Spring Sports Edition

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011Marshall University’s Student Newspaper marshallparthenon.com

PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY WHITNEY BURDETTE - [email protected]

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SPRING SPORTS2011

INDEX

NEWS.......................................................PAGE 2

SOFTBALL/BASEBALL.............................PAGE 3

TOP RETURNING PLAYERS.....................PAGE 4

C-USA BASKEBTALL PREVIEW...............PAGE 5

OPINION..................................................PAGE 6

NEWS......................................................PAGE 7

TENNIS, GOLF, TRACK...........................PAGE 8

Wednesday, February 23, 20112 marshallparthenon.com

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PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY DEANNA BAILEY - [email protected]

Correction The story about Marshall’s attempt to get a doctoral program

in chemistry involved a Harold Walker, academic vice presi-dent, not Harold Waker.

BY MARIBETH SMITHTHE PARTHENON

The early spring enrollment data has just been released for this semester.

This data has been submitted to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

Mike McGuffey, director of the office of institutional research, said there is an enrollment head count of 12,773 stu-dents and 10,465 of them are full-time equivalent students. Full-time equiva-lent is a common enrollment metric that uses a single number to account for differences in full-time and part-time students.

In comparison to last fall, the total headcount of students has decreased 1,423.

“Last spring, the early semester data showed a headcount of 12,307 for a year-by-year increase of 466 headcount,” McGuffey said.

“We see the biggest push for admis-sions for fall terms, we admit students for an entire year preceding the start of the term,” said Tammy Johnson, director of admissions. Johnson said admissions also sees an increase in interest in the few weeks before the actual start of the term because of students who decided they wanted to attend Marshall at the last minute.

“Most students want to begin their enrollment in the fall,” Johnson said. “That is traditionally seen as the start of an academic year and that’s when

we see the most interest from new students.”

“The year-by-year increase is due to the increased freshmen class sizes we’ve had over the last several years. As those students progress through the years and small freshmen classes graduate, then tendency is for the uni-versity to increase enrollment overall,” McGuffey said.

Johnson said there are many fac-tors in the change of enrollment. These factors include personal issues, institu-tional recruitment and financial aid or scholarship availability.

“External factors that influence insti-tutional enrollment include available funding and the effects of any changes in the economy at both the state and na-tional levels,” Johnson said.

Although all those factors affect en-rollment, McGuffey said the main reason is something different.

“Mostly the fall-to-spring decrease is due to about 700 students graduating in the fall semester and an additional number transferring or otherwise not returning for the spring semester,” Mc-Guffey said.

McGuffey said that a decrease in en-rollment from fall to spring is common for enrollment statistics. He said that Marshall makes up some of the differ-ence with transfers and freshmen who start in the spring, but it does not make up the whole gap.

Maribeth Smith can be contacted at [email protected].

Early data shows decrease in enrollment

BY IAN LLEWELLYNDPA(MCT)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Three hundred people are missing and 75 bodies have been recovered from the quake ravaged New Zealand city of Christ-church, local authorities said Wednesday.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said there were now 55 identified bodies at a morgue, which had been set up at a local military base. Another 20 bodies had been recovered, but were not yet at the morgue and had yet to be identified.

Parker said it was hoped many of those 300 missing people would be accounted for over the course of the day.

Search and rescue staff also said many people re-main trapped alive inside buildings destroyed by the 6.3-magnitude earthquake Tuesday afternoon.

More than 120 people had already been pulled from collapsed buildings as rescuers worked through the night under floodlights in the rain.

Search efforts are concentrating around 10 build-ings, where it is feared more than 100 people could still be trapped. These included a number of Japanese stu-dents who had been studying English in Christchurch.

Fifteen people were confirmed alive in one building as rescuers tried to get to them as quickly as possible through piles of rubble.

Earlier, police said they were having to leave bod-ies as they concentrated on getting to survivors, some who had to have limbs amputated to get them out of the rubble.

Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday night that New Zealand faced one of its darkest days.

Key held an emergency Cabinet meeting Wednesday and pledged all assistance possible to Christchurch in both the initial aftermath and the long rebuilding pro-gram ahead. He thanked the international community for assistance.

More than 200 patients have been admitted to Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department with many more treated at emergency medical stations around the city.

Injuries range from minor cuts to serious spinal in-juries with some patients airlifted to Auckland 1,000 kilometers away.

There were now more than 200 search and rescue staff working through the city with another 500 join-ing them over the next two days as international offers for assistance come in. More than 1,000 armed forces members have also been deployed to assist.

The quake struck on Tuesday at 12:51 p.m. Tuesday when office buildings and streets were full of people.

The quake was much shallower and closer to the city than the 7.1 quake that caused widespread damage in September but resulted in no deaths.

Buildings that stood up to last year’s event, includ-ing a historic cathedral, collapsed this time.

Electricity, water, sewer and gas lines were dis-rupted by the quake with fires breaking out in the city overnight.

Most of the city has no water supply and all schools and most businesses were closed with people being urged to stay at home and consider leaving the Christ-church area if possible.

Communication with the area was difficult with phone systems being disrupted and there have been appeals for people to stop using mobile phones throughout New Zealand.

Christchurch is New Zealand’s second-largest city and home to around 370,000 people.

The quake was felt throughout New Zealand and caused 30 million tons of ice to break off from the Tas-man Glacier, about 200 kilometers away.

300 missing, 75 bodies recovered after 6.3 magnitued earthquake

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BY CHERIE DAVISTHE PARTHENON

The Center for African-American Students’ Programs hosted the Afri-can-American History Bowl, which had seven teams answering questions about black history and pop culture.

The history bowl was held Tuesday in the Don Morris room in the Memo-rial Student Center.

Briana Zeigler, junior criminal jus-tice major from Charleston, was on the first place team, which won $300. Zei-gler, who has competed in the history bowl before, said competing was all for fun.

The 40 students in attendance were all thinking and gearing up their com-petitive spirits. Most teams were made up of friends; even a group of high school students from Huntington High had a team, as well as The Society of Black Scholars, who took second place. Second place won $200 and third re-ceived $100.

Zeigler said she will use the money she won for the New York trip next week.

