Other local sports

Beau Claridge competed in 13 Show-Me State Games track and field events Saturday and Sunday at Audrey J. Walton Stadium on the MU campus.

Brian Thompson, 23, of Trenton, won the 2005 national collegiate championship for MU. On Saturday, he hit enough clays to win gold in the Show-Me State Games’ trap and modern Skeet shoots.

Saturday was the first time Megan Nordhues competed in the Show-Me State Games. It was the first time she had competed in the same arena as the MU gymnastics team. It was also her first meet since a potentially career-ending injury.

Nine-year-old Kaitlyn Evans of Sturgeon loves to play all kinds of sports. Her father says she’s a natural athlete. But at this year’s Show-Me State Games, she got to play her favorite sport, disc golf. She has her father to thank for that.

As a child, he was glued to the television screen, captivated by his martial arts idols — Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and David Carradine. These stars inspired 39-year old James Goodwin of Mexico to start tae kwon do.

Fifty-seven faces, sweaty in the swamp-like summer humidity, turned to the bull’s-eyes across a field from them Saturday morning in Stephens Lake Park.

Canote, 14, has been running for just three years, but participated for the first time in the games this weekend.

“I thought I’d try something harder,” Canote said. “The competition is tougher than most of the other meets I go to.”

After a three-year absence, Jim LaRue returned to the Show-Me State Games tennis competition this summer.

Kyle Hawkins had just spent another 20 minutes or so being interviewed on his cell phone, talking once more about the issues that have made him an unintentional trailblazer.

Just four days after it was caught, John Young’s famed albino catfish died before it could be transferred to a tank at the Tennessee Aquarium.

Digital camera out and walkie talkie in hand, Janet Anderson radioed to her two sons from a group of picnic tables overlooking the Missouri River.

A black SUV rolls down a Missouri road. It’s a small reminder to the driver and co-pilot of this ground support crew for the Missouri River 340 Race that somewhere out on the muddy water are two men from the Twin Cities trying to make good time in their tandem canoe.

Jim Zepp and Heather Nowack are co-coaches for the Columbia Acro and Tumbling Team, which is participating in this week’s national competition in Palm Springs, Calif.

After nearly a year of practice and preparation, the Columbia Acro and Tumbling Team is competing this week in the Acrobatic Gymnastics Junior Olympic National Championships in Palm Springs, Calif.

NASCAR driver Carl Edwards was released early Monday from an Omaha, Neb., hospital after being injured Sunday night in a dirt track race in nearby Greenwood, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The Boone County Fair’s 4-H/FFA horse show brought color to the arena as boys and girls in bright outfits competed on horseback. Christi Miller, 37, a member of the committee responsible for organizing the show and hiring the judges and the workers, said that this show was not only about horses but also about commitment and dedication.

Most participants look at games as opportunity to enjoy favorite activity.

In 3-D archery, shooters must guess the yardage between their shooting post and the targets. They are trying to hit a foot-and-a-half wide kill zone painted on the animals.

“It’s supposed to be an in-control sport,” said Jerry Brasye of St. Louis, who has been playing Ultimate for 25 years. He said the people who play and the camaraderie are reasons why he is loyal to the sport.