• Julie Blackmore, a junior on the women’s tennis team, won the 2007 National Public Parks championship in the women’s open division Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The tournament, in its 81st year, included about 1,000 players from around the country in all age divisions. The National Public Parks Tennis Championships is administered by the National Public Parks Tennis Association (NPPTA) and was founded in 1923 by then United States Lawn Tennis Association President Dwight Davis Blackmore, a native of Fort Lauderdale and the event’s third seed, defeated Emily Bolchoz in the final, 6-3, 7-6 (3). She was a three-set winner over Tamara Sutton in the semifinals (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) and downed Gayatri Ramesh in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-1. After a bye in the Round of 32, she opened the tournament with a three-set victory over Merissa Rock (2-6, 6-0, 6-1) in the Round of 16.

Athletics Good Stuff
• James Laurinaitis has been named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten Conference by a vote of media members attending the league's football media day in Chicago. Laurinaitis, a junior linebacker, earned All-America honors last season and was the winner of the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, presented by the Football Writers Association of America to the nation's top defensive player. Laurinaitis led the 12-1 Buckeyes with 115 tackles, while adding five interceptions and four sacks.

• Marscilla Packer, a senior guard on the women's basketball team, was named to the 2007-08 State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List Tuesday. Packer, from Pickerington, Ohio, has been a starter for the Buckeyes the last two seasons, leading the team in 3-point field goals and contributing 10.6 points per game.

Veteran Katie Smith and rookie Jessica Davenport, both former Buckeye All-Americans, met Sunday as Smith's Detroit Shock visited Davenport and the New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden. Davenport and the Liberty used a buzzer-beater to knock off the defending WNBA champs, 85-84.

Smith, a Buckeye from 1993-96, is in her eighth season in the WNBA. She has started all 31 games for the Shock this season and is averaging 13.5 points and nearly four assists a game. Smith has helped the Shock post the league's best record at 24-7 and the team has clinched the Eastern Division's No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Smith looks ahead to the postseason in a blog at www.wnba.com.

Davenport, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2007 WNBA Draft, has played in 29 games in her rookie campaign and is posting 5.0 points a contest. New York is just a half game out of the fourth and final playoff position in the East.

Tamika Raymond, formerly Tamika Williams, is in her fifth season with the Minnesota Lynx. Also in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Ohio State, Raymond has battled injuries in 2007, but has played in 18 games for the Lynx and is shooting better than 53 percent from the field.

• Senior midfielder Lara Dickenmann on the women’s soccer team has been named to the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy, the most prestigious individual award in intercollegiate soccer. The list, announced by the Missouri Athletic Club, was compiled by a panel of coaches from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Dickenmann, an All-American in 2004 who ranks among Ohio State’s all-time top five in career assists (3rd with 21) and career points (3rd with 73), is the first student-athlete from the women’s program to be named to the Hermann Trophy watch list.

• The men’s soccer team reported to campus Tuesday for preseason camp. The Buckeyes were 11-7-3 last season and played in the Big Ten championship game. 13 letterwinners are back, including seniors Xavier Balc and Eric Brunner, who played in the Premier Development League championship game last Saturday. Last Wednesday, Brunner was named to the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, given to the player of the year in Div. I soccer.

• The women’s volleyball team has been ranked 16th in the College Sports Television (CSTV)/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) preseason poll released Tuesday. The Buckeyes finished the 2006 season ranked 16th in the final poll with a 25-8 overall record. Ohio State finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference with a 13-7 mark and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinals.

• Synchronized swimmer Becky Kim and former Buckeye Kate Hooven helped the U.S. World Team earn a gold medal (95.667) at the Pan American Games July 28 at Maria Lenk Aquatic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The performance secured the squad a spot at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

• Wrestling assistant coaches and first-time U.S. World Team members Tommy Rowlands and Joe Heskett each won silver medals at the 2007 Pan American Games at the Riocentro Sports Complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Heskett and Rowlands competed in the two-day freestyle event that ran from July 27-28.

