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Mountaineer
men race to second consecutive SoCon Title
Chris
Boyce - Sports Beat
The
Appalachian State University men’s cross country team has used a
simple formula for success over the last two seasons in racking up two
Southern Conference titles. Depth equals domination.
The Mountaineers pounded rival and conference title contender University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) 39-72 during last weekend’s Southern
Conference Championships in Charleston, SC.
The Mountaineers posted four runners in the top 10 and nine runners in
the top 25 en route to its lopsided victory. Perhaps even more impressively,
all nine Mountaineer runners in the men’s event finished in front
of Chattanooga’s fifth and final man.
The Mountaineer women finished second in their event, losing by 46 points
to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Junior Sarah Primeau enjoyed a third place finish, pacing the women’s
team. Seniors Jenny Honeycutt and Heather Needham placed 13th and 16th
respectively.
In the men’s event, senior Shawn Evans and sophomore Joe Halin led
Appalachian State, finishing fourth and fifth with times of 25:01.67 and
25:03.40, respectively. Michael Reed and Ryan Toler placed eighth and
ninth.
The depth of Appalachian State was the team’s biggest strength in
the race.
“Depth has been a big part of our success,” said Evans. “Our
senior class has made a huge contribution, and we got a lot of help from
our sophomores.”
One such sophomore was Halin, who said he entered the race with a focus
set on winning the men’s individual title.
“I really wanted the individual title, but I’m not disappointed,”
said Halin. “Going into the race, I had the number one-seeded time,
and I felt I had a legitimate chance. I made some tactical mistakes but
more important than the individual race was our team’s success.”
Among the accolades was head cross country coach Mike Curcio’s third
SoCon Coach of the Year award.
Curcio said the team’s strategy going into the race was to be position-oriented
and stay close to the Chattanooga runners who were expected to be the
biggest threat to the Mountaineers.
“The strategy was basically to put our top five or six guys in the
top 15,” said Curcio. “We knew it was going to be a fast race
because it was a totally flat course with hard-packed dirt and the grass
we were running on was like a putting green.”
But the Mocs failed to contend, placing only two runners in the top 10.
“I was surprised we beat them as much as we did, but I knew if we
all ran as strong as we should we could expect to beat them,” said
Evans.
“We only raced nine people and all nine finished in front of their
fifth man. I think that show’s something about our depth, but we’ll
have to see at districts how it compares to other teams,” said Halin.
Curcio said there were some surprises in the outcome, with Western Carolina
University placing runners first and third overall.
Catamount Jesse Norman won the event with a time of 24:48.95 and was the
only runner with an average mile of less than five minutes at 4:59.5.
East Tennessee State University’s Bradley Yewer finished second with
a time of 24:54.00.
In the women’s event, Primeau stayed just behind Chattanooga runners
Gina Recher and Shannon Womack but was never able to overtake them.
“It was a really interesting race to watch individually after having
Mary Jayne Harrelson go out and blowing away the field the last three
or four years. Now we had a situation where one of our athletes had a
chance to win and she was pushing the other two and they were pulling
here. The top three finishers made it a really exciting race to watch,”
said Curcio.
Both men’s and women’s cross country teams now set their focus
on the NCAA Southeastern District Championships at Furman University in
Greenville, S.C.
But after another solid year of Mountaineer cross country, Curcio is proud
of all of his athletes.
Curcio said, “Yogi Bera was once asked what it takes to be a good
manager. [He replied] ‘’Good athletes.’ We’re fortunate
to have a good group of men and women who represent this university with
pride.”
Paul
Sherar - Chief Photographer
Running
back Jimmy Watkins (32) scores one of his two touchdowns last week in
ASU’s 51-14 win over UTC. Watkins is expected to split time with
Jerry Beard and Jose White Saturday when ASU travels to VMI.
Appalachian
looks to conquer Keydets in chase for playoff berth
James
Nix - Sports Beat
The
Appalachian State University football team has three games remaining
on its 2001 schedule, and it must win them all if it hopes to secure
a NCAA Division I-AA playoff spot.
The next hurdle Appalachian must overcome in its playoff run comes Saturday
against the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Keydets.
The Mountaineers will kickoff against the Keydets on Saturday at 1 p.m.
at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington, Va.The Mountaineers (5-3, 4-2
Southern Conference) enter the game after an impressive 51-14 victory
over the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) last Saturday
in Boone.
VMI (1-6, 1-4 SoCon) lost last weekend 44-17 to Western Carolina University.
History is on Appalachian’s side against the Keydets. The Mountaineers
have not lost to VMI since 1994. Appalachian has defeated VMI by a 50-point
margin in two out of the last three encounters with the Keydets, shutting
VMI out 51-0 in 1998 and 52-0 last season.
Appalachian’s overall record against the Keydets is 17-4-2.
The Mountaineers have struggled offensively all season but seemed to
connect during the victory over Chattanooga.
