SEABECK – Great Peninsula Conservancy will celebrate the opening of the new Misery Point Preserve to the public on Saturday. The reserve is important for local wildlife and can now be visited on foot and by kayak.

The event will include a ribbon cutting and tour as well as music by Olympia violinist Cedar Wolf and a reading by poet Ching-In Chen. The event is from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

The reserve is located at the tip of the peninsula from Seabeck’s Misery Point. Nathan Daniel, executive director of GPC, said the reserve is valuable because of some very healthy seagrass beds. The reason they are there, he said, is because there is a steep feeding cliff that provides nutrients to the beach in the area, which helps eelgrass thrive. The cliff is about 85 feet high and drops directly into Hood Canal where the beds are.

The northern Olympic Peninsula will offer a variety of Earth Day celebrations next weekend.

Earth Day will be Friday.

Here are some activities next weekend to celebrate the day:

Beach cleanups

• Washington CoastSavers and local partners offer the Washington Coast Cleanup, beach cleanups across the peninsula along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean coast.

The beaches available for cleaning are listed at https://www.coastsavers.org/index.php/wcc-cleanup/.

Volunteers can register for a location and time.

Among them is the cleanup of Harborview Park on Ediz Hook. Event registration begins at 1:30 p.m. and cleanup begins at 2 p.m.

“We will have basic supplies available at the registration station, but encourage attendees to bring any reusable items they may already have such as buckets, gloves, tongs and a water bottle,” said said Joseph Stride of the Surfrider Foundation.

• In partnership with Washington CoastSavers, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s annual Earth Day Beach Cleanup will bring together volunteers to clean up the beaches from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 at Fort Worden in downtown Washington. Port Townsend, Indian Island County Park or Shine Tidelands. State Park.

Volunteers will collect and sort the debris and provide data on their finds to the Ocean Conservancy’s international database.

Each of the first 100 entrants will receive a $5 food gift card to the Food Coop. Olympic Disposal will provide free waste and recycling services. Additional support for this event was provided by the State Department of Ecology.

For more information, contact Mandi Johnson at [email protected] or 360-385-5582 extension 115.

• The Friends of Fort Flagler are organizing a beach cleanup between 9 am and 4 pm on Sunday April 24th.

Registration is at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/earth-day-beach-cleanup-tickets-275386186497.

Fort Flagler State Park will provide supplies such as buckets, pickers and reusable bags.

The park will provide free day passes to any volunteer who does not have a national park pass.

Minors must be accompanied by adults.

Centers of Disease Control and state pandemic guidelines will be followed to ensure volunteer safety.

For more information, see [email protected]

• The day before, the Friends of Fort Flagler will organize a park clean-up.

Volunteers will remove invasive plant species from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 23.

The park will provide free day passes to any volunteer who does not have a national park pass.

Volunteers will bring their own tools, water, masks and gloves and will be directed to a specific site.

To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/earth-day-invasive-plant-removal-tickets-275045597787

city ​​pier

A free Earth Day celebration is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 23 at the Port Angeles City Pier.

The Lost Trio will play blues and Americana.

Keynote speakers will be Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias, who will address the climate crisis, and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Chairman W. Ron Allen, who will speak on critically endangered salmon and killer whales.

The event will include a display of local electric vehicles with owners present to talk about their experience.

At 1:15 p.m., a presentation on electric vehicles is scheduled by Tony Billera of Olympic Climate Action at the Fiero Marine Center, 315 N. Lincoln St.

Save Our Wild Salmon representatives said more than a dozen groups and organizations will have information tables at the event.

conservation breakfast

The 14th annual North Olympic Land Trust Conservation Breakfast is scheduled for 9am Friday on Zoom.

It’s free but donations will be accepted.

The guest speaker is lepidopterist, Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, who will focus his discussion on ways to observe butterflies and moths at all life stages.

Bertha Cooper, author and Sequim Gazette featured columnist, will lead the audience and Pyle in a question-and-answer session.

A highlight of the breakfast is awarding a citizen or local group the Land Trust’s ‘Out Standing in the Field’ award.

