The 2010 racing season begins Friday afternoon at Laurel Park with a nine-race card highlighted by the $50,000 Maryland Filly Championship. The race was originally scheduled to be run Dec. 19 as the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, but that program was canceled because of a snowfall. The race was renamed and redrawn for 3-year-old fillies as all horses become officially one year older on the first day of the year. Eleven newly minted 3-year-olds are entered in the 7 � -furlong test, including 3-1 morning line favorite Jim's Prospect. The daughter of St. Averil has yet to finish out of the money in three career starts, including a victory at Laurel on Oct. 10.

College volleyball: UMES senior Whitney Johnson was named to the All-National second team in Cobra magazine, which is an African-American volleyball publication.

Capitals: Left wing Tomas Fleischmann will represent the Czech Republic at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. Czech head coach Vladimir Ruzicka announced his team's 23-man roster, which includes 16 current NHL players. The Czech Republic won the bronze medal in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Fleischmann, 25, will be making his first Olympic appearance. The native of Koprivinice, Czech Republic, leads in the NHL in shooting percentage with 14 goals on 56 shots (25 percent). He ranks sixth among Czech-born NHL players with 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) in 28 games.

- From Sun staff and news services