pfonday -June 16, 1997
S The Battalion
PORTS
'iPORTS
Briefs
for?
led Wings player
| nc |owing good signs
pen!ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Detroit
i m^Wings defenseman Vladimir Kon-
I julntinov appears to be responding
ItireJUie voices of his teammates and
1% a doctor said Sunday,
ipel’lt's a hopeful sign,” said Dr.
'uspes Robbins, a trauma surgeon at
liam Beaumont Hospital. “We're
Jlnotout of the woods. ... There’s
lighilreason for a lot of concern.
] ‘But it's an optimistic sign and it
leof^sgood reason to remain hopeful
bhipoptimistic that he’s going to ulti-
thofpy do well.”
[lead: tonstantinov, 30, and team
iroiipeur Sergei Mnatsakanov, 43, re-
^nafred in comas Sunday on ventila-
fsand in critical condition. Wings de-
Ihu-teeman Viacheslav Fetisov and
linjjwsine driver Richard Gnida, 28, re-
irallfced in good condition and should
}in|treleased soon, Robbins said,
here The four were injured when the
3me»sine carrying the team mem-
Ity lets home from a team golf outing
apshed into a tree in a median about
[s orpp.m. Friday in Birmingham. The
Id. phoccurred six days after the Red
lorpgs won the Stanley Cup for the
| thpttime since 1955.
kely
pros top Twins
fchjn inter league play
HOUSTON (AP) — In the National
.eague, bunts are a big thing.
And a botched bunt led to a
totalled fielding play Sunday, giving
he Houston As
hes a 3-2 victory
ficejMr the Min-
heeliesota Twins.
(tudy ‘Itwasagam-
He;Astros man
ager Larry Dierk-
ersaid. “It could
iiavebeen a dou-
should
have been a dou
ble play. But it Dierker
% time to
JMethings up."
Terry Stein bach allowed the win-
f if run to score when he failed to
Pat Listach’s popped up
. her I squeeze attempt in the ninth inning.
3Urs 'We hadn’t tried anything like that
302. fcyear but there was a sense of ur-
Sency,” Dierker said.
With the score 2-2 and one out in
p ninth, Eddie Guardado (0-2)
and talked Derek Bell and Mike Trombley
ies. talked pinch-hitter Sean Berry and
no,todAusmus, loading the bases,
nee With Bell running on the pitch, Lis-
pplHtach bunted the ball about four feet
larelfrontof home plate. Steinbach al-
|n in host caught the ball, but hobbled it
ues-Wan error.
SportsLine
Young athletes in training
Texas A&M hosts a plethora
of camps for kids this summer
Ras Sykes of Pershi
Tony Barone’s Aggie
The camp runs from
ng Middle School
Basketball Camp
June 15-19.
Photograph: Robert McKay
takes a shot at the basket during practice at
Sunday afternoon at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
By Matt Mitchell
The Battalion
Ihey have arrived with such a common vig
or and excitement, one might at first think
that Texas A&M had been the victim of a
cloning experiment gone horribly awry.
Sweaty, sunburned adolescents running
around campus and jostling for position at the ar
cade in Hullabaloo have turned the first summer
session into the closest thing to Disneyland this
side of Captain Eo. And they’re just getting started.
The kids are a primarily part
of the summer camps offered
by branches of the Texas A&M
Athletic Department, most no
tably women’s basketball and
both men’s and women’s ten
nis. As the summer progresses,
however, camps for virtually
every varsity sport will be of
fered, ensuring a steady flow of
young people to Aggieland.
The campers inhabit A&M
and Cain Hall for the better part
of a week, making life hectic for
coaches and counselors alike.
Tracy Lange, an assistant
women’s basketball coach, says
that of the five camps her program runs, the week-
long camps draw anywhere from 200 to 220 girls,
while the shorter position camps attract as many as
150 players.
Using G. Rollie White Coliseum and that spe
cial part of the Reed Building known as “the
Sweatbox,” Lang and her fellow coaches put the
young cagers through their paces nearly every
waking hour, stopping only briefly for meals and
an occasional afternoon nap.
Even after supper, the girls are back in the gym,
but this time the activities are steered away from
the drilling of offense and defense, and they get to
apply what they’ve learned earlier that day with
games of five-on-five.
We want them to
leave here getting
their money’s worth
and improve and have
a good experience.”
Tracy Lange
assistant basketball coach
“We want them to leave here getting their mon
ey’s worth and improve and have a good experi
ence,” Lange said. “It’s very fundamental, basic
basketball, but there is some time to go swimming,
to the MSC or at least explore campus a little bit.”
