope we can swim
better than what we're seeded and that way we can do better at the meet,"
Morse said.
The state finals will be held in Austin on Feb. 24-26. Morse said she
should know by Sunday morning if Pecos gets any at-large qualifiers for
the state meet.
Reds get 72 hours to set up Griffey trade
NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2000 (AP) - Ken Griffey Jr. is going to the Cincinnati
Reds - if they can work out a new contract by this weekend.
Seattle and Cincinnati agreed Wednesday night to a tentative trade that
would send the 10-time All-Star to his hometown Reds, a top baseball official
told The Associated Press.
Cincinnati was given 72 hours to work out a contract extension with
Griffey that would make the trade final.
"My understanding is there has been a window requested, and it has been
granted," said Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations
in the commissioner's office. "The 72-hour clock is running."
Alderson would not say what players were involved in the proposed trade.
There was speculation that it might a three-way deal involving the Anaheim
Angels and outfielder Jim Edmonds, but it wasn't clear if the deal presented
to baseball Wednesday night included two teams or three.
"In a followup to comments Tuesday by Brian Goldberg, Griffey's agent,
we have been instructed by the commissioner's office to make no comment
about the Reds and their ability to speak with Griffey his agent," Mariners
president Chuck Armstrong said.
Under baseball's rules, teams must first agree on the players involved
in a trade, then ask the commissioner's office for the 72-hour window.
During that time, the acquiring team can attempt to work out a new contract
or an extension with the player.
Goldberg earlier this week that his client would take less-than-market
value to play for Cincinnati, where he grew up. Griffey, who is eligible
for free agency after the season, rejected a $148 million, eight-year extension
offered by the Mariners last year.
Seattle and Griffey wanted the matter resolved by the start of spring
training.
Griffey, 30, had 398 career home runs in 11 seasons, along with a .299
average and 1,152 RBIs. Hank Aaron, baseball's career home-run leader with
755, thinks Griffey has the best chance to top his record.
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
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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