Sports Shorts Sports Shorts (July 02, 2004)

STATE FARM CHALLENGER . . . Stanford's two-time women's NCAA singles champion Amber Liu lost in the first round of the State Farm Women's USTA Challenger on Wednesday at the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club. It was her first appearance since winning the singles title in late May. Liu, who fell to Japan's Seiko Okamoto 6-4, 6-2, will retain her amateur status this summer to keep her option of returning to Stanford for her junior year. Former Stanford star Lilia Osterloh, the 1997 NCAA singles champion, was scheduled to meet qualifier Megan Falcon in Thursday's second round. Osterloh and partner Nana Miyagi of Japan, won their first round doubles match on Wednesday. Stanford sophomore Theresa Logar lost to Uzbekistan's Varvara Lepchenko, 7-6 (5), 6-0, in another first round match. Stanford women's tennis coach Lele Forood was scheduled to take part in a free clinic today at the tournament between 10-11 a.m. Singles matches begin at 11 a.m. today.

OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS . . . Stanford grad David Durante remains in contention for a spot on the United States Olympic men's gymnastics team. He's among seven gymnasts who were chosen to the training squad and will compete for two remaining spots on the team beginning July 11 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs . . . Incoming Stanford freshmen Tabitha Yim and Liz Tricase were among 13 women who advanced to a selection camp beginning July 13 in Texas to fill out the six-member United States women's gymnastics Olympics team. Yim will be unable to attend, however, after rupturing her right Achilles tendon. She underwent surgery and will likely miss up to six months.

NATIONAL BASEBALL . . . The United States national baseball team completed a six-game sweep of Team Canada in the Friendship Series with a 16-6 victory over the Canadians on Tuesday night at Coastal Federal Field in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Stanford junior Mark Romanczuk was the winning pitcher, striking out five in 3 2-3 innings of relief. He allowed one hit and walked one. Stanford's Jed Lowrie was 2-for-3 with three RBI and John Mayberry, Jr. drove in a run. The Americans open a five-game series in Japan today with two games against the Japanese National Team in Ohita. The two teams play Sunday in Yokosuka.

NOTEWORTHY . . . Menlo Park resident Billy Innes helped the Bakersfield Team Action Sports Cycling team set a record for average speed to win the recently concluded Insight Race Across America, a nonstop race from San Diego to Atlantic City. Innes' team averaged 23.06 MPH to complete the 2,959-mile journey in five days, eight hours, 17 minutes. Second-place Team Vail-Go Fast completed the race over two hours later. "I didn't have anything else to do," Innes said. "So I decided to do RAAM." Innes finished second in the amateur men's race at the USCF Elite Championships on June 16 . . . Atherton resident Ryan Gaertner, East Palo Alto's Joyce Thompson and Menlo Park's Jennifer Koester are among the athletes from the Palo Lightning Track and Field Club who qualified for the Region 14 Junior Olympics in Fresno after competing in the Pacific Association JO's in Livermore recently. Gaertner will compete in the 1,500 meters and long jump, while Thompson will run the 400 meters and Koester will race in the 3,000 meters.

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . The 26th annual Los Gatos Summer All-Comer Track and Field meets will be held every Thursday evening between June 24th and August 12th at Los Gatos High. The pole vault begins at 5 p.m., while the rest of the field events will commence at 5:30 and running events start at 6 p.m. There are five divisions: open, high school, women, masters, and kids under seven. There is a four dollar entry free and a two dollar charge for spectators . . . The Union Football Club, a Palo Alto-based CYSA soccer program for girls U10-19, Class 1 and Class 3 levels, will hold tryouts in June. For more information and tryout dates e-mail admin@unionfootballclub.com, or call (650) 799-7984 . . . Woodside Priory School is looking for a boys' junior varsity and girls' varsity soccer coach. Contact Athletic Director Mark Stogner 851-6107 mstogner@woodsidepriory.com

BANK OF THE WEST . . . Individual tickets for the Bank of the West Classic are on sale. The Classic, a WTA Tour Tier II event, will be held July 12-18 at the Taube Tennis Stadium on Stanford's campus. Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport have committed early to compete at Stanford. Williams won the title in 2000 and 2002 and Davenport won in 1998 and 1999. Williams missed last year's tournament with a strained abdominal muscle. Tickets are priced between $10-$80 per session and are available through City Box Office at 1-415-392-4400 or through Tickets.com at (650) 478-2277. Day sessions Monday through Thursday begin at 10 a.m. and Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m. Evening sessions begin at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday's final is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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