• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1984-03-08_Vol48_No24_05

Sports Western Carolinian/March 8, 1984 Baseball Cats Off To Fast Start Western Carolina University's baseball team, off to the fastest start of any WCU team in recent years, opens a 12-games in nine days spring break road trip this Friday Coach Jack Leggett's team was 9-5 alter opening its home schedule last weekend with a pair of doubleheaders. The Catamounts opened the season with IO consecutive road games and won six ot those games. including victories over Llorida International. Wake Forest. North Carolina State and Georgia. The home slate began last Saturdav at Ronnie Ci. Childress Field with a sweep of visiting Slippery Rock State College. The pitching of Scooter Gay and the hitting ol freshman Freddie Hailey paced the Cats to a 9- 0 win in the opener. Western had to rally in the second game to pull out a 6-5 victory on RBI singles by John I'ust and Ron Huntington. Eastern Kentucky provided the competition loi a Sunday doublcheader and the Colonels won the opener 4-3 despite a strong six-hit pitching performance bv WCU's Ken Hare, fhe senior righthander allowed onlv one extra base hit and walked onlv one batter, but a couple of rare errors provided the margin of victory lor the visitors. the Cats jumped on LKU in the first inning of the nightcap lor three runs and survived a late rally for a 3-2 win. The base running of freshman Alfred Turner and the hitting of Hailey. all-conference Charlie fonville and captain Reggie McCraw highlighted the first uprising. Rookie Chris Hawkins gave up only four hits before needing relief help from another rookie, Jackie Slaughter, in the seventh inning. Hawkins is now 2-0 while Slaughter has a pair of saves. Hailey, a product of Forest Hills High in Marshville. NC, is leading the Cats at the plate with a .372 average. Fonville, who was the league's all-star first baseman last spring, shows a .364 average with two home runs and I I RBI Gay, a sophomore from Milford, NH, tops the WCU pitching staff with a 3-0 record, a sparkling 2.60 earned run average and 33 strikeouts in 27 innings. Following a Wednesday home game with Tennessee, the baseball Cats will play 12 games in a nine day period beginning Friday at East Tennessee State. WCU will also meet ETSU in a doubleheader Saturday followed by a doublcheader Sunday at High Point College, a single game Monday at High Point, single games lor the next three days at Campbell University in Buies Creek, and the Southern Conference South Division opener at Furman in Greenville, SC next Friday. A conference doubleheader is also scheduled with the Paladins next Saturday. The Southern Conference has been divided into two divisions this season with the Catamounts playing in the South Division with Furman, Davidson and last season's conference champion Ihe Citadel. Appalachian State. East Tennessee State-. MaPsKall and VMI make up the North Division. Each team will play IX games within its division, six with each of the other three schools, and the top two teams in each division at the end of regular season play will meet for a double elimination tournament to determine the conference champion and representative to the NCAA tournament. Wike Rejoins Football Staff As Defensive Coordinator Johnny Wike. former head football coach at Carson-Newman College and most recently head tootball coach and athletic director at Cullowhee High School, has rejoined the Western Carolina I niversitv football staff. Ihe appointment was approved by the WCU's Board ol I rustees and announced by Bob Waters. WCL's director ot athletics and head football coach. W ike, who has IX years oI exp e r i e nc e on t h e collegiate level, will serve as the Catamounts' defensive coordinator and will assume Ins new duties immediately. He tills one ot the vacancies on the WCU stall created in Januarv when assistant head coach Don Powers and defensive coordinator Mike Hennigan accepted new positions at Western Kentucky Universitv and Memphis State Universitv. respectively. fhe 48-year old native of Mt. Holly was an assistant coach at WCT' loi 10 seasons* 1964-73) before being named head football coach at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, lennessee in February, 1974 Wike is a 1960 graduate ol I ast Carolina University where he was a standout offensive lineman in the 1958 and 1959 seasons. Ik- began his collegiate coaching career at I Ion College and was line coach there for lour seasons! 