University of Missouri CLAWS STRIPES Published three times a

University of Missouri CLAWS & STRIPES Published three times a year for all Varsity M members. ASSOCIATION VARSITY M Volume 10 Issue 2 May 2004 AROUND SPORTS PARK AROUND THE MU SPORTS PARK matter year ear, alwa No matter the time of year, there is always something around Sports Par ark something going on around the MU Spor ts Park · S O C C E R MU freshman soccer sensation, Elyse Nikonchuck has been spending her free time as a member of the U.S. Under-19 W o m e n ’ s National Team coached by Tracey Leone. Nikonchuck has been training and competing with the U-19 team throughout the winter and spring. DIVING Mizzou divers are making a big splash. Sophomore, Aaron W i o n z e k finished 10th in the 1-meter and 15th in the 3-meter at the Canadian Winter Senior National Diving Championships. Te a m m a t e s Evan Waters, Kim Massaro, and Nicole Frazier will compete at the U.S. Senior Zone Diving Championships in July. VOLLEYBALL The trio of Lindsey Hunter, Lindsey Noll, and Sara Parks were selected as part of the USA Select Team that participated in the European Spring Cup in May. The select team is considered to be a pipeline for the USA Volleyball National team. Keeping it on the court, Lindsey Hunter was also named to the 2004 U.S. Women’s National Training team which will train in Atlanta following the aforementioned European Spring Cup competition. - continued on page 7 CLAWS & STRIPES CLAWS STRIPES President’s Message Spring Sports Wrap Up Where Are They Now? VM Notes of Interest MUAA Update Athletes Honored Chancellor Honored VM Pinning Ceremony In This Issue Of TENNIS MU Standout Urska Juric was awarded the ITA Central Region’s Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. Juric will join seven other r e g i o n a l winners and is a candidate for the national award. She is the first ITA Arthur Ashe A w a r d recipient for Mizzou. WRESTLING Mizzou wrestlers, Ben Askern and Scott Schatzman qualified for the United States Olympic Team trials w i t h fantastic finishes at the U. S. Nationals. Letter From Our President Lett Fr tter Rothwell-Brewer Expansion Underw Well Under way Varsity M Association For All You Do For Mizzou Dear Letter Winner, The Varsity M Board of directors participated in a Planning Retreat that has shaped the goals and activities for 2004-05. We have so much to look forward to in the coming year and with your assistance, we know this will be an exciting year for Mizzou athletics and the Varsity M Association. The fall Mizzou football season will begin on Saturday, September 4, 2004, with Arkansas State at Faurot Field. A celebration honoring the 1954 NCAA Championship Baseball Team will be a weekend focus that will include a tour of Missouri Sports Park and the Varsity M Tailgate. A reunion of all football players who played for Coach Bob Stull will gather on Saturday, September 18, 2004 for the Ball State game. Again this fall, Varsity M tailgates at each home game will begin two hours before game time on the grassy area in front of the Tom Taylor Building. We welcome with pride our newest Varsity M Board Member, Julie Dorn, Gymnastics 1988-91. Congratulations to Board Member Tim Geiger, football 1995-2000, who received his Doctor of Medicine, MD degree in May. Tim will begin his residency in Columbia. Please extend an invitiation to a fellow teammate letterwinner to join the Varsity M Association. For the latest updates on planned events and team schedules please visit our website, www.muvarsitym.com. Have a great summer and thank you for all you do for Mizzou! Sincerely, No matter how frequently you visit the MU campus you can’t help but notice the exciting changes all around. Mizzou is definitely on the move! One of the future jewels taking shape on campus is the Rothwell-Brewer expansion project. To date, roughly 60% of the project has been completed. The project will include an 8-lane, 50 meter competition pool, state-of-the art diving well, offices for the coaching staff, new locker rooms, and seating for spectators. The entire project is scheduled for completion in May 2005 with a grand opening in August 2005. Other features in the new Rec Center include a lap pool, outdoor seasonal pool, performance rooms, tanning/massage services, juice bar and improved activity courts, track, locker rooms, fitness center, and free-weight room to name a few. The expansion project comes as a result of an October 2001 student referendum in which 65% of students agreed to increase student fees for the sake of improved recreational and leisure facilities available on campus. 