Cedars, April 27, 2006

Thursday, April 27, 2006 14 | C EDARS SPORTS Injuries Plague CU Track Athletes at AMC Meet The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed this past weekend in the American Mideast Conference Meet. The weather wasn’t very cooperative on Friday, as rain drenched the 10k runners and forced the pole vaulters to compete in the Doden Field house. Saturday was another story, however, as the sun made an appearance for the first time in a long time at the AMC meet. The perfect weather, along with a very minimal wind (hallelujah), helped the CU women tally 103.5 points, good for 3rd place, while the men took 4th place with 116 points. Malone won the overall women’s title with 233 points, while the Tiffin men put up 178 points for their third consecutive champion- ship. The women were led by Elliv Campus Athlete of the Year nominee Samantha Maat and “put me in any event” Courtney Reid. Maat was able to break Cedarville track re- cords in both the 1500m run with a time of 4:48.79, breaking the former time by three seconds, and in the 5k with a time of 17:51, crushing the track record by 12 seconds. On the other end of the track and field spectrum was Reid, who was able to break track records in both the 100m hurdles (15.09s) and 400m hurdles (1:05.92s). Reid actually broke the 100m hurdle record twice—once in the preliminary heat and again in the finals. Reid was also the an- chor on the 400m relay team that took 4th, and she nearly chased down the 2nd and 3rd place runners. The women’s 1600m relay team consist- ing of Reid, Marla Rice, Bethany Davies, and All-American Keri Hilty, broke the track and meet record with a time of 4:00.83s. Round- ing out Cedarville’s top performances was Emily Peacock, who easily won the ham- mer throw by almost six feet with a heave of 144’7”. The men, who were hampered by injuries before and during the meet, were still able to produce some nationally ranked perfor- mances and assemble enough points for a respectable fourth place finish. They were led by the gutsy performance of Ryan Bun- denthal, who automatically qualified for the NAIA National Championships and set a school record in the prelims of the 110m high hurdles (14.75s). Bundenthal went on to inish 2nd in the finals of the 110m high hurdles. Bundy, as he is affectionately known, was just nipped at the line by two other runners in the 400m hurdles and placed 3rd. The Cedarville distance runners were able to dominate the steeplechase. Kevin Hall led the race from start to finish and crossed the line in 9:28, breaking the track record by ten seconds. Kevin Kuhn, a fresh- man from about five minutes down the road, finished second in a time of 9:43 while Matt Silviera rounded out the Cedarville steeple- chasers in a time of 9:58 to place 4th. Bryan Pittman, a distance runner from Colorado, ran the toughest double of the meet as he fin- ished 5th in both the 10k and 5k. Cedarville also had a strong showing in the field events; however, the team was hampered by injuries to Joel Smith and Ja- son Scott. Despite his injuries, Smith was able to manage a 2nd place finish in the tri- ple jump and a 4th place finish in the high jump. Three athletes cleared 6’6” in the high jump, including Jim Sawin, who placed 3rd on misses. Justin Mattern was able to step up in the absence of national champion Ja- son Scott and obtain a 3rd place finish with a vault of 14’11”. Throwers Ben Michaud, Neil Henning, and Christian Maat also competed well for the Jackets. Michaud was able to record a third place finish in the shot put with a heave of 49’5,” while Henning and Maat placed 4th and 5th respectively in the ham- mer. Despite being plagued by injuries, both the men and women had respectable show- ings at the Conference meet and are looking to claim victory at NCCAA Nationals next weekend. · Josh Saunders · Contributing Writer Baseball—Fifth Third Field: CU Takes Game to Professional Level · Richie Reeder · Contributing Writer tionals. The same track athletes who dominated the indoor season are find- ing success in the fickle spring weather. For Christians, athlet- ics should be about much more than winning and losing. Individual Chris- tians are called to repre- sent their God and their Savior, Jesus Christ, in all aspects of life, both on and off the court. At Cedar- ville, sports are an edify- ing, spiritual experience different from any other available at the school. Judging by the number of teams and coaches recog- nized for their outstanding character on and off the court, athletes are standing up for Christ and standing out to a lost audience. Representing Christ to a world caught up in the guts and glory of Ameri- can athletics, Cedarville University athletes live out the gospel in flesh and blood; as St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” Win- ning championships, set- ting records, being named All-American—all these things are just icing on the cake. C ONTINUED FROM SPORTS PAGE 13 The Cedarville University baseball team competed against the Wilmington Quak- ers under the lights at Dayton’s Fifth Third Field on Wednesday, April 19. It was a fun night for fans and players alike in this minor- league atmosphere as the Event Planning class at Cedarville University staged the whole evening. Filled with between-inning promotions such as tricycle races, dance competitions, and musical chairs, the night was packed with as much entertainment off the field as there was competition on it. The nine-inning game was unusually short, wrapping up in a little over two hours with the Jackets falling to the Quakers 4-1. Senior starting pitcher Kiel Boynton pitched a complete game for the Yellow Jackets as he surrendered four earned runs on eight hits. Boynton kept the