Friday, April 29, 2005 PORT’S -YEAR IN REVIE W Track teams travel to EC AC’s Championships By Sam Cibula from the March 29 issue On March 4 and 5, the 14 members of the men’s and women’s indoor track team traveled to St. Lawrence University for a Division 111 indoor track meet. The meet represented top athletes from 47 different division three schools. The blue and white were represented by 14 members of the varsity indoor track team; a record number for the meet. Last year Behrend only had six members qualify for the meet. From the blue and white squad, 13 of the 14 athletes earned All ECAC Honors at the meet. Leading the men was senior indoor and outdoor track standout Isiah Meek. Meek has been veteran to the ECAC meet but this was the first time he placed. His 2nd place finish in the 55-meter hurdles was the best finish for the Lion’s ever. The hurdler clocked in at 7.74 setting a new Behrend record and making the NCAA provisional time qualifications. "Isiah has worked very hard all four years at Behrend to get to nationals,” said Head Coach Dave Cooper. “He has provisionally qualified each year in the outdoor season, but this was the first time indoors. Hurdles Coach Bill Hoffman changed Isiah's start completely this year and it is making a tremendous difference. Isiah has been outstanding going over the hurdles, but until now has been slow coming out of the blocks. His improvement at the start bodes well for the outdoor season where he will have 10 hurdles instead of 5 and his start will only get better as he becomes more comfortable with it." America's favorite By Chris LaFuria from the Oct. 15 issue Since 1903, the year which gave birth to the World Series, the New York Yankees have won the Fall Classic 26 times. That is three times more than the team who has the second highest amount of wins. From the begin ning, with players such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter, the Bronx Bombers have fought their way to achieve a dynasty of greatness, overcoming the opposition to be considered the greatest sports teams in history. Alex Rodriguez, the shortstop for the Yankees, makes 22 million dollars in one season, as one of the highest paid players in sports history. Rodriguez has helped his teams win many games with his talent and will to per fom on the diamond. Because of his consistency on the diamond, he is worth a higher salary than most players. But, when dealing with superstar athletes, how high is te high for one player's salary? This season, the Milwaukee Brewers have a team salary of 27 million dollars. This means that every player’s salary adds up to 27 million dollars. The Brewers have also managed to accumulate a mere 67 wins, which resulted in a last place finish. Due to the fact that the Brewers have suf fered such a dismal year, they have a team salary that is only 5 million dollars more than one of the leading superstars. Many fans and baseball experts have realized such a staggering trend forming in major league baseball. Softball- Men - Juice 3v3 Bball, Rec - Bottoms Up 3v3 Bball, Comp 3v 3 Worn. - Project Mayhem Other top finishes for the men came from sen ior Donnie Hackworth and sophomore Jon McKinney. They both captured Bth places fin ishes. Hackworth placed Bth in pole vaulting, clearing 4.24 meters and McKinney took Bth in the triple jump, with a jump of 13.10 meters. The men’s 4xBoo relay team of sophomore Brad Ruffo, freshman Eric Diluzio, senior Mike Bartlett and freshman Joe Wilcher took home a 6th place finish along with a new Behrend record with the time of 8:05.07. Junior Staci Banaszek, who has qualified for the meet every season, set the pace for the Lady Lions. Banaszek captured a 6th place finish in the triple jump with 10.71 meters. “Staci qualified in all three jumps but due to tight hamstrings, she wasn't at her best,” said Cooper. “Staci still managed to place in the triple jump.” Freshman Leisl Soergel and Becky Gonzalez took Bth place finishes in their respective events. Soergel placed in the 500-meter run, and Gonzalez in the hurdles. “Becky qualified for finals and was in fourth place before clipping a hurdle and slipping into Bth place,” said Cooper. The women’s 4xBoo relay matched the men’s with another 6th place finish. The team of soph omore Leslie Gentile, junior Nicole Minewasser, senior Claire Manelick and Soergel ran a time of 10:01.62. The time was also good enough for another Behrend record. past time, and I don't mean baseball Kasey Corbin, a junior Computer Science major and avid Yankees fan, says, “I think baseball players are ridiculously overpaid.” This past winter, the New England Patriots won their second Super Bowl in three years. They have also man aged to amass 19 straight wins, the most in NFL histo ry. Even though their two championships fail to resem ble the Yankees' 26, the Patriots have been branded a "dynasty in the making." Many factors tie into the colossal difference in Major League Baseball sover eignty and that of the NFL. In 1993, the NFL created the salary cap to place boundaries on the amount of money teams can spend on certain players each season. The salary cap for the 2004 NFL season was set at roughly 80 million dollars. Penalties for violating the cap include hefty fines and rejection of draft picks. The reason that the New England Patriots have gained such status after winning only 2 championships