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I
News Letter Journal
Karpe Diem
It was the first week of June
~and this sports' writer was
feeling a little blue. The high
school seasons had ended and
' I was looking at what felt like
~: a long three months with very
:~ little to write about. Certainly
~.there is baseball and rodeo
i~i going on during the summer
i i: imonths, but it's not like I would
!~:be covering three different
sports, sometimes with mul-
tiple events per week.
~ I knew this time was coming
.so I had
come up
with a
plan of
sorts. I
would
definitely
cover
baseball
and rodeo
when the
opportunities were available,
!:~ and because I know that basket-
!~ ball, volleyball anr~football all
~: take part in summer activities,
i~ I figured that I could garner
i~ a story or two from there, but
i~ after that I was a little lost.
~ And then this past weekend
!~ happened. On Saturday,
:!~.we crowned the first Triple
:?~ . .
~Crown winner in 37 years,
i~!ast Thursday and Sunday I
watched two of the best NBA
"-Final's games that I'd seen in
'a long time and on Sunday I
also watched two of my nieces
j run in the Mickelson Trail
Marathon Relay. To my glee
~ I realized that there were still
Sports for me to discuss!
=~ Given that the Trip!e Crown
,title is the most noteworthy
~:event of this past week due
~ to the long drought between
~winners, I feel that I must
first pay tribute to American
~, P haroah. After he ran away
~ wi~h, the, BeJmont Stakes, I did
~' i~ a ]it"tle~i~ggi:ng ~nto the histor~
r~of the Triple Crown. I knew
"~ that it was a title given to three-
:!year-old Thoroughbred horses
:),who won the Kentucky Derby,
the~ Preakness Stakes and
~ finally the Belmont Stakes, but
~:I wasn't sure of the history of
-! the title, nor how many winners
~:there have actually been.
After perusing the internet
band looking at a variety of
2~ sources, I discovered that there
~have been a total of 12 horses
that have claimed the title over
~the course of nearly 100 years.
The first winner was a horse
i,'named Sir Barton who won all
Ithree races in 1919 and that the
~term Triple Crown, which was
i ~ '~,coined by journalists, began to
be thrown about around 1923.
I also noted that the 30s,
|40s, and 70s were good decades
for horse racing as there were
three to four,winners of the
title during those ~s.
e, I will age myself-a~bit by
r hdmitting that I remefa~er
Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew
~(1977) and Affirmed (1978)
~Picking up the Triple Crown. I
'was quite young at the time of
~course, but had for
an
affinity
ponies, so I would pay attention
to these races.
,The Kentucky Derby is
[the first of the three to be
Ii
]run. It takes place on the first
~Saturday in May at Churchill
]Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
I.tThe spectators, make a day. of/1
]lt, with the women wearl
idresses and big hats, while/the
|gentlemen look dapper inAheir
Isuits and all have a wofl~erful
[time sipping mint j eps a' nd
|cheering on their picks for the
[day. The race itse)(is very short
ioliVed given tha]At is only a mile
nd a quart~ in length, but
ough it )K short it is packed
ith exc/i~ement. This year, 18
rses/burst out of the gates at
Ihe sl~rting bell, and of course,
Am'erican Pharoah won the
~'Run for the Roses" crossing
Ihe finish line in 2:03.02.
The second of the races in
Ihe quest for the Crown is the
Preakness Stakes, also known
as "The Run for the Black-Eyed
gusans", which takes place on
the third Saturday in May at
the Pimlico Race Course in
Baltimore, MD. The one and
three sixteenths mile Preakness
-- See Karp, Page 16
Keyan Mefford carries the American Flag to the pitchers mound fol- the official start of youth baseball season in Newcastle. Opening Day ceremonies were held
on Saturday morning and teams from Upton and Newcastle took the field to do battle immediately after being introduced to fans. Above left: Cody Leighton
reaches back and finds a little extra to hurl a pitch past an opposing batter. Above right: Upton coach Clark Coberly gives instructions to his team. Games will
continue nearly every week night on the diamonds in both Upton and Newcastle throughout the month of June. (Alexis Shultz and Summer Bonnar/NLJ)
Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
It's a pretty common perception that
growing up in a small town means,:
that kids are denied opportunities that
exist in larger communities, but Sofie
Claycomb of Upton has proven/that
perception to be false.