“What I want students to take out of this is the joy of learning and par-ticularly this celebrates the end of African-American History month. It was a combination of having a good time with your classmates while learning and testing out your skills of African-American history,” said

Maurice Cooley, director of the Cen-ter for African-American Students’ Programs.

The history bowl was run by the company Simplified Entertainment. William Nicholls, the host of the bowl from Simplified Entertainment, has worked Marshall’s African-American History Bowl for the past three years.

“You learn a little bit, you have some fun, it was intimidating for some stu-dents. At the end, whether students won or not, it was all for fun. It was a nice way to get exposed to an im-portant part of our history which we wouldn’t usually take interest on our own to learn about,” said Cooley.

All students left the history bowl with facts and trivia about African-American History.

“This is a pretty good turnout, it’s av-erage as far as the other universities and colleges the company runs. Con-sidering we have classes tomorrow, we have a good amount of participation.

The African-American History Bowl has taken place the past five years at Marshall and students interested in participating in the next history bowl can look for more information next year.

“We will no doubt be contacting Sim-plified Entertainment again next year. This has become one of our routine ac-tivities for February,” Cooley said.

Cherie Davis can be contacted at [email protected].

Students participate in annual African-American History Bowl

BY JORDAN BEANTHE PARTHENON

Tidebreak computer software will allow students to collaborate on projects in a new way.

Drinko Library’s media:scape unit, a com-puter tool that allows up to six people to attach their individual computers to a mech-anism that projects what is displayed on their screens to a shared screen on the wall, could be getting Tidebreak software later this semester. This will enhance the student collaboration experience.

With the Tidebreak software, instead of each student showing only the information on their individual computer screen to the shared screen, all group members can simul-taneously manipulate what is happening on the shared screen, edit each others’ work, and choose what information from their computer

they would like to share.“It allows multiple people to control one

computer screen,” said Jody Perry, director of information resources. “Everyone can edit the spread sheet on the central display.”

This software is currently in a trial phase at Marshall, and the decision of whether or not to purchase and incorporate it in to the university learning experience will be made by mid-March. Currently, Tidebreak is being used in various classrooms and conference rooms around campus.

“If we get it, we will likely do a campus-wide license,” Perry said. “Then we could put it everywhere — conference rooms, class-rooms, collaboration rooms, anywhere there is a large central display and a computer.”

According to the Tidebreak website, “When using the software, everyone has more oppor-tunity to share supporting data, draft content

Tidebreak software will make collaboration easier for students

See Software I 7

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BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL PREVIEW

BY AARON PAYNETHE PARTHENON

This year’s edition of the Marshall University soft-ball team is ready to take the program to a new level of success.

Marshall is coming off a tough season where the team went 24-30-1 overall and was only able to win three conference games.

Last year, however, head coach Shonda Stanton had this to say in the proverbial rearview mirror.

“I’m not worried about last year. This year our goal is to get better every single pitch, every single day. I’ve seen a lot of great things from this group.”

The Herd will have experience on field this year as the team returns a starter to every position except for second base.

Marshall will not want a player to fill former second baseman Marcena Bertoldo’s position, junior trans-fer Amanda Lara and sophomore Bri Anna Hope are highly qualified. “Lara has junior college national championship experience and Bri was in our system last year and understands what is expected of her,” Stanton said.

As for the rest of the infield, the Herd will return junior catcher and first baseman Rebecca Gamby, se-nior catcher and first baseman Melanie Stoehr, junior shortstop Alianna Telles and preseason All-Conference USA sophomore third baseman Jazmine Valle.

One of the team captains, Jazmine Valle, said the experience of the returning infielders will be the key to a solid defense this season. “We should be pretty good in the infield this year. Our fielding percentage should be high up there this year and shouldn’t be as low as it was last year.”

The outfield will return experience as well with three juniors, two sophomores and two red-shirt freshman.

The one aspect of this year’s edition of Marshall soft-ball that makes it unique is the added depth in the pitching circle.

Last season, the Herd relied on its two senior pitch-ers Katie Murphree and Caitlyn Jackson. The duo combined for 50 starts out of 55 total games with Mur-phree appearing in 44 games alone. The only other pitcher who started for Marshall was junior pitcher Rachel Rillo.

The Herd returns Rillo and sophomore pitcher

Erika Bennett but added three new pitchers during the offseason. The only freshman out of the three is Natalie Pulver from Alta Loma, California. Pulver was one of the more prolific pitchers in California during her senior year in high school. She posted a record of 19-3 with and ERA 0.53 in 132.1 innings of work and was named First-Team All-State her senior season.

The other two new pitchers are both transfers with post-season experience. Junior Erika Bennet, from Miami Dade College, led her team to its first National Junior College Athletic Association Di-vision I softball title in 2010 and was named the NJCAA tournament MVP. Sophomore Andi Wil-liamson was a part of the Tennessee pitching staff when the team finished third at the Women’s Col-lege World Series last season.

Williamson adds a bit of local flavor to the pitching staff because she is originally from Harts, W.Va., where she was a standout player for Harts High School and Chapmanville Regional High School and was named the Gatorade/RISE high school player of the year for West Virginia.

“Andi was at Tennessee last year, she didn’t get to pitch a lot, but she has that valuable experience of go-ing to the World Series with them,” Stanton said. “She looks great right now. If we work on her control, she’s going to do big things for us.”

Stanton said the new depth in the circle will add a new dimension to this year’s team as opposed to last year. “That’s going to make the hugest difference for us having different options to go to. It’s a very young pitching staff, but they all have a lot of experience in their own right.”

Stanton also said having a brand new pitching staff essentially helps her team against opponents they faced last year. “It’s a huge advantage to have kids that people haven’t seen before as opposed to last year.”

Marshall currently sits at a record of 4-6 after start-ing its season on the road facing tough competition at both the South Florida Wilson-DeMarini Tournament and the 8th Annual Georgia Softball Classic. The Herd faced ranked teams such as No. 5 Florida and then No. 2 Georgia.

Facing tough competition is essential to the team’s success later on in the season during conference play.

“It’s extremely important,” Stanton said. “It’s important

for our girls to go out there to see that we have a lot of work to do and also to build some confidence and have the chance to knock off a top-ranked opponent.”

