The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 11, 1994 Page: 16 of 20
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16 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11,1994 THE RICE THRESHER
SPORTS
Men blaze through Virginia track
Head to heaD
by Tony Tran
The Rice men's track and field team
heads back to Oklahoma this week-
end to compete in the Oklahoma In-
door Classic.
The team will travel to Oklahoma
City on the heels of great performances
by Kareem Streete-Thompson and by
two relay team in the Mobil Invita-
tional in Fairfax, Va.
"It was as good a meet as we are
going to see," said Head Coach Steve
Straub. The performance was good
and encouraging."
The meet was highlighted by
Thompson's performance in the 55-
meter dash, as he automatically quali-
fied for the NCAA Championships in
March with a time of 6.16 seconds.
This time was the fastest of the
year by a collegian and made him an
early favorite to capture the event at
the NCAAs.
" U nder the right conditions, I knew
I could run a fast time," said Thomp-
son. "I just had a great start"
"He is on as good a level as he has
ever been," said Straub. "We knew he
was ready to run and he beat a good
field by three or four yards."
Remarkably enough, Streete-
Thompson was not satisfied with his
time.
"I need to keep on working," he
said. "I'm looking to break the school
record of 6.10."
Rice also entered a 4x400-meter
relay team, with Thompson making
his debut as the opening leg. While he
turned in a respectable 49.8-second
leg, Bryan Bronson's 46.1- and Chris
Jones' 46.5-second laps stole the show.
The lack of a strong fourth leg
hampered the Owls as they finished
third with a time of 3:11.58 to provi-
sionally qualify for nationals.
"We are probably one leg away
from being the best4x400 in the coun-
try," said Straub. "Bronson and Jones
are running as good as can be; we just
need someone to step up."
The other relay team, the distance-
medley relay, led through the first
three legs, but a poor anchor leg led to
a disappointing sixth-place finish.
Freshman Jason Lunn, who had a
superb 1200-meter time of 2:57,
thought that the relay gave the fresh-
men a lot of experience that they will
need to be strong contributors.
"If Brian [Klein] had run his nor-
mal race, we would have been right
there for qualifying," said Lunn. "The
team had three freshmen and a sopho-
more and we hadn't run very much;
the experience was good because the
meets are very different from those in
high school."
The team plans to use the upcom-
ing meet as a final tune-up for the
Southwest Conference indoor meet
the following week.
"There are certain things we want
to accomplish," sad Straub. "We're
not going to double or triple anyone
this weekend; we just want to get
ready."
"We have some guys who are ca-
pable of qualifying for nationals," said
Streete-Thompson. "We want to
tuneup but we also want to get people
in as soon as possible."
The team expects to come back
from Oklahoma with good results, in
spite of the decision to rest the ath-
letes.
"I think well do well," said Lunn.
"This meet is supposed to be a lot
bigger than the one in Oklahoma two
weeks ago."
Many publications have predicted
that Rice will finish somewhere be-
tween third and fifth at the NCAA
Championships, a fact that has not
gone past the team
"I think we can finish that high,"
said Streete-Thompson. "Just on our
individual performances alone, we
should get a lot of points and chal-
lenge for the championship."
Straub was not ready to look that
far ahead, worrying more about the
Southwest Conference meet
"It's going to be a pretty tight battle
between Baylor, Texas or Rice," he
said. "I don't know who'd be consid-
ered the favorite. We're going to have
to have some people come up really
good."
Tennis turns in surprising performance
by Grant Flowers
Fortunately for the Rice tennis
team, the biggest problems of the
weekend came at the airport and not
at the San Diego Invitational.
The Rice men's tennis team nearly
stranded two of their members in
California after last weekend's Invita-
tional at the University of San Diego.
Ryan Gately and Pascal Hos had
ticketing troubles for their flight back
to Houston, but a crisis was averted
and the two players, who won the
second-flight doubles at the tourney,
managed to get home safely.
"That was their prize for winning
the tournament," said Head Coach
Iarry Turville.
In an individual tournament with-
out team scoring, the team members
performed extremely well, with high
finishers in most categories.
In addition to the victory of Gately
and Hos, junior Willie Dann reached
the semifinals of the first-flight singles
and the team of Jose Medrano and
Jonathan Elsberry advanced to the
finals of the first-fight doubles.
