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Peter Larkins | Chief Photographer
Senior golfer Jennifer Monko excels at many tasks, including golfing, fishing and singing. |
Renaissance woman: Jennifer Monko
by Chris Zaluski
Staff Writer
It was four years ago when Appalachian State senior golfer Jennifer Monko found herself locked in a racquetball court beneath the Broome-Kirk Health and Physical Education Building.
Monko, who used the gym to hit golf balls during the winter months, could not get a hold of anyone to let her out.
With nobody around to help her, Monko used a golf club to break through the wire-enforced glass.
Now, four years later, that determination is more evident than ever.
“I’ve rarely met somebody with as strong a will as she has,” head coach Bill Dicus said. “She cannot stand to not do her best. She’s very hard on herself and she is just tremendously determined.”
This attitude is something that developed when Monko started playing golf at Forest Park Golf Club in Indiana when she was younger.
“I used to go tag along with my mom at the driving range when I was young,” Monko said. “My sister and I would always collect tees and hit a few here and there.”
Aside from the many members of her family that golf, including a younger sister, Juliane, who also plays for ASU, Monko was fortunate enough to become friends with professional golfer Michelle McGann.
“[My sister and I] started out as fans and we wrote her letters and actually ended up meeting her,” said Monko. “Since then we’ve been good family friends.”
Despite the fact that she has been surrounded by golf most of her life, Monko has many other interests and hobbies.
On the golf course, water is usually to be avoided, but Monko carries a different attitude when she leaves the tee box.
One of her main hobbies is fishing and her family has an offshore fishing team.
“My dad and my brother are huge fishermen and I’ve always tagged along, but now I love it,” Monko said. “I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and I’m on the water before 5 and there are all these boats going 50 mph through the inlet while the sun is coming up. It’s incredible.”
Monko also has a love for country music that can be seen when she’s on the golf course.
Whether its Tim McGraw or Chely Wright, she says that singing helps her to relax and refocus when she’s playing.
Her well-rounded attitude and personality have gained her the respect of her teammates, who view her as a leader, Dicus said.
“She brings us leadership … she is not a vocal leader, and that’s not bad by any stretch; she leads by example,” Dicus said. “She had the respect of her teammates by the second semester of her freshman year. She was thought of as a leader four years ago and she’s just developed more and more into that role.”
During her career at ASU, Monko has been voted as team MVP the past two years as well as being named as an academic All-American for three years.
When Monko officially hangs up her golf bag April 24, she said she will not have any regrets about her career at Appalachian.
Dicus believes that the mark Monko left on ASU will be seen in the future.
“I fully expect Jennifer to excel at whatever she chooses to go into after college,” he said. “That’s not to limit her to playing golf [because] that’s not all she can do.”
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Special to The Appalachian
Lisa M. Dombroski plays for state, regional and national teams. |
Dombroski becomes national force in rugby
by Alison Fosbenner
Staff Writer
To an outsider, women’s rugby might look like a mean, violent, body-bashing sport.
But to Lisa M. Dombroski, a senior recreation management major, rugby is more about heart and dedication.
Dombroski represents Appalachian State’s AHO women’s rugby team. She also plays for the state, regional and national teams on the under-23 level. In addition, she is in the player pool used to select members of the national team.
“I’ve yet to play a game for the national team,” Dombroski said. “There is a possibility I will be playing with them this summer.”
She was placed into the pool during the summer of 2003.
“I’ve had the best experience with it,” Dombroski said.
For the national team, she has traveled to Canada for training camp. This past summer, she went to New Zealand for 14 days, where they had two or three practices a day in addition to working out.
“We ate, slept and drank rugby,” Dombroski said. “It takes a very tolerant person.”
Dombroski has been playing sports since the age of three. Rugby became a part of her life during her freshman year at College of Charleston. She transferred to Appalachian during the fall of her junior year.
“I wanted to get a fresh start,” Dombroski said.
Since her early years of rugby, Dombroski said she has mostly polished her skills, especially with the help of the national coaches.
“I’ve definitely learned that you have to love it in order to keep playing,” she said. “I’ve gotten more confident in how the game is played. I am able to recognize different techniques and tactics and I’m more aware of the entire field.”
Experience with rugby teams outside of Appalachian has allowed a great amount of networking.
Dombroski has met people from Germany, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and all over the United States.
“It’s a very big learning opportunity,” Dombroski said.
Most who do not know much about the sport of rugby form negative stereotypes about the athletes involved.
Women’s rugby, in particular, has a slew of labels. Mean and massive women who want nothing but to hurt someone is often what comes to mind.
“It’s not about lifestyle, it’s about an athletic endeavor,” Dombroski said.
She explained that rugby is not as brutal as one might think. Injuries happen with any sport. In all the years she has played rugby, Dombroski has torn her meniscus and pulled a few muscles.
“The U.S. rugby reputation is either drunk and obnoxious or gay, drunk and obnoxious,” Dombroski said. “It is not at all like that.
