By Courtney Wheeless staff reporter The losses of a field and lights bring challenges to the future of intramural and club sports. Student participants and supervisors are disappointed at the Board of Trustees' decision to turn the old track and intramural field into a practice field for the football team. The lights on the field were removed in the process. Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari said the relocation of the football practice field was part of a long-term master plan to improve and strengthen several athletic facilities. While the football team received the benefits of a new practice field, Lance Steffen, director of intramural sports, said he has had to alter many areas of the intramural program. He said the Intramural Council was forced to shorten the lengths of games, schedule fewer games for each team and remove the ultimate frisbee competition from the calendar. Steffen said communication could have been better for them to be able to plan in advance. Ferrari said university officials have begun exploring alternate sites for the current year for intramurals. "All of us recognize that this situation has affected, adversely, night intramural and club sports activities," Ferrari said, "It is my hope that we can secure funding in the near future to solve this problem." More than 3,000 students participated in intramural and club sports last year, and Steffen said the registration rates have already risen this year. "Last year's participation went up 50 to 100 percent in every sport, and we're already going up another 30 percent this year," Steffen said, "Our program is continuing to grow, that's the most difficult part of seeing the lights disappear because we were on such an upwards swing." Participants also see trouble in the continued rise of intramural competition without lights for night games. "We want high participation, but it makes it really difficult without lights," said James Roberts, a senior biochemistry and speech communication major. "TCU has taken good steps to improve the program, but they need to take the next step to improve the facilities to have the best opportunities for everyone." Steffen said adding lights to the regular intramural field would solve all the problems. Ferrari said they have been exploring lighting for the current location, but the estimated cost of installing lights would be about $500,000. "This is considerably more than anyone had anticipated, and currently there are no funds available to cover the expense," Ferrari said. Pete Hoffman, captain of the men's lacrosse team, said the team is without a field with lights. He said the team has only one month to find a place to practice and play games before its fall season begins, but most off-campus quality fields were booked before the team was aware of the problem. Hoffman said the men's lacrosse team was probably going to be favored to go to the national championships this year, but without a field to practice and host games, that may not be possible. "I think nothing good can come out of this situation," Hoffman said. "They're losing serious intramural student participation."
Courtney Wheeless
By Steven Baker staff reporter With the gift of a new facility, head track and field coach Monte Stratton has added some new events and a coach to the team. When construction of the Robert and Maria Lowdon Track and Field Complex is completed in the next few weeks, both the cross-country and track and field teams will have a permanent place to practice. The old track was replaced with the football practice field. The new facility has a flat surface for field events and nine wide lanes for sprinters. Stratton hired assistant coach Sam Hume this summer to coach the field events - long, triple and high jumps - made possible by the new facility.
Stratton said the new track itself will help improve the team's performance and image. "Anytime the sports here at TCU have a nice state-of-the-art facility, it raises our image," he said. Stratton said when he was recruiting sprinter Anthony Amantine, just driving by the new facility made a difference. Amantine was impressed, he said. "This nice and beautiful facility allows us to attract a higher-quality recruit or at least attention from more of the higher-quality recruits," he said. The Lowdons originally gave a $1 million gift to TCU for officials to use at their discretion. Their money was combined with other gifts to fund the building of the new complex. Robert Lowdon said he and his wife agreed with the use of this money because they enjoy TCU athletics. "We admire what TCU has done and what a good job they are doing," he said. One of the main features of this athletic complex is the Rekortan track surface. Stratton said Rekortan is an Olympic-quality surface that he suggested to the university after seeing other state-of-the-art facilities that used the same type of surface. "The durability, workmanship and the fact that it is a fast surface allows athletes some give so you are not just tearing up your legs and knees," he said. Ross Bailey, TCU head trainer, said tracks are judged on density, rebound and wear. Rekortan is the best surface for TCU program because of the consistent rubber throughout, he said. "Sprinters don't want a surface that is too soft, because firmer surfaces are faster," he said. "Distance people would prefer a softer surface. This is kind of a middle of the road." Bailey said NCAA competitions may be hosted at TCU in the future because the complex is compliant with the rules. "Track has support from the top down," he said. "TCU has made a commitment to upgrade its athletic facilities. And as funding becomes available, I think you are going to see a steady increase in venues."
Steven Baker
By Steven Baker staff reporter Senior cross-country runner Adrian Martinez laughs when he talks about his athletic title at TCU. Martinez is the men's team captain, but he doesn't like talking about himself. "You have to be passionate about things," he said. "You really have to love what you are doing. Everyone does the same training. So, in a competition, it comes down to who wants to win the most." Head cross-country coach Dan Waters said Martinez is not a vocal leader. He leads by example, he said. "In nearly every race that Adrian has run in, there has never been a time where I could say that he didn't give 110 percent," Waters said. "He is a positive guy that works hard. I really can't say enough good things about him." However, senior David Lagat is usually the first TCU runner to cross the finish line. Lagat has finished ahead of Martinez in both meets this season. Waters said Lagat may be the star of the team, but Martinez has the best work ethic. "David has been good ever since he's been here," he said. "Adrian may be left in David's shadows a little bit, but every year Adrian is getting a little closer to running right with David until he has kind of developed himself into a national-caliber runner." Martinez started running when he was in fifth grade. And by the seventh grade, he had faster long distance times than the ninth graders. Rollerblading and soccer helped him with his endurance, but he stopped all that by his sophomore year in high school - when he became a full-time cross country runner. In his four years at McKinney High School, Martinez was All-state runner in 1993, 1994 and 1995, and he won the Texas State 4A cross country title as a senior in 1995. "In one high school race, I actually stopped for a minute while I was in third place. But I made sure no one was looking. College cross-country is completely different from high school," he said. He said at the college meets it is all about concentration. You can't run your first mile too fast, he said. "The key is to go as fast as you can, but be in control," Martinez said. "You want to feel like you are running easy, smooth and relaxed." In men's practices Martinez always leads his teammates in the five-mile intervals exercise. The team runs one mile at a time, rests, then shortly thereafter, begins again. "In practice it is really important to kick it in at the last, so you will have that feeling in the races," he said. Junior runner Ryan Womack said Martinez does every thing the coaches ask him to do in practice and also the little things. "It's nice to have someone like that who goes out all day in practice," he said. "He never eases up." In a preseason pole, the coaches of the Western Athletic Conference predicted that the TCU men's team would finish second in the conference. Martinez said the TCU men have the talent to finish first. "I think the way coach Waters has trained us, we will peak at the end of the season," he said. Martinez wasn't laughing when he said that.
Steven Baker
After having the day off from practice Monday, players returned to the field Tuesday to prepare for their Western Athletic Conference opener against Fresno State Saturday. Tuesday was the first day to practice the new game plan for the upcoming contest. The team started practice with kicking game meetings and then position meetings. Coach Dennis Franchione met with the team as whole afterward. Franchione said the objective of the practice was to implement a foundation for the Fresno State game plan. He said players will have to adjust to a whole new offense and defense for this weekend. He said the Frogs will have to prepare themselves for an experienced quarterback in senior Billy Volek. Franchione said Fresno State will be the defense's biggest challenge since the season opener against the Arizona Wildcats. Franchione said this weekend's match-up should be a good one because Fresno State has one of the best offenses in the WAC and TCU has one of the best defenses in the conference. Both teams are considered to be favorites to win the WAC. However, Franchione said he thinks that there is no considerable or discernible difference between the eight teams in the conference. |
"Before we did not really have a facility or a coach
to add those events," he said. "We have expanded our repertoire."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |