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.