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Show Take Note: /J Monday, April 23,2007 The softball team hosts a doubleheader against Idaho State Tuesday, beginning at 2 p.m. 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu Two school track records set Lifferth, men's 4x100 relay both set high marks for Aggies BY SAM BRYNCR Staff Writer The USU men's and women's track and field teams traveled to Eugene, Ore., for a two-day meet on Friday and Saturday and came home with school records, personal bests and several top finishes. Senior Stacie Lifferth headlined the two-day event for the Aggies when she broke her own school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her previous record was 10:24.67, which she set in 2006. On Friday, Lifferth ran the race in a time of 10:18.89, which was good enough for a second place finish at the meet. The time also gives Lifferth the leading time for the event in the Western Athletic Conference. Amber Peterson continued her success in the 400 hurdles as she took first place in the race with a time of 59.50. Coming in No. 1 in this race is not new for Peterson as she also crossed the finish line first the past two times she has run the race. Ashlee Cannon, racing in the 100 hurdles, came in first place with a time of 14.84. Senior Caroline Berry set a personal best in the 5,000 race with a time of 17:14.21. That time has her second in the Aggie record books behind Lida Ripplinger, who recorded a 16:46.76 in 2005. Several other Aggie women had top-three finishes. Brittany Chadwick grabbed second place in the 100 with a time 12.57 and was followed into the finish line closely by teammate Ali Cranney, who finished with atime of 12.62. Jessica Nielson finished second place in the 200 with a time 26.04. The women's 4x100 relay team finished in third place with a time of 48.95, and Carrie Yost came in second place in the high jump, recording a jump of 5-05. The men's 4x400 meter relay team set a new school record with a time 3:12.71, good enough for a third place finish. Competing on the team are Nicholas Karren, Brett Knighton, Scott Bell and Dasheek Akwenye. Their record time also gives them the leading conference time for the season. Individually Bell and Karren performed well in the 400 hurdles as they came in second and third with times of 52.05 and 52.42 respectively. Other Aggie men to fin• RECORDS seepage 14 Ag softball grabs one of three in S J BY BLAIR FAIRMAN Staff Writer After two straight losses to the San Jose State Spartans, the Aggie softball team was able to recuperate and end the three-game Western Athletic Conference series with a much needed win Saturday. The Aggies lost Friday, 3-0, and game one Saturday, 5-0, before pulling together a victory in game two, 2-0. The Aggies entered the game Friday with a fourgame winning streak. SJSU, which raised its record to 5-8 in the WAC, logged its fourth win in a row over the Aggies and showed no signs of giving up in Saturday's games. -The score stayed 0-0 for the first half of the game, with both USU sophomore pitcher Lindsay Benson and SJSU pitcher Roxanne Bejarano firing no-hit balls for four and five innings, respectively. After a wild pitch from the Aggies, the Spartans pulled together on a hit and scored the first run of the night. . USU senior third baseman Lauren Guzman pulled off a-Jiit in the sixth inning but was left stranded on second base after the team was unable to get any more knocks with the bat. SJSU finished off the sixth inning with two runs into home, bringing their score up 3-0 over the Aggies. Down three runs in the seventh inning, senior Jamie Fife pulled it together with a single hit, followed by another hit by sophomore Aubrie Stroman. After freshman Amanda Grow pitch-ran for Stroman, junior shortstop Tara Evans stepped up to bat, hitting a single to center which allowed Fife to run it in for the first USU score of the day. The play also moved Stroman and Evans up to second and third_bss£ with only one out. Unfortunately for the Aggies, the rally ended with disappointing back-to-back outs, and the game ended. Junior third baseman Amy Schaible also had a disappointing night. With no hits the entire game, Schaible, who was named USU's Athlete of the Week last week, ended her nine-game winning streak. Similar to the Nevada series, the Aggies started off Saturday's double-header with an unsatisfactory loss. The Spartans made two runs in each of the Down e Line Haas defeats Tom Kite for tournament win SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Defending champion Jay Haas won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf on Sunday, making up four shots in the final eight holes before beating Tom Kite in a playoff for his second Champions Tour victory this season. "I certainly didn't think I'd be here," Haas said. "Everything just happened so quickly." He closed with a 2-underpar 70 for a three-round total of 207, then won on the first extra hole for his eighth senior circuit victory. Kite (68) had been 3-0 in senior playoffs. There was a four-way tie for third at 208 at The Club at Savannah Harbor, an island layout in the Savannah River: Wayne Levi (70), Brad Bryant (70), Gil Morgan (67) and Mark James (70), the first-round leader. Haas has nine wins on the PGA Tour and eight on the Champions Tour. This was the first time he successfully defended a championship. "My game has aged well," Haas said. "My ball-striking has been consistent. But I'm a lot better putter than I used to be. I kind of wish I'd changed my putting style when I was younger." Dallas defeats Colorado Rapids in