Page 5
Friday • January 31, 1997
issic musici
&M battles
ad weather,
experience
ack & Held
verything seemed ac
cording to plan this se
mester as the A&M
ring athletic teams started
—eparing for Big 12 competi-
I )n. G. Rollit White Coliseum
|v as filled with the sounds of
b tsketball, the baseball and
s iftball teams started bearing
ne that did Crazyf and the Texas A&M
and TheWizardom en ' s and Women’s Track and
Fit Id Teams were out on the
r said Singiriinr/J ack — in ski jackets, gloves
e biggest andmostjd ear warmers,
of all time. 1
nin the Rain hassli Roller Coaster Weather
see in musicals tcf Hits Teams
I The sub-freezing tempera
tures most of Texas endured
luring the beginning of the se
mester have taken their toll on
lie Aggies. Not only did the icy
londitions hurt the teams’ ear-
[w semester training, but when
temperatures climbed back
Into the mid-70s last week and
hen plummeted again into
he 30s earlier this week, sick
ness started making its way
ground the team.
“This weather has affected our
raining quite a bit,” A&M Head
loach Ted Nelson said. “But more
an anything it gets our athletes
sick. Going from hot to cold, cold
to hot and hot to cold has a bad
effect on our kids.”
tB-C
Austinbfe| Teams Hit Half-Way Point
musician,
Cantina in
Bryant
whoto
re’s sadness, there
> open a club hint
ns in Austin a
aid. “I got a lot oft 1
ing clubs go
re said he underst
e said. "I was I
I’m still here."
)mme£
of Indoor Season
With the exception of the
g 12 Indoor Conference
playing to'
th^Bldt® Championships and the NCAA
Indoor Championships, the
Aggies have completed half of
their indoor season. Nelson
said the competition, so far,
the^la# * las been a learning experi
ence for the teams because of
ha's a# their inexperience.
“We’re still very young and in-
his muu -lexperienced,” he said. “We’ve
long astW still got a lot of young people
sadness, who are just getting into the
there'llalw; groove of indoor competition.”
be the Wi&l Nelson said the lack of a
trong middle distance team
lurts the Aggies in the indoor
ompetition, but he said he still
xpects to make some noise at
he Big 12 indoor meet.
“I think we’ll be competitive
ind finish in the upper echelon
sithe competition,” he said. “1
have been pleased with with
ome of our performances so far,
but I know we can do better.”
Aggie Multi-Event Athletes
Excel in Lubbock
While the majority of A&M’s
rack and field teams were
competing in Oklahoma City
ast weekend, the Aggies’ mul-
|i-event competitors were in
-ubbock at the Red Raider In
vitational in Texas Tech’s Ath-
ptic Training Center.
A&M’s Ryan Theriault and
"had Meyer finished one-two in
he men’s pentathlon, while Ceci
ludson dominated the the
itially skepticalof^ women’s competition.
Nelson said these competi-
ors have a chance to surprise
ome people in the Big 12
Championships.
“Both Ryan and Ceci have
Ihe chance to win the pen
tathlon conference title,” he
|aid. “They won’t be favored,
|ut they are good enough
ompetitors to contend.”
are to be annofl
ig a ceremony brol
and Ole Opry on] More School Records Fall
he Nashville Neti^fe The Aggies continued to im-
t is one of tlireeijR rove j n their field events last
sic awards sho\«ffl, ee ] < . enc j as l wo more school
e in which fans'Bgcords fell
ere picked througl|| g en j or pt usse p >j u ti shattered
> ic ity ewS’ 30 * men’s weight throw record of
agazme.Winner J 9 ^ o } 3/
is through the maw
^phone number. sophomore Kelli Schrader
mes, a teen-agerf d 8 ed out the womens weight
u- 3 million nfhe! ;tlll0W record of 40-5 with a
"was^ominatetHP 6 ^ 6 of 41 -1 1/2.
ical collaboratioi'J
(' tomorrow, ante
lue.”
