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www.tamuceasttexan.com www.issuu.com/tamuc.easttexan.

Homecoming Royalty

Seniors Matthew Rich and Chloe Cotton (sponsored by Pi Kappa Alpha and Chi Omega Respectively) were crowned Homecoming King and Queen during halftime of Saturday’s squash match of a Homecoming game against McMurray. Cotton plans to become an elementary teacher while working toward a Master’s degree in Education. Rich’s goal is to “pursure excellence in all aspects of life while taking the A&M-Commerce name with me wherever I go.”

EAST TEXAN PHOTO/KRISTEN TAYLOR

Amanda HeflinSta= Writer

Texas A&M University-Commerce’s >rst Pow Wow is scheduled Nov. 8 with the Cheyenne Nation, Muscogee Creek, Cherokee and other tribes participating.

Terryl Bratek had the idea of developing the local event after the 2013 Caddo dedication on campus.

“After the Caddo dedication it was like ‘Couldn’t we have a Pow Wow here,’” Bratek said. “I emailed Dr. (Dan) Jones (A&M-Commerce president) and he basically said that it sounds like a good idea and go for it. He then sent my email to Noah Nelson (director of community engagement).”

“Feb. 22 [Noah and I] went to the UT-Arlington Pow-Wow,” Bratek said. “One of the people I spoke with is going to be at our PowWow, William Harjo.”

Harjo, a Creek Indian, plays a wooden Native Ameri-can ?ute to honor his heritage. He will be doing the sto-rytelling at the Commerce Pow Wow with his ?ute.

During a Pow Wow, there are many ceremonies and rituals that take place.

“Almost every Pow Wow has a veteran’s ceremony, and it’s not just because they are around Veterans Day,” Bratek said. @e Greenville JROTC and the Renegade nation will perform the Veterans Ceremony.

During the day there will be two grand entries, one at 2 p.m. and another at 5:30 p.m. @ere will also be danc-ing and drums “and fry bread, you can’t forget about the fry bread,” Bratek said.

Various vendors will be in the student center selling “regalia, jewelry and we have one selling stick balls,” Bratek said.

“@is is our >rst Pow Wow,” Bratek said, “so I want everyone to have a good time.”

@ere will be programs with etiquette guidelines in-side for visitors.

“@ey are not wearing costumes,” Bratek said. “It is called regalia. Always listen to the master of ceremonies, Albert Old Crow, on whether or not this is a time where you can take pictures. Please always ask permission.”

“People just show up to a Pow Wow,” Bratek said. “People can mingle from other nations and non-natives. Everyone is welcome.”

@ere is no way to tell in advance how many people will be attending and participating that day with the A&M-Commerce football playo= game that night as well.

“Come to the game then go to the Pow Wow, come to the Pow Wow and then go to the game and back to the Pow Wow. It’s a free celebration,” Bratek said.

“People are coming to have a good time and that is our goal,” Bratek said. For the future if “each year we get bigger we will have to move out of the student center, but that will always be the goal. @at is the goal of a Pow Wow.”

“@e only thing that could be a disappointment is if someone could not have a good time and it was some-thing that we can’t >x,” Bratek said.

@e >rst A&M–Commerce Pow Wow will be Satur-day, Nov. 8 starting at 12 p.m. in the student center.

University to host (rst annual bene(t

Pow Wow

“The only thing that could be a disappointment is if someone could not have a good time and it was something that we can’t fix.”

-Terryl Bratek

T!" E#$% T"&#' S%#((Editor Managing Editor Sports EditorCampus EditorSenior ReporterFaculty AdviserPhoneEmailThe Special MagazineEast Texan WebsiteEast Texan Print Issue Online

Andrew BurnesPatricia Dillon

Ryan ScottJoseph Alderman

Ismael IsakFred Stewart

903-886-5985theeasttexan@gmail.com

www.issuu.com/thespecialtamuceasttexan.com

http://issuu.com/tamuc.easttexan

The East Texan, official student newspaper of Texas A&M University-Commerce, is pub-lished 11 times per semester during the Fall and Spring by students including journal-ism students in reporting classes. Content is solely the responsibility of the student staff and writers. The comments and views expressed in The East Texan, in print or on-line, do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other students, staff, faculty, administration, or the Board of Trustees. The East Texan is located in Room113 of the Journalism Build-ing. Single copies of The East Texan are free, additional copies are available in The East Texan offices for an additional 25 cents each.

