Matt McCubbin Leading a Normal Life
National Champs Times Two (2007)
Kalamazoo Chaos defends their title! (2006 national champs)
High school hero Stephen Denuyl
Wrecking Crew/Chaos crowned 2005 national champs
As some of you may have been aware, our very own John Kusku ran the Detroit Marathon last
fall (2007). His fiancée, Jess Hercula, has alerted us that John's accomplishment appears in the January 2008 issue of "InSight". The on-line version of the article can be found at
http://www.blindness.org/coping/story.asp?id=77.
As someone who has run three marathons myself, I appreciate that the marathon itself is just the end result of 16+ weeks of hard work and long runs that go into preparing for race day.
After all, for those of you not aware, a marathon is 26.2 miles...and someone doesn't just wake up one morning and say "I think I'll go run a marathon today". On top of that, John not only ran and finished the marathon, but he also qualified for the Boston Marathon.
For those of you not familiar with the Boston Marathon, unlike other marathons where anyone can run in, the Boston Marathon is the only marathon in the U.S. (and maybe the world?) where you have to actually qualify for...meaning that the runner has to run a certain time in another marathon
before being able to run in Boston. Thus, not only was John's ability to run the Detroit Marathon impressive...but to do so with a time that qualified him for the Boston Marathon is even more admirable.
Congrats John!
Matt McCubbin Leading a Normal Life
Our very own Matt McCubbin received his "15 minutes" of fame via a
front page article which ran in "The Western Herald"...Western
Michigan University's newspaper. In the article, Matt discusses what
campus life is like for a blind student. Read the article at http://media.www.westernherald.com/media/storage/paper881/news/2007/11/14/News/Blind.Student.Says.He.Lives.A.Normal.Life-3099076.shtml.
Michigan rules the adult goalball world as the Kalamazoo Chaos (women) and WMU Wrecking Crew (men) win national goalball championships in St. Augustine, FL. The official press release is at http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2007/07/012.html.
Coach Mike McAbee was selected as one of USA Today's "Most Caring Coaches" for 2006. Mike's tireless efforts to promote goalball in Kalamazoo by organizing practices, proving transportation to tournaments, creating goalball courts/nets, as well as instructing players in the finer portions of the game have helped our fellow goalball players to achieve many of their objectives...as well as establishing Michigan as one of the most successful goalball areas in the country. Congratulations Mike!
The article can be read at http://www.usaweekend.com/06_issues/061001/061001mca.html.
Kalamazoo Chaos defends their title!
Our Michigan ladies make us proud once again! The Kalamazoo Chaos, consisting of Asya Miller, Kristin Millerov, Suzy D'Mello and Nikki Buck went undefeated in the 2006 National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They outscored their opponents 33 to 1, and defeated the Colorado Bandits for the gold medal. The Bandits were also undefeated until that gold medal game. The Chaos were the national champions in 2005, and they were able to defend their title this year. Way to go Chaos! Asya is now headed to Spartanburg, South Carolina where she will help Team USA fight for the gold in the goalball World Championship tournament. Go Asya, and Team USA!The Michigan Wrecking Crew also participated in the National Championships, and placed second in their pool. The players representing the Wrecking Crew were Stephen Denuyl, JJ Meddaugh, Junior Ortis and Matt McCubbin. Stephen Denuyl, who is an alternate for the men's USA team, led the team in scoring. The team played tuff, and lost a close game to South Carolina in the cross over match.
Tyler Merren of the Michigan Wrecking Crew, who was not able to attend the tournament in Colorado Springs, will also be playing for the men’s USA team in the World Championships. Both the men’s and women’s USA teams acquired bronze medals in their most recent tournaments. The women traveled to Malmo, Sweden, and the men traveled to Izola, Slovenia. Both tournaments took place over Memorial Day weekend.
With the World Championships taking place right here in the U.S., many fans from the state of Michigan will be heading down to Spartanburg to cheer on our men’s and women’s teams. The tournament will take place from June 26 to July 2. Check back here for updates throughout the tournament.
High School Hero Stephen Denuyl
A great article on our very own Stephen Denuyl who, along with achieving great things academically and athletically, is just a great kid to coach.
Wrecking Crew/Chaos crowned 2005 national champs
The state of Michigan rules the goalball world in 2005 as the WMU Wrecking Crew and the Kalamazoo Chaos were crowned national champions! After a rough first couple of days of competition, the Crew put it all together in the medal rounds...capping things with a 3-0 over defending national champions New Jersey Thunder 3-0. The Chaos had to go into an overtime shootout to defeat their main rival the Colorado Bandits 3-2...with Susie D'Mello scoring what proved to be the game winner.
Daily press releases can be found below:
