PAGE 12
GREENSBORO, NC
Guilford welcomes new sports
Kathryn Spangler
World & Nation Editor
T
he college has added a
women's swimming team and
men's and women's cross coun
try teams to compete in the
NCAA Division 111 and the Old
Dominion Athletic Conference
(ODAC). The men's tennis team
will also be returning for the first
time since the 2002 season.
Sports Information Director
Dave Walters attributed the
men's tennis team's departure to
a "lack of interest," but also said
the team was dropped in an
effort to have an equal number
of male and female sports
teams at the college in compli
ance with Title IX requirements.
Athletic Director Marion Kirby
said the return of men's tennis
and the addition of cross country
and swimming was "simply an
attempt to try to catch up to
schools we compete with athleti
cally, schools we compete with
scholastically."
Previously, the college had the
fewest sports teams of any coed
ODAC school.
Kirby also praised the college
for having had a successful
men's tennis program in the
past, and said he thought that "if
there was interest, and we had
courts, (the program) wouldn't
be so difficult to reinstate."
According to Kirby, function fol
lowed form: already existing
facilities were a motivation to
introduce cross country and
swimming programs to the col
lege. "Although we have a
somewhat rudimentary (cross
country) course, it's still here,"
he said.
In recent years, students had
rarely used the pool, which was
managed by a YMCA branch
SPORTS
that operated from the Ragan-
Brown field house until moving
into a new facility off-campus. "It
was either fill (the pool) up with
dirt, or see if we could use it,"
Kirby said, noting that ODAC
already had a swimming league
in place. "We have a pool, why
not try to have a swim team?"
New women's swimming
coach Steve Kaczmarek was
hired after the college conducted
a national search for a part-time
coach. Kaczmarek has a history
of developing strong swimming
programs, according to the ath
letic department's website.
After graduating from Texas
Tech University in 1975, he
began serving as the aquatics
director for Plains High School
in Plains, Texas, in 1976, estab
lishing a program 60 swimmers
strong. In 1984, he began
coaching in the Corpus Christi
Independent School District
(CCISD) in Texas with a team of
seven swimmers. Under his
guidance, the district's program
grew to include 150 swimmers
and head coaches for the five
high schools in the district.
Most recently, Kaczmarek was
the natatorium supervisor and
aquatic director for CCISD from
2000 - 04 and oversaw the addi
tion of a competitive middle
school swimming*program.
Kaczmarek begins this season
with a roster of 23 swimmers
whom he recruited while still liv
ing in Texas.
Assistant men's basketball
coach Tim Kaine was initially
planned to coach the men's and
women's cross country teams.
Kaine, however, accepted an
offer to coach at Newberry
College in South Carolina, and
assistant women's basketball
coach Scott Smith stepped in
Aug. 13 tofl
take his I
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from Sophmore Cross Country member Sara Meyer returns from a
Indiana morning run.
University, has extensive coach
ing experience, including three
years as head coach for the
girls' basketball squad at Holy
Cross High School in Louisville,
Ky., and one year as assistant
women's basketball coach for
the college.
This season, however, marks
his first foray into the world of
cross country. "I'm going to try to
absorb as much as I can," Smith
said, noting that he would also
use his father, who coached
cross country at St. Joseph's
College in Indiana, as a
resource.
Smith is not the only coach
who will be in charge of more
than one organization this year.
Tom Palombo, who was hired in
July 2003 as the head men's
basketball coach, was also
intended to be the men's tennis
coach until he accepted the
position of director of the
Quaker Club, the college's ath
letic booster organization.
William Fickes, another assis
tant men's basketball coach,
stepped up to coach the men's
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tennis team, which currently has
six members on its roster.
According to Walters, it is not an
uncommon practice for ODAC
schools to have two part-time
positions held by one person.
"It's a lot cheaper to hire one
person to do two jobs," he said.
"Many of the recent additions to
the athletics staff have come
with multiple responsibilities ... if
you're a full-time person, you
have multiple responsibilities."
There are still open spots on
the swimming, tennis, and cross
country rosters. "If there are stu
dents who are interested in par
ticipating, I would recommend
they contact the head coach,"
Walters said. "These new sports
represent new opportunities."
The men's and women's
cross country teams will kick off
their seasons at the Washington
and Lee Invitational Sept. 11.
The women's swimming team
will have its first meet Oct. 30 at
Emory and Henry College in
Emory, Va. The men's tennis
team won't see competition until
March 1 4 at Randolph-Macon
College in Ashland, Va.