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by Kate Levdansky Petrikis
assistant sports editor
Dave Cooper, Behrend’s track
and field coach, participated in
track and field in high school and
at Franklin College of Indiana. He
coached 28 years at Union City
High School, tohere his teams were
highly successful, including state
championships in 1996 and 1997.
Beacon: What brought you to
Behrend?
Cooper: My son Greg ran cross
country and track at Behrend until
his graduation in 2001. While fol
lowing Greg and his team, I got to
know the program. I had retired
from coaching at the high school
level and I was interested when the
position at Behrend became avail
able.
Beacon: What are your likes
and dislikes so far?
Cooper: Well, definitely the
likes greatly outweigh the dislikes.
After working for so many years
with adolescents, it is very enjoy
able coaching young, mature
adults. I also enjoy the athletic staff
at Behrend and the atmosphere of
college athletics. My high school
program at Union City was pretty
well established and so 1 am enjoy
ing the challenge of building a
competitive program here at
• •••••••••••••••••••A
Baseball team opens home season with dominating win over Hilbert
new year and a new team, and the
teams in our conference better get
ready for a battle when they play us.
We will win the conference and go to
ECACs, you can count on it.”
“I think the team learned that if
everyone plays up to their ability and
we eliminate mistakes, that we can
compete with or beat some very good
teams,” said Boyle. “This helps the
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Behrend. There aren’t many dislikes
but it is a challenge, organizing prac
tices without a track on campus.
Beacon: What are some of the
changes that have happened since you
started coaching here?
Cooper: The major change has
been for me to assemble an outstand
ing staff of assistant coaches. The pre
vious coaches coached by themselves
or with only one assistant. I have
seven assistants, mostly part time, but
they are experts at what they do and
give individualized attention to all of
the many events. There probably isn t
a Division 111 head track coach with
as good a staff as what Mr. Streeter
has allowed me to have. I’d like to
think the program is developing an
identity along with pride. The indoor
team broke most of the previous
records and they should do that out
doors, as well.
Beacon: Have you had to change,
as well?
Cooper: Yes, I have. I am still
learning to plan ahead and be pre
pared to change those plans because
of the weather, or a coach, or a prac
tice facility not being available at the
last minute.
Beacon: Where is track headed
over the next few years?
Cooper: I think track and cross
country are headed towards real re
spectability. Athletes are coming to
• ••••••••••••••••••••••
team realize that we should fear no
one when we take the field and play
our type of game. We need to be the
actors, no the reactors.”
On Wednesday, the Lions head to
Meadville to play Allegheny. Behrend
will look for revenge after the Gators
defeated them 12-5 at Ainsworth
Field near the end of last year, one of
only three home games in 2001.
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FROM PAGE IB
www.west.com
est
Sarver and Amanda Van Tassel were
ECAC individual qualifiers indoors.
Like I said, there are some dam good
campus and performing better than our program. We are drawing some athletes I m overlooking here,
they ever had before. We are starting recruits just on the basis of our assis- Beacon: Take me through a typi
to draw very high quality athletes tant coaches. cal week in the program,
from the area and 1 think that will only Beacon: What are your plans for Cooper: I don’t know if there is
get better as the word gets out about the future? suc h a thing asa typical weeL Ev-
Track and field/cross country coach Dave Cooper sees a bright future
for the programs at Behrend thanks to some “high-quality athletes.
Behrend was supposed to play John
Carroll last Saturday, but the game
was cancelled due to inclement
weather.
The Lions are counting on their
experience when they play the other
AMCC teams. Last year the Lions
went 4-6 in the conference, and as
coach Paul Benim stated, it’s expected
to be a dogfight ‘til the end.
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2002
enes?
“Baseball in the AMCC has come
a long way in four years, and in most
sports it has,” said Benim. “We were
two games away from being 20-game
winners and .500 lasi year, which
would have given four of the six
teams in the league 20 or more wins
and above .500. And that’s pretty
competitive.
“The top two teams a year ago
FROM PAGE IB
PHOTOS BY ERIN MCCARTY AND MIKE BELLO / BEHREND BEACON
The softball field, above, and the baseball field, below, saw their first
action this week when the teams played their season openers on
Saturday and Tuesday, respectively. The teams will have to wait for
its next games until that white, annoying powder disappears for good.
the fields have dugouts set down into
the ground, to protect the players from
the elements, as well as warning
tracks, concession stands with a press
box, and very soon, bleachers for fans
and a scoreboard.
