Athletics
page 8
ATHLETE OF ISSUE
Women’s
Basketball
by Karen Oglesby
The Cavalier basketball team has many
aspiring players on this year’s team, and
one of the finest is,' Athlete of the Issue,
Reggie "BJ” Clark. THis 6 foot 2 inch
freshman wears the number 20 out on the
court, where he proves himself to be
master of the hoop.
Reggie or “BJ” as he is more
commonly known, hails from the big town
of Charlotte. He attended North Meck
lenburg High School, where he led his
basketball team to the finals of the
Charlotte City Championship. Here at
Montreat-Anderson, BJ mans the for
ward position which is riew to him as he
played point guard in high school. Coach
Sziksai feels he has made this transition
very well.
Reggie’s contributions to the team are
BASICALLY, SHE’S JUST
A FUN PERSON!
by Ann Murphy
It just takes one visit with McGregor’s
Head Resident and Montreat’s Women’s
Basketball Coach, Jan Gillean, to come to
the conclusion that she’s a fun person.
The first time I visited Jan at her
apartment in McGregor, she was enthu
siastically involved in creating miniature
tennis rackets, “Tarheel” feet, tennis
shoes, and hockey sticks out of scraps of
plywood and paint, which, would soon
become keychains or key holders for
friends or relatives. She’s very good at
this type of handcraft, but that’s not the
on’y hebby she has.
Jan is also a great cook (she makes a
fantastic quiche!), loves to'snow-ski,
camp, and hike. She likes to refinish
furniture and enjoys listening to blue-
grass music.
Bom in Salisbury, North Carolina, Jan,
age 24, lived there with her family until
graduating from UNC-Greensboro. Upon
getting her degreA in physical education
from UNC-G, Jan worked at a school for
children with leamijig disabilities in
Atlanta. Georgia, for two years. Also,
she has worked at Carqp Rockbrook in
Brevard, N.C., for the past four
summers.
Jan has ten years of experience playing
guard for her school basketball teams,
including four years of playing at UNC-G.
Among many awards and trophies, Jan
was also chosen for the All-State team in
high school. Although Jan admits that
observing a game of basketball from a
coach’s bench is much different from
observing as a player from the floor, she
is really enjoying coaching the girls’ team
here at Montreat. Says Jan of coaching,
“You leam by doing it,” and that can
sometimes be difficult, especially when
she feels herself really wanting to be out
on the court playing with the girls!
Jan loves working with college age
students more than any other age, and
she is very impressed with the giiis on
her team. “’Ihey’re a bunch of neat
people,” she says of the players.
What does Jan think of Montreat? She
has a very positive attitude about the
community and the school and enjoys
living in the mountains of North Carolina.
She is appreciative of the support of
Coach Sziteai and the other faculty and
staff members, and is excited about the
remainder of the year.
Jan’s immediate future plans? To
leam to juggle and ride a unicycle at the
sanoe time! After all, she’s basically a
fun person!
numerous. With an average of 21.b
points a game, he leads the team in
scoring and he is also the leading
rebounder, which is accounted for by his
great leaping ability. He is extremely
quick at driving to the basket, but he is
ilso an excellent team player. All of
these assets combined, make Clark one of
the better guards in the region.
Head basketball coach Jim Sziksai,
comments on BJ and his future with the
Cavs, “I fell that if BJ works hard the
remainder of this year and next, he will
be able to play at a major university, I
expect great things from BJ and so far he
hasn’t disappointed me.”
We want to wish Reggie Clark much
luck in the rest of this season with the
Cavaliers and continued success in the
future.
Coach Who?
by Karen Oglesby
Montreat-Anderson College is privi
leged to have as a member of its faculty
Mr. James Sziksai. It is Mr. Sziksai’s
first year as a Montreater, and it is quite
evident that he is behind the school 100
percent, as he commands the positions of
Athletic Director, Head Basketbal Coach,
and Chairman of Health, Physical Educa
tion and Recreation.
Coadi Sziksai comes to us from Judson
College in Elgin, Dlinois, where he was
head basketball coach. At Judson his
efforts included rebuilding their basket
ball program to lead the team to the
NCAA District Four finals last year.
Previous to this appointment, he was
head coach at Barrington College in
Rhode Island. During the 1974-75
season. Coach Sziksai was awarded the
distinction of Coach of the Year by the
National Christian College Athletic
Association, while at Barrington College.
Sziksai earned his Badielor of Arts at
Barrington College and went on to obtain
his Master of Science in Education from
Northern Illinois University. He brings to
Montreat a highly qualified background
and enough spirit and enthusiasm for his
job to accomplish the tremendous tasks
set before him.
When asked to comment on Montreat’s
athletics and where he feels they are
going, Sziksai points to a sign in his office
which he feels expresses his sentiments.
It says, “Half of being successful is
thinking that you are going to be.” He
then adds, “I believe we are going to be
successful. With a new soccer and
baseball field and an excellent staff,
Montreat-Anderson can expect to be
highly competitive and eventually repre
sent Montreat on the regional and
national levels.”
