Page IB • Friday, May 7, 2004
'WTAUl,
Sports
The Battalion
A&M equestrian travels to
National Championships
By Jordan Meseroie
THE BATTALION
Hotel and motel owners are
Irejoicing in Murfressboro,
|Tenn.,this weekend as 107 col-
llegescome into town to partici-
Ipate in the Intercollegiate
iHorse Show National
[Championships.
The Texas A&M equestrian
[team is included in that group, but
pries a little different distinction
[from the rest of the teams.
A&M is one of only five col-
lleges that will have both squads
lofequestrian competition, west-
lem and English, riding for the
luational championship. The last
lieam to win both trophies was
|the University of Findlay of
which accomplished the
litatin 2(KH).
m excited to have both
Items going there,” said A&M
lEnglish coach Pam Breummer.
rThat’s an accomplishment in
Itself almost. Kind of an icing
Inn the cake before competition
|ffen starts."
And if being involved in a dis-
Itnct group wasn't enough, the
p.M western team enters the
pnpetition with the possibility
fbeing the second team in col-
|kgiate history to w in three con-
utive national championships.
“It’s a big accomplishment to
pin a championship, but it adds
lot of pressure.” said A&M
tad coach Tana Rawson.
leavingy°u w in one. everyone
Vets you to do well, and other
tams set their sights on you.”
A&M will see tough compe
tition from all parts of the
I
1
Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M senior English rider Meredith Houx practices jumping fences with her horse Houdini at the Dick
Freeman Arena in College Station. A&M will travel to Tennessee for the IHSA Nationals this weekend.
THE BATTALW
uokreative
United States, but will see the
strongest competition from four
parts of the country.
Cazenovia College of New
York, California State
University-Fresno, Findlay
and Oklahoma State
University will bring almost as
many riders as A&M into the
four-day competition.
Cazenovia and Findlay have
been regulars at the champi
onships, while Fresno and
OSU have recently been show
ing they are schools to be reck
oned with as well.
Rawson said practices lead
ing up to this weekend’s compe
tition have been focusing less on
technique and more on the men
tal aspects.
“When you get to this stage.
See Equestrian on page 4B
A&M lady netters on hot streak
entering NCAA Championships
JON GILBERT
The No.
|3 Texas
| & M
■men’s ten-
iis team
out its
leding for
\k NCAA
nen's ten-
|ms champi-
Ihip. Now.
Jit's time for
liie Aggies to make a run at the
|ltleagainst the nation’s best.
The Aggies are seeded No. 12
|mthe 64-team field. The top 16
llfams host the first two rounds
pn their home turf. A&M will
the first and second rounds
IMay 14 to 16 at the George P.
iMitchell Tennis Center. The
will begin by playing
iSouthern University followed by
jlexas Christian University or
lOUthern Methodist University
in the second round.
This A&M team has
achieved much this season. It
won 20-plus matches for the
fifth time. The team posted its
best conference record ever, 10-
I. And last weekend, the Aggies
won the Big 12 Tournament
Championship for the first time.
Four Aggies tabbed individ
ual conference championships
for their positions.
Furthermore, senior Jessica
Roland and junior Helga Vieira
were named first-team all-Big
12 and Vieira earned Newcomer
of the Year honors.
With the Aggies’ current
streak they should steamroll
their way into the Sweet 16 and
probably further.
This team is extremely deep,
and can compete with any team in
the nation from No. 1 to No. 6 sin
gles. Senior Nikki Mechem and
freshman Anna Lubinsky, A&M’s
No. 5 and No. 6 players, are a
combined 45-8 in dual matches
this season. In other words,
Mechem and Lubinsky dominate.
Furthermore, Roland, play
ing at No. 1, is 18-7 and Vieira is
22-6 at No. 2. Yet, there are
teams in the national top five
that also have the type of depth
the Aggies enjoy.
The strength of schedule factor
is another reason A&M will gar
ner success in the NCAA
Championships. Of the top 21
teams in the nation, the Aggies
have faced nine of them, includ
ing the No. 12 University of Texas
twice. Even with the 4-6 record
against them, the experiences the
Aggies have gained from playing
those powerhouses will benefit
them when they are playing solid
teams at the NCAAs.
Thus, if the Aggies are able to
advance to the Sweet 16 they will
more than likely be playing the
fifth best team in the nation, since
they are seeded No. 12. A&M has
had success against fifth-ranked
teams thus far this season. The
Aggies upset then-No. 5
University of Southern California,
4-3, at the National Team Indoors
in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 5.
Finally, this A&M team is
one of the most mentally tough
teams around. Time and time
again, the Aggies have displayed
superior mental strength com
pared to their opponents. Head
coach Bobby Kleinecke has
ingrained this toughness in his
team since the first day of prac
tice, and it has helped the Aggies
achieve this great season.
