Alabama football recruiting: Tide lands defensive tackle from Pinson. 3C
Sports
M O N D A Y , J U N E 9 , 2008
Townsend
NISSAN
www.townsendnissan.com
2008 SENTRA
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
West Alabama high school athletic scholarships
NCAA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
FRENCH OPEN
Nadal routs Federer for fourth title
2007-2008 Acedemic Year
Total: 163 Female 45
2-year schools 68
(27.6%)
(41.8%)
That’s so
Male 118 4-year schools 95 (58.2%)
(72.4%)
Sport Golf 5 (3.1%)
Other 6.5* (4%)
Baseball 51 (31.3%)
(23.9%)
Softball 18 Track 6 (3.7%)
Raevan
Football 39
(11%)
Basketball 37.5* (23%)
SEC title gives ex-Northridge star a lift for nationals
* One athlete was on a dual scholarship for basketball and volleyball
By Andrew Carroll Sports Writer
Male area athletes more likely to earn a scholarship By Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | Male athletes from West Alabama high schools were almost three times as likely to be playing at the college level on scholarship as female athletes in the 2007-08 school year, according to a survey by The Tuscaloosa News. Reports from 34 area high schools found 72.4 percent of 163 student-athletes receiving some form of athletic scholarship aide at the college level were male, with females making up only 27.6 percent of the collegiate scholarship athletes from area high schools. The sur vey also found more than half of area athletes on scholarship are competing at four-year schools, with just more than 40 percent competing for two-year junior and community colleges. While football offers the most scholarships of any sport at the collegiate level, baseball players from area high schools were most likely to land some form of athletic scholarship help, with more than 31 percent of the total number of players on athletic aide playing that sport. Football, at nearly 24 percent, ranked second, with men and women’s basketball combining to make up 23 percent of the list of scholarship athletes from the area. Softball players ranked fourth at 11 percent. Just six area track and field athletes and five golfers were on scholarship. Swimming and soccer had two each, with one tennis player and two volleyball players (one of whom counted as half because she also played basketball).
TUSCALOOSA | Auburn University junior Raevan Harris earned the right to swagger into the NCAA Track and Field Championships, but that’s just not her style. “I’m just going in to do the best that I can,” said Harris, a member of four AHSAA championship teams during her career at Tuscaloosa’s Northridge High School. “I don’t like to be too confident. That’s when you mess up.” Harris, who stands 5 feet, 10 inches, might not be cocky, but her confidence got a significant boost when she claimed her first SEC championship in the high jump. She cleared 6 feet to win on May 18 in Auburn. “It was a little confidence boost, I guess, as far as going to nation-
day and ends on Saturday. “I believe she’ll do ver y well,” said Scott Richardson, an assistant who coaches the Auburn jumpers. “She’s not one to brag. She’s a softspoken person, and I admire her all the more for that. She just goes out there and does it.” During her sophomore season, Harris tied the school outdoor record with a height of 6-11⁄2 in the Mideast Regional Championships. She was third in the SEC meet at 5-103⁄4. “She worked hard for it and earned it,” Richardson said. “She’s been consistent all season long. Winning in the SEC is a big step in the right direction. When you win in this conference, you have a shot to do well at nationals. She needed to know that she belongs at this meet.” SEE HARRIS | 3C
ASWA MR. BASKETBALL
St. Jude’s Green eager to hit the court at Alabama
The Associated Press
PARIS | Early in the second set of the French Open final, not quite halfway into what would wind up as Roger Federer’s worst loss in 173 career Grand Slam matches, he watched intently as Rafael Nadal pushed a forehand wide to end a lengthy exchange. Federer saw the ball land out, punched the air and yelled. Neither the exact words — English? French? Swiss German? — nor the precise sentiment — delight? relief? — could be discerned. That he would be so moved was noteworthy in itself. A man who has won 12 major championships, who has been ranked No. 1 a record 227 weeks in a row, who has placed himself squarely in any discussion about the greatest players in tennis history, found significance in the winning of one measly point. Why? Because Nadal so thoroughly, so untheatrically, outplayed Federer in every possible facet Sunday, beating him 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to win a fourth consecutive title at Roland Garros. During the trophy ceremony following the most lopsided men’s final at the French Open since 1977, and at any Grand Slam since 1984, Nadal felt compelled to say: “Roger, I’m sorry.” “He dominated from the first point until the end,” said Federer, who hadn’t lost a 6-0 set since 1999, and hadn’t won fewer than five games in a match since 2002. “It’s the strongest Rafa that I’ve ever seen. He was more dominant than the previous years.” Federer, much to his chagrin, is in perfect position to make that comparison. For the fourth year running, he came to Paris needing a French Open championship to complete a career Grand Slam, something only five men have accomplished. In 2005, Federer reached the semifinals, then lost to Nadal. SEE NADAL | 3C
By Aaron Suttles Sports Writer
Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224. For the list of area athletes on athletic scholarship for the 2007-08 year visit www. tuscaloosanews.com
als,” said Harris, who is majoring in social work. “I still get nervous every time I go. “I don’t think I did the best I could do. I made Former an attempt at 6-2. I Northridge could have gotten star Raevan it, but I snapped Harris won too soon. the SEC title “When it got to in the high 6 feet, there were jump after only two of us left. clearing 6 I was the only one feet that cleared it. The SEC is the hardest conference, so I was satisfied when I knew that I won.” Harris and her teammates flew out of Atlanta on Sunday, headed for the NCAA meet in Des Moines, Iowa. Competition starts Wednes-
By Howard Fendrich
STAFF PHOTO | MICHAEL E. PALMER
St. Jude’s JyMychal Green (32) goes for a block on a shot by Sulligent’s Dominique Bonman at the Class 1A championship game at the BJCC in Birmingham on Feb. 27. St. Jude won, 72-59. Green, a University of Alabama signee, accepted the Mr. Basketball Award on Sunday in Birmingham.
BIRMINGHAM | Slumping down over the podium to allow his 6-foot-8 frame to get low enough for him to speak into the microphone, Alabama’s 2008 Mr. Basketball and University of Alabama freshman JaMychal Green spoke softly. Easily the tallest person in the room, Green may have had the smallest ego as he humbly thanked God, his parents, his coach and teammates in order. “It means a lot to me,” Green said about his Mr. Basketball award. “It’s a great honor to be elected Mr. Basketball. There have been a lot of great players that have been elected.” Green, a McDonald’s All-American, averaged 26 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks per game his senior season at St. Jude in Montgomery. He is already enrolled at Alabama and is rooming with fellow freshman Andrew Steele, Ronald Steele’s brother. “It was tough, confusing,” Green said about being at college and on his own for the first time. “But I’m coming along great. Me and Andrew (Steele) get in the gym as much as we can. We’re getting along great.” In high school, Green was used to being bigger than SEE GREEN | 3C
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Roger Federer at the French Open final in Paris on Sunday. Nadal won in straight sets.
FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK TUESDAY GO WEST: The Boston Celtics go from the East Coast to the West Coast to face the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
WEDNESDAY RUNNING AND JUMPING: The NCAA track and field championships get under way in Des Moines, Iowa.
THURSDAY MAJOR DEAL: Alabama golfer Michael Thompson and Jason Bohn take on the PGA field in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
THEN THERE WERE EIGHT: The remaining teams square off in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
GEARED UP: The Sprint Cup Series heads to Brooklyn, Mich., for the Michigan 400 at International Raceway.