Champion bites the dust

The champ is down for the count, never to get up again.

The Wilmer Stone White Oak, Maryland's champion of the species, is believed to have toppled in a windstorm last week, county forestry officials said. The tree stood for an estimated 300 years in Arnold.

"It is confirmed. The previously undefeated champion of the white oak heavyweight division has been felled," County Forester Bud Reaves reported in an e-mail yesterday. "The Arnold oak went down in a windstorm last weekend in an unsanctioned bout to an unranked opponent in the lightweight (wind) division."

There was a question whether the tree...