A&M will now see how much
longer its season will last. It’d be a
good bet to see the team advance
far into the tournament in Athens.
Texas A&M Basketball and The Aggie Angels Present...
The Wells Fargo $1000 Fans
Aggie Angels Kristin Compton, Niki Janecka, and
Tracy Devillier award a $1000 check to the Wells Fargo
Grand Prize Winners, Phi Beta Sigma.
Thanks to Wells Fargo for their
continued support of
Aggie Basketball
At each men’s basketball home game
this season, Wells Fargo awarded $100
to a student organization showing
support and school spirit. Each winning
organization was later eligible to win the
$1000 Grand Prize at the end of the
season. Congratulations to this
season's $100 winners:
MSC FISH
A Company
Alpha Phi Omega
Sigma Phi Lambda
Howdy Camp
Phi Beta Sigma
MSC LEAD
Iron Spikes
Delta Gamma
Gamma Phi Beta
ALOT
FLIC
Bonfire Coalition for Students
a II d
a]m
■Uq
WELLS
FARGO
U.S. debates on
sending team to
Athens Olympics
By Tim Dahlberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The question hasn’t come
up since President Carter
angered the world and his
nation’s athletes by keeping
the U.S. Olympic team home
from Moscow. Even now,
there are just whispers and
speculation, though they grow
louder with every bombing
and passing day.
Would the United States dare
pull out of the Athens Games
because of safety concerns?
Unlikely, but not entirely out
of the question anymore, either.
“It would mean things have
spiraled totally out of control,”
said Walter Purdy, a director of
the Terrorism Research Center
outside Washington.
Barely three
months from
opening cere
monies, U.S. offi
cials say they are
committed to
going to Greece
and remain confi
dent Olympic
organizers can
protect the 500-
plus Americans
who will compete
in the games.
Others,
though, are
beginning to
wonder if that could change
as the Summer Olympics
draw closer.
“1 think it’s going to come
down to the wire in making a
huge decision whether they send
the U.S. to Athens,” said Stacy
Dragila, who won gold in the
pole vault at the 2000 Sydney
Games. “It’s unfortunate to the
athletes because we’ve worked
so hard in training.”
The bombings Wednesday
in Athens highlighted the dan
gers that face the Olympics
despite a security plan with a
price tag over $1 billion, four
times the cost in Sydney.
Greek officials have revised
the plan dramatically in the
last few months to try to ease
concerns, and they have called
in NATO countries to help.
Athens organizers say all
athletes will be protected, and
that all countries remain res
olute in their intention to come.
Americans have a right to
feel more jittery than most.
Some experts say the Olympics
will be tough for terrorists to
resist in a country with strong
anti-American sentiment.
“This Olympics has the
potential of enormous symbolic
appeal to terrorists,” said Bruce
Hoffman, a terrorism expert at
RAND, a think tank that often
does work for the Pentagon.
Hoffman said the latest
bombings, a series of timed
blasts that caused no injuries,
indicated that Greece has not
been entirely successful in
wiping out its homegrown ter
rorist groups. Those groups
don’t kill on a widespread
basis, he said, but the fact they
are still active is troubling.
“From al-Qaida’s point of
view it’s manna from heaven
because you now have another
group the Greeks have to be
concerned with,” Hoffman
said. “It increases the attrac
tion for the really more seri
ous terrorists to take advan
tage of this opportunity.”
Top U.S. officials have
repeatedly expressed concerns
that Greece is moving too slowly
in implementing security meas
ures, although they say much
progress has
been made in
recent months.
But delays in
construction will
make guarding
Olympic venues
even more diffi
cult.
Most securi
ty experts say
the real threat is
not to athletes
- Bill Martin or Olympic
USOC President sites. Terrorists
could attack a
hotel filled
with tourists and still achieve
the desired effect, Purdy said.
“Nobody remembers that in
Atlanta the bombing wasn’t at
an Olympic venue,” Purdy said.
“They just remember there was
an Olympic bombing.”
Still, the U.S. Olympic
Committee says no one in the
government has mentioned
anything about the possibility
of not sending a team.
“We’re going. We’re not
going to rob our athletes of the
chance they’ve worked for
years to earn,” said Bill Martin,
acting USOC president.
The International Olympic
Committee doesn’t seem quite
as confident about the success
of the games. Last month, the
IOC for the first time took out
a $170 million policy to pro
tect against the cancellation of
the games because of war, ter
rorism or earthquakes.
And on Tuesday, a Senate
subcommittee heard testimony
before two senators met
behind closed doors with ter
rorism officials and the U.S.
Ambassador to Greece.
“We were beginning to
hear a lot of concerns about
the preparations and whether
we should go,” said Sen.
Gordon Smith, R-Ore.
Some of those concerns
See Olympics on page 4B
We're going.
We're not going to
rob our athletes of
the chance they've
worked for years
to earn.