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Tuesday, Oct. 22

LC cross country team continues stellar improvement

[OCT. 22, 2002]  The Lincoln College men’s cross country team beat one four-year school in Friday’s 12-team Millikin Invitational and were led by freshman Mario Willbourn in his first cross country race this season.

Finishing in 10th place out of junior college runners with a time of 30:07 in the 8K race, Mario was closely followed by freshman teammate Jordan Gerard, who was the 12th junior college runner, in 30:29. Rounding out the scoring for the Lynx were Russ Holstine in 24th out of junior college runners, Justin Pogue 25th, Jake Kennedy 29th and Michael Lister 34th.

The Lynx were without their third and sixth runners, Justin Collins and Ryan Skolansinski, due to injuries but expect to have them back this weekend for the NJCAA Region 24 meet in Danville.

Every runner on the team ran a personal best by at least 15 seconds, and Kennedy ran over four minutes faster than his previous race.

"This weekend will really be the test of how good this team is," said coach Erin Verbeck. "With Collins back and the rest of the team peaking at the right time, we may be able to finish second in our region to a nationally ranked Rend Lake team. The key will be having everyone on the team move up another 30 seconds to a minute, and I’m confident we’ll be there."

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The women were once again led by freshman Christien Taitt, who was the top junior college runner in the race and finished in 23rd place overall in the longer-than-usual 6K race distance.

"Christien is really one to watch," said Verbeck. "She is competing with runners from four-year universities and placing very high and running fast times. She could be a national champion next year with the proper summer training."

Freshman Jenine Mills finished in sixth place among junior college runners and also showed much improvement with her personal best time.

Rounding out the team were freshman Mary Daum in 11th place out of junior college runners and Betsy Scarpaci in 18th.

[Lincoln College news release]

Preseason picks

Brian Cook among Naismith candidates

[OCT. 22, 2002]  ATLANTA, Ga. — Nick Collison, Jason Gardner, Luke Walton and David West head the list of men’s preseason candidates for the 2002-2003 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Awards. Chantelle Anderson, Alana Beard, Diana Taurasi and LaToya Thomas are leading the women’s preseason candidates. Jackie Bradford, president of the Atlanta Tipoff Club, announced the candidates Monday.

The Naismith Awards program, now in its 35th year, honors the outstanding college basketball players in the United States. The awards program was founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the achievements of student-athletes in basketball.

The candidates were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors, comprised of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball analysts. Members of the board were asked to name top male and female players who are most likely to be in contention for the award.

"Both the men’s and women’s fields, from top to bottom, are extremely talented," said Bradford. "The race for the Naismith Award will once again be very competitive and exciting."

The preseason candidates for the Naismith Awards, listed in alphabetical order, are as follows:

Male candidates

Mario Austin, Mississippi State

Troy Bell, Boston College

Steve Blake, Maryland

Keith Bogans, Kentucky

Matt Bonner, Florida

Nick Collison, Kansas

Brian Cook, Illinois

Erwin Dudley, Alabama

Chris Duhon, Duke

Andre Emmett, Texas Tech

T.J. Ford, Texas

Reece Gaines, Louisville

Jason Gardner, Arizona

Jarvis Hayes, Georgia

Kirk Hinrich, Kansas

Josh Howard, Wake Forest

Jason Kapono, UCLA

Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh

Chris Marcus, Western Kentucky

Brett Nelson, Florida

Hollis Price, Oklahoma

Darius Rice, Miami (Florida)

Rick Rickert, Minnesota

Luke Ridnour, Oregon

Mike Sweetney, Georgetown

Chris Thomas, Notre Dame

Dwayne Wade, Marquette

Luke Walton, Arizona

Travis Watson, Virginia

David West, Xavier

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Female candidates

Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt

Jacqueline Batteast, Notre Dame

Alana Beard, Duke

Kara Braxton, Georgia

Coretta Brown, North Carolina

Shameka Christon, Arkansas

Crissy Floyd, Clemson

Catrina Frierson, Louisiana Tech

Vanessa Hayden, Florida

Caton Hill, Oklahoma

Ebony Hoffman, USC (California)

Nicole Ohlde, Kansas State

Gwen Jackson, Tennessee

Temeka Johnson, LSU

Kara Lawson, Tennessee

Kelly Mazzante, Penn State

Jocelyn Penn, USC (South Carolina)

Nicole Powell, Stanford

Alicia Ratay, Notre Dame

Aiysha Smith, LSU

Stacy Stephens, Texas

Brianne Stepherson, Boston College

Diana Taurasi, Connecticut

Brandi Teamer, Virginia

LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State

Iciss Tillis, Duke

Kendra Wecker, KSU

Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota

Lindsey Wilson, Iowa State

Shereka Wright, Purdue

Last year’s Naismith Award recipients were Jason Williams of Duke University and Sue Bird of the University of Connecticut.

