Locals compete at nationals

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Area athletes had a busy weekend at the USATF National Masters Track and Field Meet at North Carolina A&T’s Truist Stadium.

On Friday, area track official Donald Groubert competed in the men’s 60-64 hammer throw and finished with a mark of 64-1. Groubert also threw the javelin and recorded a mark of 45-7. On Saturday, threw 66-2 in the discus. On Sunday, Groubert had a personal-best toss of 23-6 in the weight throw.

East Liverpool’s Sheri Liebschner received an eighth place ribbon for her performance in the women’s 55-59 400-meter dash with a time of 1:28.94 on Friday. She was ninth in 800 in the same age grouping (3:29.49) on Saturday. She was scratched from the 2,000-meter steeplechase.

Oldtimers fall to Springfield

NEW MIDDLETOWN –Springfield defeated Chester 7-2 on Sunday in Youngstown 50-plus baseball action.

Scott Oehlstrom went the distance on the mound for Chester.

Eric Sampson led Chester at the plate with a double and two singles. Casey Arnott, Marshall Simcox, Brian Wright and Scott Ochlstrom each had a hit.

Chester will play Greenville (Pa.) at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Thiel College.

Jamaica holds France to a 0-0 draw

SYDNEY (AP) — Herve Renard knows all about World Cup shocks. He also knows an early setback can be overcome in international soccer.

With that in mind, the France coach was not unduly concerned by his team’s 0-0 with Jamaica on Sunday, which was one of the biggest surprises so far at the Women’s World Cup.

Renard led Saudi Arabia to a famous win against Argentina at the men’s World Cup in Qatar last year, before Lionel Messi’s team rebounded and went on to lift the trophy for their country.

“I’ve already won competitions after drawing my first two games,” said the two-time Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach. “Let’s talk about the World Cup 2022. I don’t think that we should be getting ahead of ourselves.

“There are lots of people, lots of teams that start with the fanfare and are not there come the final and others are maybe slow to get out of the starting blocks.”

While there is no need for France to panic, this was still an unexpected result for the fifth-ranked team in the world and one of the tournament favorites.

By contrast Jamaica is ranked 43rd and entered the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand having lost all of its games at its World Cup debut in 2019 with a goal difference of -11.

“We always tell our players just don’t worry about the rankings,” said Jamaica coach Lorne Donaldson, who declared his country’s first point ever in the competition as its greatest achievement in soccer.

“I think it is the No. 1 result I have seen men or women,” he said. “I would put it there. If you go by the rankings you would say that result on this stage has to be No. 1.”

Jamaica’s players ran onto the field after the final whistle as if they’d been crowned world champions. It would have been a very different story had Kadidiatou Diani’s 90th-minute header not struck the bar.

Ohio State player leads team USA

MADRID, Spain (AP) — Cotie McMahon scored with 22 seconds left to lift the United States to a 69-66 win over host Spain in the FIBA Under-19 Women’s World Cup championship on Sunday.

With the scored tied at 66, the Ohio State forward scored to put the U.S. up two. The Americans then got a steal by Hannah Hidalgo with 11 seconds left. UCLA’s Kiki Rice then hit one of two free throws with 6 seconds left for the final margin.

McMahon, who was the Big Ten freshman of the year last season, finished with 16 points and South Carolina’s Chloe Kitts added 15.

The U.S. finished the tournament 7-0 and now has won 10 titles at this age group, including the last three.