Monday, June 4, 2001
Page 3
Sports
THE BATTALION
Track finishes big at NCAAs
Men have best showing since 1980; Women’s team finishes in 28th place
By Mark Passwaters
The Battalion
Following up their fine per
formances in the Big 12 Cham
pionships, the Texas A&M
men’s and women’s track teams
put forth another exceptional ef
fort in the NCAA Champi
onships held in Euguene, Ore
gon on May 3 O-June 2. The Big
12 Champion men’s team fin
ished in 10th place, their high
est finish since 1990, while the
women finished 28th.
The men’s team was able to
claim several notable individ
ual performances, led by senior
Tolga Koseoglu’s victory in the
discus. Koseoglu stunned de
fending champion Gabor Mate
of Auburn in winning A&M’s
first individual track title in
three years.
“It feels really good,”
Koseoglu said. “I think this is
the best victory of my career
and I’ve been throwing for al
most 10 years.” .
Senior Bashir Ramzy fol
lowed his outstanding Big 12
meet with a second-place finish
in the 110 meter hurdles.
Ramzy’s silver medal, along with
a seventh-place finish in the
long jump, gives him six All-
American citations in his career.
Ramzy had previously earned
All-American honors for top-
eight finishes in the 1600 meter
relay and the indoor triple jump.
“I think Bashir got a boost
from the (cool) weather,” said
A&M assistant coach for hurdles
Abe Brown. “He was able to fo
cus really well before the race.”
“I really wanted to come in
here and win it, but I’m very
happy with second place be
cause nobody expected me to be
here,” Ramzy said.
Senior Jon Nance shook off a
leg injury to follow up his Big 12
gold medal with a NCAA
bronze by clearing 17 feet, 10
and 3/4 inches.
“On Monday, I didn’t think
he’d be able to jump,” head
coach Ted Nelson said. “Today,
it didn’t bother him at all. That
shows what kind of character
and desire he has.”
For several prominent mem
bers of the A&M track team, the
NCAA championships was their
last meet. Nelson praised his
seniors, saying “We are really
going to really miss Bashir
Ramzy, Jon Nance, Tolga, Kris
Allen and all the seniors. They
have been one of the best groups
to coach over the years.”
The women were paced by
junior Melissa Gulli’s second-
place finish in the 5,000 meters
with a time of 15:55.64, top
ping her own school record by
two seconds.
“Mentally, I was on today.”
Gulli said. “I wanted to finish in
the top five going in, so getting
second is great.”
Senior Christina Ohaeri fin
ished eighth in the 100 meters
with a time of 13.25 seconds,
and sophomore Kendra
Reimer finished ninth in the
heptathalon.
“Melissa Gulli’s race was one
of the all-time time highlights
for A&M women at this meet,”
said associate head coach Ed
Marcinkiewicz. “I was pleased
with (Christina) Ohaeri. That
was great for her to end her ca
reer like that.”
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
Senior Christina Ohaeri finished her Texas A&M track career with an eighth place finish
in the 100 meters at the NCAA Championships, held in Euguene, Ore.
Allen Iverson, the NBA's savior? Foul!
Sixers guard's play, attitude make him poor choice for league's role model
Sunday night, the
Milwaukee Bucks will
take the floor against
the Philadelphia
76ers in the most im
portant game the
Bucks have played in
nearly thirty years. As
if playing in Philadel
phia was not hard enough, the league in
formed Bucks’ forward Scott Williams
that he is suspended from game seven of
the Eastern Conference Finals because
he committed a flagrant foul against
NBAs newest and most interesting
sweetheart, Sixers guard Allen Iverson.
During game six in Milwaukee, Iver
son cut into the lane trying to get a
layup. As Iverson drove to the basket at
breakneck speed, Williams threw his el
bow into Iverson’s collarbone. Iverson
immediately hit the floor.
After the “agonizing pain” immpbi-
lized the star for a few seconds, Iverson
stood up and shot his free throws.
At the time, the referees thought that
Williams’ action was justification for a
flagrant foul one, meaning Iverson got
his free throws and the Sixers retained
possession of the ball.
After reviewing the play, NBA Vice
President for Discipline Stu Jackson ar
bitrarily decided the foul was a flagrant
foul two, which meant that Williams
should have been automatically ejected.
