sportswriting
• "Tigers have one last chance to dance"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 12 March 2008
This was my preview for the 2008 Big 12 Conference basketball championship, where the Missouri men's team would need to win all four games to make the NCAA Tournament. They ended up losing the first game to end the season.

• "Lyons roars in Tigers' loss"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 26 February 2008
A pretty basic game story with an emphasis on Missouri forward Leo Lyons, who was a top recruit out of high school but was still searching for consistency during his junior year.

• "Safford ready to rock"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 25 February 2008
After a major growth spurt, a position change and a year at prep school in rural North Carolina, Missouri basketball player Justin Safford was a bit nervous entering his freshman year. As strange as it seems, the video game Rock Band helped him find confidence among his new teammates.

• "Missouri's remaining players show heart"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 30 January 2008
Five Missouri basketball players were suspended after they got into a fight after curfew at a local nightclub, but the seven remaining players on the roster nearly pulled out an improbable win. This was the game story from that night.

• "Pazzini hat trick spoils Wembley's perfect day"
The Associated Press, London, 24 March 2007
It was well over budget and years behind schedule, but England's new national soccer stadium — Wembley Stadium — finally opened just outside of London. I was the AP reporter assigned to cover the event and wrote this game/atmosphere piece which was sent out on the AP world sports wire.

• "China's Olympic team trains with Chelsea"
The Associated Press, London, 1 February 2007
Chelsea FC, in an effort to expand its presence and become the biggest soccer team in the world, was hosting China's Olympic soccer team. Chelsea's then manager Jose Mourinho and other executives held a press conference when China arrived.

• "Balancing Service"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 3 December 2006
This feature on a former Missouri gymnast who was honored as Big 12 Conference Sportswoman of the Year won second place in the four-state Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence competition.

newswriting
• "The Space Age: North Loop's space150 evolves every 150 days"
Downtown Journal, Minneapolis, 2 July 2007
While interning at the Downtown Journal, I toured an innovative ad agency called space150 and interviewed some executives to write this company profile. It was challenging because a lot of what this company does is very technical, but I thought I was able to simplify it while still accurately explaining the company.

• "Taking a walk back in time"
Downtown Journal, Minneapolis, 22 June 2007
When a group announced that it was putting on various walking tours of Minneapolis, I shadowed one of the tours and wrote about the program with a first person perspective.

• "Britain starts Olympic talent hunt for tall athletes"
The Associated Press, London, 27 February 2007
The preparations for the 2012 London Olympics are well underway in England, and I covered the launch of this new program which is hoping to find athletic people and train them to compete in various Olympic sports.

• "Team quiet about Hannah's broken jaw"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 29 January 2008
Everybody was searching for answers the day after Missouri's top basketball player got in a fight and broke his jaw. The story I wrote had more details about the incident than the other three, larger newspapers covering the event.

• "Marching Away"
Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Mo., 5 November, 2006
While a sports reporter I always prided myself on writing stories that weren't just game recaps or player features. I found the character of this story on a message board and then conducted interviews with band directors from each Big 12 Conference school and members of the Missouri marching band to investigate why Missouri's band travels to less away games than other schools.