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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1997)
) c t°be% j r5 Friday • October 24, 1997 S The Battalion ports m cut.Tlip,] a Cokeboi a pair of lave nt e car is liftmei :e, a senml ajor.wasi I own, believe a sabotagtj all jwn| it up the d he rei wasjumi eonedeci ! theacci >k off and! ndshield, said. ■s offci s goes to ve student there set to battle Red Raiders DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion freshman Chris Cole and the Aggies will look to rebound against 'exas Tech this weekend, By Chris Ferrell Sports editor Before sounding the alarms or screaming “Women and children first —theA&M ship is sinking!,” stop, take a breath and reevaluate the situation. The 20th-ranked Texas A&M Foot ball Team is quick to point out things are not as bad as they appear. A week ago, the Aggies were the toast of the Big 12 South, with a one way ticket to San Antonio to face the top ranked Nebraska Huskers for the league title. Now, the situation seems so much different. A&M travels to Lubbock to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders Satur day at Jones Stadium. Quite frankly the Aggies are hurt ing. They head into the game minus their two starting offensive tackles and their leading rusher, all gone from a team which rushed for nega tive-35 yards last weekend in the team’s 36-17 loss to Kansas State. Throw in the fact that the Aggies have lost to Tech the last two sea sons and one might think A&M is in trouble. The Aggies however, are not so ea ger to throw in the towel just yet. Sophomore quarterback Randy McCown said the team is not dwelling on last weeks loss. “K-State had a good defensive front and they were putting different guys up there and bringing different guys,” McCown said. “They were giv ing us different looks that kind of confused us. You have to give K-State credit. They were a good team. “I don’t think we’ve lost any confi dence at all. We don’t want to start looking too far down the road. I don’t think our confidence has dropped any, we just got a little reality check.” Junior quarterback Branndon Stewart agreed, saying the team has not changed because of a loss. “It’s hard to say what kind of lesson we learned,” Stewart said. “I feel like we learned a lot from our losses last year and we’ve been in this situation before. I guess what we realized most of all is that your going to get people’s best shot when you haven’t lost a game so you have to be ready to play each and every game like its the biggest one. We had a frustrating game and a bad game, but we’re still the same team we were when we were 5-0.” Another reason for optimism in the face of the injuries stems from the fact that the team was able to play so many players in it’s big early season wins. “It’s important,” offensive coordi nator Steve Marshall said. “It’s part of the deal. You don’t just want to throw a guy who’s never been on the field into a situation where you play him every down.” Sophomore tackle Andy Vincent will make his second start of the sea son in place of injured Cameron Spikes. Vincent received the call last week after Spikes went down against Iowa State. Junior Rex Tucker will shift from his back-up center role to start ing left tackle. He replaces senior Chris Ruhmanwho injured his knee on the Aggie’s first drive last week. Vincent said the knowledge he and Tucker gained against Kansas State will help them adjust to starting roles. “You’ve got experience,” Vincent said. “You’re not coming into a game like that not knowing what to expect. working really hard on the funda mentals to try and execute and get back where we need to be.” Perhaps the most noticeable injury is that of sophomore tailback Dante Hall, the Aggie’s leading rusher this season. Hall is out indefinitely after suffering a deep bone contusion on the first play of the KSU game. Junior running back Sirr Parker, who has split backfield time with Hall throughout the season will now be asked to carry a larger chunk of the offensive load. Freshman tailback Burnest Rhodes, who has picked up signifi cant carries for A&M this season also will help to shoulder some of the rushing attack. McCown said the team does not see the injuries as a problem. “This team has real good charac ter,” he said. “We’ve got guys who are seniors who can keep everyone calm and not panic. Other guys will step up and play good and take up the slack. I think everyone will handle it real well, as far as the backups hav ing to step in. I don’t think the in- I feel good about this game. We’re juries will affect us that much.” fexas Tech's ‘Mr. Everything’ tackles new position this season eaker.I: as a EA| ; use this ix move to o hollet By