Friday, April 15, 2005 Track qualifes additional men for ECAC and NCAA meets By Justin Bootes staff writer Spring is here just in time for the men’s track team to put their best times on the track. With great conditions NCAA and ECAC qualifiers make it cut through the competition. Senior Isiah Meek qualified in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 14.88. The NCAA qualifier also placed fifth in the 200 meters with 23.08. Saturday was a great day for field events qualifying ECAC distances; senior Donnie Hackworth placed third in the Pole vault. Third put him into the ECAC meet with a vault of 14’6”. Senior Nick McGrady launched the javelin to a dis tance of 174’2”. The second place finish put him into the ECAC meet. Junior Shane Rock reached a distance of 43’5” in the triple jump. The sandy landing put him in second place and into the ECAC meet. Both the 4xloo and the 4x400 teams ran ECAC qualifying times. The 4xloo team (Rock, Meek, Sheuer, Kargbo) placed third in the Mount Union Invitational. The time of 44.51 earned them a spot for the ECAC meet in May. STEELER’S HOOPS HIT BEHREND COURT Last Friday the Pittsburgh Steelers basketball team played the Behrend Community All-Star team. Behrend professors and students were on the All- Star team. Polo team slips after a dominating start The offensive power of Washington & Jefferson proved to be too much for the Lady Lions, as the Presidents dealt Behrend a crushing 13-5 defeat Saturday at the Junker Center. Sophomore Cara Ludwig led the blue and white with four goals and one steal, while senior captain Sam Cibula contributed one goal and four steals. The loss dropped the Lady Lions to 5-14 overall, and 4-1 against Division HI schools. Behrend held a 3-2 lead after the first quarter, but W & J rallied to lead 5-3 at halftime and exploded for five goals in the third quarter to go up 10-3. “We came out strong,” said Coach Joe Tristan. “We put them where we wanted them. We made them change their offense to play our game.” Tristan said his team used a defense specially designed for the W & J team. The Presidents were able to malf«» adjustments, scored three quick goals in the second quarter and never looked back. For W& J, junior Kim Cieslik and sophomore Dawn Jackson both scored four goals. Sophomore Kim Salsville grabbed nine saves in the first three quarters. With the win the Presidents improve to 5- 4 overall. “A lot of time we play okay first quarters and great second, third and fourth quarters,” said Tristan. “Against W & J, we played a great first quarter and okay second, third and fourth quarters.” “The key,” Tristan said, “is being able to play a full game at a high level.” Penn State Behrend will host Slippery Rock April 19. The Lady Lions will be recognizing their sen iors and co-captains, Cibula and Erin Troester on Senior Night. A win against Slippery rock will give them a rematch against Gannon in the first round of champi onships. The last relay team (Wilcher, Barlett, Meek, Shugars) to qual ify would be the 4x400 team. A time of 3:24.70 put Behrend in third place and into the ECAC meet. The average 400, quarter mile, time per runner would be about 51.175. The rest of the field events proved productive with Behrend placing. Sophomore Dan Mitchel placed 3rd in the Javelin 164”7”. Jon McKinney long jumped into fourth place with a distance of 20' .75" Freshman Shaun Carlson threw the javelin 159’2” putting him in sixth place. Senior Steve Feder pole vaulted 13' placing seventh. Rock long jumped sev enth with a distance of 19' 1.5”. The track proved extremely productive placing an additional nine runners. In the 800, senior Mike Barlett finished third while freshman Joe Wilcher was just 2” behind him placing fourth at 1:59. Sophomore Brad Ruffo ran a time of 16:04.9 in the 5000 meters placing fourth overall. Senior Tim Shultheis finished two places behind him with 16:24. Behrend track has been improving throughout its exis tence. Since 2002, 19 of the 25 Behrend records have been By Rachel Lyon staff writer PORT Cl O crushed by the men’s team, “This success is due to the contributions of our seven assis tant coaches who work with the athletes in the different events as well as the talent, work ethic and perseverance of our athletes,” said Head Coach Dave Cooper. Behrend currently competes in the East Coast Athletic Conference championship. This conference has over 100 schools competing within it. A normal conference is only 10-12 schools. This makes it extremely challenging for the team to put athletes in a position for all con ference honors. The goal is to have only 20-24 athletes compete per event in the championship meet out of the 100 teams. The only way to keep the athlete number down in this extremely large conference is to raise the standards. “We've had our first, second, and third 800 runners beat the conference champion from the Presidents Athletic Conference (Grove City, Westminster, Washington & Jefferson, etc), yet none of our runners even qualified for ECAC's that year,” said Cooper. The Behrend track team runs, jumps, throws and vaults again April 16 in the Slippery Rock Invitational. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Senior spotlight presents... The boys from the diamond ihrend ;acon: . it are your ler gn._ Vince Canzano: I plan to look for a job, maybe try to find a female to settle down with. I would also like to move south so I don’t ever have to think of the miserable weather I’ve experienced the past four years in Erie. Jason Shaffer: Next February I’ll be in Pensacola, Florida attending Navy Officer Candidate School. I’m committed to the Navy for four years and I’m really fired up for it. Matt Szymanski: I’m not exactly sure yet; I just just have to wait and see what kind of job options are available. BB: What will you miss most about Behrend? VC: I will miss playing ball, all my boys, second floor crew, most of all the TOE affiliates and the amazing memories we’ve made. JS: I will miss all the people at Behrend. I’ll miss hanging out with my dogs, primarily TOE affiliates I love yens guys. MS: I’m going to miss just chilling with everyone. After being with these guys for the past four years, it’s going to be wierd when I’m out on my own