THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407090337
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OLYMPIC FESTIVAL NOTES
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Although new Old Dominion women's soccer coach Linda Hamilton will be on the sidelines this fall, she said she still has several more things to accomplish on the field.
``I'm looking forward to the Olympics in 1996,'' said Hamilton, a defender on the South team in the U.S. Olympic Festival. ``That's the big one. That and the World Cup in 1995.''
Hamilton, a member of the U.S. national team since 1987, played with the group that won the first FIFA Women's World Championships - women's soccer's World Cup - in 1991.
Hamilton's South team took a 3-0 record into Friday night's gold-medal game against the North. Last year, Hamilton and the South settled for the bronze.
``The competition here is great,'' said Hamilton, one of three members of the U.S. national team on the South squad. ``The teams are pretty balanced, and there have been some pretty rough games.''
When the Festival concludes, Hamilton will go back to putting together Old Dominion's first women's soccer team, a task she said is virtually finished.
``I'm just about through recruiting,'' she said. ``I'm still waiting on one or two people to get back to me, but for the most part, it's done.''
Hamilton wouldn't have been able to do much recruiting in St. Louis this week, anyway. All Festival women's soccer players are either already in college or have used up their eligibility.
Hamilton, who turned 25 last month, said her extensive playing experience should come in handy when she begins coaching.
``All the players will know that whatever I ask them to do, I've already been through myself,'' she said.
LOCAL UPDATE: Heading into Friday's action, South Hampton Roads' Festival athletes were still looking for their first gold medal.
Virginia Beach swimmer Sean Stringer leads in the local medal count with one silver and two bronzes. Suffolk's Michael Thornberry also picked up a silver as a member of the South's team handball squad, which lost to the East, 21-17, Wednesday despite four goals by Thornberry.
Virginia Beach's Angie Matthews took bronze in figures roller skating, as did Old Dominion's Ester Benjamin in women's basketball and Virginia Beach's Lauri Illy as a member of the South's artistic gymnastics team.
Old Dominion field hockey players Kim Decker (South), Kelly Burch (North) and Sam Salvia (East) and James Madison's Eileen Arnaldo (East) all figure to earn medals today when the field hockey tournament concludes. Virginia Beach's Mike Duckworth (West) also should medal in tonight's men's volleyball finale.
Also today, Virginia Beach sprinter Randall Evans will compete in the 100 meters. Evans, 24, finished second in the 100 at the 1993 Division II national championships running for St. Augustine's.
Norfolk natives Tonya Williams (400 hurdles), Tamara Cuffee (long jump) and Joe King (800) will be Hampton Roads' athletes in action Sunday.
Cuffee, a 1993 George Mason graduate, finished eighth in the 1994 U.S. nationals in the long jump and has a personal best of 20 feet, 9 1/4 inches.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT: In her 6-2, 6-1 gold-medal-winning women's singles victory over Tara Snyder on Wednesday, Ania Bleszynski did not make a single unforced error the entire match. ... Festival weightlifters Stephanie Bodie and Cassie Clark, 16-year-olds from Savannah, Ga., and best friends, are the first women to qualify for the U.S. Weightlifting Federation men's national junior team. ... The synchronized swimmers, tired of hearing cracks about their oft-maligned sport, turned the tables on their critics Thursday by offering media members the chance to get in the pool and try it themselves. Only three scribes took the bait. ... The crowd of 2,625 that turned out for the final freestyle wrestling session broke a 5-year-old Festival attendance mark - by one fan. The old mark was 2,624. ... Shot putter Carlos Scott, a former NFL lineman from Prairie View, Texas, is the heaviest of the nearly 3,000 Festival athletes. The 6-foot-4, 34-year-old Scott tips the scales at an even 400 pounds. by CNB