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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1999)
|e Battalion Sports Page 7 • Monday, April 5, 1999 unity for nts to askcxf ^search ege. A social follow thefe vill conclude»: ay in Ruddertl a.m. to4pif- aeduledtoW" panics inert ral artsrwe ■operstiet® ^^10^'- J.P. BEATO/The Battalion \&M senior Brent Horan volleys during singles play against Ohio State .University at the Varsity Tennis Center March 24. The Texas A&M Men’s pennis Team defeated No. 34 Texas Tech University, 5-2, Thursday. exas Tech falls to Aggie netters STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS TS mpaigi f The No. 14 Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team knocked off No. 34 Texas Tech University, 5-2, Thursday night at the A&M Var sity Tennis Center. I The Aggies (12-2, 4-0 Big 12) started against Tech by winning the doubles ■oint, something they have done in 11 of their 14 ■latches this year. I “I feel like we have had some success here in loubles,” A&M coach Tim Cass MADDEN said. “The thing we work on is bonUSCi showing energy and enthusiasm on every single point.” | A&M sophomores Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden, ranked No. 1 nationally, won ■ecisively, 8-2. Senior Brent Ho- nce A&M ran and freshman Jarin Skube, playing in the No. 2 spot, won 8-6. In singles action, the Aggies won four of six matches, includ ing a 6-3, 6-1 victory from No. 30 Madden over Tech’s Borut Mart- incevic. Caradima, playing No. 2 for the Aggies, also won easily, 6-1, 6-1. Horan and junior Juan Aram- buro, playing No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, rounded out the Ag gies’ four singles wins. Cass said he was pleased to get a victory over Tech. “I think Texas Tech is playing very well right now,” he said. “Overall, we had a good team ef fort across the board.” Cass said the match will help prepare the Aggies for a grueling conference stretch. “We are well aware of the conference race and what it takes to win,” he said. ndation jfKyleb omen’s Golf Team places 17th in Tempe STAFF AND WIRE REPORT fU The Texas A&M Women’s Golf 1 Team, ranked 38th in the nation, “ carded a final round of 319 to place 17th in the Ping/Arizona State In vitational at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, BECKER 'Ariz., Saturday. ■ The 319 capped a 54-hole run of 324-325- 1319, the team’s l|ghest score this slason. A&M was llirt by the ab sence of fresh- ■an Anna Jons- s|n, who won back-to-back ■urnaments earlier in the spring. Jimsson suffered a strained back ■uscle March 20 and also was bat ing the flu. This year’s competition marked |/|&M’s third straight appearance in the event, held annually at the par- |72, 6,090-yard course. Host school Arizona State Uni- I versity won the championship by 20 I strokes, besting No. 1 Duke Univer sity, who finished second. The top- Hnked Blue Devils were led by se nior Jenny Chuasiriporn, the world’s top-ranked amateur and Inner-up at last year’s U.S. Open. Several other teams ranked in the nation’s top ten also were fea tured in the field. Second-ranked University of Arizona placed third, while No. 4 Tulsa University fin ished fifth, and No. 5 University of Southern California finished ninth. Defending champion Stanford Uni versity, ranked eighth nationally, placed 10th. The Aggies’ top effort was turned in by junior Anna Becker, who tied for 26th with rounds of 76-76-80 for a total of 232. Sopho more Marta Ostos tied for 49th with a final-round 77 for a total of 237, while freshman Mackenzie Dyslin tied for 76th with a final- round 79 and a three-day total of 247. Sophomore Mimi Epps was 84th with a final-round 83, and freshman Jennifer Poth finished 91st. A&M will be back in action April 12-13 for the Susie Maxwell Bern- ing Classic at the Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Golf Course in Norman, Okla. The Clas sic will serve as A&M’s final tune- up for the 1999 Big 12 Champi onships in Boulder, Colo., where the Aggies will attempt to defend their 1998 Big 12 title. A&M defeat ed the University of Texas by four strokes in last year’s champi onships. Ags excel at new-look Relays Good weather, new field help track teams to strong showing JASON LINCOLNAhE Baitalion A&M sophomore Kris Allen (right) and Texas’ Kevin Hamilton clear the final hurdle during the men’s 110-meter high hurdle competition at the Texas Relays Saturday in Austin. Allen finished second in the race, while teammate Bashir Razey finished fourth. BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion The sky was ominous for the running of the 72nd Texas Relays, looking to turn this meet into yet another weather disappointment for the Texas A&M Hack and Field Team. In the end, it would be just the opposite, as the weather broke and the Aggies had their first true look at their ability against Big 12 competition. The track season had been a disappointment for A&M, as the first meets of the season were characterized by bad weather turning into bad results for the Aggies. While the Austin compe tition was not perfect weather, A&M took ad vantage of all that they could. “We performed really well this weekend,” A&M coach Ted Nelson said. “It was a good meet for us compared to the last couple of weeks.” It was not just the weather that turned this meet into one of the most successful visits by the Aggies to the University of Texas-sponsored event. 