Dent gets off to fast start at...

Dent gets off to fast start

at Australian Open

Taylor Dent of Huntington Beach was a first-round winner at the

Australian Open at Melbourne, Australia, defeating Spain’s Fernando

Verdasco.

Verdasco became ill during the third set of the match and Dent

went on to post a 6-2, 6-1, 2-1 (retired) victory.

The 22-year-old is seeded 27th in the Grand Slam tournament and

27th in the world.

Dent’s previous best finish at the Australian Open came in 2002,

when he finished third overall.

He was scheduled to play Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina on

Wednesday.

Engelman earns Big Sky all-academic honors

Former Marina High running back Turill Engelman was one of 32

University of Montana student athletes to earn Big Sky All-Academic

honors for the conference, the school announced Tuesday.

The former All-Sunset League player while at Marina was a

5-foot-10, 200-pound redshirt freshman running back last fall.

Engelman was one of 14 Grizzlies football players to make the

all-academic team. To be eligible for honors, a student athlete must

have participated in at least half of the team’s games, achieved a

3.2 cumulative grade-point average and completed at least on academic

term.