Apr 7, 2018 6 min read

Men’s lacrosse

Washington & Jefferson outscored Chatham 5-0 in the third quarter and went on to a 15-12 Ohio River Lacrosse Conference victory Saturday.

The Presidents improve to 5-7 overall and 4-1 in the ORLC while the Cougars drop to 5-5, 1-4.

The match was tied 7-7 at halftime before W&J took control in the third quarter.

Canon-McMillan graduate Ben Ward led W&J with a career-high six goals as the sophomore attacker shot 10 times and put eight attempts on goal for his third game of the season with at least seven points.

Patrick Brunner contributed four goals on eight shots for his third hat trick of the season.

Women’s lacrosse

Washington & Jefferson recorded its first shutout since 2015 by blanking Ohio River Lacrosse Conference foe Franklin, 15-0, on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Presidents ran their winning streak to five games and improved to 3-0 in the conference and 6-2 overall.

The Presidents received three goals from three different players and two more added a pair of tallies. Kayla Boulas had season highs of three goals and five points, Alexis Miller had her fourth straight hat trick and Rae LaRochelle scored the game’s first three goals for her 20th career hat trick.

• Waynesburg lost to visiting D’Youville 18-1 in a nonconference matchup. The lone goal for Waynesburg (0-7) was scored by freshman Breanna Martini.

Another win

for the No. 22

Ryan Blaney became the third different Team Penske driver to win a NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the No. 22 Ford when he took the checkered flag on a chilly Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Blaney was the pole sitter and led 132 of 200 laps.

The Xfinity Series was back on the track after a two-week break since Joey Logano won in the No. 22 car at California. That was a week after Brad Keselowski drove that Team Penske entry to Victory Lane in Phoenix.

Joe Gibbs Racing is the only team in the series to win three straight races with the same car and different drivers. Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin won consecutive races in their team’s No. 20 Toyota in 2008. That car actually won four straight races when Stewart won again.

It was the seventh career Xfinity victory for Blaney, who qualified fourth for Sunday’s Cup Series race at the 1½-mile Texas track.

Duke’s Trent

enters draft

Gary Trent Jr. says he’s leaving Duke after one year for the NBA draft.

Trent announced his decision Saturday through the school, and team spokesman Mike DeGeorge says the freshman guard is in the process of hiring an agent.

The son of NBA veteran Gary Trent became the third member of the Blue Devils’ freshman class to enter the draft, joining Marvin Bagley III and Trevon Duval. A fourth, Wendell Carter Jr., has yet to announce his decision. Trent is the 15th one-and-done freshman in the program history.

Russia, Iran skip wrestling World Cup

This year’s freestyle World Cup could have been one of the most intriguing wrestling tournaments outside of the Olympics in years.

The powerhouse Russian and Iranian teams were looking to topple the Americans – last year’s team winner at the world championships – in Iowa’s fabled Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Unfortunately for fans, the Russians and Iranians failed to show up and the U.S., fresh off its first world team championship in 22 years, appears to be in position for a crown that likely would ring a bit hollow.

The U.S. beat India 10-0 and Japan 7-3 in Saturday’s opening rounds.

“Our team was poised to do well (even if) Russia and Iran (were here), so that’s a little bit disappointing,” USA Wrestling executive dirrector Rich Bender said.

Iran, the six-time defending World Cup champions, withdrew in March without citing a reason. But according to Bender, the Iranian federation is dealing with “significant issues” after president Rasoul Khadem’s recent departure.

Khadem left his post a few weeks after United World Wrestling ruled that an Iranian wrestler threw a match at the U-23 world championships in November to avoid having to face an Israeli opponent, disciplining both the athlete and his coach.

Russia dropped out a week ago, saying it didn’t have enough time for the visa interviews needed to get the team cleared for the trip to Iowa City.

But officials held out hope that the Russians would get those issues resolved, including them as a ninth team in the official program for the eight-team event.

“Certainly in light of the current political situation and the relations between our governments and the drama around what’s going on in our state departments, with their embassy and ours, this was not the year to wait until the last minute to apply,” Bender said of the Russians.

The absence of Russia and Iran was a blow to a sport that prides itself on getting oft-disparate nations to come together. But Bender said he doubts it’ll do much to damage to the relations of the three federations in the future.

In their place, UWW invited Mongolia and India to the annual meet that’s considered the second-biggest international event outside of the world championships, which will be held in Budapest in October.

Mongolia looked impressive in knocking off Kazakhstan 6-4 in its opening match.

But the Indians were clearly outside of their comfort zone against the Americans, who were second in 2017 but haven’t won a World Cup since 2003. The U.S swept all tens of its matches with India and outscored it 87-7 in bonus points.

Worse yet, the Americans closed the match with 48 consecutive points.

Japan put up a much tougher fight. But four-time world champion and London 2012 gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, who qualified for the last two Olympics by winning the team trials in Iowa City, thumped Yuhi Fujinami 7-1 to help the U.S. take control after some early stumbles.

“I love it here,” Burroughs said. “The atmosphere is amazing. It’s a mecca of wrestling.”