Sports
Demare Dezeurn beats loaded Masters Meet field for 100 win
Demare Dezeurn had many spectators at Moorpark High shaking their heads in amazement Saturday at the Masters Meet, where the Southern Section’s best athletes across all divisions compete for berths in next week’s state track and field finals at Buchanan High in Clovis.
The Bishop Alemany freshman beat a loaded field in the boys’ 100-meter dash, getting out of the blocks first and maintaining his lead down the straightaway to win in a wind-aided 10.36 seconds.
“I was very surprised because I’ve been battling injuries but I’ve worked a lot on my start, and when I saw I was in the lead I kept putting my foot to the pedal,” said Dezeurn, who beat Long Beach Poly freshman Benjamin Harris (10.43) and Los Alamitos junior Devin Bragg (10.47). “It’s my PR and I also got the school record, so it’s great motivation going into the state meet.”
It was more vindication for Dezeurn, who won the 100 in a wind-legal 10.47 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays in April and won the event in 10.54 at the Division 4 finals last week after placing third at the Arcadia Invitational in 10.43.
All nine entrants in the girls’ 100 qualified for state, paced by Gardena Serra senior Mia Flowers (11.46), Royal sophomore Olivia Kirk (11.54), Canyon Country Canyon senior Mikaela Warr (11.54), Chaparral junior Keelan Wright (11.56) and Oaks Christian senior Nia Clayton (11.59).
The first race of the day pitted Division 2 winner Calabasas against Division 1 winner Poly in the girls’ 4×100 relay, and the top two teams in the state battled to the finish line with Coyotes sophomore Marley Scoggins edging Jackrabbits sophomore Brooklyn Lee on the anchor leg. Calabasas’ time of 45.71 seconds was the fastest yet for the foursome of Lahela Ray, Paige Porter, Zoe Ray and Scoggins.
“It was about even when I got the baton, but I got out quickly and didn’t want anyone to catch me,” Scoggins said. “I could hear the crowd getting louder and louder. Our goal for state is 45.5.”
Poly, which also was runner-up to Calabasas at Mt. SAC, clocked 45.95.
In the boys’ 4×100, Tre Hernandez ran a sizzling anchor leg for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (41.27), which edged Poly (41.38) for first.
Notre Dame’s Tre Fernandez, left, and Poly’s Donte Wright Jr. sprint to the finish in the Masters Meet’s 4×100 relay. Notre Dame won in 41.27.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Ventura junior Sadie Engelhardt breezed to victory in the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes 45.05 seconds, separating herself from the pack on the last lap to win by 1.61 seconds over Braelyn Combe of Santiago. Afterward, she seemed just as happy to see teammate Tiffany Sax (4:50.87) also qualify for state.
“This race was more about staying out of trouble and making sure there was no one on my heels,” said Engelhardt, who became the first girl in state history to win both the 800 and 1,600 at the state meet last spring and set the national high school federation 1,600 record of 4:29.86 at Mt. SAC. “At the last Masters Meet, five people tripped and I didn’t want it to be me.”
Could she set another record at the state meet?
“If the conditions align … it’s usually hot and windy in Clovis,” she said, a week after claiming the Southern Section Division 2 title in the 1,600 in 4:46.86. “My coach does a good job of monitoring my workouts so I’m ready to run my best.”
Later, Engelhardt and Sax teamed with Aeolo Curtis and Melanie True to win the 4×800 relay in 9:02.57, and Cathedral (7:42.19) outdueled San Clemente (7:43.92) in the boys’ race.
Sadie Engelhardt (left) leads the pack in the 1600 meters at Saturday’s Masters Meet. She won the race in 4:45.05.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
In the boys’ 1,600, all 12 runners were tightly grouped until the last 200 meters, when Beckman’s Ibzan Felix and Ventura’s Anthony Fast Horse made their moves and ran stride by stride to the finish. Felix won by one hundredth of a second in 4:09.77.
Chaparral’s Wright won the girls’ 200 in 23.48 and Eastvale Roosevelt senior Jeremiah Harris won the boys’ 200 in 21.22, just ahead of Poly’s Julius Johnson (21.25) and Harris (21.27) and Los Alamitos’ Bragg (21.28).
Santiago junior Rylee Blade won the 3,200 by more than five seconds in 10:15.00 and is poised to repeat as eight-lap champion. She won the event by 20 seconds in a state-record 10:02.19 at last year’s state finals.
Notre Dame sophomore JJ Harel won the boys’ high jump at 6 feet 10 inches and Great Oak junior Nicolas Alexis was first in the long jump with a leap of 23-1. Taking the shotput with a throw of 62-0½ was Garden Grove Pacifica senior Zach Lewis.
Long Beach Wilson junior Loren Webster won the girls’ long jump with a mark of 19-3¼ and Ventura’s Valentina Fakrogha won the high jump at a height of 5-8.
Sports
Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History
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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.
It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.
We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)
After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.
9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)
How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.
8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)
This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.
Sports
UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional
No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.
During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.
“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”
Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.
“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”
South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.
The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.
Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.
“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.
South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.
The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.
Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
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