2 2004 Home Football Schedule A PMG Company September 4 September 18 October 2 October 23 November 6 November 20 Arkansas State University Ball State University University of Colorado Oklahoma State (Homecoming) Kansas State University University of Kansas CONDOS HOMES CORPORATE RETREATS Golf & Family Packages 800-237-3434 www.pmglake.com FACULT ATHLETES & FACULT Y HONORED 18th Annual Student-Athlete Awards Breakfast Held The 18th Annual Student-Athlete Academic Awards Breakfast was held at Memorial Union’s Stotler Lounge on April 21, 2004. The awards breakfast honors studentathletes, coaches, professors and staff for their academic achievements and commitment to excellence. Over 300 student-athletes were recognized for earning a minimum 3.0 semester grade point average during the previous academic year as well as other achievements. Some 124 student-athletes made their respective Dean’s list during the winter of 2003. The Women’s Cross Country team reached an all-time-high achieving a 3.68 grade point average for the Fall 2003 semester. Both the Men’s and W omen’s Women’s Swimming and Diving and Cross Country teams were recognized as 2003 Academic All-American teams. The Track Women’s Track team joined them in the honor. Head Women’s Soccer Coach, Bryan Blitz took home the Coach’s Academic Enhancement Award for his outstanding support for the academic interests of the team. The Men’s Golf team was honored with the Life Skills Community Service Excellence Award for their contributions in community outreach. Professor of Mathematics, Peter Casazza, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Accounting, Billie Cunningham, and Professor of Accounting, Loren Nikolai were selected as Student-Athlete Advisory Council Most Inspiring Professor awardees. The Outstanding Tutor Award went to Jaime Steiner. Rickey Paulding was recognized for being a finalist for the Bayer CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award. Student-trainers were also honored for their academic achievements and other student-athletes were inducted into a variety of honorary societies and received numerous other awards. As standouts athletically and academically in their final year of eligibility, football’s Rob ootball’s Rob Droege and women’s tennis’ Urska Juric received Big XII Scholar-Athlete Medals. The Total Person Program Academic Achievement Awards went to wrestler, Kenny wrestler, Kenn enny volle olleyball play er, Burleson, v olle yball pla y er, Juliana Godoi, sof tball play er, Ashley Hay foo ootball play pla y er, Ashle y Ha y es, and f oo tball pla y er Zach Ville. These four student-athletes exemplify dedication to, and achievement of, the goals of the Total Person Program. The Director of Athletics Leadership Award went to Evan Unrau from the Women’s Basketball team. This honor goes to the student-athlete who has at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, community service participation, strong leadership qualities, strong ethical behavior, and exemplary representation of the MU student-athlete population. The featured speaker, 2002 MU Hall of Fame inductee and former NFL Pro Bowler Erik McMillan, captivated the audience with his message of excellence and achievement. The breakfast was sponsored by Lathrop and Gage and the Varsity M Association. 