Thursday, March 23,] SPORTS lirsday, March 23, 20(X) THE BATTALION Page 9 motives lothes when he stoppedai in. 28. Two womens! ier ordered everyone i\ ed, they said they sawa: the confrontation unfoi ished outside to confront ; officers said Young did reman and did not respond! his weapon, £0 they shot p’s death spread throng! nd others began questii protests and vigils, whi ;ment could be trustedto ;uspicions, Diaz was cl cutors said he displayedaa ided in Young's death, icir client as a scapegoat, al Sheldon Whitehout study police relations isc has refused toappoi , angering many communi ally sensitive time. State st-introduced bill that ther lawmaker drew critic:' the word “plantations"!!® • State of Rhode Islandas: e said “plantations"coniiE 4 ^ A&M men head to NCAAs iUi Wm BRIAN SMITH/Thf. Battalion I freshman Brent Ruoff swims in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2000 Phillips 66/Big 12 liampionships on March 4 at the Student Rec Center Natatorium. BY MATT LAGESSE The Battalion Less than four months ago, swimmer Al fred Mansour was not sure he would ever swim competitively again. Today he is in Minneapolis with eight of his teammates preparing to compete in the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. With the aid of modern medicine and a supportive cast of doctors, parents and team- mates, Mansour overcame the effects of a fractured wrist which left him sidelined for a substantial part of the season. Mansour sustained the injury after landing awkwardly on his left wrist in a Frisbee game during winter tyeak in Florida. Upon learning the extent of the damage to his wrist, Mansour said that he wasn’t sure how to react to the devastating news. “When I was in the orthopedics office, and he came in with the final X-ray and told me the bone was cracked, I wanted to break down,” Mansour said. “It was a very down time for me.” Mansour said the initial prognosis indi cated that he would be sidelined for 12 weeks, leaving little hope for a full recovery before the end of the season. Flowever, with a strong work ethic and the support of his parents and trainers, Mansour found himself back in the water just five weeks later. Texas A&M men’s swimming head coach Mel Nash said that the outpouring of support and Mansour’s desire to retum were the key ingredients for a quick recovery. “It was a full family effort,” said Nash. “It was an incredible combination of positive thinking, commitment, focus and fate that al lowed him to get back to where he was.” Although he had to make several refine ments to his technique, Mansour said that the changes in his swimming led to positive results. “It gets better and better every day,” said Mansour. “I really worked hard to keep my triceps in shape, and I have been getting a lit tle faster every day.” Mansour’s plane ticket to Minneapolis was secured at the Phillips 66/Big 12 Swim ming and Diving Championships on March 4 when he, in his first meet since the injury, an chored the 200-yard relay team that finished second place with a NCAA qualifying time of 1:27.19. Nash also said that Mansour’s phenome nal performance during the meet was a trib ute to all of the adversity and physical battles the junior had to face. “It was a tremendous performance,” Nash said. “He didn’t start that well because it was the first time he had been in a meet in the last six weeks, but he hopped up angry in the last relay and almost pulled off the upset.” Joining Mansour in Minneapolis will be 200-yard medley relay teammates Riley Janes, Nik Tate and David Morrow. Also on the Aggie roster are divers Jesse Even and Adam Morgan, who qualified for the meet at the Zone D Diving Championships March 10-11 at the Rec Center Natatorium. A&M will also send three first-time NCAA participants — Patrick Kennedy, Scott Taylor and Erik Toth. The three-day event is being held at the University of Minnesota starting today. Track and field heads to LSU I No. 13 Aggies host Oklahoma, ACU BE found /ater wells NGELES (AP) — Aboi >f drinking water wells in nay be contaminated witk ie additive MTBE, accord- tidy released Wednesday, al government already is an use of the chemical, chers with the U.S. Geo- vey and the Oregon Grad ate's Department of Envi- Study found about 9,000 |o build into the season, veils looked at were with- :ter of a leaking fuel tanL rcher John Zogorski said, gorski said it’s likely that ie 9,000 wells are contain- MTBE, or methyl tertiary BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion The Texas A&M track and field team is stati ng the 2000 outdoor season with highlight per- brmances. After sweeping the team titles at the ’ollege Station Relays last week, the Aggie men nd women will travel to the Louisiana State Quadrangular Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. for ts second week of outdoor competition. The meet will feature four teams— Louisiana itate University, Texas Christian University and Mahoma University, in addition to the A&M quad—but promises to give the Aggies a chance ;c to say a significant bul mknown number of com- ter supply wells may be ? d. “Tie number 9,000 is so ~ ' e number of wells that may may well be worrisome, dy omitted 19 states, i ifornia and Texas, because J needed information on he study was posted in the on of the journal Environ- mce & Technology, inton administration on day that it is moving to from gasoline, but it a decade before the possi- genic substance no longer at to the water supply, ly and more than 50 oth- IE and related issues :d this weekend in .tring the national meeting ican Chemical Society, i as been used in gasoline tdes to limit air pollution, ily the only carcinogenic be found in leaking un- iiel tanks. But other pol- benzene, “tend to absorb d soil and degrade much orski said. riables play a role in (ie- hether