1996_09 Insight September 1996

              SPORTS
SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 ■
Equestrian team reaches varsity status
by Melissa Bauermeister
Staff Writer
The Bulldogs are now showing
their horsemanship in Fresno State's
newest women's competitive sport.
The new NCAA varsity equestrian
team.
"We didn't expect this to happen,"
said newly appointed interim equestrian coach Megan McGee of having
a varsity team at Fresno State. "It was
just one of a half a dozen other possibilities."
Fresno State spent months researching the possibilities of introducing another women's sport lo comply
with Title IX. The NCAA rule states
that one of three things must exist in
order to achieve compliance:
First, the participation opportunities of each sex arc substantially proportionate to the male and female
undergraduate enrollments of the university. Next, the underrepresented
sex must show a history and continuing practice of program expansion. I
Thirdly, the interests and abilities of
the underrepresented sex are "fully
and effectively accommodated" by
the existing program.
Other women's sports heavily considered were gymnastics, golf, water
polo and crew. Close to 30 others
were possibilities including archery,
field hockey and lacrosse, said Assistant Athletic Director Les Snyder, Jr.
* "It's going to be a great thing because it's on the ground floor." Snyder
said.
The regulations, for NCAA purposes, are in the development phase
because equestrian is not recognized
as an emerging sport by the NCAA.
Snyder said it will be close to two
years before the program gels off the
ground and reaches full-strength capabilities. He also said thc athletic
department is writing letters to the
NCAA in an attempt to have equestrian recognized.
Fresno State is the third school in
the country to have equestrian riding
as an NCAA Division I sport out of
235 universities lhat offer club programs. The other two are the College
of Charleston in South Carolina and
Brown University in Rhode Island,
who is just beginning its program this
year as well.
"We're the first to be in existence
on the west coast," McGee said. "We"
hope to serve as a catalyst for other
schools to have an equestrian club
rated to an NCAA sport."
Fresno State will have to compete
against club teams because ofthe lack
of other varsity programs. However,
Brown and Fresno State do presently
compete in tennis and McGee hopes
for the equestrian program to follow
"Hopefully they will eventually do
the same for equestrian." McGee said.
"But for now, we have to take one step
at a time."
McGee said an equestrian team was
attractive to Fresno State because ihe
team was essentially already established as a club team on campus.
"It's not like they hav c to buy horses
and get a facility." she said. "They just
upgraded it from a club lo a varsity
sport."
Lea Nibur. a 21-year-old animal
science major, was part of thc 20-
year-old Fresno State club team, and
will show on this year's team.-
"It's a shame this is thc only way
to go about it because it excludes
some of our members," Nibur said.
The Horse Show Club, which has
membership in the Intercollegiate
Horse Show Association (IHSA), will
continue to show male and female riders in competition.
As with any other sport these athletes have specialties, but not in offense or defense. They specialize in
Kerri File maneuvers her horse
cither thc Western or English style of
"Western style is a lot like what you
see on TV with cowboys herding
cattle." McGee said. "The horse travels at a slow rate and the riding style
looks scdaie."
English^ style is used mostly for
jumping.
"Everything is faster to build up to
jump in an effective manner." McGee
said. Thc English riders use a smaller,
sleeker saddle than thc horned type
of saddle used in Western riding.
Thc 50 women expected to compete on the varsity team will raise thc
Bulldogs invade Atlanta's summer Games
by Robbie Miner
Staff Writer
Ah, the excitement of thc Olympics.
What Bulldog fan; could ever forget Bob Costas' interview with the
USA women's softball team after
they captured the gold. As the charismatic Costas gasped to get in a
word, 34-year-old captain, surgeon
and softball spokeswoman
extraordinaire Dot Richardson
yanked control of the interview and
announced to the world, one-by-one,
thc faces behind the gold.
"This is Kim Maher and Laura
Berg and Martha Noffsinger-
O'Kelley and Julie Smith and Shelly
Stokes and assistant coach Margie
Wright," and wait a second...they all
went to Fresno State.
For six Olympic softball players
the red, white and blue on their uniforms represented more than national
pride; it represented the pride of being a Bulldog. During thc U.S. game
against Puerto Rico, another former
Bulldog emerged from the Puerto
Rican bullpen to counter the Americans' hitting attack.