Marshall will be back in action Friday when it trav-els down to Alabama to participate in the Auburn University War Eagle Classic Tournament. The Herd’s first opponent will be Georgia Southern with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. at Jane B. Moore Field.

Marshall will have its first home game March 4 when it hosts the Marshall Invitational at Dot Hicks Field.

“Hopefully the weather will improve by then, but I encourage any fans to come on out,” Stanton said.

Aaron Payne can be contacted at [email protected].

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

Sophomore standout Jazmine Ville waits for the pitch in this 2010 fi le photo. Ville started in 53 games at third base last year as a true freshman and led the Herd with a batting average of .338 (8th in C-USA).

Marshall softball ready for success on the diamond

BY JAKE SNYDERTHE PARTHENON

Senior baseball player Kenny So-corro has proven to be one of the most durable and consistent players in Mar-shall baseball history.

Socorro, senior business manage-ment major from Miami, Fla., has started in 104 straight games for the Herd. Known for stability, not power, the shortstop has hit only four home runs in his college career, but cur-rently sits at seventh on the all-time Marshall list in batting and 10th in number of games played.

Socorro should have no problem moving into the top five in each of these categories as long as he stays healthy this season. If he starts in every regular season game this year, then he would be number one in ca-reer games played.

“I think Kenny, if you moved him to first base, he’d do it for the team,” said head coach Jeff Waggoner. “He

just wants to win games and he’ll do whatever it takes to win games.”

Socorro will have an important role this season as one of the 10 seniors on the team. He said he wants to help the younger players as much as possible. “In years past, I’ve always wanted to be the quiet kid and just let other people take over the team. This year as a se-nior, I see a lot of new guys and I’m going to try to step up my role as far as being a leader.”

His leadership will be important this season as the infield finds all new faces. Third baseman Gray Staf-ford begins his first season for the Herd after transferring from junior college. Second base also features a new look with Victor Ramos sitting out last season and James Lavins-kas moving from third. Even first baseman Victor Gomez is in his first season at a new position after mov-ing from catcher.

“I want to take control and help

them and lead them where they should be,” Socorro said. “I hope I can give them some good advice.”

Socorro had 137 hits coming into this season. If he could match his season total from last year, then he would sit at third in the Marshall record books.

“I’ve always wanted to improve my past year,” Socorro said. “If I hit .210 last year, I want to hit .230 or .250 this year.”

The shortstop has improved significantly since his freshmen season when he hit .213. His highest average came during his sophomore campaign at .280.

The batting average and home runs are not what makes Socorro a team leader. It is the ability to show up each day and play no matter what.

The home runs might be coming though. Through three games, he leads the team in homeruns with one.

Jake Snyder can be contacted at [email protected].

225590SUNTIME TANNING

PROM SPECIAL 2 x 2.0

Baseball senior keeps on playing

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

Senior shortstop Kenny Socorro watches the ball fl y in this 2010 fi le photo. Socorro currently sits at seventh on the all-time Marshall list in batting and 10th in number of games played.

BY JAKE SNYDERTHE PARTHENON

The Marshall Univer-sity baseball team steps to the plate this season by trying to improve a year featuring the most conference wins in school history and four All C-USA players.

The 2011 squad fea-tures a mix of new faces and seasoned veterans, including 10 seniors an-chored by 2010 First Team All-Conference USA catcher Victor Gomez and pitcher Arik Sikula.

Gomez will take the gear off this season as he makes the move to first base. Head coach Jeff Waggoner said the move for Gomez came last se-mester during the team’s fall schedule.

“If Victor was our best option behind the plate, that’s where we would put him,” Waggoner said. “We felt like Victor was our best option at first base. He would do anything it takes for us to win games and I think it’s going to help the team.”

Taking Gomez’s place at catcher will be Louie Helmburg, freshman from Lexington, Ky. Helmburg will split time with junior Thor Meeks. Meeks saw some time behind the plate last sea-son but will see more of his playing time as the

designated hitter.A new face will take

over the hot corner for the Herd, as junior college transfer Gray Stafford will see a ma-jority of the time at third base. Stafford comes in from Spartan-burg Methodist, where he hit .320 last year.

The Herd will look to three seniors for support in the middle infield. Vic-tor Ramos and James Lavinskas should split many of the innings at second base, while Kenny Socorro takes short. So-corro comes into the season starting in 101 straight games.

“You need to be in good shape,” Socorro said of his starting streak. “This year I took a big step in getting better and im-proving my body. I want to keep that streak alive, hopefully, and play all sixty or seventy games.”

In the outfield, several options are available. Nathan Gomez, younger brother of Victor, and Rhett Stafford, older brother of Gray, should split time in left field. Senior Ben Jurevicius will take the right field duties. Center will be a platoon job.

“We’ve got times we can run three center field-ers out in our outfield,”

Baseball looks to seniors to lead team

See BASEBALL I 5


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C-USA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

BY JARED ROACHTHE PARTHENON

Marshall University basketball stand-out DeAndre Kane is only in his first season as a guard for the Thundering Herd but has already received several awards and lead the league in scoring on several occasions. As a result, players, coaches and fans say they already have high hopes for the young player.

“He’s had a terrific freshman year but he obviously needs to have a strong fin-ish,” said Tom Herrion, Marshall men’s basketball coach. “He’s continued to evolve. He’s obviously a freshman, he’s a very talented young man and I knew that when I got the job. I’m just more impressed with his maturity and his growth as a leader. He’s very versatile and playing a couple very premiere positions.”

Kane grew up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh’s inner-city area with his parents and five siblings. According to Kane, it wasn’t the easiest place to live but unlike some, he persevered.

“It was rough growing up where I was at. A lot of people that should have made it didn’t make it because they got caught up in the street,” Kane said.

Kane said while living in the Hill Dis-trict of Pittsburgh could be difficult, that’s where he found basketball as an interest early in life.

“When I was little I would always go down to the courts with my big brother,” Kane said. “I wanted to be like him.”

Kane attended prep school with current Marshall teammate Hassan Whiteside at the Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., from 2008 to 2009. That is where Kane averaged 15.6 points per game and helped lead Patterson to a 34-2 overall record and a No.1 prep school national ranking.

