To The
Edge
Intramural Calendar
DEADLINES
February 23-4 vs. 4 Volleyball
(Coed)
Play begins around March 13
March 2 - Volleyball
(Men’s, Women’s, and Coed
Divisions)
Play begins March 19
March 23 - Whitewater Rafting
at Ohiopyle
March 30 - Swimming Individual
(Men’s and Women’s Divisions)
Swimming Team
(Men’s, Women’s, and Coed
Divisions)
Behrend
Sporting
Events
February 9
Swimming at Bloomsburg
3:00 PM
February 10
Men’s and Women’s In
door Track & Field at
Fredonia Invitational 10:00
AM
Women’s Basketball vs
Frostburg 2:00 PM
Men’s Basketball vs
Frostburg 4:00 PM
Swimming at Penn State
Altoona 1:00 PM
February 14
Women’s Basketball at
Pitt-Greensburg 6:00
PM
Men’s Basketball at Pitt-
Greensburg 8:00 PM
February 15-17
Swimming at Grove City
Invitational 7:00/1:00
PM
PEI
LIONS
Spoil:
FRIDAY, FEBRU
Lions regroup after loss of O’L
Both tragedy and triumph struck the Penn
State Behrend women’s basketball team over
this past week of play. Over their three-game
road trip, the women faced their first confer
ence loss against Penn State Altoona last
Wednesday, while they defeated both Pitt-
Bradford and Waynesburg later in the week.
Ashley Orris and Chris Banner look for the redound in Monday’s game versus
Lions strive for playoff action
After running their winning streak
to a season high 6 games that gave
Behrend the chance to host a first
round playoff game, a goal that has
been within grasp the whole year, the
Behrend men's basketball team has
dropped their last two games to drop
their record back below the .500
mark. Despite a mediocre 10-11
record, the men’s basketball team
has gone 6-3 in AMCC (Allegheny
Mountain Collegiate Conference)
conference play and could quite
possibly secure the #2 seed in the
conference with a win over rival,
Frostburg State on Saturday,
February 10 (game time 4:00 p.m.).
Frostburg, at 7-2 in conference
play, is in second place right now
behind Pitt-Bradford (7-1), with
three AMCC games left. If Behrend
A questionable first impression
The World Wrestling
Federation’s football league
debuted this past week. On the
west coast it was received with
open arms and packed houses. In
the east, the seats were not all
filled. Many new aspects that have
never been performed in profes
sional football were toyed with.
Some were winners and some were
losers. Still the XFL has a long
way to go to compete with the
other professional leagues.
TATE
Shall we start with the obvious
comparison? How is the level of
play compared to that in the
National Football League? It was
by Bob Palivoda
staff writer
by Mike Bello
staff writer
quite fitting that on
Caught in the Grasp the opening weekend
of Vince McMahon’s
Douglas Smith new million-dollar
industry, that the best
stars of the NFL were
showcasing their talent in the
Pro Bowl in Hawaii. The Pro Bowl
saw a resurrected quarterback show
that he was back for real after being
a back-up for the majority of his
playing career. In the game. Rich
Gannon threw two touchdowns on
impressive drives to Tony Gonzalez
and Marvin Harrison. It was quite a
display of offensive expertise.
Well, all of the players in the XFL
are trying to resurrect a career that
may have looked pretty helpless a
year ago. There are kickers in the
league that were drafted while
teaching high school. How about
the following names? Scott
Milankovich, Jim Drunkenmiller
and John Avery. They are all former
NFT players who thought the XFL
was an opportunity to rejuvenate an
apparent lost course of a career.
Avery showed those that watched
Drama started within the first half of the Li
ons’ game against Altoona. Just nine minutes
into the game, senior Jen O’Lare went down with
a dislocated ankle. Behrend’s head coach
Rosalyn Fomari commented, “absolutely beyond
any shadow of a doubt, this was the worst injury
1 have ever seen a player have.” The injury
caused the senior to end her career as a Penn State
Behrend Lion just after surpassing the 1000-point
plateau last week.
is able to defeat Frostburg, and if both
teams are able to win their other two
AMCC games this year, then both
teams would have a 9-3 record.
Behrend would then get the #2 seed
because they defeated Frostburg
twice. If Behrend loses to Frostburg,
then no matter what happens Behrend
will do no better than third place, even
if the two teams have identical AMCC
records, because Frostburg (13-7
overall) will end the season with a
better record than Behrend. Behrend
dropping to the #4 seed, behind La
Roche (5-3 conference record), is also
a possibility, but would require La
Roche to defeat Pitt-Bradford and
Frostburg. Also, Behrend would have
to lose to Pitt-Greensburg and Lake
Erie, two teams Behrend has already
defeated this year.
Head coach Dave Niland knows
that the Frostburg game is perhaps the
most important game of the year.
The game did not improve for the Lions af
ter the injury. After the first half, the Lions
entered the locker room trailing Altoona 37-31.
This six-point lead would be too much as
Altoona handed the Lions their first AMCC loss
of the season, 71-62. The Lions dropped to 7-
1 in the conference and moved their overall
record to 13-6.
The game was not a total loss for Behrend as
Erin Phillips and Kate Costanzo picked up the
John Fisher.
Behrend, with a #2 seed, could
potentially host all their post-season
games if someone else other than
Behrend knocks off Pitt-Bradford
during the playoffs. “We have only
three days to get ready for Frostburg
State, which will be the battle over
second place. We’re trying to keep
our post-season hopes alive. We have
little room for errors and will have to
play well to win, playing the absolute
hardest that we can.”
Behrend’s winning streak reached
its apex against Penn State Altoona
on January 31. The Lions, who were
held to one of their lowest point totals
all year, overcame their under
performing offense by shutting down
Altoona and winning 49-39.
