The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003 Page: 24 of 28
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24
THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, MAY 16,2003
Men's track hoping for
individuals to perform
by Dylan Hedrick
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
In what has seemed like an up-
hill battle all year with numerous
red-shirt athletes resting injuries,
the men's track and field team
heads for the mountains of El Paso
for the Western Athletic Confer-
ence Outdoor Championship this
weekend.
For the WAC meet, the Owls
want to focus on having outstand-
ing individual performances rather
than worrying about earning points
towards the team championship.
"We red-shirted a lot of people
this season and probably lost
60 points from indoors," head coach
Jon Warren (Jones '88) said. "We
figure that we can still medal or
place in a lot of events, though. If
everything clicks for us and other
teams have poor performances, we
could probably finish as high as
second place. If not, we could be as
low as sixth."
Warren believes that the team
still possesses enough firepower to
have a few top finishers. The team
will be looking to their All-American
pair of senior long jumpers, Tommy
Oleksy and Vaughaligan Walwyn, to
lead the team this weekend.
"Oleksy and Walwyn both have
a shot at going to the national
meet," Warren said. "[Senior
Clifford Sparks] can medal in the
100-meter dash, [freshman
Bahnsen Miller] in the 200-meter
dash and [freshman Eric Spear] in
the 400-meter dash."
Oleksy is coming off a career-
best performance in the long jump
at the Texas A&M University All-
Comers Meet, which was held
May 8.
Oleksy's jump of 25 feet, 11 inches
was the second longest in Rice his-
tory and qualified him for the NCAA
Midwest Regional Meet.
The two-time NCAA All-
American's jump currently ranks
him eighth in the nation. He was
also named WAC men's outdoor
track and field Athlete of the Week
May 5-9.
Rice is also counting on big
showings from senior Keith Pierce
in the 1,500-meter run, sophomore
Jason Powell in the triple jump and
junior David Jacobs in the pole
vault.
"Powell looks awesome right
now, and Jacobs is vaulting well,"
Warren said. "The steeplechase run-
ners [seniorTim] Obergand [fresh-
man David] Axel also have a chance
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Senior Kevin Bowen leaps a hurdle in the 400-meter hurdle event at the Rice Twilight held April 26 at the Rice Track/
Soccer Stadium. The Owls are currently competing In the WAC Outdoor Championships Meet in El Paso in search of
their first outdoor conference championship since the 1995 season.
to medal or place."
Freshman discus thrower and
shot putter Luke Stadel is also ex-
cited about competing in his first
outdoor championship meet.
"It's a good opportunity for me,"
Stadel said. "I haven't had a really
great meet all year, and I'm ready to
put something together. The shot
put competition is down in the league
this year. If I perform well, I could
help win the team some points. I'm
also hoping to hit the regional [quali-
fying] mark."
Stadel is also optimistic at how
the team has been constantly pro-
gressing by improving upon their
marks throughout the season.
"People keep getting [personal
records] every week," Stadel said.
"They keep getting better each
week and are building up to having
their best marks of the season now."
Warren hopes that the team has
used this year to build a founda-
tion for what he believes will be an
outdoor championship team next
year.
"We are looking for a lot of fire
and passion this meet," Warren said.
"They've prepared this year and can
use the meet as a laboratory for
greatness."
Tennis disappointed at WAC, but look towards NCAAs
by Adam Tabakin
THRESHER STAFF
Just two weeks after failing to
qualify for the NCAA team tennis
championships in Athens, Ga., three
players of the men's tennis team are
happy that their individual seasons
are continuing past the end of school.
Juniors Richard Barker and William
Barker and freshman Robert Searle
will head to Athens for the NCAA
singles and doubles championships
which begin Wednesday.
7 was one of the
players that was so
close to winning, and I
choked.'
— Robert Searle
Freshman tennis player
"Personally [playing in the tour-
nament] is the same approach to
every match I play, so NCAAs will be
no different," Searle said. "My goals
for nationals are to take each match
as it comes and play as well as I can
on that day. I know that if I play to my
capabilities, I can go a long way."