The award, which recognizes locals who are preeminent in their respective fields and who are making a big difference in the community for conservation, goes this year to local photographer John Gussman.

To register and receive a link to the presentation, go to northolympiclandtrust.org.

library system

The North Olympic Library System (NOLS) is partnering with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library and the North Olympic Land Trust to celebrate Earth Day.

• A series of Earth Day themed rhymes and songs with early literacy tips for early learners is available at nols.org/early-learning-songs-and-rhymes and on the NOLS YouTube channel.

Salmon Lifecycle Beading Project Kits are available at NOLS-supervised Clalalm County Public Libraries in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks, and Clallam Bay.

Created in partnership with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library, the kits are aimed at children ages 4 and up. They will be available while stocks last.

• Guides for nature-themed scavenger hunts are available at all NOLS libraries.

Scavenger Hunts, run in partnership with the North Olympic Land Trust, can be used anywhere, including neighborhoods, parks or free North Olympic Land Trust conservation areas.

Completed scavenger hunts can be dropped off at a public library for a nature sticker.

Lyra Conservation Area

NOLS will also be holding a group scavenger hunt in the North Olympic Land Trust’s Lyre Conservation Area from 10.30am to 11am on Saturday 23rd April.

Registration is required at nols.org/earth-day.

The group will gather at the trailhead and depart at 10:30am, following the trail to the beach and stopping along the way to use their senses to explore plants, animals, and insects. Self-guided exploration can continue at the end of the trail.

Between 10:30 a.m. and noon at the trailhead, snacks will be provided and copies of the scavenger hunt can be picked up during this time for self-guided exploration of the Lyra Conservation Area at your own pace.

A trail guide including detailed information on trail conditions, elevation changes, site access, wheelchair access, and other accessibility factors can be found at Disabled Hikers.com.

The Lyre Conservation Area is located on Reynold Road off US Highway 112, approximately 4 miles west of Joyce.

Earth Day activities are recommended for youth and families ages 6 and up; youth 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Participants must sign a waiver at the trailhead to participate in the guided scavenger hunt.

“Earth Day weekend is the perfect time to get out and celebrate the wonders of the Olympic Peninsula,” said Tom Sanford, director of the North Olympic Land Trust.

Bilingual story time

NOLS will also be hosting a bilingual Spanish/English Family Storytime for Earth Day at Tillicum Park in Forks at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 23.

Participants will engage with nature-themed songs, rhymes and stories.

With most of the boardwalk leading to the Cape Alava and Sand Point trails in poor condition, Olympic National Park the staff try to decide on the best way to carry out the repairs and ask the public’s opinion.

The Cape Alava and Sand Point trails access either end of a 3-mile section of beach, creating a 9-mile triangular wilderness hike, starting at the Lake Ozette trailhead. Ozette is the busiest starting point for nighttime wilderness use in the park. Approximately 9,500 linear feet (70 percent) of the total 13,533 feet of boardwalk on the Cape Alava and Sand Point trails are in poor condition. These trails are in designated wilderness.

One option is to simply tackle small parts of the boardwalk repairs by hand, but the park says this approach would not be enough to track repairs because “The structural components of the boardwalk would continue to deteriorate faster than they can be replaced given the current capacity of the track crew.”

Another option would be to use helicopters to fly materials to replace worn sections, while a third option would be to create “toll highways” – a series of wooden crates at ground level filled with gravel and land – in areas that would not influence surface water flows.

More details on the proposals, and a page for leaving comments, can be found on this site. Comments are taken until April 26.

swim and dive

The ASU men’s swimming and diving team successfully completed their 2022 campaign at the NCAA Championships with several best individual results.

The first day, senior redshirt Grant Housesecond year in red shirt Jack Dolansecond year in red shirt John Heaphyjunior red shirt Cody Bybeefirst-year student patrick samonfirst-year student Leon Marchand and sophomore in red shirt Julien Hill all finished in the top eight in their respective relays, earning them CSCAA All-American status for the day.

Dolan, Heaphy, Bybee and House clocked a collective time of 1:22.25 in the 200 medley relay that beat the program best time of 1:22.75. The Sun Devils finished in 5th place after day one, behind Texas, Florida, California and NC State.

