Lindsey Wilson College often provides an opportunity for athletes from surrounding high schools to be part of college sports, although many times it’s on the junior varsity level. Two former standout swimmers from Russellville High School, however, were the nucleus of the Blue Raiders’ relatively new swim program in the recently ended school year.
Corey Hall and Jonathan Hindman made an immediate impact on the second-year swim program. The following results appeared on the Lindsey Wilson website:

ST. PETERS, Mo. (March 5) -- On the final day of the NAIA Men's Swimming & Diving National Championships, freshman Corey Hall qualified for the finals of the 200-yard butterfly and his classmate Jonathan Hindman fell one spot shy of competing in the 200-breastroke finals on Saturday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex.
Hall made the cut to compete in the B finals with a time of one minute and 55.03 seconds in the 200-fly preliminaries, beating out his time in the finals of 1:55.75 to finish 16th out of 28 swimmers.
Hindman swam a time of 2:12.15 in the 200-breast preliminaries, while a showing of 2:11.81 would have earned him a spot in the finals. After just missing the cut, Hindman collected a 17th-place finish overall out of 37 competitors.
Lindsey Wilson collected 15 team points to finish 16th overall at the national championships.

ST. PETERS, Mo. (March 3) -- Jonathan Hindman dropped five second off of his 200-yard individual medley time to finish 27th overall and lead the Lindsey Wilson College swimming team at the NAIA National Championships on Thursday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex.
Hindman was seeded last heading into the 200-IM, but put together a personal-record time of one minute and 59.81 seconds to finish 27th out of 36 swimmers.
The 200-yard medley relay team of sophomores Daniel Lyle and Jordan Green and freshmen Corey Hall and Hindman dropped eight seconds off their seed time in the preliminaries with a showing of 1:40.16.
The relay team continued to the B-Final where they swam even faster at 1:39.05 to take 14th place overall.
The same four swimmers finished 15th in the 800-free relay, knocking off a staggering 19 seconds from their seed time with a mark of 7:23.28.

ST. PETERS, Mo. (March 1) -- Lindsey Wilson College will compete for a title in 10 events at the 2011 NAIA Men's Swimming National Championships starting Wednesday, March 2 and wrapping up on Saturday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Mo.
Sophomores Daniel Lyle and Jordan Green and freshmen Corey Hall and Jonathan Hindman will all be competing for Lindsey Wilson. Hindman, Hall and Lyle will all be competing in six different races, while Green is a member of three qualifying relay teams.

COLUMBIA, Ky. (Feb. 2)-- A pair of Lindsey Wilson College swimmers are ranked among the fastest times in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for the January rating period.
Lindsey Wilson freshman Jonathan Hindman is ranked in the 100-yard and 200-yard Breast Stroke and Corey Hall is ranked in the 200-yard Fly Stroke.
Hindman owns the 16th fastest time in the NAIA in the 200 Breast with a time of 2 minutes and 14.68 seconds. His time is just over two seconds out of the nation's top-10 fastest times. Hindman also owns the 24th fastest time this season in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:01.33 -- two seconds out of the top-10.
Hall ranks 15th in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:59.19. Hall's time is three seconds out of the nation's top-10 fastest times.
Hindman and Hall have already qualified for the NAIA National Championships in each of the events. Additionally, Hindman has qualified for the 200-yard and 400-yard Individual Medley and Hall has qualified for the 100-yard Fly and the 50-yard and 100-yard Freestyles at the national championships.

