A packed house came to see Syracuse basketball standout Kris Joseph headline the celebrity team along with two-time Olympian Erin Hamlin and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. As usual, the Sitrin Stars were the ones doing the hammering as they beat the Celebrities 71-38.

“It’s much harder than I thought it would be.” Joseph said. “I’ve never been in a wheelchair before period in my life, so this was something totally different for me and it was fun. I enjoyed myself it was a great time.”

Proceeds of the event go to help support the Sitrin Stars Adaptive Sports program.

http://www.wktv.com/sports/Sitrin-Stars-dominate-Celebrity-Classic-148202205.html

More often than not, for Erin Hamlin, there is a bright side.  Be it an off run on a European luge track or a travel snafu, Hamlin maintains a proper perspective and sense of humor when things don’t always go right.

“It’s no fun to be negative and grumpy about it all,” she said. “It’s better to take something away from it, fix it and build it from there.”

Hamlin, who recently completed an improved season, brings the same attitude to social media. Not long ago, Hamlin jumped into Twitter and her voice rings upbeat even when limited by 140 characters.

On a return trip to the U.S. from Europe earlier this month, Hamlin arrived home before her sled, and the experience inspired a clever missive: “Apparently my sled was enjoying EU so much it decided to stay in Frankfurt…..#epicfail.” Hamlin (Twitter handle: @erinhamlin) recently also shared her excitement to see “The Lorax” and a view of a “colorful” car wash.

“It’s definitely one of the easiest ways to update people or give them a window into what my days are like,” said Hamlin, who also uses Facebook. “If there’s a situation I think goes well there, I’ll put it on there. For an athlete who needs sponsors and to get on the radar, it’s a cool way, and it’s a piece of cake.”

Compared to 2010-11, this winter was a piece of cake for Hamlin, who ended the year with her fifth-consecutive U.S. Championship and a return to the “consistency” she lacked the season before.

After starting last year with bronze medals in two of the first three

Erin Hamlin reacts after she placed 3rd in a World Cup race in Latvia in Feb. Hamlin, a two-time Olympian & 2009 World Champion, finished 3rd to win her only medal of the 2011-2012 season (AP Photo, Roman Koksarov)

races, she struggled to get into the top 10 in the second half of the season.

Hamlin was in the top 10 in seven of nine races this year, including four sixth-place finishes. Skirting so close to the top 5 was among her frustrations, accented by the fact Hamlin knew she could run with the sliders ahead of her.

The season was made in the second-to-last race with a career-best and medal-performance in Latvia. Hamlin had not raced well there, but finished third to exorcise some demons.

“It’s a medal in season where I didn’t medal at all, and that’s good,” Hamlin said. “I started the season before with bronze, and I fell off the pace. It showed that I am on my way back up, I guess you could say. I hope it’s not a blip on radar.”

The result in Latvia might be the perfect example of how Hamlin has improved in three years, since a career-defining victory at the 2009 World Championships on her home track in Lake Placid. Hamlin, now 25, is better prepared to navigate tracks where she has less experience.

“She’s a more well-rounded slider; she understands other tracks better,” USA Luge National Team coach Mark Grimmette said. “This season, we fixed some things, and she’s comfortable on the sled again. Her knowledge and comfort level competing on other tracks has definitely improved. She did well in Lake Placid, and we’re working to carry that over to other tracks. And I think we’re accomplishing that pretty well.”

The Latvia result, then, couldn’t have come at a better time. Earning a place on the medal stand stirs the desire to return, and Hamlin easily finds her way back on the path to the power of positive thinking – driven by another offseason of training in Lake Placid.

“Once you’re on the podium, you want to get back. I’m happy with the top five and being right outside of it. The way I was sliding at the end of the season, I think I’ll be back on the podium.”

USA Luge

With a large contingent of family and friends on hand for support, two-time Olympian and 2009 World Champion Erin Hamlin won her fifth straight Norton National Luge Championship Tuesday at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid.

Chris Mazdzer grabbed the Norton men’s title, while the doubles team of Christian Niccum and Jayson Terdiman took gold in doubles.

The national championships concluded the season for United States luge racers on a day that broke overcast and mild, changed to a brief downpour, and then cleared. The race format presented three events in two days: each day’s competition was a separate seeding race, with the combination of both days used to declare the national champion.

Hamlin, of Remsen, N.Y., dominated in winning Tuesday’s second two-heat seeding race. The combination of the Monday and Tuesday seeding victories gave her a national championship crown by nearly 0.9 of a second.

The top three were exactly the same in both seeding events and the national championship.
Hamlin’s final two heats (second seeding race) of 45.375 and 44.935 seconds totaled two minutes, 58.924 seconds.

“The runs were really good, but a little slow, given the conditions,” she said. “It’s nice to end the season on a positive note. It’s good to win and slide here where it’s familiar and comfortable.”

Hamlin’s vocal followers cheered lustily as she concluded her final heat and was declared the winner. Now she’ll take a break from the ice and head to the snow for some skiing before a return to Lake Placid and some springtime luge training on the same track prior to the targeted closing date of April 14.

Emily Sweeney, of Suffield, Conn., was second in the seeding race and the nationals. She posted four runs that were timed in 2:59.810. The effervescent winner of two Junior World Cups and three Junior Challenge Cup races this past winter will embark shortly for five months of basic training with the Army National Guard.

Julia Clukey, of Augusta, Maine, was third each day and won the national championship bronze medal in 3:00.077. Ironically as the 2011-2012 season concludes, Clukey, a member of the 2010 Olympic team, is just beginning her return to luge racing after surgery last spring for Chiari Syndrome at the D.I.S. C Sport and Spine Center in California.

“I missed a lot of training time, so I’ll start training again to get stronger,” said Clukey. “I was holding back a little here at the start, but I know that will get better with time.” On a weekly basis, Clukey has proven to be among the fastest starters on the international circuit. She has been as high as fifth in World Cup races and sixth at the World Championships.
“It was hard training on my own all year,” continued Clukey. “But today proved my hard work paid off.”

Hamlin piled up the maximum 200 seeding points; Sweeney had 170 and Clukey 140. United States luge team coaches will incorporate these results into the process of naming the fall 2012 team.

As the weather cleared and warmed, the medal ceremony took place at Mid’s Park, on Main Street in Lake Placid, overlooking Mirror Lake. As smiles and handshakes overtook the parting scene and athletes went their separate ways for the spring, there was the reminder that time, like a luge sled itself, flies.

After an off-season of training, the track will be ready in October.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Erin Hamlin has won her fifth straight USA Luge national championship, with Chris Mazdzer taking the men’s title and Christian Niccum and Jayson Terdiman winning the doubles crown.

Hamlin won by nearly a full second Tuesday over Emily Sweeney, with Julia Clukey winning the bronze. Sweeney will spend her offseason in basic training with the Army National Guard. Clukey is making a comeback after having surgery to correct Arnold-Chiari Syndrome, a defect in the bottom portion of the brain and affecting blood flow to the spine.

Robby Huerbin was second in the men’s nationals, deciding to retire from the sport after this season. Joe Mortensen finished third.

Matt Mortensen and Preston Griffal were second in doubles behind Niccum and Terdiman, with Jacob Hyrns and Andrew Sherk taking the bronze.

WINTERBERG, Germany – Remsen-native Erin Hamlin, along with Chris Mazder, Christian Niccum and Jayson Terdiman made up USA’s team that took silver in Sunday’s luge team relay in Germany.

USA Luge says that in less than a week’s time Team USA has not only made the team relay the latest cool event, but with results like Sunday’s World Cup silver medal, they will help the International Luge Federation “sell” one of the new Olympic sports in the United States.

The United States effort came five days after their younger counterparts captured gold in the team relay at the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Hamlin additionally placed seventh in the latest World Cup race that also took place in Germany.

The Americans finished behind the winning German foursome of Anke Wischnewski, Felix Loch, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, which locked up the season-long World Cup title in the discipline. It was their third win in five attempts, and mathematically closed out the competition.

Latvia was a distant third in the event.