1960- 63). He joined the WCl stall in I9(v4 and served as both offensive and defensive line coach lor loin seasons and coached the offensive line exclusively tor the next si\ seasons. Under Waters, he also served as thc Catamounts' chicl reel uitei. He coached at Carson- New man for lour seasons (1974-77) and was at Cullowhee High School for the past six veais. "Wc arc extremely pleased to have Coach Wike back in OUI program." saul Waters. "His experience as both an on-field coach and recruiter and knowledge of our program will help to maintain the momentum we have developed. We leel fortunate to have him back in our program." he added. Wike says he is "excited about getting hack into college I o o t b a 11 and thanklul lor the opportunity." "I've been thinking Offense on game davs lor about 15 years, but the challenge ot moving over to the defense excites me I am grateful for thc opportunity to work with one ol the best defensive teams in l-AA tootball and to work again with Hob Waters, one ol the top coaches on any level ol football," stated Wike. In his initial lo years at WCl . Wike recruited lour all- America selections) Don Dalton, Steve Williams. Mark Ferguson, and Jerry Games) along with Wayne I olleson. t he nation's leading receiver in 1977 and all ol the Catamounts' outstanding receivers in the late I96p*sand mid-1970's. In addition, he coached Appalachian State's new head coach. Sparky Woods, lor two seasons at Carson- Newman. Waters savs he hopes to till the remaining vacancy on his staff belore the Catamounts open spring tootball practice in March 19. Rifle Team Concludes Season Photo By Mark Haskett Western lost to Furman Friday evening in the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville despite the efforts of senior Pat Sharp, here banking one in for the Cats over Furman s George Singleton (44). Orlando Russell Staff Writer Even though we came in last place at our first "full- course" match, the experience of " m u 11 i - pressure competition" allowed us to go into our last match of the season fully charged to take second place. Since our host was Presbyterian College, a team that we had beat earlier by over 120 points, we felt confident about beating them again. However, once thc day was over, our WCU Rifle Team had suffered a heartbreaking loss. WCU scored a personal record of 2014 points out of a possible 2400. but thev were still lour points away Irom beating Wofford College and only 22 points short of beating Presbyterian College. Keep in mind that these two schools have their own ranges located conveniently on their respective campuses. The Citadel took first place which was no surprise to anyone. John Ma//a led WCU by making the all Southern Conference Team with a score of 530. Erie Bennent erne in second for Western with a score of 504. while Kevin Brown, Orlando Russell and Scott Regiec scored 490. 478 and 476 respectively. Our last competitor. UNCC, had quite a lew major problems which caused their score to be hundreds of points below ours. Ihe WCU Rifle learn can usually take a loss like anyone else However, this time it was because Presbyterian College hosted an extremely bad match. It was so poorly run that all the other schools complained of having the same problems of fluttering targets; everyone except Presbyterian College. We lafet lound out that Presbyterian College shot without the use of adequate ventilation for their team members. Wofford College, with their See RIFLE, Page 7 Sports Briefs Softball Team Opens In Florida The Western Carolina University softball team opens its season in the Jacksonville University Invitational, March 9-10, in Jacksonville. Florida. The Lady Cats. 26-15 in 1983. will be making their first appearance in the 10-team Jacksonville tourney. The tournament has two pools of five teams playing a round robin format with the top two teams from each pool meeting for a single elimination playoff. This Friday, Western will meet Rollins College at 10:15. Stetson University at 12:24. and Appalachian State at 3:15. Saturday. Western will play Jacksonville University at 10:15 to finish their pool play. The single elimination event will begin at 1:30 on Saturday, with the championship game set for 2:45. Rounding out the tournament field is South Florida, the nation's # I team last year, Georgia Southern, Flagler Junior College, Florida International University, and Edward Waters College. Western Carolina, the nation's 5th place I inisher for the past two seasons, returns 12 veterans, including six letter-winners. Leading the Lady Cats will be pitcher Robyn Keeler, an All-American selection in 1982. along with Judy Green and Lori Toncy. All-State performers last season when the team finished third in the State- Invitational Tournament. The Lady Cats will open their home season Monday. March 19. in a doubleheader against l.enoir-Rhync College. Rogers Named SC AH-Frosh Team For the third consecutive season, a Western Carolina