FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 To The Edge Intramural Calendar DEADLINES September 29 - Cross Country (Individual and team) October 2 - Fantasy Hockey league October 6 - Flag Football The season continues to be played for tennis, softball, and sand volleyball. Remember that the intramural seasons are very com petitive, so be sure to check out a game or two gektend Sp,aPtting E,uenta September 22 Men's water polo Vs. Washington and Jefferson (at Grove City) 8:15 AM September 23 Men's water polo Vs. Salem-Teikyo (at Grove City) 8:15 AM Men's water polo at Grove City 10:00 AM Men's golf at Lake Erie TBA Women's tennis at Frostburg 1:00 PM Women's soccer at La Roche 1:00 PM Men's soccer at La Roche 3:30 PM September 24 Men's water polo at Slippery Rock 12:30 PM JV soccer at Niagara 1:00 PM Women's tennis at Penn State Altoona 12:00 PM September 26 Men's soccer at Carnegie Mellon 6:00 PM September 27 Women's tennis Vs. Fredonia 3:00 PM Women's soccer at Fredonia 4:00 PM Women's volleyball at La Roche 7:00 PM New sport but coach by Douglas Smith sports editor With the emergence of a new facility comes the excitement of a new sport here at Penn State Behrend. The men's water polo team got play underway early today. Coach Josh Heynes was hired on July 24 and began the process of forming a team for this semester. The season started this morning at Grove City in an invitational. Behrend played Washington and Jefferson today and will play Salem-Teikyo and Grove City tomorrow. However, the task was daunting for Coach Heynes as he has formed a team with no experience in the pool, especially for water polo. Washington and Jefferson employed Coach Heynes last year as assistant water polo coach on a team that finished fourth in the NCAA Division 111. Before that he worked at the University of Pittsburgh as assistant swimming coach. Still, he knows this is a great opportunity. Last year Penn State Behrend received a $60,000 grant from the United States Olympic Committee through the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. On top of the 10.2 million dollar Athletic Recreation Complex, there is a lot of commitment to the program. Commitment does not mean production though. "There most definitely is a sense of excitement on the Men's Water Polo Team. The first reason is that one of the newest varsity sports on campus, and second, it is new to the individual team members themselves. Most of them have some sort of swimming experience but not a water polo background said Coach Heynes. The players have to make a name for themselves as they are encountering a new sport. The practices are forcing a lot of information on these fresh players in a very short time period. They all seem to be standing out in their own way, but a few have showed strong potential. Among them are Mark PHOTO BY BECKY WEINDORF The players listen intensely. Behrend Cross Country Festival brings many teams Behrend finds promise in average finishes together; by Jason Snyder Editor-in-chief The Behrend men's and women's cross country teams hosted their third annual Penn State Behrend Cross Country Festival this past weekend with strong performances by both teams. The men barely missed the top ten with an 1 P h place finish in the 17- team field, while the women ran to an eighth place finish out of 15 teams PHOTO BY NEIL MAKADIA The Behrend women started out in the pack at the Behrend Invitational. e 1 A 3, w.. facility brings promise and maintains realistic goals for this season any Haywood. As for the season, Coach Heynes is keeping a down to earth perspective. "The outlook for the season is that we are looking to build from each experience and each game that we play. Granted we would like to win a few games, but you have to realize all the teams that we are playing have had programs for years and have players that have a strong background in water polo. However Behrend will be there with the more experienced players in a few years. But first we have to establish ourselves to our community and the aquatic community as well," said Coach Heynes. Obviously Coach Heynes knows exactly what he is talking about. He came from a very successful program at Washington and Jefferson, and it seems to be very ironic that Behrend kicks off the season against that very team. Pride will also be on the line in the season opener. This is the first time many Behrend students have experienced an expansion team, if you will, in the athletic realm. Many students have no idea what is going on with the team or what exactly water polo is. This can create a huge feeling of pressure with everyone involved in the team. "Do I feel pressure being the first Head Coach for the program? That is a good question. It is not pressure from the outside but from within myself to succeed and make this program work. I always want to be the best at everything that I do no matter what it is, and I will try to do the same here. I have been around the aquatic community for some time and I see how the best play, practice and what their facilities look like. I have also seen the how the worst is also. I only want what is best for the team, and I want them to have the best experience with it as I had. Being a new program and the youngest Head Coach in the NCAA puts me and my team under a microscope a bit, which makes sure that we can't and won't mess things up and this program will both get bigger and better. The real pressure will come when we will dominate our league and be expected to win the Division 111 Eastern Championship," said Heynes. The Athletic Recreation Center (ARC) is heavily anticipated around the whole campus. However, the new sports teams are eagerly awaiting this new facility. The new in their race Behrend's top five women all crossed the finish line within 58 seconds of each oth'er, placing four women in the top 50 runners in the field. Coach Rich Hoffman commented, "this was a fantastic race by the whole women's team; the best race I believe a women's team at Behrend has ever run." Lyndsey Boor and Andrea Sanko led the Lion pack and were followed PHOTO BY BECKY WEINDORF Coach Josh Heynes looks on as his water polo team practices at Harbor Creek High School. Olympic sized pool will be one of the best facilities for water polo in the NCAA. "We are waiting with eager anticipation for the ARC to be completed. We need a pool badly! With this new facility it will only improve our recruiting and our training of our players. Not only for our sport but for all sports. This pool is a great asset to the community and to Behrend," added Coach Heynes. Still all of this promise of improvement has nothing to do with this season. The team has eight dates on the schedule, but a few are tournaments and invitationals and more than one game will be played once the agenda for that particular tournament is released. The Eastern championships and Southern championships are listed on the schedule, but the team has to be realistic. Coach Heynes noted, "the most realistic goal for the season is to improve and get better and learn from each game we play. I would like to be competitive with some team and I know we can do that as long as they stick together and play to the potential that they have. I set lofty goals for them, some attainable, others not so. But we will get there some day." by Deidre Garrity, Kathy Perry and a breakthrough performance by Tina Rubay. Rubay has knocked six minutes off of her 5k time from three years ago. "She's really setting the tone for us," complimented Hoffman. Rubay's emergence in the Lions' top five is key in Behrend's success as the top five runners are included in PHOTO BY NEIL MAKADIA The women's cross count PHOTO BY NEIL MAKADIA Seventeen men's teams and fi ft een women's teams took part in the country Behrend Cross Country Festival. team had a well rounded effort last Saturday. scoring. The Behrend men were at a disadvantage with their top runner Dennis Halaszynski held out of the race. Mark Suroviec was also held from competition. Behrend's Sohrab Moeni ran into the spotlight for the Lions with a 22"' place finish followed closely by Kevin Ritzert "We would like the Behrend student body and administration to be patient with our team. We may not win a whole lot of games this year, but we will and soon. These men are going to be the hardest working team both in and out of the pool. Water polo is not an easy game. For anyone who has not seen the game it is like swimming, hockey and soccer combined. Of course you have to be in the water but in the meantime you Keep Dario Kis gets bombarded during practice who crossed the line in 34'h. The men continue in their attempt to chip away at their time differential between their top five runners. Chuck Orton and Matt Grimmke aided in that goal by both having good races. Clint Altman also cracked Behrend's top five. "This was a tough field, and they ran equally tough," said Hoffman. hope, are getting beat up just like in hockey and you have to pass and score just like in soccer. Water polo is very demanding sport. It is not only very physical but also a mental game. We would also like to let people know about us and if they want to join the team, if they have competitive swimming experience. Many people on campus don't believe we exist and or don't know we are here," added Heynes. PHOTO BY BECKY WEINDORF The Lions will have a week to rest before they travel to Frostburg on September 30.
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