ceu-2012-09-06-1-006
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
page 6 Sports Page 5September 6, 2012Page 6
photos courtesy Jeff Peterson
Dillon Manzanaressports writer
USU Eastern baseball is in the process of becoming a playoff team. Whether it is this year or in the near future, that remains to be seen. Head Coach Scott Madsen stated, “We will have to win half of our season schedule in order to make the playoffs. It will be a tough, but an acheivable goal.” The squad’s pitching should be improved, as long as they stay healthy.
USU Eastern has many players that will enjoy the task of being leaders for this fairly young team. Matt Gochis is a return-ing sophomore and will be a leader on this team. Joe Barta, Denver Hansen, Hayden Basinger, and many other strong leaders will play big roles on this team. All this leadership should help the team out a lot, as we all know leadership is a huge quality to have on any sports team.
The team as a whole has a solid group of returning players, as well as a talented group of incoming freshmen or transfers. As far as hit-ting is concerned, Chance Abrath is returning and will play a huge role in that department. “ Along with Chance, we have a good group
of talented players that have the potential to have great seasons,” stated Madsen. This year’s team is a great group of individuals that will continue to be good influences in the com-munity and throughout the school.
This offseason has consisted of lifting and conditioning in order to improve on last year’s 13-43 season. They are hoping that all the hard work will pay off and show a big improvement in the win-loss column. Madsen has been the head coach at USU Eastern for the past nine seasons, as well as the pitching coach for four years before that. He is excited to get the season started on the right note.
Eastern is entering a new conference and they look forward to the opportunity of facing new teams in order to work towards a playoff spot. The new conference is the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, or ACCAC. It consists of Prairie, VI Mariners, Utah Utes Club, Utah State Club, Salt Lake Community College, Dawson, Colorado North Western, Miles City, and Arizona Christian.
USU Eastern’s first game is Sept. 7 against Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake. “SLCC is a great test for an opening game, as they have been a very tough team in the past years,” Madsen said. If you are a USU Eastern baseball fan, you should be excited about this season.
Best VB start in 24 years
USU Eastern baseball trying to become
playoff team
The Holy War
Ryan Nelsonstaff writer
The weather outside is cool-ing down, school is in session, and ESPN is prepping for Col-lege Game-Day.
That’s right, football is in our midst’s, filled with the smell of hot dogs, nachos, and fans ready for the games. This is a special time of year, a time where alumni, college students or the avid sportsman, come together to support their teams.
Everyone is eager and ex-cited to see how their team will do and especially what bowl game they will be going to at the end of the year. Along with all these benefits that come with college football, is the rivalry between schools. Recently in Oklahoma, a kindergartener was told to turn his Michigan State shirt inside out because it was against school policy to wear a shirt that did not sport an Oklahoma team.
This incident sparked some interest from Michigan’s Ath-letic Director, David Brandon, who awarded the boy a Michigan shirt that showed the Michigan logo both outside and inside the shirt. Along with that, the boy will be introduced to a full house at halftime as Michigan takes on the University of Massachusetts.
Initially this policy was de-veloped by an Anti-Gang Task Force, but this just sounds like the heated tension of college football and rivalries beginning to start. Throughout the coun-try, many great rivalries exist like Army vs. Navy, Auburn vs. Alabama, USC vs. Notre Dame and perhaps the greatest rivalry of all time, in Utah, The Holy War; University of Utah vs. Brigham Young University.
This rivalry dates back to April 6, 1896, with the first game won by The Running Utes (12-4). Many things go into a rivalry game, for one, how long the rivalry has been going and another is that this game usually decides the conference title, but this year it’s different.
One of the big elements in this rivalry is religion. It’s a sight to see how this plays a role in the game. What it all comes down to is the teams and how loud
the fans cheer for them.
see Holy page
7
New coaches and young team energize program and win games
Coaches Milovich and Warburton watch their team evolve. At the SLCC Tournament last weekend, the team huddles to listen to their coaches’ advice.
Look for changes in USU Eastern’s Dining Services
Becky and staff have gone crazy this summer re-vamping the dining room and menu.
Please excuse the dust...it will be finished and ready for full use soon!
Kameron Kingsports writer
With solid wins the first two weeks of the season, Head Coach Chelsey Warburton says she is excited for her team’s 2012 season.
Warburton says as the women started their first summer workouts and practices, she was pleased to see how much talent she has this year, and how hard her team has been working day in and day out. She is excited to have four returning players including Megan Peterson from Marion, Utah; Malorie White from Weston, Idaho; Lindzee Bair from Bozeman, Montana; and Whitney Fieldsted from Altamont, Utah.
She says she feels pretty good about where her team is at and where they are headed.
Many team members, and also Warburton, feel that they have a good year ahead of them. They feel that if they keep pushing themselves and working hard, they will match up really well with their competition.
The incoming players include Taran Kennedy from Holladay; Amanda Freestone from Price; Kathy Collette from Idaho Falls, Idaho; Mindy Fluckiger from Lo-gan; Caitlyn Nelson from Riverton; Lauren Karn from Las Vegas, Nev.; Jessica Wilcox from Las Vegas, Nev.; Paige Peterson from Marion; and Sydney Cornforth from Tropic, Utah.
Last weekend the lady Eagles started their year off strong. They headed up to the College of Southern Idaho Tournament and came out 3-1.
“We had some really good teams we were playing against,
and we matched up very well, and played our game.”
The women opened their season against Casper and ended up losing the first three sets: 14-25, 18-25 and 10-25. The women bounced back strong and beat a tough-matched opponent Sheridan: three sets to two.
“We came together as a unit after our first loss of the season and started playing together and playing harder due to that first loss. We knew we had a lot to play for,” the coach added.
The lady Eagles also beat Northwest 25-20, 19-25, 25-9, 23-25 and 15-6. Lindzee Bair had a great five-block game against Northwest and Sydney Cornforth added some great hitting.
EU continued their winning streak defeating Phoenix 25-22, 12-25, 25-22 and 25-21. The pass-ing was the big run for the wins
against Phoenix. The women had a 2.26 average on passing. “I was very proud of how my girls played this weekend.” Warburton adds, that is the best start we have had in many, many years. The women came out stronger than ever and never gave up.
From Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, the women traveled to the Salt Lake Community College Tournament. They had a tough weekend, but came out 1-2.
On Aug. 31, they faced North-eastern and Mount Hood. The lady Eagles lost to Northeastern 25-22, 25-20, 30-28 and beat Mount Hood 27-25, 25-17 and 25-20.
On Sept. 1, they competed against Central Wyoming and Western Wyoming. The women came out with two losses. Central Wyoming topped them 25-15, 25-12 and 25-17; and Western Wyoming topped them 25-15, 25-
23 and 26-24. They felt that they played some
good competition, but felt they did not play their best game. They are working together and getting to know each other better so their chemistry and work ethic meshes together.
As the second tournament has ended our women are proud of some certain goals and stats. The team has had the best start in many years. Team passing against Casper was at a massive 2.1 average. Team blocks are at a high of 10 per game. Our lady Eagle hitter that you should be aware of is Whitney Sheridan, she is having a great run, hitting on average .281 per game.
Warburton voiced her confidece in her players, “I have confidence in my team and where we’re headed, if we just allow ourselves to keep playing and working hard each and every day.”
photo by Beth Liddell/The EagleGentry Hatch practices hitting in the batting cage before practice on Tuesday.
Paige Peterson