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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1997)
The Battalion jlonday • June 9, 1997 y. ~ A&M 4x100 relay team captures national title Ags finish season with success at NCAAs m I Price, a ■mingout of the Photograph: Tim Moog member of the A&M 4xl00-meter relay team, practices blocks earlier this season. Staff and Wire Reports BLOOMINGTON, IND — The Texas A&M 400-meter relay team brought home its first national crown since 1988 at the NCAA Out door Championships in Blooming ton, In., this weekend. The team comprised of Michael Price, Toya Jones, Bill Fobbs and Danny McCray cap tured the title with a season best and Haught Track Complex record time of 38.80. The foursome is un defeated this season and their winning time was the fourth- fastest in school history and the fastest by an A&M foursome since the other national champion relay in 1988 (38.71). “I’m really proud of what this group of guys accomplished this year,” A&M Head Coach Ted Nelson said. “Winning the national crown in the 4x100 is a real plus for the I’m really proud of what this group of guys accomphshed this year.” Ted Nelson A&M head track coach Texas A&M track program and the entire A&M athletic department, there’s only one of these in the na tion and Texas A&M has it.” In 1970 and 1979, Nelson said the Aggies were undefeated throughout the season only to have their winning streaks snapped at the NCAA Championships. “The secret to the whole thing was that we were able to run the same group in the same order throughout the year,” Nelson said. “They really got comfortable with each other and kept gaining con fidence. You develop a lot of ca maraderie when you have that much continuity.” In other races, senior Ryan The riault earned All-America honors with an 1 Ith-place finish in the de cathlon Thursday. Thierault scored a season-best 7,412 points over the two-day event. Sophomore Kendall Mad den placed 14th with a two-day score of 7,070. “Ryan had his typical not- spectacular first-day, but really came on today,” Nelson said. "He really had good perfor mances in the hurdles and the discus, and he PRed in the pole vault. I’m proud of the way he battled today.” Relay season in review College Station Relays, March 15 — 39.95 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) Baylor/Dr. Pepper, March 22 — 39.57 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) A&M-UT Dual, March 29 — 40.02 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) Texas Relays, April 5 — 39.04 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) U. Texas 5-Way, April 19 — 39.58 (1st) (Price, McKinney, Fobbs, McCray) Penn Relay Carnival, April 26 — 38.92 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) Big 12 Championships, May 18 — 39.30 (1st) (Price, Jones, Fobbs, McCray) n he Mailman delivers to tie up series, 2-2 psen ; ath |SALTLAKE CITY (AP) — This time, the Wplmandelivered on Sunday, fill the direction of the NBA Finals '^fcngin the balance, Karl Malone shook su Spishistory of playoff foul line failures, iiedoutScottie Pippen and made the two n pestfree throws of his life. The shots gave Utah a three-point lead ^seconds left, and the Jazz went on “jlhtthe Chicago Bulls 78-73 Sunday oQl^Hoeven the Finals at two games apiece. lid listei Isaid earlier that I wished I could be din that situation,” Malone said. “I just In vi ever ything out and concentrated.” r sa h Iseries will resume here Wednesday L tof^ith the Jazz looking to become the Minever to take a 3-2 lead over Chica- pthe final round. As it is, they are the Steam since Portland in 1992 to be tied htheBulls after four games. TWtheir latest victory might just con- tethem that they have a legitimate nee, even though they’ll need to win at fetone game in Chicago. Jitivas the second-lowest scoring game PBAFinals history, and the Jazz won it in part by holding the Bulls without a point over the final two minutes and scoring the game’s last nine points. Michael Jordan had a chance to tie it with six seconds left, but he missed an off-balance 3-pointer that would have made it 76-76. Malone rebounded the miss and fed the ball out, and Bryon Russell went in for an uncontested slam that put an exclamation point on Utah’s stir ring victory. Malone ran over and hugged coach Jerry Sloan for several seconds in an emotional display of the vindication Malone