Olympics & The Shore Conference

Wednesday was a terrific day for a trio of high-profile Americans at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. First Lindsey Vonn, the most hyped athlete at these games fought off the pressure and a painful shin to become the first US Woman to win a gold medal in the downhill. Vonn has been in the spotlight for the last couple of weeks and has been the most dominant female skier in the world but had never won a gold medal before yesterday. Despite all the questions about her leg injury she finished more than a half-second ahead of teammate and rival Julia Mancuso for the first 1-2 American finish in an alpine skiing event since the 1984 Olympics. Vonn will be back on the mountain today when she competes in the Super Combined event at Whistler.

Later in the day American speedskater Shani Davis used a torrid final lap to capture his second consecutive 1000 meter gold medal with the bronze going to countryman Chad Hedrick. Four years ago Davis became the first African-American to win an individual winter gold medal. Completing the day was the gold medal performance of snowboarder Shaun White, who captured his second straight men’s half pipe with another gravity-defying performance while American Scott Lago took the bronze medal. Wednesday marked only the second time in Winter Olympic history the US won three gold medals in the same day.

Closer to home the first round of the Shore Conference Basketball Tournament has been completed and it’s now on to the round of 16. In Boys action last night sixth-seeded Monsignor Donovan needed a long 3-pointer from Jake Martin at the buzzer to get past Toms River South 39-36. That set’s up a third meeting this season with Lakewood on Friday night as the Piners rolled past Ocean. Manchester and Point Beach were the only other Ocean County schools to survive the first round, which included 25th ranked Red Bank’s stunning upset of #8 Point Boro in double overtime. Tonight’s Girls round of 16 matches include Jackson Memorial hosting Mater Dei, Southern visiting St. Rose and Toms River North traveling to Rumson.
Our Shore Sports Network will broadcast the Boys and Girls semifinals and finals from the Ritacco Center next week.