“At every level, you have your gays, bisexuals and straight people,” she added. “That is the prevalent stereotype that scares people.”
Her family is even wary about her playing rugby.
“It’s mainly because it’s still socially not accepted here,” she said. “We’re making developmental steps toward it and it’s great to be a part of that.”
In opposition to brutality, Dombroski said it’s really a caring, tight-knit group.
“These are some of the kindest, sweetest people in the world. It’s very much just about looking out for each other,” she said. “It takes a rare few to stick with it, but those are the ones with the heart.”
Even women who once played but had to stop for one reason or another continue to support others.
“We all have to push each other,” she said.
Through it all, Dombroski looks to best friend, Sara Pieper (“Pipe”), whom she said is her biggest influence. Pieper at one time played with AHO but now goes to games and supports the team from the sideline.
“She has definitely pushed me mentally, physically and emotionally to keep going at it and keep doing my best, along with the rest of my team,” Dombroski said. “It’s like once AHO, always AHO.”
Graduation for Dombroski is just weeks away. Her playing days with the AHO women are coming to an end.
“I’ve said that I am done,” Dombroski said. “But I feel like rugby is something you can never walk away from.”
In June, Dombroski will travel to Minnesota for the national under-23 championship tournament.
After that, she said she will head to a training camp, which will most likely be in Canada again.
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Sports-in-Brief
by Erik Rhyne
Staff Writer
Men’s basketball head coach Houston Fancher was awarded a three-year contract extension after falling just one game short of a second Southern Conference North Division title in three years.
With the extension, Fancher is now signed through the 2008-09 season. Fancher has posted a record of 67-81 in his five seasons as head coach of the Mountaineers.
The fifth-year coach orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in the SoCon, going from 9-21 (4-12 SoCon) in 2003-04 to a record of 18-12 (9-7) this year.
He has mentored five all-SoCon honorees in his five seasons at the helm, including 2004-05 third-team selection D.J. Thompson, who returns as a junior next year.
Before taking over as head coach, Fancher was an assistant coach at Appalachian from 1996-2000. He helped lead ASU to three-straight 20-win seasons, with the biggest moment coming in 2000 with a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
Expectations will be high for the men’s basketball team next year.
Appalachian loses its leading scorer in Noah Brown, but several underclassmen saw significant playing time this year. Current sophomores D.J. Thompson, Demetrious Scott and Nathan Cranford and freshmen Jeremy Clayton and Douglass McLaughlin-Williams were all in the starting lineup at one point this season.
Senior Derek Thomas, who averaged 7.4 points a game, will also return to form a solid nucleus for next season.
Thompson averaged 11.2 points a game this season and shot nearly 41 percent from three-point range, earning him a Southern Conference third-team selection.
Track & Field
Head coach John Weaver has been selected to participate in the 2005 Coaches College Performance and Planning Summit sponsored by the United States Olympic Committee.
“This is a great opportunity to update and enhance my knowledge on track and field, for both myself and the program,” Weaver said. “This will allow me to get some exposure to the cutting edge in track and field and performance training in general.”
The Coaches College is a concept recently developed to provide coaches and the national governing bodies of the Olympic sports a week of intensive study in the areas of performance, nutrition, training theory, strength development, sports medicine and other areas relating to performance. The Coaches College runs from April 3-10 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Baseball
Appalachian State allowed five unearned runs off four errors and managed six hits in a 6-0 loss to Gardner Webb University Wednesday.
Winning pitcher Josh Martin allowed three hits and strick out five batters in five scoreless innings of work.
Sophomore center fielder Chris Baker collected three of ASU’s six hits, going 3-for-3.
ASU starter Taylor Craig suffered the loss despite not giving up an earned run. His record is no 1-3 on the season.
ASU went 3-5 during its eight game homestand which started March 19 and ended March 30. The other two wins came against Wofford College and the other against University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
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File Photo
Alan Atwater was Appalachian's leading rusher the past two season, running for 1,290 yards. |
Atwater dismissed from football team
by Erik Rhyne
Staff Writer
Appalachian State running back Alan Atwater has been dismissed from ASU’s football program for a violation of team rules, head coach Jerry Moore said.
“I am disappointed for Alan,” Moore said. “We hate to lose him. I hope that he continues his education and gets everything in order with his life.”
Atwater, Appalachian’s leading rusher each of the past two seasons, ran for 1,290 yards during his two-year career. He had two years of eligibility remaining.
As a freshman, Atwater rushed for 873 yards, including a 207-yard performance against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a school best for a freshman.
Last season, Atwater started eight games and rushed for a total of 450 yards and five rushing touchdowns. He was also the team’s second leading receiver with 29 receptions for 296 yards and a touchdown.
With Atwater’s departure, sophomore Kevin Richardson will likely move up to No. 1 running back on the depth chart. Richardson rushed for 347 yards last season on 4.9 yards-a-carry.
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