and I’m not going to be able to walk over to someone else’s place and hang out. BB: What is your favorite memory from your sport? VC: Winning back to back ECAC championships my freshman and sophomore years. JS: Nothing compares to pitching the ECAC championship game. We won too, which helps. MS: My freshman year when we won ECAC’s and sophomore year when we won AMCC's and ECAC’s. BB: What is your funniest/most embarassing moment? VC: My funniest moment is not suitable for this publication. If you ask me when I’m around campus, I might share the info. JS: That’s probably a bit inappropriate for this publication MS: Down in Florida this year after I pitched a game, someone blew a bubble with their gum and put it on my hat and I didn’t know about it. I felt stupid but it was funny. Playing ball and breaking barriers By Chris LaFuria sports commentary Chuck Cooper was a hero. Wally Triplett was a brave man. Jackie Robinson was a pioneer. Although many people have no idea who these three men are, they are, quite possibly, the most important people in the history of professional sports. Cooper with the NBA, Triplett with the NFL, and Robinson with MLB, each of these men set records, not the type of records that can be broken. The achievement is not about who hit the most home runs, scored the most points, or who even played in the most games. These three men broke barriers. In the midst of hatred and racism, Cooper, Triplett and Robinson fought for what they believed in and made their dreams real. On April 25, 1950, Chuck Cooper was selected by the Boston Celtics as the first African American to play in the NBA. Red Auerbach, head coach of the Celtics at the time said, “[Cooper] had to go through hell.” Cooper only man aged to play in the league for six years, a span that seems rather short in comparison to today. However, what Cooper endured throughout these few years may have been backbreaking for Cooper, but for today’s genera tion, priceless. When the Celtics traveled on away games, many white hotel owners refused to lend a room to Cooper. He had to find other means of shelter. When Boston journeyed to the South, often- Badminton resurrects favorite pastime By Eric Nyberg staff writer The Intramural Badminton season kicked off last Friday, and ran through the 13. Students who participated in this year’s event were able to enjoy a sport that is not physically demand ing and has been around for hundreds of years. Badminton is similar to tennis in that there can be a singles match, where you are playing solo against an opponent, or you can play dou bles where .you and a teammate play against two other opponents. In badminton there is a net that is much higher off the ground than in tennis and each player has a racquet. The CI o times Cooper had to remain at home due to potential hatred. Even in his own backyard, bas ketball fans were up in arms over seeing color in the NBA. Even though Cooper lasted only six years, what he underwent in that span is irreplaceable. Wally Triplett was the first black player to actually play with an NFL team (In 1949 George Taliaferro was the first drafted but elected to play in the AAFC). Selected in the 19 round of the 1949 draft out of Penn State, Triplett played only a few sea sons of the resilient football in his life. Although the NFL was rather young in 1949, fans were still reluctant to allow for inte gration. Triplett only lasted until 1953, but his entrance to the league was a wakeup call to many African American football players. In the workplace today, many people would re-evaluate their career if faced with the pressure, hatred and even death threats that were endured by Jackie Robinson. However, in Robinson’s mind, nothing could stop him from lacing up his cleats and stealing bases. Not only did he steal bases, he stole the denigration right off the tongues of his critics with his grace and eloquence on the dia mond. In 1947, he was chosen to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers, a move that sky-rocketed Robinson to immortal status. Sitting in the back of buses, using separate bathrooms and being ridiculed by white men was almost commonplace for Robinson. In the midst of segre- The Behrend Beacon I gation, there was little he could do. In 1949, when he joined the Dodgers, he was experienced a new level of hatred. Pitchers would always throw directly at him base runners would step on him with their razor sharp cleats; even his own teammates made him the team butler. However, baseball was a bigger issue for Robinson. Nothing could overshadow his performances. In his 10-year career, Robinson amassed almost 200 stolen bases and scored almost a thousand runs. Back when pitchers despised throwing the ball to him instead of at him, he averaged a .311 batting aver aged over this 10 year span. Six out of the 10 seasons saw Robinson’s Dodgers make it to the World Series, winning it in 1955. No player in the history of baseball meant more to his club than Jackie Robinson. In 1997, number 42 was retired from the entire league in respect to Robinson’s achievement. Back in the 1940 s and 50s, the color barrier was an important issue. Owners knew that the key to success was utilizing the untapped resource of African American players. It took these three men a lot of heart and desire to tolerate such dire straits. Today, the thought of a color barrier seems almost unre alistic. When you catch a glimpse of a professional sport ing event on television now, you can’t help but notice the abun dance of African American play ers and athletes. Consider this a gift of these three American heroes. object of badminton is to hit the birdie (not a ball) over the net to the opposing team in a way that prevents them from hitting it back to your side. The Intramural Badminton event is a singles match only and will take place every Monday and Wednesday through the 13. If you missed the event and still want to play badminton for fun then go to the Junker Center and wait for available court space. The nets are easy to set up and if you decide to play you will be happy you did. For more information contact Rob Wittman at 898-6280 or just stop by the Junker Center.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers