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Thursday, December 9, 1999 - Page 18 SPORTS Women's basketball preview: New season brings new faces and new challenges to the Lady Terror's squad team is a young work in progress, Patty Russo. A six foot forward, GREG LEDERER also looked very promising in pre- The team will have to mature Staff Writer and they will experience growing Ibex is supposed to be the key post season practices and are expected quickly with one of the strongest pains as they learn to play to- player in the front court for the to have bright futures. Division III schedules in the Over the last two years, the gether." team. A defensive specialist, jun- The back court will receive con- ranked WMC women's basketball team "As soon as our team plays as ior point and shooting guard, Patty tributions from junior Meghan country. With nationally and other Gallaudet University has seen massive changes and one unit, we will be formidable," Russo is expected to provide a large Tracey and senior Megan .Linch strong teams like Johns Hopkins, new faces in their starting lineup. she continues. portion of the offense from the back while sophomore Brooke, Elizabethtown, and Gettysburg With only three seniors on this Martin is looking for strong court this season. Brenneman provides depth in the on the schedule, the team will be year's roster, the young team has leadership from captains junior Jill Good things are also expected front court. hard pressed to have an easy the potential to play well in the Ibex and senior Carney Brian, who from senior starting point guard In the early part of the season, game. Centennial Conference for the is presently on injured reserve with Dena Morgan, who didn't play for team chemistry has been very The team will play with an up- next couple years. a recurring knee .injury. Martin is the team last season, and junior for- promising for the coaching staff. tempo style including many fast In her 19th year as coach of very positive about the team. "We ward Brianne Bray, who saw lim- Martin says, "The chemistry is ... breaks and pressing defenses. the team, Emily Martin is very have more depth than past years," ited playing time on last year's [physically] very good with every- For this reason, it may be a enthusiastic and excited at this she says. team. one working hard, but they still very competitive and exciting year's prospects. Big contributions on the team Incoming freshman Jennifer need experience on the court to- season for the women's basket- According to Martin, "The are expected to come from Ibex and Piccolomini and Kris Brust have gether." ball team. Conaway brings home gold from Lebanon Valley College Senior captain Conaway, a match. The closest match Conaway MIKE YESTRAMSKI in the semifinals and flattened The record was previously held former Maryland State High had was with Justin Haren of Sports Editor Adam Musser of Messiah in just by current Assistant Coach Steve School Champion, breezed through Mount Union, whom he defeated two minutes and 31 seconds in the Smiddy. South Carroll High School's the competition by pinning three by a major decision score of 10-1. finals to win the gold. Senior Jon Pitonzo (125 lbs.) own Charlie Conaway (184 lbs.) opponents and scoring a major de- Conaway spent less time in his Conaway also came away from placed fifth at the tournament. became the first ever WMC wres- cision over another opponent. semifinal and final match com- the tournament with the award for Sophomores Chris McNally (197 tler to take home the gold medal The defending Centennial Con- bined than he did in the first match most pins at the tournament, which Ibs.) and Mike Macey (141 lbs.) from the Gerald Petrofes Invita- ference Champion pinned Justin of the tournament. he also won as a sophomore, as placed seventh and eighth, respec- tional at Lebanon Valley College Maltews of Newport News for four He pinned Jason Miklacic of well as the school record for career tively. this past weekend. minutes and 36 seconds into the Thiel in one minute and 43 seconds pins (43). Long shadows left by exit of sports legends and hope for future RYAN SEAVOLT Blazer," the real American super- for the San Francisco 4gers, Sieve questions and offering advice in- We can only hope that these Stoff,Writer hero" gimmick Young, is also considering retire- stead of immediately throwing out stellar athletes continue to demon- But not all legendary athletes ment, due to the many concussions the first pitch of the ball game. So, strate awe-inspiring play, so that In the past year or two we have who left us this past year have he has suffered over the years, in- when heroes of the past leave us, when they-leave, we will have the witnessed the exit of some of the passed on. eluding at least one this season. we will always' have new icons memories to conjure up and send / greatest professional athletes ever. Many have simply retired from So the question is, who's next whom we can look up to. chills down our very spines. ~ Whether through retirement or sports. Such instances are even to retire? death, we have lost a flurry of great more important to "Generation Will we see the aging Cal athletes in a relatively short period Xers" because we remember see- Ripken or Roger Clemens retire of time. ing these athletes play and grew up soon? Take for instance the death of idolizing them. Or perhaps Dan Marino will fi- the "Yankee Clipper," Joe For example, the greatest bas- nally win his Super Bowl this year DiMaggio. ketball player of all-time, Michael with the Miami Dolphins and de- His record 56-game hitting Jordan, after leading the Chicago cide to make his exit. streak in 1941 will likely never be Bulls to three straight champion- Even if such great athletes do surpassed. ships, retired, for the second timC;-move on, however, there will al- Or the death of DiMaggio's re- last year. ways be new generations of profes- pla<;ementin-c:entel'=-field,Micke s if losing Jordan wasn't sional athletes to take their place. Mantle, known to our parents' gen- enough, John Elway, the quarter- There is still an abundance of in- eration as simply 'The Mick," who back of the Denver Broncos retired credible players to watch, and pro- left us before DiMaggio. after leading his team to two fessional sports are still as exciting More recently, we have seen the straight Super Bowl victories. He as ever. untimely death of NBA legend Wilt will always be remembered for his In pro-football we have Drew "The Stilt" Chamberlain, who once patented last-minute heroics to win Bledsoe and Bret Favre at the quar- scored 100 points in a single game. football games. terback position to keep us amazed Even more surprising was the death The list doesn't end there. with long-bomb passes. of the NFL's all-time rushing The "Great One" Wayne In basketball there are a num- leader, "Sweetness" Walter Payton, Gretzky, who was everything his berofexciting young players, such who died of complications arising nickname implies in the NHL, re- as Tim Duncan, Anfernee from liver cancer. tired from the New York Rangers. Hardaway, Jason Kidd, and Both of these stellar athletes Barry Sanders, perhaps the only Shaquille O'Neal. leave behind memories of astound- running back to ever rival Payton Perhaps best of all, in baseball ing athletic play. as the.best of all-time, is likely gone we have Mark McGwire and The sports entertainment busi- from pro-footbalL Sammy Sosa, whose home run- ness also saw its share of tragedy Even more recently, Wade recordsmayneverbeecJipsed,and this year. Boggs chose to retire after the sea- a ten year veteran by the name of Nicole Rodriguez was killed by