Jeff Webb Staff writer oach Spike Dykes found himself in a dilemma a few years ago. He had re cruited the top passer in 5A football, especx ethad nowhere to play him. Where would iche sai; Ws athlete go? Wherever the team needed helikt iim in order to win. That player, senior lownthestfoiy Darden, eventually found his way to omerback where he would prosper and be irt of mortamed a Thorpe Award candidate as one of the cart he best defensive backs in the nation, students Darden was recruited to play quarter- . orifice to :>a|k, but was beaten out by a youngster i justtakirfamed Zebbis Letheridge. Darden wanted to help the team, so he requested that the coach move him to receiver. “He was the leading passer in 5A football his senior year at Holmes High School,” Coach Dykes said. “He and Zebbie compet ed for the job all year, and it was close. Final ly, Zebbie got the job. But in the last year of the Southwest Conference, Tony played receiver and had the longest pass play that year.” On the play Coach Dykes mentioned, Darden took a pass from Letheridge and took off for 77 yards and a touchdown. “Any Quarterback can catch the ball,” claims Darden. “I just wanted to help the team out in any way that I could.” Due to the large amount of talented re ceivers on the Tech roster, Coach Dykes asked Tony Darden to make one final move, the one to cornerback. “The last time I played corner, I was a sophomore,” Darden said. “It was hard at first during the spring. By the time two-a- days started the first year, I got used to it.” Darden isn’t the only talented fast man on the Texas Tech roster. Tech also boasts one of the conference’s best receivers in Donnie Hart. Being able to line up against one of the top receivers in the Big 12 has been a chal lenge for one of the conference’s best corners. Coach Dykes believes that the more times they play each other in practice, the better. “They take great pride in beating some body if they’re a receiver and take great pride in stopping someone if they’re a cor ner,” said Dykes. “We have ten minutes a day of offense versus de fense. It’s great to have Tony versus Donnie.” Last year, Darden pestered the A&M re ceiving corps all day long and held the Ag gies’ top receiver, Al bert Connell, to no catches. Despite the feat, Darden remains humble. “That was a good game for us, but they Darden didn’t throw the ball in the game as much as we expected,” said Darden. “Our guys up front did a really good job. I really can’t take much credit. I know they’ll come out fired up this year.” “He really did well in that game,” said Dykes. “When that happens, you’re lucky because Connell was such a great receiver.” Darden’s name will not be heard many times on Saturday because the Aggies, like most others, will not throw his way. “He’s a good athlete, he can play every where,” said Dykes. “He’s a natural. He’s good at quarterback, good at wide receiv er, and good at cornerback. He just wants to help the team win.” ^Aggies return ome to host U, Wisconsin y Stephen Boudreau Staff writer HAfter seven games and nearly a month away from home, the road-tested Texas /V&M Soccer team returns to * rocks 'the friendly confines of the ogyirajf^K ie Soccer Complex. for For ‘We feel like we’ve been Guerrieri gone forever. It’s great to be back home. Seven straight 5 earlyir. road games ever, art is always a racks in challenge. Lisa. It will be likenoigreat to lingsiff'play in lerfectlj-front of a 7 preset big crowd tonuntf so we’re cidsupr hoping that every- BlacD f one will come out,” coach G. Guerrieri said. “The fact that we were able to play a lot of games in front of really hostile environments is some- 1 W#f n g t * iat w ih be really benefi- * *' C 'Cial for us when we get into jchofs postseason play.” d-brass : Friday night, the Wisconsin Badgers will make their way ah Ca® into College Station looking to ut awa'dmprove on their 5-9-1 record. zestorf ; Wisconsin, the defending Big 10 Champion, is coming ipelt^ off a strong 2-1 victory over reryonelOhio State, which concluded iiitty.” hs regular season conference schedule. “Wisconsin is a little down this season. They graduated a , lot of seniors, just like we did, Z but they are still impressive,” Guerrieri said. “They’ve played a tough schedule. For us to get them at home on our field, such a nice field, is , a big plus.” i Jpl Leading the attack for the Badgers will be Cathy Strey jsitiod w hh 10 goals and 15 assists. E Since the inception of NCAA postseason play, Wis consin has never failed to make an appearance. 