The Pilot
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Page A5
Sports
Chesty Puller Bulldog Challenge gives students taste of Corps
By Leanna Mobley
Special to The Pilot
The football field is cov
ered with people yelling,
running and 'sweating. An
ambulance waits in the park
ing lot in case of any injuries,
and water bottles are rushed
to teams with crucial prompt
ness.
No, it’s not football prac
tice; it’s the inaugural Chesty
Puller Bulldog Challenge.
A total of 47 Gardner-
Webb students came out to
Spangler Stadium Saturday
morning to show if they had
what it takes to train like a
Marine.
Participants were split
into 12 teams of four with the
exception of one team that
only had three. There were
three male teams and nine fe
male teams.
Teamwork, motivation
and strength were all factors
of the challenge. Everyone
who participated put forth
enormous effort and drive.
The challenge began at 9
a.m. and resembled a USMC
boot camp that consisted of
relay races combined with
push-ups, sit-ups, and leg
squats. But these weren’t just
ordinary relays.
Students had to run 25
yards while carrying each
member of the team on their
backs, one by one. After
completing the dash, team
members had to complete 25
leg squats, also with some
one on their back.
These were followed by
“buddy drags” that required
each person of the team to
drag the others across the
distance, which was also fol
lowed by more squats, lifts
and sit-ups.
“You will want to quit,”
said Creighton “Gunny”
Scott, a representative of the
Marine Corps who super
vised the event. Scott stated
that the challenge resembled
the training methods they use
in the Marines. But not com
pletely.
“What we’re doing is
only half of the beginner’s
training,” Scott said, which
seemed like quite an under
statement to many of the par
ticipants.
He said that the point of
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this challenge was, “just to
get through it,” and to prove
your ability to complete the
challenge.
That’s exactly what every
team did.
“I am very pleased with
the results from the chal
lenge,” said Brian Arnold,
the Student Activities direc
tor and creator of the event.
“It was really encouraging
forme to see students helping
each other out and encourag
ing one another to finish the
challenge.”
There were three teams
that stood out among the rest.
The men’s team first
place winners were Thomas
Knapp, Chas Franz, Court
ney Roberts and Tommy
Bennett.
The women’s team first
place winners were Ashley
Falkner, Dominique Hudson,
Monique Hudson and Mar
garet Roundtree.
The third team won the
“warrior award” medal for
having only three members
and still completing the com
petition. Courtney Epps,
Sherika Montgomery and
Meranda Burnett were short
one team member, so Epps
had to go twice.
“It really takes a lot of
guts and heart to complete
this challenge once, much
less complete the challenge
twice in a matter of minutes,”
said Arnold. “I give Court-
Photo courtesy of Brian Arnold
The author displays her strength as she totes
Noelle Flauaus during the carry portion of the chal
lenge Saturday at Spangler Stadium.
ney and her teammates a lot
of respect for not giving up.”
Not only did they not give
up, they still had the second
best female time.
Even the teams that didn’t
place say they were still very
glad they participated.
“We got to prove to our
selves and to others that we
can do it and we can finish...
no matter what sport you
play or how strong or how
fast you are,” said Victoria
Lee, a senior.
This is only the begin
ning of events like this on the
Gardner-Webb campus. Ar
nold said he plans to do this
challenge again in the fall
and definitely next April.
“I encourage other stu
dents who did not participate
to look for this challenge in
the fiiture. So, check your
intramural calendar because
the Chesty Puller Bulldog
Challenge will definitely be
an intramural event for years
to come.”
Golfers fare well in University Cup competition
By Blake DuDonis
Pilot sports writer
Gardner-Webb’s men and
woman’s golf team came in
first place last week in the
University Cup, a mixed
foursome match play com
petition against teams Irom
Appalachian State.
The teams played eight
matches and picked up five
wins in an impressive win
for the school. Blake Palmer
continued his great play as
he defeated his opponent 2
and 1.
Geordie Hagerman and
Mackenzie Renner won by
the same score. Yayoi Garcia
and Joshua Philbeck pulled
off a close one, winning 3
and 2. Andrew Rickard and
Courtney Meyer got together
and defeated their opponents
6 and 5.
The men’s team will tee
off again Monday at Ken-
nesaw State for the Atlan
tic Sun Championship. The
women’s team is currently
participating in the A-Sun
championships.
