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Show 1 8 Vernal Express Wednesday, December 8, 1999 Sp(iDirte 100th Christmas bird count YraweD Bragg (Ute i n i n S -1 The "Uniroyal Utes" spent another anoth-er busy basketball week on the road. After first meeting and downing the Carbon Dinos Dec. 1 in Price, they traveled to Wasatch to face ranked Dixie and Hurricane on Dec. 3 and 4. The Utes returned to Vernal with a 1 - 3 record and 5 full days of practice before their next preseason game. Uintah is now halfway through a long, 10-game road test to open the 1999 - 2000 season. They will have 10 games under their belt before hosting their first game at home. In spite of a few wrinkles that entered his program in the Friday night game against Dixie, Coach John Neilsen is pleased with his team's growth. "We've been able to get a good look at a lot of our kids," Coach Neilsen said. "We've been able to play about 12 kids in each of the games so far this season and that has given us a good look at our talent." On Friday, one starting player was in the locker room with a bloody nose at game time. Coach Neilsen said that there was a "whole series of things that went wrong" leading up to game time. He started 5 junior players and was pleased with the entire team performance. In the Carbon game, the Utes ended the first period down 21 - 19. They opened the second quarter Swimmers douse Despite being short-handed due to illness, 16 Ute swimmers sent a 39-man 39-man strong Carbon Dinos team home wondering what happened. The Utes hosted the match on Dec. 3. "Our numbers may be small, but the talent is first rate," was the enthusiastic summary provided by Coach Kathy Worthen. She was obviously impressed with Uintah's performance. "The kid's strokes and technique was far superior and they looked so good," Worthen said. "We are still swimming the kids in different events, so they are multi-talented," Carrie Reynolds swims the 100 :es sweep Bronman duel tournament After defeating 5A West Jordan at home on Nov. 30, the Uintah Ute matmen traveled to Millard County and swept the Ironman Duel Tournament with 65 pins and an undefeated performance. According to Coach Gregg Stensgard, the Ironman theme is "Duel till you die." "And that's just about what happens too," he added. "We had some pretty stiff kids by Saturday morning," Stensgard said. "Some of the stiffness was still around on Monday so we had a lighter practice." mmmammmlimmmmmmimf f r mm 4 :'V .-v- ' mummnmm "" mm Willi" Pat Sharp of Uintah looks for a pin in Ironman duel tournament. smoking and quickly boosted themselves them-selves ahead of the Dinos. After establishing a 7-point advantage, the Utes struggled with a series of turnovers that allowed the Dinos to chip away. Uintah dropped to a 2-point 2-point edge but managed to maintain it and add two more before the first half ended. Opening the second half leading 37 - 33, the Utes stretched ahead enjoying a 12-point difference for a time. Derek Sutton helped build the Ute lead with a pair of 3-point tallies tal-lies from the hinterland. Aggressive board work by John McKeachnie and Josh Gardiner kept the Dinos at bay but eventually put both players in foul trouble. The fourth quarter opened with a steal by Chris Busch but the Utes couldn't capitalize and lost the ball out of bounds. Carbon trailed by 9 as the quarter began and slowly picked away and narrowed the Utes to a 5-point difference. McKeachnie left the game with 5 fouls and both Gardiner and Sutton were blamed for 4 each. Uintah held on to win 72 - 65. In Heber City, the Utes found themselves down hard against both the Hurricane Tigers and Dixie Flyers. Starting sluggish against the Dixie, the Utes looked at a 9-point, 14 - 5 at the end of the first quarter. she added. Worthen felt that the broad swimming ability that each team member holds helps pull them through w hen they are beset by illness ill-ness or other problems. "All of our events can be covered by someone else." Coach Worthen said that the girl's team pulled off a big victory by outdistancing the Dinos 96 - 74. The men's team kept the Dinos at bay in a scoring duel that sloshed back and forth into the final event. Unfortunately, the Dinos slipped ahead finishing with a narrow one-point, one-point, 73-72 edge. breast stroke, Stensgard is excited about the progress of the Ute team. "As young and inexperienced as some of us are, we were really happy with our win over West Jordan," Stensgard said. Despite what Stensgard said were a few "poor showings" in the Ironman competition, competi-tion, his enthusiasm has nearly peaked. The tournament involved 12 teams of which, Uintah dueled with 10. This is the equivalent of 10 separate duels with each wrestler having the opportunity to compete 10 separate times regardless of his wf -: 4f ci fi 'JL ' ' ' '. Even then, two points were added at the buzzer. The Utes worked hard and got back into the game but trailed at the buzzer to drop the game by 9. In the Hurricane game, the early second period proved a challenge for Uintah. Coming from behind, the Utes pulled to within 3 before the Tigers picked up steam. Hurricane entered the half up by 7 and finished the game defeating the Utes 75 - 66. "When you look back at the Dixie game, we were down by 16 to 18 points and were able to cut the lead back to 4 within the final minutes," Coach Neilsen said. "It was the same way with Hurricane. We're a young teaii and we're improving with each game," he added. Coach