Smelley, Morgan Leads Baseball Team at Omaha Challenge
2/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 1, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Junior catcher Chris Smelley and sophomore left-hander Adam Morgan posted the top two individual scores for the Crimson Tide during its 2010 Omaha Challenge last week.
Smelley, a native of Tuscaloosa, was the overall winner with 1,280 points in the 15-event challenge. Smelley scored 90 points or better in eight of the 12 individual events, including perfect scores in the sit ups, box jump, back squat, chin ups and push ups.
"A lot of that has to do with your team and you have to do really well in the team events," Smelley said. "A lot of people were really close and I just happened to come on top. I did pretty well in the bat speed. I think the event that might have put me over the top was the farmer's walk, where you have to carry a 45-pound weight as far as you can. I scored pretty high in that event."
Morgan, who served as captain of the winning team, finished second in the overall standings with 1,270 points. Morgan had seven perfect scores in the 12 individual events, including sits ups, box jump, back squat, push ups, chin ups, vertical jump and bench press.
Morgan's team won the overall competition with 9,460 points, out-distancing the second-place team by more than 400 points. In the three team events, Morgan's team finished first in the tug-of-war and second place in the fireman's relay and speed ball.
Joining Morgan on the winning team were junior second baseman Ross Wilson, redshirt freshman outfielder Brandt Hendricks, redshirt freshman pitcher Kelby Deerman, junior outfielder David Kindred, junior pitcher Jimmy Nelson, sophomore pitcher James Tullidge and freshman infielder Danny Collins.
"The Omaha Challenge is a good team event for the whole team and building team chemistry," Morgan said. "It is a good all around event and our team came out on top this year. The main thing is it was good for our team and helped us to get ready to play this season."
Junior catcher Brock Bennett and junior shortstop Josh Rutledge scored 1,250 points to tie for third place in the individual competition, while senior infielder Cal Tinsley and Wilson tallied 1,230 points to tie for fifth in the overall standings.
Wilson, who has been on the winning team all three years at Alabama, scored 90 or more points in eight of the 12 individual events, including perfect scores in the 60-yard dash, box jump, back squat, push ups and sit ups.