Williams now had accumulated too
many penalty points in the playoffs and
would be suspended for a game — game
seven. How convenient for the 76ers.
This is just another example of the NBA
shoving Iverson down the fans’ throats,
hoping that the NBAb lost fans will return.
Since the NBA lost Michael Jordan,
it has searched for a player to market as
the messiah of basketball. Players like
Jordan and Larry Bird are popular for
more reasons than their ability. Jordan,
Bird and those like them were role
models on and off the court.
Allen Iverson is the last player that
should be a role model. His first rap CD
was full of obscene language demeaning
women, homosexiials and just about
anything else breathing. His body has
more graffiti than the Berlin Wall and
he has a tendency to yell at the referees
when he misses a shot. It is possible that
the last time Iverson threw anything at
someone, it was a chair in a bowling al
ley. That incident precipitated a brawl
and left Iverson with a criminal record
and prison time.
Ever since Iverson was awarded the
league MVP, referees have seem to have
decided Iverson is more delicate than
crystal and now the NBA has done
everything it can to make sure Iverson
is in the NBA finals. The Bucks have al
ready accused the NBA of this, and
maybe they are right.
Remember the Dallas vs. San Anto
nio series where Juwan Howard anni
hilated Derrick Anderson as Ander- .
son went for a lay up?
Howard’s hack job on Ander
son was ruled a flagrant foul
one by the NBA. That cheap
shot — far worse than Wil
iams’ hit on Iverson —
shattered Anderson’s col
larbone. Anderson
missed the remainder of
the Dallas series and was
only able to return for
game four of the West
ern Conference Finals, a
loss to dm Los Angeles
Lakers. As a “victim” of a
flagrant foul two, Iverson
did not miss a minute.
After discovering his
suspension,Williams issued
a statement saying he was
disappointed and that he did
not try to injure Iverson.
Iverson said, “I see a lot of their
big guys take hits at me. In situations
like that, some of our big guys have to
handle the situation. It’s Scott Williams.
I’ll feel real bad if I let Scott Williams
hurt me.”
Such respect for a fellow player. Is
this the kind of player who is worthy of
the league’s MVP trophy? Is this the
player the NBA really wants to use as
their new poster child?
If so, then future NBA hopefuls need
to remember this: Forget practicing
your jump shot and learn to dunk. Do
not bother to learn passing skills and
perfect your rap skills. Most important
ly, make sure you can blame everyone
else in the league for your mistakes.
If you can master these skills,
then you can be the next Allen
Iverson.
Now, with Williams out
of the Bucks’ lineup, th
NBA has essentially ensured that Iver
son and the 76ers can fulfill the league
dream and pit “The Answer” against
another no-class player like Kobe
Bryant for the NBA championship.
Between those two, who needs role
models like Jordan and Bird?
Matthew Thigpen is a junior
journalism major.
ap
I
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
Sports in Brief
Astros Wagner
Injured In loss
Closer Billy Wagner left the
Astros' game against the
Dodgers wjth a strained left el
bow after facing just two bat
ters in the ninth inning Sun
day. 1 /8 The left-hander,
fourth in the National League
with 1 3 saves, had what he de
scribed as a "micro-pull" while
giving up a double to Shawn
Green in the ninth inning. The
Dodgers won 9-8 in 10 in
nings.
Wagner will have an MRI
exam Monday.
"It wasn't a pop," he said.
"It was more like a pull. With
out really knowing the MRI re
sults, I don't know what to
think."
Rangers drop
another to Twins
Jason Maxwell had the
third three-hit game of his ca
reer — all against Texas —
and drove in two runs as the
Minnesota Twins beat the
Rangers 6-3 Sunday.
Eric Milton (6-3) allowed
three runs and six hits in sev
en innings to win for the first
time in four starts. He struck
out seven and walked none.
After Texas took the lead
on Gabe Kapler's RBI double
in the first, the Twins went
ahead in the second on RBI
singles by Maxwell, Tom
Prince and Cristian Guzman
off Rick Helling (3-7).
Woods crushes
field at Memorial
Tiger Woods won his
third straight Memorial ti
tle in his final tuneup for
the U.S. Open. Woods' six-
under-par 66 on Sunday al
lowed him to cruise to a
seven-stroke victory over
Paul Azinger, the leader
coming into the day, and
Spain's Sergio Garcia.
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