As a junior, Kane returned to Pittsburgh where he lead Schenley High School to the

state championship game and, as a senior, he did the same thing in a Pittsburgh City League Championship.

Kane eventually made his way to Mar-shall and reunited with current coach Tom Herrion, who he had known since he was a child in Pittsburgh.

“Coach Herrion’s great. I’ve known him since I was young,” Kane said. “He’s a good coach, he’s a good teacher and he’s a good person.”

“I knew him from when I was at the University of Pittsburgh as the assistant coach and DeAndre’s from Pittsburgh,” Herrion said. “He played with DeJuan Blair, who played for us at Pitt., so I had a level of familiarity with him.”

According to Herrion, that familiarity has helped Kane tremendously in his first season with Marshall.

“When I got here I was able to have an instant connection with him. He’s been in a situation where he’s listened and trusted me. I think he’s starting to reap some of the benefits of his hard work,” Herrion said. “He knew me, obviously, from the Pitt. connection and what he did there. He had a respect for what we were doing in terms of the system.”

Kane has already received accolades for his performance this season, perhaps most notably being named Conference USA freshman of the week four times. Despite this honor, Kane remains hum-ble about his play.

“I’m thankful, but I’m just playing. Playing for the game and another win,” Kane said.

When asked what achievement he was most proud of, he did not answer with a personal accomplishment, but with a team victory.

“The West Virginia win. I was not particularly proud of myself but I was proud of my team and the effort we gave out there for the state,” Kane said. “It was a good win for the program and the school and for the team to help our

confidence.”Kane has high hopes not just for

himself, but for Marshall University basketball.

“Hopefully I can help my team go as far as we can in a tournament run and win some championships,” Kane said.

Kane scored 20 points Saturday in Marshall’s win over Tulane, as well as hitting a three-point shot with 20 sec-onds left in overtime to give the Herd the lead.

Jared Roach can be contacted at [email protected].

Young hoops star ready for post-season play

JOHN YEINGST | THE PARTHENON

Freshman guard DeAndre Kane prepares to shoot the ball in Marshall’s Feb. 9 game against UAB. The young standout has been awarded C-USA Freshman of the Week honors four times.

BY AARON PAYNETHE PARTHENON

Starting senior forward Tynikki Crook is cementing her place as one of Marshall’s great women’s basket-ball players and the records books serve as proof.

During the game against Southern Methodist on February 10, Crook scored 12 points to give her a career total of 1,368. This total surpassed former Mar-shall player Tammy Wiggins (1983-87) to give Crook sole possession as fourth all-time scorer in program history.

Crook said she prides herself on scoring because she did not come to Marshall as a player who lit up the scoreboard. “I didn’t come in here as a scorer so I had to work on my game,” Crook said. “Its something I continue to work on so the record surprised me a little bit.”

On the road against Tulsa, Crook put up her 30th double-double of her career with 22 points as well as 13 rebounds. The rebounds gave her a career total of 838, surpassing former Marshall center Modupe Ishola to become the fourth all-time in rebounds in the program’s history.

Head coach Royce Chadwick said that Crook’s re-bounding abilities come from her athleticism and determination. “She rebounds the ball exceptionally well,” Chadwick said. “She’s really about 5’ 11” when it gets right down to it. She has great hands though, very strong upper body and I think it allows her to do things with her size that a lot of players her size can’t do.”

When Crook was recruited to Marshall, it was to fill a hole in the center and forward positions that was created due to graduating players. However, Chad-wick knew that Crook would be a special player for the Herd. “When we recruited her, we told her that she had a special opportunity because Modupe Ishola was graduating and we weren’t going to have a center in our program,” Chadwick said. “We knew that from her freshman year she would have the opportunity to start and play as many minutes as she could play. She came in, relished that role and she’s been a four-year starter for us.”

Crook did not think much about records or being one of Marshall’s great players when she first came to Marshall. “I just came in wanting to win,” Crook said. “Coach Chadwick used to always ask ‘Do you want your picture on the wall?’ I didn’t really think much

about it and now I kind of think that I might actually be up there.”

Even with all the accolades and records, Crook says that her main focus is to win games. “I don’t really think about the records during games,” Crook said. “I don’t think really about it period until someone brings it up. It’s a great feeling to make an accomplishment like that, but I’m sure it will be passed.”

Crook will have at least four more games to again move up in the record books. Coming into Thursday’s contest against Houston, Crook is 183 points from ty-ing for third place in scoring and 53 rebounds away from tying for third place in all-time rebounding.

Aaron Payne can be contacted at [email protected].

Crook cements her place in record books

MARCUS CONSTANTINO | THE PARTHENON

Senior forward Tynikki Crook fi ghts for possession of the ball in the Herd’s Feb. 13 game against UCF. Crook has established herself as a record setter in the women’s program.

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES

MENFIRST ROUND, WED. MARCH 9

GAME 1GAME 2GAME 3GAME 4

11 A.M.1:30 P.M.5:30 P.M.8 P.M.

QUARTERFINALS, THURS. MARCH 10


11 A.M.1:30 P.M.5:30 P.M.8 P.M.

WOMEN

FIRST ROUND, WED. MARCH 9


NOON2:30 P.M.5 P.M.7:30 P.M.

QUARTERFINALS, THURS. MARCH 10


NOON2:30 P.M.5 P.M.7:30 P.M.

