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Cruel Summer
A&M soccer battles heat, training rigors in Big 12 preparation
By Colby Gaines
The Battalion
T his summer is no
walk on the
beach for the
Texas A&M Women’s
Soccer team.
Hosting mini-camps, striving for su
perb physical condition and surround
ing the present-team nucleus with new
recruits are just a few of the activities
coach G. Guerrieri and players are in
volved in these days.
“The summer is just as important as
any other part of the off-season,” Guer
rieri said. “The players have a sense of
pride and that is a good motivator to
stay in shape during the summer.
“Basically, it comes down to
whether players view themselves as
recreational players or as big-time
athletes. Big-time athletes are hard
working, and that’s what type of play
ers we have on this team.”
Since 1993, Guerrieri and his as
sistants have been booked from June
to August. During this time, they host
summer soccer camps for boys and
girls interested in increasing their
athletic potential.
Thanks to the help of some current
A&M players, including former camp
alumnus Sharon Pickering, soccer-
crazed youths have a chance to learn
fundamentals of the sport. In the
process, determined individuals help
lay a solid foundation to continue ath
letics at the college level.
“The skill at the camps is very
high,” Guerrieri said. “Most of the
girls who want to come here make it a
point to attend one of the summer
sessions. It’s great fun for both the
kids and the coaches.”
Returning defensive starter Sandy
Edwards said she sees the position as a
positive experience.
“We help with the assistants and do
a lot of demonstrations,” Edwards said.
“In essence, we’re counselors that relate
to the kids.”
Coming off a
season in which
A&M reached
the Sweet Six
teen in the
NCAA Tourna
ment, Guerrieri
said he has not
let complacency
set in.
Guerrieri as
sembled a pres
tigious recruit
ing class he be
lieves will make
an immediate
impact in the
new conference.
"This could
be the best
class that I’ve
had in my four
seasons here,”
Guerrieri said.
“All seven of
the newcomers,
including Sharon Pickering, a transfer
who started every game as a freshman at
Clemson; Julie Pinkerton, the top recruit
in Texas; Ashley Fender, the top defender
in Texas; and Melanie Wilson, the top
goalkeeper in the nation, have the ability
to beat out the starters.”
Senior midfielder Tania Castillejos
said even when facing near-record
heat, players must continue a rigorous
workout schedule in preparation for
the upcoming season.
Castillejos said after training hard
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for nearly four years, she understands
the concentration and determination
athletes must have.
“It’s hard, but everyone knows
that if we don’t workout in the sum
mer, it will be harder to get in shape
when the season comes around,”
Castillejos said.
Guerrieri knows the summer can
make or break an athlete, but he is con
fident his players
will stay in shape.
“Most of the play
ers have clear-cut
goals of what they
want to achieve on
the field,” Guerrieri
said. “They work
hard because they
want to win a nation
al championship.
“They’re in great
shape year-round.
It’s just a matter of
maintaining that
shape with weights
and speed work dur
ing the summer.”
All in all, Guer
rieri said he and
the players are ex
cited about the be
ginning of the Big
12 Conference and
the introduction of
new competition.
“The competition will be top-notch,”
Guerrieri said. “Nebraska will probably
be the team to beat. Texas, Texas Tech
and Missouri will also be tough. Our
goal is to win the conference champi
onship in its first year.”
Edwards says with the return of 11
out of last year’s 12 starters, the future
of the team is bright.
“This team has been together for a
while,” Edwards said. “With most of us
coming back, hopefully we have
nowhere to go but up.”
Returning defender Sandy Edwards heads the ball over a Marquette forward in a
game last season at the Aggie Soccer Complex.
Early Retirement
" . . everything happens for a reason, and I
felt my health had priority over basketball.
By Philip Leone
The Battalion
Coming off two All-Southwest
Conference seasons as center for
the Texas A&M Lady Aggies, the
sky was the limit for Martha Mc
Clelland's senior year. No one
could have predicted that a bad
back would cause the sky to fall
on her.
McClelland, who was red-shirt-
ed last year after injuring her
back during preseason workouts,
accepted her doctor’s recommen
dation and decided last week to
forego her final season of eligibili
ty with the Lady Aggies.
The six-foot-four-inch center
from Duncanville suffers from
discitis, a spinal condition re
sulting from a bacterial infection
in the disc space that erodes the
shock absorption mechanism be
tween vertebrae. McClelland
also has multiple disk hernia
tions in her lower back.
Dr. Andrew Dosset of the Dal
las Spine Group advised McClel
land that continuing her basket
ball career would significantly
increase the risks of additional
spine problems.
Although Dr. Dosset’s rec
ommendation came as a
tremendous disappointment,
McClelland said future health
considerations outweighed her
desire to come back for her se
nior season.
“I wasn’t expecting to get that
kind of news, so it was a pretty
serious disappointment for me
and my family,” McClelland said.
“But everything happens for a
reason, and I felt that my health
had priority over basketball.”