Junior quarterback Joe Burchette threw three touchdown passes, while
senior running back Jimmy Watkins ran for two scores.
The win over UTC marked the first time all season the Mountaineers used
a balanced attack to its full potential. If it can do the same against
VMI, history will repeat itself.
Against Chattanooga, Watkins was Appalachian’s primary running
back. However, ASU has two more capable running backs in Jerry Beard
and Jose White.
Watkins, who has had a roller coaster of a season, may yield some playing
time to Beard or White, said Appalachian State head football coach Jerry
Moore.
“The good thing about us is we’ve got three or four good running
backs,” said Moore.
Appalachian will definitely utilize its signature running game against
the Keydets. It has proven effective in years past.
Another advantage Appalachian has against VMI is Burchette.
Burchette has become a dominant force on the field. His ability to throw
the long ball may play an important roll against VMI as well as his
ability to run the ball.
“[Burchette’s] getting to where he runs our football,”
said Moore. “I think that is more important right now than his
throwing ability.”
Moore also said he hopes to see more passes similar to the ones Burchette
had against Chattanooga.
Watkins said his team would keep practicing hard in preparation for
VMI.
Watkins said Moore has been tougher on the offense over the last few
weeks, trying to get the unit in better shape for the end of the season.
After Saturday’s dominant performance against Chattanooga, the
offense is headed in the right direction.
Despite the encouraging turnaround, penalties continue to plague the
Mountaineers.
ASU has lost 657 yards on 69 penalties this year. Once Appalachian can
cut down the penalties, it should have no problem winning the remainder
of its games.
“Penalties just slow us down,” said Watkins.
After VMI, Appalachian will finish the rest of the season at home against
Western Carolina University and West Virginia Technical University.
“We know we got to win and need to win,” said Watkins. “Every
game is a big game.”
Watkins said the Mountaineers need to play every game like it is a playoff
game for the remainder of the season.
Rafferty: Field grouping gives advantage
to Mountaineers
Andy
Morris - Sports Beat
The prospects
are looking good for Appalachian State University’s club soccer
team to capture its first ever North Carolina State Championship trophy
this weekend at East Carolina University in Greenville.
The Mountaineers were placed in a group with Western Carolina University,
East Carolina University and North Carolina State University. Appalachian
beat Western Carolina 2-0 two weeks ago in Boone and lost 1-0 to East
Carolina in September in the final minutes of the game.
The Mountaineers dominated N.C. State last spring in a 4-2 victory at
Duke University.
“I really like the draw we’ve got,” said club president
Terry Rafferty. “I expect us to win all three games because of
the past results we’ve had against these teams. I think we’ll
be in one of the semifinal games.”
Rafferty will be forced to sit out the games, due to a broken collarbone
suffered last week and will coach the team from the sidelines.
Sophomore forward Lee Spruill remains confident about the team’s
chances.
“We’ve got a really good team and can play well when we’re
all together,” he said. “Our midfielders are going to have
to step up and fill in for Terry because he plays an important leadership
role on the field.”
Spruill said the team has been playing well in recent games but has
struggled to put points on the board.
“We can move the ball well, and we’ve got a great defense,
but we’ve just been very unlucky about getting the ball in the
net,” he said.
Rafferty said it will be important for the team to execute well at the
tactical side of the game.
“Our fitness isn’t as good as it could be, so we need to do
a better job of possessing the ball and hitting the ball between the
goalposts,” Rafferty said.
The Mountaineers begin play on Friday at 8 p.m. against the Catamounts
and continue Saturday at 10 a.m. against East Carolina and again at
2 p.m. in a duel with the Wolfpack.
The tournament has two groups of four teams with the top two teams in
each group advancing to the semifinals on Sunday morning.
The finals will be on Sunday afternoon.
Fortunately for the Mountaineers, their opponent, Western Carolina,
on Friday evening will also have a long drive to Greenville. The Catamounts,
in their first year of club soccer competition, played the Mountaineers
hard in their last meeting but was unable to crack through a tough Mountaineer
defense. Jon Cichelli and Philip Gooding scored to give the Mountaineers
the victory.
“That game was definitely a battle, but I think the muddy surface
at State Farm Fields had a lot to do with it,” Spruill said. “I
think we can do a lot better against Western Carolina.”
The Pirates, Saturday morning’s opponent, managed to get a late
goal in against the Mountaineers in the teams’ last meeting after
multiple missed chances by Appalachian. After East Carolina scored,
the Mountaineers hit the post twice and missed the goal by inches.
“I really think we’re a better team than East Carolina and
we definitely should have won that game,” Rafferty said. “We
had already played a game about an hour before and they were rested
from a 10 a.m. game.”
Spruill says this tournament is a chance for the Mountaineers to show
what they can do.
“We can beat any team, any day,” he said. “I think we
are definitely a favorite to win this.”
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