Letters to the Texan are welcome and should be limited to 350 words. They may be edited for spelling, grammar and libelous and malicious statements. The East Texan reserves the right to refuse publication. Letters should be typed or emailed, must include a valid signature and contact information, and can be sent to theeast-texan@gmail.com or PO Box 4104, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX 75428.

Letters to the Texan

N!". #, $%&'P()* 2

“Handshakes. I’m old fashioned and it’s more professional.”

-Bree Winfrey

“If I really know the person, then handshake.”-Drew Anderson

“Handshake. I’ve never thought about why.”-Maria Gadelkarim

Fistbumps or Handshakes?

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“Handshakes, because it is more formal.”-Greg Vaughn

)e Internet Has Spoiled Us, and Here’s How.

R+(, S-!../e East Texan/roughout the history of mankind, humans have looked for ways to convey ideas and messages to one another in the easiest and most convenient ways possible.

/rough prehistoric times, humans created things such as language and writing were created to serve as a way for humans to send these messages. If you’re reading this, then you should thank your local prehistoric human for this innovation.

However, communication between humans isn’t always perfect. We have always strove to 0nd ways to get our messages out to more and more people. With the dawn of the internet age, people have 0nally been able to 0ll their desire to be heard by many people in an instant. With this immediacy and openness comes a price, because not everyone was meant to be heard.

Don’t get me wrong, being a journalist, I am a staunch proponent of the 0rst amendment. Even still, I have my own opinions and beliefs, and no matter how unbiased I try to be, there are still some views that I can’t get behind.

With the internet thrown into the mix of mass media, we as a society are constantly bombarded by information from all sides. With everyone given a voice, it is hard to discern what is real and what is fake. /e biggest e1ect that I believe the internet has caused, however, is that society has become complacent with the immediacy of the web.

Instead of reading the morning paper, people log on to the

web. Instead of watching the morning news or listening to talk radio, more people are just checking the news online instead.

/e biggest draw of online news is more for the insomniacs. Why wait until morning to see the score of a late night sports match, or seeing things that happen overnight. With the internet, you could just check the web for sports scores, news, or anything else at any time of day, without having to wait for a newspaper or a TV program. /is immediacy is the main root of the point I am getting at: We are spoiled by the opportunity to immediately obtain information.

Now I am not the conspiracy theorist type. I don’t wax poetic about the fall of civilization or the coming of robot overlords or anything like that. However, I am a believer that we as a society rely to heavily on the internet for information. /e problem is that while I hold that belief, I myself 0nd it hard to think of a life without it. Having the internet around just makes life so… easy. I’m scarce to think of a world where I can’t 0nd out the 2% things Jennifer Lawrence did last year that makes her absolute perfection, or take quizzes to 0nd out what Marvel Avenger I am, or look up obscure historical events in order to win some sort of ludicrous bet. What would I do without that sort of power?

/is immediacy has also led to what can be seen as a decline in journalistic integrity. I will call out Twitter, for example. /ere are many self-proclaimed journalists, as well as professional journalists, who at one point or another found themselves with egg on their face after they rushed to tweet some “breaking news”, only to later 0nd that it was either untrue, was missing important details, or was just outright fake. More and more people are eager to rush out some news story just for the immediate attention.

/is attention seeking is a main problem with the internet. It awakens the instinct to be heard, and that instinct can sometimes become intoxicating.

SOURCE: GIANTGAG.NET

1. We have more than books! At Gee Li-brary, you can check out laptops, iPads, digital cameras, DVDs, CDs, LP records, government documents, and even a production studio. Visit bit.ly/LibBorrow for more information about how long each can be checked out.

2. You can get a room. Need a quiet place to study or meet with a group? At Gee Library, you can check out a room for up to four hours each time.

3. You can request books and articles from other libraries for free! We are part of a world-wide network of libraries that allows us to request books and articles for you for free. To learn more about this service or to make a request, visit: bit.ly/LibLoan

4. Gee Library has 0ve 3oors. /at’s right! Gee Library extends well beyond the computer lab and the Bistro. In fact, all of the college-level books are on the third and 0fth 3oors.

5. We have research librarians who are here to help you navigate the library. Have a question about the library or your research project? We have a three-person research librarian team that is here to help you! Visit this page to see the ways you can contact the research librarians: bit.ly/Lib-Contact.