MTBE will make I, Zogorski said, ig excessively makes the rse,” said Zogorski, from ical Survey. “It draws nination into the well.If tie is low, typically the TBE) passes right by." With only three days of competition behind hem. the team has posted five NCAA provision- 1 qualifying marks. The men’s team owns three of those marks, -ophomore Bashir Ramzy posted a 51 -8 1/2 pro- isional mark in the triple jump, continuing his ' success from A&M’s indoor season. The 1,600 relay team of Ramzy, senior Johan Lannefors, ophomore Brandon Evans and senior Travis McAshan ran a qualifying time of 3:07 fiat. Both Ramzy and the relay team competed in the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this month. Junior Tolga Koseoglu rounded out the men’s early season highlights with a distance of 196-9 in the discus. That mark, his season debut, was just one inch shy of the NCAA automatic quali fying mark with two months of competition still remaining. Sophomores Robyn Burkhardt and Katy Doyle turned out a pair of consideration times for the women’s team. Burkhardt cleared 5-11 1/4 in the high jump while Doyle hurled the javelin 163-0. A&M has also faired well against Big 12 com petition. In their debut meet, the A&M men out- performed Texas Tech University and the Uni versity of Nebraska. The women added a win over Oklahoma State University in addition to victo ries over the Red Raiders and Comhuskers. With two weeks remaining before their first big competition at the University of Texas host meet, the Texas Relays, A&M is looking for ear ly motivators for what promises to be a grueling track and field season. lam BY AL LAZARUS The Battalion In a one-week span beginning Saturday, the 13th-ranked Texas A&M men’s tennis team will take on No. 8 Baylor University and No. 4 Pepperdine University. So who are the Aggies most concerned about right now? How about No. 47 University of Okla homa. A&M (5-4) will battle the resurgent Sooners (10-5) at 2 p.m. at the Varsity Ten nis Center in the first match of a double- header. The Aggies will face Abilene Chris tian University in the nightcap at 6 p.m. “The Baylor match is not even an issue right now,” A&M men’s tennis coach Tim Cass said. “We think very highly of Okla homa and are not looking past them.” The Sooners are a team on the move af ter a recent defeat of No. 17 University of Minnesota. The victory jumped OU seven spots from its previous ranking of No. 54. “We know Oklahoma has a great tennis tradition,” Cass said. “That was an impres sive win over Minnesota.” Cass said the Aggies’ match against ACU in the second half of the doubleheader should allow them to reach deeper than usual into their talented roster. In the latest individual rankings, A&M ju nior Shuon Madden jumped five spots to No. 3 in the nation. The ranking is the highest- ever singles ranking held by an A&M play er, but Cass said he does not expect it to be a distraction to Madden, who last Thursday was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the fifth time in his career. “Shuon’s been through that his whole life, so I don’t think it’s very different for him,” he said. “And his concern at this point of the season is on the team, not on individual rank ings.” Junior Cody Hubbell joins Madden in the national top 100 for the second time this sea son at No. 90. In doubles. Madden and junior Dumitru Caradima are ranked No. 15. ■■ SUSAN REDDING/Tm: Battalion A&M junior Shuon Madden hits a forehand against the University of Miami. nfkyiv RETIREMENT INSURANCE MUTUAL FUNDS TRUST SERVICES TUITION FINANCING r» - j If f] (f P Jl d czi II k 11 qfl X i-T-X Vote M r m p J CJ r p J IllSJiS How Does a $7 fee increase benefit TAMU students? Students will be voting Mar. 29 & 30 on whether to increase the Recreational Sports Fee. The Department of Recreational Sports and Student Government leaders have recommended a net $7 increase. The increase will preserve what Aggies have now. Specifically, the Rec Center and Department of Recreational Sports programs will be maintained and operated in the same high quality and accessible manner that they are today. The Department will be able to replace old equipment and keep it in good working order. The Rec Center will con tinue to he open from early morning to late evening, and will be able to continue to offer the programs and services students have come to expect and enjoy. A vote of "yes" will ensure that future Aggies have the same opportunity to recreate,* socialize and be exposed to a healthy lifestyle in well-maintained and beautiful surroundings. Polling Sites: 9 a.m. MSC Kleberg Evans Library Duncan Dinning Flail -5 p.m. March 29 & 30 Rec Center Zachry Bush School outside All Faith Chapel Blocker Wehner Commons While TIAA-CREF invests for the long term, it s nice to see performance like this today. onl* TIAA-CREF delivers impressive results like these by combining two disciplined investment strategies. In our equity accounts, for example, we combine active management with enhanced indexing. With two strategies, we have two ways to seek out performance opportunities—helping to make your investments work twice as hard. CREF GLOBAL EQUITIES ACCT. 1 36.05 22.02' 18.75 % 1 YEAR 5 YEARS SINCE INCEPTION AS OF 12/31/99 AS OF 12/31/99 5/1/92 EXPENSE RATIO CREF GLOBAL INDUSTRY EQUITIES AVERAGE 0.37“ 1.92“ Combine this with our low expenses and you'll see how TIAA-CREF stands apart from the competition. With over $250 billion in assets, we're the world's largest retirement company and the leading choice on America's campuses. If that sounds good to you, consider this number 1 800-842-2776. Call and find out how TIAA-CREF can work for you today and tomorrow. Referendum information available at recsports.tamu.edu Ensuring the future for those who shape it. 5 o ; 4 2 - 2 7 76 www.tiaa-cref.