Trojan sports this week...

Track season should be fast

Trojans trying to end streak

Lowe taking message, athletes to India

Battle for TAAC position resumes Saturday

TSU softball team is ready to 'play ball'

Track season should be fast

Kenneth Roedl/Kenneth Roedl

The Troy State women's track team went to Arkansas last Saturday after less than a month of training, but is already running strong.

The strength should grow this season.

The Lady Trojans competed at the Arkansas State Invitational and were able to return with a handful of honors.

Troy State's distance medley team, consisting of LaTanya Sumlin, LaKicia Cooke, Tara Woodard and Edna Caraballo, left the state as the winners of the event.

Head coach Bob Lambert said the victory should have the team members prepared for their next run in Mobile.

"The team finished almost a lap ahead of the competition," Lambert said. "This race should give them confidence going into the remainder of the season."

Another group of strong performances came from the hurdlers.

TSU sent all of its entrants to the finals in the 55-meter hurdles, with the finals consisting of the best 10 entrants.

Leigh Ann Kennedy, Melissa Dailey and Thomi Jones were all able to advance, with Jones finishing fourth in the finals. Jones ran her fastest time in the event, covering the 55 meters in 8.45 seconds.

Hurdles coach Mike Cunningham attributed the success to training.

"When you compare last year's hurdle times to this year's, we ran almost a full second faster at this meet," Cunningham said. "In track and field events, one second is a big deal.

"This shows that our training is going in the right direction and the hurdlers are out there training and getting results." Kennedy said her performance should continue to improve this season.

"I'm not where I'd like to be yet, but I feel good about the outdoor 100 meter," Kennedy said. "I know I'll be able to compete and hold my own this season."

Jones has used the meet as motivation.

"I have a goal set in my mind," Jones said. "My attitude and confidence is better and I'm going to try to help my team win the conference title."

Cunningham also said the training mentality has changed on the team.

He said there is no more talk about just being Troy State, and the team trains to compete against the teams in its division, NCAA Division I. "Last year was a big change for us," Cunningham said. "We had to go from participant to Division I.

"Every week we have to recruit against the big schools and we have to run against them.

"The team is pushed every day and they are learning it is a lot more fun to win and see the fruits of their labor because of their effort and intensity at practice." Cunningham expects the indoor success in Jonesboro to carry over to the outdoor season.

He said that he expects to see Jones win the conference 100 high hurdles, if her training continues to go well.

The hurdle events change lengths when the team goes outside, from 55 to 100, but the height of the hurdle remains at 33 inches.

At the outdoor meets, there will also be a 400 intermediate hurdle sprint, with the hurdles 30 inches tall.

Kelly Heinzman and Keri Britton also were successful at the meet, with Heinzman finishing third in the mile and winning the 3,000.

Britton finished the 3,000 in third place.

Barbara Brown set a school record in the indoor shot (40-11) and finished the event fifth.

The next meet will be Feb. 12 at the University of Mobile, with the men's track season opening.

This meet will be a "run-only" meet and have no field events.

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Trojans trying to end streak

Kenneth Roedl/Sports Editor

In many cases, a streak is good, but the Troy State men's basketball team is currently on a losing streak, which is bad.

The Trojans (5-13, 2-6) have lost their last four basketball games going into Saturday's game with Centenary. The Gentlemen enter Trojan Arena tied for second place in the conference.

Poor shooting continues to plague Troy State, as the Trojans are making 40.1 percent of their shots from the field and 31 percent from beyond the perimeter.

This is compared with 48 percent field-goal shooting and 33.8 percent from the perimeter TSU's opponents have shot in those games.

Junior guard Joey Raines is disappointed with the losses but is confident the team will recover from the slump.

"As a team, we're still confident we can win," Raines said. "In our last two losses, we were leading at halftime and we know we could have beat those teams.

"We've had some open shots, but have not been able to make them. Our defense has been playing solid basketball and if we can make the shots, we know we can win."

On the road, TSU lost two important TAAC games this week, the most recent a 76-68 loss to Jacksonville University.

In the game, the Trojans were 6 of 24 on three-point shots and 24 of 66 from the field.

Robert Rushing led the team in scoring, with 21 points. Rushing was followed by Raines who scored 19 points, 12 of which were from the free-throw line.

As a team, Troy State scored 16 points from free throws, while the Dolphins scored 26.

The first loss of the week came at the hands of Stetson last Thursday, with the Hatters defeating TSU 86-73 in DeLand, Fla.

Raines poured in 32 points against SU, making 6 of 14 from three-point land and 7 of 17 from the field.

Rushing was the second leading scorer with 14 points.