CHECK OUT MARSHALLPARTHENON.COM FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF MARSHALL MENʼS AND WOMENʼS BASKETBALL

Named National Collegiate Baseball Writers As-sociation Third Team Pre-Season All-Ameri-

can Holds school records

in home runs with 46, RBI with 172 and total base hits with 414


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225453STUDENT LEGAL AID SERVICES

TAX DAY 2 x 3.0

KEY RETURNING PLAYERS

BASEBALL

GOMZEZ

SOFTBALL CROSS COUNTRY

TRACK AND FIELD

Played 22 rounds her junior year Aver-

aged 82.0 Best

finish at Morehead State Tri-

Match, wher she tied for 5th place

GINGER

GOLFTENNIS

VICTOR GOMEZ

KENNY SOCORRO

Started 58 games at shortstop Ex-

pected to transition to second base in 2011

137 career hits, could become fifth player in school history to reach 200 hits

SOCORRO

REBECCA GAMBY Started

all 55 games as either a catcher or first baseman Tied for

team lead in doubles Batting

average of .318 48 hits 11 runs Hit 4 homeruns

GAMBY

Started 53 games as third baseman as a true freshman Led

team in batting av-

erage with .338, 8th in C-USA Also led team in RBIs

with 40, 7th in C-USA Leader in homeruns

with 10, 8th in C-USA

VALLE

MATT SCHIFFBAUER Lead

Marshall in every race in 2009 Placed

7th at EKU Invitational Placed

second at Greensboro

Invitational Won both the Furman

Invitational and Evans-ville Invitational

SCHIFFBAUER

Placed 21st at EKU Invitational Fin-

ished 17th at Greensboro Invitational Led

Marshall at Conference-USA Champi-onships, finishing 65th

THOMAS

CHRISTIAN BRAND

Aver-aged 73.67 and played in all five fall events Tied

for 13th at Memphis Invitational

BRAND

VANESSA JULES Holds

school re-cord in high jump with a height of 1.73 meters Won

high jump at Akron Invitational Finished

third at Conference-USA Outdoor Championsips with a mark of 5 ft. 6 in.

JULES

MICHAELA KISSELL Won

ITA Atlan-tic Regional with a score of 6-0 Overall

singles re-cord of 11-5 Fin-

ished fall ranked No. 41 in singles and No. 20 in doubles

KISSELL

CATHERINE KELLNER

Overall singles re-cord of 4-5 Doubles

record of 7-6 Reached

finals of Flight B at UVA Fall Invitational

KELLNER

LESLIE THOMAS

MOLLY GINGER

Enters her 12th season at the helm of Marshall Softball Stan-

ton is the winningest coach in

Marshall softball history

STANTON

HEAD COACH Enters

his fifth sea-son at the helm of the Marshall baseball program In four

seasons he has com-

piled a 100-125-1 record, along with a birth to the Conference USA Champi-onship in 2008

JEFF WAGGONER

In his 14th season as the track and field coach at Marshall, his 12th as the wom-en’s coach Under

the leadership of Small, Marshall has enjoyed championship success, most recently in 2003 when Erin Compton won first place in the discus throw at the Mid American Conference Championship.

JEFF SMALL

SMALL

HEAD COACH

JOHN MERCERHEAD COACH

Begins his ninth year at the helm of the Thundering Herd

MERCER

JAZMINE VALLE

SHONDA STANTON

MEREDITH ROWSEY

Re-launched women’s golf team in 2004 after a 20 year absence

ROWSEY

HEAD COACH

JOE FEAGANES

Mar-shall has enjoyed great suc-cess and earned a reputation across the nation.

FEAGANES

HEAD COACH

WAGGONER

HEAD COACH

Faithful readers, I apologize whole-heartedly for missing last week. It was an accident of busy scheduling, lots of homework and finally getting a job. I love you all, and I’m sorry for the lapse.

That being said, I don’t like to call people out in this column because generalized statements usually have a greater ef-fect. But there is something that must be said about how generalizations can ruin reputations and relationships.

I have made clear in my writing that I will do anything to stop violence and negativity toward women. While this is entirely true and I care about finding out who would commit such acts, there is a certain mindset I must speak out against.

There are stereotypes against groups of men: Stupid, drunk, angry, violent, disrespectful. Some of these groups include fraternities, athletic teams and other organizations that include exclusively men.

I admit that there are individual men in these organizations that may embody one or more of these stereo-types, labeling every football player, fraternity brother or guy in a men’s organization as a rapist or as someone that is going to use women for sex alone makes the same assumptions about groups of men that people make about groups of women.

Labeling every male athlete as a jerk or a womanizer is no different than labeling every feminist as a bitch or labeling every sorority girl some-thing worse. Making assumptions about any group based on an individ-ual is not acceptable. We accept these stereotypes from people we know and then hate when we hear others saying the same things about the groups to which we belong.

I’m calling you out, girls. I have heard you. I have been you. I have be-lieved the things that have been said as a general truth. I have met some incredibly bright, respectful young men that happen to be a part of frater-nities. My favorite guy friends in high school all joined fraternities. Many of the young men I knew in high school that went on to play college sports were the most careful, considerate guys. They get lumped in with these stereotypes and written off by young women they choose to pursue.

If you expect to be respected then do the same for others. Stop stereotyping and start talking.

Contact DELANEY MCLEMORE at [email protected].

EDITORIAL

Marshall University spring sports include talented athletes that compete at high levels in Con-ference USA.

Baseball is off to a great start after recently defeating University of Kentucky, fi nishing 2-1 at the College of Charleston and starting their season a 2-1 record. Victor Gomez was recently named to the Conference USA preseason team. The baseball team travels to Nash-ville, Tenn. to compete against Lipscomb this weekend.

Women’s golf travels to their fi rst tournament in March at Myrtle Beach, S.C. The golf team had a successful fall season. At the last tournament of the season,

sophomore Elin Andersson and freshman Allison Harper tied for seventh at the UAB Fall Beach Blast. While at UAB, Andersson shot 74, and freshman Rachel Thompson shot 72, their lowest rounds of the season.

Men’s golf will compete in their fi rst tournament of the spring in March at Pinehurst, N.C. The golf team fi nished the fall on a positive note and hopes to continue the momentum in the spring. Redshirt sophomore Aaron Boggs won his fi rst career event at the Cardinal Intercollegiate Tournament host-ed by University of Louisville while the team as a whole fi nished third. At their last tournament in the fall,

redshirt senior Christian Brand was the top performer shooting 75 on the last day tying for 13th place.

The softball team defeated Win-throp University over the weekend improving their to record 4-6. Junior outfi elder Melissa Loesing scored the game-winning run Sunday against Winthrop and hit her 15th career home run. Soft-ball travels to Auburn, Ala., this weekend to compete in the Au-burn University War Eagle Classic Tournament.

