Duke’s Nick McCrory qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games in his second event Saturday, taking second in the finals of the men’s 10-meter platform competition on the final day of action at the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials in Federal Way, Wash.

The East Chapel Hill High School alum had previously earned an Olympic berth Thursday evening along with Pudue University’s David Boudia as the top finishers in the men’s synchronized 10-meter event. Boudia was the top finisher in the individual platform event.

The men’s 10-meter synchronized event at the 2012 Olympic Games is slated for July 30 at the London Aquatics Centre. The men’s individual 10-meter platform competition will take place Aug. 10-11.

CHHS throwing more light on sports

Chapel Hill High School began a major renovation project last week when workers from Reynolda Electric Company removed the old lighting fixtures from their poles at Culton-Peerman Stadium.

The CHHS contract with Reynolda stipulates that lights on the Tigers’ football field will be in place by Aug. 10 and lights for the school’s soccer and softball fields will be complete by Sept. 20.

Football practice for N.C. high schools begins July 30 and first games are set for Aug. 17.

Chapel Hill football has scrimmages scheduled for Aug. 9 at Durham Hillside and then Aug. 10 at Hillside. The Tigers open their season with an NCHSAA endowment game Aug. 17 in Culton-Peerman with South Granville.

Chapel Hill noted as a top ’soccer city’

Chapel Hill recently made livability.com’s list of the nation’s "Top 10 Soccer Cities" — ranking sixth overall in the United States and third in the South behind Rock Hill, S.C., and Mufreesboro, Tenn.

The web site notes "there are more than 5,200 soccer players in the city, which has three main clubs – Rainbow Soccer, Triangle United and the YMCA. Triangle United is the largest of these clubs and has approximately 3,000 players each season. Rainbow Soccer is the oldest soccer club in Chapel Hill. It was formed in 1971 and averages about 1,600 players each year."

What most of the 10 have in common — besides soccer fields — is a college or university within 5 miles.

Even the survey’s No. 1 pick, Overland Park, Kan., home of a $36 million soccer complex that hosts multiple national youth tournaments, holds the University of Kansas-Edwards branch and is located just a couple of miles south of the NCAA’s old headquarters outside Kansas City.

The top 10, with adjacent schools included:

1. Overland Park, Kan. (NCAA, Kansas-Edwards)

2. Plano, Texas, (Strayer University)

3. San Bernardino, Cal. (Cal State)

4. Rock Hill, S.C. (Winthrop)

5. Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Middle Tennessee State)

6. Chapel Hill (UNC)

7. Appleton, Wisc. (Lawrence University)

8. West Jordan, Utah (University of Utah)

9. Scottsdale, Ariz. (Arizona State)

10. Princeton, N.J. (Princeton).

Hamm, Lilly hailed by ESPNW

Part of Chapel Hill’s soccer reputation comes from UNC soccer and its alumna. North Carolina soccer legends Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly have been honored by ESPNW as two of the top 40 female athletes of the Title IX era. Hamm was named the top athlete of the past 40 years by ESPNW, while Lilly ranked 36th on the list of the Top 40.

ESPNW announced its choices this week to mark the 40th anniversary of Title IX legislation, passed by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

Hamm and Lilly were key players in the growth of women’s sports, and both arrived in Chapel Hill in Fall 1989. Lilly played on NCAA championship teams in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992. Hamm red-shirted in 1991 and was on NCAA title-winning teams in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993.

UNC: more evidence of exercise’s benefit

A new analysis done by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers has found that physical activity – either mild or intense and before or after menopause – may reduce breast cancer risk, but substantial weight gain may negate these benefits.

A complete article on the student — “Fat or Fit: The Joint Effects of PA, Weight Gain and Body Size on Breast Cancer Risk" — can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0142