The girl’s basketball camp is open for grades 5-
12, but almost half have been 7th and 8th graders.
This age player undoubtedly presents a different
challenge to coaches used to working with older,
more mature players.
“It’s a nice break, but it’s very different (from
coaching college players),” Lange said. “But the re
warding part is when you actually see a kid come in
and work on whatever it is, and by
the end of the week seeing them
make that move and improving,
and feeling more confident about
their basketball skills.”
Coincidentally, Lange’s hus
band Kel, an assistant men’s ten
nis coach for A&M, is a director
for the co-ed tennis camps of
fered for four weeks this sum
mer. The summer tennis camps
have historically been some of
the most well-attended and
well-run camps A&M offers.
Lange credits the staff, made
up of local high school coaches
and an assortment of college
players, for keeping the camps
at or near their 125-camper capacity each week.
“The instructors have the freedom and cre
ativity to do things that are helpful to them as well
as us giving them ideas,” he said. “The camp is
run, basically, by the instructors we hire, and
they’re given the freedom to teach the way they’re
comfortable teaching, and I think that really
makes it successful.”
Unlike the basketball camp, the tennis camp
tries to balance tennis and social activities for the
campers. These social activities serve to acclimate
the campers to Texas A&M, as well as helping the
young teens feel more comfortable with meetings
and getting to know new people.
Please see Camps on Page 4
Els wins second U.S. Open
A&M’s Maggert
finishes fourth
Maior League Baseball
Houston
....3
Cubs
...A
Minnesota
2
Milwaukee
3
Wees
8
Baltimore
....5
tek
5
Atlanta
3
Ihite Sox
...14
Cleveland
9
Cincinnati
6
St. Louis
?
loronto
...11
Yankees
6
Madelohia...
1
Marlins
S
Montreal
...10
Texas
7
Detroit
2
San Dieao
4
Maior League Soccer
San lose
3
Dallas
3
Kansas City...
1
NY-NI
1
Colorado
2
Los Angeles....
4
Columbus
0
Tampa Bav
1
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Ernie
Els handled the heat on Congres
sional Countiy Club’s grueling back
nine Sunday and won his second
U.S. Open championship in four
years in a stirring four-way duel
down the stretch.
Els, just 27 years old, knocked in
a testy 4-foot putt on the final hole
to finish at 4-undef-par 276, one
stroke ahead of Colin Montgomerie
and two better than Tom Lehman,
who suffered his third U.S. Open
disappointment in three years.
When the final putt fell, the
South African raised both arms in
triumph over his head, gave a play
ful hug to his caddie, and then sank
into a warm embraces with his
mother, father and girlfriend.
While the putt on 18 was the win
ner, Els had the shot of the day on
the 480-yard 17th hole when he hit
a 5-iron from 212 yards to just 12 feet
on the dangerous peninsula green.
“Seventeen was probably the shot
of the tournament for me,” Els said.
“I’m unbelievably delighted. Win
ning U.S. Opens doesn’t come easy. I
really worked hard for this one.”
Lehman and Montgomerie both
lost their chances on No. 17 —
Montgomerie when he made a bo
gey for the fourth consecutive day
and Lehman when his bold shot at
the flag came up short and left and
bounced into the water.
It was the third straight year
Lehman has played in the final
group at the U.S. Open and the third
time he has come up short, finishing
second last year and third in 1995.
Montgomerie has had his own
disappointments in major champi
onships. In addition to losing the
1994 U.S. Open in a playoff to Els, he
lost the 1995 PGA in a playoff to
Steve Elkington.
Els had to go extra holes to win
his first U.S. Open, enduring an 18-
hole playoff at Oakmont in 1994
with Loren Roberts and Mont
gomerie and then going an addi
tional two sudden death holes with
Roberts before victory.
He needed to play some extra
holes Sunday as well. Returning to the
course at 7 a.m. to complete the rain-
delayed third round, Els made three
birdies in the five holes he played,
then shot a 69 in the final round.
His 4-under-par effort for 23
holes on Sunday was a magnificent
effort on a day when the field aver
aged nearly 4 over par.
Lehman started the day with a
two-stroke lead over Els and Jeff
Maggert and three ahead of Mont
gomerie. But by the time that four
some — playing in the final two
groups of the day—reached the 11th
hole, they were tied at 4 under par.
Only Els was able to walk off the
18th green still at that number.
He got to 4 under with a chip-in
from 15 yards on No. 10 and got to 5
under on No. 12 when he stuffed a 5-
iron on the 187-yard par-3 to 12 feet
and made the putt. Els gave that
stroke back with a bogey out of the
deep rough on the next hole, but fin
ished with five straight pars — some
thing none of the other three could do.