COLUMBIA, Ky. (Nov. 8) -- Fresh off last week's victory, the Lindsey Wilson College swimming team went head to head with Asbury (Ky.) College on Saturday night at the Holloway Health and Wellness Center Natatorium.
While it was only the second competition of the season, this particular meet held a special meaning to Lindsey Wilson.
The dual against Asbury represented the first meet ever hosted on the Lindsey Wilson campus inside the Holloway Center Natatorium -- a brand new facility that just finished construction in early 2010.
"It's certainly different having a lot more people in the pool," said Lindsey Wilson freshman Jonathan Hindman. "While we are growing as a team, it's nice seeing other competitors in the pool."
Hindman was one of two members on the team to rack up a national-qualifying time on Saturday. Hindman made his cut with two breaststroke races, recording times of one minutes and 1.48 seconds in the 100 yard and 2:14.68 in the 200 yard.
Corey Hall also reached a national cut during the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:00.11.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Nov. 13) -- The Lindsey Wilson College swimming team improved to 3-1 in dual meets with a pair of wins in tri-meet action on Saturday at Rhodes (Tenn.) College.
The Blue Raiders topped the host Lynx 57-53 and took apart Bethel (Tenn.) College 78-4.
Freshman Jonathan Hindman led the Blue Raiders with three first-place finishes. The Russelville, Ky., native took first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.81), 100 breaststroke (1:04.25) and 200-breast (2:21.15).

BEREA, Ky. (Oct. 30) -- Lindsey Wilson College opened up its second season of swimming with a bang on Saturday, topping Berea (Ky.) College 92-89 to improve to 1-0 in dual meets for the 2010-11 season.
The Blue Raiders posted four national "A" cuts with Cory Hall in the 100-yard butterfly (54.76 seconds), Jonathan Hindman in the 100-breaststroke (one minute and 1.3 seconds), Troy Jobe in the 100-backstroke (56.30) and the 200-medley relay (1:43.41) team of Jobe, Hindman, Hall, and Daniel Lyle.

Knuckles, Adler and Watkins also at LW
The Lindsey Wilson junior varsity baseball team depended on a couple of Logan County alumni for leadership this spring. Coach Mike Mantooth’s 17-member squad consisted of 14 freshmen plus a senior, a junior and a sophomore. The senior was Zach Knuckles, a former Cougar who was a member of the Blue Raiders JV squad for four seasons. The junior was Cobey Adler, who played for Mid-Continent University his first year at LCHS and has been at Lindsey Wilson the past two seasons.
D.J. Watkins , a freshman from Russellville, was a member of the Lindsey Wilson junior varsity soccer squad. He got to do some overseas traveling with the team during the winter break. Lindsey Wilson is always a national contender in soccer, but 18 of the 21 varsity players are international.

Koller plays in NCAA nationals
A former state golf champion while playing for RHS, Nikki Koller competed in the NCAA national golf tournament this spring. Her University of Arizona team. finished in 15th place at the NCAA Championships. Held at Texas A&M's Traditions Golf Club, competition took place May 18-21. Traditions Golf Club is a par 72 set at 6,260 yards.
No. 2 UCLA won the NCAA title by four strokes with a score of 1,173 (+21). No. 4 Purdue, the 2010 NCAA Champions, earned a runner-up finish with a total of 1,177 (+25).
Koller finished tied for 80^th individually. She had a total of 308 (+20) with rounds of 75 (+3), 74 (+2), 82 (+10) and 77 (+5).
In the regional tournament at the University of Washington’s National Golf Course (par 72, 6,321 yards). the nationally seventh ranked Wildcats finished fifth with an 895 (+31). No. 1 USC won the event with a score of 886 (+2). No. 13 Tennessee finished second with an 876 (+12) while No. 6 Virginia and No. 23 UC Davis rounded out the top three with an 887 (+23). Individually, No. 17 Erica Popson of Tennessee led all weekend and won the event with an eight-under 208.
Koller tied for a 63th place finish. She shot rounds of 81, 76 and 77 for a total of 234 (+18). That had to be disappointing after she tied for third in the regional last year with a 215. She was an Academic All-American as both a sophomore and a freshman.

Murphy pitches in Pennsylvania
Freshman Darrin Murphy¸ one of Russellville’s most effective pitchers ever, helped Lackawanna College win the Region XIX Division II Baseball Championship with an overall win/loss record of 28-17. Head Coach Chris Pensak was named the Region XIX Coach of the Year.
He was the winning pitcher as Lackawnna beat Gloucester County College by an 8-2 score in a game played at the Sewell, New Jersey, based school in mid-April. Then in a 4-3 win over Burlington County College, he kept the Falcons in the game while pitching six innings, yielding two runs on four hits. He also recorded three strikeouts while giving up one walk.
Lackawanna, which is a member of one of the top junior college baseball leagues in the nation, plays its home games at PNC Field, the home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the Triple A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
Former RHS star coaching
One of Russellville’s best-ever point guards, Jessica Timberlake Leddington, has been named assistant girls basketball coach at Corbin High School. She has previously been coaching middle school basketball. Jessica is the daughter of Ron and Paula Timberlake of Auburn.

