There were over 300 elite athletes who gathered at Weyerhaeuser-King County Aquatic Center last April 2-4, 2009 for Speedo Junior Synchronized Swimming Championships. This assembly featured athletes with ages 15-18, who competed for Junior National Titles towards solo, duet, trio as well as team events and was anchored by Pacific Northwest Association or PNA. The PNA is composed of Kitsap Water Blossoms, Pacific Waves Synchro, Olympia YMCA Synchro Club, Port Townsend Pirouettes, Seattle Kaleidoscopes, Seattle Cascades Synchro Club and Seattle Synchronized Swim Team.
Santa Clara Aquamaids from Santa Clara, California will seek to carry home their 3rd successive Junior National Title subsequent to gathering high point honors in the previous 2 years. Among the top challengers are Walnut Creek Aquanuts from Walnut Creek, California who ranked 2nd place this previous year, and 2006 Junior National Champions ? Riverside AQuettes from Riverside, California.
Top routines go forward to the 2009 US National Championships that which was held last April 30 to May 2 at Stanford University. The event was conducted at Avery Aquatic Center where over 100 elite athletes competed for National Titles towards solo, duet as well as team events. The 2009 US National Championships marked as the 64th year of the national competition in duet as well as team events. It is also the 60th year for the solo competition.
Stanford University is used to conducting US Synchronized Swimming because it already hosted the previous 2006 US Collegiate National Championships as well as the earlier 2004 US National Championships.
Synchronized swimming is probably much harder than other related swimming divisions. This is because the type of activity necessitates a mixture of strength, precision, elegance and teamwork. The sport is regarded as a result of swimming, dance and gymnastics. These factors are needed in order to come up with a stunning and graceful routine.
The light middleweight Kassim Ouma (26-6, 1, 16 Knock Outs) was stopped by Gabriel Rosado (11-3, 6 Knock Outs). He was defeated in a 10-round split decision. The final scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94. Due to Rosado being an excellent fighter, the fight that occurred was not a shocking a defeat. In fact, Rosado is just entering the prime of his career.
The 30-year old Kassim Ouma has not looked good in the ring since beating Kofi Jantuah four (4) years ago in 2005. And after the game, Ouma had been beaten three consecutive times by Rosado.
The beating given by Rosado to Ouma has shaken him from his knockdown. At the start of the game, it was thought of that Kassim ?The Dream? Ouma of Kampala Uganda is to wage war against ?King? Gabriel Rosado of Philadelpia, PA. Ouma is considered to be at the crossroads of his career and needs to beat Rosado to get back in the rankings. It was disappointing to Ouma when he was stopped by Rosado when the game was held on April 24th, 2009.
After Ouma losing the game against Rosado, Ouma needs to sit down and ask himself if he would still want to continue his career. After Ouma losing four of his last five fights, it might be time to hang them up.
Ouma beat Verno Phillips by unanimous decision in 2004 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, which captured himthe IBF light middleweight title. In 2005, he successfully defended his title for the first time beating Kofi Jantuah by a 12-round unanimous decision. However, in the same year as well, he lost his title to Roman Karmazin by a 12-round unanimous decision. After his loss, he went to win four fights in a row including a victory in 2006 over undefeated Sechew Powell. Powell was a former national Golden Gloves light middleweight champion. This was when he moved to middleweight but lost to Taylor by a 12-round unanimous decision in 2006 too. He was bullied around the ring and peppered with punches by Taylor. And now, he has lost four of his last five fights.
Danbury High?s The Hatters smashed Darien High?s The Blue Wave in a volley match that would keep the latter from making a huge leap towards the much coveted championship of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference. The match was heart-stopping though. The Blue Wave nearly halted the Hatters? advance.
The Hatters displayed a furious display of athletic performance as they rushed to conclude the first two sets with a massive win over their rivals. The third set, however, nearly proved fatal for Danbury for their dismal loss exposed their vulnerabilities. The Darien boys restored their confidence and morale with a dashing comeback in the third seriously putting Danbury into serious peril. The fourth might end up favorably to Darien.
The final set was decisive for both teams as they fought their way to victory. Ace players from Danbury high made stunning efforts to beef up their advantage. One of them was Janey, who led the team with an astonishing double digit record of 14 kills. Following closely behind was Daylon Wilkins with a whopping 12 kills. Janey also recorded 13 service points and four aces during the match. Wilkins augmented his performance record with equally commendable record of 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 10 digs. The third game was dangerous enough to rob them of their glory so they made it a top priority to launch a series of unmerciful attacks on Darien high to create huge advantage.
As for the Blue Wave, their spirits were revived after the humiliating defeat of their rivals in the third set. It was equally intense for them as well. They need to break into Danbury?s defenses and make a hard-hitting counter-offense. Blue Wave?s top strikers include Calder Billhardt with a double digit record of 10 kills followed by equally powerful middle hitter Eric Heberton with his 8 kills.
Despite their serious effort to turn back the tide, it proved to be too arduous for Darien. The gap in the two teams? scores in the 4th set was too great. The match ended triumphantly for Danbury.