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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
The Battalion Sports ^dnesday • January 21, 1998 Women’s Basketball hosts Oklahoma, goes for first Big 12 win By Michael Taglienti Staff writer The Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Team con- mes its two-game homestand in a Big 12 battle ith the Oklahoma Sooners at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie hite Coliseum. The Aggies (4-10, 0-4) are comingoff a 68-52 home ss to the Iowa State Cyclones. In that game A&M had mble stopping ISU forward Jayme Olson whose in- leloutside game gave the Aggies fits all afternoon, she scored a team-high 26 points in the win. Tie Aggies will be facing a similar player in OU’s ading scorer Phylesha Whaley. The 5-foot-10-inch phomore forward leads the Sooners in scoring with 1.8 points per game, and shooting 48 percent from :yond the three-point arc. This game is a rematch of the Jan. 3 game in Norman, which the Sooners won 84-76. In that game, Whaley scored 30 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. A&M, the youngest team in the Big 12, is trying to re main upbeat after an 0-4 start in Big 12 play. Coach Candi Harvey said the team’s confidence is a huge con cern. Right now, the team is still learning how to make the little plays that mean the difference between win ning and losing. Despite the team’s struggles, Harvey said she saw reason for optimism in the ISU game. Against the Cy clones, Harvey said she was happy with the improve ment she saw in A&M’s defense. The Aggies put forth a commendable effort and held ISU four points below its scoring average for the season. “I think we brought the shot clock down to zero maybe five or six times, and we haven’t done that in a long time,” Harvey said. On the offensive side of the ball, the Aggies contin ued to struggle with their shooting. On the year, the Ag gies are shooting only 40 percent from the field. Tonight, they will face a team that is also having prob lems putting up points. OU is shooting only 39 percent from the field, and averaging 67.4 points per game. OU (6-9,2-3) is coming off a 97-84 victory over Texas in Norman, which improved its record to one win bet ter than all of last season. Tonight's game pits two of the top young players in the Big 12 against each other. OU’s Wlialey squares off with Texas A&M’s supersoph Prissy Sharpe. Sharpe con tinued to prove she is worthy of All-Big 12 considera tion, with 18 points and 12 rebounds against ISU. On the year, Sharpe is averaging 15 points, and 10.8 re bounds per game. JAKE SCHRICKLING/The Battalion Forward Jennifer Burrows guards an ISU player Saturday. fTexas A&M Track and Field Teams poised for golden season Texas A&M athletes on PHOTO COURTESY: SPORTS INFORMATION Track and Field Coach Ted Nelson has a talented group of his hands as he heads into the 1998 indoor season. By Michael Ferguson Staffwriter When people around the state of Texas think about track and field, they typically do not picture it taking place in indoors. High school athletes in this state rarely compete in such a facility, if at all. Combined with the fact that the majority of the athletes at Texas A&M are recruited from Texas, the indoor college season is new to most of A&M’s competitors. These factors provide for quite a rude awakening, and somewhat ex plains the lackluster performance of the track teams in the indoor cham pionships lastyear. Texas A&M coach Ted Nelson alluded to this very fact. “Tr aditionally, we have not been a good indoor team,” Nelson said. “We don’t work out on an indoor fa cility, so it makes it a little hard to go up and compete against those peo ple who work out everyday in those indoor facilities.” However, with the outdoor sea son not beginning until March, in door must be the focus. With the quality of athletes returning more experienced from last year’s team in addition to several new faces, the Texas A&M Track and Field Teams should enjoy much more success than it has in the past. Leading the men’s team will be seniors Larry Wade, Billy Fobbs and a host of others. Wade was forced to sit out last year’s indoor season be cause of an injury, but is healthier than ever and will be a welcome ad dition to the team while on his quest for a national championship. “I think this indoor season will be totally different from last year,” Wade said. “We’re a much more mature team.” Fobbs did compete lastyear but was admittedly not at full strength at the start of the indoor season beacause of an illness. Fobbs allud ed to last year’s results and how the Aggies might improve on them. “Last year wasn’t acceptable to the athletes or the coaches,” Fobbs said. “From a personal standpoint, I’m just going to take it one meet at a time; one race at a time.” He should lead the cast of sprint ers, including junior Michael Price, who returns with last year’s best A&M marks in the long jump and the 200-meter dash. His time in the 200 qualified him for Nationals. Rounding out the solid core of sprinters is junior Toya Jones, who returns with 1997 A&M indoor bests in the 60-meter dash and the triple jump. The return of senior Michael McKinney, who should contribute greatly in the 200 and 400, will also be a welcome addition after missing last season because of an injury. Leading the Aggie men in dis tance running will be junior Scott Lengefeld, who returns with the best 3,000-meter run of A&M’s 1997 indoor season, and senior James Menze, who posted the best 5,000-meter mark. Sophomores Jon Nance and Richard McDonald should excel in the pole vault this season after completing a 1-2 fin ish in the Sooner Invitational this past weekend. Junior Mike Lowrance continued his success in the shot put by bringing home the gold from Oklahoma last week end, and should continue to do well all season. The women suffered several tremendous losses from last season, including All-American Rosa Jolivet, Donyale Canada and Anjanette Kirkland. However, the team should rebound strongly courtesy of out standing athletes like senior Adrien Sawyer, whose blistering time in the 60-meter hurdles last weekend al ready qualified her for Nationals at the end of the season. Sawyer excels at the hurdles and competes in the long jump and the triple jump, where she qualified for Nationals a year ago. She did admit that the loss of the three outstand ing women will hurt. “It’s going to affect us is one main race, and that’s the mile re lay,” Sawyer said. “They’re the best quarter-milers, so we’re going to have to find some girls on the team to make up for that.” The list of candidates to replace the stars that have since moved on is certainly an impressive one. In addition to Sawyer, sophomore Chimika Carter is certainly at the head of the list. She will compete mainly in the long jump, triple jump and hurdles, but might see action elsewhere as well. Also on the list of impressive sprinters is junior Det- rich Clariett, who also competes in the long jump and triple jump. Junior. Kelli Schrader set the school record in the weight throw last season, and is off to a quick start this season. Running the mid-distances will be sophomore Ann Dwyer and senior Ceci Hudson, who finished with the top two A&M times in the 800-meter ram lastyear. Hudson also competes in all of the jumps. Junior April King will compete in the 200 and the 400, where she held the top school time in the 1997 sea son. She has also been part of the 1,600-meter relay team in the past. Rounding out the cast of women is junior Farah Banks, who will com pete in the 200, long jump, and the triple jump. “I’m looking forward to having a more competitive indoor team than we’ve had in the past,” Nelson said. With the caliber of athletes com peting this year, both new and old, track and field fans should expect nothing but the best from this tal ented group of people. WHERE ARAMARK SUCCESS :ie»' hus No Limits In 50 states, 11 countries and 500,000 customer locations around the globe, ARAMARK is setting g the pace in quality managed services. We employ some of the world’s most energetic, resourceful, “ customer-oriented people and we give them countless opportunities to shine. As ARAMARK grows, so does our need to attract more bright managers to our operations in facilities management. 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