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photo by Kaylin Bowers
Wrestlers preparing for regionals
Joanna Wallace
Staff Writer
The Gardner-Webb wrestling team
fell to top teams University of North
Carolina at Greensboro on Feb. 23,
and The Citadel Feb. 22. The Citadel
pulled out with 24-18 victory, while
UNCG only clipped the ’Dogs by a
1-point lead, leaving the final score at
18-17.
Individual performances were
strong however, with seniors Josh
Pniewski pulling in one major deci
sion and a 3:58 pin. Adam Glaser gar
nered one decision over The Citadel
and one major decision over UNCG,
and Daniel Elliot won a decision and
a 1:50 pin.
Despite the losses. Head Coach,
Richard Wince still looks optimistic.
“In the beginning of the season,
we lost to UNCG 44 - 4,” said Wince,
“And now here we are almost beating
them in the last week of the season.
The only way you learn is to make
mistakes.”
UNCG and The Citadel got a tough
fight from the ’Dogs, despite having
many nationally ranked wrestlers on
their teams.
“Jordan Lowe had one of the best
kids in the country and he gave it a
game effort. That’s what we want.
We want them to fight for it.” said
Wince.
The Bulldogs wrapped up their
season with a 12-13 overall, but will
advance individually onto the East
Regionals, which will be hosted on
home turf in the Paul Porter Arena
Saturday and Sunday.
Joanna Wallace
Pilot staff writer
“It was pretty cool. I honestly
didn’t think I could get it,” said se
nior Daniel Elliot about notching his
lOO* career win during a recent match
against The Citadel. “Last year we
only had 34 matches, and I needed 35
wins to make 100,”
A native of Fuquay-Varina, Elliot
started out his freshman 2001-2002
career at Gardner-Webb with an im
pressive 20 wins, 65 take downs and
4 pin fall victories. In ’02, Elliott was
involved in a car accident that left him
with a broken back. He was forced to
red-shirt for the ’02-’03 season, which
was ultimately a blessing in disguise.
Fitted with pins and wires along his
spine, Elliott came back after a 9
month hiatus with a, “new intensity.”
“At that point, I was more driven
than ever,” said Elliot.
He works out three times on the
average day, doing weights at 6 a.m.
and running 2-3 miles, wrestling at
practice in the afternoon, and then run
ning again that night.
Elliott has been wrestling for
roughly 17 years,
“My brother and I were really
small kids, and our parents were wor
ried about us doing other sports. But
since wrestling has weight classes,
they thought it would be a good idea.”
With role models such as wres
tler Cael Sanderson, who won a gold
medal in the 2004 Olympics; Coach
Harris, his high school mentor; and
Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor and
seven-time Tour de France winner, El
liott is dedicated to training right and
training hard.
Now here he is, ranked 12® in the
nation.
Elliot, who has a relaxed personal
ity, does not let wrestling consume his
life.
The proof is stuck to his fridge.
GWU Track squads post solid finishes
Jacob Conely
Pilot Sports Editor
Gardner-Webb saw both its men’s
and women’s track and field squads
post solid finishes on the weekend of
Feb. 17 at the inaugural A-Sun Indoor
Championships,
Both Bulldog teams took third
out of eleven contenders in the team
standings
The GWU men were sitting in first
place after the first day of competition,
but saw host ETSU overtake the top
spot to win the team event with 153
points.
GWU, which finished with 110
points, was just six points behind sec
ond-place Campbell when the final
event was completed.
The GWU women, fourth after
the opening day of events, rallied past
Kemiesaw State for third, compiling
63.33 points in second day events.
On the men’s side, Matt Knippen
garnered two individual titles in the
meet.
In doing so he broke the school re
cord in the weight throw with a toss of
just over 48 feat to win 10 team points
for the Bulldogs.
Teammates Cody MacArthur and
Michael Buckshaw also preformed
well, finishing third and fourth respec
tively to account for 10 more team
points between them.
Freshman Tim Israel posted a solid
individual effort to win the mile on
Saturday, giving GWU 10 team points
with a time of 4:23.43.
Teammate Alex Nimmo
took fifth for two team points.
Kevin Prime took third in the 200m
dash finals, to finish just behind the
pace of the top two competitors in that
event.
GWU challenged in the 800m run,
with its talented freshmen group of
runners in the finals.
Geoff Lesch-Wragge took third in
the finals (six points) and classmate
Erin Goodrum finished in fourth to
take home four points.
Other point-scoring efforts for
the men included freshman Dobson
Collins’ third-place effort in the 60m
hurdles finales (8.62 seconds), Bryant
Davis’ fifth-place effort in the 400ra
dash finals (52.86 seconds) and a
fifth-place finish by the 4x400m relay
.Three times is a
charm for GWU
Sarajane Burroughs
Pilot staff writer
Gardner-Webb University’s swim team just won its
third straight Northeast Conference Championship.
