August 16, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 47 20th OCLax Classic Invades Resort By SHAWN J. SOPER SPORTS EDITOR OCEAN CITY’S NEWEST SPORTS BAR! at 131st Street & Coastal Highway OCEAN CITY – The “fastest game on two feet” takes center stage in and around the resort area this weekend when some of the top men’s and women’s lacrosse teams in the country descend on Ocean City for the 20th Annual Ocean City Lacrosse Classic. The annual tournament got underway yesterday with openinground games in the Masters and Grand Masters divisions at the Northern Worcester Athletic Complex in Berlin. Northside Park in Ocean City continues to be tournament headquarters and most of the action all weekend will take place there, but because of the growth of the tournament in recent years, some early round games will be played at the other venues. For example, most of the early-round games in the Women’s Elite Division will take place at the downtown Ocean City fields at 4th Street. From modest beginnings in 1993, the Ocean City Lacrosse Classic has grown to become one of the sport’s most highly anticipated events. Last year, a record 108 teams participated, but that number has grown again this year to 108 including 48 men’s elite teams, 34 women’s elite teams, along with men’s masters teams and grand masters teams. The King Neptune Division featuring players over 50 33 Years Of Great Food, Great Drinks & Great Prices ... WATCH PRE-SEASON GAMES HERE FRIDAY: For the first time ever, the Ocean City Lacrosse Classic, which got underway around the resort area this week, includes a wheelchair lacrosse division. Pictured above is some of the action from Wednesday. Photo by John Harris BUCCANEERS VS PATRIOTS 8 P.M. SATURDAY: JETS VS JAGUARS 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY: GIANTS VS COLTS 7 P.M. MONDAY: STEELERS VS REDSKINS 8 P.M. THURSDAY: RAVENS VS PANTHERS 8 P.M. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16: BOB HUGHES • 4:30-7:30 P.M. SATURDAY, AUGUST 17: BALTIMORE BOB • 4:30-7:30 P.M. still interested in playing competitive lacrosse will include five teams this year. A new wrinkle this year is the addition of a wheelchair lacrosse division, which will took place at the indoor facility at Northside Park on Wednesday and Thursday in advance of the larger outdoor tournament. In addition, the Masters portion of the tournament has been divided into “A” and “B” divisions with the top performing teams from last year’s tournament in the former and new teams signing up this year in the latter. HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS BAR FOOD & DRINKS ALL DAY LONG Watch All Your Sports Action On Plenty Of Large HD TV’s With Plenty Of Seating. Plenty Of FREE Parking For J/R’s Customers The Best Place for Ribs, Seafood & Steaks Full Dinner Menu In Our Spacious, Separate Dining Room Open Year Round! Open Monday-Saturday 4 p.m • Sunday At 3:30 p.m. 131st St. & Coastal Hwy. 410-250-3100 • www.jrsribs.com Carry-Out Available 410-250-3131 • Cold Beer • Bags Of Ice Mid-Atlantic 500 Returns Next Week By SHAWN J. SOPER SPORTS EDITOR OCEAN CITY – The resort area’s collective hangover from last week’s White Marlin Open has just about worn off in time for the next big event on the summer sportfishing calendar – the Mid-Atlantic $500,000, a Cape May, N.J.-based tournament that will again have a strong presence in Ocean City again this year. Now in its 22nd year, the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 continues to be one of the top sport fishing events in the region with around $1.5 million in prize money expected to be doled out again this year. Tournament headquarters has always been the Canyon Club in Cape May, and that hasn’t changed, but the increased number of boats from the resort area has given the event a decidedly Ocean City flair. Nine years ago, MA500 organizers opened up Ocean City as a second port from which to fish and the change was met with great enthusiasm. For the first two years, however, any Ocean City boat that caught a qualifying fish had to transport it to the official scales in Cape May. Seven years ago, however, Sunset Marina in West Ocean City was added as an official sister port for the event and local anglers participating in the MA500 began to weigh potentially winning fish at their homeport. For three straight years, a boat fishing out of Ocean City swooped in on the last day to steal the tournament’s top prize, and a little bit of the thunder from their Jersey Shore brethren, with a big white marlin. The trend continued last year with the Ocean City-based “Reelentless” taking the top prize in the prestigious white marlin division, but the dominance by the local boats was even more pronounced than ever. Angler Robert Warder fishing aboard the Ocean City-based “Reelentless” weighed a 79-pound white last Tuesday on day two of the tournament and the big white held on all week to claim the top spot on the leaderboard. Warder and the “Reelentless” crew earned the top prize of $667,359. Another boat with local ties, the “Sea Slammer,” weighed a 78-pound white last Thursday to take second in the division and earned $115,793. Third-place honors in the white marlin division went to angler Tom Perry and the crew on the “Game Over” out of the Ocean City Fishing Center and were awarded $46,556 in prize money. In the blue marlin division, only one qualifier was weighed during the MA500 last week and again it was an Ocean City boat. Captain Wade Lober and the crew on the “Why Not” weighed a 416-pound blue marlin and were awarded $309,503 in prize money. Because the blue marlin was the only qualifier, the “Why Not” crew was awarded all of the prize money in the division.