The women’s tennis team com-petes highly at a national level and is hoping to not only win the conference championship but

also to compete in the NCAA team championship tournament. The team is ranked No. 54 in the country and is currently 10-2. Se-nior Michaela Kissell is currently ranked No. 33 in the country while her and sophomore Dominika Zaprazna hold the No. 26 ranking position in doubles. Tennis plays Eastern Kentucky 1 p.m., Friday at the Huntington Tennis Club in Barboursville.

The track and fi eld team contin-ue to break records and compete on a national level. Five athletes placed in the top-10 over the weekend at Virginia Tech. Junior Rachel Coaxum had a season best in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.95

seconds and freshman Moriah Njoku had a personal best running 26.31 seconds in the 200 meter dash. Returning players who will make impact include sophomore Vanessa Jules, junior springer Delkira Maybin and senior dis-tance runner Allison Cox. Track and Field will travel to Houston for the Conference USA Indoor Championships this weekend.

These sports many not generate as much money as fall and winter sports such as football and basket-ball, but Marshall students and the community should take the time to recognize the hard work these athletes are contributing.

Making assumptions not acceptable

EDITORIAL CARTOON I JEFF KOTERBA I THE OMAHA WORLD HERALD

OpinionWednesday, February 23, 2011marshallparthenon.com

“It’s important for our girls to goout there to see that we have a lot of work to do and also build some confi dence.”Softball coach Shonda Stanton, commenting on the team facing tough competition

6

Spring sports consist of talented athletes

DELANEY MCLEMOREWEDNESDAYS ARE FOR WOMEN

DELANEYMCLEMORECOLUMNIST

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Feeling sluggish lately? Are you tired, unmoti-vated, crabby or perhaps short-tempered? While admittedly some of those feelings may stem from 12 hours of homework, classes and daily work, there is a good chance what you’re eating may contribute as well.

As college students, we understandably go for the foods that are the easi-est on our wallets, which usually means processed, conventional foods.

Most fruits and veg-etables that show up at your local grocery store have been grown under the protection of chemi-cal cocktails, which guard crops from insects and diseases and also help the grower produce higher yields. In the same fash-ion, much of the meat we eat comes from animals fed with hay or grains contain-ing the same chemicals. These animals are also injected with hormones or vaccines. Those chemicals are, in turn, passed on to us as consumers.

Our bodies were not made to process many of the chemicals that show up in conventionally produced foods.

Studies have linked these chemicals to diseases such as obesity and cancer. They also contribute to behav-ioral problems in children, sleep loss and a decline in overall demeanor.

Organically grown pro-duce is typically better for both the body and mind.

Even if the idea of raw milk makes you nauseated or the thought of paying twice as much for a pound of grass-fed beef hurts your bottom line, the idea of flooding your body with chemicals and pesticides can’t be much better. Start small — try a few different things.

And trust me, you can’t go wrong with the bananas.


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BY WILLIAM LINEBERRYTHE PARTHENON

Playwright, short-story author, novel-ist and poet, Langston Hughes created his legacy in words.

Langston Hughes was born on Feb. 1, 1902 in Joplin, Miss. Hughes spent the majority of his childhood in Lawrence, Kan. During his time at grammar school, Hughes was ap-pointed as class poet. This marked the beginning of a literary career. Dur-ing Hughes’ time as a young man, he made a deal with his father regarding his higher education. The deal was this: Langston would attend Colum-bia University on his father’s expense and study engineering.

After attending the university for a brief period, Hughes left. He retained a B plus average while at Columbia. Hughes would later earn a Bachelor of Arts from Lincoln University in 1929. After receiving a degree, Hughes made his final home in Harlem, where he lived the majority of the rest of his life.

Serving as one of the main figures in the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes is best known for his poetry and the depic-tion that it carried of African-American life in the 1920s and 1930s. Hughes is often given credit for being one of the first innovators of a new literary style called jazz poetry. Hughes’ first poem to receive publication was entitled, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” this poem is also one of his most popular.

Jim Riemer, professor in African-Ameri-can and American Literature at Marshall, said that Hughes served as a voice for Af-rican-Americans in the 1920s.

“Hughes was distinctive in the Har-lem Renaissance for his ability with language,” Riemer said. “His poetry has the flow of blues and jazz.”

“Hughes was a voice for African-Americans in a time of a lot of change,” Riemer said. “He tried to find a place for equality and celebrate the experience of being African-American and the quali-ties that came along with it.”

“With his writings, Hughes was able to create an interest from the white commu-nity in the African-American community of this time,” Riemer said. “His writings were able to show that the lives of white

people and the lives of African Americans were not that different.”

In his class on African-American Lit-erature, Riemer said he assigned his students one of Hughes’ novels to read.

“In his writings, Hughes is still rele-vant today,” Riemer said. “He deals with everyday life and everything that comes with it. That is how he is able to reso-nate with so many different people.”

In a time of heightened racism, Hughes, along with his colleagues in the Harlem Renaissance, helped redefine and reshape the image America held to-ward African-Americans.

David Peavler, director of the Afri-can-American studies department at Marshall, said that Hughes is the focal point of the Harlem Renaissance.

“When you look at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, you see Langs-ton Hughes at the center of all the movements of African Americans in Hughes’ time,” Peavler said. “He was a major figure.”

Peavler said Hughes had to go to court once to defend his poems against charges of being un-American. Hughes showed the courts his poems were not as they claimed and that they were ac-tually the opposite.

Angelo Fioravante, senior political science major from Sumerco, W.Va., said Hughes speaks from a very common perspective. Fioravante is also an active member of the Marshall University Po-etry Club.

“Hughes speaks from the

everyday,” Fioravante said. “He has a way of getting the emotion of anxi-ety and oppression out and making it resonate with everybody that has felt that”

Hughes died on May 22, 1967. During his life, he was able to publish 15 collec-tions of poetry, more than 12 plays and nine novels.

William Lineberry can be contacted at [email protected].

Langston Hughes: A legacy in words

MCT

This 34-cent stamp released in 2002 marked the birth centennial of poet and writer Langston Hughes.

