The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 20, 1993 Page: 7 of 8
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SPORTS
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1993 7
gr
New Head Volleyball Coach Henry Chen encourages one of his players as she takes a break during practice.
Chen reworks ailing volleyball program
by Torrey Folk
After Debbie Sokol's resignation
last year, assistant coach Henry Chen
was promoted to head coach of the
women's volleyball team in June. With
two years experience in the Rice vol-
leyball program, Chen is hoping to
establish a new era.
"We don't want to compare things
with last year," said senior Michelle
Bird. "We're a whole new team with a
new attitude."
In what some players believe is an
effort to eliminate any association with
previous years, Chen has bought new
uniforms for the team, relocated the
volleyball office and even moved prac-
tices from the West Gym to Autry
Court
The volleyball team has not won a
conference game in two years. How-
ever, returning players think this may
change with the new program Chen is
developing.
"He'sdoingeverythingdifferently.
He doesn't want anything to remind
us of last year. We have a whole new
look now—it's really neat," said se-
nior Jessica Williams. "The things we
are losing [from last year] are all bad
things that make a team fail."
Chen is not the only new face to
lead the team on the court Two new
assistant coaches, Letitia Burell and
Catalina Suarez, are helping Chen in-
tensify practice.
"We are practicing at a higher
tempo than normal game speed, with
more repetitions," said Chen.
Burell is a former middle blocker
from the University of Houston. She
was named to the All-Southwest Con-
ference team and is an All-decade
Southwest Conference player. Suarez
is an outside hitter who played at the
University of Kansas and the Univer-
sity of Missouri at Kansas City. Both
have had previous coaching experi-
ence.
In an effort to regain the number of
players necessary to execute a suc-
cessful program, Chen recruited five
freshmen, making a very young team.
Currently there are 12 members on
the team, an increase from.the six or
IP
seven that frequently made up the
'He doesn't want anything
to remind us of last year.'
—Jessica Williams
senior setter
team last spring because of injuries.
"[The freshmen] bring a faster of-
fense and a lot of enthusiasm," Chen
said. "Rebecca Chase has already split
her chin twice, but she would just
never quit."
The freshmen will get a lot of
playing time," added Williams." I think
Henry is going to play everyone."
The women have already been
plagued by injuries, a problem that
kept many players off the court last
year. Tobi Roquemore, a swing hitter,
ruptured her Achilles tendon at prac-
tice and is out for the season.
"Injuries are always a problem be-
cause there are never more than 12
athletes to draw from," said Chen.
"Well do the best we can with our
numbers, but I think the more the
better," said freshman Darcy
Cruishank. "You need depth in every
position. Our games are the best of
five. You need to have fresh legs for
each game."
Several players agreed that having
a majority of freshmen is positive for
the team.
"It's an advantage because in the
next few years we can work together
and improve together. We'll be able to
gel," Cruishank said. "As an incoming
fresh man, it's nice having other people
in your same position."
Williams is impressed with the
physical abilities of the freshmen and
their positive new outlook. "I think it is
good to have these fresh attitudes,"
she said. "They are inspiring us."
The team lost three players from
last year. Michelle Kaminski and
Cheryl Dell, both swing hitters, gradu-
ated. SeniorTammyTrownsell.aquick
hitter, is out for the season because of
a back injury.
The women face their toughest
competition at their first tournament
on Sept 3 at the Long Beach State
Invitational. Long Beach State Uni-
versity is currently ranked first in the
country.
The women's first home game is •
against Stephen F. Austin University
on Sept. 1 at Autry Court.
"People who have come by to see
us practice say that we are looking
really good," Bird said. "They say we
look better now than the team ever did
last year."
Amy Jeter contributed to this story.
Football seeks Cobb replacement
by Erica Levine
Rice football fans know the 1993
season marks the beginning of an era.
With former star running backTrevor
Cobb testing the NFL waters in Kan-
sas City, the Rice program is left to
sink or swim.
"Trevor definitely did a lot of good
for Rice, both on the field and just with
the public," said starting quarterback
Bert Emanuel. "But we do have people
to fill the hole he left."
Head coach Fred Goldsmith is eye-
ing four possible replacements for
Cobb. The top contender, says Gold-
smith, is sophomore Yoncy Edmunds,
who was Cobb's backup last year;
Goldsmith is quick to add, however,
that the race for running back is not
yet over.
Sophomore Spencer George and
freshmen Rob Newhouse and Jamey
Whitlock are three other players that
show the talent needed for the posi-
tion, if not the experience on a college
field.
Edmunds gained 27 yards on 16
carries in limited duty behind Cobb in
1992, and showed improvement in his
blocking and receiving skills during
spring training.
"Right now, Yoncy is performing
the best in practice," Goldsmith said.
"Also, that year of playing in game
situations gives him an edge. But it's
still a close race."
Notfar behind Edmunds is George,
who amassed impressive statistics in
his senior season at Beaumont's
Hamshire-Fannett High. He rushed
for 1,802 yards, scored26 touchdowns,
and averaged 12.1 yards per carry.
Newhouse and Whitlock have also
turned in promising performances
during early practices. During his se-
nior* year at Houston's Lake High-
lands High School, Newhouse gained
all-city honors with season totals of
eight 1,102 yards on 192 carries with
eight touchdowns.
Whitlock's senior year was equally
notable. He passed for 997 yards and
15 touchdowns, and rushed for 883
yards on 139 carries to earn first-team
all-district honors at Buda's Hays Con-
solidated.
"All four of us have pretty good
speed andgood ability ."Whitlock said.
"Atthis point, what's important is think-
ing of this as a team effort and not a
competition. We have some pretty
huge games coming up, and we've got
to focus on team performance."