3 VARSIT ARSITY FRIENDS OF VARSIT Y M In late April, the Varsity M Association mailed an appeal letter to all our members. In short order, donations began arriving and thanks to many generous members, the Varsity M Association will continue our efforts and remain connected to alumni letterwinners through our newsletter, website and tailgates. If you didn’t receive this appeal letter, you will find a donation application on the back page of this newsletter. Thanks to the following members who generously support our Association. Keith Bacon Keith Basham Bert Beckmann Leon Bently Don Boenker Hank Burnine John Burns Bob Denke Julie Dorn Adrian Durant Julie Ferguson Andrea Fischer Jack Frier William Fuchs Craig Gibson Frank Graham Michael Haverty Brock Hessing Dave Holsinger Ralph Kampschmidt Jerry Mathis Frederick Mayer Adrian McBride Jerry Mershon Max Moyer Robert Orsi Keith Parker Gene Pepper Gil Phillips Howard Robertson F. Alan Roby Roger Short Gordon Smith Bob Spinks Sandi Strother Bill Tobin Jeff Warren Craig White Interested in Advertising in our next newsletter? Estes 573-8 6-77 73-87 Call Jim Estes at 573-876-7777 Your donation is tax deductible and you will reach over 1000 MU letterwinners in January and May and over 3600 former athletes in October! AWARD WINNER MU Media Guide named Best in Nation MU Director of Media Relations, Chad Moller was honored by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) with the naming of the 2003 Missouri Football Media Guide as the Best in the Nation Nation. The award will be presented at the annual CoSIDA Convention. Moller was honored in 1992-93 for his first guide for the sport of wrestling. There were 61 entries for Division 1A. The final rankings were as follows: 1. Missouri 2. Texas A&M 3. Ohio State 4. Kansas State 5. Penn State 6. Buffalo 7. UNLV Lynette Linneman-Morasch Marshall “Iggie” Shurnas They Now? Where Are They Now? Gary Starr Gar y S tarr Vitals Resides in Chesterfield, MO. Sport Baseball 1958-1960 Awards Letterwinner in 1958-60; Team batting leader - ‘58; Captain ‘60 MU Coaches John “Hi” Simmons Degree BS Ed ‘’61; M Ed ‘67 Work Resume Employed for 38 years in Missouri Public Schools as Teacher, Coach, Athletic Director and Adminstrator. Family Married to wife Linda and has two children and two grandchildren. Julie Dorn Vitals Recently relocated to Columbia, MO. Sport Gymnastics 1988-91 Awards Inducted into MU’s Hall of Fame in 1996; Big Eight Female Athlete of the Year in 1991; Two-time AllAmerican; All-Big Eight 1989-1991. Coach Jake Jacobson Degrees Bachelor of Social Work ‘91; MEd in Sports Administration ‘94. Work Resume Big Eight Conference and Big Twelve Conference Director of Events (1994-2000); Kansas City Chiefs - Director of Special Events (2000-2004) Family Engaged to Adrian McBride, former MU Wide Receiver. 5 MUAA Updat pdate MUAA Update MUAA Executive Director Accepts New Challenge For the past 10 years, Todd Coleman has served as the executive director of the University of Missouri Alumni Association and the associate vice chancellor for development and alumni relations, where his main responsibilities were to manage the activities and programs of the Association. Under his leadership, Coleman and staff increased overall membership by 30 percent, raised $2 million for life membership endowment, increased the operating budget from $1.1 million to $3 million and grew the full-time staff by 50 percent. Recently, however, the Purdue Alumni Association board of directors has announced that Coleman will serve as their next executive director. Coleman has had a huge impact on the success of the Varsity M Association over the past few years. Coleman played a pivotal role in forging a partnership between the Varsity M Association and the MUAA resulting in a three-fold increase in Varsity M membership and improved programming and communication for MU’s former student athletes. Todd McCubbin has been appointed interim executive director of the MU Alumni Association. McCubbin has served various positions within the alumni association since joining MU in 1995, most recently as the assistant executive director. “It has been a pleasure for me to serve this Alumni Association and I can think of no better person to continue to move the organization forward than Todd McCubbin. He is recognized nationally as an emerging leader in this profession. I wish he, and the staff the best,” said Todd Coleman. Chancellor Wallace Wallace Reception Honored with Reception Chancellor Richard L. Wallace will retire at the end of the summer after 38 years of service to the University of Missouri. On April 16, 2004 he was honored with a retirement dinner hosted by the Alumni Association and given special recognition by the Varsity M Association. Varsity M President, Brock Hessing and Varsity M Board Past-President, Bob Fisher were in attendance to present