Coach Simpson says that the team swam fantastically at
the conference meet and gives credit to several factors, se
nior leadership, tough competition all season, enjoying the
challenge, as well as honoring the Lord in all they do.
Not only have they won this championship the last three
years, but also it is the first three years that they have com
peted.
“The NEC conference has allowed us as an outsider to
come into their show, compete, and has not been anything
but welcoming to our team.
They could easily treat us as the enemy since we have
won the first three seasons, but they have not done that in
anyway.
Part of that is a direct reflection of the women on this
team, and how they represent GWU and Christ in all they
do.”
On top of winning the championship the team has had
nine swimmers make the all-conference team: Seniors,
Taylor Simpson, Sarah Mrazek, Kathryn Williams, Terra
Wilson, sophomores, Whitney Hooley, Heather Roka,
Grace Whiteside, Whitney Beachum, and freshman Kelly
Gueltig.
Terra Wilson was also named the conference swimmer
of the year.
Seniors that will be leaving after this semester include,
Lisa Fry, Taylor Simpson, Sarah Mrazek, Camille Palacio,
Katie Peterson, Samantha Lehman, and April Savage.
“This group scored almost 200 points in the conference
meet, has probably a combined GPA of 3.7-3,8, and will
truly make a positive difference in our world over the next
few years,” said Simpson.“We have an outstanding senior
class which will be hard to replace in the pool, but harder to
replace for their character and leadership out of the pool.”
Simpson says that it is only satisfying to win if every
one swims well and that is what the team did,
“They are a very close-knit group that truly loves and
supports each other through good times and bad,” Simpson
said. “Coaching this team is a privilege, being around and
working with them everyday is a blessing.”
GWU’s Daniel Elliot pins down 100th win
“I bowled a 232 once, that’s really
good if you didn’t know. So I got a
score printout.”
A few more interesting facts are
that he’s colorblind (“My socks almost
never match”); and is an avid fan of
Yoo-Hoo and “MacGyver.”
With graduation just around the
comer, he plans on attending gradu
ate school, getting a master’s degree
in teaching, and getting a graduate as
sistant job coaching. He still plans to
wrestle independently in tournaments,
despite leaving the ’Dogs behind.
“Oh yeah. I’m still going to wrestle^^
I don’t think after 17 years I could just
walk away from the mat for good,”
With the East Regionals here in the
Paul Porter Arena this weekend, and
NCAA Division I Championships,
he’s optimistic about the outcome.
“We have a good chance to win.
We have four guys and we have some
things we need to let just fall away, but
we'll be fine.”
team (two points) of Collins, Dekor-
da Jackson, Elliott Haynie and Kevin
Prime,
On the women’s side, another
freshman keyed the run by GWU into
third. Kelly Bridges won the pole
vault by leading a deep group of Bull
dogs in that event - winning with a
height of to edge teammate Merissa
Hawkins.
Victoria Argus tied for third and
Lorelei Wagner finished fifth to give
GWU an impressive 25 team points
in that single competition - which
vaulted GWU into second place after
23 events.
Argus continued a successful meet
by finishing second in the triple jump
and GWU got a school-record effort
from senior Lindsey Sutherland in the
weight throw as the Evans, Ga., vet
eran picked up a final distance of to
account for six more team points.
GWU held onto second place still
after 31 events.
The final points for Gardner-
Webb’s women came in the 800m
run, as Carlene McClean took second
with a time of 2:19,38 to account for
eight team points.
Photo by Rachel Lloyd
Gardner-Webb’s baseball team took on Appala
chian Feb. 21. The game halted undecided in the
12th inning.
Baseball team
loses to Hofstra
Jacob Conley
Pilot Sports Editor
Gardner-Webb dropped its second game in a row at the
2006 Charleston Challenge Feb. 26, when Colonial Ath
letic Association member Hofstra outlasted GWU 8-6.
The Bulldogs (6-3) finished 1-2 at the event, dropping
two games by a combined six runs.
GWU stuck first going up 2-0 in the top of the first, but
Hofstra take the lead with three runs in the second off of
starter, converted catcher, Nate MacDonald.
The Pride’s lead would grow to 4-2 with a single run in
the fourth, but GWU would tie the game with single runs of
its own in the fifth and sixth innings.
Hofstra then took the lead for good, forcing MacDonald
to leave the game by adding two more runs in the sixth for
a 6-4 lead that it would not relinquish.
Blake Lalli (3-for-4, RBI) and Daniel Cooke (3-for-
4, 2B, RBI) paced Gardner-Webb’s offensive attack, with
Joey Testa (2-for-4, two RBI) and Matt Maloney (2-for-5)
also collecting multiple hits during the game
MacDonald was saddled with his second
loss in seven days, lasting a career-best six in
nings and allowing three earned runs on seven hits.
See page 6 for more Pilot sports coverage.