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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1985)
Ag tracksters to raise mast hope higher By CINDY GAY Sports Writer The Texas A&M men’s track team will pay homage to history as they set sail tor the Drake Relays this week end. Like the daring Sir Francis Drake of 16th century England fame, the Aggies hope to strike swiftly, but si lently, on the high seas or high stakes of one of the nation's most prestigious annual track meets, which is 65 schools strong this year. After a knightly performance at the Baylor Invitational that earned the 400-meter relay team a spot in the NCAA championships, Law rence Mitchell, Tony Grier, Darrell Austin and Rod Richardson hope to raise the mast even higher this week end. The 800-meter relay team of Tommy Alsbrooks, Austin, Maurice Holt and Dean Stone and the 1600- meter relay team of Grier, Holt, Kyle Harggett, and Alsbrooks will lead the second attacks. Sir Richardson will run the 100- meters Invitational, followed by Grier in the 400 Invitational. The 10,000-meters will be challenged by Huey Treat and Arturo Barrios. For freshman long jumper Chris Walker, who qualified for tlie NCAA indoors earlier this year, the trip to Iowa is a trip back home. “I’m sure he’s going to be pumped up,” said Assistant Coach l ed Nel son. The shuttle-hurdle relay team of Harry Johnson, Todd Howard, Le- renzo Welborn and Rickey Alexan der, will tun for the second time this season since their win at the Texas Southern Relavs. But the call from the women’s track arena is for A&M's !>esi dis tance runners to ‘Go West, young women.’ When tracksters Esther Dedrick and Debby Noel asked Coach Bill Nix for this weekend's agenda, 1* said their claim for gold was staid in Walnut, California at the Relays. Dedrick and Nod havebothoi several seconds off their 3,0 ter time, and Nix has prospects this meet’s competition will spu them on to their fastest showinji Dedi ick is two seconds off theTesj A&M record. “(Dedrick's) excited about Im running," Nix said, “and the tliiii that brings success to any athlete l>eiug excited about what thet doing. ’ The women runners have slattl away from the short speed inteni these past few weeks, and put longer road mileage. Nix said I* Dent ick and Noel reduced tl body weight this season, just I roost they needed gain thattMi kick. A&M pitchers overcome injuries, slumps ByCHERYLCLARK Reporter “The Cobra,’’ “The Bull,” and “The Tree.” These are the nicknames of the starting pitching rotation for the Texas A&M baseball team — Phillip Taylor, Tom Arrington and Kelly Keahey. These three seniors all share the same goals for this season — to help the Aggies win the ’85 Southwest Conference title and to sweep their three-game home series against the. No. 10 Texas Longhorns this week end. The same Horns who swept the conference crown away from the Ags last year in Austin. Even though the pitchers don’t like to talk about the crucial series, fearing the publicity could motivate Texas, all three radiate an air of con fidence about the rest of the season. “I don’t have any worries at all be cause we have The Cobra, The Bull and The Tree — one, two, three.” said Arrington, a right-hander from Mill Valley, Calif. “And we got peo ple like (shortstop Rob) Swain, (first 'Cobra', 'Bull', Tree' make up Ags' starting rotation baseman Fred) Gegan, (left fielder Buddy) Haney, (centerfielder Mike) Scanlin and guys like that who are hitting the heck out of the ball. “There’s no way to look at a loss.” Such an air of confidence in one another is welcomed by the Aggies since both Arrington and Keahey have had a rough early season, Ar rington with an injury and Keahey with a “big time slump.” Arrington is still recovering from a back injury he suffered at tne be ginning of the season. “I came out on the mound, pitched a few innings and during one pitch just strained a muscle in my back,” Arrington said. “For a pitcher not to throw, it’s like going hunting without a gun. Mentally, I’ve had to work a lot harder, but now I’m coming back to where I want to be pitching-wise. Now that I’m back all that I want to do is to help the team, because I know that they’ve backed me.” For Keahey, one of the Aggies’ co captains, a pitching slump has been the albatross around his neck all sea son long. “I just got into a big-time slump,” Keahey said. “I lost some pop off my fast ball and was having a little con trol problem. I was off, I just didn’t have my rhythm on the mound, but everyday the coaches would help me work with it. I just had to pitch through it.” Taylor (8-2 overall, 4-1 in the con ference) has been the most consis tent pitcher this season for the Ag gies. But last season was a different story for Taylor. He suffered a rota tor cuff injury to his shoulder. “As much time as I have put into waiting last year, rehabilitation and having to take medicine, it’s good to see it pay off,” Taylor said. Despite all the talk of injuries and slumps, all three pitchers would rather put aside the Texas pre-series jitters and early season problems to discuss less stressful things — like where and how they got their nick names. Taylor, from DeSoto, said his nickname came from the Scandal’s male dancer commercial on the ra dio. The pitchers were sitting around listening to the radio in the clubhouse when a commercial came on advertising a dancer called “The Cobra.” For some reason, that nick name stuck with Taylor. Keahey got his nickname because of his consistent play for the Ags. “A year ago, I had a good fall and summer, striking people out, while the year before that I wasn’t even a starter,” Keahey said. “Then, all of a sudden, I was starter, playing above my head I guess,” Keahey said. The other players said I was ing in a tree (way above my ead).” Arrington got his handle because play heat as he puts it, “1 produce." “I’m the hull,” he said. “I’m pretty steady out there. 1 go out and win my games, always staving away from the tense innings. The team is really confident in me that every urne I go out there I’m going to win the game.” n R . , names, all three pitchers, 1 aylor, Arrington and Keahey, are serious about A&M’s series this weekend against Texas. “We’d like the win because we’re Aggies,” Arrington said, “but it’s more than that, the conference ring is at stake." Keahey added, “The way we look at Texas is that they are trying to take someting away f rom us anti we want it." Taylor made a prediction for A&M’s SWC finishing kick. “Five wins out of the last six games will get (the SWC title) for us,’ 1 Tay lor said. Photo by FRASKISH 1 ] ■rCHECKTHE | crams For All Your Needs Have you received * information on the 845-2611 | l $1101 Program? 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