Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Nov. 19, 1998, edition 1 / Page 18
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18 November 19,1998 Features Elon Swim Club to host inaugural championship meet this weekend Giselle Pole The Pendulum The Fighting Fish, Elon’sclub swim team, will host the inaugural Elon Invitational Southeast Coast Club Championship this weekend at Beck Pool in Koury Center. The championship wil 1 be two days, with 17 events on Saturday, Nov. 21 and 17 events on Sunday, Nov. 22. with preliminaries and fi nals on both days. The event is free and open to any interested swim mers or spectators. Preliminaries start at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday and finals begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. “This is the first time for any club sport at Elon to host this big of an event, as far as I know,” Kyle Torke, adviser and coach of the Fighting Fish, said. Club sports are those sports not sanctioned by the NCAA. They are run and coordinated by students. Torke expects about 250 co ed swimmers to attend from schools such as Duke University, UNC- Chapel Hill, Catawba College, East ern Carolina University, Warren- Wilson College, Radford Univer sity, Appalachian State University and Pfeiffer College. The Elon swim club is host ing a sleep-over and pizza party for the visiting teams in Jordan Gym Saturday night. Planning a championship swim meet is hard work, as Torke and team co-captains Melissa Anderson, Amber Huening, Carrie Lancos and Sarah King soon dis covered. Working with a $475 budget, they petitioned for funds, charged registration fees and designed T- shirts to be sold at the meet. The event cost about $1,500. Torke had several reasons why a club sport would want to host a swim meet of this size. “The hardest part was con vincing the team that, as a club Jenny Jarnecke/r/7e Pendulum Above: Freshman Jaime Sclater races to the finish in the 100-yd butterfly. Sclater broke a number of team records this year. Right: This year’s women’s team made a strong showing in competition. Female football player's lawsuit against Duke ruled out of bounds College Press Exchange A federal judge has kicked out of court a suit filed against Duke University by a student wanting to become the first woman in the na tion to play Division I football. Heather Sue Mer cer, a walk-on place kicker who graduated in May, sued the university and head football coach Fred Goldsmith in 1997, alleging that she was kept off the team because of her gender. She claimed her dismissal was in viola tion of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimina tion at institutions receiv ing public funds. Mercer sought compensatory and punitive damages, but collected neither after U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Tilley, Jr., dis missed her case, ruling that the uni versity and Goldsmith had “no ob ligation to allow Mercer, or any female, onto its football team.” Title IX, the judge said, re quires athletics programs to allow members of both genders on a single-sex team only when there is a comparable counterpart for mem bers of the minority sex. Tilley added that Title IX does not apply to football because it is a contact sport of a kind that is explicitly excluded from the federal law. “We are gratified but not sur- Enjoy a weekend of singing! Elon College Gospel Choir Friday, Nov. 20 7 p.m. ih';V^itley Auditerium Elon College Choir Saturday Nov. 21 ^p.m. in McCrary Theatre sport, we could do this,” Torke said. “We decided to do this to show all the other colleges on the eastern seaboard the kind of pro grams that Elon is developing,” he said. “It would be great for our name to get out there. This could boost our membership and give us the chance to possibly be consid ered for a varsity swim team,” co captain Huening said.. As far as the actual competi tion, Torke maintains a positive at titude about the Fighting Fish’s chances. • “We have a very solid team, but we’re going against Division II teams that have been in the game for 15 years. I expect us to finish in the middle of the pack,” he said. “I’d love for the team to give their all and do their best,” Huening said. Elon’s swim club was started four years ago by David Rountree and other students. By the time Torke arrived at Elon to teach, the club was already officially recognized by the school. Torke expressed his desire to work with the team and soon became its adviser and coach. There are 42 dues-paying members on the team, and about 25 will swim in this weekend’s cham pionship. Torke hopes that by host ing this event, other teams will rec ognize Elon as a strength among club swim teams. prised by the United States District Court’s decision,” said John F. Burness, Duke’s senior vice presi dent for public affairs. Mercer — a third-team, all- state selection in football in her senior year in high school — said Goldsmith told her she would have a spot on the team after she kicked a game-win ning field goal during a preseason scrimmage in 1995. Goldsmith told re porters the same, but later said he had spoken too hast ily. A local newspaper re ported that Mercer has in dicated she would appeal the ruling. Still undetermined is a state claim of breach of contract that Mercer may continue fighting in a North Carolina court. In that case, Mercer argues that Gold smith gave her a contractual guaran tee when he told her she would get a spot on the team. 2138 S. Church St. Burlington, N.C. 27215 336-226-8094 10% OFF with Student ID ’^cssamt Sis s' Mon. to Sat. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving Break! i ^ t t ■ ^ ^ I s'-r r I f I . 4 ■ r * r » ( ^' M ‘ ^ r i
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Nov. 19, 1998, edition 1
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