Page 8 The Behrend Beacon Calendar of Events Behrend Sporting Events September 1 Men's and Women's cross-country @ Buffalo State Invitational 10:00 a.m. Women's Volleyball @ Cortland Tournament TBA Men's Soccer Herb Lauffer Tournament Behrend vs. Moravian 10:00 a.m. Hiram vs. Hobart 12:00 p.m. Women's Soccer Herb Lauffer Tournament Behrend vs. Olivet 2:00 p.m. Keuka vs. Moravian 4:00 p.m. September 2 Women's Volleyball @ Cortland Tournament TBA Men's Soccer Herb Lauffer Tournament Consolation Game 10:00 a.m. Championship Game 12:00 p.m. Women's Soccer Herb Lauffer Tournament Consolation Game 2:00 p.m. Championship Game 4:00 p.m. NATIONAL SPORTS Earnhardt probe calls for changes by Liz Clarke The Washington Post ATLANTA - In the wake of a $1 mil lion investigation into the death of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR officials an nounced Tuesday that they would mandate the use of "black boxes" in cars next season, but stopped short of requiring their drivers to use head and neck restraint devices. Such devices - which have been proven to give drivers a better chance of surviving violent crashes - will continue to be "recommended" by NASCAR, the governing body that oversees stock-car racing in the United States. Many drivers are us ing them voluntarily; 41 of 43 driv ers in last Sunday's race in Michi gan - including Earnhardt's son, Dale Jr. - used a restraint device. NASCAR also will hire a full time "medical liaison" to work with local physicians when drivers are injured at events. But officials will order no specific changes in the way its race cars are designed or con structed, nor any changes in the con struction of its racetracks. "It's not a quick fix," NASCAR President Mike Helton said. "There's not a resolution tomorrow that (race officials) can go forward with be cause we're not going to react just for the sake of reacting. We're going to understand all the ramifications of a change before we make it." Earnhardt's death in February at the Daytona 500 in Florida was the fourth in the sport in less than a year - Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper were the other drivers who died of head injuries - and prompted a six-month investigation. Five days after the crash, Diehl and Cooper among new coaches hired this year by Mike Bello sports editor As the fall sports begin their practices in anticipation for the up coming seasons, many new faces can be seen running those prac tices. From soccer to volleyball to cross country, new coaches and assistants will be guiding Behrend's teams this year. The athletic department first filled two voids, hiring Kellie Diehl as head women's softball and volleyball coach. Diehl, who graduated from Behrend in 1992 with a degree in business manage ment, was a starter on both the vol leyball and softball squads all four years she was here. Diehl went on to earn her graduate degree in 1995 from St. Cloud University for sports management. Diehl was an assistant volley ball and softball coach at Mt. Union College before becoming head coach of the volleyball and tennis teams at Heidelberg College in 1996-1997. After her stay, Diehl went on to become the head coach of the softball and volleyball teams at Wilmington College, located in Wilmington, Ohio, for three sea sons before landing her job here at Behrend. During her four years as a starter for the Lion squads. Diehl set several records, including most Newly hired women's softball and volleyball coach Kellie Diehl stands outside the Junker Center (formerly the ARC) NASCAR had officials announce that his lap belt had been found "separated," suggesting that equip ment failure was to blame. Tuesday, their experts said the separated belt was a factor in his death, but not the sole cause. During a presentation that lasted more than 90 minutes, the NASCAR assembled team of medical experts presented its conclusion: that Earnhardt died from a blow to the head, which fractured his skull at its base. That contradicts Duke University's Barry Myers, a doctor who concluded based on a review of the autopsy photographs that the vio lent whipping motion of Earnhardt's head caused the fatal skull fracture. (NASCAR's experts said they were not allowed to view the autopsy pho tos, which have been sealed by a Florida court.) Bill Simpson, who founded the company that manufactured the belt, did not attend the invitation-only news conference in the Hyatt Re gency ballroom, but, flanked by a pair of attorneys and two advisers, he held his own news conference to rebut its findings. Simpson's chief complaints: that NASCAR failed to make clear that Earnhardt's seat belt had no structural or design flaws, and that NASCAR didn't make clear that the belt broke because it was in stalled improperly. According to NASCAR officials, 54 engineers, doctors and scientists took part in research. The findings were presented by James H. Raddin Jr., director of the San Antonio-based Biodynamic Research Corp., which studies the evidence of accidents to determine the cause of injury and death; and Dean Sicking, director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facil- APO IIIP , Friday, August 24,2001 aces in a season and in a career for volleyball and the record for high est fielding percentage by a catcher in softball. As a senior, Diehl was an instrumental part of the softball team that won the Eastern College Athletic Conference title in 1992. "The approach I'll take from both programs is to build on what has already been started. I plan to work with both teams and incor porate old successes to my experi ence and successes," said Diehl. "I do not plan to come in here and change everything. I believe these girls have a good base and we'll continue together to reach our goals. I plan to build on the records they have and shoot for AMCC championships; both programs are capable of achieving that goal." Another coaching change that took place was the hiring of Dave Cooper as head coach for the men's and women's cross country and track and field squads. Cooper, who earned his degree in health and physical education from Franklin College, is well known in the Erie area for his many accom plishments at the high school level. The Erie Times News last year even named Cooper as one of the "Coaches of the Century", which includes many of the centuries' best coaches in the Erie area. Be fore being hired by Penn