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Show 6 llie Signpost - Monday, May 8, 1989 fCats come from behind in win By Ethan Yorgason Sports Editor When Weber's men's track team found itself in danger last week the WildcaLS help from a couple of unlikely events. The 800-mclcr run and the triple jump sparked Weber State to a close victory at Saturday's three-way track meet at Wildcat Stadium with Montana State and Idaho State. The Wildcats won the meet with 74 12 points, coming from behind to defeat the Bobcats, who had 64 points, and Idaho State, with 50 12. Weber Suae coach Chick Hislop said the Wildcats were behind by 14 points before the 800 meters. Thateventplus the triple jump were the "come-through events" for the Wildcats, helping them regain the lead. "Wc started out slow," said Hislop. "But the kids really responded in the last six events." The 800 meters was important because Weber swept the first two places. The triple jump was a key because of the unexpected strong showing by Shawn Clark. Going into the meet the Wildcats did not have any athlete among the lop 12 in the Big Sky Conference in cither of those two events. In the 800, Mike Coe, with a time of one minute, 56.13 seconds, and Dave Rcnicker, with a 1:56.92, finished first and second. Clark's triple jump of 46 feet, 2 12 inches won the event and moved him to ninth best in the conference this year. Clark's jump was especially pleasing as more had been expected from the freshman this year. "He has been very disappointed with himself until today," said Hislop. The Wildcats had several other top performances helping them earn the team title. Freshman Joe Kelsey set a school record in the javelin for the second time this year. (His teammate Craig Povey also set the mark once this season). Kelsey 's throw of 205-7 easily won the event, while Povey took third at 197-1, just two inches behind Montana State's Rick Hansen. Hislop noted that Kelsey had at least one other throw above 200 feeL Another prime event for the Wildcats was the 400-meter . "i . --'if i I I J- , - ' J m : I ,S,i JOE KELSEY set his second school record of the season by throwing the javelin 205-7 at Saturday's meet. Kelsey also doubles as a tight-end in the fall for the football team. (The Signpost photo: Clark Hurd) intermediate hurdles where Weber athletes placed in the first, third, fourth and sixth spots. Dave Chowen won the race with the best time in the Big Sky (52.11) this year. Hislop noted that he ran that on the poorest track (the heat made it too soft) (see MEN on page 7) MOVE INTO HEALTH CARE WITH THE ARMY RESERVE. Train for a great career as a: Emergency Medical Technician (Paramedic) Practical Nurse Respiratory Therapist Operating Room Specialist X-Ray Specialist Laboratory Specialist at a local, Army-approved, civilian school of your choice. Our new STAR program pays your tuition, books, fees and more. To see if you qualify and to learn more, call: Captain Merle Anderson, 583-5956 STAR PROGRAM PARTICIPATION SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY AND QUALIFICATIONS OF APPLICANT BE ALL YOU CAN BE. ARMY RESERVE Jazz have fickle fans The Jazz are out of the playoffs and through for the season and everybody has written their obituary. Now it's our turn. Here's some random thoughts about the Jazz' loss: Utah must have the most fickle fans in the NBA this side of Los Angeles. Last year during the regular season Mark Eaton couldn't do anything right according to the fans. They even wanted Mel Turpin to replace him. But when the playoffs came and the national media made such a big deal about the big guy, nobody would ever admit to having booed him. They were ready to make him a mulu-millionairc.This season Eaton enjoyed the fans adulation during the year, including a dale at the All-Star game, but at M I W 5 C J f f -f v- i V C5D A Sidelines By Ethan Yorgason Sports Editor and Rich Ericson Asst Sports Editor playoff time when he couldn't block Chris Mullin's shots it was back to the let's-get-a-real-center syndrome for the fans. What the fans can't seem to understand is Eaton hasn't changed his game a bit. Different styles of play just make him more or less effective. Now the fans not only want to get rid of Eaton but they want to send Thurl Bailey with him. Speaking of fans, how do they ever justify putting so much pressure on the Jazz? It wasn't only the fans, though, the media joined in with the predictions. Everybody predicted a Utah-Detroit championship series, or Utah-Cleveland or Utah-New York. People were talking about how badly the Jazz would beat the Lakers this year. How does this happen? The Jazz didn't even have the best or second best record in the conference. Nobody seemed to think that Phoenix might defeat the Jazz, or even Golden State. With all the pressure the Jazz had on them it's no wonder they couldn't please anybody. What happened to the improved depth the Jazz were supposed to have this year? All Frank Layden could talk about last year was how he couldn't count on his bench to perform and how he was forced to go with an iron-man group of five in the playoffs. This year things were seemingly going well with players like Eric Lcckner, Mike Brown, Jim Lcs and Jim Farmer. The bench, if not scoring lots of points, was happy and seemed to be contributing to the Jazz success. But in the playoffs it was the same old story. The Jazz lived and died (especially died) with the contributions of six players. Everybody is wanting the Jazz to start making a lot of changes now that they got pushed out of the playoffs. Besides Eaton and Bailey, people arc displeased with Bob Hansen, Darrcll Griffith and almost everybody besides John Stockton and Karl MaJone. While it's obvious that a team needs to make a few changes (look what happened to Dallas when they decided to stand pat), it's just as clear that wholesale moves aren't the answer. After all this is the team that won 5 1 games, the Midwest Division and three out of four from the Lakers. Maybe the loss will be good for the Jazz in the long run. It shows that they 're not to the lop of the league yet and they still need to keep on working. If the Jazz had made it to the Western Conference finals again before losing, they just might have become complacent and would have made a habit out of just missing the finals. Now, hopefully, the Jazz will stay hungry and remember the sacrifice they put in to improve as much as they have. |