“Funny things happen in ma
jors,” Els said. “You’ve just got to
hang in there. At U.S. Opens, you
just try to make par.”
Maggert, who ended up shoot
ing a 74 to finish fourth at 1 over par,
was the first to fall by the wayside.
He had a three putt on No. 13, miss
ing a 5-footer, then bogeyed No. 16
out of the greenside rough and
made a double on No. 17 with an
other three putt.
Lehman slipped back with a bo
gey on No. 14, playing two shots
from the rough, but roared back on
the next hole with a sand wedge
from 107 yards that nearly went in
the cup on the fly, ending up 18
inches from the hole for birdie.
When he made a bogey on No. 16
— again from the rough — he tried
to attack the dangerous pin on No.
17 and ended in the water.
Please see Open on Page 4
Rodman needs
to just go away
N ow that the
Chicago Bulls
have finished
pummeling the rest of
the NBA into submis
sion, answers to ques
tions long pondered
may be addressed and
answered with some
degree of certainty.
We may finally be
granted some relief to
speculation that the Bulls are are
a modern-day dynasty and one of
the greatest teams ever. Make no
mistake, they are.
But the six-game Finals se
ries only served to further es
tablish Michael Jordan as the
finest player of the modern era
rather than as a testament to
the Bulls’ greatness.
It could be said that the Bulls
played uninspired basketball un
til the fourth quarter, when they
allowed Superman to once again
don his cape.
Jordan managed to carry a
mediocre team to the promised
land with decidedly limited
contributions from such disap-
Sportswriter
Matt Mitchell
Junior journalism major
pearing acts as Luc
Longley, Toni Kukoc
and Steve Kerr, deci
sive 15-footer (again
created by Jordan)
notwithstanding.
The greatest ab
sence of all, however,
was that of the erst
while snow-cone Den
nis Rodman, whose
technicolor noggin
was last seen being smacked
around by the likes of Karl Mal
one and Greg Ostertag.
With Scottie Pippen nursing
a foot injury, the role of Jor
dan’s sidekick was up in the
air, and though Rodman’s head
was already full of that very
same substance, he was never
theless expected to be the
most likely candidate to have a
good series.
But the man who once dressed
as a bride was nowhere to be
found, and as the ball caromed
time and again, disappearing Den
nis left Jordan standing at the alter.
Please see Mitchell on Page 4
Gaming Night
. '■ ' •••: ;>
sit Hullabaloo
Come join us for an evening of FREE bowling,
FREE pool, and FREE refreshments at Hullabaloo
in the Memorial Student Center!!
June 17 from 7 PM - 10 PM.
Sponsored by Food Services,
TAVS, Inc., ^rr MSC-NOVA
University Center Complex,
TAMU Bookstore, and Residence
Life & Housing.
Persons with disabilities please call us at (409) 845-1515 so that we may assist you at
the event.
WHAT’S IT LIKE AT THE PLASMA CENTER!
To the staff of the Plasma Center,
I would like to start by saying thank
you to each and every employee for making the
past three years enjoyable in a professional,
efficient and courteous environment. As a
donor since 1993, I have been more than satis
fied with every aspect of your operation, which
allows myself and others to contribute what we
can to community service, all the while being
serviced by diligent, but relaxed, workers.
Everyone at the Plasma Center, from those
behind the front counter to the phlebotomists
to the supervisors, have made great efforts to
insure that each donor feels hygienically safe,
as well as keeping the atmosphere lig^it.
Like most, I started coming to the
Plasma Center for monetary reasons, but I
soon developed acquaintances that appealed to
me almost as much as the original need for
money, enabling me to look forward to each
donation, not only for my wallet’s sake but also
to see my friends. Like I commented to some
one recently, talking to people at the Plasma
Center was like getting mail from a far-off
friend that you don’t get to do much with, but
who you can talk to as often as you write. For
those acquaintances and for your continual
services. I would like to thank all of those I’ve
come to know and appreciate over the past
three years - Emily, and Tracy, Heath, and
Marty, Ada and Josie, etc... more I can’t
remember or those who have gone on to better
things.
So, as I graduate from this great
University, I bid you all a fond farewell and
strong commendations on such a successful
blend of quality medical practice and friendly
service. Thank you all and have a great sum
mer. Thanks, C.L
BiologicalS
THE PLASMA CENTER
700 E. University Dr.
268-6050
4223 Wellborn Rd.
846-8855