Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Aug. 26, 1991, edition 1 / Page 8
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THE GUILFORDIAN 6 SPORTshorts A quick look inside athletics at Guilford and beyond ***** Butch Maier Sports Editor BUCS WIN A TONY: Guilford Col lege shortstopTony Womack was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Major League Amateur Baseball draft this sum mer. Look right EL S J.D.: Brett Ayers has been named Sports Information Director at Guilford, replacing Tom Neff, who resigned to take a similar position at Lenoir-Rhyne. For a profile of Ayers, look down. DALY NEWS: Senior Jill Daly earned Honorable Mention All-Ameri can f° r a Quaker ten ' nis team placed 18 th Da| y at theNAIA National Tournament this spring. HAAR-LOW SCORER: A seventh place finish at this year's NALA National Golf Championships gained Guilford se nior Chris Haarlow All-American honors for the third straight year. NET GRADES: Senior tennis player Heather Kennedy has been named a N AIA Scholar-Athlete, making her Guilford's first athlete to be so honored in two differ ent sports. Kennedy received the same recognition while on the volleyball team in 1989 and 1990. Tennis teammates Emily King and Cari Peterson also garnered student-athlete at tention, making second team on the GTE Academic All-District At-Large College Division squad. COACH ROACH: Guilford's Athletic Director Phil Roach talks openly about the school's completed move from NAIA com petition to NCAA Division 111 play. Look far right ERIC THE WELL-READ: Sports en thusiast Eric Pappas lists the best on the college grid iron. See who's for real and why on page 7. WHO ARE YOU?: From a Lazyboy perch, the armchair quarterback questions any and all sporting decisions. For a cri tique of this self-proclaimed expert and similar others, see page 8. THE HEAT IS ON: After contracting 48-hour pennant fever in Pittsburgh, the Guilfordian Sports Editor details his week end journey. See page 8. BEATS UP: Anyone with some dedica te a " ':ttle effort in them can take over a 0 u.fordian sports beaL Pirates pluck Womack from Quakers Scott Genualdi Copy Editor Former Guilford baseball standout Tony Womack was chosen by the Pittsburgh Pi rates in the eighth round of the Major League Amateur Baseball Draft held in June. Womack, a shortstop for the Welland (Canada) Pirates in the New York-Penn League (Class A), batted .277 for the season despite an injury that hampered his first few weeks. Womack stole 26 of 27 bases (.963 success rate) for the Pirates. As of August 18, Womack was third in the league in stolen bases. Guilford baseball coach Robert Fulton witnessed Womack's play recently. 'The Pirates are definitely interested in him," said Fulton. "He started slowly but when I saw him he was batting leadoff and New SID to upgrade office Scott Genualdi Copy Editor Guilford's new Sports Information Di rector, Brett Ayers, arrives from Elmhurst College in Illinois to work on advancing the athletic public relations department and has proposed obtaining up-to-date computer software for the office's Apple Macintosh and a new communications link with the college's admission staff. Ayers replaces Tom Neff, who took the SID position at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC. "Tom left the office in good shape [with the media]," Ayers says. "I'm planning on coordinating this office with on-campus of fices." Ayers stressed the importance of coordi nation with the Admissions Office. "With all of the publications that the Ad missions Department works on, I would like to have some correspondence with them," Ayers says. "We are isolated over here and I want to be on the same wavelength with admissions. It's important for the image of the school." Working on modern facilities is Ayers' other concern. "We can do a lot with desktop publish ing," Ayers says. "We need to obtain the necessary software to upgrade the com puter. We work closely with the coaches and staff and give them what information they wanL The computer only helps us." Ayers worked as the SID, head cross country and track coach, and weight room supervisor during his 21/2 years at Elmhurst, located near Chicago. From 1987 to 1989, Ayers worked as the head cross-country and track coach at Harper College in Illinois. Before his move to the Midwest, Ayers worked as an assistant cross-country and track coach at Springfield College in Massa chusetts. Despite his coaching experience, Ayers did not plan on becoming a coach. "I wanted a position in athletic adminis Sports playing shortstop." Womack, a senior from Chatham, Va., has enrolled for the fall semester at Guilford due to a clause in his contract that has the Pirates providing time for him to complete his degree in sport management. Last season for the Quakers, Womack hit .350 while setting a school single-season record with 22 stolen bases. Womack also competed on the Guilford football team, finishing in the top five nationally in kickoff returns with a 30.8 yard per return average. Womack is the 4 IstGuilford student play ing professional baseball and the first since pitcher John Wilcox was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1982. Seven Quakers have played major league baseball. The most famous of the seven was Ernie Shore, a Boston Red Sox pitcher who threw one of the 15 perfect games this cen tration/'hesays. ' "Coaching is good prepara- I tion for being an fijrathletic direc |A* I 1111 ing with the me dia promises to I be one of Ayers Ayers more difficult tasks. "In Chicago, we got good press from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun- Times," Ayers says. "But we had difficulty because we were in a major league market. We couldn't get any coverage from televi sion. "Here we have difficulty because the Greensboro News & Record just doesn't have the pages," Ayers continues. "A daily section will have two, maybe three pages of sports. The other schools here, UNCG and North Carolina A & T, also don't receive that much press [from the News & Record]. We compete against the ACC more than A & T and UNCG. In terms of media, I am at more of a disadvantage here than in Chicago because the ACC is followed more intenUy here than the Big 10 in Chicago." Ayers has a simple solution to this prob lem. "We just need to develop good working relationships with the people of the print media and television," Ayers says. The three previous schools that employed Ayers are members of NCAA Division 111. Ayers plans on using his experience there to help Guilford in its first year of eligibility for Division 111 playoffs. "I like Division III," Ayers says. "I know what they expect. Division 111 is easier for me. I think we are part of a good conference (ODAC) with schools that are similar to us with their academic reputations. I think we have some natural rivalries with them in all sports." August 26, 1991 i - 1 Womack tury.in 1917. The most recent major leaguer was Rick Ferrell, who played 18 years for three different teams from 1929 to 1947. Roach speaks on NCAA move Butch Maier Sports Editor The Guilford College athletic department has completed its move from NAIA to NCAA Division 111 play. Phil Roach, in this third year as Athletic Director at Guilford, re cently commented on the effects of this move to the Guilford sports program. GUILFORDI AN: What is Guilford's cur rent athletic status? PHIL ROACH: We are now fully en gaged in NCAA Division 111 play and eli gible for the ODAC championship, as well as individual Old Dominion Athletic Con ference awards. Also, we now have an avenue through the conference to post-sea son play. GUIL: What was the advantage off the field of becoming an ODAC member? PR: The schools in that conference are more like us—quality academic institutions. We're pretty even . . . and have similar facilities, admissions standards, and kinds of students. GUIL: How has this move affected the recruiting process? PR: Because we were in the process of moving during the last couple years, I think we have brought in some pretty good quality athletes. I go down to the football practice field and see some fine players. I look over Jack's [Men's Basketball Head Coach Jack Jensen] roster and see some more fine play ers, and so on. GUIL: What's the basic feel about the move? PR: We are now more focused in our direction, being in the NCAA. 1 am excited that the Quaker Club funded $25,000 that fixed up our training room, football locker room, and will soon expand the weight room. The department as a whole is really up. There is a sense that the coaches and players like the conference affiliation. That makes them much more determined to win.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Aug. 26, 1991, edition 1
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