The first of these games is the
Owls' Sept 4 visit to Ohio State Uni-
versity,oneof the nation's top 15teams
and a perennial BigTen powerhouse.
Four weeks later, Rice will face an-
other tough opponent in its confer-
enceopeneratthe University ofTexas,
where it hopes to break its 28-year
losing streak against the Longhorns.
"Right now, we are focusing on
those two games," Emanuel said.
"We're going to both Ohio State and
ITexas] planning to win. Right now,
all we can do is focus on fundamentals
and teamwork and take practice one
day at a time."
Spring athletes take
summer by storm
by Amy Jeter
Rice baseball and track and field
standouts ended successful spring sea-
sons this summer with honors includ-
ing All-American status, as well as
Southwest Conference, NCAA na-
tional and international titles.
Kareem Streete-Thompson
Long jump
Competing for the first time under
the American flag, long jumper
Streete-Thompson struck gold in the
World University Games July 18 in
Buffalo, N.Y.
A jump of 26-11.75 provided
Streete-Thompson with a winning
margin of 1.75 inches over Nigeria's
Ovinna Eregu. Ironically, his more
impressive leap of27-5.25at the NCAA
Outdoor Championships earned only
third place behind the University of
Arkansas' Eric Walder.
"I jumped decently," Streete-
Thompson said. "In that competition,
your top six finishes were the best
ever. I'm finally making the big jumps
that can really make a mark."
Streete-Thompson, the current
SWC Champion, rounded out his sea-
son with a fourth-place finish at the
U.S. National Championships and
gained international experience com-
peting in Europe during July and Au-
gust
"[Streete-Thompson] can now
place himself as one of the top four
jumpersintheU.S," said SteveStraub,
head track and field coach. "He can
place himself as one of the top 10
jumpers in the world."
Chris Jones
400-meter
Four hundred-meter specialist
Jones also got a taste of international
success, leading the United States to
a gold medal in the 4x400-meter relay
at the World University Games and a
gold medal in a dual meet between the
U.S. and Great Britain.
"He probably had the best fresh-
man year ever at Rice," Straub said.
"In the last 20 to 25 years, I can't think
of anyone who had better."
At the SWC Championships, Jones
stole the 400-meter title from a de-
fending NCAA champion, surprising
an experienced field.
En route to a fifth-place finish at the
NCAA Championships, he narrowly
missed establishing a school record
with the qualifying time of 45.23 sec-
onds.
In July, Jones brought home a sil-
ver medal from the Olympic Festival
in San Antonio. *
Bryan Bronson
400-meter hurdles
In his second year as an Owl,
Bronson established himself as the
school's best-ever intermediate hur-
dler, winning both the SWC Champi-
onships and the NCAA Champion-
ships in this event
"He didn't have a pretty race at
nationals, but it was tremendously
gutsy," said Ray Davidson, assistant
track coach. "We were afraid that the
wind in his face would throw his stride
off, which it did. He won it anyway. He
ju st wanted it so bad ly that he wou ldn't
be denied."
Bronson, who set the school record
at 49.07 seconds, went on to earn the
silver medal at the Olympic Festival
and place seventh at the U.S. National
Championships.
Claudia Haywood
Triple jump
Haywood, who graduated last
year, soared to her first NCAA Out-
door Championship title in the triple
jump after earning her second SWC
title in this event
Haywood, Rice's eighth women's
trackand field national champion since
1984, dominated the NCAA field with
the top four jumps of the competition.
Her final mark of 45-5.75 is America's
second best of all time in the triple
jump.
At the U.S. National Champion-
ships, Haywood upset favorite Sheila
Hudson from the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley to secure first place
and a berth to the World Champion-
ships in Stuttgart, Germany. She was
one of two collegiate athletes to win a
1993 U.S. Track and Field Champion-
ship.
"[Haywood's victory] may have
been a surprise to track fans, but we
felt and Claudia felt that if she had a
good day, she could jump against any-
one there," said Jim Bevan, assistant
track coach. "It was the best day she
ever had."
Haywood went on to finish sixth in
the U.S.-Great Britain dual meet, but a
lower back injury prevented her from
jumping at the Worlds.
"I was disappointed, but life goes
on," said Haywood, who is now almost
completely recovered. "I feel like ev-
eryone knows who I am now in the
U.S., and there's still time for Worlds.
If anything, it made me want it more.
It made me hungrier."
Valerie Tulloch
Javelin throw
The 1992 NCAAjavelin champion,
Tulloch threw her season's best at the
1993 championships, adding a silver
medal to her collection.
"She hadn't had a big throw in two
months because of a shoulder injury,"
.Bevan said. "She had picked up bad
motor patterns from favoring it, but
we knew she had a good throw in her
body. She just had to respond at the
right time."
Tulloch, competing for Canada,
also placed third in the World Univer-
sity Games with a 185-5 effort
Jose Cruz
Outfield
Outfielder Cruz was selected as
Co-Player of the Year on Collegiate
Baseball magazine's Mizuno All-
America Freshman Team.
Cruz, who set a new single-season
Rice record with 59 runs batted in,
was also named a quarter finalist for
the Smith Super Team and to the
National Collegiate Baseball Writers'
All-America Third Team.
"I did better than 1 expected," Cruz
said. "I didn't know who we were play-
ing until we got on the field. I didn't
think about stats because that throws
me off."
His 13 home runs of the season
established him as one of the SWC's
top three in this category.
Cruz spent the summer playing
ball in Alaska.
HICE THRESHER
ATHLETICS
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 20, 1993, newspaper, August 20, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245843/m1/7/?q=%22~1~1~1~1~1%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.