Neilsen plans to make good use of the five practice days available to him this week. "We've identified a few areas to work on and we'll be busy this week working work-ing on them," he said. The practice time will also be put to good use preparing for their next match up. On Saturday, Dec. 11, the Utes travel to northern Utah and tangle with the number-one ranked Bear River Bears. The following Tuesday, Dec. 14 they are scheduled to play Logan a 4A school. Carbon Both the men's and women's medley relay teams took first place. Amber Rich finished the 200 IM in first place with a total time of 2:44.99. Ty Jensen earned first place in the same event for the men with a time of 2:14.00. Eight other Utes finished in first position as - well. For the ladies, Caitlin Gudae-won Gudae-won the 50 free in 27.87. She also won the 100 free in 1:00.84. Kristin Fast took first place in the 200 free in a 6:47.30 run. Shalisa Dean defeated her opponents in the ' 100 back event in 1:16.03. The 100-breast stroke went to Crystal Ross in a time of 1:24.29. Gudac's time in both the. 50 and 100 free were new personal best performances perfor-mances for her. Shalisa Dean also mounted a personal best with her work in the 100 backstroke. In the men's competition, Morgan Johnson reached his personal per-sonal best by taking first place in the 100 fly. His time was 1:05.78. Ty Jensen who gave the Utes a first in the 200 IM also pulled out ahead in the 100 back. His 1:06.16 time secured his second first place accomplishment. Jeff Ross completed com-pleted the 100-breast stroke in 1:07.80 for yet another first place showing. Again, the men and women com- t See Swimmers on page 19 previous wins or losses in the event. In a standard tournament, a wrestler may be eliminated after one or two bouts. On Friday, Dec. 3, the Utes faced a steady diet of tough teams. In the first duel, they met Richfield and won 45 - 21. Stensgard said that after the Richfield match he was a little apprehensive about how the Utes would do overall in the tournament. tour-nament. He felt that allowing Richfield 21 points was not a good omen for Uintah. Viewing Delta next, he worried that "the roof It , JJ ! '-&a n -, .;VUT n h r Hillary Enloe lays up two of the Evanston Red Devils. Lady Utes drop three The Lady Utes hosted the Uintah Classic basketball tournament Dec. 3 and 4 and felt a triple sting of disappointment. dis-appointment. The Lady Utes fell in the first game 48 - 35 to the Evanston Red Devils, came up short in game two losing 53 - 35 to Logan then lost to Springville in a 59 - 49 slight. In the first pairing, the Red Devils kept a game advantage but Uintah kept pace and was in the game to the final buzzer. As the game entered the final period, the Lady Utes trailed Evanston by only 3 points, 31 - 28. With 5 minutes of game time remaining, Kassi Richins tied the score. The Red Devils pulled ahead again but Uintah kept the point margin to 2 w ith 3 minutes left to play. Aggressive defensive work sent Hillary Enloe and Trisha Cochran to the sidelines with their full allotment of fouls. Evanston inched the score away to their favor and took the game home. Uintah's Hillary Enloe put 16 points on the scoreboard to lead the scoring as the only Lady Ute in double figures. Rhonda Tollefson and Tara Madsen each added four points with Trisha Cochran, Michelle Mansfield and Kassi Richins tallying 2 each. The undefeated Logan girls came would cave in" on the team performance. perfor-mance. His worries were short-lived however, and Delta fell 39 - 22. The evening ended with the Utes defeating North Sanpete 40-25 then dropping Millard 55 - 21. Stensgard was impressed with this victory noting that Millard finished in the top of their division for the past two years. He also pointed out that one Ute wrestler had to default with an injury which cost Uintah 6 team points. The final duel pitted the Utes against Mountain View, another 5A school. Again, the Utes came out on top 42 - 23. Uintah held the edge in the Saturday duels and walked away with several lopsided wins. They first smashed South Sevier 75-3 then struggled to defeat Pine View in what Stensgard called the "worst performance of the tournament." In reviewing the Pine View matches. Stensgard felt that the Utes lost three bouts that they should definitely defi-nitely have won. After slipping past Pine View, the Utes continued their roll by trouncing Cedar 65 - 3, North Sevier 64-6 and Snow Canyon 63 - 12. The sound performance at Millard gave the Utes some hardware to bring home, display and defend. They now have a huge traveling tro- i I 1 '4 16 points she scored against the out strong and kept a pace that the Lady Utes had difficulty matching. Uintah trailed 17 - 9 at the end of the first period and could never close the gap. Hillary Enloe and Tara Madsen led the. Lady Utes scoring with 9 each. Rhonda Tollefson and Becky Erskine added 5 each with Michelle Mansfield, Kassi Richins and Lorraine Broughton contributing 2 apiece. Trisha Cochran got on the board w ith one point. Against Springville in the final game on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Utes stayed in the game into the third period. They entered half-time half-time trailing by 3, 28 - 25. Springville had a strong third quarter quar-ter and out scored the Lady Utes 17 to 1 1. They were able to hold on to the lead and deal Uintah their third tournament loss. Hillary Enloe had her third strong tournament performance perfor-mance again scoring 16 points. Rhonda Tollefson hit one 3-point shot to bring her game total to 9-points. 