Runners and Jumpers

Jean-Luc du Plessis

Sam McDougall

Trey Hardee

Harijs Broza

Willem Coertzen

Zack Ziemek

Pavel Maslak, Borlee

浦和レッドダイヤモンズ vs. Al Hilal Saturday Sport

Not your grandfather's Champions League, the Asian Champions League has been heating up in recent weeks, and has become much more interesting since it was started in 2003.   Saudi giants Al Hilal will attempt to end years of dominance by East Asian clubs when they take on Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds in the two-legged Asian Champions League final beginning Saturday.  Al Hilal are hopeful as they host Urawa in the first competition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Clubs from the Asian Football Confederation's eastern regions have won the last five Champions Leagues, and 10 overall since the competition's first edition in 2003.  The west is particularly strong now, though, with both Saudi Arabia and Iran qualifying for Russia, 2018. 

Al Hilal captain Osama Hawsawi stated that "in World Cup qualifying we faced both Australia and Japan and we qualified ahead of the former and defeated the latter.  There are strong teams in both East and West, of course, but it should be noted that two teams from the West qualified for the World Cup." Al Hilal has never won the Asian Champions League, but hopes to this year.  "We are determined to lift this trophy," Hawsawi said. "We reached the final because we worked hard and are intent on reaching this goal." 

Urawa captain Yuki Abe was part of the team that won the Champions League in 2007, and he said he now wanted to lift the trophy again in honour of manager Takafumi Hori.  "I have had a lot of head coaches in my career, but Hori is one who has helped me improve, so I'd like to help win a big trophy for him," Abe, 36, said."  The winner of the final will take their place at the Fifa Club World Cup UAE 2017, alongside the likes of European champions Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, back on the continent, Soccer fans are gearing up for the Madrid Derby, Real Madrid vs. Atletico de Madrid.  Atletico has been playing in a newly refurbished stadium this season, and so this is the first such Derby played in the Estadio Metropolitano  "Wanda".  It is an important game, over and above the rivalry, because both Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid have been playing catch-up against Barcelona.  Only 900 of the 67,000 seats have been released to Real Madrid's fans.  Phenom Dani Ceballos, 21, will play in his first derby.  Real Madrid  has won only 7 of the last 11 games, whilst Atletico is undefeated in their past 11 games.  

In the standings Madrid, in third, are eight points behind leaders and renegades Barcelona.   Atletico, in fourth, are also on 23 points, but has had terrible difficulty scoring.  Their last  15 games have featured one or no goals.  Seven teams have scored more than Atletico’s 16 in 11 games. But Real have their own problems upfront. Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have only one league goal each so far this season. Valencia and Real Sociedad have both scored more goals than Real Madrid so far.  Attention shifts firmly towards club football for the next four months, with Madrid also featuring in the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi next month.

In premiership soccer  Champions Chelsea face a stiff challenge to defend their Premier League title from in-form leaders Manchester City but will fight till the end in the race, midfielder Willian has said. City have won 10 of their opening 11 league games and sit at the top of the table, nine points ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea.  "It's difficult," Willian told BBC's Football Focus. "Manchester City are playing very well but I think we can fight for the title until the end."  Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are second and third respectively, a point ahead of Antonio Conte's men.  "It is difficult to play when you were champion last season and to fight for the title again as every team wants to win against Chelsea," added the Brazil international. 

Chelsea travel to West Bromwich Albion, who are 16th in the league, on Saturday.  Arsenal must win an "electric" North London derby against Tottenham.  Arsenal last beat Tottenham in a 2015 League Cup tie but have failed to register a league win over their neighbors since 2014, drawing four and losing two of the last six league meetings between the sides.  As Tottenham have risen to prominence over recent years, the derby has become more closely contested.  Arsenal are sixth in the standings, four points behind third-placed Tottenham and 12 behind leaders Manchester City, with six wins in 11 league games.

In the United States, in NCAA College Football, there is only one game today between ranked opponents, Number 24 Michigan (8-2, 5-2) at Number 5 Wisconsin (10-0, 7-0).   Should Wisconsin go undefeated they would most certainly go into the playoff.  Michigan is always a tough opponent, though, and could come away with a win today.  Wisconsin beat Iowa 38-14 last week to pick up its first ranked win of the year, and Camp Randall Stadium is always a challenging location, but  Michigan is more well-rounded on defense and should be a tougher challenge. 