the Chancellor with a Varsity M Pin. They thanked him for his service to Mizzou and his commitment to athletic excellence. Earlier in the year, Chancellor Wallace was honored at a men’s basketball game and given a Varsity M letterman’s jacket. The Chancellor has been sighted many times since proudly wearing his jacket at Tiger sporting events and around campus. During his nearly four decades as a professor and administrator at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Chancellor Richard Wallace has touched the lives of thousands of faculty, staff, students and alumni. Under his leadership MU experienced record-breaking enrollment, sharply increased federal research support, and national awards for the quality of its undergraduate programs. “Chancellor Wallace has served the University of Missouri with distinction for nearly four decades,” UM System President Elson S. Floyd said. “Richard is a recognized leader in higher education, and his contributions will have a positive impact on the lives of Mizzou students and alumni for years to come.” Not Interest VM Notes of Interest Catch Tiger football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball on the internet for a fee of $4.95 monthly or an entire season for $29.95. Audio broadcast will be available on www.mutigers.com and Yahoo Sports. For the latest information about Varsity M events and activities visit www.muvarsitym.com. 4 Sports Wrap 2003-04 Spring Sports Wrap Women’s Golf In just three seasons, Stephanie Cooper has energized the Golf program recording 18 top three finishes. Among other honors, five members of the team were named to the Academic AllBig XII team. For these and other accomplishments, Coach Cooper was named 2003-04 Big XII Coach of the Year. Both Denise Knaebel and Maria Olhsson earned spots on the All-Big XII team. The team finished in 13th place at the NCAA Central Regional after a 6th place finish at an abbreviated Big XII tournament due to rain. All nine members of the team will return for bigger and better things in 2004-05. Men’s Golf The Tim Robyn era comes to a close with the end of the 2003-04 season. In his six seasons, Coach Robyn was credited for bringing in outstanding talent to Mizzou including Mark McBride a two-time Missouri Amateur Champion. The team experienced peaks and valleys in Robyn’s final season. Seniors, Michael Radek and David Jenkins earned Academic All-Big XII honors and the team was recognized as the Life Skills Community Service Excellence Award recipients. Robyn resigned to pursue other opportunities. Tennis Women’s Tennis Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova earned their third straight All-Big XII Doubles recognition. Coach Blake Starkey led the team to a 7-6 conference record, and a 14-9 overall mark. The team advanced to the second round of the Big XII tournament but lost a close contest to Oklahoma. The team narrowly missed another NCAA tournament bid. Fifteen of the Tigers opponents were ranked in the top 40, five of which were in the top 20. Women’s Track Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Coach Rick McGuire and his talented staff led another athletic group through an action packed season. A total of 24 men’s and women’s track & field student-athletes will be competing in Baton Rouge, LA at the NCAA Mideast Regional. Other season highlights include Margaret Ibe’s personal-best time in the 400 meter hurdles which is also the 2nd best all-time mark in Mizzou history. Another 2nd best all-time school mark was earned by pole vaulter, Lindsey Tait. Freshman, Marcus Mayes earned the 2nd fastest time in the 800 meter for an American under 19 this year. Mayes and other MU freshmen will compete at the U.S. Junior National Championships in June with hopes of going to Italy for the World Junior National Championships. In Big XII competition, Jessica Stockard won the conference title in the heptathlon while Hans Uldal finished second in the decathlon. Janae Strickland broke her school record on her way to a second place finish in the conference shot put title. Another thrower, Holly Scherder won the Big XII hammer throw title, the first in Mizzou Women’s throwing history. The women’s team placed 4th while the men finished 11th in the tournament. Softball After starting the season primarily on the road against some of the best competition in the nation, MU Softball was able to right the ship and comeback for a fabulous finish in the spring. Pitcher Erin Kalka led the charge from the mound and on one memorable Saturday at University Field gave a performance that etched her name in the NCAA record books. Kalka struck out 21 of the 25 batters she faced in a 4 hour 13 minute victory over the Cowgirls of OSU on April. The performance landed her third on the All-Time NCAA Single Game Strikeout chart. The team finished with an overall 29-26 record and a 2nd place finish at the Big XII tournament. In just his 2nd season Coach Ty Singleton led the squad back to the NCAA tourney. The bid took the squad to sunny Los Angeles where the Tigers suffered losses at the hands of Louisville and Mississippi Valley State. Comprised of many underclassmen, the future looks quite bright for Mizzou Softball. Spring Wrap-Up continued on page 7 6 Around The Sports Park Continued from front page arsity Ceremony Var sity M Pinning Ceremony and tudent-A thlet Lunc uncheon S tudent- A thle t e Graduation L unc heon TRACK & FIELD Look out for these three former MU track & field standouts making the Olympic trial push. Former MU thrower, Christian Cantwell is currently #1 in the World IAAF event rankings in the shot put. Cantwell won the World Championship back in March in Budapest. Former All-American and NCAA Champion, Derrick Peterson is also busy training and preparing for an opportunity to earn a spot on the U. S. Olympic team. PostCollegian, Michelle Moran earned her U.S. Olympic Trial “B” qualifying status with a Walton stadium record finish in the heptathlon during the 1st Annual Audrey Walton Combined Event Carnival. Post-Collegian Fiona Asigbee finished second. Sports Wrap-Up Spring Spor ts Wrap-Up Continued from page 6 BASEBALL On the diamond, the Tigers jumped out of the gate with six straight wins. Coach Jamieson steered the team through some mid-season difficulties to finish with a 34-20 final regular season record and a 7 th seed going into the Big XII Tourney. Hurler, Garrett Broshius delivered a perfect regular season record of 9-0. His highlight performance came against a #1 ranked Texas Longhorn squad in which he recorded nine strikeouts on his way to the shutout. Sluggers Cody Ehlers, Ryan Rallo and Lee Laskowski kept opposing pitchers on their toes with their dangerous bats. The Varsity M and Mizzou Athletics celebrated the accomplishments of 41 student-athletes on a truly gorgeous May Saturday afternoon. For Varsity M Board Members, the day began with a productive meeting focusing on the upcoming academic year. Following the board meeting, members of the board joined attending student-athletes, coaches, friends, and family for lunch. Associate Director of Athletics for Academics, Bryan Maggard kicked the program off and was followed by a brief address from Associate Director of Athletics for Student Services/Senior Women’s Administrator, Sarah Reesman. The program was then turned over to Varsity M Board President, Brock Hessing who welcomed the new graduates to the association. Hessing gave a brief history of Varsity M and encouraged each graduate to reach out to the association throughout their lives and utilize it as a constant link to Ol’ Mizzou. Graduates then received their Varsity M pin, certificate, an association t-shirt, and information on the MUAA. arsity Var sity M Association Board of Directors Brock Hessing, President Strother, Sandi Str o ther, Vice-President Estes, Treasurer Jim Estes, Treasurer Rich Bernsen George Boucher Julie Dorn Tim Geiger Bob Gooch Gro Terri Gr o v es erry Terr y Maglich Jerry Mathis Adrian McBride Bob Meyers Jerome Sally Brad Scrivner Mel Sheehan Scott Stevens Ray Uriarte Henry Wiebe Tribut ribute Tiger Tribute A Moment to Remember . . . . a Lifetime to Honor Please join the Varsity M Association in honoring the lives of the following former letter-winners that have passed away since January 2004. May their Mizzou memories never fade and their legacies live on. Joseph J. Shy, Jr. - Track & Field, ‘49 Business H. George Lafferty, Jr. - Basketball, ‘56 Law Glenn A. Welsh - ‘39 Business Richard D. Croak - Football, ‘46 Arts & Science 7