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Show 18 Vernal Expren Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1992 Mddd - v : wkm - Letter I t Alia :i; . -- - ' .Ak-iw DWR MAN Steve Cranney explains the finer points of the Alaskan otter to Naples Vernal Students adopt otter On Monday, Oct. 26 and Thursday, Oct. 29, two groups of students and teachers were on hand to watch the release of their adopted otters into the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir. On Thursday, about 140 students and teachers from Naples Elementary watched as their otter was released into the reservoir. Three days earlier, a van load of Vernal Junior High School students from the Escape Club travelled to Sand Wash, south of Ouray, so they could watch their otter begin her new life in the Green River. Last year, students at Naples Elementary raised $400 and donated it to the "Adopt an Otter Program," an effort by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to reintroduce otters to the Green River system. Escape Club members sold T-shirts to raise $450 for their otter. Through these fund raising efforts and other donations, the Division has been able to release about 65 otters ot-ters into the Green River from Flaming Gorge to Sand Wash during dur-ing the last four years. The otters are adapting well to Utah and sever By Eric F. Pye Sports Editor With all the attention given to Magic Johnson's situation with AIDS, one very obvious fact has been overlooked. Magic was a superstar su-perstar in basketball, but in dealing with all the complex issues associated associat-ed with AIDS, he is just an inexperienced inexpe-rienced and unproven rookie. He needs more time to learn the best way in which he can join in on the fight against it Once he picks up a little experience, I think he will be just as successful in this new endeavor en-deavor as he was in his previous one. Do the Jazz have a legitimate shot at an NBA title this year? Forget conjecture, never mind the expert analysts or even all the ex playercoaches broadcasting T.V. and radio. The people who have a lot to winlose (and therefore usually usual-ly form a very accurate opinion) from their predictions the book-ies book-ies give Utah the second best odds for a title behind the Chicago Bulls; in front of such elite teams as Portland, New York and Pheonix. Should there be mandatory AIDS testing in basketball? Not only on-ly basketball, but every contact sport at every level from junior leagues up to the major leagues. Doctors claim the odds are astronomical astro-nomical against contracting the virus through athletic competition, but so are the odds at winning the jackpot in the lottery and yet someone some-one does win it every time! There arc no second chances with AIDS... The victory by BYU over Perm State two weeks ago was a feather in the WAC cap as well as a boost for athletics in the state. It also continued con-tinued a trend the Cougars have established es-tablished against the top programs in the country. The team was soundly defeated by Miami three years ago and Pcnn State last year, only to "upset" both Elementary students before release at the Flaming Gorge Dam. al have had young. The biggest natural nat-ural problem is a tendency to try travelling over land. The lucky ones found their way around the dam and into Flaming Gorge Reservoir, others oth-ers found only desert. Otters for the reintroduction program pro-gram are trapped near Cordove, Alaska and shipped by airplane to Salt Lake City. The Division usually has less than 18 hours notice of when an otter will arrive, so both groups had to be ready on a moment's mo-ment's notice. Escape Club organizers organiz-ers made last minute phone calls Sunday night to let their membership member-ship know their otter was on its way. Buses were "on call" at Naples Elementary. Fortunately, their call came early Wednesday afternoon, and the message was passed on to the students before school ended. This year, 11 otters were released into the Green River at Sand Wash to colonize Desolation Canyon. The Division also released two male otters ot-ters into Flaming Gorge Reservoir in an attempt to supply breeding partners to several females believed to be living in the reservoir. In past years, Division biologists implanted radio transmitters into IPLbcB IB CD 51 teams when they traveled to Provo the following season. This year's loss to Notre Dame will be continued contin-ued next year ... at BYU. When will they ever learn or Get your priorities straight! The latest "in" thing at the collegiate level is graduation percentage of athletes. Colleges are showing their concern for academics and the athletes ath-letes future by publicizing graduation gradua-tion percentages of athletes and number of athletes put on probation for failed classes. At the high school level, "tracking" "track-ing" sheets are sent out weekly or every other week to every teacher with athletes names on them. Any athlete in danger of dropping below a "C" average or failing in any class is immediately put on probation, it steps are not taken immediately to improve the grade, the athlete is suspended until the situation has I Can you imagine a graduation rate for high school athletes of 50-60 percent? That's on the high side for most colleges although the numbers num-bers are improving. On the local level: has anyone noticed the increased number of recreational opportunities in our community for both male and female, fe-male, young and old? Guess someone some-one or group of somcones had a good idea when the new recreation district was created. The district has proven to be a great example of foresight and vision so far. . . about half of the otters. Project biologists biol-ogists tracked several female otters as they used the reservoir, but now only one transmitter still works as the transmitter batteries are running out. However, recent otter signs have been found indicating several females may still be in the reservoir. Biologists also know the possibility of a male otter being in the reservoir is slight. Only two radioed male otters ot-ters have been in the reservoir. One returned to the Green River and the other was hit by a car soon after it discovered the reservoir. Hopefully, the two new male otters will find a better welcome. Elks Hoop Shoot The Elks