On day two, standout freshman Marchand became the fastest 200 IMer in NCAA history by winning the event with a time of 1:37.69. With this performance, Marchand became the first NCAA champion for the Sun Devils since 2000.

Marchand wasn’t the only record breaker as Dolan, House and Bybee’s 1:14.85 mark in the 200 freestyle relay was the best in program history. After the end of the day, the Sun Devils remained in 5th place overall.

On the final day, Marchand finished second in the 400 IM with a score of 3:34.08 which broke the school record and his personal record of 3:34.45.

House also finished in second place, but that was in the 200 free with a mark of 1:30.68 as he finished just half a second behind Texas. Drew Kibler. The Sun Devils would drop to 6th place overall after matchday three.

Marchand capped off his incredible run in the NCAA Tournament on Day Four by winning the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 1:48.20 which is now a new ASU record.

The Sun Devils finished the NCAA Championships in 6th place, posting their best result since 1982.

The Crosse

ASU women’s lacrosse ended its California road trip with a win at Cal and a loss at USC.

The Sun Devils were able to bounce back against Cal with a 21-18 win after losing to Stanford.

Graduate striker carley adams led the Sun Devils in points with five goals. graduate midfielder Taylor Pinzone followed closely with four goals. Graduate forwards Emily Glagolev, Emily Munro and second Mina Scott each added three. graduate midfielder Maria Villanti added two and senior midfielder Kaylon Buckner added one.

First year guard Katie Vahle started in the net once again, allowing 11 goals and making two saves. Second year goaltender Flynn Murphy substituted at halftime, allowing seven goals and making five saves to give the Sun Devils the win.

The Sun Devils ended their road trip with a 17-10 loss to the USC Trojans.

Pinzone, Munro and Adams led the Sun Devils in scoring with two goals apiece. Buckner, Glagolev, Scott and graduate midfielder Maddy Hunter each added a goal.

Vahle played all 60 minutes, allowing 17 goals and making eight saves in his eighth straight start for the Sun Devils.

The Sun Devils led the Trojans 19-12 in draw checks but were unable to earn the win.

ASU returned to Tempe Sunday at 11 a.m. MST to take on Florida, losing 21-10.

Beach volleyball

The Sand Devils staged their second and final home meeting Thursday at their new facility. The team went 0-2 that day, being swept 5-0 by No. 7 GCU and No. 8 Stanford.

In the match against GCU, the pair of sophomores Lila Bordis and junior Sarah Waters as well as senior Mady Salazar and freshman Kylie Wickley were the only pairs to bring the Lopes to three sets.

The same pair of Bordis and Waters were on course for a win over Stanford but also fell in three sets in that game.

ASU entered the Pac-12 South Tournament 10-8 and will wrap up the tournament on Sunday night.

male golf

ASU men’s golf participated in the 32nd annual Duck Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon March 21-22. The Sun Devils finished tied for third, beating the par by 17 points.

First-year student Josele Ballester earned a fifth-place finish with a one-under-par score in his first collegiate tournament. Ballester was the highest ranked Sun Devil.

First-year student Preston Summerhays was able to come away tied for 15th, while senior Cameron Sisk finished tied for 23rd.

The men’s golf team is already in Palm City, Fla., for their next tournament, the Valspar Open, March 28-29.

Athletics

The ASU track and field team held its second consecutive home meeting on March 25-26. The ASU Invitational saw Arizona’s four major collegiate athletic teams come together along with four other schools.

The Sun Devils picked up where they left off last weekend and won seven events over the weekend with many athletes recording personal bests and national marks.

freshman pitcher Ralford Mullings put on a great performance after his second discus event as the Sun Devil, winning the collegiate best throw of 63.50 meters. His throw was more than three feet further than the previous mark.

Graduate student hammer thrower Beatrice Llano again won gold in her event with a throw of 67.50 meters, just short of a personal best. Llano currently holds the fifth-farthest throw for NCAA women.

Second year sprinters justin robinson and Jamar Marshall Jr. both won gold medals in their 400 meter and 110 meter hurdles races, respectively. Marshall is tied for the seventh fastest time in the NCAA for the 110m race, while Robinson’s time of 45.88 seconds is second best in the nation for the 400m.

