1995_03 Insight March 1995

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MARCH 8,1995
Sports
Records fall in WAC swim finals
By Robbie Miner
Sports Editor
The Fresno State swimming record book went through
major reconstructive surgery last weekend at the WAC
finals in Las Vegas. Nev.
Eight school records paced Ihe Bulldog women to their
third straight third place finish in the WAC.
BYU (582 points) and Colorado State (502) finished 1 -2.
The results could have been closer for the Bulldogs, but
like in the past, Daniella Irle's club lacks one intrical component that makes up a winning swimming team — divers.
"We swam as well as BYU and CSU, but not having a
diving team kills us," said hie, the WAC Coach of the Year.
The first record to fall came Thursday when the 200
freestyle relay team of Tricia Standard, Janelle Webber-
Plank, Jennifer Espino and Justyn Illiff swam to a time of
1:35.70. Two days later. Standard, Espino and Illiff teamed
up again, this time with Karen Gallagher, to break the 400
free relay record. Illiff placed her name atop the record
books a third time with a time of 23.79 in the 50 free.
Other record breakers were MarLyn Julian (400 intermediate medley. 4:27.71), Linsey Schauer (100 breast.
1:05.61). Lisa Hoplop (200 back. 2:05.20) and Mali
Valdez, who shattered two records, (100 back. 57.29 and
200 back, 2:05.20)
In all. the Bulldogs had 29 improved times on the Fresno
State top-five lists over the weekend. There were also 63
season-best times and 50 lifetime bests.
"Out of 18 girls, nine had never been to the WAC championships before," said Irle. "We'll only get better."
Men's Hoops, from page 6
Mexico could realistically be the favorites," Reid said.
Home-court advantage aside, the
Lobos are one of the hottest teams in
the conference. New Mexico, which
had won six straight before losing at
the buzzer to Air Force Saturday, has
been elevated by the rejuvinated play
of Marlow While. White, UNM's second-leading scorer last season at 17.0
ppg, began the season slowly but has
quickly turned things around. The senior guard has scored 238 points during the last 10 games, after scoring
only 170 in the first 17 games.
"He was out with a broken thumb
and I think I rushed him back too
soon," Lobos' coach Dave Bliss said.
"All we needed was a go-to guy and
Marlow's now that man."
As far as conference records are
concerned. BYU and Utah will be the
two teams to reckon wilh in thc tour-
Utah finished first in the conference
with a 15-3 record. By losing at Utah
Saturday. BYU ended the regular season tied in second wilh UTEP. The
Cougars won the No. 2 tournament
seed, though, on a tiebreaker based
on a 2-0 record against No. 5 seed
UNM. Both teams were 2-0 versus
No. 4 seed Wyoming.
Reid and Majerus said thai they
achieved their success with balance.
Most of their WAC coaching counterparts will agree, however, that it's
been the strength of their anterior
games that's made the difference. The
Utes and the Cougars finished 1-3 in
the conference in rebounding margin.
Both are led in the middle by All-
WAC first-teamers.
BYU's 1993-94 first team All-WAC
selection, Russell Larson, was picked
as thc preseason WAC Player of the
Year. Larson quickly lost ground on
that recognition with the emergence
of 1993-94 Freshman of the Year.
Keith Van Horn.
Van Horn, a 6 foot 10 inch forward,
has fueled a young but talented Utah
team to a huge turnaround from last
season's 8-10 conference mark.
"I'm surprised with where we're at."
Majerus said. "If the season ended today, our team would have accomplished a great deal."
Following a freshman year in which
he averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Van Horn jumped his
ppg total to 21.9 and his rpg average
to 10.1. both lops among thc WAC.
At 190 pounds, the clean-cut, lanky
forward doesn't look like a basketball
force. But looks can be deceiving.
"Van Horn's the player of the
league ... no doubt." Reid said. "1
don't know if there's been any better
player in the WAC in years. He can
go inside and outside with the best
of them."
That's evidenced by his 2.1 three-
pointers per game and .409 percentage. Van Horn has plenty of help,
though. Junior college transfer Brandon Jessie's 16.0 ppg ranks him
eighth in the WAC and 6 foot 11 inch
Michael Doleac and .six-foot-nine-
inch Alex Jensen are two intimidating freshmen on the boards. Throw
in three-point bombers Mark
Rydalch. and Jimmy Carroll and the
Utes arc solid in every area. The Utes'
.399 three-point shooting percentage
is lops in lhc WAC.