is because the salary cap adds to the competitiveness of teams, since no team can spend 22 million dollars on a single player without reaching a penalty. “If I had the chance to make that sort of money, I would take it, but adding a salary cap wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Corbin adds. Money has done everything to sports but take over. Presidents and general managers of teams have become businessmen instead of coaches. Players sign multi million dollar endorsing contracts because teams cannot afford to pay them what is desired. Players who cannot Intramural Champions 5v5 Bball, Rec - TOE 5v5 Bball, Comp - Cutters comply with the salary cap jeopardize the whole system of sports. Recently, the NHL decided to lock of their players in order to settle the labor struggles that have transpired. In the 2003-2004 NHL season, the players' salaries con trolled almost 75 percent of the revenues that were received by the teams. Two-thirds of the teams in the league lost money due to the players' pay. When the league decided to lower the salaries of players and deliberated instituting a salary cap, the athletes walked out. Currently, the League has locked its players out in an attempt to settle the labor disputes. Baseball, "America's Pastime”, formerly involved players who gathered for the love of throwing a ball around and hit ting it with a stick. Kids and adults both enjoyed sport ing their favorite players' jersey, grabbing a foam "#1" finger and some peanuts, and spending hours at a ball park enjoying a game ofAmcrica's top athletes. Presently, we have athletes who sign $250 million contracts and high school players who dream, not of winning a world series by hitting a home run, but of penning their name on million dollar shoe contracts and being featured on MTV’s Cribs. Can a salary cap make the income of a sports star more reasonable? That wc may never know. A better question to ask would be, “Can sports stars return to playing the game for love and not money?” 6v6 Vball - Project Mayhem The Behrend Beacon I 9 Volleyball takes second in AMCC By Alyssa Peconi from the Nov. 11 issue The Behrend volleyball team finished their season at the AMCC championships on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Frostburg. The women fell to Frostburg in their final meeting, but had a successful seasQn under the lead ership of first-year head coach Phil Pisano and assistant coach Gerry Vensel. The team finished with an overall record of 17-15 and a conference record of 7-2, while four players were named to the all-conference team. The women went into the AMCC semi-final match on Friday with the will to win. They came out strong and defeated Penn State Altoona in a match at 8 p.m. on Friday. The lady lions came back from a 5-0 dcfecit in game five to defeat their opponent. Behrend won the match in five games, 3-2, with scores of 31-33, 30-23, 30- 20. 25-30, and 15-13. The team worked together to achieve victory over Altoona with help from key players, Elaine Voltz, who had 26 kills, Lisa Wagner, who had 24 kills, and Ashely Ordy who had 36 digs in the game. Pisano said that the “team responded well under pressure and showed how much they’ve improved this season” during the match. After the victory on Friday evening, the women headed into their next match, the AMCC championship against Frostburg on Saturday afternoon with excitement and adrenaline from the previous night’s victory. Behrend began their games strongly, with leads in each of the first two games, but they could not hold off the experi enced Frostburg team. They proved to be too difficult an opponent for Behrend and fell to the Bobcats in three games with scores of 25-30, 20-30, and 17- 30. Pisano said he feels that the “team showed tremendous improvement throughout the season and we were a much bet ter team by the end, playing our best in the last few weeks.” The Behrend team shined with many star players. Sophomore middle hitter Elaine Voltz led the team offensively and was named to the all-conference first-team. In the AMCC tournament, Voltz hit .307, averaging 5.1 kills per game. Overall, Voltz finished the season with 466 kills, 64 solo blocks, and 51 block assists, leading the team in all three sta tistical areas. Another player who received All-Conference honors was jun ior setter Amanda Evans, who became leader for assists in a season at Behrend with 1,166 and also earned all-time career assist leader at Behrend with 3,344. Evans was also and named to the second team All- Conference. Pisano said that Evans “showed tremendous improvement this season and really grew as a leader.” Outside hitter Lisa Wagner, was likewise named for the second team All-Conference. She took on a starting role as a sophomore and did extremely well with 382 kills and 460 digs. The final player among the Behrend women’s volleyball team who earned all-conference honors was senior libero Ashley Ordy, who finished with 656 digs and 62 aces and was named to the second team All- Conference. Ordy will end a fantastic career at Behrend where she holds the second all time record at Behrend for digs with 1,669, and aces with 206. ship,” said Pisano. “Overall, we feel excited about the direction of the program and that this is only the first step toward a very bright future,” said Pisano.
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