Congratulations to the St. Louis Lightning Track Club on their championship performance at last week’s USA Youth Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Lisle, Ill., outside of Chicago.
The Lightning won the team national title in the Young Women’s Division, thanks to several sparkling races on the track.
Ladue High standout Samantha Levin took home four gold medals while McCluer North’s Kendra White won two gold medals and a silver to lead the Lightning. Levin doubled as the champion in the 800 and 1,500-meter runs. She turned in a blistering time of 2 minutes 09.27 seconds in the 800. Levin’s winning time in the 1,500 was 4:39.80. The versatile Levin has proven to be one of the most multi-dimensional track athletes that we’ve ever seen in the area. She has the ability to perform in the short sprints or long distances at a very high level.
White won the 400-meter dash in a time of 53.72 seconds. She also took home a third-place medal in the 200. White and Levin joined with Montenae Roye-Speight (Ladue) and Landon Wachter (Jackson) to win the 4×400-meter relay in a time of 3:42.51. The team of Levin, Wachter, Colleen Riley (Nerinx Hall) and Katherine Jost (Parkway Central) won the 4×800 in 9:16.66.
The team of White, Roye-Speight, T’keyah Johnson (McCluer)and Brianna Evans (McCluer) finished second in the 4×100-meter relay. Roye-Speight also finished second in the 400 behind White while Riley was fourth in the 1,500.
On the boys side, the Lightning’s 4×400-meter relay team of Chris Campbell (Holt), Marquis Jones, Randale Lambert (Pattonville) and Nico Romero (Ladue) won the championship in the young men’s division in a time of 3:17.73.
Congratulations to head coach Sean Burris, who has done a great job of coaching up young kids for many years in the St. Louis area. A national title is a great achievement and a just reward for all of the hard work he has put in over the years.
NBA fight for free agents continues
Little by little, the pieces are starting to fall in place in the great NBA free agency race. As of press time, the one big piece that has moved was power forward Amare Stoudemire, who signed a new max deal with the New York Knicks, thus leaving his former home in Phoenix.
Most of the other signings have come by players such as Paul Pierce (Boston), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Joe Johnson (Atlanta) and Rudy Gay (Memphis), who all decided to stay with their teams. Everyone is still waiting on the biggest pieces of the puzzle, that being LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. It appears to be a fierce battle between Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, New York and New Jersey – and all three players are intertwined in each scenario in some way, shape or form.
It will also be interesting to see where veteran free agent center Shaquille O’Neal ends up as well. Shaq is getting interest from Eastern contenders Atlanta and Boston.
Elite’s big b-ball event
The Elite Basketball Academy is putting on its basketball tournament, called “The Big Event” from July 16-18 are various locations in St. Charles County. The tournament is open to boys and girls team from grades 3-8 as well as 15U, 16U and 17U teams in the recreational and competitive divisions. There will also be shooting contests and prize give-aways. For more information to register, contact Big Marc at (314) 960-8153 or by email at Dmarcos13@hotmail.com.
(You can follow Earl Austin Jr. daily on his basketball website, www.earlaustinjr.com. You can also follow Earl on Facebook).
