Sports News in NWA

[zman9810]

Both of Fayetteville High School's basketball teams went undefeated and won their state championships for the season- quite an amazing feat. The boys team went 30-0 and beat Rogers to claim their state title while the girls went 32-0 and beat North Little Rock to win their's. Neither team had the one or two superstar players that usually stand out- instead they had team efforts that lead to their success. Congrats to them!

NWANews.com boy's team article

NWANews.com girl's team article

[Mith242]

Both of Fayetteville High School's basketball teams went undefeated and won their state championships for the season- quite an amazing feat. The boys team went 30-0 and beat Rogers to claim their state title while the girls went 32-0 and beat North Little Rock to win their's. Neither team had the one or two superstar players that usually stand out- instead they had team efforts that lead to their success. Congrats to them!

NWANews.com boy's team article

NWANews.com girl's team article

[Mith242]

The Hogeye Marathon and relays was this past weekend. Guess I should have thought to mention it beforehand instead of afterwards. I hadn't realized that the Hogeye Marathon wasn't the oldest in the state. Apparently this was the 33rd this year. Sounds like they ended up having over 1100 people turn out this year.

[Mith242]

Saw something odd in the newspaper today. The US is one of nine countries bidding to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. For those of you who may not know the FIFA World Cup is a bit like the Olympics, occurring every four years and host national soccer teams from around the world. Considering soccer is popular most areas of the world excluding the US and a few other areas, it's basically the biggest sports outside the Olympics for the world. Even bigger than the Superbowl. The Bid Committee listed 70 stadiums that could hosts games and Razorback Stadium was one of the ones listed and is under consideration. There are 32 matches so seems like it would be a good chance that we could host some of the games here. I realize not everyone is a big soccer fan like I am. But it's a pretty big deal that we could possibly host some of the games here in Fayetteville in basically what is considered the 'Superbowl' for the rest of the world. It's still a long way off, but it's certainly something we can hope and possibly look forward to.

[zman9810]

While I'm not a big soccer fan I think this would be a huge feather in NWA's cap. It would give exposure to the area both to tourists and business prospects the world over. I imagine it would have a large economic impact and get a lot of support from the entire NWA community. I know I would buy a ticket to attend and since there are a lot of soccer leagues in the area I imagine a lot of others would also. Whatever can be done to get it here is worth looking into.

[Mith242]

Looks like a well known and controversial name has decided to enter the Joe Martin Stage Race this year. Floyd Landis is going to be in this year's race. He had won the Tour de France only to have it stripped away from him because of a failed drug test. There had been rumors in the past of Lance Armstrong possibly entering the race but never happened. Either way it's sorta nice for the Joe Martin Stage Race to get a little more recognition.

[Mith242]

Fayetteville and Razorback Stadium is apparently still in the running for potential World Cup games for 2018 or 2022. We've made the first cut, twenty seven stadiums were cut. This now leaves thirty seven cities left on the left. Perhaps some bad news is that we're now the smallest city left and might not make future cuts. Another potential problem is that they usually play all these games on natural grass. But Razorback Stadium has switched over FieldTurf. Although there have been a few instances where games were played on artificial surfaces. Also there's also the option of putting in a temporary natural turf for the games as well. If we do manage to host some games, with us being such a small market I'm pretty sure we wouldn't draw any 'big' national teams. But it would still be great to see us being able to host a part of the biggest sports event in the world. Very interesting news, especially coming off the big upset win of the US team over top ranked Spain in the Confederations Cup yesterday.

[zman9810]

The P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship LPGA tournament tees off Friday morning at 7:15. Hopefully the weather is good and the forecast of rain holds off. Former Arkansas Razorback Stacy Lewis tees off at 8:45 with top golfers Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr- this would be a great time for Stacy to get her first professional win. The winner this year gets a check for $270,000 out of a total purse of $1.8 million. It's great having the elite players of a big time professional sport right here in NWA. Here's a link for more info.

PGBeauty Championship

[Mith242]

The P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship LPGA tournament tees off Friday morning at 7:15. Hopefully the weather is good and the forecast of rain holds off. Former Arkansas Razorback Stacy Lewis tees off at 8:45 with top golfers Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr- this would be a great time for Stacy to get her first professional win. The winner this year gets a check for $270,000 out of a total purse of $1.8 million. It's great having the elite players of a big time professional sport right here in NWA. Here's a link for more info.

PGBeauty Championship

[zman9810]

The first day of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship was a great success. Sandra Gal of Germany is the leader at 7 under with several players within striking distance. The weather was great for play with no rain and cool morning temps. That may not hold for the whole weekend as rain is predicted Saturday night and Sunday. Hopeful the forecasters are wrong and all 54 holes can be played. Stacy Lewis ended up at 2 under with a birdie on the last hole- better luck to her tomorrow.

The organizers of the tournament have done a great job on everything from getting the course in shape to handling the parking and shuttle service. If one wants to see some outstanding golf Saturday would be the day to do it- the LPGA players make some amazing shots!

[Mith242]

The NWA Natural swept Springfield in the Texas League playoffs. They'll get a few days off before they face the winner of the South Division for the Texas League Championship.

[zman9810]

That's great about the Naturals- congrats to them.

Song-Hee Kim finished at 9 under followed by Angela Stanford at 7 under at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship on Saturday. The weather held out for the day but Sunday still looks iffy. Stacy Lewis had a much better day at 4 under to tie for 24th at 2 under for the tournament. First round leader Sandra Gal had a tough 5 over to fall into a tie for 24th. Ther are nine golfers within 4 of the lead so Sunday should be very interesting.

[Mith242]

That's great about the Naturals- congrats to them.

Song-Hee Kim finished at 9 under followed by Angela Stanford at 7 under at the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship on Saturday. The weather held out for the day but Sunday still looks iffy. Stacy Lewis had a much better day at 4 under to tie for 24th at 2 under for the tournament. First round leader Sandra Gal had a tough 5 over to fall into a tie for 24th. There are nine golfers within 4 of the lead so Sunday should be very interesting.

[zman9810]

The P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship was won by rookie Jiyai Shin of south Korea who shot a 7 under Sunday to finish at 9 under. She won a three way sudden death playoff with Sun Young Yoo and Angela Stanford to take home the top money of $270,000. Former RAzorback Stacy Lewis tied for 21st with a 2 under for the torunament for a check of $18,385. The rain came but wasn't hard enojgh to cause a dlay and actuallly quit later in the day.

The tournament was a great success and gave NWA some great exposure both on national televison and among the many visitors to the area. I look forward to the 2010 championship!

[Mith242]

The Naturals too game one against Midland in the Texas league Championship. The first two games are in Midland before it moves to Springdale.

[Mith242]

The Naturals had a 5-0 lead in the second game but blew it. Still they got one game down in Texas and had a chance at the second game. They still in good shape now that they're coming back to NWA.

[Mith242]

Not a great weekend for sports fans in NWA. After the Naturals almost had a chance to take two games from Midland down in Texas the Naturals end up losing the two games in Springdale giving the Texas League Championship to Midland.