1996_01 The Daily Collegian January 1996

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Wednesday, January 31,1996
Sports
Sports Editor: Brian R. Fisher
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
Swimmers rout Davis in WAC 'tune up'
By Pat Houlihan
Sports Writer
In their last dual meet of the sea¬
son the Fresno State's women's
swim team sank the Aggies of UC
Davis, 144-90, on Sunday.
"This was a nice tune-up meet,"
Head Coach Daniella Irle said.
Irle was speaking about the up¬
coming WAC Championships
which will be held in San Antonio,
Texas, Feb. 21-24.
The Bulldogs finished one-two-
three in every race, including five
which were not scored because they
were exhibition races.
The closest race had Fresno
State's Patti Glosecki (Jr.), and
Sheryl Rathje (Jr.). neck to neck in
the 500-yard freestyle.
It wasn't until the last 50 yards
when Rathje pulled just ahead of
Glosecki, and ultimately won the
race by a half a body length.
Rathje's winning time was 5:12.51.
Freshman Amalia Gonzalez
swam the 100 yard backstroke in
the fourth fastest time in Fresno
State's history (59.69).
The Bulldog's Justyn Iliff (Jr.),
who was named the WAC's
women's swimmer of the week last
weekend for her performance
against UNLV and UOP, won the
50- and 100-yard freestyles with
times of 24.96 and 54.09, respec¬
tively.
The Bulldogs finished their
regular dual meet season at 10-2.
FRESNO ST. 144, UC-DAVIS 90.
200-medley relay: . DC Davis
(Jew, Nagel, Nelson, Crozier),
2:09.61; 50-freestyle: Brushey,
FS, 17:28.10; 200-freestyle:
Gallagher, FS, 1:54.97; 100-back-
stroke: Gonzalez, FS, 59.69; 100-
breaststroke: Gravatt, FS,
1:07.50; 200-butterfly: Henry, FS,
2J2.96; 50 free: Iliff, FS, 24.96;
100-freestyle: Iliff, FS. 54.09;
200-baekstroke: Valdez, FS,
2:11.89; 200-breaststroke: Cro¬
zier, UCD, 2:45.58; 500-freestyle:
Kincaid, UCD, 5:48.62; 100-but-
terfly: Stehrenberger, UCD,
1:04.64; 200 IM: Julian, FS,
2:11.71; 200-freestyle relay: UC
Davis (Albers,
Tretten, Solberg, Kincaid) 1:51.90.
~ By David Stanley — The Daily Collegian
Coming up for air. Fresno State swimmer Ami Bodas competes in the 200-meter butterfly in
Sunday's win over UC Davis, 144-90. With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 10-2 on the season in
dual meets. The teams' next competition will be at the WAC championships on Feb. 21-24.
Crown Jewel expected to be
ready by season opener
By Matt Personale
Sports Writer
The team is set, the coaches, too,
but the biggest question of them all
is, will the new softball stadium be
built in time for the home opener?
Since the groundbreaking took
place last April, the answer is: the
softball stadium is on track to be
completed for the Bulldogs' 1996
home opener, Feb. 24, against last
year's national champion, UCLA.
"We're real close," Frederick
Ritter, the project engineer of DMC
Construction, said. "Our goal is to
have it ready for the game on Feb.
24 and there should not be any rea¬
son why we can't."
The facility, located on the cor¬
ner of Cedar and Bars tow, will fea¬
ture more than 3,600 seats (1,688
permanent chairback seats and
2,000 bleachers) along with a con¬
temporary message center and
scoreboard located in center field.
"The decks are the main items
of the stadium and pouring those are
really the last step," Ritter said.
As many as 75 workers have
been assigned to the project, 35 on
DMC's full-time staff. Bulldogs
Softball Coach Margie Wright ap¬
preciates all of them.
"They have been working hard,"
Wright said. "They make progress
every day. They'll do everything in
their power to have it done. It looks
great."
What will be missing from the
university's newest "crown jewel"
will be a press box, which has a
current price tag of $400,000.
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By Ryan McKee — The Daily Collegian
Not much work is left to do on the softball stadium which is set to
open Feb. 24. in the Bulldogs home opener against UCLA.
The stadium steering (advisory)
committee and the university is con¬
tinuing its efforts to raise funds for
a press box and additional seating
for the 1997 season. The whole cost
for the softball stadium totals $8.2
million.
"Though the stadium was scaled
down in seating and will not fea¬
ture a press box this upcoming'sea-
son because of financial constraints,
the design of the stadium will al¬
low us to add a press box and addi¬
tional permanent chairback seats,"
John D. Welty, university president,
said. "The columns are in place
right now for the press box while
the stadium design will allow us to
add another 960 red seats when at¬
tendance demands it.
"We are building from the
ground tip and we need support
from the business and private sec¬
tors to buy seat options and make
this project a first-class facility."
As of mid-December, seat op¬
tions sold were standing at 839.
"With 849 seats still available for
purchase, we're very pleased with
what we have accomplished
through the off-seasoB (summer-
months)," Tom Anderson, chairman
and fund drive director of the steer¬
ing committee, said.
Softball seat options are avail¬
able at three different levels and can
be purchased by walking in,
through the mail or by phoning the
Bulldog Ticket Office at (209) 278-
DOGS. Softball seat option net
sales have totaled nearly $1.3 mil¬
lion as of mid-December. Seating
has become limited at the $1,500
and $1,000 levels.
Students can purchase season
tickets for 26 home games for
$16.25.
Tucker wrestles with idea
of being an All-American
By Casey Angle
Sports Writer
Fresno State wrestler Alfonzo
Tucker has the attitude of an All-
American, all that is left now is
for him to become one.
Throughout his 20-5 senior
season he has gone up against
some* of the nation's top wrestlers
and he wouldn't havg it any other
way.
"That's what this sport is all
about," Tucker says. "If you're
not looking forward to the com¬
petition, then you need to go
home."
It is something you would ex¬
pect someone who has lost only
once since Dec. 2 to say. After two
wins in Oregon last weekend
Tucker hV. now won eight
straight and 13 of his last 14. "»
Tucker is pleased with his 20-
5 record and the win streak, but
not satisfied.
"The run is cool," Tucker says.
"(But] there's some things I want
to accomplish-to stay aggressive
the whqle match and push my op¬
ponent all three rounds."
Tucker's focus is to finish
strong and that means two things
right now.
"My expectations are to be a
WAC champion and All-Ameri-
can," Tucker says.
Despite the fact that his only
losses have come to ranked op¬
ponents. Tucker is currently
unranked. After being ranked as
high as tenth in December, he
dropped down to 12th and was
then dropped out of the top 12
completely when the latest
rankings were released Jan. 24.
All this while only losing once
since Dec.
Alfonzo Tucker
All-American. Good feels Tucker
may have a hard time breaking
into the top five at the NCAA
Championships, but says spots six
through eight are wide open. All-
American, honors go to the top
eight finishers at the NCAA's.
"Even though he's not in the
top 12, he's close," Good says.
"He's right there with the good
ones."
A strong run at the NCAA's
would be an appropriate ending
for Tucker. He finished his
Hoover High. School career as a
placer at the state meet and fin¬
ished his Fresno City College ca¬
reer as e state champion. Placing
at the NCAA's is all that is left.
Still, Tucker is keeping it
simple and not getting ahead of
himself. He just wants to take it
match by match.
"Hopefully," Tucker says, "I
can wrestle every match to the
best of my ability. If I do that I'll
be happy, if not, I'll have some
regrets."
"But I'm not going to have any
regrets."