By Rob Tucker
Scott Kindberg
Article Photos
ERIN KLING
California University of Pennsylvania senior Erin Kling (Jamestown/Jamestown) broke her own indoor school record in the 3,000 meters on Sunday at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships at Edinboro University.
Kling eclipsed the previous record set last year by more than seven seconds with a time of 10:30.01. Kling, who also reset her school record in the 5,000 on Saturday, received the PSAC Champion Scholar Award for the second straight year on Sunday morning.
Kling currently boasts a 4.00 cumulative grade-pont average while pursuing a degree in biology with a concentration in pre-medicine. An Academic All-American last year, she qualified for the indoor league championships in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
Kling shattered her own indoor school in the 5,000 on Saturday night and placed ninth in the event with a time of 18:00.98.
The PSAC Champion Scholar Award, began during the 2011-12 academic year, is modeled after the NCAA's Elite 89 award and honors the student-athlete with the top GPA who is competing at the site of each of the PSAC's 23 team championship finals. The selection criteria for the Champion Scholar Awards is identical to that of the NCAA Elite 89 awards, which honor the student-athlete with the top GPA at each of the championship finals sites of the 89 NCAA championships across all three division - I, II, III.
In early results, Kling, competing in the Mid-February Meet hosted by Baldwin-Wallace, placed seventh overall with a time of 5:29.17 in the mile run.
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Redshirt sophomore Bret Heath (Jamestown/Jamestown) - one day after collecting his first collegiate hit - put together his best performance of his St. Bonaventure University baseball career with a career-best four RBI performance in a 12-7 loss to South Dakota State on Sunday in Port Charlotte, Fla.
Heath finished with two hits, including a double, and freshman Thad Johnson (Jamestown/Frewsburg) went 2-for-3 with a run scored and walk.
The Bonnies are 0-2 on their southern trip.
Junior Asa Johnson (Jamestown/Frewsburg) is schedule to make his first start of the year today when it faces Mount St. Mary's at 2 p.m.
Other area residents on the team are freshman pitcher Connor Grey (Frewsburg/Frewsburg) and redshirt junior pitcher Robert Nalepa (Dunkirk/Dunkirk).
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Dalton Kashmer closed out his career at Fredonia State in memorable fashion last week.
Playing for the final time at Steele Hall, Kashmer delivered his second-highest offensive output of the season, connecting on 6 of 12 shots from the field and a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line on the way to 24 points against Geneseo.
The tally was just a point shy of his best showing, a 25-point output in January against Cortland.
A day later, playing in a Blue Devils uniform for the last time, the South Dayton native netted 20 points and hauled in 11 rebounds to lead his squad to a 103-98 victory over the host Brockport Eagles.
A graduate of Pine Valley, Kashmer, who started 23 of 24 games this season, finished the year averaging 11 points, 4.6 rebounds, two assists and a little more than one steal per game while shooting 80 percent from the charity stripe (86 for 107).
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Another area native nearing the end of her college basketball career is Houghton guard Michelle Persons (Sherman/Sherman).
In 22 games (19 starts), the senior is scoring an average of 7.1 points while handing out two assists and pulling in four rebounds.
In her final three regular-season contests, Persons connected for 12 points and dished a team-high seven assists in a victory over Alfred University, 66-41, on Feb. 10; she then led the Highlanders with 12 points in a battle with Ithaca - Houghton's final Empire 8 game of the year - and then she knocked in nine points, and had three assists and two steals in 32 minutes against Roberts Wesleyan on Feb. 19.
Houghton returns to action for the NCCAA Regional Tournament with a date and an opponent still to be determined.
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A pair of area athletes turned in impressive performances for the Fredonia State women's track and field team recently.
At the Kane Invitational at Cornell University, Leslie Beaton (Bemus Point/Maple Grove), a senior, was a part of a 4x800 relay team that qualified for the regional meet of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference when they finished in 9:52.
The time was the second-best mark in school history.
Beaton also finished ninth in the 800 meters (2:22.39, a personal best) at the SUN YAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at SUNY Brockport.
At the Orange and Brown Indoor Track and Field Invitational, meanwhile, Hailey Griewisch (Dunkirk/Dunkirk), a sophomore, recorded a new personal best time in the 60-meter high hurdles (10.13) on the way to a seventh-place finish.
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Continuing her already solid season, Lauren Caldwell (Jamestown/Jamestown) helped her St. Bonaventure women's swimming and diving squad move into ninth place in the second day of competition at the 2013 Atlantic 10 Championships held at Spire Institute.
Caldwell, competing in the 200-yard individual medley, finished 13th after hitting the wall with a time of 2:06.66.
A day later, Caldwell finished eighth in the 200 butterfly (2:02.98) and the Bonnies finished in eighth place as a team.