Dana Weiner of Chapel Hill has qualified to compete in the 2012 Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show, to be held Oct. 6-13 in Oklahoma City.

Weiner, 14, earned the American Morgan Horse Association’s Western Seat Silver Medal Award for her outstanding performance at the Maine Morgan Horse Show. This highly competitive event was held July 5-7, in Deerfield, NH.

MST record set in advance of meeting

With a meeting planned this week to discuss the Mountains-to-Sea Trail that will pass through Orange County, it seems a good time to mention that endurance athlete Diane Van Deren has set a record on the MST Endurance Run

Starting from Clingman’s Dome near the Tennessee border, Van Deren made it to the top of Jockey’s Ridge on June 1, finishing the approximately 930 miles in 22 days, 5 hours and 3 minutes after leaving Clingman’s Dome on the Tennessee border. That was nearly two days better than the previous record of 24 days, 3 hours and 50 minutes set last year by Matt Kirk.

You can learn more about the Mountains-To-Sea Trail through Orange County and neighboring counties and municipalities at an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 13 in Room 201 of the Durham Tech Orange County Campus, 525 College Park Drive in Hillsborough.

Griffin does well in CGA’s match play tournament

East Chapel Hill junior Benjamin Griffin made to the round of 16 before bowing out in the N.C. Amateur Match Play Championship at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro.

Griffin defeated Keegan Hoff of Charlotte, 1 up, before losing on the 20th hole of his match with Miller Capps of Denver.

Greensboro’s Scott Harvey, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the Carolinas, needed 20 holes to defeat Kendrick Vinar Jr. of Hillsborough in the round of 32. Sunday, current N.C. Amateur champion Matthew Crenshaw of Burlington edged Harvey, 1 up, to win the match play championship.

Community Center playground improved

The Town of Chapel Hill has completed a playground improvement project at the Chapel Hill Community Center, 120 S. Estes Drive.

Crews replaced the poured-in-place surfacing and the wood fiber surfacing with a new surface under both the school and pre-school age equipment. This gives the playground a new surface that has the highest level of ADA accessibility. The $58,600 project was completed under contract by Carolina Play Structures.

Town crews used the playground closure as an opportunity to address a drainage issue at the playground. Grading has improved a swale that should allow more water to leave the play area after major storm events. Turf around the play area also was improved.

For more information, contact Bill Webster at 919-968-2819 or bwebster@townofchapelhill.org.

W.E. Warnock