The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 09, 1997, Image 3

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    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
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