The first recipient of the male Naismith Award was Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) of UCLA in 1969. Other college player of the year recipients include many NBA standouts, such as Bill Walton, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Christian Laettner.

The women’s Naismith Award, first presented in 1983 to Anne Donovan of

Old Dominion, includes recipients such as three-time winner Cheryl Miller of USC and two-time honorees Clarissa Davis of Texas, Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee and Dawn Staley of Virginia.

Visit http://www.naismithawards.com/ for more information on the awards.

[Atlanta Tipoff Club news release]

Busch Braggin’ Rights tickets on sale Nov. 4

[OCT. 22, 2002]  ST. LOUIS — Enthusiasm is high once again for the Busch Braggin’ Rights Illinois vs. Missouri basketball game. The 22nd annual game will be at Savvis Center on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 4:30 p.m. This exciting matchup between the Illinois Fighting Illini and Missouri Tigers will once again be one of the hottest tickets of the year, as the game perennially fills Savvis Center with sold-out crowds.

To give fans a little more to brag about, the action will be doubled once again, with the third annual Busch Braggin’ Rights women’s game played at 1:30 p.m., prior to the men’s game, giving fans two thrilling games in one day.

With the majority of tickets for this event sold through the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri, a limited number of seats are available for sale to the general public. Tickets will be sold as a two-game package only, beginning Monday, Nov. 4, at 10 a.m. A limit of four tickets per person may be purchased on the first day of ticket sales.

Tickets may be purchased at the Savvis Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, including Famous Barr, select Schnucks Video Clubs, Streetside Records and the BlueNote Sports Shops; by phone at (314) 241-1888 (automated), (618) 222-2900 or (314) 421-4400 (sales rep); and online at ticketmaster.com.

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Tickets for the two-game package are $45, $35 and $30. A $2 per ticket facility fee will be added at all locations, including the Savvis Center Box Office. Additional Ticketmaster service charges and handling fees apply to all tickets purchased through Ticketmaster outlets, by phone or online. Line tickets will not be used at the Savvis Center Box Office. For line ticket information at Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, check with the appropriate center.

For disabled access information, please call (314) 622-5420. For further information, please call (314) 531-SVVS.

Since the first men’s matchup, in 1980, the Illini have taken the series in 1980, 1983-90, 1995-96 and 2000-01 for a total of 13 wins. The Tigers prevailed in 1981, 1991-94 and 1997-99 for a total of eight wins. The women’s matchups have given the Braggin’ Rights to Illinois in both 2000 and 2001.

[Kent Brown, assistant athletics director
and sports information director,
University of Illinois]

Men’s and women’s competitive
volleyball teams forming

[OCT. 22, 2002]  The Eastside Volleyball Club, based in East Peoria, is proud to announce that they will be running adult men’s and women’s competitive Olympic volleyball this year at Eastside Centre. It is anticipated that the club will form four teams each in the men’s and women’s gender.

The teams are currently slated to be sanctioned with the Amateur Athletic Union and will compete in four or five tournament dates hosted at Eastside Centre during the 2003 season. The scheduled dates are Dec. 15, 2002, Jan. 5, 2003, Jan, 26, 2003, and March 8-9, 2003, with a date still to be set in April 2003. The Eastside Volleyball Club is also in the process of organizing and securing the AAU Adult National Tournament, which could be held over Memorial Day weekend in 2003.

Men and women with collegiate experience or experience playing competitive volleyball are encouraged to attend two open gym sessions to organize teams. The sessions will be from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27, and Sunday, Nov. 3, at Eastside Centre, 1 Eastside Drive in East Peoria. Prior to play, each participant will be required to fill out the AAU registration and pay a $10 fee for the registration for insurance. No fee will be charged to participate in the open gyms until after a determination of teams is made.

For further information, please visit www.eastsidevb.com, call the Eastside Volleyball Club at (309) 699-8738 or respond to Eastside_vbc@Yahoo.com.

[News release]

Articles from the past week

[OCT. 21, 2002]  My player and team of the week is an easy choice this week. It’s an automatic. It’s a no-brainer. It’s Harvest of Talents coordinator Pat Snyder and her team fighting world hunger! This team won’t win any sports trophies, but look for them to someday have crowns with plenty of jewels in them, if you know what I mean.

