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Show Tuesday, May 5, 1987 Weber State College Vol. 47 No. 48 YT" mm 5 I y f t i. f to v I WHAT'S IN STORE? ask a small group of on-lookers last Friday as W ildcat Country, the new Weber Stale College mascot statue is about to be unvailed to the public. (Signpost photo: Darwin Shaw) New Wildcat statue brings mascot to life Sue Hiatt Staff Reporter "We planned for the wildcat to be larger than life because the college is larger than life," said Dean Hurst, vice-president for college relations in an interview in his office last week. The sculpture of the wildcat, which isone-and-a-half times larger than a real life cat, was unveiled at a dedication program on Friday, May 1. Wildcat Country, a bronze sculpture created by artist-sculptor David W. Jackson was commissioned by John A. Lindquist, a WSC graduate, Class of 1939. The sculpture is mounted on a large rock located on a patch of grass just south of the Union Building and northwest of the Val. A. Browning Center. The wildcat became a symbol of the college sometime during the 1920's. An unknown sportswriter referred to an athletic team as being "scrappy as a bunch of wildcats," according to the inscribed plaque on the rock. The designation has remained. "The point I hope will be emphasiz ed," said Hurst, "is that the fierce competitive spirit exhibited by the wildcat is not only distinguished in athletics, but in all aspects of the college, including academic achievement, forensics and debate." Jackson said as he worked on the sculpture some of this thoughts were, "What is a Weber State Wildcat? There's a certain amount of dignity; he's agressive, and has a certain amount of independence." He said it was easier to sculpt as he thought about those things and thought about his students at Bonneville High School. "Some of my students are here today, and it makes it special knowing that some of them will someday be Weber State Wildcats." Dr. Stephen D. Nadauld, president of WSC, presented John and Tita Lindquist with a minature replica of "Wildcat Country." It is the first in a limited edition of 100. The first priority use of the other 99 is to major donors to the "Centennial Gift Campaign," said Dean Hurst. Nadauld expressed gratitude to the Lindquists for their many contributions (see WILDCAT on page 8) Inside (see page 13) Men's tennis does it again Dave Allison Sports Editor For the fifth consecutive year, the Weber State men's tennis team became the Big Sky Conference champions with a 5-4 win over Boise State last Sunday in Boise, Idaho. The four-time defending champs claimed their seventh Big Sky tennis title over a nine-year span to continue their dominance in the BSC since 1979. The Wildcats won titles in '79 and' 80 before running together a string of championships beginning in 1983 through 1986. Weber State won all six of its matches en route to the 1987 conference championship but the road was much more rocky than years past for the 'Cats in one of the most competitive tournaments ever. "It was the tightest and most difficult tournaments of all of our previous championships," said WSC coach Keith Cox. "In fact we probably should have lost to Nevada-Reno." After breezing past Idaho State 9-0 on Thursday, the 'Cats staged a furious comeback to upend Reno 5-4 on Friday. WSC's number five singles player Andrew Veasey fended off match point against his UNR opponent and won the match in a tie-breaker. Veasey's win left Weber State trailing UNR 4-2 after singles play but Weber State rallied to sweep all three doubles matches for the win to remain in good title position going into Saturday's play. "If it wasn't for a little more heart and a little more discipline we would have lost (to Nevada-Reno)," said Cox. Easy 7-2 wins over Montana State and Idaho with a 9-0 defeat of Northern Arizona set up Sunday's showdown with the Broncos. Weber State needed top performances in doubles play once again to beat the host Broncos and claim the team title After grabbing a 4-2 lead following singles play, Boise State took two doubles wins to even matches at 4-4. However, a critical straight set victory by the 'Cats in number three doubles wrapped a successful weekend. The Big Sky champ is determined by points and WSC's 6-0 record gave them 42 points for the tournament. Nevada-Reno took second with a 5-1 slate and 38 points; Boise State third at 4-2, 36 points; Idaho fourth with a 3-3 record, 30 points; Montana State fifth at 2-4, 26 points; Northern Arizona sixth with a 1-6 slate, 13 points; while Idaho State finished seventh at 0-6, four points. "I am happy everything they worked for all year paid off," said WSC coach Keith Cox. "They are the most dedicated and hard-working group." Individually, Jonas Ehrlin capped an illustrious career at Weber State with his third straight conference singles title and second consecutive number one singles title. Ehrlin, a senior from Tranas, (see REIGN on page 11) |