Junior distance runners Lena Lebrun and Vincent Mauri both won gold medals in their 1500 meter races. Both runners managed to secure season-best finishes, with Lebrun squeezing four seconds off her previous record. Mauri’s time of 3:43.67 is good for 20th in the country.

The track and field team will send its distance runners next weekend April 1-2 to the Stanford Invitational.

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Wrestling is arguably India’s most successful Olympic sport in recent years and represents some of India’s most prominent athletes. Look behind the medals and global recognition, however, and there’s a turf battle that makes its way into the public eye every now and then.

The latest flashpoint was Olympic bronze medalist Bajrang Punia’s assertion (Thursday) that he was being denied a physiotherapist, but the underlying issue is the growing scrutiny the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is seeking to exercise on the career of Indian wrestlers.

What happened with Bajrang?

On Friday, a day after Olympic bronze medalist Bajrang Punia complained about the lack of a full-time physiotherapist hampering his recovery from a knee injury, WFI released a statement suggesting Punia had received two physiotherapists; with whom he chose not to work.

Competing for the first time since winning an Olympic bronze medal, Punia struggled during Asian Championship trials, only narrowly qualifying for the team. He then told reporters that he was still recovering from a knee injury sustained before the Olympics and added that he had asked TOPS authorities for a full-time physiotherapist to help him recover. “But no one was made available to me. I had also asked [his sponsors] JSW but they also seemed helpless.” He said JSW told him they could not attach personnel without permission from the federation.

What is WFI’s response?

They said a personal physiotherapist had been disciplined but the individual – Dr Anand Kumar – had not been relieved by his employers, Indian Railways. The WFI said it also provided two other physiotherapists to the Sports Authority of India national camp, but Punia chose not to use their services.

In general, the WFI said athletes would no longer be allowed to work exclusively with a personal physio. All physios must be part of the national camp, where they must work with several athletes. However, these rules are not applied uniformly. At least one international medalist has been allowed to keep – unofficially – the physiotherapist he has worked with in recent years.

Is this the first incident concerning physiotherapists?

Reports emerged ahead of the Tokyo Olympics that female wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, had sought a personal physiotherapist at the Games. The physio was an employee of the Olympic Gold Quest organization, which had supported Vinesh. WFI Chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh then said The Indian Express that private organizations “spoiled the athletes”. While physios are an essential member of the support staff for athletes participating in contact sports, the Federation’s position is that the use of personal physios has led to ‘indiscipline’ among athletes. However, after initially threatening to suspend Phogat from the sport, the WFI relented.

Is it just physios or is there a bigger issue here?

In recent months, the federation has tightened control over wrestlers. The WFI said all contracts signed by wrestlers with potential supporting organizations must now be approved by them. At least one organization has noted that athletes they have supported before have been told not to renew their contracts at the end of the month. There are also limitations in the type of support that can also be offered to wrestlers.

Likewise, trainers – until the most recent Olympic cycle, elite wrestlers could theoretically train under personal trainers. However, after the Tokyo Olympics, WFI President Singh strongly opposed personal trainers for athletes. He said private coaching has an impact on general discipline and specifically increases the risk of doping. “Doping officials can come to the camps anytime, but who is going to check in the personal centers,” he told PTI.

According to the PTI, at least four Indian wrestlers, including two at the cadet level, have been arrested for doping since 2016. Each violation at an international tournament costs the WFI 20,000 Swiss francs (INR 16 lakh) in fines to the sport’s global governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW).

Following this, the contracts of all foreign coaches working with Indian wrestlers on an individual basis had been terminated. Athletes are now also expected to be regular members of the national camp, failing which they cannot be selected to the Indian team. Ahead of Asian Championships tryouts, 10 wrestlers, including former world medalist Geeta Phogat and much-loved world junior bronze medalist Anju, were barred from competing after opting out of national camp . While athletes have skipped national camp for multiple reasons in the past, this was the first time they were barred from participating in a selection trial.

Why do athletes want to work with (non-federal) organizations?