Raines said the team will not stray from the current scheme, but will try to do whatever they can do to win the games.

"For the rest of the season, we'll continue to come out ready to play," Raines said. "We'll continue to play solid defense and do a better job making the shots we take.

"An advantage we have is three capable shooters. On any given night, we know we can count on Eugene Christopher, Robert Rushing or myself to score some points."

Raines said the players coming from the bench have been doing a great job and expects that to continue as well.

"We know we'll go to whoever is hot in a given game," Raines said. "Our mission is not to lead the team in points, it's to help the team win games.

"We know we need to contain their shooters and move the ball around to whoever has the best look at the goal and can put it in."

Tip-off for Saturday's game is 7 p.m.

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Lowe taking message, athletes to India

Stacy Benefield/Staff Writer

Troy State University head volleyball coach Ginger Lowe will lead a collegiate volleyball team into a summer program that will challenge the athletes mentally, physically and spiritually.

Lowe will travel to India this summer for her second international tour with Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ Internation-al.

AIA's mission is to minister throughout the United States and the world about Jesus Christ through the influence of sports. It accomplishes this with international tours, along with other camps and projects.

The tours allow American athletes to reach international athletes, who will, in turn, reach out and affect the people in their own countries, Lowe said. It's a trickle-down effect, she said.

"AIA is able to get its foot in the door internationally because of athletics, where maybe another mission organization may not be able to," Lowe said. "Sports automatically opens the door wide open."

AIA's goal is to teach athletes to be better athletes Ñ mentally, physically and spiritually.

"There are so many people who have great physical ability," Lowe said. "But when your head and your heart aren't connected, sometimes in those tight battles whether Ñ you're a football player or basketball player or volleyball player or runner Ñ you don't know how to take it to the next level."

In addition to volleyball, AIA also offers international tours for baseball, basketball, cycling, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and wrestling.

Plans for the trip to India are not definite at this time.

At the end of May, Lowe will meet with the other leaders and the members of her team in Fort Collins, Colo., for a one week training camp where they will practice together for the first time.

The team will also learn ministry skills, cross-cultural communication and how to apply biblical principles to athletic training and competition.

Following the week of training, the volleyball team will travel to India for a three-week stay. The team will be dealing with full-time AIA staff members in India.

The team will be involved in competition, training clinics and ministry. Lowe said the team has to be flexible.

"It's not just competition," said Lowe. "It's whatever the staff in India needs for us to do to open doors for them. We'll play. We'll do clinics. Who knows what else we'll do over there."

The coaches and team members are responsible for raising financial support.

Lowe was first involved with the organization last summer when she traveled with a volleyball team to Poland.

Lowe's "passion and walk with God" make her the right person for the job, said Judy Kirkpatrick, international liaison and interim volleyball director for AIA. Kirkpatrick will also be going to India with the team.

"She's got a great passion for the kids," Kirkpatrick said. "She really just jumps in and loves them and trains them through the good, the bad and the ugly."

AIA also sponsors Colorado Camp, Colorado Project, King's Domain Camp Project and Urban Project.

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Battle for TAAC position resumes Saturday

Kenneth Roedl/Sports Editor

As the old saying goes, you win some, you lose some.

The Troy State women's basketball team did just that this week, splitting Trans America Athletic Conference play with one loss and one win.

The win came last Thursday against Campbell University, which entered Trojan Arena 7-9 and 3-3.

In the win, TSU made 11 three-point baskets, with Aja Gates leading the team with five. Gates was 5-of-10 in three-point attempts.

Shelly Webb followed Gates with three three-pointers of her own.

Troy State hit 41.7 percent from the field. Keisha Ellis, Gates and Webb all shot 50 percent or better.

As a team, TSU was 10-of-12 from the free-throw line, but the Camels made 14 of 15 free throws of their own, including the 12-of-13 free throws in the first half.

Avoiding foul trouble helped keep Troy State in the game in the second half.

Troy State trailed at halftime, 41-28.

TSU allowed only 17 points the rest of the game.

In the second half, TSU was 14 of 29 from the field (48.3 percent) and made 5 of 12 free throws.

On Saturday, Troy State walked into an aggressive TAAC battle against Georgia State and lost 73-72, its first conference loss at home and 11th loss overall.

Head coach Jerry Hester called the team effort outstanding.

"The last 15 minutes was a great total team effort to win the game," Hester said. "I just can't say enough about the fight.

"This is a resilient group of players, and they know there is plenty of basketball left in the season. It hurts right now, but we'll learn from it."

TSU fell to third place in the TAAC, behind Jacksonville State (7-1) and Central Florida (5-1).

JSU's only TAAC loss was to Troy State on Jan. 4.