Aggies face tough test in No. 4 Cyclones
By Dennis Ramirez
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Men’s Basket ball
Team is coming off two consecutive
wins, yet the Aggies now face an
other stepping stone — fourth-
ranked Iowa State University. The
Cyclones come to G. Rollie White
Coliseum Saturday at 7 p.m. and are
looking to dampen the Aggies’ re
newed spirit.
The Aggies entered their cur
rent three-game home stand at 6-
9 and 0-5 in the Big 12 Confer
ence. But now, thanks to their last
two wins,
the Aggies
are 8-9 and
2-5. A&M
Head Coach
Tony Barone
said he
prefers to
look at the
entire sea
son instead
of just these
two wins.
“Looking
back a little
bit in terms of the big picture
gives you a simple look at what
happened on Tuesday night,”
Barone said. “We started off the
league playing poorly against Ok
lahoma and received and took the
valid criticism with stride and ac
cepted it. Since then we correct
ed those problems quickly, and it
was a problem of tentativeness
and not knowing what the Big 12
is all about.”
After their shortcomings
against such teams as Baylor Uni
versity and the University of
Texas, Barone said the team fig
ured out what was wrong. The
team was playing well, but it was
all a matter of finishing strong.
With these two wins under
their belts, the Aggies hope they
are up and ready for the chal
lenges of playing a talented club
such as the Cyclones.
The Cyclones bring with them
senior guard Dedric Willoughby
who averaged over 20 points a
game last season and senior cen
ter Kelvin Kato, who Barone said
is arguably the best big man in
the conference, owns the records
for blocked shots at Iowa State.
Combined
with other tal
ent on the
team, such as
Kenny Pratt
and Shawn
Bankhead,
the Cyclones
have racked
up two con
secutive
NCAA Tour
nament ap
pearances
and boast the
conference’s top defense.
“When you play Iowa State, you
are dealing with a lot of talent and
the way to address them is to give a
little,” Barone said. “You can’t elim
inate Willoughby and Kato, but you
have to give and take, a defense that
bends just a bit to where we find a
way to not let them get off and get
into the zone.”
Freshman guard Brian Barone
said the game not only emphasizes
an inside game focusing on Kato,
but they will also have to emphasize
the guard positions.
“All the big guys down low are
“When you
play Iowa
State, you are
dealing with
a lot of talent”
Tony Barone
A&M Head Coach
i "
going to have to contain Kato;
Dario (Quesada) and Calvin
(Davis) are going to have a good
match-up and be able to contain
him,” Brian Barone said. “But
Willoughby is a great player and
will be the key to our win if we can
control him, along with the point
guard for them. If the guards can
stop them from having seven or
eight three-pointers, we should
do well.”
As for the match-ups down low,
junior center Dario Quesada said
the Aggies should not doom them
selves before the game arrives.
“We are going to have to stop
Kato, there is not doubt about
that, but he (Kato) is an athlete,”
Quesada said. “He is strong but
not too big, the key is to not be in
timidated. There will be a big bat
tle for rebounds, and if we can get
the fans out there it will make us
play harder no matter what. I just
wish we could have a turnout like
the Texas game to get us picked
up. We have won two, so there
should be people there.”
Coach Barone said while he has
seen a lot of support, he wants A&M
fans to truly give the Aggies a home-
court advantage.
“When you get people in here
that are enthusiastic, it has a great
effect on the outcome of the bas
ketball game,” Barone said. “We
have proven time and time again
that we play better in front of big
ger crowds.
“The student body has got to
get after it and push the team. I
want to see students in line at 6
p.m. and I want them to scare
Iowa State as they come out onto
the court to work the home-court
advantage for us.”
Ryan Rogers, The Battalion
Sophomore Shanne Jones dribbles past a Missouri defender in a 61 -57
win at G. Rollie White Coliseum Tuesday night.