National "Hoop Shoot" free throw contest will be held this Saturday, Nov. 14 at 12 noon at the Vernal Junior High School. The contest will be open to all boys and girls ages 8-13. Contestants must be 8 as of April 1, 1993. First, second and third place trophies will be awarded to one boy and one girl in each of three categories; cate-gories; ages 8-9, 10-11 and 12-13. The six champions will advance to the district finals where they may continue on to state, regional and national competitions if their performance per-formance dictates such. For further information contact Wayne Kurtz at 789-0214. Swim teann ttaEces 3 iv r 'Mix DANELLE ALLREO reaches for Back stroke competition. By Eric F. Pye Sports Editor Winter sports programs officially got under way Monday as men's and women's basketball started along with wrestling. Swimming has been under way for several weeks already. Girl's basketball will be headed up by Head Coach Frank Barker and assisted by Marlon Stagg (Jr. varsity), varsi-ty), Ed Browning (sophomores) and Rick Bowman handling the freshmen. fresh-men. Between 25-30 girls are trying out for the three high school teams while over 40 ninth grade athletes appeared for tryouts. "We would like to see more trying out, but the kids we do have are quality athletes," Barker stated. That group includes seniors Amanda Wixom and Monique Reidhcad along with a strong supporting sup-porting cast consisting of Lori Mansfield, Kari Christensen, Brandi Staley, Dea Madscn, Misty Critton and others. Coach Barker feels the teams' strength this year will be multi faceted with height, quickness and experience all pointing in the Utes favor. The Lady Utes first outing will be Saturday, Nov. 21 at home in the RedWhite scrimmage and then the following Friday the 27th at home against Kearns. The boy's team had over 80 interested inter-ested participants try out for the three high school teams with anoth- WB I.. v HEAD COACH Doug Moon dribbles to center court to address prospective players. Moon will the next stroke during 100 yard ' " I w fvf f . .4 . hm -vv IVV V' J'"Y, -r i : ' COACH BARKER surveys prospective players during first day of try outs for girl's basketball. cr 40 at the freshman level. Doug Moon heads the program with Craig Monsen assisting, Fred Woods handling han-dling the sophomore team and Todd Hazelbaker over the freshmen team. Just opposite of the girl's team, the boy's will face a challenging season. "We have no height, average aver-age quickness and experience," Coach Moon said. 'This is going to be a very tough year for the kids. They will have to play against bigger, big-ger, taller and quicker teams all season sea-son long." When asked what type of defensive scheme he might employ best, Coach Moon replied, "the 911 y ' . . IMM - .rz t -.A . tiam ,.rr?rrtt--$fMm . .- 5 - " .gl 1 , it , - J -1 jSFm ' r I - -r J . , . . U .""., , -.4 .11 M. . - "i have to pull a few magic tricks out of his coaching coach-ing bag this year. IF 4 coinfiipeMioin: The new and improved Uintah swim team hit the road for the first time this season to take on a couple of "heavies." 4 A Clearfield and per-renial per-renial powerhouse Mountain Crest. Thirty six male and female swimmers swim-mers and divers took on Clearfield Friday with the girl's team taking a 123-49 win and the boy's taking a 126-60 victory. "Not only did we get some very fast times from several sev-eral swimmers," Head Coach Marty Fallon said, "but our attitude and support for each other as a whole was fantastic. Our depth also made itself obvious in several events, which we haven't had in the past" The depth Coach Fallon was referring re-ferring to included several events where the Utes swept first, second and third or scored three people out of five. The area of biggest improvement im-provement in scoring came from the relays, where both Uintah teams fielded at least two full four person per-son relays in the three relay events, with both teams scoring in every event. Also adding to the point total where the divers. For the boys, Troy Walker totaled 198.8S points to take first, followed by Chad Jones with 123.40 points for third, adding nine points to the team. Melane Riddle and Courtney Larson totaled 70.90 and 45.80 for the girl's team adding seven points with their second and third place finishes. The team continued on to Logan after the Clearfield meet Friday afternoon af-ternoon and were put up by the Mountain Crest swimmers in their homes Friday night Saturday morning, the two teams went at it with a little extra on the line as Mountain Crest is being defense, we're going to be hollering for help a lot!" The team lost Lance Stevens at the point, Jason Moore at center and Dave Eaton at power forward. Those three will be hard to replace. To compensate, Coach Moon will keep a large contingent of seniors on this years team including Ryan Deets, James Jaussi, Rhett Taylor, Blake Sutton, Tim Gibbons, Clint Pedersen and others. Continued on page 21 - -""Tii ifrn' tit mar tir " , sA ? I d&L jks i coached by Susy Hodgkinson, one of the persons responsible for building build-ing the swim program in Vernal. Both meets were extremely close, going right down to the final two events for the boys, with the girls dropping a tight 104-80 decision. With the Utes holding a 79-77 lead, Dirk Burns and Chris Hadlock swept the 100 Breast to give the Utes an 89-83 lead going into the last event the 400 Free Relay. In the final competition, with both teams and spectators screaming their lungs out, Uintah's two teams (see results) swept first and second to give the Utes 12 points and a 101-85 victory. "The Mountain Crest meet was one of the most exciting meets I have ever seen," Coach Fallon said. "Going down to the last race really heightened the tension, you could have sliced the air with a knife, it was great!" Troy Walker again took the diving with 199.10 for the boys while Courtney Larson finished third for the girls with a 94.75 total. The team will be in action again this Friday with a home meet against 4A Highland. The meet will begin at 3:30 at the Vernal pool next to the middle school. The team will travel to Kamas this Saturday for another meet. Versus Clearfield: Girls Results: 200 Free Win.2:21:86 Katie Fallon (1)-2:21:86 Chandrca Kitchen (2)-2:36:86 Erin Bradley (5)-3:02:02 Continued on page 20 |