obvi ously felt after making his final two foul shots. It was just a week earlier that Malone went to the line in the closing sec onds of Game 1 with a chance to break a tie game and put Utah in position for an upset. But after Pippen walked over and told him "The Mailman doesn’t deliver on Sunday,” Malone missed both shots and Jordan won the game on a buzzer-beating 21-footer. The circumstances weren’t exactly the same this time — Utah led by one and the fans were quiet rather than screaming — but Pippen tried to do what he could to make history repeat itself. With Malone stepping to the line to take the first shot, Pippen tried to walk over and say something but had his path blocked by Utah’s Jeff Hornacek. Pippen went into re bounding pdsition and yelled “Karl!, Karl!” at Malone, but the MVP didn’t respond. He bounced in the first one and made the second to make it 76-73, and the Bulls, who had no timeouts left, inbounded the ball. The ball went to Jordan, of course, outside the 3-point line. He dribbled right, left Ws feet and tried to square himself in the air, and the 23-footer looked good while it was in the air. But it bounced in and out, Malone re bounded and Russell was soon going in for the finisher. “He missed those shots, but how many times have you seen him make them?” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “You’ve got a 50 percent chance he’ll miss it. You have to have a little bit of luck.” Malone ended up with 23 points, 10 re bounds and six assists, but he might not have been the MVP of this game despite his two late free throws and eight fourth-quar ter points. That distinction would belong to John Stockton, who made big play after big play over the final 2 1/2 minutes to lead Utah back from a five-point deficit. “I always felt that we had a chance,” Sloan said. “John made some sensational plays, and Karl made the big free throws.” Things looked bleak for the Jazz after Jor dan went in for an uncontested fast-break dunk with 2:38 left to make it 71 -66. But Stockton calmly came downcourt, waited for a screen at the 3-point line and hit a 25-footer that re-energized the Jazz. Jordan scored on a 16-footer and Hor nacek missed a runner, giving the ball back to Chicago. Everyone knew where it was going, in cluding Stockton. And when Jordan ended up with the ball at the top of the key, Stock- ton sneaked in and stripped it. Stockton had a two-step head start, but Jordan caught him by the time he reached the basket and seemed to make a great block. But the officials called a foul and Stockton made one of two to pull Utah within three. Pippen then missed a corner jumper, Stockton was fouled and made both with 1:03 left to make the deficit oine. Then came one of the greatest plays ever made in crunch time of an NBA Finals game. Stockton rebounded a missed jumper by Jordan and fired a baseball pass all the way downcourt to Malone, who had kept running after trying to block Jordan’s shot. The 80-foot pass caught Malone in stride and he converted the layup that put Utah ahead to stay, 74-73. “At first, I hollered, ‘Oh, No!,”’ Sloan said. “It was a great pass and Karl was able to fin ish.” “That was a great pass. It looked like we itudent-athletes kept on their toes with services By Matt Mitchell The Battalion lor the last 20 years, there has been an academic ifiN revolution in,college athletics. Gone are the days when students needed only •attend practices and were assured that their classes totldwork out for themselves. Porthe modern collegiate athlete, a balance must be | •tuckbetween academics and athletics. If not, wen face consequences from the peo- hvhoonce dismissed the classroom as a N place to catch a nap between prac N—the coaches. “Our players have to things in priority,” Baseball Head “ach Mark Johnson id.