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The Lone Tree Reporter, Thursday, May 19, 2005 S P O RT S Page7
Local athlete qualifies for
State Championships
. Miekey Zueker
Contributing Writer
Seventh grader Jackie Moore
can't seem to get enough of
Track & Field.
In addition to participating
fully in the Junior High Season
at Lone Tree, he also attended a
qualifier for the Junior
Olympics State Championships
through the USA Track & Field
Organization on Sunday May 1,
2OO5.
Despite being 12 years old,
Moore is competing in the 13-14
year old division this year. Last
Year, he made it all the way to
the National Championships in
the 11-12 year old division. He
Placed nationally 27th in long
Jump and 35th in the 100-meter
dash, even while suffering from
a serious hip injury that
required three months of phys-
ical therapy rehabilitation.
Because of his injury, he was
not able to compete in the 200-
raeter dash at Nationals,
though he did qualify for that
event as well.
Against stiff competition at
Des Moines East High School
on May 1, 2005, Moore placed
first in the long jump. He came
Submitted Photos
Lone Tree's Jackie Moore competes in the long jump
at the State Championship on May I.
in third place in the 100-meter
dash, with a time of 13.1 sec-
onds.
In the 200-meter dash, he
came in fifth with a time of
28.54 seconds. The top six ath-
letes in each event qualify for
the State championships. Run-
ning and jumping against wind
chill factors in the 20's, the boys
and girls ages 8-18 worked hard
to achieve times and distances
that did not match their best
results under normal circum-
stances.
Moore runs with the Velocity
Track Team of Des Moines,
Iowa, coached by former New
York Mets player Ray Lewis.
Local athl s sought for ,-
new track club. in, Lone Tree
_ Miekey Zueker
Contributing Writer
Runners ages 8-18 are invited to participate in
a brand new Track Club (which will also need a
name) for the 2005 spring/summer Track & Field
Season.
All skill levels welcome. Participation will
NOT be limited to Lone Tree residents and stu-
dents, though practices will be held on the Lone
Tree track.
Organizational and coaching assistance is also
needed, especially for field events, and equip-
raent.
The club will be taking part in AAU, Hershey,
Junior Olympics and USA Track & Field events,
but it is not necessary to participate in these
events to be part of the club.
By AAU and USATF rules, athletes will com-
Pete only with other athletes who share their
year of birth.
Cost will include valid, current AAU and
USATF cards, athlete admission to all meets, and
a uniform. Uniform cost will be dictated by the
wants and needs of athletes and parents.
Transportation will be by carpool. Anyone
who qualifies
for States, Dis-
tricts, or
Nationals will
need to handle
his or her own
airfare or
accommoda-
tions, if neces-
sary. Interest-
ed people
please call
Mickey at 723-
4579.
2005 ar.,ty/JV Baseball
-May 23 Regina JV/V 5:30 p.m.
May 24 West Branch JV/V 5:30 p.m.
May 26 @ Springville JV/V 5:30 p.m.
May 27 L-M JVDH 5:30 p.m.
May 31 @ IMS VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 1 @ Mid-Prairie JV/V 5:30 p.m.
June 2 @ Muscatine FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 3 IMS FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 4 Tipton Tourney V TBA
June 6 Columbus VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 8 Columbus FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 9 @ New London JV/V 5:30 p.m.
June 10 @ WMU VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 14 @ WACO VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 16 Lisbon JV/V TBA
June 17 WACO FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 18 Williamsburg Tourney TBA
June 20 Wapello VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 21 @ WapeUo FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 22 West Liberty VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 24 Highland VDH 5:30 p.m.
June 27 @ Highland FSDH 5:30 p.m.
June 28 @ Pekin VDH 5:30 p.m.
July 1 Pekin FSDH 5:30 p.m.
July 5 L&M VDH 5:30 p.m.
July 7 @ Mediapolis FSDH 5:30 p.m.
July 8 Mediapolis VDH 5:30 p.m.
July 11 Districts TBA
E.mail is a great way to send your news, letters to
the editor and comments to us'
Itnews@iowatelecom.net
[Splinters
From the Bench
This week's Splinters deals
with sports in a rather round-
about way. Awhile back, in the
Gazette, some of you may have
read an article about a man
named Don Lund. For those of
you haven't read about him,
I'm going to tell you a little bit
about him. Some of what fol-
lows is information lifted from
the article by Marlene J. Per-
rin. A lot of it is my own
impression of a remarkable
person.
At age 50 he has published
his autobiography. What's the
big deal about that, you say?
Well, the title ought to get your
attention right away. It is "No
Hands, No Feet, No Problem."
You see, Don was born without
hands and feet.
I first met him about six
years ago when I started hav-
ing time on Tuesdays to go to
Kirk Ferentz's regular weekly
press conferences. He is a very
personable person, usually
with a smile on his face. He was
pleasant to talk to while wait-
ing for the Coach to come into
the room so we got started sit-
ting together and doing just
that.
It was obvious right from the
start that he had no hands, but
I didn't know about the no feet
for quite awhile. I was pretty
sure, from the way he walked,
that he had one artificial leg or,
at least, something wrong with
one of them. Turned out he
had two artificial legs.
His left arm ends in a stump
right below the elbow. His right
arm is longer and he has what
you might call two claws at the
end of it instead of hand. His
youth was spent in northwest
Iowa at Moville.
It took me a couple of years
of getting to know him to fmal-
ly screw up the courage to ask
if he was a Thalidomide baby.
I'm sure many of you remem-
ber that drug was responsible
for a lot of birth defects back in
the 1950's. He said he wasn't.
He said his mother never even
took aspirin. His case was just
'one of those things'.
When he was six he went to
Grand Rapids, Michigan, for
some surgery. Doctors there
separated the bones in his
lower right arm and
rearranged the muscles so he
could grasp things between the
'claws' as you would grab some-
thing from a tray with a pair of
tongs.
By Ron Rife
The Lone Tree
Repro tcr
As he grew older, did he let is
physical problems keep him
from doing things? Not on your
life. He played Little League
baseball and junior high foot-
ball. He can shoot baskets and,
also, a rifle. Even though he
had been admitted to the Uni-
versity of Iowa he went to com-
munity college in Estherville
first.
Before he came to Iowa he
wrote to then football coach,
Bob Commings, to inquire
about the possibilities of
becoming a football student
manager. Commings took him
on. He didn't whiz right
through college. He says he was
on the 'nine-year-no-pressure'
plan.
He is able to drive his own
car. He walks up and down
steps, admittedly with a little
hitch in his git-along, but he
makes it. He writes weekly for
the Solon Economist and the
North Liberty Leader. He bakes
cookies. He does the play-by-
play for the cablecasts of Prime
Time League games during the
summer in North Liberty.
While he says there are a lot
of things he'll never be able to
do, he certainly has done a lot,
all things considered. One
• thing that has always
impressed me about Don is his
positive attitude. I've never
heard him say anything
bemoaning his condition. He
talks about it, of course. But
it's not the "Oh, look at poor me
and all I've had to endure."
Mostly, he talks about the way
his life and physical problems
have gone just about the same
way normally healthy people
talk about having had an
appendectomy or something
like that.
I haven't seen him since bas-
ketball season ended, but I'm
looking forward to getting
back together for some 'sports
analysis' during Prime Time
League this summer or press
conferences this fall. He is an
incredible person and I think of
him as more than an acquain-
tance. I think of him as a
friend.
Reporter
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