1999 featured the opening of the state of the art Mike A. Myers Hack Complex, patterned to be one of the fastest fields in the nation. And the result — a sold-out performance with 20,000 in attendance, 18 event records broken, 377 teams from the country’s top high schools, colleges, universities and sponsors and over 3,500 athletes. All this plus appearances from such Olympic greats as gold medalist and world recordholder Michael Johnson. “Haditionally, the Texas Relays has not been productive for A&M, but this year we showed a lot of improvement,” Nelson said. “It’s a step ping stone for us to gain some confidence com peting against the best athletes in America.” The Aggies were led by a combination of sea soned experience by the veterans and pure tal ent and determination on the part of ‘99 new comers. Senior All-American Detrich Clariett led the veterans’ performances with a fourth-place fin ish in the triple jump, shattering the school out door record by six inches with a jump of 43 81/2 and breaking her indoor record by 3/4.” “DD [Clariett] has firmly established herself as the top triple jumper in school history,” A&M associate head coach Ed Marcinkiewicz said. “What sets her apart is her consisjency. She’s very durable, and you can always count on her being in the hunt at every meet.” On the side of the newcomers, the highlight scame from freshmen Natalie Young and Robyn Burkhardt. Young ran to a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.51 seconds, the fourth-fastest in A&M history. Burkhardt won the high jump in section B for the third time this season by clearing 5’11.25,” a provi sional NCAA qualifying height, and would have placed her in third in section A. “I didn’t expect to jump this high,” Burkhardt said. “It feels really good to get the win.” Other strong finishers for the Aggies were men’s 110-meter high hurdlers Kris Allen and Bashir Razey, who placed second and fourth re spectively while women’s 100-meter high hur dlers Christine Ohaeri and Chimika Carter place seventh and eighth. In the javelin, Esther Eisen- hauer placed second, while Katy Doyle and Havis Grasha placed fourth in their respective events. The sprint relay of Allen, Toya Jones, Billy Fobbs and Micheal Price ran a 39.66 for fifth. The 1600-meter relay of Derrick Woods, Johan Lannefors, Price and McAshan ran to sixth place with a 3:05.89. “We’ve been doing real bad lately,” Price said. “We haven’t had the weather conditions to show what we can do. Now we know, so if we just keep pushing it will be all right.” The Aggies will look to build on their per formance when they return to College Station for the Texas A&M Invitational next weekend and prepare to continue performing better as they get ready for the top end of the season meets. “This was an important meet for us,” Nelson said, “because if we can do well here than we know we can perform at the really big meets.” Baseball Team sweeps Conihuskers No. 6 Aggies move to 22-1 at Olsen Field BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion University of Nebraska athletic teams just can’t stand coming to Col lege Station. For the second time in six months, a Nebraska team on a roll came into town ranked and in the conference lead and left with a loss. The first time it was the Aggie football team that did the damage to the Cornhuskers’ No. 2 ranking and their 19-game winning streak. This time around it was the Texas A&M Baseball Team’s turn as the sixth-ranked Aggies swept the 18th- ranked Cornhuskers and ended their 11-game winning streak this past weekend at Olsen Field. The sweep propelled the Aggies (28-8, 11-3 Big 12) into second place in the Big 12 just behind conference leader Baylor University. The Aggies started off the series with a bang, taking the first game 14- 4. Junior third baseman Dell Lind sey was the hitting star for the Ag gies going 4-5 with three home runs, 5 RBIs and five runs scored on the night. Lindsey tied an Aggie single game record with the three home runs. He became only the eighth person in Aggie history, and the first since sophomore right fielder Daylan Holt earlier in the year, to accomplish the feat. A&M jumped on Nebraska pitch er Jay Sirianni early and often. The Aggies roughed up Sirianni for four runs in the first inning and four more in the fourth. The Aggies were graced with an other outstanding performance by ju nior pitcher Casey Possum. Possum (6-3) limited the Corn huskers to four runs on five hits in nine innings pitched. The first game of Saturday’s dou bleheader featured the Aggies hitting power and even a little bit of Mother Nature’s power. A 35-minute rain delay in the bot- J.P. BEATO/The Bai talion The No. 6 Texas A&M Baseball Team swept the 18th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers this past weekend at Olsen Field. The sweep helped move the Aggies into second place in the Big 12 Conference. tom of the sixth was enough to slow down the Aggies however as they cruised to a 16-5 win. The Aggies scored four times in that sixth inning with two hits before and two hits after the rain delay. A&M also used big innings in the second and the fifth scoring five and six runs respectively. Holt led the Aggies’ hitting going 4-5 with two home runs, five RBIs and three runs. Holt’s home runs pushed his team leading total to 16. Junior second baseman Sean Heaney was also hot at the plate go ing 3-6 with two doubles, a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored. Junior pitcher Chance Caple was solid in the win for the Aggies. Caple (5-3) gave up four runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched. The last game of the series pro duced a real nail-biter as the Aggies won 3-2 in 10 innings. Freshman designated hitter Greg Porter doubled in junior Stephen Tru itt to produce the winning run. Porter, who had a game-winning home run against UNLV two weeks ago in the championship game of the Aggie Continental Airlines Baseball classic, went 1 -4 in the game with the game-winning double. Sophomore Chris Russ (8-1) got the win for the Aggies in relief of starter Matt Ward. Ward gave up one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched. Russ, who leads the Aggies in wins this year, gave up an unearned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched. Nebraska pitcher Shane Komine pitched admirably in the loss for the Cornhuskers. Komine (5-1) went the distance giving up three runs on ten hits in 9 2/3 innings pitched. The next game for the Aggies is this Tuesday against Sam Houston State University at Olsen Field. A&M Baseball vs Nebraska April 2-3 Game 1: A&M, 14- 4 W-Casey Possum (6-3) L-Jay Sirianni (4-2) Game 2: A&M, 16-5 W-Chance Caple (5-3) L-Scott Fries (5-2) Game 3: A&M, 3-2 (10 innings) W-Chris Russ (8-1) L-Shane Komine (5-1)