MLS action Tyler LarsQn/(mbrwn@{(. usu.edu USU SHORTSTOP TARA EVANS attempts a double play against the Nevada Wolf pack last week. Evans and the Aggies dropped two of three over the weekend at San Jose State. first and second innings. With USU senior starting pitcher Lexy Perry unable to stop SJSU s momentum, freshman pitcher Stacey Ellingsworth was sent in to put out the Spartan fire. She Senior Ashley Bellum finally allowed only three hits in broke up SJSU pitcher Kelly the remaining four innings, tne remaining iour innings, fflltprinpr the Snartan's ahilfaltering the Spartan's abil- ~~~ ity to put more points on the r SOFTBALL seepage 14 board. nnarn FRISCO, Texas (AP) Ramon Nunez scored twice to lead FC Dallas to a 3-1 win over the Colorado Rapids on Sunday, -j Nunez broke a 1-1 tie in the 78th minute when he curled a free kick from the left side over a wall of defenders. The ball bounced off the fingertips of Rapids goalie Bouna Coundoul and into the right corner of the net. FC Dallas was given the free kick after Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni received a yellow card for taking down Nunez near the penalty box. In the 29th minute, Nunez took a pass from Dax McCarty and dribbled around Brandon Prideaux at the top of the goalies box, causing Prideaux to fall while trying to change directions, before placing a shot inside the left post from 12 yards out. Jovan Kirovski tied the game at 1 in the 34th minute with an assist from Terry Cooke. Kirovski scored by taking a chip shot from inside the penalty box that bounced over the head of FC goalie Shaka Hislop and into the net. Dominic Oduro gave FC Dallas an insurance goal in the 93rd minute. Colorado has eliminated FC Dallas from the MLS Cup Playoffs in the last two seasons, both times on penaltykick shootouts and on the road. Aggie lacrosse blows away SnowWollege BY G . CHRISTOPHER TERRY Senior Writer After spending much of this lacrosse season getting sand kicked in their collective face by the powerhouse lacrosse clubs of the west, the USU lacrosse team thoroughly enjoyed playing back-toback games Saturday against inferior competition. , USU faced Snow College at 11 a.m. on the Tower Field and won, 12-1, before facing Weber State at 1 p.m. and recovering from a 3-1 deficit to win, 6-4. "Once everyone realized that we were way bet- ter, everyone just wanted to score," Head Coach Matt Polytika said. Besides the two wins, USU also celebrated Senior Day for Kent "Doughnut" Arnold, the only senior on the team. Unfortunately "Doughnut" sprained his ankle in the first game and sat out against Weber State. Polytika said he was glad to get to see his players fight against teams which did not possess huge advantages in the number of subs available. "Obviously we don't win a lot of games against the teams that we play, but we're at a higher level than the majority of the teams in-state," Polytika said. "We play the best teams in the nation so we don't beat them all the time, but we can beat the majority of every other college in the state." Two freshmen led the Aggies in scoring. Keenan Nuehring scored twice against Snow and once against Weber. His mom, who works in the USU Registrar's Office and was in attendance at Saturday's games, said she was very proud of him. Cody Nelson was the other top goal getter for • LACROSSE see page 15 USU chemistry professor places 2,200th in Boston Marathon BY DAVID BAKER Staff Writer Photo courtesy Mike Mills USU CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR Scon ENSIGN runs in the Boston Marathon last week, where he finished in the 2,200th place. Shivering and disoriented from the cold, rainy weather, and tired from the marathon he had just completed, Scott Ensign searched for his family. But because of a miscommunication, he had to take the subway back to his hotel alone. After a 45-minute hot shower, he was able to track down his famsiyEnsign wasn't too broken up ,. about it. In fact, he was able to find some comic relief in a situ- . ation that nobody would want to experience after running 26-plus miles in wet shoes and socks. But, "All's well that ends well," he said. Ensign, a professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department, was another one of the three Aggies to run in last Monday's Boston Marathon. The other two were Christina Hansen, a freshman in chemistry, and Marvin Hailing, an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department. This was Ensign's second marathon after qualifying for the Boston in the Top of Utah Marathon. He ran a time of 3:13.08 in Boston, which gave him an overall finish of about 2,200th place. Ensign finished around 500th in the 40-and-over men's division. He hoped to run a better time, around three hours and five minutes, but the weather held him back a little, he said. Ensign, 45, started running again about five years ago when he was shaken up by some heart trouble his father, a cross country ski racer, had been having. Ensign started racing in 5,10 and 15 K's, and wanted to run one marathon. But after he and his brother qualified for Boston in the Top of Utah, Ensign's brother registered for Boston and convinced him to as well. And Boston won't be his last marathon either. Ensign said his goal is to break the three• MARATHON seepage 14 Standings WAC Women's Softball TEAM Hawai'i Fresno State Utah State New Mexico State San Jose State Nevada Louisiana Tech WAC OVERALL W-L Wl 13-2 9-3 5-7 6-9 6-9 6-9 3-9 42-9 36-16 15-27 24-24 21-22 22-29 20-30 • NEXT GAME TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2 p.m./4 p.m. Idaho State @ Utah State |