WINNING BIG >>>

181-35. This was the final score in the inaugural USARS Roller Derby National Championship. The contenders in the final bout were Oly Rollers vs. San Diego Starlettes. The two teams made it through to the end of an eight-team bracket, including bouts against Tacoma's Underground Derby League All-Stars.

The winner?

South Sound heroes, the Oly Rollers!

"We made history," says Ashley Culbert, aka Layla Lawdown, with pride in her voice. Lawdown (former police offer) has been skating for two years. She, along with nine other Oly Roller derby girls, made their way to Fresno, Calif., for the championship that ran Dec 14-16.

The Oly Rollers won the Seltzer Cup trophy, named in honor of the creator of the sport, Leo Seltzer. The Olympia team's name will be engraved on the trophy and displayed to the public throughout the year at the National Museum of Roller Skating in Lincoln, Neb.

Culbert explains how this championship differs from the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which the Oly Rollers were named national winners in 2009.

"It's faster - a higher game," says Culbert. "You have to be more athletic because of how fast and hard hitting it can be."

USARS has been around longer than WFTDA, and holds more merit in the sports community, she says.

"USARS is going to take it (derby) very far," says Culbert. "This is the first step. If we're going to the Olympics, they are going to take us there."

Culbert says there were - amazingly - no injuries, and that the OIy team skated very cohesive.

"It felt amazing," Culbert says. "It felt really good to be part of something that was truly for the skater and for the sport."