Lakre City Reporter I I Dixon, Norris win sectlonals Story ideas? Contact Tim Kirby Sports Editor 754-042 I tkirb~akecityreportercorn Saturday, April 2, 20 1 1 Section B www.Iakecityreporter.com FROM THE SIDELINE Brandon Finley bf ley0Tkci yeorecom Critical foT lOcal SDOrts iethe professional ranks may su 6tng up their baseball season, for lo al high sch Ils it's all cmn ts a ood co~ fuay 0enthink that so many sports will soon wrap for the year, because it seems that many of them hv u sartd. : Bt h at local high schools. Tennis will kick off the first leg of district tournaments when the boys and girls of Columbia High travel to Jonesville Tennis Complex in Gainesville starting on Wednesday. The two-day tournament shouldn't be the end of the road for the Lady Tigers as they come in as defending champions. The boys team performed a complete turnaround under first- year coach Russell Waters, but they'll have some stiff competition to contend with. Softball has two weeks remaining in the regular season before district- tournament play begins. Both Columbia and Fort White are in good shape to make a push for a district championship. The lady Tigers are in prime position to recapture the district crown after falling to Middleburg in last year's playoff. This time, it will happen in Columbia's backyard as Jimmy Williams' team will host. Fort White has been in contention all season, and the Lady Indians won't have to travel far either. Casie Sparks takes her fist trip to the district tournament at Santa Fe High. It hasn't been a dream loca baebal temshbeut the good news is that Columbia and Fort White district tournament. First-year coach J.T. Clark will lead his Tigers into familiar territory as Columbia tries to defend its title at Middleburg High, where Columbia won last year's championship. Fort White might not end up on top of the district at the end of the regular season, but the good news for the Indians is that they'll have home- field advantage in the district tournament as Chad Bonds' team hosts. Sprinkle in state weightlifting meets for the Tigers and Indians, and the month of April will be thick for Columbia county sports. Timmy Jernigan . has a good chance of capturing an individual crown ivrhen the Tigers travel to Kissimmee on April 15 for the state championship. WBrandon Finley covers speort for the Lake City Husldes only school tO accomplish feat. By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press STORRS, Conn. - Basketball jerseys with Kemba Walker's No. 15 and Maya Moore's No. 23 are sailing out of the UConn Co-op campus bookstore as students prepare to cheer on their men's and wom- en's basketball teams in the Final Fours. The men playr in their 118110881 Semifinal in Houston on Saturday night against Ke~itucky (29-8), while the women play Notre Dame (30-7) m 'Indianapolis oTsuen yonnecticut men (30-9) are seeking their third national title and are back in the Final Four for the fourth time, and second time in three years. The women (36-1) are seeking an eighth title and third in a row. It's the third time in seven years that both teams have made it this far. In 2004 the school became the only one in Division I history to win dual titles. Co-op president Bill Simpson says the store has HUSKIES continued on 3B - ASSOCIATED PRESS Connecticut guard Lorin Dixon (30) goes up to the net against Duke in the first half of an NCAA women's college basketball tournament regional final game, Tuesday in Philadelphia. """.. .. . JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake Citl Reporter Fort White High's JR Dixon competes in the clean and jerk in a match against Columbia High earlier this season. Dixon took first place in the 183-pound weight class at the t~A sectional meet in Palatka on Friday. had a 240-pound bench press and clean and jerked 220 pounds. The Indians qualified a second person in the heavy- weight division as Anthony Pearce was just 30 pounds off of Norris' total. Pearce had a 305-pound bench .press with 300 pounds on the clean and jerk. The 1A state meet takes place on April 15 in Kissimmee. Three other lifters quali- ~finished with a 155-pound fled for the state meet. clean and jerk for a 360- Devin; Rorabaugh quali- pound total. . fi~ed with a third-place fin- Dylan Newman finished ish in the 129-pound weight in second place for the 239- class. Rorabaugh had a pound weight class with a bench of. 205 pounds and 460-pound total. Newman NOtre Dame'S Brey selected COach of the year Associated Press HOUSTON Jimmer Fredette became a one- name star in his senior sea- son at BYU. * Leading the country in scoring helped as did being on a team that spent the second half of the season ranked in the top ten. On Friday, Fredette, excuse me, Jimmer was selected The Associated Press' player of the year. "It's been quite a ride and it's been a lot of fun and I wouldn't take anything back," Fredette: said. "I had ' quite the career at BYU. There were a lot of ups and downs, b~ut there were a lot more ups this year. The Cougars won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title and lost to San Diego State in the tourna- ment final. A No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, they lost to Florida in overtime in the round of 16 and finished with a 32-5 record. "I just knew right from the beginning we could have a very good year with the guys returning, and it was one of the most talented teams I've ever played on," said Fredette, who averaged 28.5 points. '"Then we started to plaiy well and beat Arizona, and I knew from there we could be a force. That's what hap- pened because we stayed hungry all year, and that's what separated us from other teams." Notre Dame's Mike Brey was selected the coach of the year as he led the 'Fighting Irish to a second- place finish in the Big East and a No. 5 ranking in the final poll. '"The personality of this group was so stable wheth- er it was a big win or a loss, they stayed stable," said Brey, who has been at Notre Dame for 11 sea- sons. "When they had great wins it didn't change them. When they had a tough loss it didn't change them. Stable is the word." Fredette received 48 votes from the 65-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. The voting was done before the NCAA tournament. Kemba Walker of Connecticut was second with 11 votes. Nolan Smith of Duke had five and Jared Sullinger of Ohio State one. '"To see Jimmer progress and become a leader of hiS team, that will be his bas- ketball legacy," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "He is driv- en not just to be the best player he can, but it was how he helped his team." ASSOCIATED PRESS In this March 24 file photo, BYU's Jimmer Fredette (32) goes up for a shot in front of Florida's Alex Tyus (23) and Kenny Boynton (1) during the NCAA Southeast regional semifinal game in New Orleans. Fredette was selected as The Associated Press' player of the year on Friday. U onn looks for mnens and wvomens titles Five Indians GUalify fOr state Weightlifting meet. By BRANDON FINLEY bfinley@lakecityreporter. com, Two Fort White High lift- ers were on top of their class as the Indians quali- fied fi~ve members of the weightlifting team for the state finals at the 1A sec- tional meet in Palatka on Friday. JR Dixon and ~Curtis Norris led all Indians with their first-place finishes. Dixon led the 183-pound weight class with a 285- pound bench press and 285- pound clean and jerk. He had a combined weight of 570 pounds. Norris benched 375 pounds and had a clean and jerk of 260 pounds for a 635- pound total. "Both of those guys had a very good week working out and the results showed that hard work," Fort White head coach Dan Marsee said. Marsee doesn't think that their luck will run out at the sectional meet. "I think both guys have a chance to compete at state," he said. BYU's Fredette named AP player of the year