BY TREVAN J. HANNAHSTHE PARTHENON

Unless he is wearing his ROTC shirt, Cadet Seth Tackett may be considered another member of the Marshall University student population. Tackett has a goal of furthering his military career through the ROTC program offered at Marshall.

Tackett, sophomore safety technology major from Huntington, said the program is important to Marshall because it trains future leaders of the U.S. Army.

“Without leaders, it’s a bunch of chaos and anarchy. The leaders keep order and direction,” Tackett said.

He said he was set on a fast track towards better leadership in his first semester.

“The very first lab we were taught battle tactics and the MS4s were teaching the entire class, which shows the kind of leadership they are instilling in these fu-ture soldiers,” Tackett said.

Tackett said he is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a great program and said after he fulfills his duties in the program he will become an officer in the U.S. Army.

Major Lilrita Daniels, assistant professor of military science, said the main focus of the ROTC program is to commission students interested in military service to become cadets and later second lieutenants in the Army. She said it is a necessity for the program to train students to become the best officer.

“If the ROTC is something they want to pursue, then I think it is a necessity for us to train them to be the best officer they can be. If they have some-thing else they want to pursue, we support that as well,” Daniels said.

Capt. Jared Dudley said it is not a necessity be-cause of the different ways of achieving different military goals.

“It takes all different kinds to make the army move. You have good enlisted soldiers, good non-commis-sioned officers and good officers as well,” Dudley said.

He said through the program cadets will be able to better themselves in life.

“I think ROTC is a great route to go, not only to get college paid for but to gain leadership skills and attri-butes,” Dudley said.

He said ROTC does require time but is not as de-manding as some think.

“It’s pretty much just taking another course in col-lege. Our time events are more like your homework you’d be spending in your after hours and long at night. There is not much homework to be done, but there is time where you need to be at these training activities and learn,” Dudley said.

He said hands-on training benefits the students be-cause students cannot learn by just reading a book.

Dudley is a former member of the ROTC program and said ROTC was the best fit for the opportunities he wanted to achieve academically.

“Being actually paid to go to school allowed me not to have to focus on a side job like a part-time or full-time job to pay for your rent, books and tuition cause all that is paid for. So that relieves a lot of stress right there to focus on your studies. I was able to do well scholastically and set myself up for success later in life,” Dudley said.

Daniels said students would become second lieu-tenants after the completion of the program. “We commission them when they come in and then they can increase from there,” Daniels said.

She said most students worry about their degrees getting them jobs upon graduation. She said with the ROTC program students are guaranteed a job after college.

She said the current enrollment for ROTC is 64. Daniels said numbers can fluctuate and guaranteed they would better next year.

“The gold bar recruiters are in the MU center to recruit and they go to the different high school and talk to kids in the JROTC. To get them in the program, we send them to the National Guard reserve units and talk to their service and get them in the simultaneous membership program and that pays for their college,” Daniels said.

She said the majority of the cadets are from the area surrounding Marshall because of the programs offered at local high schools.

“We have been mainly focusing on enrollment here in the area and a lot of our kids come from the simultane-ous membership program, kids that are already in the National Guard and in the reserves,” Daniels said.

Trevan J. Hannahs can be contacted at [email protected]. CL022311

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JOHN YEINGST | THE PARTHENON

Major Michael A. Stinnett, professor of military science, serves as commander of the Thundering Herd battallion of the U.S. Army ROTC.

Army ROTC helps students prepare to enlist

BaseballContinued from Page 3

SoftwareContinued from Page 2

Waggoner said.The pitching staff will look to Sikula, who was named

First Team All-C-USA, along with a pair of juniors, Shane Farrell and left-hander Mike Mason, to handle the start-ing jobs for the ever-important weekend games.

A deep crew in the bullpen will pick up the midweek starts. Senior lefty Kyle Blank and junior right-hander James White will pick up most of the setup work with senior Ian Kadish taking on the role of closer.

Waggoner said pitching and defense, with the help of one x-factor, would determine the team’s success.

“Our pitching is deeper than it’s ever been,” Waggoner said. “Probably along with the pitchers and defense are the 10 seniors that we have. That’s probably the three things I look forward to in coaching this year.”

The Thundering Herd baseball team began this season against Miami University (Oh) with a 4-3 victory in extra innings. The team takes on Lipscomb in a three game series this weekend in Nashville, Tenn.

Jake Snyder can be contacted at [email protected].

or online references in the midst of formulating their thoughts. This opens the door to interactive discussion and greater buy-in of the end results.”

Another benefit is, “Teams can avoid ‘wars of attri-tion’ that can develop in disjoint online exchanges. By sharing intermediate results and discussing issues in real-time, they can maintain group cohesion and work toward commonly agreed-to goals.”

This software could make it easier for students to create better work on group projects, as well as im-prove interpersonal skills.

“The Tidebreak software promotes collaborative learning and the ability for students to more easily share the work that they’re doing,” Perry said.

Other members of the IT department were unavail-able for comment.

For more information on Tidebreak software, visit www.tidebreak.com or contact Drinko Library’s IT Desk.

Jordan Bean can be contacted at [email protected].

Wednesday, February 23, 20118 marshallparthenon.com

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TENNIS, TRACK AND GOLF

BY COREY OXLEYTHE PARTHENON

It isn’t common for a walk-on player to win Con-ference USA freshman of the year on Marshall’s golf team. But Christian Brand did it successfully.

Brand, senior advertis-ing major from Charleston, said it was pretty awe-some to receive the honor of C-USA freshman of the year.

“I didn’t know that I was going to get it until the last round of the confer-ence tournament,” Brand said. “My coach came up to me and told me to keep my chin up because I was going to win it. I didn’t be-lieve him at first, but they announced that I was the winner right before we had to leave back home.”

Brand said he was given the award right before he boarded the plane. He said it was cool to actually have the award in hand.

“Christian has been our number one player since the first day he walked on campus,” said head coach Joe Feaganes. “He had a tre-mendous freshmen year. As strong as golf is in Conference USA, that is a tremendous accomplishment.”

Feaganes said golf in C-USA is a very strong conference na-tionally. He said C-USA had five teams that got invited or qualified for the NCAA tour-nament last year.

