Sports

The game was in the fourth quarter when No. 32 dribbles down court and sets up a quick give-and-go to sink yet another 3-point shot. On the side lines the hometown fans cheer for their local team.

Kylee Kunkel Royston, No. 32, an eighth-grade student at Carver Middle School, helped her team throughout their Friday morning Show Me State Games

Columbia Post 202 opened the District 8 Championship in fine fashion.

Post 202 routed Centralia Post 113 on Monday, earning a 14-2 win at American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex in Jefferson City.

After conquering the state, the Rockers are ready to take on the nation.

The Rockers, a 10-and-under softball team that has won two state tournaments, will compete in a national tournament today through Sunday in Basehor, Kan.

At 12, Chris Miller is tough enough to compete against the adults.

Miller, of Columbia, competed in the Show-Me State Games’ triathlon on Sunday with his parents, Brad, 37, and Barbie, 39. The race, which consisted of a half-mile swim, a 20.9-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run, started and ended at Twin Lakes Recreational Area.

The dream is beginning for Mike Hall.

Hall, the winner of ESPN’s “Dream Job,” will debut on SportsCenter tonight at midnight. The show will be re-broadcast on Tuesday morning. His coanchors throughout the night will be Linda Cohn and Matt Winer.

In a game measured by how well each team could take advantage of the opponent’s mistakes, and the Mid-Missouri Mavericks did it better Sunday.

The Mavericks defeated Springfield-Ozark 10-9 at Taylor Stadium. Mid-Missouri won the series 2-1, improving to 12-41. The Ducks fell to 28-26.

Post 202 says it doesn’t want its season to end. It plans on winning the District 8 championship and more this year.

“We want it pretty bad,” said Scott Dunwoody, Post 202’s designated hitter. “We lost to (Jefferson City Post 5) a couple of times this year already. It seems like they’ve had our number lately, but we plan on changing that.”

An avid water-skier, Stacey Guilford didn’t compete Sunday at the Missouri Water Ski Championships. He didn’t seem to mind.

An Army reservist who lives on Lake Paragon, where the championships were held this weekend, returned from a year in Iraq on Wednesday. Guilford, a sergeant in the 106 Blackhawk Squadron out of Jefferson City, said one of the first things he did when he got back was to go skiing with his children, Jacob, 11, and Samantha, 14.

The atmosphere at Hickman High’s pool was a little unusual for Peter Wong of Columbia, but he seemed to learn from it.

Wong, 19, who swims for Princeton University, competed in the 50-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly Saturday in the Show-Me State Games’ swimming competition.

CINCINNATI — Steve Kline made a mistake and it cost him.

Adam Dunn hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the eighth inning, the first home run by a left-handed hitter off Kline this season, and the Cincinnati Reds cooled off the St. Louis Cardinals with a 7-5 win Saturday.

The smooth surface of Lake Paragon meant excellent conditions for the first day of the 2004 Missouri State Water Ski Championships on Saturday morning.

Skiers from around Missouri came to compete at the man-made lake a few miles south of Columbia and sat on the dock anxiously waiting their turn.

Staff reports

The Missouri football team has been picked to finish second in the Big 12 Conference’s North Division in a preseason media poll.

The Springfield/Ozark fans’ incessant duck calling didn’t seem to bother Mid-Missouri on Saturday night at Taylor Stadium.

The Mavericks beat the Ducks 7-3 to move to 11-41.

Lechunda Duncan has been playing basketball since she was in kindergarten, but for the first time she is playing for a club team.

Although Duncan, a post player for the Crusaders of Springfield, Mo., scored just one point the 40-34 victory against Mid-Missouri Shooters, she enjoyed her inaugural Show Me State Games experience. The Crusaders advanced to the next round of the 13-and-under girl’s basketball tournament.

Natalia Allen only knows one way of how to play her favorite sport, basketball: hard. The name of the game is intimidation for Natalia who is always putting forth her best effort. Allen plays with aggression, intensity and effort game in and game out. She is simply known for it and expected to exhibit it. Natalia Allen, 13, is a player that gives her all, all the time.

For many coaches, getting to see players they have coached grow up and evolve into better competitors can be more rewarding than winning.

“I coach just to help out to teach them the game and the fundamentals of it,” said Dan Feiertag, an assistant coach for the St. Charles Sting. “It will help these girls get to the next level of competition, like playing at the high school.”

With 54 seconds to warm up and having not taken a shot, the Lady Hornets were unprepared, and point guard Amber Harris knew it.

“Starting the game I was worried because we were all a little cold but we got into it,” Harris said.

Parents flooded into Brewer Field House on Friday morning as the 13-and-under basketball division of the Show-Me State Games began. Girls came from all over Missouri to compete, and while some of the girls warmed up by shooting layups, Megan Moser of Fredericktown, Mo., concentrated on blocking shots.

There aren’t many basketball coaches who have to worry about being a coach and a dad at the same time. Dan Schmucker is one of the few.

For 12 years, Schmucker has coached both of his daughter’s basketball teams. He started by coaching his oldest daughter’s Catholic Youth Council team, from kindergarten to high school. He gained experience coaching that team and that experience is paying off.

Coach of the Mid Missouri Shooters Steve Walton believes his center/forward Samantha Heck can do it all herself, but usually doesn’t.

Heck, of Middletown, Mo., has played basketball since she was in kindergarten. The 13-year-old Heck has played on 11 different teams, including the Shooters. On Friday during the opening round of the 13-and-under Show-Me Games girls basketball tournament, Heck warmed up with her Shooter teammates preparing to play the Crusaders from Springfield, Mo. At 6-foot, Heck was tallest player on the court.