Jun 2, 2021 3 min read

Merriman gets 13,000th win

Aaron Merriman, who ranks sixth on North America’s all-time win list for harness racing drivers, collected career victory 13,000 Wednesday at The Meadows. The milestone win came with Biggiessecondshot in Race 8.

Milestones and awards have been coming fast and furious for Merriman, 42, a native of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and harness racing’s six-time reigning dash champion. Although he recorded his first win in 1998, more than half those victories have come since 2014, testament to Merriman’s talent and breakneck schedule as he drives at both The Meadows and Ohio tracks.

While Merriman intends to maintain that frantic pace, he says he’s been cutting back ever so subtly.

“You couldn’t see it last year because it was a COVID year,” he says, “but I tried to cut out some racing on Fridays. I’m trying to find maybe 10 percent of my starts and cut them out to the point where I’m comfortable again. I’m taking days off here and there, and I’m cherishing them more.”

Merriman, whose mounts have won more than $88.5 million, indicates that if he is able to slow down, he may use the time to savor the significance of 13,000 victories.

“It’s a lot of wins, and I’m actually very proud to have reached 13,000,” he says. “One day I’ll start looking back and reflecting on this and the names around me on that list. I haven’t won a bunch of major stakes, but I’m just as happy winning a Non-Winners of $750 In The Last 4. Every win means something to the sport, and it means something to the owners.

“Every race is a milestone. I try to take it like that.”

In college football

Former Southern California star Reggie Bush, who had his Heisman Trophy victory in 2005 vacated for committing NCAA violations, is among the players making their first appearance on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot this year.

The National Football Foundation announced Wednesday the players and coaches eligible for election into the Hall of Fame, and 26 of the 78 FBS players will be debuting on the ballot.

Other first-timers on the ballot included quarterbacks Andrew Luck of Stanford and Kellen Moore of Boise State, Penn State star linebackers LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny and former California running back Marshawn Lynch.

Correction

Jessica Stabile ran on the South Fayette 3,200-meter relay team at the PIAA Class AAA championship over the weekend at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University.

Incorrect information was released by the PIAA to the media.

In the NBA

Rest up, Joel Embiid.

With an NBA title still in sight, the 76ers will need their injured franchise center – healthy and ready to roll – in the second round.

Seth Curry scored a playoff career-high 30 points and Philadelphia beat Washington 129-112 on Wednesday night to end the series in five games, overcoming Embiid’s absence because of a knee injury.

Tobias Harris added 28 points and teamed with Curry and Ben Simmons to carry the offensive load with Embiid out. Simmons had 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to keep the top-seeded 76ers in the hunt for their first championship since 1983.

Embiid is day to day with a small lateral meniscus tear in his right knee and he was reduced to Philadelphia’s biggest cheerleader as the Sixers put the misery of last season’s first-round sweep behind them.