"We did pretty well," said Turville.
"It was our first tourney and we'd only
been working out for a couple of
weeks."
Hie biggest surprise of the tourna-
ment for the Owls was Dann's perfor-
mance in the first-flight singles.
Dann, who normally plays third-
seed singles for the Owls, expected to
play in the second-flight singles. How-
ever, a player from another team de-
faulted out of the first flight and Dann
was moved up in his place.
He made the most of the opportu-
nity, winning three-set matches over
Barney Martinez of Texas A&M Uni-
versity and Emanuel Udozorh of the
University of San Diego. Dann even-
tually reached the semifinals but lost
in straight sets to sfecond-seed and
eventual tournament winner Fredrik
Axsater of San Diego. Axsater won
the first-flight singles last year at the
San Diego Invitational.
"I was kind of surprised by my
finish," said Dann. "I had actually had
my wisdom teeth pulled the week
before, and I hadn't played a match
before the tournament. I didn't think I
was mentally or physically ready for
it"
Much of Dann's energy was spent
before he faced Axsater.
"I had played back-to-back three-
setters, and I couldnt keep up the
same level that I had been at," he said.
Medrano and Elsberry played
equally well in the first-flight doubles
but ended up losing 84 in the finals to
Pacific University's Kevin Smith and
Mauricio Sovero.
"I think that we need to practice
more," said Medrano. "Playing some
matches would help us get some con-
fidence."
The first team match of the season
is today at 2:30 p.m. as the Southwest-
ern Louisiana University visits Rice.
On Sunday, the Owls host a nation-
ally-ranked Georgia Tech squad.
*We lost to Southwestern Louisi-
ana last year," said Turville, "so we'll
be looking for revenge."
In addition to seeking revenge, Rice
is obviously hoping for a strong start
before conference matches begin.
"These are both really important
matches. We lost to both teams last
season," said Dann. "Last year we
started off our season an d lost to Geor-
gia Tech. That loss took some of our
confidence away and we had a tough
year. We're a streaky team, so it's
important that we get a good start"
Medrano, Rice's number-one
singles player, is optimistic about the
team's start
"It looks like right now everyone is
playing with a lot of confidence," said
Medrano. "And as long as our confi-
dence is up, we will do fine in dual
matches."
Medrano will play at number-one
singles again this weekend with Dann
and junior Justin Reizes taking the
second and third spots.
The remaining singles slots will be
filled from the group of Hos, Elsbeny, *
Gately, Burt Hong, Ben Pritchett and
Nick LorenzinL
Medrano-Elsberry will probably
play number-one doubles with either
Hos-Gately or Dann-Reizes playing
number-two.
Volleyball team inks four recruits
by Tony Tran
The Rice women's volleyball team
signed four recruits to national letters-
of-intent Thursday, Feb. 3.
Head Coach Henry Chen an-
nounced that outside hitter Monika
Bickert, middle hitters Tiffany
Carrethers and Amy Mills and setter
Carolyn Sarnecki would join the team
next year.
"It's a very strong class; each class
brings something to Rice," said Chen.
"This year, it's athleticism; they are all
strong and hard-working athletes."
Bickert, a 5-11 hitter from El Toro
High in Lake Forest, Ca., is expected
to shore up the outside attack. She
was MVP of her team as well as a
National Merit scholar.
"Monika's size is a big plus," said
Chen. "She is a strong jumper with
solid, dependable back-row skills."
Carrethers, a 6-0 all-Greater Hous-
ton selection from Dobie High who
was named MVP of District 23-5A,
was signed to improve Rice's quick
attack.
"Tiffany's a very talented athlete
who has the potential to be an explo-
sive hitter," said Chen. "She fits in
veiy well in our quick hitter role and is
going to be a solid blocker."
Mills, a 6-1 middle hitter from
Clovis West High in Fresno, Ca.,
should be helpful to the Rice blocking.
She was named second team all-league
and led her team in kills and blocks.
"Amy's a very quick.player later-
ally," said Chen. "She's a very strong
blocker and, offensively, she can be a
strong hitter."
