Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF) Teams Unite for 2010 U.S. National Fencing Championships

/PRNewswire/ -- The Peter Westbrook Foundation's athletes joined 6,500 others from around the country to compete for the distinction of being crowned the nation's best at the 2010 Summer National Championships. Held in Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center, the annual event showcased some of the best fencers the United States has to offer competing for various titles. With a new generation of PWF athletes claiming four national championships, three silver medals, and five bronzes, the Peter Westbrook Foundation continued to further its tradition of distinct excellence.

This years National Champions include:
Junior Women's Foil; Nzingha Prescod
Junior Men's Sabre; Adrian Bak

Senior Men's Sabre Team; Adrian Bak, Dan Bak, Luther Clement & Konate Primus

Senior Women's Foil Team; Epiphany Georges, Demeca Homer, Kylie McGill & Nzingha Prescod

Highlighting the championships was the PWF Men's Sabre team capturing its 10th national team title. The team last won in 2008 with the help of 2000 Olympian, and long-time PWF pupil and mentor, Akhi Spencer-el. Now, as the Peter Westbrook Foundations head sabre coach, Ahki would help a new and younger PWF team recapture a title that he had been so crucial in attaining as a fencer. Composed of Daniel Bak (individual bronze medalist) and Adrian Bak (junior gold medalist), the team entered the field of 30 teams with modest ambitions but quickly found their collective stride and proved to be a formidable force as they eliminated some of the nations top teams.

Most notable of all, however, was the come-from-behind victory against defending champions Manhattan Fencing Center. Facing a team starting one Olympic medalist and one World Team member, the PWF was pitted as relative underdogs and was forced to fight back from an early deficit for the entirety of the match. In heroic fashion, displaying poise, composure and a will to win, Dan Bak would step up in the final bout to take the match by defeating Darryl Homer in a thrilling one touche finale, 45-44. The win would spur on victories in other events that had yet to compete. The PWF Senior Women's foil team would go on to claim the championship with landslide victories over their competitors. The Senior Men's Epee team and the Peter Westbrook Junior Sabre Team would go on to earn silver medals in their events as well.

"In all 19 years of the foundation, this national championships is the most exciting I've ever seen," exclaimed Peter Westbrook, founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation. "Now, with our Olympians and Olympic medalists retired, we have unveiled a new generation of foundation champions. With their outstanding performances in Atlanta, this new crop has proven that they are capable of achieving and even surpassing the success of their predecessors."

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Emory Tennis Players Win NCAA Championships

Emory University senior Michael Goodwin and sophomore Lorne McManigle captured the men's and women's singles crowns at their respective NCAA Division III Championships over the weekend.

Goodwin defeated Ben Stein of Bates College, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to win the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Singles Championship on Sunday in Claremont, Calif. Goodwin, who was seeded fifth in the 32-player field bracket, became the first player in the history of the Emory men’s tennis program to win an individual national championship. Goodwin rattled off five victories en route to the crown including three three-set matches in his final three outings. His efforts closed out an outstanding four-year with Eagles that saw him earn All-America honors on nine occasions while ranking among the school's all-time top 10 performers with 75 singles victories.

McManigle became the second individual champion in the history of the Emory University women’s tennis program, as she defeated Ploy Suthijindawong of Saint Scholastica, 6-2, 6-1 at the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships.

McManigle, who entered the tournament as the fifth seed, was pitted against the unseeded Suthhijindawong of the College of St. Scholastica.

McManigle becomes the second individual in Emory history to win the NCAA Division III Women’s Championship, joining former Eagle Mary Ellen Gordon, who won the singles championship in both 2003 and 2004. McManigle had the opportunity to earn the championship in front of a large number of Emory supporters, who made the trip up I-85 to Lawrenceville, Georgia, to see the title match.

Goodwin's and McManigle's championships mark the third time in NCAA Division III history that the men’s and women’s individual champion has come from the same school. Principia’s Toby Clark and Courtney Allen accomplished the feat in both 1985 and 1987.

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Shorter Hawks Cross Country Repeats as SSAC Champions

It's hard to get better than first, but the Shorter College men's cross country team found a way on Saturday as they took the top spot in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament at Stonebridge Golf Course with a perfect score of 15. The Hawks took all five of the top spots to advance to the National Tournament in two weeks.

"Getting a perfect score was our 'great' goal for today and it's awesome to see that realized," said head coach Jay Stephenson. "They have done everything I've asked of them and it's an exciting day for this team."

Shorter's Martin Hernandez took first place in the 8k race, with a time of 24:59.06, to repeat as the SSAC Runner of the Year. Jared Carson followed close behind in second with a 25:05.99, and in third was Josh Carson with a 25:45.09.

Cyrus Wakaba took fourth with a 25:47.15, and Steven Rich rounded out the top five with a 25:47.97.

All five of the above runners were also named to the SSAC All-Conference team.

"There is no doubt of the talent on this team and the drive they have to finish on top," added Stephenson. "We're looking forward to our next race in two weeks."

Stephenson also received honors of his own, as he was named the SSAC Coach of the Year, following the Hawks' first place finish.

Lee University finished in second with 51 points, with runners Will Jayroe and Chad Dean both being the 6th and 7th members of the All-Conference team. Berry College took third place with 61 points.

