GOLF Cappelen, Echavarria All-Americans
Arkansas junior golfer Sebastian Cappelen and freshman Nicolas Echavarria were announced Friday as Ping All-Americans by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Cappelen was named a third-teamer while Echavarria earned honorable mention status.
Cappelen. who had a team-best 72.03 stroke average this year, was the SEC Tournament individual champion.
Echavarria tied for 13th at the NCAA Championships in late May and had a 74.84 stroke average this year.
BASS FISHING Palaniuk holds on to second-day lead
Brandon Palaniuk weighed in a five-fish limit totalling 19 pounds, 3 ounces on a stormy Friday and held on to the lead at the Bassmaster Elite Series event being held on the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, Wis.
Palaniuk, of Rathdrum, Idaho, has a two-day total of 37-7 and holds a 6-pound lead over Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., who brought five fish to the scales Friday that totalled 17-3.
Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., weighed in 16-0 and is third at 30-0, with John Crews of Salem, Va., in fourth after weighing in 13-1 for a total of 28-8. Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, caught five fish that totalled 13-15 Friday and rounds out the top five at 28-4.
Lightning and high winds delayed the launch almost two hours Friday morning, and Palaniuk said he lost the first five smallmouth he hooked. But he rebounded from the poor start and managed to catch more than 19 pounds only three hours into Friday’s competition, which was more than enough to keep him in the lead for a second consecutive day.
Palaniuk said the rough weather actually ended up helping him.
“It definitely made the bite better today, no doubt in my mind,” he said. “The cloud cover, the rain and even the wind blowing against the current allowed those fish to be more active, a little more willing to bite.”
Scott Rook of Little Rock weighed in 15-11 for a two-day total of 26-7 and is 13th. Kevin Short of Mayflower is 34th after weighing in 12-3 for a total of 24-7, and Stephen Browning of Hot Springs is 50th after weighing in 12-0 for a total of 23-5. Bella Vista’s Mike McClelland weighed in 7-6 for a total of 17-5 and finished 80th, while Mark Davis of Mount Ida weighed in 1-7 and finished 93rd with a total of 13-7.
The top 50 anglers will compete today before the field is cut to the top 12 for Sunday’s championship round.
Sports, Pages 25 on 06/22/2013