Time for Basketball

Marcin Michal Stasiowski

Trevor Signorino

Scott Gardner,

Ethan Happ

Track Star Japheth Cato

Japheth (Jay) Cato is an  Olympic level athlete, who competes in track and field competitions.  He was born in Crete, Illinois, and raised in the South Suburbs of Chicago.  

 When he was finishing at Bloom Township High School, he  received a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, at Madison as a Decathlete on the Track and Field team. 

Throughout his collegiate career he won championships, and broke records on the conference and national level.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a  Bachelors Degree in 2014.

Unfortunately, at the end of his junior year his Achilles tendon ruptured while attempting to break facility record at the University of California.

After 9 months of rehabilitation he came back to win his last indoor Big Ten Championship and break the school's indoor pole vault record however recovery time was still needed.  

He continues to train in hopes of making the next Olympics, and indeed competed last weekend at Albuquerque.  His Palmares is extremely long, indeed way too long to be listed in this space.

While he was healing, and in preparation for the Rio Olympics, Japheth had a go fund me page, which still appears to be active.   

Sport Sunday

Pietro Boselli

France:  It seems as if the world pro cyclists get no break anymore.  From the End of the Vuelta a Espana and the Worlds to the Tour down Under, there are only a couple of months.  Today, pro cycling in France comes alive for 2017 with the annual Paris-Nice stage race.   Contested in 8 stages, from today through next Sunday, it really does represent a challenge to redevelop well rested legs. Today, Stage 1 of the Paris-Nice features a 148.5 km leg through Bois-d'Arcy.

Germany:  Bundesliga Soccer: Bayern Munich is at the head of the standings by seven points, having won yesterday at Cologne. Spain internationals Javi Martinez and Juan Bernat gave Bayern a comfortable two-goal lead before substitute Franck Ribery netted a third on 90 minutes.  This week they travel to Arsenal in Champions League competition. In Bundesliga play today, Eintracht Frankfurt will battle Freiburg. 

France:  France.  Some Frenchmen, at least a few, have no interest in Paris-Nice.  For the rest of us, in French League Soccer action today, Lorient takes on Marseille, Toulouse meets Lille, and AS Monaco contests Nantes.  

Justin Thomas

Mexico:  Final-round play in the $9.75 million WGC-Mexico Championship takes place today in Mexico City.  Adam Scott defeated Bubba Watson by one shot last year in Miami when this tourney was the WGC-Cadillac Championship. With Justin Thomas leading today, major winners like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Phi Mickelson will be breathing down JT's neck in the final groupings.

USA NCAA Basketball action features, today, a plethora of conference championships and final games before tournament action.  The Purdue Boilermakers take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Chicago today in a Big Ten finale, on the eve of the Big Ten Tournament. Coach Chris Collins' Wildcats have put up a school-record 21 wins as they chase their first-ever NCAA tourney berth. In their previous meeting this year, Conference-champ Purdue rode Caleb Swanigan's 24 points to an 80-59 win.

Japheth Cato The USA Indoor Track Championships are taking place through tomorrow in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  On Saturday, Noah Lyles, a teenager from Alexandria, Virginia, ran the 300 meters faster than anyone else ever has: 31.87 seconds, a new World record. Lyles, with his younger brother Josephus, also a sprinter, turned pro last year rather than enter the college ranks.  Japheth Cato has been trying to win the men’s indoor heptathlon at a major competition for several years. Saturday, he succeeded.  Sunday's action will see finals in men's competitions, including the 2 mile racewalk, pole vault, high jump, shot put, 300 metre, 2 mile, 1 mile, weight throw, and the Master Men's mile.

The  2017 World Baseball Classic play begins tomorrow in Seoul, South Korea.  The tournament includes international MLB stars, playing for their home countries, as well as hot prospects from many countries, hoping to show their stuff to scouts, and some MLB free agents.  The debut game in Seoul features hometown heroes Korea facing off against Israel.  Two-time champion Japan plays the next day against Cuba at the Tokyo Dome. The United States begins play on March 10 in Miami against Colombia. The first round is a round-robin format, with the top two teams at each site advancing to the second round, which will be played at the Tokyo Dome and San Diego's Petco Park from March 12-16.  The winners and runners-up then advance to the finals in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium from March 20-22.  Other teams playing include Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Australia, China, Italy, Canada, defending champions Dominican Republic and Porto Rico.