7 . v This is the first time the two 3 ' teams have met each other as aid ^ opponents. , Besides being 25 cent hot- dog day at the Aggie Soccer Complex, Sunday’s game against Colorado has cham pionship ramifications for the Aggies. The Aggies will be looking to capture their first ever Big 12 Championship in their final regular-season home game for 1997. A victory or tie would guarantee the title, while a loss would signify a co-champi onship with Nebraska, whom the Aggies shut out 1-0 earlier this season. “The Colorado game is a chance for us to win the out right championship,” Guerri eri said. “For us, this weekend is for the championship. We don’t want to share it with any body, we want it for ourselves.” If the Aggies were to come up short, they would still be the number one seed in the Big 12 Tournament coming up in November. Leading the herd for the Buffaloes is Donna Holyman whose five goals and 2 assists put her atop the Colorado stat sheet. This is the second time the two teams have met, the Ag gies getting the better of the Buffs with a 3-0 victory in Boulder last season. Over the course of the road trip, the Aggies lost several key players to injury. “We lost (defender) Ashley Fendley for the season in the North Carolina game. Her re placement, Elizabeth Pavlas, has gone down with an ankle injury,” Guerrieri said. “So now we’re on Stephanie Chaney. She’s been playing and doing an excellent job.” Freshman Gilian Gandy has missed the last few games due to an ankle sprain and freshman Katie Offett has had trouble with a calf mus cle. Both are listed as ques tionable for this weekend. “For the most part, though, we are reasonably healthy,” Guerrieri said. “We are in a lot better shape now than we were following our North Carolina loss in September.” Volleyball ready to tangle with Kansas By Travis V. Dabney Staff writer RONY ANGKRIWAN/The Battalion Sophmore Amber Woolsey serves against the University of Colorado. A&M travels to Lawrence, Kan, to battle KU. The Texas A&M Swimming and D iving Team will get their feet wet this weekend as they begin the season with the second annual Big 12 Con ference Relays and Invitational to be held at the University of Nebraska. This event should not be confused with the Big 12 Championship meet which is held in February. Even though it counts in the standings, men’s swimming coach Mel Nash says this meet is more of a preview. “It lets you know where you are and is a good barometer of where the rest of the conference is. Nobody’s really focused on it for big performances,” Nash said. “It gives you a chance to get in the competitive mode.” The early start insures that most ath letes and teams will not be in peak form. “Very rarely would you have a great time this early. The sprints aren’t quite there because you haven’t done any sprint work. Distance isn’t there be cause you haven’t had enough time to accumulate yardage to get you where you want to be. The meet is mostly for race strategy,” Nash said. Nebraska captured the women’s crown at last year’s event and the always powerful University of Texas took the men’s crown. The Aggies should be The Texas A&M volleyball team will head for Kansas this weekend to take on the Kansas State Wildcats and the Kansas Jayhawks in Big 12 conference play. The volleyball team split last weekend’s matches, gaining a victory over Colorado and losing in four games to Nebraska. The Big 12 volleyball schedule will move into its second half after this weekend’s play so teams will be trying to either gain ground or maintain it this weekend. In the Big 12 standing Texas has a two game lead over Texas A&M and Colorado with an 8-0 record as op posed to the 6-2 record for the Buffs and Aggies. That being said the Aggies may have a home court advantage in the second half of Big 12 play accord ing to coach Laurie Corbelli. “Our last seven of ten matches are here at A&M as opposed to playing only five of 14 here in G. Rollie the first half of the season,” Corbelli said. “So in that respect we feel pretty good about our chances in the Big 12.” The Aggies will not be playing the top competition this weekend in Kansas or Kansas State as they were last weekend much improved this year with more depth and balance, women’s swim ming coach Don Wagner says this was a big problem last year. “We have a lot more depth this year than we had a year ago. We won two relays at the meet. We weren’t very good at the other relays. This year, I see us looking strong in almost all of the relays,” Wagner said. “We’ve pret ty much doubled from a year ago.” Coach Wagner is upbeat about his team’s chances. “It’s going to be a fun year. They’ve trained really well. I think that at the end of the season we’ll be pretty good,” Wagner said. Diving coach Kevin Wright thinks Coach Wagner’s assessment of the divers is accurate. “Last year we had some really good performances and I think that we