In addition to Larson, BYU has several other weapons. Kenneth Roberts,
Shane Knight and Mark Durrant
make up a formidable forward rotation. At the guards, the Cougars have
the two brothers. Randy and Robbie,
who arc as pesky as their father, coach
Reid.
Roger Reid believes the better balance is what separates this year's team
from last year's. If thc game is on the
line, it's the experience and free-throw
shooting thai Reid says will put his
Cougars over the edge.
"If it boils down to if, our free-throw
shooting could be thc difference,"
Reid said. "Wc have a much older
leam than Utah, but just because it's
a young team doesn't mean they're
not experienced too."
BYU's shooting .800 at the charity
stripe this year, compared to the
league average of 70 percent. Throw
in the fact that they have four starting
seniors and the pressure factor clearly
favors thc Cougars.
After New Mexico. Utah and BYU.
UTEP may be the only team left with
any reasonable'chance for victory.
The Miners' hopes lie in the hands of
senior guard Antoinc Gillespie.
Feat of the Week
Eight wrestlers qualify for
NCAA Championships
Insight Sports Staff
Fresno State wrestling coach Dennis DeLiddo knew
he had something special when the season began.
"There is the potential on this team to be the best
I've ever had, but only time will tell if they live up
to it."
If five WAC individual championships and a school-
record eight NCAA qualifiers is any indication,
DeLiddo's bold preseason statement wa;
The Bulldogs won their third straight WAC title Saturday at Colorado Springs, Colo., with 107.5 points,
15 points ahead of runners-up Wyoming.
Sean Kim (118). DeWayne Zinkin (134). Gerry Abas
(142). Lalo Moz (190) and Darin Preisendorf (heavyweight) won individual championships. Gary Quintana
(150). Alfonzo Tucker (158) and Jason Geris placed
second and qualified as wild-card bids to the NCAAs,
beginning March 16 at Ames, Iowa.
Fresno State had national qualifiers in every weight
division, except one. At 126, Nick Zinkin finished third.
"Nick (Zinkin) performed courageously and scored
6.5 big points for us," said DeLiddo. "He has asthma
and in the high altitude he could barely breathe."
The previous high for NCAA qualifiers was 1992-93
when the No. 8 Bulldogs sent seven wrestlers. Fresno
Slate also won its first team WAC championship that
year.
Abas has been the runner-up at 142 at the last two
NCAA finals, but is favored to win it this year.
Photo by Todd Warshaw/Sports Information
Freshman Sean Kim was one of five Bulldogs
to win a WAC championship Saturday. The
team won its third straight conference title and
advanced eight wrestlers to nationals.
Gillespie surpassed Tim Hardaway
as the school's all-lime leading scorer
in a Feb. 23 game against San Diego
State. His 21.4 ppg are second best in
the conference. Forward George
Banks provides the punch in thc
middle with 8.3 boards and 14.8 ppg.
Don Haskins' group finished strong
with five wins in their last seven
games but got blown out by ihe 'Dogs
at Selland Arena in their finale. Thc
Miners have won only three games
away from home this year.
For Wyoming to pull off the upset,
it'll need to dominate on defense. The
Cowboys led thc WAC in scoring defense wilh 64.3 points allowed per
game. When Wyoming clicks on 'D.'
it's usually because of their big man
in the middle. Center Thco Ratliff recently surpassed Shaquille O'Neal for
third place on the NCAA all-time
blocked shots list. HL Coleman
complements Ratliff under the hoop
wilh 7.7 rpg. The Cowboys' biggest
key may be thc play of their leading
scorer LaDrell Whitehead.
Whitehead, who leads all freshmen in
the conference with 14.3 ppg, could
make coach Joby Wright a happy man
if he can play like a senior.
Unless you've been locked up for
the last few months, you know the
story of the Bulldogs. They're young.
inexperienced and poor at rebounding. But they've had the entire season to gel as a unit and their rebounding has improved dramatically, especially that of 7-foot center Anthony
Pelle. Their question mark is a big
one, bul so was Hawaii's in last year's
WAC tournament.
As for Colorado State. Hawaii and
Air Force, the outlook isn't good.
As for the Bulldogs' first-round
opponent, San Diego State, it's 5-
13 record may not instil fear in
Colson. But the Aztecs' two consecutive upsets of Wyoming and
Colorado State to close the season
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