State, Cooper worked for the Union City ity at the University of Nebraska. As they spoke about the sequence of events that caused Eamhardt's seat belt to break (likely when the car slammed into the concrete wall at roughly 160 mph), photographs of the belt, its frayed webbing clearly smeared with blood, were projected on a giant screen behind them. They also showed a photograph of Earnhardt's contorted steering wheel, its right side bent five inches from the impact of the driver's torso or head. Based on the twisted steering wheel, fabric burns in the seat and a bent head restraint on the driver's right side, the researchers concluded Earnhardt's body was flung violently forward and to the right in the crash. Injuries to Earnhardt's left side - in cluding numerous broken ribs - con firmed that. Using a full-scale crash test and computer-simulated crash, they con cluded that no single factor caused the fatality, but rather a confluence of events. Earnhardt's car was headed to ward the wall at a relatively gentle angle as he regained control of his car, but a collision with driver Ken Schrader "redirected" the car, turn ing its nose into the wall at an even sharper angle. When the seat belt broke, Earnhardt's torso, head and neck traveled even farther in the car than it would otherwise, contribut ing to his death. "It was a worst-case scenario," Sicking said Researchers theorized that the blunt-force injury to the base of his skull occurred when his head twisted to the right and hit the steering wheel, or when his head slammed into the headrest on the rebound. Newly hired men's and women's cross-country and track and field coach Dave Cooper School District for 31 years, 28 of them as head of the cross-country programs. It's not hard to see why Coo per was named a coach of the cen tury. He guided the boys' cross country teams to state titles in their respected class division in 1996 and 1997. In 1990 he led the team to a second place overall finish in the state. Over his many years at Union City, the boys' cross-coun try teams have won 19 league titles and piled up 249 wins against 32 losses. Cooper was instrumental in starting a girls' cross-country pro gram at Union City and led them to 10 league titles. Cooper also coached the track and field team for 6 years there and was a teacher of physical education and health classes for 31 years. Along with Cooper, the Lions hired Garrett Arndt as the assistant cross-country and track and field coach. Arndt was a member of the track and field team for his four years at Behrend and holds down third place in the record hooks with three other players in the 4 x 400 meter run with a total time of 3:24.97. In 2000 Arndt received his bachelor's of science degree in Psychology from Penn State Behrend, and is currently pursuing a master's of business administra- tion degree here. Two other programs named as sistant coaches during the first , PeA ERIE 1027 West Erie Plaza BROADMAN 850 Broadman-Poland Road YOU 664 Mon - Thurs 9am-9pm Extended Hours Fri-Sat 90-10 pm • Sun 11am-6pm •Up to 10% savings as compared to original department store prices. Ticketed prices already include all discounts. Some quantities are limited. We reserve the right to limit quantities. No rain•checks. week of classes. The baseball and women's soccer teams now have help behind the head coaching ex periences of Paul Benim and Dan Perritano, respectively. Patrick O'Driscoll has been named as as sistant women's soccer coach and Ryan Smith as men's baseball as sistant coach. O'Driscoll played and started for National American University of South Dakota the past four years after immigrating from Aberdeen, Scotland. At National American University O'Driscoll led the team to a national tournament bid and a 11th national ranking, as well as being named team MVP his senior year on the soccer team. O'Driscoll graduated from there in 2000 with a bachelor's of science degree in business administration. He cur rently working on his master's of business administration degree at Behrend as well as working with the women's soccer team. Smith graduated from Behrend in 1998 with his bachelor's of sci ence degree in Management after transferring from Ohio Valley Col lege following his sophomore year. During his two years on the base ball team, Smith played first base, third base, and was a standout pitcher who went 8-4 with a 2.90 ERA with a .307 batting average. Smith, just like O'Driscoll and Arndt, is pursuing his master's of business administration degree here at Behrend. Mi FAMOUS Toss Pillows Bed Pillows Mattress Pads Twin Comforters Twin X-long Comforters $12.99 VD MUCH MORE! You'll recognize the names. You'll love the quality. You won't believe the prices! Mike Bello, Sports Editor behrcolls@aol.com Athletic center re named after longtime trustee by Mike Bello sports editor Many Penn State Behrend stu dents came back to find that a class or two of theirs had been moved to the Junker Center, or so one would think. Except that their classes were never moved anywhere and it was not a misprint on their schedule. Behrend's brand new athletic center, formally called the ARC (Athletic Recreational Center), which was completed last semes ter, has been given a new name in honor of Edward P. Junker 111 and his wife Barbara F. Junker. The Board of Trustees voted in late July to name the new athletic center after Junker, who was chairman of the board from 1998- 2001. Ted Junker has been a uni versity trustee since 1986. In 1997, Junker and his wife gave Behrend a $2 million donation that was given to the athletic de partment. Junker is a Penn State graduate, having earned his degree in 1959 while his wife Barbara graduated from Penn State in 1957. Junker retired as vice chairman of PNC Bank Corp. in 1997 but is still ac tive as chair of Penn State Behrend's campaign committee and director of the Council of Fel lows at Behrend. The Junker Center, which opened in March 2001 after con struction delays pushed the date hack from fall 2000, was a $10.2 million project that essentially re placed Erie Hall, one of the 0h..- est facilities at Behrend. The cen ter has an eight-lane swimming pool, a 1,600-seat gymnasium, three courts, an upgraded weightlifting room, and class rooms and offices for the athletic department.. $12.99 www.gabrielbro.thers.com $1.99 $2.99 $4.99
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