Radnor

The Radnor Hunt races are scheduled for Saturday at the race course, which is about 45 minutes from Philadelphia at 826 Providence Rd., Malvern. There are six steeplechase races, starting about 1:30 p.m., with about a half hour between races. The course is roughly a mile around, and the horses run clockwise around the circuit two or three laps, depending on the race.   Tickets may be ordered online at www.radnorhuntraces.org or by phone at 610-388-8383.

Lancaster Pollard, an investment and mortgage banking firm that helps hospitals and retirement communities raise money for capital projects, opened an office in Radnor as part of an effort to expand in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The Radnor office has four bankers and one support person. Lancaster Pollard is based in Columbus, Ohio.    -Harold Brubaker

Northwestern Mutual, a Milwaukee insurance company, is opening a new office in Radnor on Tuesday, expanding the presence of its Philadelphia Group, which has been in the region for more than a century, the company said. The Philadelphia Group, which already had offices in Center City, Mount Laurel, and Montchanin, Del., employs 85 financial representatives and 20 financial representative interns. Northwestern said it planned to add 50 financial representatives and 30 interns over the next 14 months.

After claiming state championships in 2009 and 2010, the Radnor girls' lacrosse team experienced some rebuilding pains last season. "It was kind of expected," senior midfielder Kristen Norden said. "We didn't go as far in the playoffs as we had in the past. That gave us a bigger hunger to do well this year. " On Thursday evening, with senior Natalie Miller producing four goals, the Red Raiders doubled up Central League rival Conestoga, 14-7, in the PIAA District 1 final at West Chester East's Harold I. Zimmerman Stadium.

Radnor reeled off a 15-2 run in the final three minutes without its leading scorer in the lineup and stunned visiting Marple Newtown, 48-47, in Central League girls' basketball on Friday night. Hannah Rose Nussbaum left the game with a season-ending ankle injury just two minutes into the contest, but Myonie Williamson (17 points), Shannon Quinn (11), and Hannah Schug (10) picked up the Red Raiders offense. Williamson, a sophomore who had nine fourth-quarter points, scored off a pass from Quinn for the game-winning layup with 10 seconds left.

Christy Von Pusch remembers May 31, 2011 as "unbearably hot. " The Radnor softball ace pitched well that day, well enough to strike out 11 and limit Pottsgrove to two hits. But not well enough to prevent postgame tears. All it took was one pitch. In the third inning of the Red Raiders' District 1 Class AAA semifinal, her scorching fastball got away from the catcher. The passed ball allowed the only run of the game to score. During the 2011 season, Von Pusch recorded 14 of her team's 15 wins, posted an ERA of 0.80, struck out 248 batters, and threw seven no-hitters.

A four-year-old Radnor company on Wednesday moved aggressively to capture a bigger share of the lucrative market for sand used in hydraulic fracturing of oil and natural gas wells. Preferred Sands L.L.C. announced it was spending more than $200 million to buy "substantially all the assets" of Winn Bay Sand L.P., including mines in Blair, Wis., and Hanson Lake, Saskatchewan. In a statement, the privately held company founded by Michael G. O'Neill proclaimed itself the largest frack-sand producer in Canada and one of the top three in the United States.

A 12-year-old boy nearly drowned in a Radnor creek Monday night during a torrential storm that led to several water rescues of drivers, police said. The boy was with two friends when he got swept into the creek near 250 Pembroke Ave. shortly after 8 p.m., said Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo. He was found downstream and taken to Bryn Mawr Hospital, where he was reported in critical but stable condition. The boy was expected to be transferred to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Colarulo said.

The Radnor Hunt races are scheduled for Saturday at the race course, which is about 45 minutes from Philadelphia at 826 Providence Rd., Malvern. There are six steeplechase races, starting about 1:30 p.m., with about a half hour between races. The course is roughly a mile around, and the horses run clockwise around the circuit two or three laps, depending on the race.   Tickets may be ordered online at www.radnorhuntraces.org or by phone at 610-388-8383.

Apparently beaten down the stretch run, Irv Naylor's Decoy Daddy made a clutch late move that carried him to a head victory over Gustavian in the $50,000 National Hunt Cup on Saturday at the 83d annual Radnor Hunt Races in Malvern. Similarly, Rainbows for Luck came back from a nearly seven-month absence to win the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup over timber fences by a nose. Trained by Brianne Slater, multiple stakes winner Decoy Daddy took the lead after the first two fences in the 23/8-mile National Hunt Cup and was jumping well for jockey Carol-Ann Sloan.

  The sound of bugles echoed across the grounds of the Radnor Hunt Club around 1:25 p.m. Saturday, and 12 horses trotted toward the starting line of the afternoon's first steeplechase run. Officially, the 83d annual Radnor Hunt Races were about to begin. But by then the festivities already were in full gallop. Thousands of patrons surrounding the track - many of whom had already spent hours eating, drinking, and socializing - swelled toward the fences to catch a glimpse of the race, and most sported their finest racetrack attire: bright sundresses and extravagant hats for the women, tweed blazers and ties for the men. The scene resembled a jubilant lawn party, a blend of sport, drink, dining, and mingling, and many attendees Saturday were quick to express their love of the festivities.

The Friends' Central baseball team won its second Friends Schools League championship in three years Saturday, behind a no-hitter by senior righthander Aaron Ross. Ross struck out seven as the host Phoenix defeated Germantown Friends, 6-0. It was the second time this season that Ross no-hit the Tigers. "That's huge on a championship stage," Friends' Central coach Ross Trachtenberg said. "He worked off his fastball, and his slider was excellent today. He challenged hitters and got ahead of hitters.

The 83d Radnor Hunt Races, featuring established and budding star horses in U.S. steeplechase racing, will be run Saturday on the grounds of the Radnor Hunt in Malvern. Six races worth a total of $180,000 in prize money will be conducted over the W. Burling Cocks Memorial Racecourse, where a crowd of close to 20,000 is expected. The two most lucrative races are the $50,000 National Hunt Cup at 23/8 miles over brush fences, and the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup at 3¼ miles over timber fences.

The Radnor Township Planning Commission has rejected Villanova University's request for a zoning change that would allow a major expansion of the Lancaster Avenue campus with new dormitories, a parking garage, a performing arts center, and stores. The $200 million plan has upset residents, who say it would transform a quiet neighborhood into a noisy extension of the 10,600-student Wildcat campus. The university was seeking a conditional use to allow denser development than allowed, Planning Commission Chairwoman Julia Hurle said.

Radnor coach John Begier handed his boys' lacrosse team a few long-term goals in the first weeks of preseason practice. Win the Central League. Get to the district tournament. Qualify for the state tournament. Be the last team standing. The Red Raiders checked off the first goal on the list Tuesday with a 14-2 win at Marple Newtown. Mike Cherry scored four times and Peter Donato had three assists as Radnor won its first league title since 2003. The title will be shared with Conestoga.

Neshaminy gave Lauren Quense a pair of runs, and she did not allow visiting Bensalem to cross the plate, tossing a four-hit shutout and preserving a 2-0 win Thursday in Suburban One National softball. "She just gets stronger and stronger with each game," coach David Chichilitti said. "She's tough. I've never seen an athlete compete like she does. " The Fordham recruit struck out 15 and did not issue a walk. Julia McGovern scored on Sarah Snider-Leonhauser's double in the fourth after a leadoff single.