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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1998)
Vednesday • February 18, 1998 S The Battalion PORTS Come On In, The Water’s Fine mior Mark Naftanel a big splash for Aggie Diving Team Katie Mish Staff writer Mark Naftanel is not afraid to dive in head-first, and Uy is not worried about hitting the board, either. I “I think it’s something you stop worrying about af rit happens a couple of times,” Naftanel said. J Naftanel, a junior at Texas A&M, started diving Jout 11 years ago, after he decided it was time for i to switch sports. 1 was in gymnastics, I was Irrible, and the only thing I I ed to do was floor,” he said. “My xt-door neighbor was in a swimming flogram at Texas Aquatics down at UT, so my om talked to his mom and found out there is a diving program down there too.” I Naftanel immediately enjoyed diving and [sbeen doing it ever since. He said his parents illy encourage him in his diving. He looks to em for direction, but they never hamper him [mi making his own choices. Naftanel said the der divers in his program at home also served la source of motivation. 1 Naftanel chose Texas A&M over the Univer- ly of Texas and Stanford. He said he chose to Jan Aggie out of a sense of loyalty and what was (his heart. j “My brother and sister came here in the ’80s. I It hooked on the traditions and the football lekend experience,” Naftanel said. | He added that the opportunity to be at such a great lang facility with a great coach also helped to lure Inhere, despite the diving team being fairly new. ]“Iwas kind of excited about coming in and sort [starting a new tradition,” he said. | Naftanel is currently the only male on the ving team, due to an injury to red-shirt fresh- lan lessie Even. Naftanel does not like being the ply male competing. J “Jesse’s a great teammate and he’s awesome,” Naf- nia nelsaid. “I can’t wait until next year. It’s killing him; it diving, and it’s killing me not having him dive.” Naftanel said although he is the only male diver, he gets support from the female divers and the men’s swim team, even though they compete in different events. Coach Kevin Wright said he sees Naftanel as an as set to the other divers despite being the only male. He said Naftanel’s strengths tend to set a precedent for the other athletes. “He’s a good all around student athlete and he’s a re ally hard worker,” Wright said. “That in itself keeps the environment good around here.” Naftanel’s focus has improved from the last two years now that he is more seasoned to the competi tion. He said he is gradually lear ning to put away outside distractions when he is on the boar d. He even attended all his classes last year during conference competition. “I used to get real uptight about it, get butterflies in my stomach and get real nervous, but now I’ve sort of learned to take it like a normal day,” Naftanel said. There are still times when he gets down on his performance, but he and Wright are working on it. “It can get frustrating, working on such minor things and little techniques,” Naftanel said. “Just pounding and pounding and trying and you can’t do it, but you realize it’s part of the process.” Wright said a strong point for Naftanel is that he takes criticism well and does not take it as a personal attack. “He has the capacity to be honest. If I tell him something that he needs to improve upon, as far as a mental outlook, focus or something like that, instead of taking it personally and considering it to be an insult, he’ll listen, evaluate, and commu nicate about it,” Wright said. Naftanel said he has hopes that his swimming career will continue after he finishes college. He is shooting for the 2000 Olympics, but he will not stick around for 2004. “I’ll give it my all up to that point, but I have other goals and I’ll want to move on,” Naftanel said. PHOTO COURTESY SPORTS INFORMATION ENNIS Continued from Page 7 Coach Bobby Kleinecke said the SU match was a good learning ex- erience for the women’s team. “I feel like we learned an awful lot TlieLSU match,” he said. “It was our rstbig road matchpJtnd it should |elp us for the match at Rice.” The women’s team defeated Rice on two occasions last year, once in tire regular season, 8-1, and again in the NCAA tournament, 5-4. “The second match (in the NCAA tournament) was more indicative of the way a Rice and A&M match is usually going to go,” Kleinecke said. , Sophomore l.isa Dingwall said to days match is importantforher because Houston is her hometown and she would like to have a strong showing tlreie. “I want to go out there and show them (Rice) that I’m a good player, es pecially since I don’t go to school down there (in Houston),” Dingwall said. Despite the close match with Rice in the NCAA tournament last year, Dingwall said she is not concerned heading into today’s match. “I have total confidence in our team this year,” Dingwall said ‘ T really do believe that we can go out there and dominate.” pager |WP|vlwW airtime ferial phones sold here liscount Paging Syslem •Service •Free Activation •Accessories If You Have Something To Sell Remember: The Battalion Classified Can Do It Call 845-0569 15th Annual Healthy Heart Run benefiting the American Heart Association presented by the A&M College of Medicine 10k, 5k, and 1 mile walk on February 28 at 9 a.m. Location: Reynolds Medical Building Registration forms at Barnes & Noble, Copy Korner or online at hsc.tamu.edu/admis/funrun.html Professional Resume Service GRADUATE STUDENTS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS CO-OP STUDENTS LET US PREPARE A PROFESSIONAL RESUME, TAILOR-MADE FOR YOU' COUNSELING C '-'T’C’ Or 1 O ING VX. TESTU TESTING SERVICES CALL 846-2674 FOR AN APPOINTMENT your ship has come in... Titanic posters now available at Post Oak Mall 764-4444 i Yar^^Sow \ /' ' 1998 msc variety show applications available now! if you have more talent than-. *hanson *bill Clinton playing the saxophone *miiirvamiir *rosanne barr singing the national anthem *vanilla ice *john tesh doing anything you should try out for msc variety show ...this ain ? t your high school’s talent show! a k show off your talent at msc variety show held parent s weekend, april 17 • ^ v applications now available in the msc student programs office ^TOVVTl **applications due February 27** Hali# a J for questions or more info call stacy at 845-1515 Presented by: Are You Sick and Waiting? CALL FIRST A Reduce Your Wait To make an appointment at A. P. Beutel Health Center: 32? Call our Appointment Line at 845-6111, on Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 3£ After hours, call Dial-A-Nurse at 845-2822. 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