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Show MONDAY, MARCH THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE continued from page 8 -- sfe V Columnist Time and time again I see athletes being charged with crimes such as murder or possession of illegal substances, or anything of the criminal nature. And time and time again I sec the athletes get away with it just because of their status in society as athletes who'are beloved by many fans. I have no idea if any one athlete who was charged with a crime actually did it, because I was not there, nor was I at the court proceedings in which the details of the particular event were laid out. However, even with all those obstacles in my way, I can still see athletes getting away with murder so to speak as opposed to your average person being hit with everything but the kitchen sink once they are charged. I am not even going to discuss Orcnthal "I kill people for fun" James Simpson, because his act is tired and it makes me sick. Though one question docs come to mind: How the hell docs he get off in the criminal trial when he is found guilty in the civil trial? Oh well, good for him.. Jciller. Anyway, we have people such as Mike "I am a Muslim who likes to eat people as well as occasionally rape a person or two" Tyson. Tyson just got off on another sexual assault charge and, believe me, this man is not a Muslim kind of like Larry Johnson. Rapist Poser. (Still love to watch the killer fight... or bite.) Michael Irvin, meanwhile, is one of those st Lauren Beckman scored just jL 4 points, but Utah won in Las Vegas. 10 repare for ERIC WALDEN Chronicle Sports Editor Though she's played in the shadows of teammates Lauren Beckman and Erin Gibbons all year long, the U women's basketball team is virtually always better when senior forward Lindsay Herbert is playing aggressively and providing a viable third scoring option. Of course, if Saturday night's 69-6- 5 victory over UNLV is any indication, the Utes apparently are also pretty good when Herbert is the team's only scoring option. Herbert was the only U player in double figures, but she torched the Rebel defenders and outplayed UNLV candidate Linda Frohlich by racking up a career-hig- h 6 MWC) 32 points, as Utah (15-1- 1, 8-- Swimmers Improve at MWC Championships LANCE GAMERO Chronicle Sports Writer In just his second year as the Utah swimming coach, Mike Litzinger received the Mountain West Conference Women's Coach of the Year honor. The award came to Litzinger at the Mountain West Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla., where the women's team finished in fourth place, while the men finished in fifth over this past weekend. "It's certainly a nice thing to be honored by your peers, but that honor is purely attributed to the women's performance," Litzinger said. "It shows how far our program has come." With a total, the women finished in the middle of the eight-teapack. BYU took first UNLV second and Colorado place, State took third place. Tessa Greegor finished second in the breaststroke with a time. That is the time in the nation. Although that missed the NCAA's automatic qualifying time, it should be fast enough to send her to the NCAA Championships on the "B" 462-poi- nt m 100-met- er 2.98-seco- nd 23rd-faste- st team. Neringa Statkeviciute finished second in the freestyle with a d time. She also missed the automatic qualifying time but can still qualify on a second team, although Litzinger does 100-met- 50.41-secon- er top-thre- omen Stun UNLY ca see KUDIYA, page first-plac- Sweeney said. "I'm very optimistic about this team. We are showing signs that we arc very sharp and focused." Following the first day of competition at Regionals in Anchorage, Utah held down second place, trailing Colorado by 33.5 points. A trio of fourth-plac- e finishes were tops for Utah on the opening day of skiing. Fellow kin IVttcr and Sara Svendscn each snatched fourth-plac- e finishes in nordic racing, and Annik Boulva also turned in a fourth in the women's slalom. Defending men's slalom champ with a Jerncj Bukovcc was next-besixth in the slalom. Josh Whitman and Jaana Kettunen added seventh-plac- e finishes, Ryan Quinn added a ninth and Olympian Torin Koos placed 10th. Petra Svet, the reigning women's slalom champ, was disqualified, and freshman phenom Pierre Olsson, e finishes who had six entering Regionals, did not finish his second run. Chronicle Sports e finish by petition. A in the Mancuso sophomore April ' ASAD KUDIYA giant slalom helped solidify the Utes' position, holding off mighty Denver University, which started the day in fourth. "She needed to have a strong result and she delivered," said alpine coach Ryan Forsyth. Mancuso wasn't the only one. Olsson continued his phenomenal freshman campaign, turning in a second-plac- e finish in the men's giant. Kettunen and Sara Svendscn stepped up in the women's 10K freestyle in the absence of Jorunn Oye. Oye, who had not finished lower than 10th all year, didn't compete at Regionals. Kettunen and Svendscn picked up the slack, finishing a respective fifth and sixth. Svet raced to sixth in the women's giant slalom. Petter Svendscn added a seventh in the men's 15K freestyle, and Josh Whitman turned in a seventh in the men's giant slalom. rbrunncrchronicle.utah.edu GYMNASTICS continued from page 8 Then came beam. On its final event of the evening, the Utes fell victim to the banana peel. After a 9.850 by Kim totaled its fifth win in its last six games to close the regular season. The Utes were bolstered by a deft touch from long range, converting trey opportunities (59.1 percent), and Herbert was the catalyst behind that. She nailed a pair of as Utah opened the contest on an tear. Though UNLV took its first lead at the 9:22 mark on a Frohlich bucket, the U cased out to a 1 advantage at the break, and the Rebs, for all their competitiveness, would only sec the lead come their way two more times in the entire 11- Allan and a 9.925 by Eberle, consecutive slips off the beam by LeClerc and Vituj resulted in Utah having to count a fall. .1 -2 r 38-3- game. tr: t ' The last of those occasions came with 55 ticks left, when Vcgas's Kinc-sh- a Davis drew a foul from freshman see WOMEN'S HOOPS, page After suffering two falls on beam, Utah had to count one at BYU. 10 in Still, the score was the eighth-bes- t school history, and was an encouraging note heading into three straight home meets before postseason play. Utah senior Deidra Graham, normally an competed solely on bars for the third consecutive week after discovering she had five bulging disks in her back. Utah returns to the comfortable confines of the Jon M. Huntsman Center for its final three meets of the regular season. Utah hosts No. 16 Oregon State March 9 at 7 p.m. rbrunnerchronicle.utah.edu y.imi-ifsaa- ' ( - S S 'l J - .Si""?" M n't think that is likely. Senior Courtney McKinney also just missed an NCAA qualifying time when she finished fourth in the freestyle at 51.16 seconds. finish only The fourth-plac- e a gives them place higher than they were last year, but Litzinger is very excited for the future of the women's team. "Our recruiting right now is in very good shape," Litzinger said. "Our women are really going to be knocking on the door for a championship in the next couple of years. There's no question about that." The men were unable to climb out of the cellar at the championships, but they swam very well, according to Litzinger. The team, led by several freshmen, was able to tally 297 points, and Cody Rempfer and Evan Castro qualified for the National Championships in August. "We're doing the right things. It's just taking a little bit longer," he said. "If we keep getting this type of recruiting class that we had last year, things are going to happen pretty quickly." Overall, the men made dramatic improvement throughout the year, as they racked up many more points than they were able to last season and won their first meet since 2000 earlier this season against Pacific. lgamerochronicle.utah.edu 100-met- 9 The tough part was holding on to second during the final day of com- SKIING Some Athletes Get Away With Murder, Literally 4, 2002 er V l! If II ) ' i ' .- ""40 - ' ii si j. 1 t 5 -- H v r.V ii i ,. f j it f i fr n o.ste LCits3fi |