Clarissa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo.) became the first women's freestyle wrestler to be nominated to her second Olympic Team after her stellar performance at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Wrestling in Iowa City, Iowa, on April 22. In addition to Chun, 15 other wrestlers qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games.
NEXT STOP: LONDON
Six athletes earned nominations to the U.S. Paralympic Judo Team at the trials held in Irving, Texas, on April 22. On the men's side, Ron Hawthorn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was selected in the 60kg division, Dartanyon Crockett (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in 90kg and Myles Porter (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in 100kg. Meanwhile, Christella Garcia (Sacramento, Calif.) and Katie Davis (Sacramento, Calif.) won in the women's 70kg division and Jordan Mouton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took the 57kg division.
ARCHERY
U.S. archers brought home medals in seven of 10 categories at the world cup in Shanghai, China, on April 17. The women's compound team of Erika Anshutz (Lawton, Okla.), Jamie Van Natta (Toledo, Ohio) and Christie Colin (York, Pa.) earned gold, while Reo Wilde (Pocatello, Iowa), Braden Gellenthien (Woodbridge, Va.) and Dave Cousins (Standish, Maine) also brought home gold on the men's side. Van Natta and Wilde took silver in the compound mixed team event, while Diane Watson (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Wilde earned bronze and gold medals in the individual event. Earlier in the week, Brady Ellison (Glendale, Ariz.) clinched two gold medals - one in men's recurve, and the other in men's team recurve with Jacob Wukie (Oak Harbo, Ohio) and Joe Fanchin (Oceanside, Calif.).
Alex Wifler (Crete, Ill.) defeated Canada's Crispin Duenas, 6-2, to win his first senior title at the U.S. Archery Team Qualifier on April 21 in Newberry, Fla. Meanwhile, Jennifer Nichols (Cheyenne, Wyo.) took the top of the podium in the women's recurve division.
BADMINTON
USA Badminton crowned its 2012 national champions at the conclusion of the 2012 U.S. Adult National Badminton Championships, held April 20-22 in Orange, Calif. Bo Rong (San Diego, Calif.) and Sattawat Pongnairat (Orange, Calif.) earned women's singles and men's singles titles, while Joo Hyun Lee (Orange, Calif.) and Yun "Grace" Peng (Orange, Calif.) earned the women's doubles title. Peng also won the mixed doubles title with Holvy De Pauw (Milipitas, Calif.), while Halim Haryanto Ho (Milipitas, Calif.) and Chandra Kowi (Menlo Park, Calif.) took the men's doubles title.
CANOE/KAYAK
Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) became the first U.S. canoe/kayak nominee for the 2012 Olympic Games after taking a first-place finish in the women's 500-meter kayak on April 20 at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Flatwater Sprint in Oklahoma City.
CURLING
The U.S. women's team captured a fifth-place finish at the 2012 World Senior Championships on April 21 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The men's team finished 14th. The women, led by Pam Oleinik (Brookfield, Wis.), fell only to Canada and Scotland, which earned the gold and silver medals.
CYCLING
On April 18, Evelyn Stevens (Boulder, Colo.) became the first American in history to win the La Fleche Wallonne Feminine race in Huy, Belgium. En route to her gold-medal performance, Stevens edged out 157 riders from 26 countries.
DIVING
U.S. divers picked up four medals at the 2012 FINA Diving World Series in Tijuana, Mexico. On April 20, David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind.) and Nick McCrory (Chapel Hill, N.C.) won gold in the men's synchronized 10-meter, and Christina Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill.) and Kassidy Cook (The Woodlands, Texas) took silver in the women's synchronized 3-meter. The following day, Boudia and Loukas closed out the series with silver and bronze medals in the men's platform and women's 3-meter events.
EQUESTRIAN
Rich Fellers (Sherwood, Ore.) ended a 25-year drought and captured the Rolex/FEI World Cup Final for the U.S. in a jump-off in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, on April 22.
