Former Penn State and Benjamin Logan volleyball great Nicole Fawcett (pictured) has been named a finalist for the Women's Sports Foundation's Sportswoman of the Year award. Fawcett is one of ten finalists selected for the 2009 honor which fans can vote for to determine the ultimate winner.

The Women's Sports Foundation honors an individual and team each year based on their exceptional performance during a 12-month time span. Past winners include Nastia Liukin (2008), Natalie Coughlin (2003) and Michelle Kwan (1998) among numerous others.

Fans can vote until midnight on August 9th and the winner will be notified on August 14th. The award will be presented at the Annual Salute to Women's in Sports Awards Dinner in October in New York City. To vote, visit the WomensSportsFoundation.org.

Fawcett was a four-year member of the Penn State women's volleyball team and guided the team to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2007 and 2008. She was a three-time AVCA First Team All-American and was named the 2008 AVCA Division I Women's Volleyball National Player of the Year. In addition, in January Fawcett was chosen as the Honda Award Winner, given to the nation's top collegiate female volleyball player.

Razz-M-Tazz students Chelsea Thompson and Rachel Thompson did very well at the NBTA World-National Competition at Notre Dame University last week.

Chelsea Thompson took 1st place in 2-Baton and 4th place in State Fancy Strut.

Rachel Thompson earned 7th place in Pageant Solo and 15th place overall.

Rachel's 7th place in 3-Baton qualifies her to compete in the Twirl Mania Gold Competition next February at Walt Disney World.

Razz-M-Tazz will be competing at the State Fair this weekend.

The Bellefontaine youth baseball squads have begun using a new training method, and a concrete wall (pictured) at Ratleff Park has gotten a lot more attention.

The wall, which has been painted with Bellefontaine Chieftain colors and has had strike zones outlined on it, is serving as a backstop and return system for baseballs.

Pitchers and fielders alike can throw against the wall and have the ball come back to them.

The wall can be used in conjunction with drills and improvisation to improve fielding and throwing fundamentals, as well as technique.

Mark Brunswick spoke with Bill Tipple about the wall.

Watch kids use the wall.

The wall is public property, like the park, and can be used by anyone.

In 12U softball, the Indian Lake Lady Twisters took 2nd place in a 12-team tournament over the weekend.

The tourney was called the Shawnee Indians Invitational.

The Bellefontaine Summer Swim Team competed at the 2009 Summer Championship Meet.

The area's top swimmers from Tipp City, Botkins, Minster, Versailles and Bellefontaine were registered to compete. The Bellefontaine squad finished fourth.

"For a team our size, a fourth-place finish is very impressive," Lori Salyer said. Salyer is the coach of the Bellefontaine team.

The girls' 8-and-under medley relay began the meet, and Bellefontaine won. Peyton Kinney, Shelby Starkey, Macy Arn and Amy Fulmer comprised the team. The 9/10 medley relay was also won by Bellefontaine, with Shelbi Moore, Molli Shultz, Emily Fulmer and Megan Barthauer making up that team.

First place went Bellefontaine swimmers Shelby Starkey, Macy Arn, Shelbi Moore, Emily Fulmer, Renae Deardurff, Skyler Tavenner and Christian Garlock.

Garlock led the team in points, winning all of his individual events.

Bellefontaine sophomore Tyler Ransbottom was in action Saturday night at Lil Indy Speedway in Carrothers, Ohio (near Tiffin).

Ransbottom had two, third place finishes in his heat races.

Tyler then drove his #2 Saylor Racing go kart to a third place finish in the Stock Lite Feature.

The Indian Lake Lady Hurricanes 16-and-under traveling team made a trip to Urbana to play in the "Summer Slam" tournament this weekend. The team finished third, playing six games in one day.

In pool play, the ladies beat the Urbana Lunachix, 7-2. They also tied the eventual champs, the Hilliard Wildcats, 1-1.

In the elimination bracket, the Hurricanes beat West Liberty 11-3 and then downed Marion 6-4. Lauren Bycynski tripled, and Kerstin Harmon and Deanna Dill each doubled.

The Dayton Outcasts were next on the schedule, and Indian Lake handled them 10-5. Harmon and Bycynski were each 3-4 with a homerun. Dill and Grace Poeppelman each doubled. Caitlin Jordan was 2-3 at the plate.

The ladies then lost to the second-place Central Ohio Ice 5-4.

Jimmy Lyons took first place in the camper and boat race held at Shady Bowl Speedway on Saturday.

The main event was a success again this year, playing to a near-capacity crowd.

Many of the competitors wrecked, rolling and smashing their campers and boats. One driver rolled over and continued on.

Gary Eaton (left) took the Modified division, beating out Jim Lewis Jr. and Gregg Jackson.

Buck Purtee (right) went wire-to-wire to win the Sport Stock race.

Mason Patrick (left) took top honors in the Compacts.

Modifieds

1. Gary Eaton 2. Jim Lewis Jr. 3. Gregg Jackson 4. Rodney Roush 5. Mike Pippin 6. Mike Siders 7. Brad Yelton

Sport Stocks

1. Buck Purtee 2. Aaron Pippin 3. Rodney Roush 4. Mark Heath 5. Richard Roush 6. Chad Fissinger 7. Jerry Ellis Jr.

Compacts

1. Mason Patrick 2. Kevin Campbell 3. Brian Beach 4. Jordan Iiams 5. Josh Sage 6. Kyle Stager 7. David Yoder 8. Matt Stone 9. Bryan Temple 10. Robert Roush 11. Phillip Wiltrout 12. Holly Eaton 13. Kelsey Flynn 14. Carroll Nease

Photos courtesy of Kim Williams

The Bellefontaine/Houchin Auto 12U baseball team went 5-0 over the weekend and won the Minster tournament. The entire team turned in another strong performance.

The Chiefs are now 34-3 on the summer and will play in the Cooperstown tournament at the site of the baseball hall of fame. Bellefontaine has won four tournaments this summer and finished second twice.

Members of the team include Joey Oliver, Andrew Mitchell, Jarrod Houchin, Matt Entsminger, Tristin Tillman, Jake Kennedy, Tyler Jones, Jordan Baughman, Connor Burton, Gauge Hayman, Aaron Rutherford, Rian Lopez, and Skylar Heilman.