State Sports Briefs: Stevens Point native qualifies for Olympic wrestling team

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IOWA CITY, Iowa - Wisconsin will have one athlete on the U.S. Olympic wrestling teams in London this summer.

Ben Provisor of Stevens Point beat fellow Wisconsinite Aaron Sieracki from Richland Center in two-of-three matches last night at the Olympic trials in Iowa City. Provisor’s old coach, Dennis Hall, looked on as the 21-year-old Provisor won the 163-pound Greco-Roman category. The 37-year-old Sieracki was in his fourth Olympic trials – and his second-place finish matched his previous best from 2008. Hall, a Stevens Point resident who won an Olympic silver medal in 1996, lost to Chad Vandiver in his first Greco-Roman match at 132 pounds. Hall, a 41-year-old Hartford, announced his retirement. And he was upset at what he called an illegal maneuver by his opponent that wasn’t called. Also yesterday, Badgers’ recruit Jesse Thielke from Germantown lost in the 132-pound quarter-finals and wound up taking fourth. Former Hartland Arrowhead High School wrestlers Charles Fish and Max Askren were eliminated in consolation bouts. And Tomahawk native Alyssa Lampe fell to 2008 Olympian Clarissa Chun in the finals of the 105-and-a-half-pound women’s freestyle.

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Matt Kenseth of Cambridge finished fourth yesterday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup STP-400 at Kansas City Kansas. A late round of green-flag pit stops put all the contenders in the same sequence. And then the sun broke through the clouds, spurring Denny Hamlin to get past Martin Truex Junior. Hamlin hung on for the final 30 laps, and he won his second race of the season. Paul Menard of Eau Claire was 18th. Travis Kvapil of Janesville ended up in 25th. Kenseth dropped from second-place-to-third in the Sprint Cup season point standings. Menard fell two places to 14th in the point totals. Kvapil rose one spot to 33rd. Greg Biffle still leads the series by 312 points, 15 more than Truex and 17 more than Kenseth.

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The Milwaukee Admirals are on the brink of being eliminated from the American Hockey League playoffs, after losing at home last night to Abbotsford 4-to-2. Krys Kolanos scored two goals for the Heat, who took a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five series. Kolanos has scored 15 goals in his last 10 contests. Brodie DuPont and Chris Mueller scored for Milwaukee, which faces possible elimination in Game-Three on Wednesday night in British Columbia. Abbotsford now has a nine-game winning streak.

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Madison golfer Jerry Kelly tied for 18th at the PGA's Valero Texas Open. Kelly saved his best for last, shooting a six-under-par 66 in his final round yesterday. He finished one-under for the tournament at 287. Ben Curtis won it at nine-under-279. Fox Point native Skip Kendall was three-over in his final round at 75. He tied for 41st at four-over-292.

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On the PGA Champions' Tour, Andy North of Madison and his partner Bobby Clampett finished eighth at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. North and Clampett combined for a seven-under-par 65 in their final round yesterday in Savannah Georgia. They finished at 25-under-191. That was four strokes behind the winning team of David Frost and Michael Allen.

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The UW-Milwaukee baseball team beat Youngstown State 5-2 at home yesterday. The Panthers completed a three-game sweep of the Penguins. Sophomore Mike Schneider faced the minimum of 18 batters in six innings, giving up three hits. He walked one and struck out three, as Milwaukee improved to 10-8 in the Horizon League and 16-20 overall. Paul Hoenecke and Jim Lundstrom each had three hits for UWM.

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The University of Wisconsin softball team swept a three-game home series against Penn State, with a 9-0 victory yesterday. The Badgers scored four runs in the first inning on just two hits. Shannel Blackshear drove home the eventual winning run with a bases-loaded walk. Cassandra Darrah improved to 18-7, giving up just two hits in five innings. Darrah, a sophomore right-hander, held the Lady Lions to one hit in 12 innings this weekend. Wisconsin improved to 11-4 in the Big Ten and 27-13 overall.

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Meanwhile, the UW-Green Bay softball team swept three games from Cleveland State with a 4-1 home victory yesterday. Alli Rivera drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. The Phoenix improved to 8-7 in the Horizon League, and they returned to .500 overall at 19-19.

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