The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Kunzer earns Japan trip with national tumbling titles By Mike Lamb Plaindealer sports editor Duane Sperry made his promise, now it looks as if the McHenry County Tumbleweeds coach will have to pay up. Sperry promised his wife's daughter, and his prize pupil a trip to Japan if die could ac­ complish two things. Karly Kunzer had to win the nine and 10-year-old national cham­ pionship in both the United States Tumbling and trampoline Association and the United States <Acro-gymnastic Federation. Last weekend Kunzer com­ pleted the sweep with the national title in the USTA in LaSalle. Karly was joined by her step-brother, Patrick Sperry, in the national title ranks, with a first place in the 11 and 12 age division. The weekend before, Kunzer won the USAF title at Las Vegas. Because the United States is a major power in tumbling, her coach knows she has a very good shot of a world title. This year the World USAF meet will be held in Japan. "It was one of my goals," said Kunzer bashfully. But her coach wasn't bashful when talking about her possible world title claim. "She tried several times before to win a national title, but just quite didn't have it all together," Sperry said. "She had it all together this time. No one has come close to her." The three national titles is a milestone for Sperry's Tum- bleweed school. No one from the McHenry orgainization has ever won two national titles. "I told her (Karly) if she won both national titles I would try to raise the money for Japan," explained Sperry. That promise might .be a little difficult to carry out, considering Sperry has calculated a cost of $5,000 to send Karly and himself to Japan in August. If Sperry raises the needed funds and Kunzer makes it to the games, both feel the chances of a world title are good. _ "I think she has a very good chance. She'll win it," said Sperry. "The United States is a very good power in the tum­ bling, and nobody came close to Karly this year." Patrick Sperry just missed out on a second national title when he was edged out by a point for first place in the United State* Acro-gymnastic Federation meet "A lot of it is natural ability," said the senior Sperry on his two children. "Being brother and sister, they push each other. TTiey practice five times a week." With such a early start for both youngsters, Sperry has some high hopes. "Being so young - and they (tumbling officials) are pushing to get power tumbling in the Olympics - if they do, both should be right there." The tumbleweeds were represented by five other competitors at LaSalle. La Donna Parvin took a second in the 19-and-over category, while Mellie Beigh was third. Kaiiy Kunzer Mike McGowan was fourth at 11 and 12, while Melissa Stevens took a ninth at eight-and-under. Patrick Sperry Angela Moore qualified with the other six for the national meet at Granville, but did not place. Challenging the Crystal Lake Triathlon / « a / ' * < tlSiSr# V. si fl» * ,*»••»<#% v.-,•?••• Bolger, Spasojevich conquer Crystal Lake course for top divisional honors - mm ' * * * *» . * *v > - i < } • 'i> V * > •• . A Plaindealer photo by Barb Ansell McHenry's Rich Jablonski checks over his bike in preparation helped as he finished with his best, preparation of the Crystal Lake Triathlon. The By Barb Ansell Plaindealer Sports writer CRYSTAL LAKE 4- While Saturday's weather may not have seemed ideal to the spectators of the fifth- annual Crystal Lake Triathlon, for participants, the weather could not have been better. The early morning rain overcast skies, and lack of wind assisted several McHenry athletes in completing the trio of a half- mile swim, a 15.1 mile bike ride and a 5.4 mile road run in record time. Cathy Bolger placed first in the 33-37 women's age division and third in the women's overall com­ petition with a time of 1:50:42.6. She trimmed six and-a-half minutes off of her previous time. "Better use of training time had a lot to do with it," said Bolger. She biked over 800 miles during 10 weeks of her pre-triathlon training. "A majority of the race effort is spent in the biking event, so I concentrated my conditioning efforts to the biking event rather than the swim which is naturally what I do best." Another McHenry com­ petitor, Tom Spasojevich, also placed first in his age division. Spasojevich claimed the top spot in the men's 43-47 age bracket with a time of 1:44:44.8. Spasojevich's time was also a new personal best for him by nine minutes. Spasojevich credits his victory to a better training plan. "I bike 20-30 miles every day, swim 2,000 yards three times a week, run 15 miles a week and work out at the Nautilus. This time I didn't overtrain "It's better to undertrain rather than overtrain. Overtraining burns out your muscles and seems to lead to injuries. By un- dertraining you can still reach back inside during the race for your last bit of strength." Spasojevich believes it is important to establish a race plan. "To do well you must run your own race and stick within the plan. Once you set your pace, maintain that pace and don't worry about the others." John " Reihansperger, competing in the Crystal Lake event for the third year, improved his time by seven minutes. Reihan­ sperger said his best event was the swim thanks to his year-round competition in that sport. "I kept driving myself on to beat last year's time," said Reihansperger. Working w*th weights at the Nautilus has improved by flexibility and strength. I believe that really helped to improve my time." Rich Jab^nski competed in the triathlon for the second time. He felt the competition was out­ standing. "There were 50 more participants