THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 5, 1994 TAG: 9407050163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Athletes at the U.S. Olympic Festival can ride any public bus or train in Missouri and Illinois at no charge throughout the event. But if friends ever accompany Ester Benjamin back to this area, they'd better not expect her to play tour guide.
``I really haven't been anywhere,'' said Benjamin, a center for Old Dominion's women's basketball team who is playing for the East squad. ``I don't know my way around, and I don't want to get lost out there and miss curfew.''
Fear of missing bed-check wasn't the only reason Benjamin wasn't out and about, though. Benjamin takes losing hard, and her East team got hammered Monday.
Purdue's Stacey Lovelace scored 13 points and North Carolina's Marion Jones added 12 as the South ripped the East, 77-61. It was the East's first loss in three games.
``It just seemed like we didn't want it as badly as the other team,'' Benjamin said.
Benjamin attempted just one shot - she made it - in 21 minutes, finishing with two points and three rebounds.
``My defensive game has been OK, but my offense, that's another story,'' Benjamin said.
Former Old Dominion star and current Lady Monarchs assistant Anne Donovan holds the U.S. Olympic Festival record for rebounds (47) and blocked shots (15).
Another Old Dominion alumnus, a pregnant Nancy Lieberman-Cline, has been taking in all of this year's action and will do some television commentating during the finals.
And sticking with the Old Dominion theme, former Monarchs coach Oliver Purnell has led the men's East squad to a 3-0 record. The new University of Dayton coach will lead the East in the gold medal game today at 8 p.m.
Benjamin's East team, the West and the South each finished the women's round-robin play with 2-1 records. But the East loses out on the tie-breaker - points scored in head-to-head games - and will have to settle for a bronze-medal showdown with the North today at noon.
ROLLER DERBY: Virginia Beach's Tim Jefferies' placed sixth out of six competitors in the men's rollerskating singles freestyle event, but that's less a reflection of his abilities than it is a statement about the quality of his opponents.
The gold medalist, Heath Medeiros, is the reigning world champion. Second-place finisher Eric Anderson also finished second to Medeiros at the 1993 World Championships.
``This was just about the strongest possible field,'' event coordinator Andy Seeley said.
Jefferies finished fifth in singles last year.
Stiff competition also greeted Virginia Beach's Angie Matthews in the women's figures final. April Dayney won the event for the third straight year, tying an Olympic Festival record.
Matthews took the bronze medal.
GETTING IT BUILT: If Richmond follows through on its planned bid to host a future U.S. Olympic Festival, and if the Hampton Roads area attempts to host some of the events as planned, it could trigger the development of some new facilities in the area.
That's what happened in the city of St. Peters, which moved aggressively to build a swimming and diving venue after St. Louis was awarded the 1994 Festival.
Upon being chosen to be a venue, area corporations and civic leaders pledged $4.5 million toward the building of a facility. A task force then raised an additional $1 million from individuals and local businesses. Finally, in the November 1992 election, 75 percent of St. Peters' voters approved a $16 million ``no tax increase'' bond issue to complete the financing.
The result is the St. Peters Rec-Plex, featuring a 50-meter competition pool with seating for 3,000, a 10-meter diving tower, a professional-sized ice hockey rink, a gymnasium and an elevated running track. by CNB