I am so glad that there are people like Miss Pat in this world. Because there are too many people like me. I see the devastating effects of hunger everywhere I travel, and I am concerned about them. BUT, not enough to organize a committee that works all year for one little Saturday in October. If you could talk to Pat, she would tell you these amazing stats about hunger:

1.  One-seventh of the world’s population suffers from hunger or malnutrition.

2.  Every 3.5 seconds somebody on earth will die from hunger.

3.  One out of 10 children around the world will die of hunger before their 5th birthday.

4.  Every one of these children and their parents are also hungry for respect!

5.  Every one of these people is hungry for answers!

6.  Every one of these people is hungry for hope!

You may say that we’ve got enough problems, and there’s nothing you can do to help. Wrong again! Go on out to the Family Center at 204 N. McLean this Saturday, Oct. 26, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cinnamon rolls are scrumptious. The chili, smoked and roasted beef and pork sandwiches will hit the spot. The crafts and other handmade items will solve many of your gift-giving problems. The Harvest 5K walk-run will keep you healthy and give you another T-shirt for your wardrobe. The chips and potatoes are coming all the way from South Dakota, and they are delicious. The auction is by far one of the best, most well-run and certainly the funnest one you will attend all year!

NO… they won’t win any major awards this week, but Harvest of Talents WILL be the best game in town this weekend. I guarantee IT! AND I’ve tried to NEVER let you loyal LDN readers down! This isn’t even my church! In fact, this event is so great, I would’ve felt comfortable going to this thing even in the days when I wasn’t even going to church. You don’t have to be a "church" person to realize that people are starving in this country and all over the world. And when there’s a chance that you could help a group in Lincoln, Ill., impact the world, that’s an opportunity that you just can’t pass up.

In fact, Pat and her team have already collected $800,000 for this effort in the 18 years that they have held this event. That’s incredible! I hope that you will honor this great Lincoln player of the week and her team by going on out Saturday and supporting this most worthwhile cause. Nothing else I can say or do would be nearly as important as this!

Keep up the good work, Pat! We’re pullin’ for you!

I think the San Francisco Giants are on a roll and that they will win the series in six games or less. BUT, I would love to be wrong on this one! AND you need to understand that as a boy, I spent some of my finest moments in the bleachers of old Candlestick Park. But that was a different time, and that was a different team — not just because they beat the Cardinals.

I’ve just never been much of a Barry Bonds fan. It’s like he’s carrying a chip, and the rest of us are not good enough to be on the same planet with him. I’m sorry, Barry, but I don’t accept that… from you or ANYone! For crying out loud, you’re getting paid to play a game! They have other personalities on their team that are hard to like in Jeff Kent and Kenny Lofton, just to name two.

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I would love to see the Angels sweep them in four — especially for Adam Kennedy’s sake — but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I’m stickin’ with… Giants in six!

Some say yes, I say NO! They’re just NOW starting to figure things out… SO how about another game right now?! On the other hand I guess another week of healing and learning wouldn’t kill them. On deck: the IU Hoosiers, who just shocked the Badgers of Wisconsin! From my vantage point the Illini better jump on this one because I don’t see a lot of winable games out there the rest of the way!

Lincoln’s Brian Cook put his face right in the middle of a bunch of big bodies on Wednesday and came away with a broken nose. The injury did require surgery and Brian wanted to go back to practice on Thursday, but Illini trainer Rod Cardinal said NO. Cook was fitted for a mask and fully intended to be back on the practice floor by last Friday, but I had no report when this story went to post!

Lincoln’s Andy King was still flying high after his first few days of practice. We’re all hoping that this will be a season-long run for Andy, but it all depends on injuries and how fast everyone heals up. We’ll bring you a lot more on Andy’s story when we get it.

Lincoln College had LCC’s number for most of the first game of their last match, but the Angels finally caught them at 26 and then never faltered again. I STILL think that LC has really improved under Mark Tippett! Kevin Crawford’s Angels are young, and it will be interesting to see how they fare in this year’s playoffs. AND, it will be sad not to see Breanne Prunty on the floor after this season. She reminds me of everything that is good about women’s volleyball!

Lincoln High School has certainly played a brutal schedule. Hopefully when the IHSA playoffs roll around that will bode well for them. Unless the IHSA rules that Aaron Monts’ infractions were so hideous that ALL teams in central Illinois should be ineligible for ANY postseason play! Sorry, I’m still a little bamboozled by whatever in the heck the IHSA is trying to do. Guess I’m not smart enough to figure them out. Wonder IF I had a boatload of money, if I could get more understanding out of them. Guess we’ll never know!

This week’s guests include:

•  Jan Bowers and her LCHS Lady Railer golfers.

•  Jason Fitzpatrick of the LCHS Railer boys golf team.

•  Michelle Aeilts and her LCHS cross country team.

Not confirmed yet is the LCHS soccer team. We do hope to have the LCHS swimmers showcased on our Nov. 3 show!

Have a GREAT week, EVERYone, and be a GOOD sport!!!

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Illini finally have something to cheer about, Oct. 14
• ‘Monday Night Football’: A total blast... other than the score, Oct. 8
• I was wrong, Oct. 7
• More...

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