6. We collect and preserve University and Northeast Texas history. Visit the Archives and Special Collections on the fourth 3oor of Gee Library to access photographs, oral histories, diaries, manuscripts, and artifacts from the col-lections. Selected materials are available online in the Northeast Texas Digital Collections, dmc.tamuc.edu.

7. /ere is more than one library. Most everyone knows about Gee Library, but did you know we also have a library in Mesquite? To learn more about the Metroplex Library, visit: bit.ly/metroplex.

Library Link

Top 7 things to know about A&M-Commerce

Librarires

Page 3N!". # $%&' N!"#

Nick Patras MS, LPCSpecial Contributor

On November 11th we will celebrate Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada, where we pause and re(ect on the men and women who served their country. We often mistakenly associate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a soldier’s issue. In fact, there are many faces that represent individuals strug-gling with complications associated with exposure to trau-matic events.

Leading trauma expert Bessel A. van der Kolk wrote “traumatic events such as family and societal violence, rapes and assaults, disasters, wars, accidents and predatory violence confront people with such a horror and threat that it may temporarily or permanently alter their capacity to cope, their perception of biological threat, and their self-concepts.” While we have many veteran students on our campus, given Dr. van der Kolk’s thorough de)nition of traumatic events, there are countless people within our campus community who may have had previous trauma exposure causing them to struggle with a range of symp-toms in the PTSD spectrum.

First, as a veteran and licensed counselor with advanced training in trauma work, I wholeheartedly support our veterans for their service and sacri)ce. I am committed to providing the highest quality counseling services to our student veterans because I both understand the sacri)ce that comes with a tour of duty as well as the real presence of traumatic events with deployments in Iraq and Afghani-stan and earlier service in the Viet Nam war. *e main message I hope to spread to our Vets is there is no stigma attached to reaching out for services when dealing with trauma related concerns.

Secondly, as one of many professionals working in the Counseling Center, I want to call attention to the fact that untreated trauma exposure can be debilitating and impact a student’s success in higher education. Our goal in the Counseling Center is to work with students to support them as they pursue achieving academic goals. College is the gateway to adulthood for traditional students and of-ten the “reset” button for nontraditional students. PTSD symptoms can impact sleep, impede healthy relationships, foster dependency on substance use, and in some cases, cause negative behaviors that are disruptive in the class-room and social circles. *ese concerns can be helped in the counseling room with a supportive counselor as a guide.

Regardless of how a student was exposed to trauma, there is hope for a life without symptoms that are distress-ing. Past childhood abuse of any kind, current intimate partner abuse or violence, previous deployment in the armed services, or having witnessed horri)c disasters or ac-cidents do not have to be faced alone. PTSD does not have to be a negative diagnostic label. It can be thought of as an umbrella for a range of symptoms resulting from exposure to trauma. More importantly, there is strong empirical re-search to support treatment that can reduce or eliminate the symptoms.

Counseling Corner

Ideas or questions for the Counseling Corner? Give us a call at 903-886-5145. Previous articles can be found on the Counseling Center web site.

The Many Faces of PTSD: Challenging the

Misconceptions

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Travis HairgroveSta+ Writer

“*is we’ll defend” and “Semper )delis (or always faithful),” are the o,cial mot-toes of the United States Army and Marine Corps respectively. While they both repre-sent a warrior’s code of sacri)ce and duty, they can also serve as reminders of the im-portance of respect, sensitivity and loyalty as they pertain to the support of veterans of the armed forces who are transitioning back into civilian life.

Long after leaving the warzone, veterans continue to battle internal enemies like post-traumatic stress disorder, existential issues, identity confusion and grief, making the road from military to civilian life a treacher-ous one. For this reason, Texas A&M Uni-versity-Commerce’s Veteran and Military Support Services provide student-veterans with a network of fellow vets, allowing for round-the-clock peer support.

“Most people can let their emotions run wild but I can’t,” social work major and U.S. Army/Army National Guard veteran Wil-liam Ballard said.

Ballard, who rose to the rank of sta+ ser-geant over the course of his 14 years of ser-vice (many of them spent in Iraq), said of his journey from soldier to student, “For a long time, I was really hard on myself, because in Iraq I had to be hard on others. It took a while for me to understand that my emo-

tions are mine and not to let other people mess with them.”

