February 27,1997
The Banner
Page 7
Sports
Track teams earn wins
Tracy Kelly
staff Writer
The UNCA men’s and women’s
track and field teams ended their
indoor home season with four wins,
at two a piece, in a dual meet against
Winthrop, Campbell, Charleston
Southern University, and WofFord
this past Saturday.
With one meet left in the indoor
season, the men’s team record is 4-
2, and the women’s is at 3-3.
“They competed with a lot of in
tensity,” said Stan Rosenthal,
head coach of both the men’s and
women’s track and field teams.
“This was like a mini-conference
for us. Our goal is to finish in the
top three at conference this year.”
The men defeated Winthrop 42-
37 and Campbell at 46-31. Charles
ton Southern, who is ranked sec
ond in the Big South Conference,
came out on top of the Bulldogs,
48-37.
The women defeated Charleston
Southern, 51 -40, and Wofford, 50-
30. However, Winthrop won over
the Lady Bulldogs, 54-37.
The Bulldogs dominated the dis
tance races, winning five out of
eight of the races.
For the men’s team, freshman Tim
Gautreau, Brandon Trollip, and
junior Eddie Legair placed first,
second, and third respectively in
the mile race. In the 5K, senior Pat
Spencer took first, with senior Jamie
Vaughn taking third. Freshman Ed
Matthews won first in the 800
meter. In the 3,000 meter, Gautreau
placed second, and Legair took
third.
_ For the women, senior Emily
(Olinger placed first in the mile.
Freshman Keelin Mooney and j un-
ior Siobhan Keenan followed with
second and third respectively. The
“ 5K saw senior Becky Vonderhaar
win first place and freshman Misty
Buchanan take second. Olinger
placed second in the 800, with fresh
man Shanley Rassler following in
third. Buchanan took second in the
3,000 meter for the Bulldogs.
Team members also placed well in
other events. Junior Mike Slaugh
ter placed second in shot put, and
junior Jenny McGrane took third
I
PHOTO BY DEL DeLORM
Emily Olinger rounds a turn at the Bulldogs’ home meet.
for the women’s team.
Freshman Stephanie Alexander
placed third in the 500meter, and
McGrane and Keenan placed sec
ond and third in the 300 meter
respectively.
“We’re still not covering all the
events, but we’re doing well in the
ones we are,” said Rosenthal. “Some
set personal bests [this weekend]
which is hard.”
This season was marked with the
opening of the Justice Gym Track
and Field complex. This has had
both a positive and slightly nega
tive effect on the teams.
“The turns are tight which is slow
ing some of the times. People don’t
get to see how well we can do,” said
Rosenthal. “It would be nice to
have a bigger facility, but this one is
good for training.”
The outdoor track will be resur
faced next spring.
The new facility does allow for
more meets to be held at UNCA.
“The opportunity to hold meets is
good,” said Rosenthal. “It gets noisy
and exciting. A lot of schools who
have already come want to come
back.”
Two weekends ago, UNCA was
able to host an invitational meet for
approximately 30 area high schools.
This was good for both the future
of the team and the university. Many
of the high school students had
never been to UNCA according to
Rosenthal. .
The invitational allowed them to
see what the school and track and
field team had to offer. It also al
lowed the UNCA to see some pro
spective students, as well as ath
letes.
The Bulldog’s last meet will be
Saturday, March 1, at East Tennes
see State University.
As of now, the Bulldogs have bro
ken ten school records, eight Fresh
men records, and six number two
all-time records.
“Ifwe keep this up and stay healthy
over the next two months, we should
do really well,” said Rosenthal.
Champs
regular season, giving them the regu
lar season title.
UNCA entered the Big South
Conference tournament as the top
seed and faced off with number
eight seed University of Maryland
Baltimore-County on Feb. 26. The
Bulldogs downed the Retrievers 54-
51.
UNCA held a 16-point lead at
half-time, but UMBC took the lead
48-46 with three minutes left in the
game. The Bulldogs then used a 5-
0 run to take the lead 51-48.
UMBC’sMark Lay tied the score at
51 with 50 seconds left in the game.
With 17 seconds remaining, jun
ior guard Josh Pittman delivered a
pass to junior forward Robert
Stevenson who scored to give
UNCA the lead back. UMBC’s
Lay missed the front end of a 1 and
1 and UNCA took the ball back.
Sophomore guard Mike Matthews
then converted the front end of a 1
and 1. Lay’s 3-point attempt at the
buzzer fell short giving UNCA the
win.
“When you win a championship
you are special and that means you
have done some special things. Our
kids deserve the championship.
