Fast Break
Cross country
NC’s Kimpel wins state honor
North Central senior Andrew Kimpel has been named the Gatorade cross country runner of the year for Washington.
The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character.
Kimpel led the Indians to their third straight State 3A championship and followed that up with a 10th-place individual finish and team championship at the Nike Cross Nationals Final. He has maintained a 3.89 grade-point average and volunteered for several organizations.
He is the first Gatorade winner from NC and is a finalist for the national runner of the year award to be named in February.
NFL
Linehan lands in Detroit
New Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz hired former St. Louis Rams head coach Scott Linehan as offensive coordinator. The Rams fired Linehan after the team opened the 2008-09 season 0-4.
Linehan became the Rams’ coach in 2006. Before that, he spent four years as an offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.
Linehan, a former quarterback at Idaho, held assistant coaching jobs at the college level for 13 years.
Soccer
Alive and still … well, not kicking
An English amateur team mourning the death of one of its greatest players discovered an important error in the tributes by the club and local press to the 86-year-old man – he’s still alive.
Tommy Farrer had the rare distinction of reading his own obituary as a former “legend” with northern amateur side Bishop Auckland FC.
The mistake came to light when an official of the club, which held a solemn minute of silence before a match last week, called Farrer’s wife to offer condolences.
A surprised Gladys Farrer said her husband had indeed departed – but only for a few minutes to buy a newspaper and would be back soon if the official wanted to talk to him.
Farrer, a former England amateur who played in three Wembley finals, said in Friday editions of the Northern Echo: “We are not upset, but we did think it was a bit of a joke at first.”
Farrer said he wants to play down the mistake, saying it was time to “let it die.”