With peer support being so central to A&M-Commerce’s Veteran and Military Support Services, Counseling Center as-sistant director and veteran, Nick Patras, wrote in a Counseling Corner column that appeared in the Sept. 13, 2012 issue of *e East Texan “Anyone who has served in the military knows that vets communicate with each other di+erently.”

Patras, a doctoral candidate in counselor education, went on to explain how having people “who understand that unique lan-guage and way of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings” is emphasized by the presence of a Veteran’s Lounge, located on the third (oor of the Ferguson Social Sciences Build-ing, where students and sta+ who share a “knowledge of military life can meet veter-ans on their own turf.”

Veterans and Military Services Special-ist Danny Davis, described the Veteran’s Lounge as serving chie(y as a “quiet place veterans can do homework, study or eat their lunch. You take a 35-year-old veteran, and they’re going to have pretty much noth-ing in common with a much younger, tradi-tional college student. It’s mostly just a quiet place for them.”

While this peer support may be an im-portant part of the warrior-to-citizen transi-tion process in the long run, some veterans prefer to take their time when it comes to

interacting with other former and current soldiers.

“Approaching other veterans can be dif-)cult,” Ballard said, “because for one, you never know how severe their issues are. Also, for a long time, I focused on everyone’s dif-ferences, rather than their similarities. *is included other veterans. Everyone thinks they had it rougher.

“Peace and serenity are very important to me now,” Ballard said. “I keep my apartment very Zen-like and relaxing, and I know that Jessica Gossett [a veterans and military ser-vices specialist] and others are there. I have that support if I just have a bad day. It’s nice having options and choices.”

For anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of soldiers readjusting to ci-vilian life, there will be a conference deal-ing with the needs of student-veterans at the Sam Rayburn Student Center, on Nov. 14 from 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. as part of the Ruth Ann White Day activities.

Ruth Ann White Day activities will in-clude a presentation by Patras on the post-traumatic stress disorder. *is will be fol-lowed by a discussion on traumatic brain injuries with Dr. *omas Selvaggi of the Live Oak Professional Center.

Ruth Ann White is a retired A&M-Commerce professor. Her day recognizes and honors her contributions to student af-fairs/services.

Celebrating Veterans2014 Veteran’s

Vigil2014 Veteran’s VigilOpening Ceremony

Nov. 129:30 a.m.

Conference Room, Rayburn Student Center

Featuring lighting of the vigil (ame which will burn continuously until Nov. 13 when it will be extinguished at 4:30 p.m. *e vigil will be in front of the student cen-ter on the walking mall.

Ceremonies will include posting of the guards at the vigil site.

From the battlefront to the homefrontPHOTO COURTESY/CELEBRATEUSA.HUBPAGES.COM

University brings military branches together with Veterans’ BallFloyetta BatesSta+ Writer

*e Student Veterans Association and Texas A&M University-Commerce Alumni

Association are teaming up for the 3rd An-nual Veterans’ Ball on Nov. 15 in the Ray-burn Student Center to honor past and pres-ent veterans and their families.

Jill Mobley, coordinator of stewardship, said the ROTC reunion is usually associated with homecoming and not during Veterans Week, but this year there will be one cer-emony instead of two with 30 ROTC alumni invited back for the Vet-erans Ball.

*e Air Force Re-serve O,cer Train-ing Corps (AFROTC) program was at A&M- Commerce from March 31, 1949 to June 30, 1991 just before the school joined the A&M system.

Although the AF-ROTC is no longer at the university, there are more than 800 students

enrolled using veteran bene)ts. *ese stu-dents are either veterans themselves or chil-dren of vets. *ere are also about 40 mem-bers of the faculty and sta+ that identify themselves as veterans with all )ve branches of the military, Army, Air Force, Navy, Ma-rine Corps, and Coast Guard, represented on campus.

Each branch of the military has its own birthday, own ball each year, and special ceremonies, but at the Veterans Ball all )ve ceremonies are combined.

“My husband is a veteran of the Navy and their birthday is Oct. 13, and we go ev-ery year,” Mobley said.

All alumni, veterans, faculty and sta+, and students are welcome to attend. Tickets are on sale through Nov. 7, at $20 for stu-dents and $25 for others. A table sponsor-ship is $250 with eight seats per table.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the Student Veterans As-sociation at 903-886-5123 or Jill Mobley at 903-468-8664. Her o,ce is located in the BA Building in Room 350. If ADA accom-modations are required, contact the Student Veterans O,ce at 903-886-5123 at least two weeks prior to the event.

