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Sports briefs

OTS wrestlers make Olympic trials

MARQUETTE – The Greco-Roman team at the Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Site had eight of its wrestlers qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team trials Friday at the U.S. Open-Trials Qualifier.

Those eight wrestlers all finished in the top seven of their divisions. Parker Betts was the top performer, finishing second at 130 kilograms (286 pounds) after falling in the championshiop to last winter’s NCAA runner-up, Adam Coon of the University of Michigan.

The OTS’ Sammy Jones and Dmitry Ryabchinskiy took fourth and seventh places, respectively, at 59 kg (130 lbs.), while Christopher Gonzalez and Alejandro Sancho were fourth and fifth, respectively, at 66 kg (145 lbs.).

Barrett Stanghill finished seventh at 75 kg (165 lbs.), Orry Elor fifth at 98 kg (216 lbs.) and Jack Griggs seventh at 130 kg (286 lbs.) to round out the U.S. Olympic trials qualifiers.

Kendrick Sanders will join his teammates at the Olympic trails after clinching his spot at the Bill Farrell International in November.

Wrestlers have another chance to qualify for the Olympic trials at the Dave Schultz Memorial International on Jan. 28.

GLI hockey tickets available

DETROIT – Individual and special group tickets are available for the Great Lakes Invitational college hockey tournament, to be held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in little more than a week and will include Northern Michigan University.

Along with single-game tickets, Little Caesars Family 4-Packs, group rates for 10 or more tickets and student rates are available. The Family 4-Pack includes four tickets, four slices of pizza or hot dogs, and four soft drinks for $49 per day.

For more information, call the JLA Box Office at 313-471-7575 or Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000, or visit the website www.OlympiaEntertainment.com.

This will be the Wildcats’ sixth appearance in the 51 years of the GLI, which annually includes host Michigan Tech, regulars Michigan and Michigan State, and an invited fourth team.

Northern will take on Michigan in the prime-time semifinal at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 29, then face MTU or MSU in the 3:30 p.m. consolation or 7 p.m. championship game the following day.

NMU volleyball tryout set

MARQUETTE – A tryout for open roster positions on next season’s Northern Michigan University volleyball team will be held Saturday, Jan. 16, at Vandament Arena.

Registration will begin at 11 a.m. with the tryout to run from noon to 2 p.m.

Participants will be assessed on their overall skill and technique, strength and conditioning, and understanding of game play.

Women and girls interested in trying out must be a junior or senior who has completed her high school volleyball competition for the year, a junior college transfer or a four-year college or university transfer who has a release from her current school.

Participants must submit several items before Jan. 8 to participate. Call NMU assistant coach Mandie Meyer at (906) 227-1173 or email her at ammeyer@nmu.edu for the list. Participants are also asked to provide their name and position to Meyer.

Potential participants must submit the items requested in advance, as well as bring to the tryout all necessary volleyball equipment, including shoes, knee pads, ankle braces, athletic apparel, etc.

Soccer camp starts in January

MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University women’s soccer team will host its Wildcat Winter Soccer Camp from Jan. 12-Feb. 23.

The camp will be held Tuesday nights from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Superior Dome and is open to both boys and girls ages 12 to 18. Cost is $125.

There will be one hour of skill work and 30 minutes of “futsal” matches per session. Futsal is a form of indoor soccer where there are two teams of five players with one being the goalie.

Sports briefs

Royales complete weekend sweep

MARQUETTE – Jonathan Dunn scored with about five minutes left to break a 2-2 tie and send the Marquette Royales junior hockey team to a 3-2 victory and series sweep of the Traverse City Hounds at Lakeview Arena on Saturday night.

Dunn followed up first-period goals by Ryan Ely and Cody Johnson that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. TC tied the scored with a second-period goal before Dunn got the only tally of the final period.

Josef Dusenka made 28 saves for the Royales’ victory in net.

Marquette (8-12-6) remains at home next weekend for a two-game series against the Motor City Hawks. Game times are 8:45 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday back at Lakeview.

NMU edge Duluth at track Opener

DULUTH, Minn. – Northern Michigan University athletes set two school records and two provisional NCAA national meet qualifying marks as the Wildcats edged Minnesota-Duluth by one point to win the Opener college women’s track and field meet on Saturday.

The Wildcats, who totaled 185 points in their season opener, got NMU records by Shayla Huebner in her second-place finish in the 600-meter run in 1 minute, 39.71 seconds. Teammate Clara Churchill set another record of 3:21.62 in the 1,000 as she also placed runner-up.