9-points. Tara Madsen added 8 while Trisha Cochran and Jennifer Martin sank 6 each. Lorraine Broughton contributed 5 points. phy to house until next year. "This is the best our wrestling program has done since I've been here," Stensgard said. Stensgard said that the Utes have an 11 - 0 record on the season and still have 9 matches left. Even so, he is keeping things in perspective. "Wasatch is still the team to beat and we look forward to meeting them," Stensgard said. In reviewing the team, Coach Stensgard noted that 3 wrestlers are still undefeated with 11 duels behind them. These are Pat Sharp at 135 lbs., Daniel Curtis at 145 lbs. and Tyson Murray at 160. Cory Hacking and Elgin McCurdy, both also relatively unmarred with 10-1 records combine with the undefeated undefeat-ed wrestlers to provide core power for the team. But, according to Stensgard the current record "is a complete team effort." After meeting Green River on Dec. 7, the Utes will travel to Delta on Dec. 9. They will duel with Union at 7 p.m. in Roosevelt on Dec. 15. "We've set a pretty demanding wrestling schedule this year," Stensgard said. "Some of the kids are a little upset with me right now, but, I guess we'll wrestle our way into shape," he added. The National Audubon Society has conducted a Christmas Bird Count every year since 1900. This year, the "citizen-science project" takes on special significance by reaching the 100th year milestone. As part of the nationwide effort, a locally organized and officially recognized rec-ognized birding route will again be conducted near Jensen. What began as an effort to mobilize the early conservation movement now culminates cul-minates in a vast on-line database that sheds light on how human activity has impacted the environment environ-ment over the 20th century. During the period of Dec. 16 and Jan. 3, those who participate in the Jensen bird count will join with over 50,000 volunteers spanning all 50 states. Additionally, every Canadian Province, Central and South America, the Caribbean and several Pacific Islands (areas where North America's breeding birds winter) will count and record every bird species encountered over one calendar day. Compilers will enter their group's results at BirdSource, http:birdsource.org, the online source for bird information operated operat-ed by the Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Daniel and Lorraine Chure are organizing the local bird count; just as they have done for the past 17 years. "Anyone is welcome to come and help," Lorraine Chure stated. "Bird identification skills are helpful but the event is definitely definite-ly based on teamwork. No one should be afraid to come, have fun and participate." Chure said that they recognize the timing of the count comes at a very busy time of the year. Because of this, the group tries to w ork out the best time (usually a Saturday after Christmas) to accommodate anyone wishing to participate. She said that while there are some bird watchers that participate nearly every year, there are many more who assist occasionally as they are available. She noted that part-day participation participa-tion is also w elcome. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Director John Fitzpatrick touts the Christmas Bird Count as the world's longest-running ornithological ornitholog-ical database. "Global warming, weather trends and urban sprawl may be affecting birds with increasing impact As a result, Christmas Bird Count is now indispensable," indis-pensable," Fitzpatrick said. "(The) Christmas Bird Count has served many purposes since it was first conceived by Ornithologist Frank Chapman in 1900," says Audubon President John Flicker. Flicker, a fitting name for the president presi-dent of an ornithological society, said that the program has promoted bird watching and conservation in unforeseen ways. According to Flicker, in the past year, a century of invaluable data is available free to the general public through the BirdSource website. The Jensen bird count is now one of more than 1,700 individual surveys sur-veys that will be conducted during the two and one-half week count period. The count is theoretically established on a circle 15 miles in diameter. Each organized group covers as much ground as possible of the 177-mile area within a 24-hour 24-hour period. When the information is submitted it becomes available on-line immediately. The Chures are busy organizing the local event and a date is not yet determined. The Audubon Society requires a $5 per adult participation fee to offset compilation and publications publi-cations costs. However, families are welcome and there is no charge for children. For more information, the Chures welcome phone calls at 789 - 6159 or they can be contacted by email at www.danchureeas-ilink.com. www.danchureeas-ilink.com. Bird watchers can expect to cover the Green River bottoms from Split Mountain downstream, Cub Creek, and the Stewart Lake area. According to Lorraine Chure, she and her husband, Dan, use the annual event to help them stay in touch with some of the things they enjoy doing. While she does not consider herself or husband Dan "the most serious birders," Lorraine said they have been active in the program for 20 years. "We want to make the event meaningful while also making everyone comfortable," comfort-able," Chure said. "We just want it to be fun!" |