A&M looks to rebound against young Cyclones
By Lara L. Zuehlke
The Battalion
With the Big 12 race halfway behind them,
the Texas A&MWomen’s Basketball Team is look
ing to pick up the pieces and move on into the
latter half of the race in a showdown with the
Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, Iowa, Saturday.
The Lady Aggies have dr opped games to the
University of Kansas and Kansas State Universi
ty, and then fell prey to the Missouri Tigers in a
91-80 defeat Wednesday. A&M has plummeted
to 1-7 in the Big 12 and 7-11 overall.
Mizzou overpowered the young A&M squad
behind the play of freshman guard Julie Helm,
who dished in a game-high 25 points.
A&M junior center Kim Linder said despite
a good shooting game, the Lady Aggies had a
hard time containing Missouri on the defen
sive end of the floor.
“We shot better than we have all year, but
we need to work on defense,” Linder said.
“We let them shoot over 50 percent and you
cannot let a team do that if you want to win.”
j “It's very hard for
them to under
stand the com
mitment they
have to make to
defense.”
Candi Harvey
A&M head coach
The Lady Aggies will need to step up their
defense in order to contain the Cyclones who
are 2-4 in conference and 9-7 overall.
The Iowa State hoopsters, like the Aggies, field
a young team that is lead by junior forward
Jayme Olsen, who leads the team averaging 16.8
points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. The Cy
clones also rely heavily on junior forward Janel
Grimm who averages 14.1 points and 7.5 re
bounds and senior guard Tara Gunderson with
10.8 points and 3.2 rebounds.
A&M Head Coach Candi Harvey said the Ag
gies are not concerned with what the opponent
will do during the matchup, but the team is fo
cusing on the goals they set for themselves.
“We are looking to get better in four areas,”
Harvey said. “We want to hold them under 70
points, get every loose ball, take three (offen
sive) charges and out-rebound them.”
Harvey said the team’s defense also needs
to step up a notch, but youth is also a factor
in that equation.
“With a young team, focusing on defense
is a hard thing because as a high school play
er it is about scoring,” Harvey said. “It’s very
hard for them to understand the commit
ment they have to make to defense.”
Linder said fatigue from being on the
road for three-straight games is not to
blame for their losses.
“It makes some difference, but every team
all over the country has to travel, so we can
not use that as an excuse,” Linder said.
Harvey said the team is not discouraged
because of the trying season, rather they are
evaluating the aspects of their game they
need to improve on, particularly defense.
“We are a little shaky right now, but I think
we are tired of this. We don’t like the way this
feels,” Harvey said. “We’ve talked about the
commitment we need to make to our defen
sive game.
“We have to get back to the fundamentals
of guarding people,” Harvey said.
Aggies face Houston, SMU
By Courtney Lyons
The Battalion
if * ^ ^ '
Stew Milne, The Battalion
A&M diver Mark Naftanel practices off the 10-meter platform Wednesday.
The countdown has begun. It is
now just four weeks until the Big 12
Swimming and Diving Conference
Championships, and the Texas
A&M Swimming and Diving Teams
are beginning to turn up the heat in
its competitions.
This weekend will test the skills
of the Lady Aggies, as they take on
the University of Houston this af
ternoon at the A&M Student Recre
ational Center and then return to go
head-to-head with the Southern
Methodist University Lady Mus
tangs on Saturday afternoon.
“We plan to use the Houston
meet to prepare for SMU,” Assistant
Women’s Swimming Coach Susan
Wolfe said. “We will not be swim
ming our full strength line up — we
will save that for SMU.”
The meet against Houston will be
a short order of events, meaning that
the 1000-meter freestyle will not be in
cluded in the competition. Rather, the
competition will feature sprints.
Many of the Lady Aggies will swim
their “off” events (events that they do
hot normally use in competition)
against Houston to keep them in a
competitive mindset for the battle
against the Lady Mustangs.