Up next for the duo is the 2007 World Wrestling Championships Sept. 17-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

• Fencer Andras Horanyi, who won the NCAA men’s foil championship last March as a sophomore, won the gold medal and two other Buckeyes won silver medals earlier this month at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A native of Boulder, Colo., Horanyi defeated Felipe Alvear of Chile, 15-4, in the men’s foil gold medal match, marking the most lopsided final bout of the competition. Former Buckeye Hanna Thompson, a four-time All-American (2002-05) and now a volunteer assistant coach for Ohio State, won the silver medal in women’s foil, while Eileen Grench, who will be a senior this season for the Buckeyes, was part of the silver medal winning women’s sabre team.

• Sophomore Sam Pelkey of the men’s swimming and diving team has qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. Competing in his “home” pool at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis last week, Pelkey qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events. Omaha, Nebraska, will host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming, the first time the event will be staged in a temporary pool in an indoor facility.

• Hayley Klassen and Morgan Marziali, both juniors-to-be on the women’s hockey team, have been invited to attend Canada’s Under-22 Team Selection Camp Aug. 12-19 at York University in Toronto, Ontario. The pair of Buckeyes is among 40 of the nation’s best Under-22 players to compete for a spot on the 22-person roster. They are two of 24 forwards selected to the camp. Once camp is completed and the final National Women’s Under-22 Team has been named Aug. 19, Canada will face the U.S. National Women’s Under-22 team in a three-game series Aug. 23-26 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Along with Klassen and Marziali, four other student-athletes from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will be attending the camp. Ohio State, Boston University, Connecticut, Harvard, Mercyhurst and Minnesota are the only schools with multiple student-athletes selected.

• Joseph Palmer, a rising sophomore on the men’s hockey team, recently wrapped up his time at the U.S. Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. He helped two U.S. squads post a 5-0-0-1combined record against teams from Sweden and Finland. He saw 117 minutes of action, ranking second among the five goalies in the camp, and had a 3.07 goals-against average.

• The women’s tennis squad earned ITA All-Academic Team distinction and Buckeyes Julie Blackmore, Caitlin O'Keefe and Julie Voss were named ITA Scholar-Athletes, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced. O’Keefe was honored for the third-consecutive year, while Voss picked up the award last season. This is the first honor for Blackmore. The team also was honored in 2004-05.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes who have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must be a varsity letterwinner, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters.

• Julie Blackmore, a junior on the women’s tennis team, won the 2007 National Public Parks championship in the women’s open division Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The tournament, in its 81st year, included about 1,000 players from around the country in all age divisions. The National Public Parks Tennis Championships is administered by the National Public Parks Tennis Association (NPPTA) and was founded in 1923 by then United States Lawn Tennis Association President Dwight Davis Blackmore, a native of Fort Lauderdale and the event’s third seed, defeated Emily Bolchoz in the final, 6-3, 7-6 (3). She was a three-set winner over Tamara Sutton in the semifinals (6-2, 4-6, 6-2) and downed Gayatri Ramesh in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-1. After a bye in the Round of 32, she opened the tournament with a three-set victory over Merissa Rock (2-6, 6-0, 6-1) in the Round of 16.

• Men’s tennis incoming freshman Matt Allare was featured in the July 23 edition of Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd. Allare, a native of Maineville, Ohio, and a graduate of Kings High School, was named the 2007 National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) boy’s tennis player of the year after winning his second-consecutive Ohio high school Division I state championship this past spring and posting a 27-0 record. He won the state boy’s singles title in 2006 after compiling a 21-2 mark. He also won the state doubles crown during his freshman and sophomore years to become the first boy’s tennis player in Ohio to win four state championships.

• Pitcher Jake Hale, on the strength of a 1.32 earned run average that was third-best in the league, has been named to the all-Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League first team. Ohio State teammates Ryan Dew and Zach Hurley were each chosen for the all-GLSCL second team as outfielders.

Aug. 18
Men's soccer at Creighton (exhibition), 8 p.m.
Omaha, Neb.

Aug. 21
Women's Soccer vs. Wake Forest, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium