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Show -- !THURSDAY, FEBRUARY ll, 1001 - - - - - -- -- UNIVERSITY JOURNAL SPORTS PAGE 13 I SUU gears up for championship SUU men's and women 's indoor track and field teams will travel to Norman, Okla .. this Friday and Saturday for the Mid-Continent Conference Indoor Championships, hosted by ·Oral Roberts . The meet will be held in the Mosier Indoor Facility on the University of Oklahoma campus. Head Coach Eric Houle is in his ninth season at the helm of SUU's cross country and track and field programs. Houle led the Thunderbird men to a secondplace finish and the women to a third-place showing at the 2000 Mid-Con Indoor Championships. The women's team won the 1998 conference indoor title in their first season of competition in the Mid-Con. The Thunderbird men were picked to win the conference championship, receiving four of six first place votes in the coaches' poll. The women were also picked first, but share the top spot with UMKC as co~ favorites for the championship, with UMKC receiving M~~.,~: three first place votes and SUU two votes in the poll. llllllliltlilB.~ The men's team will be anchored by senior distance runner Curtis Moore, who owns the Mid-Con's top times this season in the 3000- (8.15.93) and 5000-meters • (1 4:07 .20). Moore is the defending indoor 5,000-m Tracksters gear up for the Mid-Continent Conference champion an.d SUU's lone-returning Mid-Con first team championship this weekend in Oklahoma. The event will member. Sophomore Marques Rose is also a threat in be hosted by Oral Roberts. the sprints, having notched the fastest 200- and 400-m marks in the conference in place of former T-Bird James Finks, who won the 400-m title last season. Senior Adam Brown is also a threat on the track, owning the Mid-Con's top 800-m time at 1:53 .11. In field events, sophomore Troy Ford is favored to win the shot put, with his season-best throw of 55-2.25 putting him nearly three and-a-half feet ahead of the field . Ford will also look to score points in the weight throw. Other T-Birds to watch include last season's second team allConference selections Zak James (5,000-m) and Daniel Ibarra (400-m), while sophomore Daniel Anderson (sprints) and newcomers Robert Crow (400-m) and James Wood (400- and 800-m) will look to make an impact. The women 's contingent wilt be led by sophomore Kelly Snodgress and senior Teresa Rice , who each · earned all-Mid-Con honors last season. Snodgress, two-time Mid-Con Athlete of the Week honoree this season, owns the conference's best season marks in the 400- (57 .06) and 800-m (2:09.48). "I think we have a fair shot at a top-four finish on both the men's and women's sides. It will be a good battle because I feel that the conference is more evenly matched than ever before," Houle said. Seniors play last game at SUU Southern Utah will be looking to hang on to at season and led the team to a final mark of 20-8. least a share of first place in the Mid-Con as Oral Roberts snapped a seven-game skid last well as set a new school-record for wins in a Saturday with an 83-69 home win over Chicago season Saturday night when the Thunderbirds State. The Eagles are 2-7 away from home this host Oral Roberts in the regular season finale in season, with both road wins coming at the the Centrum. expense of Mid-Con teams , 83-82 at Chicago SUU (21 -5, 12-3 Mid-Con) goes into the week State and 86-84 at Western.Illinois. in first place in the Mid-Continent Conference, a Saturday's game will be the 14th between the half-game ahead of Valparaiso. Oral Roberts Thunderbirds and Golden Eagles. ORU holds a takes a 5-9 conference mark (8-16 overall) into 10-3 edge in the series, but SUU has won three a game Thursday night at UMKC . The Golden of the last fou r, including a 60-56 win in Tulsa, ·Eagles are currently tied with Western Illinois for Okla., earlier this. season. ORU won the first seventh place in the league. Valparaiso, who is nine meetings between the two teams , four in just a half game behind SUUhas two games Tulsa, four in Cedar City and one in the remaining against Mid-Con Western Illinois and tournament. Chicago State. Overall , Oral SUU has won three Roberts is straight games and 4-2 in the Centrum. nine of its last 10. Saturday night's The game will be the T-Birds have also final game for five won 21 in a row at seniors, who have home, which is tied helped turn SUU for the fourth-best men's basketball home winning streak intq a nationalJy in the nation (with competitive Utah State). The program . Thunderbirds tied the ' Justin Sant, Fred school record for House, Jeff · wins in a season last Monaco, B.J. Saturday vs. Chandler and John Oakland, winning \Nheeler will step their 21st game, a onto the Centrum feat which had been hardwood for the accomplished just last time as twice, by the 1986-87 Southern Utah and 1976-77 squads. University It is the first time basketball players. the team has won 21 "These guys will since the school be truly missed. moved to NCAA ~ They are men that Division I competition have taken our in 1988. ~ program to.new The 1986-87 team ~ heights," Evans posted a 21-6 mark ~ said. "These are the at the Division lllevel i: kind of guys I want and the 1976-77 . ffi my own kid to grow team went 21-7 . Jeff Monaco ts one of f,ve seniors who will play his . up and be like.· when the· school was final game ever on the Centrum hardwood Saturday. The five seniors still competing at the will play their last NAIA level. The best record by an SUU team at game at SUU Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. The the Division I level had been in 1991-92, when Mid-Con tournament will be held Mar. 3-6 in Bill Evans took over as head coach late in the Fort Wayne, Ind. g Kelly Grundy makes contact with the ball in the 'Birds ' last outing in Las Vegas: SUU went 2-3 on last week's roadtrip. Softball to face thirdranked ASU Wildcats SUU's softball team will travel to Tucson, Ariz. this weekend to play in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona . The 'Birds will try and recover from three straight losses to Kansas. Wisconsin and Loyola last weekend at the UNLV tournament in Las Vegas. Saturday's 7-6 loss against Kansas was a heartbreaker as the T-Birds came back from a 4-1 deficit by scoring four runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Kansas retook the lead in the sixth inning to secure the win. SUU is currently 4-6 on the season. The 'Birds will play a total of five games in three days, facing McNeese State, Connecticut, Arizona, Florida and Drake University. The 'Birds wi ll face third-ranked Arizona on Saturday. In 15 games, the Wildcats have hit 38 home runs. In 68 games in 2000, the team hit 66. Senior Toni Mascarenas (nine) and Manuma and Vandergeest (six) (seven) _ lead the way. but seven other Wildcats have hit homers.The school and NCAA record is 100 by the 1995 Wildcats. The Cats hit six home runs against Bowling Green, which is tied for the No. 2 spot in NCAA history . Ten times Arizona has had multiple homers in a game. three times they've hit five or more and one time more than five . SUU has six players batting above .300. Kelly Grundy and Emily Cederholm are each nine for 23 from the plate and both hold a steady .391 batting average. Grundy also has five RBI on the season .The Thunderbirds have a team batting average of .241 . "I have great confidence in -our team to bounce back this weekend ," Coach Laurel Simmons said. "These tournaments are 'helping us prepare for the regular s'eason against Mid-Con teams. • After traveling to Arizona the 'Birds will be in action against UNLV in Las Vegas on Feb. ,28. The first home game for SUU will be against BYU on Mar. 1. SUU begins Mid-Continent Conference play on Mar. 23 against IUPUl.in Cedar City. . I ' |