Quakers in check for seven out of nine innings, but al- lowed two runs in both the third and fifth innings. The Yellow Jacket offense out-hit Wilmington 9 to 8 but was unable to string multiple hits together in the same inning. Cedarville scratched out their only run in the sixth inning on a blooper to right field. Sophomore designated hitter Matt Houchin led the Cedarville hitters by going 3-4 with a double. The left side of the Yellow Jacket infield accounted for four hits and the only run of the ballgame as sophomore shortstop Paul Wilson went 2-3 with a run scored and junior third baseman Richie Reeder went 2- 4 with a run batted in. While the loss was costly for the Yellow Jackets, the night at Fifth Third was excit- ing for the whole team. “The atmosphere at Fifth Third Field raised every player’s inten- sity level and love for the game,” said fresh- man infielder Jordan Shumaker. After the game, former big leaguer Bill Wegmen shared his personal testimony of how he came to Christ in his first few years in the major leagues. It was a great outreach event as the Wilmington fans and players stayed afterwards to listen to him speak. He challenged Cedarville students especially to not simply go through the motions of their faith, but to be intentional about sharing it with others through their everyday actions. After Wegmen finished his segment with a prayer of invitation to receive Christ, the Yellow Jacket players gathered with Wilm- ington around home plate to dedicate the night to Christ and to pray for their opposing competitors. While the Yellow Jackets came up short on the scoring end, the night as a whole was a success in everyone’s eyes. The Cedarville baseball team got to play in a professional park, the fans were entertained all night long by the Event Planning class, and the gospel was shared in a very practical speech that was linked to sports—what could be better? Tennis Riding Winning Streaks · Aaron Sweigard · Contributing Writer The Cedarville men’s and women’s ten- nis teams have both experienced stellar sea- sons up to this point. The men have an im- pressive 13-4 overall record while the Lady Jackets are currently 10-3. On April 21 the men came away vic- torious with a 5-4 victory against Malone. The Jackets took control of 2nd place in the American Mideast Conference with the match win. Both doubles teams competed outdoors but had to finish singles play in- doors due to rain. The Pioneers from Malone took an early 2-1 advantage in doubles play by winning at the top two positions. However, the Jackets rallied to overcome the Pioneers by win- ning four singles matches. Tim Hartman, Cedarville’s #1 singles player, led the way with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 victory. Mike Rhoads, Cedarville’s #5 player, rallied impressively from a 5-2 deficit in the third set to eventu- ally win the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. The other two singles winners for the Jackets were Dan Ballard (6-3, 6-2), and Derek Hostetter (6-0, 4-6, 6-3). The men dominated Central State on April 18, 9-0. Even more impressive was the fact that Cedarville dropped only two games in the entire team match-up. This was Ce- darville’s seventh consecutive victory over non-conference opponent Central State. Jar- rod Michonski saw his first singles action of the season at the #6 position. Michonski was also one of five players to post a victory by a 6-0, 6-0 score. “We’ve had a really strong year so far and the only bad spot was a close 5-4 loss to Walsh, who we’ll probably end up play- ing for the conference championship,” com- mented Jake Bezeck. “Everyone in the lineup has been playing strong and no one has lost any matches that they shouldn’t have; it’s been a really consistent season so far from everyone.” The Jackets also steamrolled Notre Dame College after the score of 9-0 this past weekend, and they will play next at home against Huntington this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The Lady Jackets returned a solid core of players from last year’s squad. Last season the Lady Jackets finished 11-9 overall and placed 4th at the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament. The Lady Jackets have been even more im- pressive up to this point in the season. The women faced off against the Witten- berg Tigers on April 20 and came away with a nail-biting 5-4 victory. The win was the Lady Jackets’ fourth in their last five match- es, and was won by the performances of CU’s lower ranked players. Cedarville was victorious in four of the six singles matches, which included the bottom three positions. Dolph performed well and came up with a three set victory from the #6 position, win- ning 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. The other singles win- ners were Alisa Rutt, Melinda Workman, and Betsy Verwys 6-0, 6-3. Workman and Dolph came up with the lone doubles point, winning by the score of 8-6. The Wittenberg Tigers fell to 8-8 with the loss. The Lady Jackets also battled Grace Col- lege on April 21, but Grace was simply no match for Cedarville as the Jackets won 8-1. Cedarville took a 2-1 advantage with doubles victories from Laura McCully and Verwys, 8-1, and Workman and Dolph, 8-2. The Lady Jackets swept all the singles matches with only Workman facing any challenge whatsoever, but Workman ulti- mately prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 10-4. Jodi Kraker, Rutt, McCully, Verwys, and Dolph were the other singles winners. The Lady Jackets also took care of Beth- el this past weekend, winning 6-3 for their fourth straight victory. You can catch the women in action this Saturday against Hun- tington. Come out and support the ladies in their last home match of the year! JOHN HUDSON | CEDARS