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Show Page 10 Tfie Thunderbird. Monday, Aprd 30, 1984 Golfers, softballers capture championships SUSC linksters finish first in RMAC Ten years ago Southern Utah State golfers stroked their way to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship. Saturday in Las Vegas they did it again, finishing 12 strokes ahead of their nearest opponent to win the RMAC title. SUSCs Stuart Adams also earned medalist honors in the competition for the second year in a row. Stuart did a heck of a job. He shot a 70 on Thursday in cold, windy weather, golf coach Tom Kingsford said. The tournament involving eight RMAC schools was held at the Showboat Country Club. The Thunderbirds finished with a total of 925 strokes, while Western New Mexico finished second with 937. Adams finished first among all golfers with a total of 220 in the tournament. Another SUSC golfer, Kenny Mason, finished with a respectable 231. Kenny did a great job too, Kingsford said. Kingsford had praise for the entire squad in a sport that is traditionally an individual effort. People think of golf as an individual sport, but in collegiate golf everyone has to make a contribution, the golf mentor said. This was a total team effort. In recent years the Thunderbirds have finished in second place among the 54-ho- RMAC squads, but this year Kingsford was confident of winning. I thought we had the potential to be a winner, he said. You never know in golf, though. There are so many intangible things like the weather. We were able to put it all together and win. golfers were able to get several practice rounds in at the Showboat course the week before, and the coach feels that was a definite factor in winning the RMAC title. We went down with the profits we made off selling golf shirts and practiced. The kids took their time to do it and I believe it paid off. SUSC will now be clubbing for the District 7 championships to be played in Phoenix on May 7 and 8. I think you have to consider us as a contender. Were playing on a very good golf course, one the kids are already familiar with, Kingsford said. One of their foes will be Grand Canyon College, a team the Thunderbirds have beaten five times this year. The dark horse has to be Eastern New Mexico. They usually have a good team, Kingsford mentioned. Were going to have to shoot better golf to be the District 7 champions, he added. It took ten years and 54 holes but the SUSC golfers, under Kingsfords direction, are once again kings of the links. Lady Birds streak to conference title The SUSC softball team clinched the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship over the weekend, winning three straight games Friday and Saturday for the title. finished the RMAC The Lady record. tournament with a perfect The championship marks a complete turn of events for the softballers, who last year finished in last place in the 3-- 0 conference. I think its great, said elated coach Joy Peterson. On Fridays cold and wind blown SUSC softball diamond the Lady battled New Mexico Highlands in first round action. Both SUSC and Highlands battled more than each other as snow and cold threatened the game. The Thunderbirds fell behind to Highlands before Becky Peterson drove in a run on a double to tie the score in the fourth inning. Highlands pushed ahead with a rare two-ru- n homer over the left field fence in the sixth inning. It was just a high pitch that got away, Peterson said. The round tripper set the stage for a dramatic last inning performance by SUSCs women softballers. Behind two runs in the blustery weather, the Lady Birds huddled together in the seventh inning for warmth and encouragement from Peterson. I told them wed better do something or it was going to be rough going in the rest of the tournament, she said. The softballers responded warmly, loading the bases on three singles and a walk. Patty Page followed with a triple to deep right field for three RBIs. Pages to a 3 triple lifted the Lady win in first round action. New Mexico Highlands is one of the toughest teams weve played all year. They keep coming at you, Peterson said. The weather also made it very difficult to play. Jennifer Smith pitched the game against Highlands and also hurled the to their two other victories. She did a great job, Peterson said. Saturdays games, played in St. George due to the weather, were just as good for Smith as she pitched the Lady Birds to a 1 victory over Mesa and a 2 victory over Highlands in the championship game. It was a total team effort. I can do nothing but compliment the team, the softball coach added. SUSC placed five players on the all conference team: Smith at pitcher, Chris Razmic as a utility player, Gwen Thomas and Becky Peterson as infielders and Patty Page as an outfielder. will now host the The Lady District 7 tournament this Friday and Saturday. SUSC will play Metro State of Denver at 11:30. 5-- 5-- 7-- Tracksters challenge hopefuls by Orin Allen Eight SUSC tracksters did very well in the Mt. Sac invitational track meet in Walnut, Calif., even though they were competing against a bevy of Olympic hopefuls. Will James turned in one of his better performances in the 100 meters, finishing fourth at 10.39. This is the toughest competition around right now, said SUSC Track Coach Ben Davidson. This meet is better than any meet across the nation because of this being the year of the Olympics, there are some top quality athletes. Adrian Sampson placed first in his category of the long jump, soaring 23 feet 2 inches, while his twin brother Aaron placed seventh with a jump of 24 feet 1 inch. I was very happy with the performances of the people at Mt. Sac, said Davidson. In the womens Mt. Sac competition, Colleen Hawkins threw the shot 40 feet 7 inches, while teammates Jill Reynolds and Lia Bouwhuis threw it 36 feet 5 inches and 36 feet 1 inch respectively. Lisa Bouwhuis also had her best throw of the year in the javelin, throwing the stick 131 feet 8 inches. The rest of the men and women tracksters competed in a four-teameet at UC-Sa- n Diego, with each team finishing second overall in team standings. Considering we were running on a dirt track it was a very good day for us, said Davidson. This was a good experience to get the team ready for conference. It will build some confidence for our athletes. At the latter meet the mens 4x100 relay team (Juan Henderson, Darryl Turner, Scott Guthrie, Nicholas Kamaiyo) finished second and were clocked at 45.44. Scott Guthrie placed first in the long jump, leaping 21 feet 6 inches. Leo Biggs placed first in the javelin competition, heaving it 198 feet 7 inches. Biggs also finished second in the discus with a toss of 1 1 1 feet 4 inches. Scott Henderson and Mike Riske placed first and second respectively in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 2 inches. Ed Luna finished first in the 400 meters and Robert Naylor finished first in the 400 intermediate hurdles. Dave Webb took first place in the 1500 meters with a 4.00.3 time. The womens 4x100 meter relay team finished second with a clocking of 56.24. tf dZeZ7i,kie"uSrt'SO," ? ! . a weekend m rece, ririhire,l Sampson, and twin Aaron be preStlgious Mt i Invitational track meet over the |