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Show 4, 1998 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER The Daily Utah Chronicle -- 11 Utah Cross Country Season Begins on Road at Idaho St. Utah thinks it may-hav- have yet to win it. However, with this year's roster, winning may indeed be a foregone conclusion. "This year's team has their goal set and they know that this is this the do or die for them," said Jones. e its best team in recent memory "The WAC Championship is the only goal in their minds and it starts with Saturday's event. We haven't won this event ever, but this bunch is looking to change Erik Martinez Chronicle Asst. Sports Editor This is it. This is the year the cross country program has been working toward.. This is the year, mapped out by head coach Mike Jones, that will hopefully culminate in a WAC Championship for his loaded and experienced team. Led Jeff by Simonich, the Utes begin the season tomorrow in Pocatello, Idaho at the Idaho State Duel. The Utes have competed in the event for the past five years and ' '?J 7 ( ;:te yr-.- . I . ff"- - tmiiwiL V'l" i,.Ji4ji In years past, the Idaho State has consisted of three schools: Utah, Utah State and Idaho State. It's a event for the teams, with the men's side running a four mile race, while the women compete in a two mile race around Pocatello City Parkway. The Ute men are a veteran squad, comprised of seniors Simonich, Dane Miller, Mark Bunker, and Matt Deacon. Also joining the team this year is onship in the 5,000 meter. Larry Stanley will also join his Ute teammates in Pocatello after shocking the WAC last year by winning the conference champi- onship in the steeplechase. Erik Vernon will also compete in his first collegiate event Saturday. Vernon turned many heads as a freshman last year, placing fourth in the WAC steeplechase. Yet still, the cross country team missionaries returns two stand-ou- t for the 1998 campaign. Adam Stark and Teren Jameson hit the streets after their two year as layoff spent riding they served LDS missions. ' , ds Stanley is one of the U leaders. Virginia Shuts Down Auburn On the Road - 77ie Ute ' 4 ?- ' -- . - , -- cross country team wilt be looking for its first-eve- r The women's team, not as tested or as deep as the men's team, will be headed up by its only two returners Johanna Nielsen and Brooke Babbit. Jones' crop of cross country recruits will get its first crack at the college level on Saturday. Erika Floyd (Alta) and Tara ll (Spanish Fork) join JC transfers Amber Radke (Trinidad) and Diane Wilson. "It's been a pleasure just watching this year's team progress and come in and work as hard as they do," said Jones. "They all came in this year in great shape and it's obvious they didn't lose sight of their goals in the off time." Following Saturday's Idaho State Duel, Utah will have a week to prepare for the Colorado State Invitational on September 12. Tid-we- w. v Ohio State's Katzenmojer Declared Eligible to Play top-rank- ed Award-winnin- 6i-ya- rd first-tea- ar 6-- rd field goal in the third and his quarter pass to Wilkins got Braveman within with 12:57 to play. range for a That made it 0 and Virginia was home free against an Auburn team that managed just 179 yards of offense, only 18 rushing. Coach Terry Bowden had promised the Tigers would depend more on the m - - Cross Country Schedule Date Event Location Sept. 5 Idaho State Pocatello, Idaho Sept. 12 Colorado St. Invite Fort Collins, Colo. Sept. 27 Sun Dodger Invite Seattle, Wash. Oct. 10 JayHawk Invite Lawrence, Kansas Oct. 17 BYU Oct. 31 WAC Nov. 14 NCAA District VI Nov. NCAA Champ. 23 Grand Prix Provo, Utah Champ. Houston, Texas continued from page 9 it was against tiny Whitworth College, and therefore not at all significant. The Bulldogs have four starters and six letterwinners from 1997's mediocre team. Senior setter Nicole Lamoure is the lone player of note. She averaged 11.29 assists and 2.42 digs a year ago. When asked to comment about the Gonzaga team, Launiere went the diplomatic route, saying only, "We don't know a whole lot about Gonzaga." 