THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9406130260
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940613 LENGTH: Medium
Really bad rhyme.
{REST} ``I haven't had many fights, but as long as you're in shape, you'll take the cake,'' Kirkley said. ``Ali ain't got nuthin' on me. You'll see.''
Actually, Kirkley did look sharp in his one bout Sunday, as he decked Manassas' Charles Larochell three times in the first round before the referee called a halt to the action.
The novice then announced he was turning pro, even though it was only the sixth fight of his career.
``You see him drop? I can't be stopped!'' Kirkley said.
Don't expect to see this schtick on pay-per-view any time soon, though. You see, Kirkley is 32 years old.
SAILING: In the one design sailing competition on the Elizabeth River, Latane Montegue of Alexandria and Mark Arnold of Virginia Beach captured gold medals in their respective classes.
Montegue won the Hampton division over first-day leader Bill Daughtrey of Newport News. Scott Wolff of Virginia Beach took third and Eddie Wolcott Jr., of Norfolk, finished fourth.
In the Mobjack class, Arnold was followed by John Gardner of Alexandria and Tim McConville of Springfield. Gary Stull of Norfolk was fourth in the two-day regatta.
QUALITY MEET: While the top athletes in many of the Virginia Games sports found something else to do this weekend, the synchronized swimming competition featured many of the top performers on the East Coast, said event organizer Barbara Eaton.
``We really had a first-class championship,'' Eaton said of the tournament, which featured 78 swimmers at various skill levels from ages 8-19. ``We really couldn't have done much better than we did.''
The Richmond-based Briarwood Synchro Team, the top-ranked team in a region which includes Texas and Florida, dominated many of the events. Briarwood's Rachel Easterling won top soloist honors.
``She's really a gorgeous swimmer,'' Eaton said.
The Tidewater Aqua-Aerials, which is coached by Eaton, earned a silver medal in ages 12-13 solo category (Angela Sye) and bronze medals in 12-13 trio (Sye, Adrienne and Melanie Christ), 14-15 team (the Christs, Sye, Katie Douglas and Michelle Middlebrook) and 14-15 duet (Douglas and Middlebrook).
POWER LIFTER: The plan was for Matt Russell, a football player for the University of Colorado, to merely pick up some pointers on weightlifting this summer.
Turns out Russell is a fast study, because Saturday, he also picked up weightlifting gold medals in the heavyweight snatch and clean-and-jerk lifting events.
``Five weeks ago, he barely knew how to do the lifts at all,'' said event director Bob Crist, who is also a member of the Lower Peninsula Weightlifting Club. ``He's just a superb athlete.''
Russell, a 6-2, 240-pound linebacker originally from Illinois, is living in Hampton this summer with his father, a colonel stationed at Langley Air Force Base.
``Colorado's strength coach gave me a call and asked if we could work with him,'' Crist said. ``When he got here, he hadn't done much Olympic-style lifting. But Saturday, he did a 236-pound snatch, then clean-and-jerked 303 pounds. It's amazing how quickly he's gotten the hang of it.''
Since only 16 of the 42 weightlifting competitors were from Virginia, an open division was held in addition to the state event. Russell won both divisions.
by CNB