All three players participating in
the 64-man singles national cham-
pionship tournament hold national
ranking positions with Searle
ranked 27th, Richard Barker
ranked 29th and William Barker
ranked 40th. Rice is one of just seven
schools with at least three players
in the draw.
"We do not want to get consumed
with who we are playing," Richard
Barker said. "We need to focus on
our game and trust that it is good
enough to beat anyone we face."
The draw for the tournament has
not yet been released, but none of
the three Owls plan to go easy on
one another should they meet in the
tournament.
"If I had to play one of the twins,
I would treat it the same way as any
other match," Searle added.
The Barker brothers will be play-
ing in both singles and doubles tour-
nament matches in Athens, as they
enter the doubles championships with
both the number one national ranking
and the top seed in the tournament.
After winning both of their
doubles matches against South Caro-
lina and Texas last week, their win-
ning streak dating back to October,
stands at 32 matches. The Barkers
are the favorites to bring home the
title for Rice, and both Richard and
William are confident in their abili-
ties heading into the tournament.
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"It would be great to win the tour-
nament, and we will be disappointed
if we don't win it," William Barker
said. "We know we can win it."
"If anything, last weekend has
spurred us on to bring back two
national titles to Rice," Richard
Barker said. "We are more focused
on achieving certain performance
goals and hoping that the results
take care of themselves. It's going to
be a fun, exciting tournament."
Although the Barkers were suc-
cessful in doubles play last weekend
at the NCAA team tournament in
Austin, they still feel like their game
can improve. The 33rd-ranked Owls
defeated 18th-ranked University of
South Carolina 4-2 in the first round
of the tournament last Saturday. The
win over South Carolina was the
first action for the Owls since losing
to Boise State University in the WAC
tournament in late April, marking
the first NCAA tournament victory
for head coach Ron Smarr.
"We did have something to
prove," William Barker said. "We
had underachieved at WAC and
wanted to take advantage of the great
draw we had."
Despite the great draw, Searle
was unhappy with the final outcome
of the WAC tournament.
"The loss at Boise State [in the
WAC tournament semi-finals
April 26] was disappointing and we
were all upset with it," Searle said.
"But going into Austin, I felt as
though we knew we were capable,
and after finals and with some prac-
tice, we were ready to just play, and
we had forgotten about the WAC
loss."
In Sunday's second round, how-
ever, the Owls lost to the Univer-
sity of Texas 4-3. despite jumping
out to a 3-1 lead. The last two singles
matches went the full three sets,
with freshman Tony Haerle losing
2-6, 7-5, 6-4, and Searle dropping a
ROB GADDI/THRESHER
Richard Barker readys for a return shot in a match against Nebraska earlier
this season. The Barkers and Robert Searle are currently preparing for the
NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships which begin Wednesday.
heartbreaker at the number one
singles position 2-6, 7-5, 6-7 as the
third-set tiebreaker went 10-8.
1 If anything, last
weekend has spurred us
on to bring hack two
national titles to Rice/
— Richard Barker
Junior tennis player
"I know that we should feel proud
of some of the team's accomplish-
ments this year, but there is obvi-
ously disappointment as we were so
close," Searle said. "I was one of the
players that was so close to winning,
and I choked."
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Although Rice was knocked out
of the tournament, the team should
be comforted that they lost the
nation's 14th ranked team. The f
matchup with the Longhoms, per-
haps the best so far in the NCAA
tournament, provided for great fan
turnout and atmosphere at Texas's
own Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
"The atmosphere was good,"
Searle said. "We had some Rice f
fans there, which was great, and
the UT fans were loud, so it meant
it was a fun environment to play
tennis in."
With the WAC tournament mark-
ing the end of the regular season,
William Barker remains thankful for «
the support the fans have shown
throughout the year.
"There was a great atmosphere
this weekend, both within the team
and with the fans," William Barker
said. "We had great support from the
fans and would like to thank them."
The Barkers.
... 32 and counting.
it
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003, newspaper, May 16, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398503/m1/24/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.