Behrend’s greatest defensive
performance this season allowed the
Altoona Lions to make only 28% of
their shots while Behrend was able to
convert 38% of theirs.
the XFL that he may still have what
it takes, racking up more than 140
yards rushing. Former Heisman
Trophy winner Rashaan Salamm
had two touchdowns and 93 yards
rushing. Is this a case of a hard
workout or a lower level of play?
This is a question that everyone
watching may ask themselves. No
one in the league has had any real
NFL experience except for Alvin
Harper. Also, the quarterbacks
range from back-ups for the San
Francisco 49ers to a graduate of
Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
With this in mind, the viewers have
to give the league the benefit of the
doubt, especially since it is only one
week into the season. Still, avid
viewers of the NFL most likely
noticed a little slower pace in most
of the games.
Speaking of slower pace, the
games feel like marathons to watch.
There are in-game interviews and
other distractions that make the
games lengthier than need be.
Almost three hours into the opening
game of the season there was still a
James Curren led the way with a
12-point effort for the Lions, followed
by Dave Hairston who sunk 11 points
on the night. Senior Ashley Orris had
a team high 8 rebounds to go with his
10 points, while Steve Merrill, not
starting but still producing, had 10
points as well. Eugene Ahmad had a
game high 15 points in a losing effort
for the Altoona Lions (7-11).
Behrend then took on the only team
that they have not defeated in the
AMCC, top ranked Pitt-Bradford.
The Lions were looking for
redemption after losing at home to
Bradford by 4 points earlier this year.
Nevertheless, Pitt-Bradford proved
too hot to handle for Behrend,
downing them 70-54. The win
allowed the Panthers (12-7) to extend
their winning streak to 10 games,
MEN’S BASKETBALL
continued on page 2B
quarter and a half to be played.
This is plenty of time to go chat on
the phone, throw down a cold one,
or play a video game and then come
back to see the ending. NBC is not
complaining, however. The ratings
and shares for the opening weekend
were two to three times the value
that McMahon would have been
happy with. The rating was 10 and
the share came in around 17. This
is after McMahon announced a
rating of 6 would have sufficed
Now what about those in-game
distractions? I cannot say I agree
with all of them, but some
distractions are alright. The
cameramen on the field are a very
good idea, but I pray for their safety.
It is nice to get in the huddle and see
what is going on. Other good points
are being able to hear the play call
coming in from the sideline, or
hearing the quarterback call the play
in the huddle. If anyone follows a
certain team, they will pick up on
what play is coming next.
Interviewing the coach during the
game is also a rather interesting
loss of O’Lare and led the Lions with 15 points
each. Jessica Tanner trailed close behind with
10 and Danielle Bemis with 8. Phillips also led
the team in rebounds with a total of 8. Altoona s
record is now improved to 7-2 record in the con
ference, making the race for home court advan
tage in the playoffs even closer.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
continued on page 3B
Indoor Track &
Field team
shaking off
early season
rust
by Jamie Salapek
staff writer
Last Friday, the Behrend Indoor
Track and Field team competed in the
Mount Union Invitational. They faced
stiff competition with Mount Union,
Malone, Walsh, Edinboro, Allegheny,
Cuyahoga, West Liberty, California
University of Pennsylvania, Bethany,
Hiram and Thiel.
The indoor track and field team
participates in un-scored meets, which
means only the individual members
walk away with ranking and not the
team as a whole. The Behrend indoor
track and field team has been
competing well and Lindsay Schulte
walked away as the lone place-taker.
Schulte placed second in the women’s
300-meter dash, with a time of 44.7
seconds. She also placed second in
the 55m dash with a hand time of 7.8.
Several of Behrend’s athletes, who
also competed at Baldwin-Wallace
two weeks ago, demonstrated solid
improvement in last week’s
invitational. “Garrett Arndt, Greg
Cooper, Lindsey Schulte and Pilly
Gonzalez all ran better in the sprints,
cutting as much as a second from their
respective performances from the last
meet. That is substantial,” stated
Coach Hoffman. Garrett Arndt was
the fastest runner, having a time of
40.2 seconds in the 300 m dash and
56.2 seconds in the 400 m dash.
Leading Behrend in the 500 m dash
was Greg Cooper with a time of
1:12.2. In the 800 m dash the leader
for Behrend was Mark Suroviec with
atime 0f2:13. And in the 1000 m dash,
Carl Alberico led the team with a time
of 3:00.1. The men’s and women’s
relay teams also finished well. Arndt,
Jay Davids, Seth Miller and Cooper
finished with a time of 3:55.0 in the
4x400m relay. Michelle Gutting,
Gonzalez, Kathy Perry and Schulte
finished fifth with a time of 1:32.9 in
the 4x160m relay.
Some of the distance runners
improved on their old scores in this
meet. Kevin Ritzert, in the 1500 m,
led his heat most of the way and nearly
set a personal best. Ritzert had
TRACK & FIELD
continued on page 3B
ploy. However, 1 hope that the right
decisions are being made because I
would not want to interview Dick
Butkus if the Chicago Enforcers are
losing in the middle of a game.
With any new idea come aspects
that need to be thrown away. First,
the quarterback’s signal calling is
broadcast over the entire stadium.
At some points during the games
this weekend the loud speakers were
turned on in time to hear the
quarterback yell the snap count.
That cuts away drastically at
drawing the defense offside. Also,
the fight for the ball that substitutes
for the coin toss is way too
dangerous. Some poor sap is
seriously going to be injured
running for a stationary ball and
will never play football again
because you can bet that the XFL
was the last chance. Also, one of
the biggest things that slows down
the game is actually having the
players introduce themselves.
XFL IMPRESSION
continued on page 3B
ARY 9,2001
are