Email   Print   Share By Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Facebook Digg Delicious May 24, 2012 | Sports

Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Photo by Spc. Amy Lane, 4th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs

Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Thompson, 4th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs

Photo by Capt. Monica Comeaux, 13th ESC Public Affairs

Photo by Sgt. Eric Glassey, 4th PAD

Photo by Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

Photo by Sgt. Sharla Lewis, 3rd BCT Public Affairs

Starting with the III Corps Run Monday morning, 17 units from across Fort Hood began competing for the Commander’s Cup during Phantom Warrior Week.

Units competed in 11 different events, including a Drill and Ceremonies competition – won by the 89th Military Police Brigade Friday – an obstacle course, a weapons course, a golf scramble, a boxing smoker, racquetball, and five traditional team sports: basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball.

Through the end of Day 1 Monday, 36th Engineer Brigade and 3rd Cavalry Regiment were undefeated in the team sports with five wins apiece, while 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team and 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) each totaled four wins.

Early Monday, 11th Signal Brigade’s volleyball team beat out 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade in the best-of-three format.

“It was a pretty good game,” Sgt. Tony Palmore, 11th Sig. Bn., said. “We beat them in the first game, then they rallied together and beat us in the second game, but we came back around the third time and finally won in the end.

Palmore’s teammate, Sgt. Namhwi Ha, complimented their unit’s teamwork.

“We worked well together,” Ha said. “It was good competition.”

Ha added, “It’s great that III Corps is doing this because it really brings the morale up and helps us focus on the team.”

In the unit’s next match, the brigade lost to 1st Cav. Div.’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team 2-1 in what Palmore described as a competitive game. He credited 3rd BCT’s good hitting, blocking and passing in the match.

On the diamond Monday, the Warrior Transition Brigade lost to 1st Cav. Div.’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team in a first-round match-up.

Even though the scoreboard read 12-8, the loss failed to dampen the spirits of the WTB squad.

Shortstop and WTB Soldier Staff Sgt. Richard Gallego said a win would have been nice, but matching their opponents play still energized the competitive spirit of the units’ wounded and injured soldiers.

“We have a bunch of injured and wounded Soldiers on the team,” Gallego said. “And for us being wounded Soldiers and coming out here and competing against line units, it just shows that we’re putting up the same fight as our competitors, and that we can still participate in events like this.”

Gallego described the last inning as a real nail-biter.

“The bases were loaded,” he said, however, the last strike left the players stranded on the field. “We were just two competitive teams that kept going inning to inning, and when you have two good teams like that, it’s a good game – a real fight to the finish.”

Housed in Abrams Physical Fitness Center, the boxing tournament started up Monday with Soldiers competing in preliminary bouts.

Sergeant Amanda Vickers, representing 4th Sustainment Brigade, faced an opponent she had never sparred with before.

“It was tough at first, because I didn’t know her weakness,” Vickers said of her middleweight opponent, Spc. Amanda Durham, 1st Medical Brigade. “But I tested her out and eventually I knew I could charge her. I kept my aggression on her until I knew I had it.”

The boxers trained together for the last few weeks leading up to the smoker, so Vickers said the match was friendly.

“It was just like another sparring match, but a little different because

of the crowd. The pace was a little different with people cheering us on. It was friendly though, there were no hard feelings.”

On the hardwood, 41st Fires Brigade knocked off 11th Sig. Bde. 41-27 to

complete Day 1’s action.

From the start, 41st Fires Bde. used its size up front, Alvin Greenwood, 6-foot-7, and Erik Sewell, 7-feet, to score the game’s first 11 points.

“We just jumped on them defensively and put a lot of pressure on them

in the first half,” Greenwood said. “With our size and height advantage, we got a lot of rebounds and could start a break.”

Scoring many points in transition, Greenwood and teammate Ludeatrin Underwood both scored in double figures.

“We were clicking,” Underwood said. “Between me, Greenwood and Sewell – the three bigs – we just out-muscled them on the boards.”

Looking ahead to 41st Fires Bde.’s next opponent, 3rd Cav. Regt., which defeated 69th Air Defense Artillery Regiment 22-19 in its first-round game, Underwood guaranteed a win.

“We see them all the time at Abrams, and we watched them play earlier,”

he said. “Their score was 12-8 at the half; we had that in the first five minutes.”

Phantom Warrior Week continued Tuesday and Wednesday, and the

Commander’s Cup will be awarded today following the pass in review ceremony at 10 a.m.

(Editor’s Note: Sgt. Sharla Lewis, 3rd BCT Public Affairs; Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs; and Spc. Amy Lane, 4th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs contributed to this article)