9-- 21 Provo, Utah I Lawrence, Kansas She apparently is of the opinion that if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all. This match ought to be very e similar to Utah's easy win over Idaho State earlier this week. Only this time Launiere hopes her team doesn't relax the way it did in the third game against the Bengals. A balanced performance, featuring five players with at least 16 kills, was marred only by their four-gam- third-gam- e collapse. While the Utes may not escape completely unscathed from this tournament, it will undoubtedly be a positive experience for a team that is lacking in experience only. ( S J, - 42-wo- rd 24-ya- rd ce 12-- running game this year, especially with Ben Leard making his first college start at quarterback. Virginia clamped down on the run however, and Leard was unable to move Auburn through the air, hitting for 146 yards with one only interception. Leard also lost two fumbles after being chased out of the pocket. It was a rematch of last year's season opener and Brooks made sure his Cavaliers would avenge last year's 7 loss at Charlottesville. The fifth-yesenior capitalized on the big play, hitting on 10 passes of 10 or more yards and spreading the ball among eight receivers. Ohio State's top players, Three of g linebacker Butkus Andy Katzenmoyer, were including to and cleared declared eligible Thursday play in Saturday's game at West Virginia (No. 12 ESPNUSA Today, No. 11 AP). Also making the grade besides Katzenmoyer, a were starting offensive guard Rob Murphy and starting strong safety Damon Moore. senior for the Buckeyes while .Katzenmoyer Moore is a fifth-yeand Murphy are juniors. The decision was announced less than two hours after coach John Cooper said he didn't know whether the three would be available for the team's opening game. "Hopefully they'll be on the bus," Cooper said after Thursday's practice. Katzenmoyer's backup, Chris Kirk, has hired a lawyer to examine the player's legal options after he was declared ineligible earlier in the week because of a mixup involving credit hours. fax from the school's athletic department said it had A notice Thursday evening from the university's comofficial received that office Katzenmoyer, Murphy and Moore were academipliance cally eligible. Their grade problems have been in the spotlight for the past month while the Buckeyes went through summer drills and the three attended summer school. the team Thursday. Cooper said the three practiced with Asked if they would be practicing if it didn't appear they would be to be eligible, Cooper said, "Probably not. Obviously we're going ball the in game." working with the guys we anticipate playing finished all their classes and assignhad the said players Cooper ments, but were awaiting their grades. "We're anticipating everybody's going to be OK," Cooper said. "But it comes down through official you have to understand that until and certified and make sure cleared channels and everybody gets know we don't any more now than we did OK,' though, everything is last week." The players' grade problems have overshadowed academic miscalculations that have removed two key backups. Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Paris Long was ruled ineligible he last week because his credit hours had been miscalculated since in 1997 State Ohio January entered Kirk was declared ineligible Tuesday. His problem resulted from a Big Ten Conference rule that requires in certified courses in a student's a certain number of credit hours Kirk tried to switch majors. when came to light major. The error COLUMBUS, Ohio .. , victory at the Idaho State Invitational. VOLLEYBALL Aaron AUBURN, Ala. (AP) Brooks threw a touchdown pass to Kevin Coffey in the second quarter and set up two field goals with passes in leading Virginia (No. 19 ESPNUSA Today, No. 16 AP) to a 19-- 0 victory over Auburn (No. 22, No. 25) Thursday night for 220 yards, gave Brooks, the Cavaliers the only points they needed when he checked off his primary receiver and found Coffey between two defensive backs in the right flat. Coffey scored untouched and Virginia led 0 with 5:27 left in the half. Brooks' completion to Crawford set up Todd Brave-man- 's Casey Ter-ren- , Duel Travis Hildebrande, a junior college transfer from Cal State. Last year at Cal, Hildebrande won the Junior College champi- 10-ya- rd ?r that." an Larry f 28-1- ar -- 4:rMr si Stacie Greenwalt stuffs this ball over an Idaho State player. y |