Lady Aggie coach Candi
Harvey reiterated that McClel
land’s future health was her
primary concern.
“Our main priority from the
beginning was to keep Martha
healthy and safe,” Harvey said
Thursday in an Athletic Depart
ment press release. “We want to
make sure Martha leads a
healthy and productive life be
yond basketball.”
McClelland, who earned All-
Southwest Conference honors in
1993 and 1994, said not being
able to take the court for the
Lady Aggies’ in the debut season
of the Big 12 Conference is par
ticularly disappointing.
“I was really looking forward to
the Big 12 because it offers a
number of challenges to our bas
ketball team,” McClelland said.
“There are a lot of people and
teams I would have liked to go up
against to see what I could do.”
With the loss of McClelland
and the graduation of Kelly Cer-
ney, the brunt of the Lady Ag
gies’ inside game will likely fall
on the shoulders of senior Mari
anne Sevin. However, McClel
land believes Sevin will have no
//
problem handling the chore.
“Marianne’s done a great job
for us the past couple of seasons
and has really improved her
game,” McClelland said. “It’s her
time to shine. She’ll step up to
the challenge.”
Though she will not be in uni
form next season, McClelland
said she will still be involved
with the team in some capacity,
possibly as a student-coach.
“I’m excited about helping
out the team in that way,” Mc
Clelland said. “I plan to coach
after I get out of school, so it’ll
be a good experience for me.
There’s something that I can
get out of this.”
Big 12 could mean ‘Big
Hurt’ for A&M athletics
Ray
Hernandez
SPORTSWRITER
Battalion File photo
Senior center Martha McClelland goes for the lay-up in a 1995 game.
T he moment we’ve all
been waiting for is final
ly upon us.
July 1, 1996, 12:01 A.M. —
The first official day of opera
tion for the Big 12 Conference.
The institution known as
the Southwest Conference is fi
nally gone, leaving us with
fond memories of champi
onships, Cotton Bowls and
great Texas rivalries that will
never be forgotten.
With the beginning of this
new era in college sports, most people in the A&M
community feel both anticipation and excitement.
But I hope this school realizes we are about to
enter an entirely different realm of athletics —
one this school hasn’t seen since the days Darrell
Royal and Shelby Metcalf paced their respective
sidelines. The
Aggies will be
competing in a
very tough con
ference.
Traditionally,
the A&M stu
dent body has
measured the
Athletic Depart
ment’s success
by the play of its
football team.
In fact, A&M’s
sparkling win-
loss records in
recent years
have kept most
people content.
But as A&M’s
different teams
go face-to-face with different programs com
prising the rest of the Big 12, we will soon real
ize the definition of a true athletic powerhouse.
I am not looking forward to the upcoming bas
ketball season at all.
Last year, the Aggies had trouble competing
with opponents that were barely .500 teams.
Now they’ll have to face the likes of Kansas and
Oklahoma State — teams that produce NBA
players and reach the NCAA tournament on a
regular basis.
This is just the beginning.
The Big 12 will be stocked with schools that
will give us problems in any sport.
For example, the Aggie volleyball team will
have to deal with defending national champi
on Nebraska after it fends off Texas and Okla
homa, two of the better-known volleyball
schools in the conference.
In a slump since the 1994 season, our base
ball program will have the honor of playing
each school in the conference on a yearly ba
sis. This means playing Kansas (an A&M op
ponent in the 1993 College World Series), Ok
lahoma (the 1994 National Champions), Texas
Tech (if they aren’t on suspension yet) and, of
course, Texas (28 College World Series ap
pearances) every season.
Since the SWC did not have conference play
in its sport, the A&M softball team got a taste oi
what’s in store for the future as it began Big 12
play last spring. Enduring the conference’s rigor
ous schedule, the Lady Aggies finished fifth,
with a 39-21 overall record and a 12-12 confer
ence record.
Despite their mediocre conference finish, the
Lady Aggies’ performance against tough confer
ence competition was noticed by the NCAA Selec
tion Committee and the team was rewarded an at-
large berth ir
the NCAA
Tournament.
Now, as the
football seasor
approaches
the A&M cam
pus is begin
ning to feel the
familiar stir o
energy. Howev
er, this seasor
has a bit of £
twist to it.
Instead o
going into the
year facing the
criticism o
playing a weal
schedule in ar
even weake:
conference, one hears just the opposite.
The Aggies’ opponents are no longer thi
remnants of one-time powerhouses as thei:
schedule is drawn from the strongest confer
ence in the nation.
A&M must now deal with two-time defend
ing national champion Nebraska, 1990 nation
al co-champion Colorado and the emergin)
programs of Kansas and Kansas State at leas
every other year.
Everyone remembers what Oklahoma, Texa
Tech and Texas have done to us in recent years.
The former Big 8 schools and four forme
SWC schools bring to the new conference a histc
ry of championship success in sports rangin
from golf to women’s basketball, track and field
swimming and diving.
See HERNANDEZ, Page