“No. 1 is grades, No. '•baseball, No. 3 is so- al life. We’re totally Emitted to them Wng their degree.” This commitment is fog carried out in a foiberof different ways, but it always starts at the out- } tofa student-athlete’s potential career at Texas A&M. It starts at the very beginning,” Johnson said. “Dur- "Harecruiting visit, I have to feel comfortable that the foents are looking for an academic environment and “tjust a baseball factory. “When I’m in the home I make it veiy clear that we’re tgoing to get along unless he goes to class. They’re a ••ofguys we’ve played against that I didn’t pursue sim ply because I didn’t think they were serious about get ting a degree.” And the programs are apparently better off for adopting such an approach. Perhaps the most help comes from the Department of Athletic Academic Af fairs, conveniently available to athletes from it’s loca tion in Cain Hall. Athletic Academic Affairs offers ser vices centered around de gree plans and academic progress, taking into account the de- Graphic: Brad Graeber being a student athlete at a top-ranked academic institution as well as athletic powerhouse. Carol Reep who, along with Dr. Karl Mooney, serves as Co ordinator for Athletic Academic Affairs, says instilling positive habits with a caring attitude inspires acad emic success, which often carries over onto the playing field. “I think it’s like anything else,” Reep said. “Once we become com fortable in our environment, the easier it is to be successful. So if you can get you students to buy into and excel at the best rate they can, they’re probably going to achieve at a higher rate in the classroom. Those same things tie together athletically.” In addition to advising, Athletic Academic Affairs oversees the tuto rial program as well as the comput er lab for athletes in Cain Hall. But it stops short of assuming the role of academic advisors, which they leave to the individual colleges. “We’re not their academic advisors, but we work in close contact with colleges and their academic advi sors,” said Dr. David Wentling, a supervisor for the de partment. “We’re scholastic supervisors, so primarily what we do is work with the advisors, help the athletes get their classes picked out, and assist them towards getting their degrees.” Because of A&M’s deserved reputation as a sports machine, the Aggies undoubtedly attract athletes of su perior ability who focus on playing professionally in their chosen sport. The challenge for Dr. Wentling and his associates is convincing such players of the value of a degree. “Some students come here with that (playing pro fessionally) as a goal and there’s nothing wrong with I thinks it’s like anything else. Once we become comfort able in our environ ment, the easier it is to be succesfuk that,” Wentling said. “What we try to do is maintain in them the im portance of a college education. “While it may be an immediate goal to play professionally, there’s a finite amount of time in which they can do that. But an education lasts forever.” In instilling that ideology in stu dent athletes, the Department for Academic Athletic Affairs has come to be recognized as one of the very finest of its kind in the nation, as the graduation rate of Texas A&M athletes would indicate. But Wentling stops short in giv ing his department all the credit, citing good working relationships with coaches and a caring faculty and administration, as major tools in pursuing aca demic excellence. “It’s a cooperative effort,” Wentling said. “We have an outstanding academic support program, and at the same time, we have an outstanding faculty as well as administration that understand some of the things about being a student-athlete at Texas A&M.” The unqualified success of the program bodes well for the future of Texas A&M athletics, and more impor tantly, the student athletes that are recruited. “They do a great job,” Johnson said. “You can’t take enough easy courses to get a degree from Texas A&M. I think it speaks well for everyone involved when you can compete at a high level academically as well as athletically.” Carol Reep Coordinator for Athletic Academic Affairs MSC Barber Shop Serving All Aggies! Cuts and Styles All Corp Cuts $7. Regular cuts start at $8. 846-0629 Open: Mon. - Fri. 8-5 Located in the basement of the Memorial Student Center August Graduates Official Texas A&M Graduation Announcements On Sale Now June 2 - June 20, 1997 For Information and to place your order access the Web at: http://graduation.tamu.edu 4r MSC Box Office 845-1234 Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EXERCISE YOUR WAY TO THE CARIBBEAN WITH FITLIFE! The FITLIFE EXERCISE PROGRAM is excited to offer a fun and low cost way to set sail toward A FITLIFE! FREE FITNESS ASSESSMENTS & LOW PRICE MEMBERSHIPS STEP CLASSES WEIGHT TRAINING WATER AEROBICS LOW IMPACT AEROBICS FIT///3F TONING CLASSES INTERVAL TRAINING WALKING CLASSES SENIORS CLASSES CALL 845-9418 FOR MORE INFORMATION & A FREE BROCHURE