FIELD HOCKEY
At the conclusion of a 23-day tour in Australia and New Zealand, the U.S. Women's National Team suffered a 1-0 loss to India in the final match of the Four Nations Tournament in New Zealand. Earlier in the week, Team USA defeated India, 3-0, and fell to New Zealand, 3-2.
FIGURE SKATING
Team USA racked up 53 points to win the silver medal at ISU World Team Trophy 2012 on April 21 in Tokyo, Japan. Meryl David (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) posted the top score in ice dancing, and no other U.S. skater or team finished lower than seventh.
GYMNASTICS
U.S. pair Maren Merwarth (San Antonio, Texas) and Kathleen Davis (San Antonio, Texas) earned a fifth-place finish in the 11-16 age division at the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Age Group Gymnastics Competition on April 22 in Orlando, Fla.
HOCKEY
The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team defeated Sweden, 7-0, to capture the gold medal at the 2012 IIHF Men's World U-18 Championship on April 22 in Brno, Czech Republic. Team USA defeated Canada twice earlier in the week, 2-1 and 5-3, en route to its championship game. The win over Sweden marked Team USA's fourth championship and 10th medal overall at the event.
MODERN PENTATHLON
For the first time in over a year, U.S. pentathletes Mickey Kelly (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Rendy Opdycke (Los Angeles, Calif.) went head-to-head in the final round of the world cup held in Rostov, Russia, on April 23. Kelly had the eighth-fastest time in the combined shoot/run, while Opdycke posted the fifth-fastest swim time.
SHOOTING
With her most recent third-place world cup finish on April 20 in London, Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) now has back-to-back world cup medals in this Olympic year. On the men's side, Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) finished one slot shy of the podium in fourth.
SKI & SNOWBOARD
Torin Yater-Wallace (Basalt, Colo.) earned the AFP halfpipe championship after finishing third at the season finale on April 22 in Whistler, B.C. Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) scored a victory in the last race to finish second in the standings. Meanwhile, Tom Wallish (Pittsburgh, Pa.) earned the championship crown in slopestyle with a fifth-place finish.
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
Duet swimmers Mary Killman (McKinney, Texas) and Maria Koroleva (Concord, Calif.) earned their first trip to the Olympic Games after placing seventh at the FINA Olympic Games Qualification Tournament on April 20 in London. Meanwhile, the U.S. synchronized team fell short in its bid to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games after finishing sixth.
TABLE TENNIS
Ariel Hsing (San Jose, Calif.), Lily Zhang (Palo Alto, Calif.), Erica Wu (Arcadia, Calif.) and Timothy Wang (Houston, Texas) punched their tickets to London at the North America 2012 Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Cary, N.C., held April 20-21.
TENNIS
Serena Williams (Saginaw, Mich.) defeated Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the Fed Cup World Group Playoff slot for Team USA. Earlier in the week, Williams defeated Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, 6-2, 6-1, and Christina McHale (Teaneck, N.J.) defeated Tsurenko, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
VOLLEYBALL
Beach duo Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) defeated Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.) on April 22 to win the gold medal at the Brasilia Open and the opening event of the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.
UPCOMING CALENDAR - APRIL
20-25 - Archery Medellin, Colombia Continental Olympic Qualifier
23-29 - Curling Erzurum, Turkey World Mixed Doubles Championship
23-28 - Archery Chula Vista, Calif. U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Second Nomination Shoot
25-28 - Archery Chula Vista, Calif. U.S. Paralympic Team Trials
26-28 - Athletics Des Moines, Iowa Drake Relays
26-29 - Roller Sports Spain Show - Precision Championships
27 - Volleyball San Juan Capistrano, Calif. U.S. Men vs. Argentina
27 - Swimming Fort Meyers, Fla. U.S. Women's Open Water Trials
27-29 - Wrestling Taiyuan, China Olympic Qualifier (Quota Spots)
28-29 - Taekwondo Colorado Springs, Colo. 2012 National Team Trials
29 - Volleyball San Juan Capistrano, Calif. U.S. Men vs. Argentina
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