Favor Hamilton looking for third straight Olympic berth Stevens Point Area Senior High graduate Suzy Favor Hamilton is shooting for her third straight appearance in the Olympic games on Friday and Sunday at the USA Track and Field Olympic Trials. Favor Hamilton will compete Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the 1,500-meter run. The finals are scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Sunday. The trials, which start July 14 and run through July 23, will be held at Hornet Stadium on the campus of California State University in Sacramento, Calif. Favor Hamilton is coming back from an Achilles tendon injury that kept her out of action in 1999. She finished second last month in the 1,500 meters (4:00.79) at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon. Romania's Gabriela Szabo, who hasn't lost a race in two years, edged Favor Hamilton at the finish line. Her main competition at the trials will be Regina Jacobs, who won the silver medal at the World Championships. If Favor Hamilton qualifies, she will join fellow SPASH grad Curt Clausen at the Sydney Olympics. Clausen qualified in the 50-kilometer racewalk in February. * * * SIMONSON UPDATE: Chris Simonson pitched one-and-one-third scoreless innings in relief last Friday in a 2-1 Beloit loss to the Clinton Lumberkings. The Pacelli High and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduate didn't allow a hit and walked one. The outing lowered Simonson's earned run average to 5.60. He has a 2-2 record for Beloit, a Class A Midwest League affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers. The league had its All-Star break Tuesday and Wednesday and the Snappers started a four-game series at the Cedar Rapids Kernals Thursday. Beloit returns home Monday for a four-game series with the Michigan Battle Cats. Beloit, the first-half champion of the Western Division, is in sixth place with an 8-11 in the second half. * * * SULLIVAN UPDATE: Kevin Sullivan has played in five games for the Batavia Muckdogs, a Class A affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies. Sullivan, a 1996 Pacelli High graduate, has walked four times and scored three runs for the Muckdogs. He has yet to collect a hit in his first 15 at-bats. Sullivan hasn't committed an error and is sharing time behind the plate with fellow catcher Rob Avila. Batavia is currently in fifth place in the Pinckney Division of the short-season New York-Penn League with a 9-10 record. The Muckdogs started a four-game series at the Utica Blue Sox Thursday and then return to Batavia Monday. They host two-game sets with Brooklyn and Pittsfield. Batavia's games are carried live on the Internet at www.wbsu.com. * * * HOLE-IN-ONE: Dave Birge had a hole-in-one Tuesday at the Wisconsin River Golf Club. Birge used a 5 wood to shoot the ace on the 180-yard Hole No. 3, a par 3. The shot was witnessed by Dave Ankley, Bob Mendyke, Dave Pliska, Bob Pliska and Mike Woyak.