Other Shorter runners in the race were Ben Anthony (9th - 26:14.73), Brenton Widener (19th - 27:45.90), Therron Smith (21st - 28:01.70), Josh Giannoni (25th - 28:37.03), Allen O'Neal (29th - 29:27.08) and Alex Compton (32nd - 29:44.44)

The Hawks will now repeat their trip to the NAIA National Championship in two weeks as the SSAC Champion, held in Kenosha, Wis., at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

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Hotel Performance and NBA Champions

Should anyone really be surprised about this year’s old-school NBA finals matchup? Not if they’ve been tracking the health of the hotel industry. According to PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR), the nation’s leader in hospitality research and consulting, there is a strong relationship between hotel industry data and the NBA championship.

Hotel performance measures such as occupancy, room rates, and profits historically have proved to be accurate predictors of the NBA champions. In the years when the Celtics or Lakers have been champions, the performance of the U.S. hotel industry was surprisingly similar.

The 2007-2008 NBA season marks the 11th time that the Lakers and Celtics have met in the finals. These two historic franchises have combined to win 30 of the 61 NBA championships (soon to be 31 of 62). PKF-HR has been collecting data on hotels since 1930, or 17 years before the first professional basketball championship was played. Mark Woodworth, president of PKF-HR, explains, “Being a Celtics fan, I wanted to get a better handle on the likely outcome of the series.”

Woodworth noted that the correlation between PKF’s data and the NBA playoffs has significant historical precedence. When either the Celtics or Lakers have won the NBA championship, national hotel occupancy has historically decreased. In their most recent Hotel Horizonssm forecast report, PKF-HR reaffirmed their prediction of a national decline in hotel occupancy for the year end 2008. The reliability of PKF-HR’s hotel data does not end there.

The average annual change in profits for the hotel industry in the 10 years that the Celtics and Lakers have met was 3.1 percent. PKF-HR forecasts that in 2008, profits will increase by 2.9 percent, leading the firm to suggest that these numbers are more than coincidence. “We really should not have been surprised to see the Celtics and Lakers back in the finals. Two plus two equals four as far as I know,” Woodworth said.

The real question on everyone’s mind is who will be this year’s champion.

“At the risk of offending our clients and colleagues in Los Angeles, all trends point towards Boston being this year’s NBA champion,” concludes Reed Woodworth, vice president of the PKF Consulting Boston office. “National hotel occupancy is expected to decline this year, and of the eight times Boston has beaten the Lakers, occupancy decreased in five of those years.

“To make Boston fans feel even more confident, we need look no further than the annual change in room rate,” Reed added. “In the years that Boston has beaten the Lakers, rates increased by 3.9 percent. When Boston has won an NBA championship against any team, the hotel industry reported a 4.0 percent increase in rates. This year PKF-HR is forecasting a 4.1 percent increase in room rates, almost an identical match. Sorry, Lakers fans.”

Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of the PKF Consulting office in Los Angeles, jokes, “I still expect the Lakers to win. But even if they lose, from a hotel owner’s perspective, I am happy to be in Los Angeles, where hotel revenue is projected to grow at twice the rate expected for Boston hotels in 2008.”

“Lest anyone think that I was able to influence how the data was interpreted, we had a Knicks fan, my colleague Robert Mandelbaum, check the numbers,” Woodworth added.

Chicago Wolves Capture 2008 Calder Cup Championship

Jason Krog's four-point night included his second hat trick of the postseason and propelled the Chicago Wolves to the American Hockey League's 2008 Calder Cup championship with a 5-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Allstate Arena on Tuesday night.

The Wolves, top development team of the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers, defeated the Penguins four games to two to win their second AHL title and first since 2002.

Krog capped a magical season by winning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs, finishing with 12 goals and a league record-tying 26 assists for 38 points in 24 playoff games. Krog, who won his first championship after reaching the Calder Cup Finals with Bridgeport in 2002 and the Stanley Cup Finals with Anaheim in 2003, was also named the AHL MVP in the regular season after leading the league in goals (39), assists (73) and points (112) in 80 games played.

2007 AHL Rookie of the Year Brett Sterling and 2007 AHL All-Rookie defenseman Nathan Oystrick also scored for the Wolves in Game 6, and Ondrej Pavelec made 25 saves to become the fourth goaltender in AHL history to win 16 games in a single postseason.

John Anderson becomes the 12th head coach to win more than one Calder Cup championship, leading Chicago to its second title in seven seasons since joining the AHL. The Wolves won the West Division with a record of 53-22-2-3 (111 points) during the regular season, then got past the Milwaukee Admirals (4-2), Rockford IceHogs (4-3) and Toronto Marlies (4-1) before defeating the Penguins in the Finals.

Chicago's victory brings the curtain down on the AHL's 72nd season. In operation since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams. More than 84 percent of today's NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and this season marked the seventh consecutive year in which more than 6 million fans attended AHL games across North America.

Lazers '94 Girls Premier - 2008 President's Cup Champs

SSG Note: Congratulations to our local Fayette girls for this achievement. Click on the link to read the entire story!

The Lazers ’94 Girls Premier team played strong over the May 10-11 weekend and gave their Mothers excellent appreciation gifts – a win in the Georgia Soccer President’s Cup State Championship tournament. As champions the team will represent Georgia against champions from 12 other states at the Regional President’s Cup the June 13 weekend....

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