The SMU women’s team is
ranked No. 2 in the nation, while the
Lady Aggies are ranked 24th. In fact,
the Lady Aggies have taken on four
of the top 25 teams this season. Be
cause of this, junior freestyler Stacie
Karnes said swimming against sec
ond-ranked SMU will not be an un
familiar challenge.
“These meets (against Top 25
teams) make us better competi
tors,” Karnes said. “They force you
to race. It will put us in a better po
sition going into conference.”
The Lady Aggies have been
preparing for this meet in a variety
of ways. For example, they are not
participating in morning practices
so that the team will feel relaxed
and rested for the meet.
This meet will be a chance for the
Lady Aggies to prove their growing
strength, especially in distance events.
Going into this meet, freshman Tracy
Evans and senior Jennifer Guillory are
ranked first and second in the mile in
the Big 12 conference.
Guillory said she has seen SMU
before and knows what to expect
from their team. “They are always
tough,” Guillory said. “But we
should be ready for them.”
The men’s swimming and div
ing teams will also face SMU Sat
urday afternoon.
Sophomore sprinter Ryan Slater
said although the SMU team is
ranked in the Top 25, they are not as
strong as they were lastyear, name
ly because of the loss of senior
Olympic medalist Ryan Berube.
“They lost a couple of seniors,”
Slater said. “This makes room for
us in some events that was not
there last year.”
This does not mean that the com
petition will be easy for the Aggies.
SMU boasts a fast freshman inter
medley swimmer, diver Ali Al-Hasan
(who competed in the Olympics), and
the American record holder in the
100-meter butterfly, Lars Frolander.
The Aggies began to gain ground
against the Mustangs in conference
last year, and hope to be even more
competitive this year.
“This is the last time [before con
ference] that we will swim tired,” ju
nior Kyle Marden said. “After this we
will begin to rest our bodies and get
prepared for conference.”
Aggies make trek
back to Houston
By Jeremy Furtick
The Battalion
Houston is just a hop, skip and
jump away from College Station,
but it is beginning to seem like a
sprint, hurdle and throw as the
Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s
Track and Field Teams make its
second trip in three weeks down
Highway 6 to compete in the UH
Indoor Classic.
Two weeks ago, A&M kicked off
their 1997 indoor sea
son with a pair of fifth-
place finishes in the
Houston Indoor Invita
tional. The Aggies had
to squeeze their way
into this weekend’s
meet, but Head Coach
Ted Nelson said his
teams need the com
petition experience.
“These meets
give our youngsters
a really good test for
themselves,” he said.
The Aggies will be pitted
against some of the finest indoor
teams in the region, most of
which the Ags have competed
against already in their first two
meets. The University of Houston,
North Texas University, Rice Uni
versity, the University of Texas,
Texas Christian University, South
ern University and Texas A&M-
Kingsville will line up against the
Aggies tomorrow.
Senior Donyale Canada said
competing against these familiar
teams works to A&M’s advantage.
“When we line up [tomorrow]
we’ll know what to expect from
the other guys,” she said. “You
know who’s good and what you
have to do to compete.”
Nelson said another advan
tage will be facing Houston and
Texas again, two of the best
teams around.
“If you’re going to run good,
you have to run against the best,”
Nelson said.
“Competing
against that cal
iber of teams
helps us raise the
level of our per
formance.”
At this stage of
the season, com
petition is impor
tant, Nelson said,
because the Ag
gies are trying to
prepare them
selves for the Big
12 Indoor Championships Feb. 21-
22, in Lincoln, Neb.
“We’re fortunate to be in this part
of the country because we get to com
pete against some outstanding track
teams,” he said.
Senior Russell Nuti said this meet
is just another practice round for A&M
while they tune-up for Lincoln.
“We’re going to this meet to get
some practice,” Nuti said. “It’s not
really an important meet, but just
another one we need to get ready
for the Big 12 indoors.”
“These meets
give our young
sters a really
good test for
themselves.”
Ted Nelson
A&M head coach