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A s the Texas A&M Men’s
and Women’s Track and
Field Teams roll closer
to the end of the indoor sea
son at the Big 12 Conference
Championships this weekend,
there is one goal each mem
ber would like to achieve —
qualifying for the NCAA In
door Championships March
7-8 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Aggies Missing the Big 12
Championships
The Aggies will miss the
contribution of five athletes
this weekend at the Big 12 Con
ference Championships. Se
niors Anjanette Kirkland and
Danny McCray, although still
eligible for the outdoor season,
have exhausted their indoor el
igibility. McCray and Kirkland
have combined for 10 All-
American citations during their
careers at A&M.
Juniors Larry Wade and
Michael McKinney are red-
shirting this indoor season due
to injuries. Wade, NCAA run
ner-up in the 110-meter hur
dles in 1995, suffered a stress
fracture in his back last season.
McCray, who earned All-Amer
ican accolades last season, was
injured in an automobile acci
dent but should be ready for
the outdoor season.
Sophomore Stacy Sykora,
the final Southwest Confer
ence heptathlon champion
last year, will miss this week
end’s meet because of a com
mitment to the Lady Aggie
Basketball Team.
Aggies Already Qualified
for the NCAAs
Senior Rosa Jolivet is lead
ing the way to Indianapolis for
the Aggies. She has posted
qualifying times in the 60-me-
ter hurdles in all four meets
A&M has participated in this
season. Three other Aggies
have qualified provisionally
for the NCAA Championships
prior to their last meet. Senior
Donyale Canada qualified in
the 55-meter dash, junior
Adrian Sawyer in the triple
jump and sophomore Mike
Price in the 200-meter dash.
See Furtick, Page 10
A&M track and field team prepares for stiff competition at first league championships
By Jeremy Furtick
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s Track
and Field Teams will get their first taste of Big
12 competition this weekend at the inaugur
al Big 12 Indoor Conference Championships
in Lincoln, Neb. j
Head Coach Ted Nelson said the Aggies’ in-
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Freshman decathlete Aaron Smith prac
tices his triple jump.
experience will be their biggest obstacle at the
championships, where some of the top in
door teams in the country will be competing.
“We’re almost in a rebuilding stage right now
after losing so many outstanding seniors last
year,” he said. “This meet will be an anxious
time for both the coaches and the youngsters,
but we expect some leaders to surface this
weekend and lead us into the outdoor season.”
Nelson said the Big 12 is now the dominant
track conference in the country and the com
petition level will be deep in every event at
this weekend’s meet.
“It’s going to be interesting to see just how
good this meet will be,” he said. “But I know
there’s not a more quality meet in the country.”
Senior Rosa Jolivet said the teams are go
ing into this meet with the same attitude they
have had all season.
“Coach Nelson always preaches ‘just com
pete' to us,” Jolivet said. “It’s just going to be a
matter of knowing this is a big meet and rais
ing our performance for it.”
Jolivet is included on a list of Aggies who
have a chance to score points in the running
events Nelson said. Others on the list include
sophomore Mike Price and junior Billy Fobbs
in the 55-meter and 200-meter dashes,
sophomore Toya Jones in the 55-meter dash
and senior Donyale Canada in the women’s
55-meter and 200-meter dashes.
Nelson said the multi-event competition is
the best bet for the Aggies to score in the meet.
Senior Ryan Theriault and sophomore
Toby Ware will challenge for the heptathlon
title, and junior Ceci Hudson will compete in
the pentathlon.
Assistant coach Juan De La Garza expects
the Aggies’ field event squad to perform well.
“They’ve been looking forward to this
meet all season,” he said.
The Aggie men will be lead by senior Rus
sell Nuti in the 35-pound weight throw and
sophomore Mike Lowrance in the shot put.
Sophomore Kelli Schrader of the women’s
team will compete for the Big 12 titles in the
20-pound weight throw and shot put.
Lowrance said the team is focused on the
task at hand.
“We’re all excited about the meet,”
Lowrance said. “But everyone will just get set
tled down and do their own thing.”
Nelson said distance competitions will be
the Aggies’ toughest events.
“With Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa State
all running against you in the long and mid
dle-distance races, you’re going to have a
tough meet,” Nelson said.
Sophomore Scott Lengefeld and senior
James Menze for the men and junior Milli On-
dras for the women will be the Aggies’ best
hopes to score in the distance races.
The Aggies, not a team built for indoor
competition, still have several members
ranked in the top five in their respective
events for the meet. Jolivet is ranked second
in the women’s 60-meter hurdles and Theri
ault ranks third in the men’s pentathlon.