"It's every athlete's dream to compete in the Olympics." Wright said.
"I never got a chance as a player, so
to be able to live a dream through
them is a dream come true - especially when you've coached half the
players."
Bulldogs everywhere
It's true that Fresno State softball
grabbed thc spotlight around the valley during thc Atlanta Games, but
there were other proud Bulldogs
sporting the USA colors.
Heading the list was 1994 NCAA
champion and 1996 national champion .in the javelin, Todd Riech. In
high school, Riech claimed 11 Montana state championships, in five different events and even dabbled with
the decathlon in the beginning of his
career at Fresno State.
The other two Fresno State track
and field names were throwers too.
Nicole Carroll owns the second-best
mark in Fresno State history with a
javelin throw of 169-5 in 1990. Lacy
Bames-Milcham owns top-six career
marks in the javelin and shot put al
Fresno State, but her strength is the
discus. In 1988, Barnes hurled a disk
204 feet.
International representation
Just as in softball. though, there was
additional Bulldog representation by
way of other nations. Competing for
Jamaica in the 110-meter hurdles.
1994 Fresno Slate national champion
Robert Foster advanced all the way
to the semifinals before being eliminated from the competition.
After jusi a few weeks under thc
wings of hurdles coach Hugh Adams.
Foster was touted by the coach as "the
most naturally gifted athlete I've ever
seen in all my years of coaching."
Lelica Zazaboi was another Fresno
State athlete at the Games, representing Liberia in the javelin throw. Only
Zazaboi never got to compete.
Because of an administrative i
wasn't signed up." said Zazaboi.
"1 was angry for maybe an hour, but I
still loved thc whole experience."
Rounding out the group of 12
Fresno State 01ympians_wa$ pitcher
Jeff Weaver. The 20-year-old Weaver
posted a 2.51 eamed-run average and
a 12-5 mark as a freshman last season for the Bulldogs.
"I Tell like I was walking on egg
shells thc whole time." Weaver said.
"Each time I made a cut I was surprised. For the first few days after the
final cuts. I was in shock."
Weaver spent most of his time
hanging out downtown or in thc global village with his pitching buddies.
When asked what stars he met during the Games, though. Weaver didn't
mention any of his former teammates
who arc now big-league stars. There
were too many olhcr big names like
Kerri Strug. Michael Johnson and
Mike Powell.
Famous 'Dogs
Berg has reached celebrity status
herself. She seems to be so famous
lhat a Fresno woman was fired from
Wal-Mart after lhc Olympics for posing as an impostor of the Fresno Slale
outfielder. The company even threw
a big Olympics-congratulatory party
"1 gel kidded about that all the
time." Berg said with a smirk. "That
woman doesn't look anything like me
or my twin sister (Randi)."
Randi Berg was one of thc l2Bull-
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over a small jump in equestrian.
proportion of male-female athletes at
Fresno Stale to what is considered the
"safe-harbor" by the American Council on Education. But each time
Fresno State adds a women's program, as it did with soccer last year,
it counts toward each prong of the
compliance rule.
There will be 20 partial scholarships this semester for 50 women.
Every year thc program exists, more
money will be allocated for scholarships, competition and maintenance
fees.
Snyder said he hopes to eventually
end up with 20 to 30 scholarships.
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Lindenberg; track and field sprinters
Anthony Barnes and Terry Bowen,
1,500-meter runner Jamey Harris,
pole vaulter David Cox and hammer
thrower Staci Darden; soccer
midfielder Brian Johnson; wrestler
Sean Kim and pitcher Brendan Behn.
Randi Berg watched her sister
Laura from the packed grandstands.
And packed they were. While Fresno
Slate softball is notorious for thc
large home crowds. Berg said there
is no comparison to the noise in
Atlanta's softball diamond.
Olympic moments
Weaver said thc baseball crowds in
Atlanta were, in a word, "loud."
Berg remembers standing atop the
medal stand, paralyzed in a skin-tingling rendition of the national anthem, as her most glorious memory
of the Games.
Weaver said his greatest moment
was when he first stepped to thc
mound in front of a sea of red, white
and blue.
"I thought it would be an incredible
experience and it was even better than
I could have imagined." Weaver said.
"It was non-stop excitement."
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