They played well and played to
gether all year,” said UNCA Head
Coach Eddie Biedenbach.
UNCA held the lead against
Winthrop and were up by 17 points
in the second half The Eagles then
used a 17-5 run to close the gap to
53-48. With seven minutes left in
the game, Winthrop closed the gap
to 60^56. UNCA used baskets by
sophomore Kevin Martin and
Pittman to open the game back up.
Pittman fouled out of the game
with just over five minutes remain-
continued from page one
ing. The Bulldogs were able to step
up to the free throw line and drill
12 of 14 free throws to seal the
Bulldog’s title.
Stevenson had a big game for the
Bulldogs, scoring another double
double with 20 points and 11 re
bounds. Sophomore guard Juelian
Flowers came off of the bench to
score 15 points and 4 steals.
UNCA picked up another confer
ence win on Feb. 20 against Uni
versity ofNorth Carolina at Greens
boro, 74-67. The Bulldogs were
down by 10 points at half-time
before coming back to down the
Spartans.
Pittman led the Bulldogs by scor
ing 24 points while Martin pulled
down nine rebounds and scored 18
points.
UNCA’s season started slowly as
they lost their first two games at
EastTennessee State University and
at Kansas State University. The
Bulldogs then rebounded from
these losses by downing Montreat
College in UNCA’s home opener,
84-45. Pittman and Stevenson led
the Bulldogs scoring 22 and 21
points respectively. Stevenson also
had 12 rebounds in the game.
After a loss at Kansas, the Bull
dogs pulled off their biggest upset
of the season by defeating the Game
cocks of South Carolina, 80-74.
Pittman, again, led the Bulldogs
with 31 points.
UNCA then suffered a three-game
losing streak. The Bulldogs fell to
Marshall, Kentucky, and Mt. Saint
Mary’s.
On Dec. 28, The Bulldogs de
feated Maine in the Bow Tie Clas
sic Tournament. This was the be
ginning of an 11-gam^e win streak
that ran until Jan. 30. During the
run, the Bulldogs upset New
Mexico State and ran over all of
their conference opponents. This
win streak set the stage for the Bull
dog’s phenomenal season.
With a 7-0 conference record, the
Bulldogs fell into another three-
game skid, losing games to Coastal
Carolina, Charleston Southern, and
Radford.
The Bulldogs rebounded from the
losses with a double-overtime win
at Liberty. Pittman and Stevenson
led the Bulldogs with 17 points
apiece. Martin led the Bulldogs with
10 rebounds, and he hit a baseline
jumper that sent the game into a
second overtime session.
UNCA finished out its season with
wins over UMBC, UNCG, and
Winthrop.
UNCA has dealt with adversity
throughout the entire season. In a
Dec. 21 match-up with Marshall
University, starting junior point
guard, Vincent Krieger suffered a
broken cheekbone.
Biedenbach moved Matthews
from the shooting guard position
to the point guard position.
Matthews was a key player in
UNCA’s win over Winthrop on
Jan. 1 6. He scored 19 points in the
win.
The Bulldogs also had to deal
with the loss of junior guard Jeff
Coble. Coble had to be red-shirted
early in the season after he got sick
with pneumonia. Coble was ex
pected to come off of the bench and
play the shooting guard spot.
UNCA also had to play without
seven-foot center Remco Smits.
Smits was red-shirted due to back
problems.
Hunnicutt named to N C A A post
UNCA Athletic Director Tom
f^unnicutt has been appointed to a
three-year term on the NCAA’s
business and finance cabinet, ac
cording to a Big South Conference
announcement.
The finance cabinet is a 26 mem
ber committee that is responsible
for reviewing and making
recomendations concerning the
m
NCAA Divi
sion I budget
proposals hav
ing financial
implications,
and marketing
and licensing
proposals.
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Psychocross/Bicycle Race at UNCA
First in the Southern Cyclooross Race Series
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Start Time:
Prizes:
Beginner
30 minutes
11:00 a.m.
To top 10
Women
30 minutes
11:00 a.m.
To top 6
Intermediate
45 minutes
11:45 a.m.
To top 10
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5 laps
12:50 p.m.
To top 3
Kids Race
5-9 yrs.
1:40 p.m.
Kid Stuff
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10 - 14 yrs.
2:10 p.m.
Kid Stuff
Expert
60 minutes
1:35 p.m.
To top 10
Entry Fees: Team Relay $5/person, All other races $10
Promoters: UNCA Cycling Club & Asheville Bicycle Racing Club
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