are working hard an doing the right things. It should put us in position to continue to have some good performances throughout the season and have some fun along the way,” Wright said. The big name on the diving team will be junior Mark Naftanel. He is the returning Big 12 Champion in three events. Coach Nash feels the men’s team will be just as deep as the women’s. “The beauty of the team this year is that we’re extremely well-balanced. but these will still be tough matches for the Aggies. Kansas State has a 5-3 record in conferance play and seems poised to look for an upset against one of the top teams in the conference. “Kansas State is a very spirited school and they have been getting about 2,500 fans for their home volley ball games so it will be a pressure situ ation for this weekend,” Corbelli said “Kansas State is a very balanced team, has good offensive and defen sive skills, so we are really are going to have to be prepared to play on Friday night,” Corbelli said. Kansas on the other hand has struggled so far this season. The Jay- hawks have complied a 1-7 confer ence record this season. “They are struggling a little bit right now but they are a young team with a some very good hitters,” Corbelli said. “We are going to have to be strong in this game as it will be our second game in two nights and not so much physically but mentally that can wear you down.” The Aggies, according to Corbelli will be motivated this weekend after their tough defeat to Nebraska. “We just did not perform that well against them (Nebraska) but that mo tivates our players.” All of the relays are deep this year. We have four or five guys that are inter changeable in the relays,” Nash said. Standouts on the men’s swimming team will include captains Jerrod Kappler and Kyle Marden and sopho more Devin Howard, who appears to be past the injuries that plagued him earlier in his career. Top women swimmers will be sophomores Tracy Evans and Danielle Guarneri and se nior Jodi Janssen. However, swimming and diving is not all about wearing speedos and play ing in the water. These athletes under go a rigorous training schedule for six days a week. Most of them lift weights in the morning and do some swimming afterwards. They also swim in the af ternoon. Coach Nash says it is about 10 miles a day of swimming for the dis tance swimmers. Some athletes are even required to do yoga twice a week. This training goes on for most of the year. Coach Wright believes this training is essential to becoming a better swimmer or diver. “The whole year is developing the skills necessary to be performing well at the end of the year,” Wright said. With the newly acquired depth and the strict training regimen, the Swim ming and Diving Team can look for ward to a watershed season. Golfers set to conclude fall season By Jason Whitcomb Staff writer The 13th-ranked Texas A&M women’s golf team will conclude its fall season this weekend in sunny California. The Ags will tee-off at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Friday and play through Sunday morning. The 17-team field features nine teams that are ranked in the top 25, including No. 2 Arizona, No. 5 Ari zona State, No.7 Louisiana State and No. 9 Okla homa State. The tournament will consist of is holes Becker each day for a total of 54 holes. The Aggies will enter this tourna ment with some confidence after a strong performance in the Big 12 Pre view earlier this month. They man aged to finish second after battling poor conditions and 30 mile per hour winds. Individually, seniors Jamie Hullet and Isabelle Rosberg placed 11th and 14th, respectively. Representing the Ags will be Ros berg, Hullet, senior Aurora Kirchner, sophomore Anna Becker and fresh man Amanda Rayford. Rosberg is the highest nationally ranked player in the Big 12 at No. 25 and Becker has recently moved up to No. 55 in the nation. Both have displayed a high degree of consis tency and ability throughout the fall season. As a team, the Aggies are looking to continue to showing that they are a na tional contender and are going to be at the top of the rankings in the spring. “We’ve had a pretty good fall but we would really like to end it on a positive note and build up some mo mentum for the spring,” said Head Coach Jeanne Sutherland in a press release. “We are still not as consis tent as I would like us to be but we are improving every tournament. This is another strong tournament field on a really good golf course and it should give us an indication of where we stand right now.” The Aggies will open their spring season hosting the GTE “Mo”morial on February 23-24 at Pebble Creek Country in College Station. Swimmers prepared to start year By Jeff Schmidt Staff writer