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Keith Cottrell celebrates his bowling gold medal at the Tuesday at the Special Olympics USA National Games. |
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Georgetown's Keith Cottrell took home Team Kentucky's biggest prize at the first night of bowling awards at the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games on Tuesday, but it may have been Louisville bowler Cindy Cusick who received the biggest honor.
Cottrell bowled a 511 three-game series to beat Richard Dean Robinson of Virginia by 35 pins to win his division of he singles bowling competition.
While Cottrell was claiming his title, Cusick was struggling in her division, bowling well below her average and eventually finishing sixth. However, when it came time to receive that award, the presenter was the most popular woman in the house. Cusick received her ribbon from none other than Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Cottrell wasn't the only Kentucky bowler to take home a medal. Louisville's Mitchell Walls won the silver medal in his division. Walls
bowled a 447 three-game series, falling just 28 short of the gold.
Frankfort bowler Julie Queen came very close to winning a medal at the Games as well.
Queen bowled a 221 three-game series, falling just two pins short of a bronze medal.
All four bowlers have two more chances to medal at these Games. Cusick and Queen anc Cottrell and Walls will team up on Wednesday to compete in the doubles competition.
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Basketball
Team Kentucky rolled on with a convincing 47-33 victory over Oregon. Chad McCarty posted a double-double with 13 points and 17 rebounds and point guard Dustin Smith tossed in 20 to lead the team.
Golf
Chris Revay of Burlington shot a 93 in the second round of the 18-hole individual stroke play competition. His 186 two-day total leaves him two shots out of the gold medal headed into Wednesday's final round.
In the nine-hole unified alternate shot competition, Jude Zilliox of Alexandria and his Unified partner Chris Frank of Bellevue shot a second-round 63 to post a two-day total of 128. They enter the final round in second place in their flight, but are just two shots ahead of third.
Casie Seifert and Unified partner Sarah Hawkins shot an 79 in the second round of their flight at Ames Country Club for a two-day total of 159. The pair are only two shots out of the gold medal headed into the last round.
Softball
Team Kentucky opened pool play in the softball tournament with a thrilling 9-8 extra innings victory over Pennsylvania in their morning game today. Kentucky pushed a run across in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win.
They didn't fare as well in their afternoon game, falling 28-10 against Louisiana.
Swimming
Team Kentucky finished third in their preliminary heat of the 4x25-yard medley relay with a time of 1:56.86.
Louisville's Jonathan Shelton was the last of the Team Kentucky swimmers to begin individual competition today, swimming his preliminary of the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 49.05 seconds.
Both times bettered Team Kentucky and Shelton's personal qualifying times.
Track and Field
It was a busy day at the track again with all but one of Team Kentucky's track and field athletes competing in preliminary heats. Just a day after winning the first gold medal at these Games in the 10,000-meters Matthew Minning ran both in the 1,500 meters and the 4x100-meter relay.
Crystal Maston of Bowling Green and Jeremy Thompson both competed in the preliminary round of the running long jump and 100-meter dashes.
Several Kentucky athletes are in the running for medals tomorrow. All three Kentucky gymnasts enter tomorrow's finals as the leading competitors in their divisions following the preliminary heats. All are in the running to earn multiple medals on Wednesday.
Bradley Hope of Henderson and Christy Farwell will have final heats in both the 200-meter dash and the shot put tomorrow.
At the pool, Kyle Gathof of Crestwood and Katelyn Hale of Nicholasville will both swim finals on Wednesday afternoon.
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