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Show 'Bird gymnasts to h~st Air Force this Saturday night A season of high hopes and lofty goals begins for SU this weekend when the Falcons come to town Although 1996 is a new year, the objective remains the same for Southern Utah University's gymnastics squad as it opens a new season against Air Force Saturday night. Meet time for the Classy 98 Aim High Challenge is set for 7:00 p.m in the Centrum. The meet is co-sponsored by Classy 98 (KREC Radio) and the Cedar City Air Force recruiting office. After missing a team bid to the NCAA Midwest Regional meet by an eyelash for the second time in three years last season, the SUU squad has left the 1995 goal intact: advance to the Midwest Regional as a team. Getting individuals into post-season competition has been no trouble as SUU has seen at least three athletes qualify for the regional meet in each of the past four years, with four qualifying last season alone. The team bid has been more elusive, however, as the T-Birds missed qualifying by 1.244 points last year after falling just 0.400 short in 1993. This year, all that should change, according to Southern Utah Head Coach Scott Bauman. "We want to make it to regionals. This year we should do it," he contends. "It will be a challenge, but this team is driven toward that goal and I wouldn't put anything past this team - if they want to do it, they can do it." The first step toward achieving that goal comes Saturday when the Thunderbirds host a young and talented Air Force squad. Saturday's meet marks the ninth meeting between the Thunderbirds and Falcons, with SUU coming out on top in each of the previous eight. Last year the T-Birds posted two of th eir three lowest scores against USAFA, including a 182.775-172.650 decision at home in the season-opener before a 188.000-1 83.475 win at the Academy. Saturday's meet is the season-opener for Air Force. USAFA is one of the few schools in the nation which sponsor both men's and women's gymnastics. Stacy Fullmer-Cather will lead the 'Bird Gymnasts against the Air Force Falcons Saturday. Air Force comes into the meet with perhaps the best women's team in school history. Sophomore Michelle Roxburgh became AFA's first woman to advance to NCAA Division I post-season competition last year when she qualified for the Midwest Regional with an at-large bid. She also broke the school event records on vault, bars and beam, as well as tying the school floor mark. Roxburgh i~ joined by senior captain Meghan McCann and juniors Megan Bir and Ann Zionic as well as the remainder of last year's freshman class which combined to take the Falcons to one of their best seasons. A solid group of new freshmen combine with the newcomers to give Coach Lou Burkel a deep and talented squad. " We have tremendous depth this season," Burkel said. "The freshman class stepped in last season ancl did a great job. We expect to have another exciting freshman class this season." Leading the way for the Thunderbirds is "a core of solid returning athletes," Bauman noted. The team returns four gymnasts with post-season experience, including junior Julie Talbot - a two-time qualifier to the Midwest Regional - as well as seniors Stacy Fullmer-Cather and Janica Hayes, and sophomore Dawn Kisselburgh, who have each qualified for atlarge bids once. "The fact that all four of those girls have been to regionals, have seen what it's all about and know what to do to get there will help our team elevate to the level needed to make it as a team, " Bauman poin ted out. In addition, SUU returns sophomores Kerri Heninger and Kimberly Nomura, along with junior Shannon Bogart who was out of action with a knee injury in 1995. "We're going out there with somewhat watereddown routines, but we want to go out and hit. The routines will still start at 10 [the highest scoring value], and will be high-quality routines, but we want to be able to hit and build some confidence particularly in our freshmen - going into the BYU meet [Ja n. 20 at Provo]," said Bauman. NATIONAL SPORTS NCAA Convention wraps up DIGEST SPURRIER REJECTS BUCS' OFFER: Steve Spurrier talked, listened and By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS then followed his heart. The Florida coach rejected a lucrative offer yesterday to take over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, saying college football - not the NFL - is where he belongs. " Maybe this will end the speculation for years to come," Spurrier told a news conference. "I've talked and I've listened and I think I'm probably just a Steve Spurrier college ball coach. Probably that's what's best for me." The Bucs reportedly offered the SO-year-old coach a financial package that included a salary of about $2 million per season, plus part ownership in the team, which hasn't had a winning season since 1982. Spurrier acknowledged a longtime "fascination" with the Bucs job, dating to his days as coach of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits in the mid-1980s, but finally decided to reject the offer early yesterday. The NCAA wrapped up its 90th and next to last full convention yesterday by proving the annual gathering has outlived its usefulness. With all the big decisions already done Monday - including the historic vote to eliminate conventions and replace them with a streamlined way of doing business - not much was left for Thursday. So after accepting plans to smooth relations with the U.S. Olympic Committee, rubberstamping dozens of proposals for non-revenue sports N CAA president Gen e Corrigan closed business a day ahead of schedule. "Th e theme of this convention was that we've got to stop m eeting like this and I think we succeeded," Corrigan said. "Th ere really were not a lot of contentious items this year." Both days 0£ voting went smoothly because nearly every decision required only a hand vote. Many of the item s that went to roll calls were wastes of time, offering further evidence the decision to restructure was a good one. The move with the biggest ramifications Monday involved passage of a proposal to allow college athletes to work out with BIAKUBUTUKA TO GO PRO: Th e University of Michigan said yesterday that junior tailback Tshimanga Biakabutuka is skipping his senior year and making himself available for the NFL draft. Juniors had until yesterday to make themselves available for the April draft. Biakabutuka, 21, is the second player to say h e is li:!aving Michigan early. Tackle Jon Runyan, who had a year of eligibility remaining,.declared for the NFL draft last week. I Olympic teams w ithout jeopardizing eligibility. It is effective immediately. That plan and two others cam e from an NCAA committee that's been working for more than a year to bolster ties with the USOC, which is considering giving the NCAA $50 million over five years. The biggest decision involving revenue sports was a vote allowing Division I basketball teams that are invited to play in the Great Eight tournament to exempt one of the games from their m aximum allotment. Another interesting vote was the rejection of a proposal that would have allowed Division I-A football teams to count victories against som e I-AA teams toward the six wins needed to qualify for the postseason. A request for a second vote also failed. Football teams in Divisions I and II did get a break with a vote letting them begin playing games on the Thursday before Labor Day. The current scheduling rules were inconsistent. Otherwise, the record number of 2,653 delegates spent the day doing such things as adjusting recruiting rules and creating a national championship for women's crew. Division I convention will no longer h old an annual convention, although Divisions II and Ill have indicated they will. |