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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2004)
m Men’s basketball Women’s tennis Men’s tennis Sports The Battalion 3 after requirj fthe Ihefei y hislw is. who ci irtaoce mmmBEmsm George P. Mitchell Tennis Center Page 5 • Friday, March 5, 2004 Archers descend on A&M By Jordan Meserole THE BATTALION Many sports focus on ath- etes performing together as a jnitto win events. High school collegiate coaches have iong worn out the phrase There’s no T in team.” But irchery pits teammate against teammate. The Texas A&M archery team will compete in the Indoor National Championships this weekend. The toughest compe- ition will mostly be wearing naroon and white. A&M is home to two world champion medalists: junior Amber Dawson and senior Wary Zorn. In summer 2003, e duo teamed up with Colorado native Ay a LaBrie to represent the United States and earn the gold medal in the world championships. B A&M head coach Kathy issinger is familiar with coaching champions. She has led the Aggies to seven con- itts'-idfl secutive national champi- jainfod onships and has seen 10 ice 1M archers win individual colle- lewhok giate national titles during her ws cod tenure. “Having two of the best Tirol makes my life easier,” wash Eissinger said of Zorn and suMi Dawson. “I don’t really have to coach them too much - 1 just have to make sure they lave a place to shoot.” At last year's Indoor | National Championships, the Aggies were surprised by Christie Bisco of Atlantic Cape Community College, who took first in the contest. Dawson finished a close second, trail ing by only eight points while Zomfinished third, five points Aggie baseball heads to UCLA File Photo • THE BATTALION Texas A&M senior archer Mary Zom takes aim during practice in 2002. Zom leads the Aggies into the South Region Indoor Nationals this weekend at G. Rollie White Coliseum. behind Dawson. This year, the competition is expected to be focused on Zorn and Dawson as Bisco is no longer compet ing on the collegiate level. Dawson said she is looking for a type of redemption after the close defeat last year. “I’ve been working hard all year, mostly for this,” Dawson said. “This is a big one I want to win.” Dawson said she isn’t intimidated about shooting against world record holder Zorn because the two practice side by side nearly everyday. Zorn said whether she gets a win or not this weekend, she wants to walk away with a good feeling. Zorn said her third place finish at last year’s Indoor Championships left a bitter taste in her mouth. “I've been preparing and trying to do all the right things - I’ve been drinking my orange juice this week,” Zorn said. “I'm going to try and shoot my best, but I can't real ly control what the competi tion does.” Zorn, who normally shoots in the compound-bow events, will also be shooting in the recurve events this weekend. Zorn will face a tough com petitor in A&M senior Lorinda Cohen. Cohen, a three-time All-American, has finished second all three years at the Indoor Championships. “I want to take (first-place) this year” Cohen said. “I’ve been jumpy waiting for it to get here.” There will be other archers from colleges around the nation competing this weekend in the championship, but none are expected to present a big challenge to A&M. “There are some other good shooters out there,” Eissinger said. “But they'd really have to step it up to win.” The championship begins at 6 p.m. Friday at G. Rollie White Coliseum and continues through Sunday. By Troy Miller THE BATTALION After the Texas A&M base ball team lost 12 players, including eight pitchers, from its 2003 squad, the 2004 season looked like it could turn into a rebuilding year. But the No. 12 Aggies don’t look to be rebuilding, as they have begun their campaign with the best start since 1993 (15-1). A big part of A&M’s (12-1) fast start is the return from injuries of senior pitcher Justin Moore and sophomore first base- man Coby Mavroulis. Moore, the Aggie ace from 2002, sat out last season with an injured shoulder while Mavroulis, a freshman in 2002 who started off hitting safe ly in 16 of the first 18 games that year, sat out with an injured back. “They’ve held up fine,” said A&M head coach Mark Johnson. “They give us a lot of leadership because they’ve.been here - they know what it takes.” In 2002, Moore led all pitchers with 93 innings pitched and 3.48 earned run average. He struck out 55 bat ters while walking only 16. In 2004, Moore is back in the starting rotation, along with junior Zach Jackson and sophomore Robert Ray. Moore opened the season as A&M's Saturday starter. So far, Moore is 1-0 and leading the starting trio with a 2.38 ERA. Jackson is suffering from a high ankle sprain he received in the Domino’s Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic last weekend. Moore may reprise the role he was used to playing before his injury - Aggie ace - when A&M travels to California for a weekend series with the University of Cali torn ia-Los Angeles (10-3). “Last year, being able to sit back and watch, I learned a lot,” Moore said. “I learned a lot by watching hitters and by watching pitchers and how they work. I definitely appreci ate (playing baseball) a lot more than I used to.” While Moore is steadily pro gressing on the mound, Mavroulis has gotten back into the swing of things at the plate, hitting .327 in the cleanup spot of the batting order. “I’ve been so ready to play for the last year-and-a-half,” Mavroulis said. “I missed a good year last year, so I want to get in there and do as good as I can.” Mavroulis hit his first colle giate home run in the second game of this season. The 4-3 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was also Moore’s first game on the mound, in which he gave up three runs in six innings of work. It’s not surprising that Moore and Mavroulis do a lot together now that they’ve shared the experience of miss ing a season. In fact, the two are also roommates. “Coby and I are good friends,” Moore said. “We know what it’s like to have to sit out and a lot of guys don't know what that’s like, so I think we have a respect for each other.” The Aggies will face UCLA in a three-game series beginning 7 p.m. central time Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there’s no telling what _you’ll work on. (Seriously, we can’t tell .you.) United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you’ll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you’ll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You’ll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what’s waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. 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