Talking with some of the players on our
men’s basketball team, one gathers that
Coach Sziksai has made an impressive
impact with them. One player remarks
that, “He, Sziksai, is a perfectionist. He
strives for the ultimate in a player...”
Another comments, “He is an outstand
ing coach and he knows what he’s talking
about. ’ ’ Perhaps most importantly noted
is that Coach Jim Sziksai is, using one
player’s description, “a man of the
Bible.”
MEN'S
Basketball
by Karen Oglesby
’The Cavaliers have had some dose
games in the last three weeks, but none
of them have chalked up wins. On
January 26th, Lees-McRae visited Mon
treat. Our first match with the Bobcats
proved to be a win for them by about 30
points. Coach Sziksai had the boys up for
this game at home. ’Ihe Cavs were all
over their opponent the whole game until
the last 13 seconds. BJ Clark had the ball
and lost the shot and failed to score on a
controversial call. ’Ihe final winning
score for Lees-McRae was 51-49. ’This
was just a foretaste of heartbreaks to
come.
The Cavaliers came up against Suny
and again as in the Lees-McRae game.
Montreat totally outplayed the visiting
Surry Knights for all but the last minute
of the game. Montreat had the ball down
by 1 point with 8 seconds left and turned
the ball over to lose by 4 in a score of
53-49. Blake Staton was high scorer for
the game at 18 points while BJ Claik had
16.
In the first game of this month.
Montreat faced Brevard at home. The
Cavs traded the lead throughout the
game. Montreat was determined to get
revenge for an humiliating defeat at
Brevj^ earlier in the season. With 27
seconds in the game, Brevard had the
ball and a 1 point lead. Montreat never
gained possession again and lost the
game '44-43. BJ Clark had 20 points and
Greg Gaston had a total of 9 points.
Last Saturday, the hot-shooting ball
dub of USC-Lancaster landed at Mon
treat and proved to be more than a matdi
for the Cavs. However, Montreat played
a very good ball game and was defeated
with a score of 81-63.
Coach Sziksai says he is pleased with
the performance of the team and he feels
that they have been performing to the
best of their ability by coming so dose to
beating their regionally ranked op
ponents.
Valentine’s Day will feature the Cavs at
home against Haywood Tech, and Febru
ary 17th, they vrill play their last home
game of the season against Mitchell
College at 7:30 p.m. ’Tuesday night.
Iheir last game will be again^ Warren
Wilson at their court. Game time is 7:30
p.m.
by Ann Murphy
The Montreat-Anderson Women’s
Basketball Team opened their season
with a home game against Caldwell
Conununity College on November 25
before the ’Dianksgiving holidays. De
spite a Caldwell victory, both freshman
Martha Piercy and sophomore Kim
Cayton started the season off good, both
scoring in the double figures.
Li the second home game of the season
against Lees McRae, Kim Cayton was
again high scorer with 26 points.
Sophomore Jeannie Rttman also played
an excellent game with 6 steals and
scoring in the double figures.
The Lady Cavaliers played in the
Warren Wilson Women’s Invitational
Tournament December 5 and 6 at Warren
Wilson College, playing Wofford College
in the first round and Warren Wilson in
the consolation game. Susan Grindstaff
played expertly throughout the Tourna
ment. She was named All-Toumey for
which she received a trophy.
The Lady Cavaliers took their first
victory of fte season in the last home
game with before the Christmas holidays
against Isothermal on December 11.
Jeannie Rttman shot 53 percent from the
floor. Kim Cayton was high scorer for the
game with 40 points, hitting 56 percent
from the floor and 75 percent from the
free throw line. Susan Grindstaff was
dose behind Cayton in scoring with 35
points, shooting 71 percent from the floor
and 83 percent of her free throws. Susan
also had 7 assists to her credit and a
phenomenal 17 steals! The final score for
the Cavalier victory was 106-48.
The Lady Cavaliers took another
victory after the holidays, winning over
King College, 87-56, at another home
game.
On January 15, Isothermal again fell to
defeat by the Cavaliers, this time at
Isothermal. Kim Cayton had 21 points,
and sophomore Jadde Rogers was high
scorer with 24 points. The final score was
73-54, Montreat.
’The Lady Tornadoes of Brevard Col
lege barely edged by the Cavaliers with a
62-60 win at Montreat, January 17.
After a defeat by Lees McRae earlier in
the next week, the Montreat women won
a sweet victory over Warren Wilson
College at home, 63-53.
As of the time of printing, the Lady
Cavaliers had a reconl of 4 wins and 8
losses, their latest game being against
Spartenburg Methodist College with a
score of 73-53, Spartenbupg’s favor.
Montreat is proud to have two of their
sophomore players ranked in Region 10 of
the National Junior College Athletic
Association. As of the latest standings,
Kim Cayton was high scorer in Region 10
with a 20.8 average. Jackie Rogers was
ranked tenth with an average of 14.8
points. Congratulations to these two
outstanding Montreat athletes!