H!"#$!"%&' 2014 NOV. 6, 2014PAGE 4

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PHOTO BY KRISTEN TAYLOR

H!"#$!"%&' 2014 NOV. 6, 2014PAGE 5

PHOTO BY AARON HWANG

PHOTO BY AARON HWANG

PHOTO BY AARON HWANG

PHOTO BY KRISTEN TAYLOR

PHOTO BY KRISTEN TAYLOR

PHOTO BY KRISTEN TAYLOR

P!"# $N%&. $, '()* F!"#$%!&

Andrew BurnesEditor

One hundred twenty-+ve years ago, the doors to the one-story East Texas Normal College were opened by founder William Leonidas Mayo in Cooper, Texas. After being saturated with em-blems and seals, celebrations and banners, the students of Texas A&M University-Commerce know the story of their university’s founding well. However, behind the scenes, the university has reached another milestone, a historical mark-er that has been all but forgotten. Because 2014 also marks the 50th anniversary of desegregation on the campus.

After receiving an edict from the board of re-gents in 1964 that all universities were required to desegregate, East Texas State, along with Sam Houston, was the last to accept black students among its ranks. From there, one by one, black students from around the area began to trickle in. Initially met with resistance and blatant rac-ism, their numbers began to swell year by year, eventually shifting the negative tide and emo-tion that surrounded them to an atmosphere of encouragement from both students and faculty alike.

Rosalie Turner, an expert on the topic of de-segregation has studied the e,ect that this new requirement had on East Texas State. Married to a graduate from the university, Turner has a par-ticular interest in the shift that took place from the mid to late ‘60s and early ‘70s. She visited the campus on Homecoming weekend and gave a presentation through the A&M-Commerce Writing Center about one of her multiple histori-cal +ction books about the national transition from the dark days of Jim Crowe to the dream that all men could be treated equal. She also sat down for an interview about how what she knows about the desegregation of our campus

and gave her thoughts on how far we’ve come as a nation… and how far we have yet to go.

“How it was,” Turner says from across an old table in a nearly forgotten conference room in the back of the +rst -oor of the Hall of Languages, a bottle of water serving as her only accompani-ment. “.at’s what we need to remember. How it was. Because we’ve come a long way, but we’ve come to a bit of a plateau. We need to keep go-ing. And we need a reminder of what they went through.”

.ough she acknowledges the inherent dif-+culties faced by the +rst black students to at-tend the university, Turner has an optimistic perception about how the negativity shifted to a brighter situation for those that followed.

“In ’64 it would be very challenging because the numbers were miniscule,” Turner said. “Like one or two. It was a very courageous thing to do. But what I’ve found in talking to people who were students in the ‘60s and on into the ‘70s, as the years went on, they felt much more comfort-able. At +rst, there was blatant racism from the students. And from the faculty there were those misconceptions that people have. So they were disadvantaged in classrooms. But they have all said that there was additional encouragement and support from whites, both students and faculty. As the years went on, things changed. I think that mirrored the country.”

Turner traces back the original misgivings toward the black students to the misconceptions and prejudices that existed in the country when slavery was abundant. While the former slaves’ positions in society began a slow shift toward equality once slavery was abolished, Turner, like many, understands that this did little to change the mindsets of many in the white population.

“.ey believed that there were inherent dif-ferences between the races,” Turner said. “.ey didn’t believe that the two races were physically, mentally or emotionally equal. So they treated them that way. It was actually frightening to people who thought that this race was inferior. What the prejudices stemmed from was fear. Just fear. Fear of losing a job or going through

changes to their ways of life. We’re just slowly coming out of that.

“.ere are so many misconceptions. To this day, there’s still kind of a wall between the blacks and the whites. Even if you’re being friendly. We have to get to the point where we’re com-fortable enough with each other where we don’t have those walls anymore. I think the only way

that we can do that is if we talk to each other, learn each other’s stories, and know each other better.”

One example of this, Turner contends, is the fact that A&M-Commerce has had little to say about the 50th anniversary of desegregation. .e topic is still uncomfortable.

