UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
O'NEAL FINISHES THIRD:
Former Jackson State golfer Tim O'Neal
put together his best finish and best payday on the Nationwide Tour
this year with a tie for third at last week's Scholarship
America Showdown at Somerby. O'Neal carded an
eagle-3 on the 72nd hole at the Somerby Golf Club in
Byron, Mn., to top off his final round 69 and finish two strokes
behind Jeff Quinney and Brandt Snedeker, who tied for
the top spot. Snedeker won the title on the second hole of
the sudden death playoff.
O'Neal shot 67-70-68-69 for a 14-under 274 total, tied with Kyle Thompson for third. They both took home $31,900. It was O'Neal's biggest finish and payday this season, topping his tie for eighth and the $11,300 he took home at last month's Chattanooga Classic. His outing increased his money total this year to $78,133, now 35th on the Tour's money list.
The top 20 money winners on the Nationwide Tour at the end of the year gain full exemption to the PGA Tour. The next Nationwide event is this week's Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Missouri.
SAVANNAH STATE ON HOLD:
According to the Savannah Morning News,
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has placed the
Savannah State University athletic department's application for
admission on hold until 2009, when the SSU football
program's three-year NCAA probation ends.
"We recently received a letter from the MEAC dated July 5, in which Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas informed us that the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has decided not to act upon our application until we have completed the NCAA probationary period," SSU sports information director Opio Mashariki wrote in an e-mail Friday, responding to an inquiry by the Savannah Morning News.
Thomas and Dr. William Harvey, Hampton University's president and chairman of the MEAC's Council of Chief Executives, which made the decision, did not respond to Savannah Morning News requests seeking an explanation for the decision.
SSU's football program was put on probation May 19 for NCAA violations following an investigation that began Oct. 18, 2004. SSU is on probation through May 18, 2009.
JUNIOR OLYMPICS AT MSU:
More than 7,000 youth athletes from around the
nation will descend on the campus of Morgan State
University on July 25, 2006 for the USA National Junior Olympics
Track and Field Championships.
Morgan State is the first historically black institution to host this annual athletic event.
"Morgan has one of the finest track facilities in the nation, and we're proud to be able to partner with USA Track and Field for this great event," says Tanya V. Rush, chairperson of the local organizing committee for the Junior Olympics. "Morgan joins with the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland in welcoming these outstanding young athletes."
One of the most visible developmental athletic programs in the world, USA Track and Field holds 200 preliminary meets, 57 association championships, and 16 regional championships to determine the field for the Junior Olympics.
The championships, scheduled from July 25-30, will crown champions from ages 7-18 in the traditional track and field events and the heptathlon, pentathlon, decathlon and race walk. Some of the winners from this year's Junior Olympics will be selected to participate in the International Association of Athletics Federation's World Youth Championships in August of this year.
No stranger to athletic achievement in track and field, the Morgan State women's track and field team won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Outdoor championships in 2005. In 1996, Morgan alumnus Rochelle Stevens, a guest speaker for the Junior Olympics opening ceremony, was a member of the American 1600 meter relay team which won the gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.