The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 41, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 22, 2000 Page: 4 of 14
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Optimist
Riesdav. February 22 2000
Sports
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Track team continues quality performance
Canishka Stuart
Sports Editor
j The Wildcats put on a good per-
formance once again at the Texas
afcch Invitational in Lubbock Friday
and Saturday.
Provisional qualifiers were Julieon
fciebum sprinter in the 400
ijcters; John Kembol in the 800
peters; and Gilbert Tuhabonye in
he mile relay.
Jn the 400-meter dash Raebum
iptured first; and Jason Prann
rjird.
John Kembol finished first in the
j
800 meters; Gilbert Tuhabonye sec-
ond in the 1-milc run; and Francis
Kimcll fourth.
In the 5000-meter run Bamabas
Menjo placed second; and Dustin
Hawcs third.
In the mens 55-meter dash Oscar
Meneses placed third; and Jose
Mencses fourth. Shaka Huggins fin-
ished fifth in the 55 meters and sec-
ond In the 55-meter low hurdles.
Terrancc Woods finished second
in the mens high jump with 6-11
34 inches and third in long jump.
The mens 4x400-metcr relay fin-
ished second in 3 minutes 16.93
seconds.
"We had good performances" said
Jon Murray head track and field
coach. The women improved with
Evia (in womens shot put)
Dawnycl In both jumps and Hlllerie
in the triple jump."
Dawnycl Newhousc claimed first
in long jump and Hilleric Shelton
took first In the womens triple
jump.
Shawntel Newhousc took second
in the womens 55-meter lowhur-
dles. In womens shot put Evia Morri-
son placed first and Geraldinc
George second. Selena Bettis placed
second in the weight throw.
Maresa Cadienhcad placed first in
the womens high jump and Tracy
Gust third; and Meredith Garner
placed first in pole vault.
Wendy Jo Seitz placed second in
the womens 400 meters; and Angie
Waters second in the 800 meters.
Justine Nabimana finished first In
the womens 1-mile run and in the
5000 meters.
The womens 4x400 relay finished
second.
Murray said he had "great expec-
tations for the Texas Tech meet and
the athletes did well."
"The meet was a spring-board for
nationals" he said. "The athletes
will go through a couple weeks of
training and get ready to go."
The NCAA Division II Nationals
begin March 10-1 1 and 20 athletes
are scheduled to compete.
"Ten men will compete and the
number of women going is up in
the air but we have about 10 so far
- so 10 of each" Murray said.
Murray said not many opportuni-
ties exist for athletes to qualify for
indoor season now except for a
meet at Lewis University in Chicago
this weekend and the USA Indoor
Championship meet in Atlanta"
Ga. March 3-4.
Only one athlete Meredith Gar-i
ner qualified for the U.S. Champi'
onship.
"The U.S. Championships are
pretty elite - they're the best in the
U.S.
"We will possibly send a few peo-.
pie to the meet this week but this i
the last week to qualify because the"
athletes cannot qualify next week"
he said.
At the Texas Tech meet the men
claimed several positions.
Huggins9 Hurdles
Shaka keeps
jgood form
for indoors
Canishka Stuart
Sports Editor
Shaka Huggins is trying to prove every-
body wrong.
Shaka senior hurdler for the Wildcats
said people have doubted him because of
past performances.
"I didn't have a good year my first year
my second year I did better but this year
I'm trying to do my best" he said.
The marketing major transferred to ACU
in 1998 front Adams State College in Col-
orado because of ACUs winning record in
track and field.
"I saw ACU winning all the national
championships in track."
He competes in the 55- and 60-mcter
hurdles during indoor season and the 1 10-
and 400-meter hurdles outdoors.
"I prefer the 110-meter hurdles and my
goal is to finish 13.6 (seconds) or faster" he
said. "My best time in the 110 hurdles was
13.99."
Howard Dougherty track coach for the
Wildcats said Shaka is a talented athlete.
"Athletes usually like shorter events and
those are the ones that are perceived with
the least work but I think with Shakas
height and speed he would do better in the
400 hurdles" Dougherty said. "It will take
some convincing but at least we will try for
outdoors."
Dougherty said Shaka will do well in the
110- and 400-meter hurdles.
"He should do well Indoors and out-
doors and I'm hoping he will do good at
the next phase with speed work and speed
maintenance" he said. "Indoor season
should find him in good form and compet-
itive" he said.
Shaka owns two national championship
rings in hurdles from his competitions tn
1998 and 1999.
The Wildcats won the NCAA Division II
championship title indoors and placed sec-
ond outdoors in 1998; and in 1999 they
won the indoor and outdoor meets.
Shaka has another goal tills yean to rep-
resent Trinidad in the Olympics.
Shakas father was born in Trinidad and
Shaka was bom in the United States but
lived in Trinidad from ages 4-12 giving
him dual citizenship.
His father competed in high jump and
three of his uncles play soccer.
"I want to make It to the Olympics and
make Trinldads national team because it is
so hard to make the U.S. team - its
extremely hard" Shaka said.
Shaka has competed for six years in the
hurdles and has already qualified for
nationals this year.
"I used the Texas Tech Invitational) meet
as a workout not to sharpen up for natlon-
FTTT I T-1 m I d ' - - ' ' nijwiiwiii.m iij. i 111111 JiMi'tfiriUiry JJ lf V.BV 'anMMITB-TiM
Amanda Relter
Shaka Huggins a NCAA Division II championship hurdler will try to make Trinidad's national team for the
Olympics in Australia this summer. Shaka grew up in Trinidad from ages 4-12 but resides in Colorado.
als" Shaka said of the meet in Lubbock
Friday and Saturday.
