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Show THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL _· SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY· MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1998 'Birds sweep Mid~Con titles The SU men 's and women's cross country teams made a clean sweep of the MidContinent Conference champions!'lips Saturday in Chjcago. It is the secondconsecutive men 's title for the ' Birds, while the women were able to improve on their second-p lace finjsh behind Youngstown Stace a year ago. Coach Eric Houle sajd that the championships snow ed a dominant performance for SU. "Both the men and the women took control of the race. They ran with a lot of pride fo r SUU, and showed the rest of the schools what we ' re all about." said Houle. The men tallied 38 points in outlasting runner-up Youngstown Stace, with 46 points. The women completely dominated, placing all seven runners in the top- 15, earning 21 points, welJ ahead of UMKC's 63 points. "It is absolutely awesome that we get to come home with two c hampio nships," said Houle . Both squads also swept the individual titles, with men and women taking the top-three spots in both races. Sophomore Curtis Moore earned the individual conference title and most valuable athlete award, while running his best time of the season in the 8 ,000-meters (24:38.9). Sophomores Mark Wright (24:40.2) and Zak James (24:43 .8) placed second and third, respectively. The trio was selected first team AJI-Conference after t he race. Senior Adam Moore finished 12th and took home second team All-Conference h onors. Houle earns Mid-con avvard By SEAN FITZ.SIMONS JOURNAL STAFF WRITER "I want to become as valuable to them as they are co me ," said Eric Houle, who is now in his seventh year as head coach of both track and cross country for SUU. Houle was named Coach of the Year for the second year in a row during Saturday's MidContinent Championships. Before coming co SUU, Houte·was h ead coach at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, where he taught and coached for 10 years. Houle has seen the track and cross country teams compete in many different conferences during his time at SUU. When he first took over as head coach, SUU competed in the America West Conference. Over the years Houle has seen SUU become an independent, go back into the American West Conference, and finally land in the Mid- Continent Conference, where he said the compeHtion is fierce . · Houle said chat be has an admjration for SU. "SUU is one of the best schools to attend for athletics as well as academics, with the student to facuJty ratio being low like it is, our athletes can become a better person. They won't get lost in the shuffle like most large institution's athletes do," Houle sajd. "We are in a great location, as far as recreaHonal activities are concerned, and in the lase couple of years, o ur goal has been to attract more athletes to SUU, and we have accomp lished that goal, due in part to o ur location. "I feel that one of my most important goals is to take care of the core of the team, to develop a strong team center that everyone can relate to," Houle said. "We want to build a program where everyone can be the best athJete, student, and person they can be. " "ALI the guys gave great performances, but Adam Moore reaJJy stepped it up co come in 12th. I think that is what clinched it for the men," said Houle. Sophomore Wendy Allen won the conference individual title, running the 5,000m race in 17: 17 .2 , shattering her p ersonal best by over one minute and recording the fastest time in the conference this season. Allen also earned most valuable athlete and first team AllConference awards. Allen led six 'Birds who fi nished in the top-nine. Sophomore Ke lly Fugal t0ok second (1 7:23 .6), while freshmen Robyn Adams ( 17:27 .9) andJandec Hood (1 7:34.8) finished third and seventh respecHvely. Alle n, Fugal, Adams, and Hood all earned fi rst team AllConference honors, while Adams was named Mid-Con 's Newcomer of the Year. Junior Mary Ann Schauerhamer finished eighth ( 17:35.7) and Teresa Rice finished ninth (17:44.4). Schauerhamer and Rice were each named second team AU-Conference. Freshman Robin Truman crossed the line in 15th place (18:02.4) to complete SU's day. "Now that it's over, r want to get some runners into the nationals," said Houle. "We set certian goals this year, and I feel like we've accomp lished them. It was a major upset for a lot of the larger schools to see how good we really are ." SU w ill enjoy a week off to prepare for the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Nov. 14 in Salt Lake City. '" SU's Curtis Moore won the men's Mid-Con individual title this weekend in Chicago. He led the 'Birds to a team championship with a time of 24.38. The women also won the conference championship, led by Wendy Allen who won the women's individual title with a time of 17: 17 SU falls to Illinois State By D.W. ANDERSON. JOURNAL SPORTS EDITOR meeHng of the two teams when SU devastated lllinois Stace with a score of 44-13 . "They' re a much better team this year than they were SU H~ad Coach Ray Gregory has sajd that everyone last year, " said Gregory. "We had to match them score for score, and we just didn't get it done." loses to Western Illinois, and it was Illinois State's cum co do so last week, 37-10. Bue this week, the TIJinois During the third quarter of the game things began to pick up for SC as its Stace Redbirds bounced back from the loss to their defense didn·t allow in-state rival, and destroyed Hlinois State o ne score the SU Thunderbirds 42-14. during the third quarter. "Our biggest fear was tha( Howe,·er, the SU offense they would take an early also fa iled to score. On a drive from the 34-yard line lead, they did, and it hurt the 'Birds lost a fumble , us," said Gregory. In fact it and sec up the Redbirds co wasn't unHI halfway through the second quarter open the fourth quarter that the 'Birds scored on with the ball. Illinois Stace's defense. The lllinois State wide Redbirds were ahead 14-0 receiver Jacob Niece scored o n tlte first play of when Rod Madsen rumbled his way in from five yards the q uarter, but SU o uc to score. . quickly answered it with "We had a really hard time an 11 -yard dash co the end during the first half of the ~zone by quarterback Mate game," said Gregory. Illinois . ~Cannon, bringing the 5score to 35-14 . State had an almost flawless ~ "I hoped that what first half, the 'Birds had no answer for the passing game ~happened in last week's that the Redbirds threw at !3game would happened in them. Of the four Illinois ~this game, but in our Stace touchdowns in the §.favor," said Gregory. Last half, three were on Freshman running back Rod Madsen punched in a TD week Idaho S~ate scored receptions of more than 35 from five yards out and ran for I I 7 yards during . 28 ~ourth-penod points yards. Saturday's game against Illinois State But the 'Birds agamst SU· Bue the "They are the best lost the matchup 4 2. 14 Redbirds quickly · throwing team we've seen answered the SU play with since Montana," said Gregory. Garrett's fourth touchdown reception. SU's defense allowed one more Illinois Seate score before the close Redbird wide receiver Rickey Garrett set a new of the game, but the SU offense failed to drive the ball Illinois State record for touchdown receptions before the end of the half with three in the first half and one . past the lllinois State 12-yard line. in the final quarter of the game. SU returns home for a game against Cal Poly-San "We knew that they'd find someone and start picking Lu8is Obispo at Eccles Coliseum Saturday at I p.m. on them_tQ.~at~.h ~$_ball,: sajd Gregory. The game is free for all SU students with an activity The mar_gin of defeat mirrored that of last years first card. .. . - -------- ·· ·· ·· · · ······· ······················· ···· ······· ···· ·· · ········· ······ . I• |