Her story shows that it really doesn't
matter where you grow up. It matters
what you do for yourselft0 achieve your
goals. /
Claycomb graduated this spring from
Upton and has left bcr mark on UHS--
making her community proud in the
process. Throughout her high school
career, she was active and successful
in 011eyball, basketball, track ahd 4-H.
As a competitive and athletic person,
Clayeomb has seen success in each-of
the activities she has undertaken, but it is :
/
basketball that has beenher true passion
and it is basketball that has offered her
'opportunities for her future.
As a four-year starter for the Upton
Lady Bobcats, Claycomb was a leader
for her team and wracked up an impres- Basketball was her main sport, but Claycomb participated in everything and
sire list of kudos for her efforts on helped her team win the 1A State Title in track last month. (Submitted Photo)
the court. The latest in her long list
of basketball accomplishments was the opponents, but she was certainly no would be up to her to capture the atten-
honor of being named the 1A Northeast slouch on the offensive side of the court, tion of the coaches.
Defensive Player of the Year at this Her prowess with the basketball in her "The coaches really don't come to
year's State Basketball Tournament. hand is evident given that this season 1A games when they are out recruiting,
In addition, Claycomb made the she set a school record for the Lady so I knew that I had to get their attention
Casper Star Tribune's Top 20 list both Bobcats in career points scored with an some other way. I decided to go on a
her sophomore and senior years. -This impressive 1400 over the course of her recruiting site just to see ifI would catch
is a list that the Star puts together each four years wearing the blue and white, anyone's eye," she smiled.
year of the top 20 basketball players in In her final year of round ball, Her efforts paid off. The site on
the state and includes athletes from all Claycomb and her teammates secured which Claycomb had registered was the
four classes, their 1A Northeast Regional title NCSAAthletic Recruiting site and that's
She was named to the 1A Northeast and won their first game at the State where the Torrington coach found her.
Regional All-Conference team all four Tournament to put them into the cham- "He told me that if it weren't for the
years of high school, and made the 1A pionship bracket. Unfortunately, a state NCSA site, he would have never known
All-State team her sophomore, junior title was not in the cards as they ran into about me, and that after he found me, he
and senior years. She also received tough competition and had to settle for wanted to see me play live," Claycomb
several All-Tournament awards, which fourth in the end explained.
included the Shoshoni, West River and Claycomb possesses obvious bas- So she was offto Torrington to show
Upton tournaments, ketball skills, however, because Upton the coach what she had. The coaches at
It seems obvious from her Defensive High School is in the 1A class, she was EWC host a play-in day where potential
Player of the Year award that Claycomb realistic enough to know that if she recruits are given the opportunity to play
was well versed in shutting down her wished to pursue basketball in college it with current EWC players.
"There were about 20 other recruits
playing that day, and though I was a
little nervous, I did pretty good there,"
Claycomb smiled. "He called me
a ;month later, and told me that they
were very interested in me but they
had already dispersed their 15 full-fide
scholarships. However, he also said that
if one would happen to open up he
would give me a call."
While she was excited to hear that
the team wanted her, she decided that it
would be in her best interest to pursue
other college opportunities for some-
thing a little more definite. She traveled
to Aberdeen, SD to tour Presentation
College, who offered her a substantial
scholarship to play for them, but given
that it is a private school, the scholar-
ship only covered a small portion of the
tuition.
Claycomb also made a ten hour trip
to Braynard, MN to visit a college there,
but because this school is in a smaller
division than a junior college they were
not able to offer her any scholarships.
Tuition at this school was equivalent
to the tuition at EWC, added costs of
attending school in Minnesota without
any financial assistance was a little dis-
concerting.
"I knew that I really liked Torrington
and that I wanted to go there, but I also
knew that I had to look at other schools
because I couldn't just sit around and
wait for someone to let their EWC schol-
arship go. I was stressing out because
everyone else was making those deci-
sions and I still had no clue what I was
going to do," Claycomb laughed.
Fortunately Sofie didn't have to
stress for long. She and her father arrived
home from their trip to Minnesota on
a Saturday and the Torrington coach
called her on Sunday saying that he'd
like to offer her a full-ride. One of the
scholarships had opened up, and she was
first on their list.
"When he called and made me the
offer I was like, 'YES!'" Claycomb
-- See Clayeomb, Page lO