“.e whole thing about race for everyone is that it’s so emotion-packed. It has to do with our very core feelings. What we learned growing up. So we shy away from those subjects, I think. And

I think that’s one of the problems. Until we can discuss rationally, we don’t make much progress. Until we do, we’re going to continue to have un-necessary con-icts, like we had with Ferguson. .ese things show that there is still an underly-ing problem that we’re not dealing with.”

As 2014 winds to a close, and the 125th an-niversary banners are put into boxes to be looked

back upon fondly as a milestone of how far we’ve come, we still remember that it was only 50 years ago that the +rst student of color took there +rst steps onto this campus. It was only 50 years ago, that the +rst students of color looked at the same walls that we look at today. .e change in the law was abrupt, but the idea that all people re-gardless of race was something that the faculty and students of East Texas State University, and the nation as a whole, needed to work on. Fifty years later, it still is.

A forgo!en history?Fifty years after the !rst black student was allowed to walk onto the campus of East Texas State University, an expert on desegregation shares her take on how far we’ve come... and how much work still needs to be done

Rosalie Turner, an author on multiple books dealing with desegregation around the country, visited the A&M-Commerce campus last weekend and shared her thoughts on the current state of the union on the issue of racism.

PHOTO COURTEXY/AMAZON.COM

The War on EqualityThe two opposing ideologies at the forefront of the national desegregation issue that swept the nation just !fty years ago. East Texas State University !nally allowed students from the black community to attend classes at its school in 1964, and was tied for the last school in the state to do so.

“We need to remember how it was. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve come to a bit of a plateau. We need to keep going. And we need a reminder of what they went through.”

-Rosalie Turner

Protesters in Missouri earlier this year, after an incident involving a white police o"cer shooting an unarmed black teenager.

P!"# $N%&. ', ()*+ S!"#$%by a monster performance by freshman Tre’von Taylor, who ended the game with 12 tackles, 4.5 sacks which sets a new school record, 5.5 tackles for a loss which ties a school re-cord, as well as an interception which he returned 21 yards for a touchdown.

Rollison ended the game going 7-10 with three passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Joe Bergeron lead the team with 88 rushing yards with one score, and running backs ,eo Wo-ord and Ovie Urevbu combined for 128 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in the second half.

Quarterback Deric Davis found most of his playing time in the second half, and fnished with four touchdowns (two rushing and two passing), and completed all four passes he threw for 116 yards.

As well as the title, two players were honored by the con-ference for the week. Taylor was named the Defensive Player of the Week, and kicker Saul Martinez was named the Spe-cial Teams Player of the Week, setting a Lone Star Confer-ence record with 13 point after attempts made. Martinez is also listed .fth in the nation with 12.3 points per game, as well as leading all kickers in scoring with 111 points.

McMurry struggled to .nd balance on o-ense after los-ing their starting quarterback last week to a leg injury. Four di-erent players threw at least one pass during the game, and combined for 300 passing yards and two scores. Perhaps the only bright spot for the War Hawks were the numbers put up by wide receiver Jeret Smith, who gained 195 receiv-ing yards on just six catches, which included an 82-yard and a 59-yard scored during the game.

With the win, the Lions will host the Tarleton State Tex-ans in the .rst game of the Lone Star Conference Playo-s. ,e Texans are entering this game with a 4-4 record overall (4-3 in conference play). A&M – Commerce won their meet-ing with the Texans in October 53-25 victory. Davis started at quarterback that game due to a Rollison injury, and had a career day, throwing for 324 yards and two touchdowns.

Tarleton recovered after their loss against the Lions, win-ning their next three games by a combined score of 203-63, with the biggest of those being an 80-14 win over Texas A&M University – Kingsville on Oct. 11. ,eir winning

streak was broken, however, last week when a late touch-down sealed a 34-31 defeat at the hands of the Angelo State Rams.

Tarleton currently sits as the .fth seed in the Lone Star Conference Playo-s, but due to West Texas A&M being docked .ve conference games from their win percentage due to a rules violation, the Texans have been thrust into the fourth seed to face the .rst seeded Lions.

,e Texans are led o-ensively by quarterback Collin Strahan, who leads the team in both rushing and passing yards, scoring 25 total touchdowns (10 rushing and 15 pass-ing). Leading receivers for the Texans are Le’nard Meyers and Clifton Rhodes III, who between them have 992 receiv-ing yards and 13 touchdowns. Strahan had to leave the last game against the Rams on just the second o-ensive play of the game where he was replaced by Zed Woerner. Strahan’s status is unlisted at this time.