“It has a ton of advantages with the
real dugouts and storage areas,” said
Peterson, on the excitement of finally
having a top-notch home field.
“We’re very appreciative of what
Brian Streeter’s leadership and John
Lilley and Jack Burke did to get us
that field,” said coach Paul Benim.
“Now we will play a majority of our
games on that field this year and it’s
the best field we'll play on all year,
including Florida.”
Originally planned to be con
structed near Gospel Hill, setting the
fields closer to campus seemed like a
more logical plan. The whole project
Cooper: My goal for Behrend is
to develop a strong track program in
all of the event areas. We have quali
fied athletes for the ECACs. Next I
hope to be able to score points there
and qualify athletes for nationals. We
will become a “program” only when
we do this consistently year after year.
In cross country, I hope to see our
men’s and women’s teams become
perennial AMCC champions and be
come regular top 10 finishers at
regionals.
Beacon: Who are the stars on the
Cooper: I hate questions like this
because a coach usually ends up leav
ing out people. We have a great and
talented bunch of seniors this year, but
to mention stars on the rise implies
younger athletes. Freshman Mike
Barlett will make a name for himself
in the 800 meters as will Isiah Meek
in the hurdles. Tom Ashcroft will be
a dominant thrower while Donnie
Hackworth and Steve Feder are pole
vaulters with high-flying futures. On
the women’s side, freshmen Jessica
made the ECAC postseason. We
would expect this year the top two
teams have a very good chance of
making the postseason. We have to
play well,„b\jt wet believe we’re
capable of it. We know we’re capable
of it. It’s just a case of getting out there
and performing at that level.”
cost $1.2 million, although half was
funded by Penn Dot when they pur
chased the land to use for the new
highway. Since the highway land in
cluded the old fields, the money given
to the university plus money that had
been set aside was used to give
Behrend their brand new fields.
Planning for the fields began in
January of 1999 and official construc
tion commenced in the start of the
year 2000. There was a nine-month
window to erect the two fields, and
once the architectural design was es
tablished, it took six months to as
semble the fields. That was followed
by a one-year hiatus to let both fields
sit and for the grass to get a chance to
root itself in the ground. Once this
process was completed, the fields
were ready to be used for the 2002
softball and baseball seasons.
behrcolls @ aol.com
eryone practices six days a week
unless we have a meet. The athletes
may meet with their event coach
anywhere from one to six of those
days. In the field events, it’s usu-
ally twice a week. We try to use a
hard day/easy day approach to keep
the athletes injury free. Some of the
athletes are in the training room an
hour before practice getting either
ice or heat depending upon their
stage of treatment. Classes are a
priority with some athletes missing
two or three practices a week due
to class schedules. We have a team
meeting each day to try to keep
everyone informed of upcoming
events. Many of the team are
friends and hang out together after
practice for a while.
Beacon: What does it take to be
a member?
Cooper: From my perspective, .
an athlete only needs to sign up, get *
a physical and be there everyday •
ready to work. From the perspec- •
live of the athlete it takes a great *
commitment of time, energy, and •
dedication. That plus a juggling act •
to stay up with classes, meal time, •
study time and sleep. *
Every week, the Beacon wilt*
engage in a little “ask and re-\
spond” with someone who •
doesn’t make the headlines. •
Housing
and
Food Service
Athlete
of the Week
pennState
Stephanie
Covert
C overt led the
Behrend Lions to a 20-
1 win in the conference
opener Saturday
against Pitt-
Greensburg. In five in
nings, Covert pitched a
two-hitter as Behrend
improved to 4-9 overall
and 4-0 in the AMCC.
The Lions' next game
is a doubleheader
against Penn State
Altoona on Saturday at
home (1 p.m.)
Looking into the near future,
Streeter pointed out that the teams
will either have 140-seat bleachers on
both fields or the scoreboards in April,
but funding remains vital in the deci
sion as to which item will come first.
“The benefits are incredible with
this new field,” said softball coach
Kellie Diehl. “The field drains really
well. This is by far the best field I’ve
ever been on, playing or coaching. It’s
a great recruiting tool. Besides
recruiting, I know the team feels
proud when every school comes to
our field and remarks how incredible