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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1999)
le Battalion Sports Page 9 • Tuesday, April 27, 1999 Equality in athletics A&M to add new women's sport for Fall '99 semester Title IX Tallies Varsity Level I teams for A&M Men’s sports Football Baseball Basketball Indoor track & field Outdoor track & field Golf Tennis Swimming & diving Cross country men's and women's athletic programs: Women’s sports Volleyball Softball Basketball Indoor track & field Outdoor track & field Golf Tennis Swimming & diving Cross country Soccer “An athletics program can he considered gender equitable when the participants in both the men’s and women’s sports programs would accept as fair and equitable the overall program of the other gender. ” — NCAA Gender-Equity Task Force BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion The 1999-2000 season should mark an exciting time for Texas Aggie sports. Not only will the current sports be striving to top this year’s impressive NCAA and Big 12 performances but will move into a pe riod of growth as the athletic program ex pands to meet the needs of the rapid changing and growing student body. Next season will mark the addition of at least one and possibly two women’s sports to meet Title IX requirements. The expansion comes just in time for the 25th Anniversary of women’s sports at Texas A&M, which will be celebrated next October. In the beginning the program started with less than six sports and a bud get of $36,000. A quarter of a century lat er there is a possibility for 12 sports and a budget of over $7 million. Title IX refers to a section of the Edu cation Amendments of 1972 that deals with gender issues in the education envi ronment. In 1992 the NCAA created the Gender-Equity Task Force to help ensure the fair treatment in athletics on the basis of equity. The task force concluded that there was a deficit in the opportunity to participate for women. As a result the requirements became more defined in hopes of achieving a well- balanced athletic environment. The regu lations govern the overall approach, the nature of the particular sports, reasonable decisions, percentages of athletes, number of teams, and tangible benefits. With the last two academic classes yielding more female entrants than male, the percentage of women has risen to 48 percent, resulting in a shortage of female athletes by percentage according to Title IX guidelines. This forced the athletic pro gram to take a look at percentage side of the regulation to meet the proportionality requirements. Although the women have one more sport than the men, they are still in need of approximately 50 athletes. The numbers are skewed as a result of the large numbers in football and baseball, which no current women’s sports can equal. “We’re in great shape,” senior associ ate athletic director Lynn Hickey said about complying with Title IX regula tions. “The only thing we’re in a deficit for is numbers and that comes from the growth of the university. We want to be proactive about this.” Currently, A&M leads the Big 12 in ath letic gender equity and is fifth nationally with a 3.43 on a 4.0 scale, behind only the three military academies and Georgia Tech University. In addition A&M joins Boise State University for the distinction of be ing the only two schools in the nation to spend in excess of 40 percent of its athlet ic budget on women’s sports. A&M has an active history of adding sports and adding to the Aggie tradition of success. The last sport that was added to the A&M sporting community was women’s soccer in 1993. In the five seasons of its ex istence, the sport has emerged into a top 25 program that, in 1997, grabbed Texas A&M’s first ever Big 12 Conference regu lar-season and tournament champi onships. In the same season, the Aggie soccer team took the Big 12 Championship, and four of the ten women’s sports broke into top-10 na tional rankings, while seven were represent ed in NCAA postseason competition. “We can look at the history and see some good things have happened in a rel atively short amount of time,” Hickey said. “Almost all of the teams have been in the top 25. That kind of progress is very com mendable for this University.” In some instances, schools are forced to cut back the men’s program to meet the Title IX requirements because of budget constraints. At A&M, the program has been able to expand and excel from what was once an all-male institution while not making sacrifices on the men’s program. “We’ve been able to keep the men’s program intact because of football, the 12th Man and the Big 12,” Hickey said. The decision on which program will be added will be announced in late May or early June. The sport or sports will be in place for the Fall ’99 semester. uid for Elway? roncos schedule Sunday press conference to announce QB’s retirement i new tested me cas f 1 enicel F whoM theo# rente* makes drug i s a brea st : medi^ an. ’ DENVER (AP) — John Elway will ire Sunday because he no longer be- ves he can handle the physical pun- iment of the NFL. Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen wmed Monday that Elway was iving football because he “felt in his sjBnind that he had some physical iblems he didn’t think he could over- |:M” The usually durable Elway, 38, Hd all or part of six games last sea- h with hamstring, back and rib in- ties. Of more concern, however, was troublesome left knee. Limping nund a golf course in California last sekend, he admitted he eventually ftequire an artificial knee. Bowlen said the news conference, 'eady delayed several times, will be 'Id Sunday at a time and location to determined later this week. r e wanted to be very sensitive to ipimilies involved in the Columbine drool shooting) situation,” Bowlen The final drive Career statistics for Denver Broncos QB John Elway, who is expected to announce his retirement Sunday after ±7 seasons: GAMES 234 PASSES ATTEMPTED 7,250 PASSES COMPLETED 4,123 TOTAL PASSING YARDS 51,475 TOTAL YARDS RUSHING 3,407 TOUCHDOWNS 333 PASSING 300 RUSHING 33 INTERCEPTIONS 226 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS • No. 1 overall pick in 1983 NFL Draft by Balti more Colts • Participated in a record 41 game-saving, fourth- quarter drives • One of only two quarter backs to throw for over 50,000 yards in a career ELWAY trts id. ‘We wanted to make sure we did 't in any way interrupt the grieving ocess. “We feel that Sunday probably is the ne when we could put this tragedy hind us, and perhaps John’s press ence could be received as sort of lappy time. ” • ti ill Monday’s Denver Post, Elway left tlOfl ) doubt about his plans. , , “Absolutely, I’m retired,” he told the Cifw' ®paper. “One of the reasons I held f saying anything was to make sure s what I would do. “I seriously considered coming jentf back, but I just couldn’t make it be cause of my knee. “I’ve never liked it when an athlete says he’s retired and then comes back. Once I’ve decided, I am certain.” Bowlen said he was in Australia nearly two weeks ago, promoting his team’s Aug. 6 preseason game there, when he received a telephone message from Elway. “As soon as I got the message, I knew what it was about,” Bowlen said. “I called him back, and basically, it was a short conversation. He said, ‘Pat, I’ve decided to retire and go on with the rest of my life.’ I told him I respected his de cision and was really happy for him. “Because I couldn’t get back until the following week, we originally de cided to announce it on Wednesday (April 21). With what happened at Columbine (April 20), that was very much not appropriate. And it was just a matter of time before the press figured out what was going on.” Bowlen, who said he will retire El- way’s No. 7, insisted he would not low er his expectations for the two-time Su per Bowl champions this season, despite the loss of the Hall of Fame- bound quarterback. “John will be missed, for sure,” Bowlen said. “But, no, our expectations are going to be the same. I think we’ve got a very solid football team. Bubby Brister is going to play well, and, of course, we have Terrell Davis and many other very good players on this team. “I would have loved to have had John come back for another year. I’d love to see him three-peat, do some thing that no other quarterback has done in history. But that wasn’t to be. So we’ll go forward. We’U be fine. I think we’ll be a good football team, if not a great football team.” ience itat# riflin' 1 '^' icntf len# wckets blast Lakers in playoff preview cnee HOUSTON (AP) — Scottie Pippen ad 26 points and six steals as the ouston Rockets itilt a big lead and id not lose it, snap- ing a three-game >sing streak with a !)2-|80 victory over ae floundering Los pgeles Lakers on Monday night, fthe Lakers lost heir third straight jame and their second straight by at bst 20 points to fall 11/2 games be hind Houston in the race for fourth PIPPEN place in the conference and home- court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets used a 22-6 spurt start ing in the first quarter to build a 41-20 lead with 8:01 to go in the half. Los Angeles, which has lost six of eight games, never got the deficit below double figures. Charles Barkley had 20 points and 16 rebounds, Cuttino Mobley added 15 points and Hakeem Olajuwon had 14 points and eight rebounds. Pippen took over in the second quarter with 12 points that included three 3-pointers. The Rockets hit six of their first 12 3-point baskets but made only four of their next 19 and finished 10-for-31. Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Glen Rice added 16 points and Rick Fox had 12. Notes: Kobe Bryant opened the sea son with five straight double-doubles but he has not had one since March 14. The Rockets’ victory was the 350th of coach Rudy Tomjanovich’s coaching career, all with the Rockets. Houston’s 31 3-pointers were a sea son high, beating their 30 attempts March 25 against Toronto. MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion The Texas A&M Baseball Team celebrates following a grand slam by freshman designated hitter Greg Porter (44) during the third inning of the Aggies’ game against the University of Kansas Sunday. Aggies to battle Bearkats A&M Baseball Team looks to move to 31 -2 at home BY TRAVIS HARSCH Staff Writer Each year, the coming of spring brings with it a sense of new beginnings and of course the op portunity for some spring cleaning. That is ex actly what the Texas A&M Baseball Team will be trying to do tonight when it goes for the season sweep of the Sam Houston State University Bearkats at Olsen Field. The Aggies have taken both meetings with the Bearkats this season, winning 7-3 in Huntsville in February and 15-4 earlier this month at home. A&M has posted a remarkable 30-2 record at the friendly con fines of Olsen Field. The Aggies are enjoying their highest ranking of the season, second in the Baseball America poll. The ranking also is the highest point the Ag gies have reached since the 1993 team was listed as second in the final poll for that season. A&M was last ranked first nationally in the June 1, 1993 Collegiate Baseball survey. The Aggies are coming off a weekend sweep of the University of Kansas Jayhawks that, combined with a Baylor University loss to the University of Oklahoma, has given A&M some breathing room in the race for the conference title. The series with Kansas also brought sopho more outfielder Daylan Holt closer to the sin gle-season home run record set last year by Craig Kuzmic. Holt stands tied with Kuzmic with 25 blasts on the year and has gone deep in each of his last four games. Senior John Scheschuk holds a team record of his own with home runs in five consecutive contests. As a team, the Aggies stand just five home runs away from breaking the team season record of 88, set by the 1989 squad that was recognized before the Sunday game with Kansas and tied by the 1995 team. Sam Houston State comes into the game hav ing lost five straight, including a three-game sweep by Southwestern Louisiana this past week end that dropped the Bearkats’ overall record on the season to 21-28. SHSU also has struggled in Southland Conference play, posting an 8-16 record. The game will be the penultimate regular sea son contest of the year and the final non-confer ence game at Olsen Field this season, as the Ag gies finish their home schedule with a game against the University of Texas Friday.