NCAA provisional qualifying marks came in the weight throw, where Jasmine Williams won in 57 feet, 8.25 inches, which was also a track record.

NMU teammate Michelle Juergen was second in the high jump with a provisional mark of 5-5.

Northern also got wins from Avadon James in the 60 in 7.82 seconds and in the 200 in 26.12. Coming in second were Yasmin Jelassi in the 60, Danielle Brzezinski in the 300 and Abby Fifarek in the 3,000.

The Wildcats are off until Jan. 22 when they travel to the Doug Hansen Invitational at Saginaw Valley State.

Wrong L’Anse players cited

In the L’Anse High School boys basketball preview on Page 3B of Monday’s Mining Journal sports, the secondary headline listed the incorrect players the Purple Hornets are relying the most on this season. They should have been identified as Trevor Uren and Kyle Menard.

Sports briefs

Royales win in shootout

MARQUETTE?- Erich Walter scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Marquette Royales to a 4-3 victory over the Traverse City Hounds at Lakeview Arena in Marquette on Friday night.

The game got to overtime and then the shootout after teammate Tyler Boon scored the game-tying goal with about 15 minutes left in regulation.

Earlier, the Royales’ Kris Maxon and Jake Boldt scored first-period goals for the Marquette team, which improved to 7-12-6 as eight of its past 12 games have gone to at least OT.

Kyle Nugica made 38 saves in the Marquette Royales net.

The teams face off again at 7:30 p.m. today back at Lakeview Arena.

NMU weekend ski meets canceled

MARQUETTE – Today’s scheduled Northern Michigan University Early Season Opener and Sunday’s Michigan Tech University Early Season Opener have been canceled due to lack of snow.

The NMU Nordic ski teams are now slated to open their season Dec. 12-13 when they host the NMU Wildcat Open.

Bonds named a Marlins’ coach

MIAMI (AP) – If Barry Bonds thinks a full-time return to baseball will help his Hall of Fame chances, he could be disappointed. Maybe he’ll at least help the Miami Marlins.

Bonds is joining the staff of new Marlins manager Don Mattingly as hitting coach. The media-shy, steroids-tainted home run king made a rare conference call appearance Friday to discuss his hiring, which raised his profile just as balloting is under way for 2016 Hall of Fame voting.

“I’m a Hall of Fame baseball player with no doubt in my mind, no doubt in my heart,” said Bonds, 51. “God knows that. That’s all that matters to me. I’ll leave the voting process up to you guys.”

Another slugger whose career was tarnished by steroids, Mark McGwire, was hired this week as bench coach of the San Diego Padres. Hall of Fame support for McGwire has actually declined since he began coaching in 2010, and last year he received his lowest vote total yet.

South American soccer heads roll

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The South American lands that are home to some of soccer’s greatest players now are at the center of the sport’s biggest corruption scandal.

The names don’t resonate like those of Pele, Messi and Maradona, but they’ve been part of several generations of South Americans who have run the popular, profitable and murky business of soccer.

Two waves of arrests and sweeping indictments in the last six months by U.S. and Swiss authorities investigating widespread corruption in FIFA, the sport’s multibillion-dollar world governing body, have snared 13 top soccer officials from the continent, more than any other region.

The current and two former heads of CONMEBOL, the South American governing body, are under arrest: President Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, and former Presidents Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay.

“The sin of the region, of CONMEBOL, was the lack of sharing of power,” Chile’s leading sports commentator Aldo Schiappacasse told The Associated Press.

Alabama, Florida play for SEC?title

ATLANTA (AP) – Alabama has set the bar high for the rest of the Southeastern Conference.

Heading into another appearance in the SEC championship game, there’s no indication that anyone is close to knocking off Nick Saban’s behemoth from Tuscaloosa.

Certainly not Florida, which will face the No. 2 Crimson Tide at 4 p.m. today.

Despite a resurgent season under new coach Jim McElwain, the offensively challenged Gators are a massive 18-point underdog against Alabama (11-1, No. 2 CFP), which is one victory away from a second straight trip to the College Football Playoff.

In his ninth season as the Tide’s coach, Saban has already won three national titles. Discounting a rebuilding season when he took over a then-floundering program in 2007, his teams have posted an astonishing record (95-12), earned a spot in five SEC championship games, and been a serious player in every national race except one (in 2010, when the Tide “slumped” to 10-3).

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