While Indian wrestling has a huge pool of wrestling talent, the level of sports science and technical expertise is low. For example, the WFI still does not have a video analyst or a high performance director. Considering that the margins at the elite level in wrestling are very thin, the role of support organizations is to provide solutions for wrestlers to bridge these marginal gaps. A major role they play is to provide high quality physiotherapists. Indeed, compared to other sports, wrestling is a high contact sport with a greater frequency of injuries. A personal physio allows an athlete to treat small injuries immediately rather than letting them get worse – which happens when two physios work with 30 athletes (which happens at a national camp).

The track record of federations in terms of managing athlete logistics is also poor. Prior to Asian qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics, Indian wrestlers only managed to reach the competition city on the day of their matches as air tickets were inexplicably booked for that date. Additionally, while elite wrestlers in the public eye have some sort of basic food and medical support in place, this is lacking in the junior age groups where it is sorely needed. It is in this capacity gap that many private organizations intervene. Long before winning Olympic silver, Ravi Dahiya (for example) was supported by OGQ through a period of injuries that saw him miss the 2018 Asian and Commonwealth Games.

What is at stake for the WFI, and for the athletes?

The federation usually has enormous power over where a wrestler can compete. Athletes in professional sports like badminton/athletics have no problem traveling with physios or private coaches (Lakshya Sen or PV Sindhu in badminton, for example) because there are so many tournaments on the world circuit – for which the players do not need the authorization of the federation to compete. The only time the federation comes into play is for events like the Olympics, Asian Games and World Championships.

However, wrestlers compete almost exclusively as part of the national team. Thus, they are much more dependent on the federation. If the federation suspends a player, there is no way for him to compete internationally. In recent times however, elite athletes like Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have been able to replace this system due to their profile. After the Olympics however, the Federation tightens the reins.

AUSTIN, Texas – Three-time Olympic medalist and captain of the U.S. Olympic gold medalist team in 2020, Jordan Larson joins the Texas Volleyball team as an assistant coach. Larson was a three-time All-American in Nebraska (2005-08) and a member of the 2006 National Championship team. Larson replaces Tonya Johnson, who accepted the post of head coach at LSU.

“It’s a home run rental”, the head coach Jerritt Elliott noted. “To have the most accomplished outside hitter in American volleyball history coming to our program is so exciting. For our athletes who aspire to be on the National Team, to have someone who eats, drinks and sleeps on. volleyball will be an incredible opportunity. Jordan loves the game, wants to give back and will be a great mentor to all of the women who come into our program. “

Larson was captain of Team USA‘s first women’s indoor volleyball team to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She was named the tournament’s most valuable player and top outside hitter. In addition to his gold in 2020 in Tokyo, Larson won silver at the London 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.

“I am incredibly honored and touched to join the Texas Volleyball coaching staff,” said Larson. “It is an incredible opportunity to be a part of the tradition and excellence of this program and to help these women achieve their dreams. I am extremely grateful to grow and learn in this role.”

Closing an incredible year in 2021, Larson was recognized as the Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year for Team Sport. After his historic run in Tokyo, Larson joined the USA Volleyball High Performance Academy to engage and give back to the volleyball community. She was also inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.

Larson made her debut for the United States Women’s National Team at the 2009 Pan American Cup before joining three consecutive Olympic teams. She was named U.S. indoor volleyball player of the year in 2015 and 2016 and became the team’s captain in 2017.

As a professional, Larson played overseas in Puerto Rico, Russia, Turkey and China and became the first player to win three consecutive FIVB Club World Championships from 2014 to 2017. Larson returned to the States United to participate in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited Volleyball in 2021 and won the championship.

As a four-year-old Nebraska player from 2005-2008, Larson ended her career with 1,600 kills, 1,410 digs and an academic record of 186 aces. In her first season, she helped lead the Huskers to second place in the NCAA and was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the first All-American team in sophomore year and led Nebraska to the 2006 National Championship. In 2008, she became the first player to be named Big 12 Player of the Year. and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.

A native of Hooper, Nebraska, Larson graduated from the University of Nebraska with a communications degree in 2008. She is married to David Hunt, the head coach of men’s volleyball at Pepperdine University.