Edwards’ daughter on Murray team
The daughter of a former Russellville athlete, Stephanie Edwards is a key member of the Murray State University softball team this year. She is the daughter of Robbie and Kim Edwards. She played high school softball at both Greenwood and Allen County-Scottsville.
As a freshman she played in 43 games for the Tigers, starting 38 at either shortstop or first base. This year she started 36 of 46 games for Coach Jay Pyron’s team.
Erica Meguiar , the Logan County High School graduate who left being a starter as a freshman at the University of the Cumberlands to transfer to MSU, was used primarily as a bullpen catcher in her first season at Murray. Chances look good for her to see much on-the-field action next year.

Pogue leaves print media
Greg Pogue , who has been a sportswriter for three decades or so, has left the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tenn. to open a restaurant in that rapidly growing city. The son of retired Logan County educators Gordon and Nannie Ruth Pogue, his eatery is named Blue Restaurant and Bar, which is described as having “minimalist approach to a night out in a chic, upscale ambiance that is welcoming enough to allow you to ‘come as you are.’" Works of local artists and live music are part of the offering
Pogue wrote for the Bowling Green Daily News before becoming editor of “The Red Towel,” a publication devoted to Western Kentucky University sports. He also edited a similar sports publication in Nashville and was a sportswriter for the old Nashville Banner newspaper where he was that daily paper’s beat writer when the Houston Oilers relocated to Music City as the Tennessee Titans. He was with the Daily News Journal for a decade, most of that time as executive sports editor of the Gannett publication and most recently as senior columnist.
He also has been involved in television and radio, including serving as host of Sporting News Radio’s morning show on 560 AM, a gig that he will continue. That station can be heard in Logan County.
A review if the new restaurant can be read at
http://www.dnj.com/article/20110626/BUSINESS/106260315/For-upscale-casual-di

Charles Hampton visits Squeaky
If Charles Hampton were still in school and had to write an essay on “What I Did During Spring Vacation,” he would have quite a story to tell. A starting back on Russellville’s 1980 state championship football team, Charles is now one of the top chefs at Western Kentucky University.
This spring he and his wife Lisa went to the Czech Republic to visit Charles’ son, Maurice ‘Squeaky’ Hampton, who is a star player in Euroleague Basketball. Squeaky, who started in two straight Final Fours for Coach Phil Todd’sPanthers, has been playing European basketball every since he completed an All-OVC basketball career at Austin Peay State University in 2006. He starred for a team in Scotland for two years and has been playing on the Mainland every since. He’s agreed to a contract extension with BK JIP Pardubice, where he averaged 13 points per game this year.
Want to know more about Squeaky? Here’s what you can lear from the team website’s player profile (It helps to be multilingual, but we can figure out some of the questions):
Maurice Hampton #21
pozice: Rozehrávac / Krídlo
výška: 190 cm
váha: 84 kg
datum narození: 03.01.1984
místo narození: Russellville, Kentucky
zeme: USA
10x o Maurici Hamptonovi...
§Odchovanec: Jr. Pro Basketball
§Kariéra: Jr. Pro Basketball, Russellville (High School),
Austin Peay State University (College), Scottish Rocks
(Velká Británie), Kondori Liberec, BK Synthesia Pardubice
§Prezdívka: Squeaky
§Stav: svobodný
§Zájmy: nakupování, playstation, telefonování
§Oblíbené jídlo: kure, testoviny
§Oblíbené pití: jahodová limonáda
§Oblíbená hudba: pop, R&B, gospel
§Oblíbený film: Coming to America, The Recruit
§Sportovní vzor: Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali
Vzkaz fanouškum: "Bojujte za nás, my bojujeme za vás - a vyhrávejme spolecne!"