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Show U T A H ^ MONDAY, MARCH 28,2005 5 S T A T E S M A N Contact: Take Note: 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu The women's tennis team takes on Weber State Tuesday in Logan. Bad weather doesn't stop football team Gymnasts win first WG Conference championship BY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS Utah State University Despite adverse weather conditions, Utah State's football team spent each of its first four days of spring practice outside instead of inside the Stan Laub Indoor practice facility. The Aggies wrapped up their fourth day of practice on Friday afternoon. The two-hour practice started with a light snow, but ended with the sunshine peaking through the sky over Cache Valley. Wednesday's practice was marred by an intense hail storm for the final 30 minutes, but the Aggies continued play without missing a beat. Despite the weather conditions, Guy has been impressed with the players' attention spans. The Aggies are under the direction of new coaches, including new offensive and defensive coordinators. Guy is pleased with their progress after the first week. BY ANDREA EDMUNDS Assistant Sports Editor The Utah State gymnastics squad made history Friday in California by winning the Western Gymnastics Conference Championship for the first time in Aggie history. With a final score of 195.15, the USU squad tumbled over Southern Utah, Boise State and Cal State Fullerton to take home the conference title. In the four years the WGC has been in existence, it was the first time the Ags came out on top. Going into the floor, the final event for the Aggies, USU was only 25 hundredths of a point ahead of Southern Utah. But a combined score of 48.875 from the Ags allowed USU to secure first place. The Aggies' record-breaking meet started off on the right foot. Luck of the draw started the Aggies on the vault first, the event they usually start with at home meets. Led by freshman Jackie Fogli, who had a personal best of 9.9, the Ags notched their second highest team score of the season in the event. EogUtied for first in the event. Senior Katie. Rutherford also performed well on the vault with a season-high score of 9.8. After the first rotation, Utah State was in the lead. Then came the bars. Sophomore Jessica Parenti led the way for USU on the bars, finishing in third place. But it wasn't enough to maintain the Ags' lead. After the second rotation Southern Utah was on top. After third and fifth place performances from Liesel Kohler and Ashley Barr, Utah State was able to regain a marginal lead and a strong performance on the floor was all it needed to keep it. The Ags came through as Kohler won CHAMPIONS See Page 8 Soccer team to host second alumni game •Utah State women's soccer will host its second annual alumni game Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be played on the Sprinturf in Roniney Stadium on the USU campus and will feature Utah State's current squad pitted against the alumni team. Alumni wishing to participate can contact Brent Anderson at 797-0343. A barbecue will be held for the participants following the game. Ryan Talbot/r(a/6ot@cc.usu.edu AGGIE GYMNAST JESSICA PARENTI competes on the vault earlier this season in the Spectum against Denver. USU tennis player selfless, successful BY JEN BEASLEY Staff Writer Courtney Anderson isn't the type to spew her own stats at anyone who will listen. She has little to say in the way of sports cliches and strategies. She can't even identify her best performance of the season. When it comes to tennis, all this USU sophomore wants to do is play. So much so that on a March 15 tennis trip to Hawaii, despite being extremely sick, Anderson paired with teammate Andrea Barker to win the No. 1 spot in doubles action versus Chaminade, helping the Aggies to a 7-0 win. "The first day we got off the plane I was like, oh my gosh, my throat is killing. I can barely swallow" Anderson, who spent the first night in bed with a fever and cold sweats, said. "I'm still recovering." But she didn't have much to say about the match the next day. "All my matches, I can't remember one from the other," Anderson said. "I get so into it, I honestly blank out. I don't even remember the score. Overcoming illness. Blanking out. It seems that there's just a little bit of steel in this player. Head tennis coach Christian Wright said he can see it there too. "She's extremely talented," he said of Anderson. "It just seems to come easy to her. And she's very coachable, so that makes my job easy." , Anderson said her relative , -^ ease in the sport has been pres•k ent from the beginning - when she first picked up a racket nine ago at the suggestion of her .*<* years mother. "My mom just got me into it, just to see, and the first tournament I was in I won," Anderson said. "So that was good, because trophies are cool when you're little." She's stuck with her winning ways since then, taking the state title when she was at Brighton High School which she identifies as her proudest moment in tennis - and going 7-3 in singles action this spring. Anderson says that doubles play, in which she and Barker have gone 5-6 ANDERSON Zsiray See Page 8 Aggie golfers finish seventh BY AARON FALK Sports Editor Led by a final round 74 from Preston Otte, the Utah State golf team finished seventh in a 17-team field Saturday in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The finish was the Aggies' best of the season. USU finished seventh in an eightteam competition earlier this year in Cedar City. Otte, along with teammate Brandon Ehlers finished 25th, with a three-day total of 224. Otte shot a 75-75-74-, while Ehlers shot 74-74-76. After both teams finished with an 874, San Diego edged St. Mary's in a playoff to win the tournament. Cal Poly finished third with a score of 876. With a score of 880, Weber State finished third. Led by a tournament best 210 from Greg Lopez, Cal State Bakersfield finished fifth with a team score of 885. Aggie Brett Black shot 77-70-78 to finish 31st overall. Jared Humpries shot a combined 228 to finish 43rd for Utah State and Cody Huot shot a 245 in the tournament to finish 88 th. The Aggies will continue their spring season April 11-12 when they head to Scottsdale, Ariz., to compete in a tournament hosted by the University of Wyoming. ~acf@cc. usu.edu NCAA Women Tennessee 75, Texas Tech 59 PHILADELPHIA (AP) Shyra Ely scrawled her goal on the back of her sneakers: Homeward Bound. With the way Tennessee is playing, Ely might get her wish. Ely scored 23 points to help the top-seeded Lady Vols advance to their 20th regional final with a 75-59 victory over Texas Tech on Sunday. Tennessee (29-4) will play Rutgers in the Philadelphia Regional on Tuesday night for a trip to the Final Four in Ely's hometown of Indianapolis. Rutgers 64, Ohio St. 58 PHILADELPHIA (AP) Cappie Pondexter scored 24 points, and third-seeded Rutgers turned 15 Ohio State turnovers into 22 points. Freshman Matee Ajavon added 14 points, and Chelsea Newton had 13 for the Scarlet Knights (28-6). Michigan St. 76, Vanderbilt 64 KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kristin Haynie had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the second triple-double in Michigan State history to help the top-seeded Spartans advance to the regional final against the StanfordConnecticut winner. |