,e Texas A&M University – Commerce Lions will host the Tarleton State Texans in the .rst game of the Lone Star Conference Playo-s on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. at Me-morial Stadium in Commerce.

Conference Playo!sSaturday, Nov. 8

Game 1: No. 4 Tarleton State at No. 1 A&M-CommerceGame 2: No. 3 Midwestern State at No. 2 Angelo StateGame 3: No. 8 A&M-Kingsville at No. 5 E. New MexicoGame 4: No. 7 McMurry at No. 6 West Texas A&M

LSC Players of the Week

Tre’Von Taylor was named Defensive Player of the Week for his play against McMurry, described on the

LSC websiteas “arguably the best defensive performance in the NCAA this season.”

Saul Martinez was named Special Teams Player of the Week for his school and conference record-setting

13-13 against McMurry. He is .fth in the NCAA in points per game.

Lions host first playoff game Nov. 8Cont. from page 8

From the Lone Star Conference

West Texas A&M is the clear favorite to de-fend its Lone Star Conference title, accord-ing to the 2014-15 LSC preseason women’s basketball poll.

,e league’s preseason polls re/ect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.

Last season, WT earned the LSC Cham-pionship and tournament titles and won the South Central Regional before falling in the national championship game to Bentley 73-65. ,e Lady Bu-s received .rst-place votes on 21 of the 26 ballots for a total of 227

points.Midwestern State .nished second with

three .rst-place nod and 198 points in front of Tarleton State. ,e TexAnns were third with 180 points.

Texas Woman’s was picked fourth (153 points and the remaining two .rst-place votes), Angelo State .fth (141), and Cam-eron sixth (88). Eastern New Mexico (64), Texas A&M-Commerce (62), and Texas A&M-Kingsville (57) rounded out the poll.

MSU’s Andrea Carter was tabbed Pre-season Player of the Year. Carter was the top selection on 13 of the 26 ballots cast. WT’s Chontiquah White claimed 10 votes, while three others each received one of the

remaining three votes.,e LSC has nine teams set for this sea-

son and the competition should be as close as ever. ,e season begins Nov. 14 with LSC teams playing a double round robin league schedule, in which each team plays a home and away contest against each of the other teams to determine the LSC champion.

,e LSC champion will be the regular season winner determined by league games, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC Tournament Champion and earns the conference’s automatic quali.-cation. ,e top eight teams in the .nal con-ference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for March 4-7 in Allen.

WTAMU picked to win conference, Lions tagged for 8th place finish

EAST TEXAN PHOTO / KRISTEN TAYLOR

Vernon�  Johnson�  (6)�  in�  ac on�  during�  the�  Lions’�  91�  -­‐13�  win�  over�  McMurry.�  He�  

caught�  three�  passes�  for�  118�  yards�  including�  a�  43-­‐yard�  touchdown.�  Johnson�  is�  

currently�  third�  in�  the�  LSC�  with�  900�  yards�  on�  60�  catches�  and�  eight�  touchdowns.

Compiled from reports

,e Lions men’s and women’s cross country teams will be in Wichita Falls Nov. 8 for the 2014 Lone Star Conference Championships.

,e championships will be run at the former Hawk Ridge Golf Course.

,e NCAA South Central Regionals will be Nov. 22 in Denver with the Division II National Championships in Lou-isville, Ky. Dec. 6.

LSC Men’s Cross Country Top Times (as of Oct. 30, 2014)

5 KilometersRunner School TimeLuis Romero A&M-Commerce 15:27Scout Hale A&M-Commerce 16:07Fredrick Kipsang A&M-Commerce 16:12Mark Gonzalez A&M-Commerce 16:14Hunter Hawkins A&M-Commerce 16:15Albert Maxwell A&M-Commerce 16:45Turner Pool A&M-Commerce 16:47Andrew Cobos A&M-Commerce 16:51Ryan Kallenbach A&M-Commerce 16:52Matt Rodell A&M-Commerce 17:06Artemio Pagan A&M-Commerce 17:11

8 KilometersBrett Villarreal WTAMU (1st) 24:37.17Luis Romero 3rd 24:55.9Dorian McCradic 5th 25:04Scout Hale 19th 26:12Mark Gonzalez 20th 26:14Fredrick Kipsang 21st 26:24Hunter Hawkins 23rd 26:34Turner Pool 26th 26:48Ryan Kallenbach 29th 27:08Matt Rodell 33rd 27:25Albert Maxwell 35th 27:35Andrew Cobos 37th 27:40Artemio Pagan 40th 27:57