Ranked fifth in their respective events are
Canada in the women’s 60-meter dash, junior
Adrian Sawyer in the women’s triple jump
and Hudson in the women’s pentathlon.
Tim Moog, The Battalion
Senior decathlete Travis Maher practices
the pole vault.
Texan by birth, Aggie by last choice
Shot putter Mike Lowrance
is less than a two-percenter
By Jeremy Furtick
The Battalion
A sk any Aggie why he or she came to Texas A&M
and you will probably hear a testimonial on the
traditions and spirit that have come to symbol
ize A&M. But there are thousands of students at A&M
who did not come here because of Aggie folklore. These
students came solely for the education and opportuni
ties other schools could not offer.
So maybe sophomore Mike Lowrance came to Texas
A&M for the right reasons.
Lowrance, a shot put and discus competitor for the
Texas A&M Men’s Track and Field Team, had a number
of schools requesting his services during his senior year
at Temple High School.
Lowrance was a member of the Texas State 5A Division
II Football Championship team his junior year and went on
to receive first team all-state honors as a center his senior
year. It was then he realized football was not in his future.
“During my freshman year of high school I decided to
put all my focus on football and a football scholarship,”
he said. “I worked hard and received honors my senior
year, but then I realized I didn’t like football anymore.”
Lowrance was in a bit of a bind because schools were
still offering him scholarships—football scholarships. No
one considered he wanted to compete exclusively in track
“Even when I was planning on playing football in col
lege, I knew I would still compete in track,” he said. “But
the track programs weren’t recruiting me because every
one thought I was going to school to play football.”
Lowrance applied to A&M almost as an outlet. He
said he was never intent on going to any particular
school, but A&M was still interested in him after his de
cision to drop football.
“I hadn’t applied anywhere else,” he said. “It was a
good academic school, it was close to home and the
thrower’s reputation was good.”
Head Coach Ted Nelson said the Aggies saw poten
tial in Lowrance and stayed in touch with him when
other schools didn’t.
“We had some people in Temple that we knew,” Nel-
Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion
Sophomore Mike Lowrance decided his senior year
in high school that he would concentrate on track.
son said. “They told us Mike’s work ethic was very good
and we saw a good shot putter in him.”
Lowrance came to A&M but did not evolve into the
prototypical Aggie. In fact, he has a unique way of de
scribing himself.
“I wouldn’t even consider myself a two-percenter,”
he said. “I don’t do that much.”
See Lowrance, Page 10
High-jumper Fojtik
looking to branch out
By Matt Mitchell
The Battalion
T eri Fojtik did not always enjoy
the sport that would become
her specialty.
The former Southwest Confer
ence outdoor high jump champion
is an experienced competitor capa
ble of qualifying for the NCAA
Championships. But she was not al
ways happy about her talent.
“I hated high jumping,” said the
5-foot-ll senior from Angleton. “I
ran seventh grade track and I was the
tallest one, so they stuck me in it.”
A two-year letterman and a track
team standout, Fojtik reached a
crossroads in high school, where
she would become a four-time re
gional qualifier.
“I was really scared of high jump
ing,” Fojtik said. “But when I got to
high school, I had my own high jump
coach for one year and she was real
ly impressed by how talented I was,
so eventually I learned to love it.”
While she is content with high
jump, Fojtik said she enjoys trying
new things and would not mind
branching out into other track events.
“I would have loved to do any
thing else, just for fun, but they (the
coaches) wanted me to concentrate
on high jumping,” Fojtik said. “I don’t
know if they didn’t want me to get
hurt playing another event or what,
but the high jump is where I am.”
Fojtik has no trouble pinpointing
the most difficult aspect of the event.
Coincidentally, it is also what stands
between her and her ultimate goal of
jumping six feet, three inches.
Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion
Senior Teri Fojtik has one goal —
to jump above six-feet, three inches.
“The mental aspect of it,” Fojtik
said. “When the bar goes up, my whole
approach changes. And if I can get over
the mental aspect of high jumping,
then my personal best would proba
bly improve dramatically.”
To help herself in the quest to im
prove the mental part of her sport,
Fojtik separates herself from her
competitors and tries not to think of
the coming competition. When it is
her turn to jump, she tries not to
think of all the little things she needs
to do, but just to do what she has re
hearsed so many times in practice.
“She’s learned from experience
to not get down if things don’t work
out early,” High Jump Coach Ed
Marcinkiewicz said. “If she has an
early miss, she stays very focused
and competitive.”
Sometimes too competitive. As
is sometimes true for high-caliber
athletes, Fojtik has had trouble
with becoming overly anxious
about her performance.
See Fojtik, Page 8