Need help with what I think is likely a simple query - for each distinct val, return only the record with the most recent date.

Could someone point me in the right direction..
Thanks - reid

Given the example data,
how do I write a query that will give me the resultset:

1    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-06
3    2011-01-05
4    2011-01-09
5    2011-01-05
6    2011-01-08

I.E. for each distinct val, return the record with the most recent date.

ex data
val  date
1    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-02
3    2011-01-03
4    2011-01-04
5    2011-01-05
5    2011-01-01
4    2011-01-02
6    2011-01-03
4    2011-01-04
3    2011-01-05
2    2011-01-06
4    2011-01-07
6    2011-01-08
4    2011-01-09
5    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-02
4    2011-01-03
2    2011-01-04
1    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-02
3    2011-01-03
4    2011-01-04
3    2011-01-05
1    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-02
3    2011-01-03
4    2011-01-04
5    2011-01-01
-----------------------------------

$ cat sampledata|sort -k1,2
1    2011-01-01
1    2011-01-01
1    2011-01-01
2    2011-01-02
2    2011-01-02
2    2011-01-02
2    2011-01-02
2    2011-01-04
2    2011-01-06
3    2011-01-03
3    2011-01-03
3    2011-01-03
3    2011-01-05
3    2011-01-05
4    2011-01-02
4    2011-01-03
4    2011-01-04
4    2011-01-04
4    2011-01-04
4    2011-01-04
4    2011-01-07
4    2011-01-09
5    2011-01-01
5    2011-01-01
5    2011-01-01
5    2011-01-05
6    2011-01-03
6    2011-01-08