University player has been named to the Southern Conference's All-Freshman Basketball Team. Richard Rogers,a 6-7 forward, was named on all but one ballot in the voting conducted by the conference's sports information directors. The rookie from Ft. Walton Beach. Florida averaged 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds during regular season play, the third highest scoring average among the league's freshmen and ranked second among the rookies in rebounding. He played in all 28 of WCU's games and averaged nearly 20 minutes per game. He shot an outstanding .503 percent from thc floor and a respectable 7I9 Irom the free throw line. The product of Choctawhatchee High School scored in double figures in eight games, including a season high 19 points in the Catamounts double-overtime upset of conference champion Marshall. He also pulled down a season high 11 rebounds in that game. Rogers follows teammates Cedric Cokely and Clifford Waddy who were named to the conference's all- freshman teams in 1982 and 1983. respectively. Joining Rogers on the rookie all-star team is VMI's Gay Elmore, the league's freshman of the year; Furman's Shawn Reid; Davidson's Chris Heincman; and East Tennessee State's David Vaught. Track Team Breaks Records Western Carolina did not win the Southern Conference indoor track & field championship, but to say Coach Don Millwood's team was impressive in the league's champion meet in Johnson City, Tennessee last weekend is an understatement. Thc WCU thinclads finished fifth with 53 points which represents the highest point total ever recorded by a Catamount squad in the conlerence meet and broke five WCU indoor records in the process. Appalachian State dethroned VMI as the indoor champion, ending the Keydets three-year hold on the team trophy. ASU totaled 183 points to runnerup VMI's 158. East lennessee State, the host team, placed third with68 points followed bv Marshall (66). WCU (53). The Citadel (20). Davidson (5) and Furman (4). Anthony .lames. Haywood Smith, Earl Bates and Robert Baker turned in the top individual performances for WCU. James, a senior and the defending long jump champion, placed third in this year's long jump with a leap of 23' 4'^" He also took fourth in the triple jump (49' 5-Vi") to total 10 points. Smith finished third in the 600 yard run and his time of 1:1 1.55 was a school record He also anchored thc mile relay team that set a new school record of 3:17.59. Joining Smith on the relay team was Larry Jackson. Miles Nicholson and Baker. Bales set a new school record in the 440 yard run with a clocking ol :47.86. The freshman from Greensboro also ran a leg on the record setting mile relay team. Baker, a junior from Union Grove, totaled nine points as he broke the school record in the three-mile run with a time of 14:05.55 to finish third in the meet. He also finished litth in the two-mile run with a 9:15.79 clocking and anchored the record setting distance medley relay time that finished lourth. Joining him on the distance medley relay team that turned in a 10:12.80 time was Chris Sheppard. James ford and Phil Roberts. Two Catamounts placed in the 60-yard dash as Rickv Schell finished third (:06.49) and Eric Rasheed placed tilth (:06.56). The two-mile relay team of Ralph Han/el. Jon Man. James Mollitt and Scolt Jones finished sixth with a time ol 8:46.63. WCU's spring track & field season will begin March 24 at the Georgia Relays in Athens. Georgia. Tennis Team Evens Record Western Carolina University's tennis team evened its season record at 2-2 with a 8-1 victory over Belmont Abbey in Belmont last Thursday. A match last week at Presbyterian College and Monday's scheduled meeting with James Madison University were postponed because ol inciimate weather. The Catamount nettcrs will begin a nine-match spring trip this Saturdav in Rome. Georgia against Berry College and Shorter College. Coach Charley Bowen's squad will be in Florida next week tor matches with South Llorida. F.ckerd. Mercyhurst, Tampa, Llorida Slate and Florida A&M. Ted Grattan. Fernando Kelly and Jeff Layman remained unbeaten in singles competition with wins at Belmont Abbey. Grattan and Kelly are 4-0 in No. I and No. 2 singles, respectively, and Layman is 3-0 in No. 3 singles. ! The Dogs and Company whipped Kappa Alpha Psi 40-26 en route to the All-C Basketball Championship Tuesday night in reid Gym. Photo bv Mark Haskett ampus Men's Intramural

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1984-03-08
  • Date digitized: 2019-02-19
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 15"
  • Pages: 8 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1984-03-08_Vol48_No24
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library