Rounding out the four is Sarnecki,
a 5-10 setter from Sunny Hills High in
La Habra Heights, Ca.. She led her
school to back-to-back league cham-
pionships and the 1993 state semifi-
nals. Sarnecki was named the north
Orange county player of the year.
"Carolyn's got a lot of experience
as she took her high school team to
the state title as a junior," said Chen.
"She has very good height for a setter
and has very good compo sure for run-
ning the offense."
Chen expects a lot from this batch
of recruits.
"They will be make an impact," he
said. "They'reallgoingtogetachance
to show me what they have."
Rice will reacquire the services of
medical-redshirt sophomores Casey
Roon and Toby Roquemore, who
« missed most of last year. The Owls
will enter play next year with four
freshmen, six sophomores and two
juniors.
"We're going to be a young team
again," said Chen. "But, we have a
tremendously motivated group right
now and a very deep recruiting base."
A
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmore is thrilled about the Rice Stadium concert
Randy Block v
s. Ken Stanley
This week and next, we'll be making
predictions for the "underappreciated"
sports of Rice University If you play some
sport that nobody's ever heard of, please
let Randy and Ken know about it.
Rice vs. Texas A&M (women's basketball)
Despite the inside scor-
ing threat of Tonya Barone
Jr., the Aggies will fell prey
to the Owls at Autry. I know
A&M is undefeated in con-
ference —butyou gotta have
Team ACL (anterior cruci-
ate ligament) will take on the
Aggies Saturday night Rice
nearly beat UT and Tech. All of
you who jumped off the Rock-
ets and Oilers bandwagon,
come watch a 59-58 upset.
Rice vs. Sam Houston St. (baseball)
Beforethewomen'sgame,
check out the double-header
featuring our unbeaten Rice
baseball team. The Owls will
sweep as Jose Cruz Jr. slams
two homers and Michael
Jordan hits for the cycle.
The 25th-ranked Owls may
have the best lineup in the
SWC. If our pitching shores
up, we'll make NCAAs. Sam
Houston will bring its best play-
ers. The Bearkats will show up
and be shown up. Owls 9*2.
Rice vs. Houston (swimming)
Even though Ken is the
swimming expert, 111 take a
shot and say Rice wins
against both UH and Texas
A&dM this weekend. You guys
should make it out to the
pool on Friday; they are giv-
ing away $500tothe4000th
fan through the door.
- The last home swim meet
of the year will be tonight.
They want fens. Swim meets
are fun; you have well- propor-
tioned men and women in tight,
skimpy swimsuits. There's
somethingfbr everyone! Cheer
loud because they can't hear
well in the water.
Rice vs. Southwestern Louisiana (tennis)
Southwestern Louisiana?
Any team with that much
geographic information in its
name is bound to lose. They
will-be coming into town on
Friday and they're going
home empty-handed. The
tennis team rolls to victory.
I've been waiting all year to
write about the Ragin' Cajuns.
They're coming to face us.
They'renotas good, butthey're
ragin'. Jose Medrano and Jon
"What do you play?" Elsberry
will lead the talented but un-
known Owls to victory.
Intramural Announcements
Intramural Entry Deadlines for Thursday, February 10th include
Evian 2-on-2 Coed Sand Volleyball tournament If you missed
yesterday's deadline, hurry in for a late entry!!! For rules or
information call Lisa at 285-5398 or stop by the Intramural office
(2nd floor of the gym).
Ultimate Frisbee will start tomorrow. Come by the gym to pick up
your schedules.
The Championship Schick 3-on-3 basketball teams will compete
in*the regional tournament in San Antonio this Saturday. The
men's team includes: Brian Lyssy, Bobby Dixon, Kevin Masek and
Warrick Franklin. The women's team includes Kara Kane, Kim
Neuscheler, Trista Olsen and Laura Boms.
Intramural Entry Deadlines for Thursday, February 24th include:
Men'sCollege Volleyball, Women's College Softball and Women's
College Basketball. See your Sports Reps to enter.
Effective immediately all event schedules will no longer be mailed
to the team captains. The schedules will be available in a rack
downstairs in the gym lobby and in the Intramural office.
Grad students must pay a $12 fee to play intramurals at the
cashiers office (good for the entire year.
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 11, 1994, newspaper, February 11, 1994; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245923/m1/16/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.