g more aggressive in controlling her matches by getting a dominant grip on her opponents uniforms.Although she is

EUGENE, Ore. -- Everything was on course. Her prerace meals, the hour and a half scheduled to get ready by herself in her hotel room, the drive and walk to the track.But when 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin stepped on the track for warm-ups on the day of her first-round 400-meter hurdles race at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Hayward Field, she wanted none of it.She walked up to her coaches. I dont want to do this, she told them. I dont belong here.Her coaches, Mike McCabe and Luiz Cartagena, were prepared for McLaughlins nerves -- they had always come before every race. But not like this. It was always small jitters that were easily fixed with a bit of positive talk. But what McLaughlin would later describe as a mental breakdown quickly became 45 minutes of McLaughlin saying she wanted to leave Hayward, and McCabe and Cartagena telling her she was running, she was getting on that line.It was kind of like her way of telling herself that she could just come here in four years, Cartagena said. Shed be 20. Then shed be ready.She wasnt necessarily wrong. The expectations for any teenager at the trials were limited. For a high school junior to even qualify is practically a medal on its own.McLaughlin could have tripped on the first hurdle and finished last in the first round. She couldve made it to the second round and barely finished. She could have done basically anything and have it be considered a win in the 16-year-olds expectations book ... Anything except quitting before she had even started.In my mind, McLaughlin said, I didnt want to run.But her coaches convinced her to get on the line and run the race like she had every other race. Deal with whatever consequences happen. Do anything but quit. So she got in her blocks during the second heat and raced a 55.46, beating four collegians and a professional.After the race, a reporter asked if that was the most nervous she had ever been before a race.Yes, she said. Yeah, just the people. Theres so many people here. Ive never been in front of a crowd this big. It definitely has an effect.The next day, in the semifinals, she won her heat by beating four collegians and three professionals. And in Sundays final, she raced a 54.15, outrunning three pros and two collegians, taking down the world junior record and earning herself the third spot on the Olympic roster alongside Nike athletes Dalilah Muhammad (26 years old) and Ashley Spencer (23).She will be the youngest American track and field Olympian in 44 years.McLaughlin remembers another famous teen collegian, Allyson Felix, who earned a silver medal in the 200-meter dash at the 2004 Olympics. Now, the two will be teammates in Rio, but McLaughlin has taken an important lesson from Felixs career, one that shes able to apply to herself after her third-place finish at the trials.She wasnt afraid to lose, McLaughlin said. I think sometimes I get so caught up in the fact that I havent lost a hurdle race, and then I come here and there are girls who are faster than me. I think just realizing that sometimes you have to lose in order to get better, its a big thing for me.McLaughlins first competitive track race was 10 years ago, when she was 6 years old. Her father, Willie, had told her that if she won shed get a chocolate bar with almonds in it.It worked. She won. And then she kept winning, eventually getting into the hurdles, where she excelled.At last years IAAF World Youth Championships, McLaughlin swept the field, running a 55.94. This year, with a focus on getting to the Olympic trials, her coaches started her season two months later so she could physically and mentally be ready to peak in early July at Hayward.And when she stood on the podium, she had only one word for her emotions: Unreal.So, how exactly does she plan to celebrate her third-place finish and trip to Rio?A cheeseburger, McLaughlin said. Maybe some sweet potato fries. Cheesecake. Something like that.Maybe she has grown out of the chocolate bar and almonds, but shes only beginning to grow into her own when it comes to the track. Authentic Custom Cardinals Jersey . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Custom Ozzie Smith Jersey . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/ . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Cardinals Jerseys China . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Custom Cardinals Jerseys . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Hungarian native Szandra Szogedi steps onto the judo mat at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, shell be making history as the first-ever female judoka to represent Ghana.Born in Budapest, Szogedi started judo at age 11, after a friend of her fathers recommended the sport. With a background in gymnastics, Szogedi adapted quickly to the dynamic flips and groundwork characteristic of the Japanese martial art.After just six months, Szogedi won a silver medal at Hungarys national championships.I was hooked, she told the Associated Press in a recent interview. I loved winning medals and started to think this might be the sport for me. Szogedi began attending a specialized sports school and qualified for the national judo squad.But after her parents divorced in 2007, money was tight and Szogedi was forced to drop judo. She moved to the U.K. shortly afterwards and began working as a waitress in a London hotel. One afternoon, as she watched the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics with friends at a pub, she saw one of her former Hungarian judo teammates walk into the Birds Nest stadium.I had the feeling that I had some unfinished business, Szogedi said. She soon started training again at a London judo club, where she met her future husband, a Ghana-born engineer.After securing her Ghanaian passport through him, Szogedi began competing for the West African country at major judo tournaments and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics. Szogedi has been to Ghana once to meet her husbands familyy and says she was overwhelmed by the welcome she received.dddddddddddd.The people are so lovely and so kind that it doesnt feel weird to me to be representing Ghana. I feel very proud to be able to fight for them, she said, recalling when she won a bronze medal at the African Championships last September. I was on the bus when some random Ghanaian athletes came on, saw my medal and just started singing and dancing, she said. That would never happen in Europe.Szogedi is now based in Camberley, 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of London, where she trains alongside several members of Britains national team. In preparation for Rio, Szogedi is working to sharpen her fight strategy and in particular, is working on being more aggressive in controlling her matches by getting a dominant grip on her opponents uniforms.Although she is among the shorter competitors in her 63-kilogram weight division, her coach says that could work to her advantage.She has a great ability to get underneath other players and score some big throws, said Luke Preston, Szogedis coach at the Camberley judo club and also a national coach for the British team.Though Szogedi is ranked 40th in the world, Preston said that matters little in the combat sport.The beauty of judo is that world champions can get knocked out in the first round, he said. It just takes somebody to step up and seize the moment. Theres no reason that cant be Szandra. ' ' '