Sports Shorts Sports Shorts (July 14, 2004)

OLYMPIC FEVER . . . Stanford grad Malindi Elmore qualified for the Canadian Olympic Track and Field team by winning the women's 1,500 at the Canadian National Championships on Sunday in Victoria, British Columbia. Elmore won her race in 4:04.51, beating runnerup Carmen Douma-Nussar's 4:05.22 . . . The United States men's Olympic water polo team split two FINA World League games with Serbia and Montenegro over the weekend, losing 9-6 on Saturday at USC's McDonald's Swim Center, but coming back to win, 11-10, in a penalty shootout on Sunday at Capistrano Valley High in Mission Viejo. Team USA will participate in the World League Super Finals beginning Friday in Long Beach. In Sunday's win, Stanford senior Tony Azevedo scored four goals while Stanford grads Layne Beaubien and Wolf Wigo each scored twice. "This is a great result for us heading into the Super Final," U.S. coach Ratko Rudic said. "Our guys are training so hard and they are very tired. So we lose some games and it's not good for the motivation. But with this win, they see they can compete with the best in the world. It gives us great confidence heading into the weekend and into the Olympics." ... Stanford senior Ogonna Nnamani and Cardinal graduate Logan Tom are a rubber stamp away from making plans to play next month in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The two Stanford All-Americans were among 12 players nominated to the U.S. Women's Olympic Team, pending certification by the United States Olympic Committee. That, however, is pretty much a formality. That means Tom will become a two-time Olympian and Nnamani will be playing in her first Summer Games. Tom and Nnamani, both outside hitters, will be joined by setters Robyn Ah Mow-Santos and Lindsey Berg; middle blockers Wiz Bachman. Heather Bown and Danielle Scott; outside hitters Tara Cross-Battle and Keba Phipps; opposites Tayyiba Haneef and Nancy Metcalf plus Libero Stacy Sykora. Under the guidance of fourth-year head coach Toshi Yoshida, the United States is ranked No. 2 in the world going into the 2004 Olympic Games . . . Former Stanford player Gabe Gardner was named to the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team.

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Palo Alto's Will Haydon qualified for next week's U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship, set for July 19-24 at the Olympic Club, by shooting 70-70 during a qualifying tournament at Stanford Golf Course on July 5. He eagled the par-5 first hole to start his second round . . . Palo Alto's Alan Shin placed second in the boys 14 singles of the Yolo County Junior Tennis Open at the County Oaks Racquet Club in Woodland. Shin defeated Spencer Talmadge, 6-4, 7-6, to advance to the finals, where he lost to Ryan Cheung. Palo Alto resident Andrew Ball was a third-place finisher in boys 10 singles at the Captain Weber Days Junior Open in Stockton.

NOTEWORTHY . . . Castilleja School is looking for coaches for the upcoming season in varsity cross country, JV water polo, JV tennis, varsity track and field in addition to an assistant coach for swimming. Interested persons should contact Athletic Director Jez McIntosh at Jez_mcIntosh@castilleja.org . . . 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 . . . Menlo-Atherton High is looking for a number of coaches for the 2004-05 season: frosh-soph softball, frosh-soph volleyball, girls' JV lacrosse, girls' varsity lacrosse and cheerleading. Interested persons should contact M-A Athletic Director Pam Wimberly at 322-5311 (ext. 5706) . . . The 26th annual Los Gatos Summer All-Comer Track and Field meets will be held every Thursday evening through August 12 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.

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