than last year and everyone was tougher," said Jablonski. He too was tougher, as he bettered his first race time by six minutes. "the biking and ttl$ running were my strongest events because I do my most conditioning in those areas. But a positive mental outlook keeps you wanting to win." Bolger also believes a positive attitude has a lot to do with the way she does in the race. "I made the best of the conditions." Bolger said. "I Continued on pogo 19 FVC track standout prepares for his longest journey -- to China By Steve Metsch Plaindealer news service Jim Lane has racked up his share of miles the past decade, but his longest journey is yet to come. "I guess he's ran a couple thousand miles through the years enough to wear out a lot of running shoes," joked Larry Lane, Jim's father. But even the world's finest pair of shoes cpuldn't help Jim to the meet he plans to attend next month - that is unless they're ocean-proof. The Crystal Lake native and 79 fellow thinclads from around the country will represent the United States in Hong Kong in July. "I think I'll really like it. I think it will be interesting ," said Jim, whose visits to foreigfT excelled in his best event, the lands have been limited to 3,2«Vmeter run. Three trips Canada and Mexico. Jim, 18, wasn't foreign to the winners' circle during his high school days. The recent graduate was considered one of the area's top prep distance runners while at Crystal Lake Central. In each of his four years, he was a reliable point-winner and downstate were included, as were an equal number of Fox Valley Conference titles for the - Tigers. Being named to the U.S. team is another honor in Jim's long list, according to Joe Piane, head track coach at Notre Dame University. Piane, who was in California Tuesdav for the Olympic track team trials, thinks making the trip is the chance of a lifetime. "It will be a great opportunity and a real learning experience. It will be a lot of fun and a real eye-opener," said Piane, who contacted Jim in the winter with the idea of joining the U.S. team. Piane served on the coaching staff of last year's American team which visited the Republic of China. Forty male and 40 female runners were selected to visit the Far East this year after an invitiation from the track and Field Federation of Hong Kong. "Hie ldds were picked on their performances as juniors last year and most of the team is comprised of recent high school graduates. It's based on the performance last year and \ Continued on pogo If Travelers too much for Richmond to handle By Mike Lamb Plaindealer sports editor 'Where do we go from here?" That was a question Rich­ mond Travelers coach Ron Welch had for his team. His young squad was taken ad­ vantage of by McHenry, 26-6 last week Thursday. Welch's squad gave up 15 walks, 19 stolen bases, committed eight errors and eight wild pitches. "We're short on personnel, missing three girls," said Welch. His starting pitcher and catcher missed the contest. But that wasn't the biggest problem for Richmond. "Most of my girls are 13-year-olds. They're all green and never played in competition like this," said Welch. McHenry, meanwhile, featured a lineup of slightly older girls. Many of the girls played on the High School squad this past spring. But even with the more experienced team, cach Mary Ann Knaack's squad had its share of problems. While only giving up six runs, McHenry gave 10 walks and committed three errors. "The pitching was a little off today. Again the girls didn't hit the ball. Hopefully against Crystal Lake they will," said Knaack. "It was a washout. We knew coming in Richmond was a very inexperienced team." But Knaack added, "Rich­ mond is going to have a good team someday." Richmond jumped out to the early lead with two runs in the first inning. McHenry starting pitcher Melissa Gray walked the first two batters, Sandy Schmidt and Rese Seelandt. Both ad­ vanced to second and third base on stolen bases. Jan Bergsma then singled in Schmidt, while Seelandt managed to score by stealing home. Gray settled down after that to retire the side. Richmond's lead wouldn't last long. A lead-off walk to Patti Johnson and singles by Nancy Walsh and Delia Saunders resulted in three early runs before Gretchen Fuiava popped up for the first out. When the inning was completed, 16 batters approached the plate, with 12 runs scored. The big hit in the inning was a triple by Saunders, who scored on the same play thanks to a Richmond throwing error. Saunders carried the big bat for McHenry with a three-for- four performance, including a walk .and four runs scored. Gray held Richmond scoreless in the second inning, while scoring another run for McHenry. Gray reached on a walk, stole second, advance to third on a pop up and scored on Johnson's groundout to second base. The big defensive weapon for McHenry in the second inning was catcher Andee Norton. She threw out two runners at­ tempting to steal second. Richmond added two runs in the third inning. This time Gray got into some trouble with two walks and two wild pitches. Paula Weber and Nikki Covell scored on singles by Nancy Diedrich and Leah Wheller. McHenry pretty much put the game away in the bottom of the third. This time 10 girls were sent to the plate with seven runs scored. Richmond's final two runs were scored in the fourth inning. Richmond was helped by two McHenry errors. The slaughter rule win was insured when. McHenry scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. » r McHenry Travelers shortstop reaches for the high throw from Plaindealer photo by Mike Lamb Nancy Walsh Norton as Richmond's Rese Seelandt slides into catcher Andee second base. t