The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 04, 1998, Image 7

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The Batii
The Battalion
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Sports
Page 7 • Wednesday, November 4, 1998
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BY AARON COHAN
The Battalion
It was a special night for the Texas A&M
men’s Basketball Team as they kicked off the
-’99 season with an exhibition game against
Austrian traveling club Almliesl Gustino Weis.
Not only was it the first bas
ketball game played on The
ourt at Reed Arena, but the
t time new coach Peggie
illom would be able to see
team in action.
As the inaugural tip-off
to the Aggies, the team
ilayed with extreme intensity
both ends of the court. « Iwwi .
A three pointer in transi-
ion by junior forward Prissy Sharpe put the
,ies ahead by seven with 13:31 remaining in
he first half.
The team never looked back as senior guard
Tarkington and her seven first-half assists
the Aggies shoot a blistering 63 percent
m the field the first twenty minutes,
love to give out the open passes and to give
he ball to the open person,” Tarkington said.
lelped
Almliesl tried answering point for point, but
the stingy Aggie defense tightened up down the
stretch allowing only 38 percent shooting.
The Aggies ended the first half with a note
worthy 17-3 run, crushing any hopes of a come
back from Almliesl.
“Our offense was clicking on all cylinders
and was run very good down the stretch,”
Gillom said.
Similar to the first half finish, the Aggies start
ed the second half with relentless defense.
But easy transition three pointers on fast
breaks allowed Almliesl to try and climb back
into the game with a 10-2 run.
The Aggies’ lead was depleted to 21, but
Gillom called her troops back for a timeout with
9:35 left that allowed them to regroup and play
their tight defense again.
The Lady Aggies finished the game with their
own 10-2 run to beat Almliesl 93-69.
Gillom said there was plenty of room for im
provement even though her team played a great
exhibition match.
“I was not pleased too much with our re
bounding or transition defense,” Gillom said.
“Yet I was very pleased with the overall perfor
mance of the team.”
ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion
Junior forward Kera Alexander drives to the hoop
in A&M’s 93-69 victory over Almliesl.
I FREE T
PAGES
Harriers have difficult weekend at conference meet
he Texas A&M Men’s and
Women’s Cross Country
Teams returned from action
the Big 12 Championships last
weekend in Lincoln, Neb.
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Ouch!
Both squads had difficulty in
Lincoln last weekend. The Big 12
is one of the top three confer-
: resource ijences in the nation this year, and
e Aggies learned why.
The Aggies, who hoped to
place in the top six, placed ninth
with 272 points behind the strong
running of junior Carl Stewart,
who placed 39th overall with his
season-best time of 25 minutes
and 58 seconds.
Sophomore Jim Pat Darcey fin
ished in 60th place with a time of
26:27 and freshman Brandon
Beasley followed in a second later
at 61st place.
Sophomores Mike Hummel
[65th] and Chuck Cusimano
[69th] finished the scoring for the
Aggies with times of 26:37 and
26:45, respectively.
Stewart attributed the poor
showing to a lack of cohesiveness
during the race.
“Chuck Cusimano and Mike
Hummel ran well,” Stewart said.
“They really stepped up. ... But
we didn’t all come together at the
right time.”
In a Texas A&M press release,
Coach Dave Hartman said he felt
the team wasn’t aggressive
enough at the start of the race.
“We did not get out well at
all,” Hartman said. “We just did
n’t have a very good start as a
team, and we needed one on a
narrow course like this.”
The Aggies accomplished their
goal of improving over last year’s
12th place finish by placing tenth
with 252 points.
They were led by freshman
Sarah Doyle, who placed 45th
with a time of 18:50.
Freshman Melissa Gulli and
sophomore Brooke Edwards paced
each other to 52hd and 53rd place
finishes, respectively, with times
of 18:56 and 18:57.
Sophomore Debbie Villareal
[55th] finished in 18:58 and fresh
man Kristy Bonn [57thj finished
in 19:00 to round out the scorers
for the Aggies.
Doyle feels the teaip’s strategy
was a key to their improvement.
“We got a pretty good start,
and that helped us,” Doyle said.
In a Texas A&M press re
lease, Hartman credited Doyle
and the women for placing their
top six runners within a thirteen
second span.
“Sarah Doyle ran a great race
for us,” Hartman said. “We are
very good at running in a pack,
and I think that showed in our
finishes.”
see Harriers on Page 8.
Former high-school star
hits big-time at A&M
BY TOM KENNEDY
The Battalion
A “sophomore jinx” can be de
fined as a subpar second year
in any type of competition
following a strong first campaign.
This term is nowhere to be found
in Lauren Crawford’s vocabulary.
So it should come as no surprise
that Crawford, a sophomore, is
having a breakthrough cross-coun
try season following a year in
which the Texas A&M Women’s
Cross Country Team finished last in
the Big 12 Conference Meet.
As this weekend’s Big 12 Con
ference Meet approaches, the team
expects to improve its perfor
mance, and Crawford appears to be
peaking at the right time.
After finishing the first two
meets as the eighth and ninth run
ner on the team, respectively, she
has stepped up to finish as the
teams’ first runner at the Universi
ty of North Texas meet and placed
second on the team at the Texas
A&M Invitational.
Crawford credits her improve
ment to hard work in the offseason
and first-year coach Dave Hart
man’s new program.
“Perseverance and hard work
gets me through because I don’t
have a lot of natural talent to go off
of like some girls,” Crawford said.
“Hartman’s program is more
geared for runners like me because
it’s more consistent.”
Teammate junior Sandie Ram
sey attributes Crawford’s success
to her wanting to contribute to
the team.
“We’ve got such a good team
with great depth that if you don’t
work hard, you won’t get to go [to
the conference and regional
meets],” Ramsey said. “She likes
cross country a lot more than
track, and she didn’t want to miss
that opportunity.” •
Her consistency, has been even
more amazing than her race times.
Crawford’s three 5,000-meter race
times this season have only differed
by a mere 12 seconds, ranging from
19 minutes and 25 seconds at the
University of Miami (Ohio) to 19:18
at North Texas to her season best of
19:13 at A&M.
The results were not always this
pleasant. The shock of collegiate
cross country required an adjust
ment period for Crawford.
“I used to always finish in the
top ten [in high-school meets],”
she said, “so [not initially placing
high] was a blow, ... but I’m defi
nitely more competitive now.”
Coach Hartman said Craw
ford’s improvement has not gone
unnoticed.
“In this short time, she has come
a long way in her workouts and
races,” Hartman said.
However, Hartman said he is
not the only one to notice her
contributions.
“She leads a lot by example,”
Hartman said. “The other girls re
spect her because she shows up and
does her job day in and day out.”
Racing is not new to Crawford,
who began her career by running
track in junior high.
She continued at Jersey Village
High School outside of Houston,
where she immediately became a
key figure in the team’s third place
finish at the Class 5A State Cross
Country Meet in 1993.
The team won two district titles
and advanced to regional competi
tion three times in her four years at
Jersey Village.
She added another 5A State Meet
appearance to her resume in 1995,
when she placed 28th overall to
help the team to a fifth-place finish.
After such a successful high-
school career, it is surprising to
learn that she almost gave up com
petitive running.
“I was fairly burned out after
my senior year,” Crawford said.
“I really didn’t consider running
in college.” '
see Crawford on Page 8.
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