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This post's matchups: Kirk Everist vs Mary Meagher, Marshawn Lynch vs Jeremy Newberry
We conclude the bottom half of the Joe Kapp bracket! Top two matchups were posted this morning, and we move onto the bottom two. Polls for these matchups close next Friday at midnight. The athlete matchups are above, the athlete descriptions and polls are after the jump. Please read, vote, and debate in the comments!
#7 Kirk Everist vs #10 Mary Meagher
via grfx.cstv.com
oducing back-to-back NCAA titles, two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation crowns, 29 All-Americans and numerous academic honorees, Kirk Everist has proven to be the perfect individual to perpetuate the tradition of excellence that defines California water polo. In six seasons (140-40, .778) Everist has twice led the Golden Bears to the pinnacle of the sport; last year directing his alma mater to its NCAA-record 13th national crown with a 8-6 win over USC after a thrilling 7-6 last-second national championship victory over the Trojans in 2006.
A former three-time All-American, 1988 NCAA Player of the Year and two-time United States Olympian, Everist, 41, earned the 2002 MPSF Coach of the Year honors in his inaugural season when he guided Cal to the MPSF Tournament title and a national runner-up finish. Then in 2004, he was inducted into both the Cal Athletic and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fames. In 2006, Everist was selected USA Water Polo's Elite Co-Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to both the MPSF and NCAA titles. On July 29, 2002 Everist returned to his alma mater and immediately led the Bears to a 20-7 mark and Cal's first MPSF title and national runner-up finish since 1995. Now after guiding the Bears to the school's first back-to-back NCAA trophies since the early '90s, Everist and his troops are in a position to vie for a third-straight national crown in 2008.
Before his successful return to Berkeley, Everist had contributed to eight CIF North Coast championships as an assistant coach at Miramonte High School. During Everist's 11-year tenure at Miramonte, the school also produced nine league titles and three third-place finishes in the California State Tournament. He helped develop 22 high school All-Americans, and three of his former players went on to earn NCAA All-American recognition, while two ex-pupils have played on NCAA championship teams.
Ohio Bear: Water polo: played at Cal and is Cal’s current coach. 2 national championships as a Cal player, and 2 national championships as a coach.
However, in 1981 Meagher gave one of the most memorable performances in competitive swimming at the U.S. Swimming National Championships held in Brown Deer, Wisconsin in 1981. At the meet, Meagher set world records in both the 200 meter and 100 meter butterfly, the two primary distances at which the butterfly is contested in competitive swimming. The times for both records were considered astonishing, especially the record of 57.93 seconds that Meagher set in the 100 m--a drop of over a second. Both times would stand as the World Record for nearly two decades: American swimmer Jenny Thompson lowered the 100 m record in 1999, while Susie O'Neill of Australia set the record in the 200 m a year later. Some have argued that Meagher's records in the butterfly were among the most impressive records ever set in sport, let alone swimming, ranking among such noteworthy records as Bob Beamon's long jump world record in 1968. These two swims led "T" to being named Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine, which she again won in 1985. She swam collegiately for the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1987 with a BA in Social Sciences.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California Meagher won gold medals in both the 100 m and 200 m butterfly races, along with another gold by swimming the butterfly leg of the women's medley relay. Returning to compete at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Meagher won a bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly. By the time she left competitive swimming, Meagher had won 24 US national swimming titles.
ososdeoro: Broke the 100 and 200 butterfly records – records that would stand for 18 and 19 years, respectively. Won three golds at the LA Olympics.
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#2 Marshawn Lynch vs #15 Jeremy Newberry
Me: That Washington game was awesome. You could feel the tension in the stadium, that all our Rose Bowl hopes were about to slip away to some 4-6 team (probably a warning sign of things to come). Then Marshawn entered Beast Mode and would not let us lose. Great great game.
I also have fond memories of him playing second backup to Arrington. Underscores the importance of having two not just capable but dynamic running backs. Forsett had his struggles in his backup role to Marshawn, Vereen did the same with Best. There was no real drop off with Marshawn though. 8.8 yards per carry, 8 touchdowns on only 71 carries.
via www.49ers.com
dballisloose: He [Jeremy Newberry] was the original Alex Mack….the 6’5, 315lb center of an unheralded Bears team from 1995-1998, was drafted in the 2nd round by the 49ers, and is still in the NFL. He doesn’t get much props because the team sucked, but he was rock solid on that offensive line.
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