LSC Women’s Cross Country Top Times (as of Oct. 30, 2014)

5 KilometersRunner School TimeMichaela Johnson WTAMU (1st) 17:22.90Noelle Ortiz 6th 18:34.1Caroline Cotsakis 13th 18:53.5Mary Hammonds 15th 18:56.3Tori Lenz-Selvera 17th 19:02.3Kelsey Grier 21st 19:23.9Mackenzie Myers 27th 19:38.2Terra Truitt 33rd 19:48Katia Romero 37th 20:00.6Brooke Farris 43rd 21:01

Cross Country teams prepare for LSC run

The�  Lions�  fell�  3-­‐1�  to�  Texas�  A&M-­‐Kingsville�  on�  senior�  night�  despite�  Amy�  Davault’s�  19�  kills�  and�  11�  digs.�  The�  Lions�  will�  close�  the�  regular�  season�  with�  

two�  road�  trips,�  traveling�  to�  Eastern�  New�  Mexico�  Nov.�  7�  and�  to�  West�  Texas�  A&M�  on�  Nov.�  8.

EAST TEXAN PHOTO / AARON HWANG

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More stories, photos, videos at tamuceasttexan.com

PHOTO COURTESY / LIONATHLETICS.COMLions�  celebrate�  a er�  their�  game�  against�  Eastern�  New�  Mexico,�  the�  deciding�  game�  that�  gave�  the�  women�  the�  LSC�  season�   tle.

Lions claim LSC titlesPHOTO COURTESY / LIONATHLETICS.COMThe�  Lions�  football�  team�  celebrates�  their�  91-­‐13�  victory�  over�  McMurry�  University,�  which�  gave�  them�  the�  LCS�   tle�  for�  the�  first�   me�  in�  24�  years.�  

L(,* )!(- ./01 /,From compiled reports

Jade Bell took the only shot on goal in the second half and she made it count by scoring at the 61:22 mark to lead the Lions to their 2rst regular season Lone Star Conference title with a 1-0 win over Easter New Mexico Nov. 2.

3e Lions 2nished the season 13-5 overall and 7-3 in conference play to claim their 2rst regular season conference title since 2003.

It was senior day at ENMU with the league title and home 2eld for the LSC tournament on the line.

Bell’s goal was her ninth of the season,

placing her fourth in the conference in goals. She also wrapped up the regular season with seven assists to lead the conference.

3e loss for the Zias was just their second home loss of the season.

3e Lions will host Midwestern State in the LSC tournament Nov. 7. 3e second tour-nament match on the Commerce 2eld will be Angelo State meeting Eastern New Mexico.

Angelo State 2nished second in the LSC and will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament. 3e Rambelles (14-3-1 overall) set an all-time program record by winning its 14th game of the season with a 2-0 shutout of Southwestern Oklahoma.

Midwestern will enter the tournament with a two-game losing streak, the latest be-ing a 1-0 loss to Angelo State Oct. 31.

R!4, -/5,1 -/!01Ryan Scott3e East Texan

Emotions were high on Saturday in Commerce because it was homecoming and the Texas A&M University–Commerce Lions football team was just one win away from the Lone Star Conference title.

3e Lions did not disappoint the more than 9,000 in attendance with a 91-13 rout of Mc-Murry University.

3e senior members of the Lions were hon-ored before the game, which featured A&M – Commerce racking up 582 yards of total of-fense and claim sole possession of the Lone Star

Conference Championship.3ings did not seem to start well for the Li-

ons, as quarterback Tyrik Rollison’s 2rst pass was overthrown and intercepted by McMurry defender Decorian Johnson. 3e War Hawks were quickly sti6ed by the Lions defense, how-ever, which set the tone for much of the night. All told, the Lions ended with seven rushing touchdowns, 2ve passing touchdowns, and an interception returned for a touchdown. 3e Li-ons did not punt during the game.

Defensively, the Lions were able to come up with three turnovers, and hold the War Hawks to just 18 yards rushing. 3e team as a whole was able to shake what was considered a “mon-key on their back” by only committing two penalties the entire game. 3e defense was led

See Lions host Page 7