The Lady Trojans travel to Orlando on Saturday to play the Golden Knights, who are riding a four-game win streak at home.

UCF has two of the league's top shooters, with Chat McClendon (fifth in the TAAC) making 52.1 percent of her shots and Chariya Davis (sixth in the TAAC) making 49.3 percent.

Davis is also second in the league in scoring with a 19.1 average.

Troy State's LaKeisha Parrish is seventh in the conference with 15 points per game and sixth in rebounding, averaging 7.5 rebounds.

From the perimeter, Webb is second in the TAAC, making 41.7 percent of her three-point shots going into this week's game with Central Florida.

The Lady Trojans go to DeLand, Fla., on Monday to play Stetson.

The next home game for the Lady Trojans is a 7:05 game against UCF on Feb. 6.

Remaining home games for this season are: Central Florida on Feb. 6, Stetson on Feb. 8 and Florida Atlantic on Feb. 18.

The TAAC tournament will be held in Atlanta on March 4-6, with only the top teams in the conference eligible.

There is a regular season conference champion but anything goes in the tourney. In the preseason, Troy State was picked to finish third in the TAAC.

The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

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TSU softball team is ready to 'play ball'

Elliot Pike/Staff Writer

The Lady Trojans are for real, at least that's the consensus.

Word is, Richard Shaughnessy, the TSU strength coach, has even named the softball team the hardest working team on campus.

That says plenty when you know he works with the football team and all other athletic teams on campus.

Head coach Melanie Davis exuded confidence when talking about her team this season.

"Depth-wise and experience-wise, we have probably got the best pitching staff we've ever had," said Davis.

Although Florida Atlantic is the preseason favorite to win the championship, Davis likes her chances.

"I feel like we have a shot at the conference championship," she said.

Speaking of strength, the Lady Trojans lost only two seniors from last years squad, which went 46-17, but they have remained as assistant coaches.

The rest of the team is back.

Included in the returners are six All-Trans America Athletic Conference players.

Perhaps the most dominant is junior pitcher "Big Al," Allison Linderman.

Linderman, who hails from Michigan City, Ind., pitched in 26 games for the Lady Trojans and posted a 16-4 record last season, with an earned-run average of 0.54, third best in the nation.

Her ERA was also good enough to break the school record set in 1994 by Shawn Starling.

"Our biggest problem (last year)was our inexperience," Linderman said. "We also had trouble with our batting, but we have that now."

Linderman credits her incredible ERA to her teammates.

"I don't throw a lot of strikeouts," she said. " My whole season came about last year because I threw what I threw and our defense stopped them."

A player who does throw a lot of strikeouts is sophomore Jamie Dooley.

Dooley broke the single-season record with 100 strikeouts.

This record also belonged to Starling who had 98 strikeouts in 1995.

Dooley is also fourth in career strikeouts and still has three years of eligibility.

Statistically, the Lady Trojans were nearly perfect on the defensive side of the ball.

They had a .962 fielding percentage; their opponents averaged .951. They allowed only 107 runs in 1998 but scored 279.

All the while, their most prolific hitter, Tara Michel, was out for more than half the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

"I am about 90 percent right now," Michel said. "I am working really hard to get back."

Though Michel was able to play in only 31 of the 63 games, she led the team in hitting (.423) and slugging percentage (.577), and was the stolen-base leader.

Michel had 14 of the team's 36 stolen bases.

Another offensive threat will be infielder Bambi Sellars.

Sellars, who is from Silverhill, hit .302 last year, led the team in doubles and was second in runs scored with 36.

On defense, Sellars had a stellar year. She fielded .987 at first base, but with the return of junior Bridget McInnes, Davis said it is likely that Sellars will play third.

McInnes injured her knee before the 1998 season, but Davis said her hard work has allowed her to return and add needed depth to first base.

At short-stop, the team will look to the leadership of senior infielder Staci Boyette.

Boyette hit .292 last year and fielded .921.

"We look for Staci to provide stability to the infield and continue to do an outstanding job at shortstop," said Davis.

Troy State will host the Trans America Athletic Conference Softball Championships this year.

Jacksonville State and Florida Atlantic also submitted bids for the event, but TSU was awarded the tournament, which will be May 6-8 and played at the Westgate Park Softball Complex in Dothan.

For the first time in TAAC history, the winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

This is the same procedure used in the basketball and volleyball programs.

There will be a regular-season champion, but six of the 10 teams will continue play in the tournament and get a shot at going to the NCAA playoffs.

The Lady Trojans take the field at 1 p.m. Feb. 15 for a double-header against Alabama A&M to open their 1999 season.

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