Bulldogs shut out by Stetson
By Lanny Newton
Pilot sports writer
A day after putting up
11 runs in its doubleheader
against Florida Gulf Coast
University, the Gardner-
Webb softball team played
another home doubleheader
against Stetson University.
This time however, it was
pitching that would rule the
day. After losing the first
game 4-0, the Lady Bulldogs
dropped a devastating 1-0
game in 12 innings.
“I was very happy with
the way we played on Satur
day. We started out a little bit
rough in the first inning, but
the rest of the day we played
well,” said Head Coach Tom
Cole.
“We had extremely good
pitching, good defense, and
I give all the credit in the
world to the Stetson pitcher.
She did an outstanding job
the whole day.”
In the first game. Stetson
pitcher Amanda Lindsey had
a no-hitter going through
5.2 innings before giving up
a single in each of the last
two innings. Stetson did al
most nothing more as it put
up four unearned runs in the
first iiming off a series of er
rors and fielding mistakes by
the Bulldogs.
The Gardner-Webb de
fense settled down after
wards, helping Cindi Boom-
hower to shut Stetson out the
rest of the way.
The second game would
be the memorable one,
though, as the two teams
faced off in an epic pitch
ers’ duel lasting well on into
the evening. GWU pitchers
Christine Murray and Taryn
Beck faced off against Stet
son’s Lindsey again after
Hatters’ starter Erika Demers
was pulled.
The Bulldog offense came
alive in the top of the first as
it loaded the bases with one
out, but Lindsey came in and
promptly got a double-play
ball to end the threat.
Murray threw seven in
nings of shutout softball, giv
ing up only two hits and four
walks.
Starting in the eighth
Beck came in and almost re
peated the feat.
She gave up only one un
earned run in the 12th inning
as the tie-breaking player
starting on second was able
to come around and score on
a passed ball and sacrifice
fly.
Lindsey finished the day
with 18.2 scoreless innings
pitched, getting both wins
while allowing only eight
hits and six walks in that
stretch.
“I felt like Christine
Murray and Taryn Beck did
an outstanding job on the
mound. In fact, the only rea
son they scored was because
we went to the tiebreaker and
unfortunately we had several
opportunities with nmners
in scoring position, but we
didn’t get the clutch hit that
we needed,” said Cole.
Those losses were made
harder by the fact that it
was Senior Day for Beck,
Lindsay Cox, Kelly Linsley,
Haley Seism and Jessie Wil
liams.
Baseball team climbing standings like simians
By Jacob Conley
Pilot sports editor
The Jeffersons are movin’
on up, but even they can’t
compete with what the Gard
ner-Webb baseball team
is doing in the conference
standings.
After taking two of three
against East Tennessee State,
GWU sits in the fourth posi
tion, a far cry from the early
season when the team sat at
the bottom of the 12-team
“Sometimes this time
of year it gets exciting like
a pennant race and you like
to look and see what other
teams are doing,” said Assis
tant Coach Kent Cox. “But
the biggest thing is for us
to go out and win series and
play every game like it is the
most important game of the
season.”
The Diamond Dogs cer
tainly demonstrated that atti
tude during the series opener
as they pounded the Bucs
21-6.
“Their park has a short
porch in right field and the
wind was blowing out,” said
Cox. “It was tempting to try
to lift the ball out of the park,
but we were successftil with
a lot of singles and doubles.”
One of the most exciting
plays of Friday’s game was
anything but a single or dou
ble. It was Bubble Spake’s
mammoth 450-foot blast to
put GWU ahead for good in
game one. “It was a sight
to behold,” said Cox, “and
it Teally jump-started our of
fense.”
That momentum carried
over to game two as GWU
posted a come-from-behind
win 18-16. Trailing 9-6 going
into the sixth GWU’s nation
ally ranked offense went to
work tying the score and put
ting the game out of reach in
the seventh by plating eight.
“Success breeds con
fidence,” said Cox of his
team’s gaudy offensive stats
and ranking in the top 10 na
tionally in hitting.
“We want the guys to feel
that if they are behind late in
the game that they can come
back and be successfiil.”
The Diamond Dogs came
out victorious on Tuesday
against Presbyterian College
winning by a score of 6 - 1.
GWU can not dwell on its
past success, as a dangerous
Campbell team visits Boiling
Springs this weekend.
“They are a scrappy team
they will play small ball,”
said Cox. “We just need to
keep scoring runs and play
great defense, and we should
be successfiil this weekend.”