Shaka said he tries to feel relaxed when
competing.
"Despite being nervous I talk to my
opponents and kid around before I do my
thing - before I gel down to business" he
said.
This year lias also been better for Shaka in
his studies.
"I didn't take a lot of classes this semester
only 12 hours and they are spread out long
before practice so that I can work out."
However Shaka said "ACUs stressful
environment" frustrates him.
"Despite the track team being a team
there is animosity and not much respect for
each other as teammates."
Other causes of frustration are "nagging
mjunes."
"I strained my lower ab muscle and I'm
trying to get over it" Shaka said. "My
workout consists of mainly 65 percent
technique and 35 percent actual workout -sprinting
or endurance workouts."
Shalm is scheduled to graduate in May
2001.
Wildcats
improve
record
Dean Petty
Student Reporter
The Wildcats continued their winning
ways this weekend in Mississippi by
defeating North Alabama and Delta
State.
The men's baseball team beat North
Alabama which is the seventh ranked
team in Division II and also improved
their record to 11-1.
The Wildcats who were hitting and
pitching well at home showed they
could do it on the road as well.
Jeremy Smith who is hitting close to
600 this season led the way for the
Wildcats at the plate and Tyler Junior
College transfer Neil Justice led the way
on the mound.
Head Coach Britt Bonneau was really
pleased with the way his team respond-
ed to the big weekend.
"Neil really stepped up and showed us
that he should be one of our starters"
Bonneau said. !
The Wildcats have been looking for i
number four starter since the season began
and may have found it in Neil Justice.
The Wildcats took the first game from
North Alabama 16-5 and then beat them
the following day 6-5.
However the Wildcats found thenv
selves down in the second game but
showed some heart and came back to
defeat North Alabama.
"Coming back when you are down just
makes you that much better of a team"
Bonneau said.
Also beating them twice just show
that we were for real Bonneau said. ;
Saturday brought another victim to the
Wildcats hands as they defeated Delta
State 3-0 in the nightcap.
Neil Justice threw a complete game
shutout and gave the Wildcats another
win to add to their total.
Justin Reese senior from Abilene
plays right field for the Wildcats.
"This was a real exciting weekend for
us and was a lot of fun" Reese said '
This weekend showed us that we can
play with anybody and we are really
excited about the rest of the seasorl
Reese said.
The Wildcats did lose their first gamp
of the season however as they ran intp
Division I contender University of Mis-
sissippi. '
The Rebels beat the Wildcats 9-3
"We had opportunities but we just
couldn't hit our spots" Bonneau said. 1
The Wildcats will be in action again oh
Tuesday when they face Dallas Baptist
University at Crutcher Scott Field at 2
p.m. ;
Sports Brief
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gatot Dtvfelen oppooetiJu(o th week-
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Story by Patrick flulirauui
Women's hoops set to tangle against Midwestern Thursday:
Chris Smith
Sports Writer
The womens basketball team did
what they had to do this weekend.
After three consecutive Lone Star
Conference losses ACU won con-
secutive road games for the first
time this season.
The Wildcats defeated Texas
A&M-Commerce 76-69 and Texas
Womans University 68-49.
Senior forward Jackie Bucher was
named LSC South Division Player-of-the-Week
for the third time this
season after averaging 26 points
and 1 1 rebounds while shooting 22
of 28 from the floor.
The wins kept ACU alive in the
hunt for the final LSC postseason
tourney spot.
However Thursday nights game
against Midwestern State could be
the womens biggest win of the sea-
son. The Wildcats will have the chance
to avenge their worst loss of the
season when they entertain confer-
ence rival MSU in Moody Colise-
um. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. followed by
the men at 8 p.m.
The fourth place Wildcats are a
game ahead of the Indians in the
standings at 8-6.
MSU eliminated Tarleton State
from postseason contention Satur-
day night winning 64-59 in Wichi-
ta Falls.
In the conference opener on Dec.
30 the Indians beat ACU 73-50 in
D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
TeNay Garrett had a career night
for MSU scoring 31 points to go
along with 17 rebounds.
The Indians used runs of 10-2
and 13-0 at the end of the game to
pull away from the Wildcats and
outrebounded ACU 41-27.
Garrett who leads state with 18.6
points and 11.3 rebounds a game
will probably match-up with Buch-
er. This season the Wildcats have
performed better than MSU against
the top three teams in the confer-
ence Eastern New Mexico West
Texas A&M and Texas A&M-
Kingsville. ACU defeated Eastern New Mexi-
co at home and lost to WTAM and
TAMKU bv an average of five
points while the Indians lost all
three conference leaders by and
average of 18 points at Canyon;
Ponales and Kingsville.
The mens team will play the role
of spoiler this weekend in their
home finale against MSU and TSUJ
The Cats have lost five of their last
six conference games to fall to 4-8
in LSC play. .
ACU will try to hand the Indian
their first conference loss of the seaj
son and eliminate Tarleton State
from postseason contention. C
The mens and womens team will
conclude the regular season Saturl
day night against TSU in Moodi
Coliseum. i
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 41, Ed. 1, Tuesday, February 22, 2000, newspaper, February 22, 2000; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101645/m1/4/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.