“Coach Feaganes has taught me everything,” Brand said. “He teaches you how to be a

gentleman and an adult. He makes us take our hats off when eating dinner and dress nice when we have functions. He really teaches us how to be professional.”

Brand said being the co-captain is really cool. He said they have many young guys on the team this year and he likes having the op-portunity to help them and give them advice. He said it’s nice to have them look up to you.

Feaganes said last season would have been Brand’s senior season, but they redshirted him when he switched majors from broadcast jour-nalism to advertising. He said they decided to redshirt him last year because he had a full coarse load.

“Christian has given us a lot of leadership in our program,” Feaganes said. “He has been co-captain now for a couple years and given us great leadership. He has really grown as a person and as a player.”

“We try to empha-size that it’s not always about how you act on the course but what you do off the course as well,” Feaganes said. “I want my players to be better people when they leave. If they are better golfers because of it, then that is even better.”

Brand said he looked at a couple of differ-ent colleges before he committed to Marshall. “When it came down

to the final decision I wanted to stay close to home. North Carolina State University and University of North Florida offered me spots on their golf team, but no one offered me an ac-tual scholarship.”

“My first semester of my freshmen year I was leading the confer-ence in stroke average,” Brand said. “So I ended up receiving a schol-arship in the spring semester.”

Brand said he has many memories from being here at Marshall,

but his most important memory hasn’t occurred yet. He said it will prob-ably happen when he has to say goodbye to his team and Feaganes.

“I am not really sure why I chose golf as a kid,” Brand said. “I played just about ev-ery sport. I became bored with basketball, baseball and track. However, I never be-came bored with golf and ended up playing every day.” Corey Oxley can be contacted at [email protected].

Senior golfer refl ects on time at MarshallBY KELSEY WAYBRIGHTTHE PARTHENON

When Kathleen Clark runs her last race in her Marshall uniform this spring, she will have more numbers than just her finish time representing all she has accomplished in green and white.

Clark, management and marketing double major and distance runner for the woman’s track and field team, will be compet-ing in the 1500-meter and 800-meter events this week at the C-USA Conference Tournament in Houston. The native of Twinsburg, Ohio, will be chasing her goal of achieving a five-min-ute mile time, even though she already has a highly re-spected number associated with her name, a 4.0 GPA, which is just as elusive as her mile time goal.

“Buck Harless has been a big help, and William Biggs, my academic advi-sor, has been my go-to man to helping stay focused on my academics throughout the season,” Clark said. “I think the key is really time management, and you re-ally have to stay focused and do homework on long bus rides and any other time you can.”

“I’ve been competitive all my life and I don’t know how I’ll react to running my last race,” Clark said. “I’ll always keep racing and plan on running marathons after graduating, but I’ll re-ally miss competing with my team.”

Track and field coach Jeff Small said it is very admirable how Clark has continued marching forward to her goals, aca-demically and athletically.

“Her academics and how she is in the classroom as well as always being ready to work everyday at prac-tice is very impressive, especially over her entire four years here,” Small said.

Clark has ran her two fastest mile times this year and has consistently per-formed well for the team during their indoor season.

“She’s been really fo-cused and is trying to get out there and perform well,” Small said. “She’s had a five-second improve-ment over what she had done previously while run-ning at Notre Dame and Akron. And while she hasn’t run a great 800 yet, I think she will probably set a college best record once we get outside.”

Clark divides her time between being a member of the C-USA Student Ath-lete Advisory Committee, the vice president of mem-bership for the American Marketing Association and her part-time job at Roberts Running and Walking shop in Huntington.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Marshall and have met a lot of good friends through running as well as been to a lot of cool places,” Clark said.

Kelsey Waybright can be contacted at [email protected].

Clark goes the distance

Visit us online at MarshallParthenon.com.

By BRANDON ANICICHTHE PARTHENON

Marshall tennis fans have some-thing to look forward to this spring, as the Marshall University women’s tennis program — currently ranked 54th the nation — continues to down opponent after opponent both at home and abroad.

With two losses in over a dozen duels this season, head coach John Mercer and the Herd are steam-rolling through the calendar season and looking to keep perfection more than just a frame of mind heading into the spring.

“Well, so far so good,” Mercer said. “We’ve been playing well, played great and we’ve won 10 out of our last 12 match-ups and those two we lost were to very good schools. Van-derbilt is ranked 15th in the nation right now, and Virginia will most likely end up in the top ten after this week. We’ve done a good job of tak-ing care of the matches we can and our players have been putting them-selves in position to get these wins.”

This season marks Mercer’s 25th season coaching at the Division I col-legiate level, nine of which have been with Marshall University. Mercer took Marshall University’s tennis program to new heights — reach-ing an unprecedented national rank of 28 en route to a Conference USA title match.

The season thus far has been a contin-uation of Mercer’s legacy-in-the-making, as Marshall has swept or dominated opponents including Dartmouth Uni-versity, West Virginia University and Old Dominion University.

Senior Michaela Kissell and sophomore Dominika Zaprazna — both competed in the NCAA tournament last year — are on their way to repeating that feat. Their combined talents have made them a force to be reckoned with in doubles competition, as they are cur-rently ranked No. 26 in the nation.

“Right now, you could say we’re

working to try and qualify the entire team for a berth in the NCAA tour-nament,” Mercer said. “Right now, our two girls, Michaela Kissell and Dominika Zaprazna, have done well to work to secure that berth, and we’re just going to try and win as many matches as we can and try to get the whole team set to compete in the tournament.”

With ten matches coming up before the Conference-USA tourna-ment, Herd fans can look forward to the portion of the schedule when the team returns to Mar-shall. Six showdowns will be held at Marshall, starting with Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 25th, followed by weekly matches against Win-throp University, Penn State University, Louisville University, Virginia Commonwealth Univer-sity and East Carolina University.

Match times vary between noon and 1 p.m. depending on the week, so take note and be sure to check out your No. 54 nationally-ranked Marshall tennis program this spring. Brandon Anicich may be contacted at [email protected].

FILE PHOTOThis year marks John Mercer’s 25th season coaching at the collegiate level.

Marshall tennis coach continues legacy

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENTChristian Brand is a senior co-captain for Marshall’s golf team.

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Spring Sports Edition