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3/10 issue of griffonnnewsTRANSCRIPT
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P A I DPERMIT NO. 32St. JOSEPH, MO
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GRIFFonMISSOURI WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITYthe
griffonnews.comnews
vol 93 | Issue 19 March 10, 2011
See FOCUS page 3
See Craig page 3
Jennifer Griffin | [email protected]
President Robert Vartabedian and Vice President Mel Klinkner are holding budget focus groups to discuss tuition increases and why we are looking at a 10-12 percent tuition increase.
The current $1 million shortfall that will grow to over a $3 million shortfall by 2013 was discussed at the focus group and three options to solve the budget problem.
The first option would be to reduce personnel. Seventy-five per-cent of Missouri Western’s bud-get is personnel and insurance. Western has grown by 18 percent in the last three years and has the same amount of full-time person-nel that it had 12 years ago.
“I think that is not an attractive alternative,” Vartabedian said. “I think we should be doing quite the contrary at the rate we are growing right now.”
The second option is to cap enrollment. Capping enrollment on the fastest growing state university in Missouri isn’t seen as a viable option either. This route would have some savings with it. The amount of savings would not be enough to cover the shortfalls.
“To cap enrollment, I think particularly for an open enroll-ment university, would really be contrary to our best interest and I think certainly contrary to the best interest of citizens of Missouri,” Vartabedian said
The last option and what is being recommended to the Board of Governors on March 23 is to increase tuition by 10 to 12 percent. To put that into a dollar figure Vice President for Financial Planning and Administration Mel Klinkner thinks about $22.00 a credit hour.
Jesse Bilderback | [email protected]
For the fourth time, the Craig School of Business will be award-ing a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory franchise to one of ten stu-dents enrolled in Management 499.
The 10 students will be involved in a semester-long competition with one another. Three of the 10 that prepare the best business plan will then be selected for internships at one of the previously awarded franchises. A panel will then select one of the students to receive the franchise.
This idea of awarding an RMCF franchise to a student came to frui-tion by Missouri Western alumn Steven Craig, of whom the busi-ness school is named after. Craig is the founder of Craig Reality, which manages several outlet malls all over the United States. Craig believes that small businesses are the strength of our economy.
Ellis Cross | [email protected]
What began as a small group of people who met in each others’ homes has now become the Islamic Center of St. Joseph. The growth of Islam in St. Joseph has been par-alleled the world over. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and has acquired a new address in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The new mosque (house of prayer) is located at 2325 Messanie St. where an open house celebra-tion was held Saturday March 5 from noon to 5 p.m.
“We are committed to this com-munity,” President Ramadhan Washington of the Islamic Society of Greater St. Joseph said. That commitment is also evident with the selection of the mosque site. It is literally 50 yards from the old shoe store where the mosque was last housed.
Members of the community were invited into the new mosque to see the building and educate them-selves about Islamic beliefs and practices. The walls of the foyer were covered with posters explain-ing how the Islam religion views women, Jesus, children and many other interesting topics.
Literature was available for
visitors. Imam, (Spiritual Leader) Omar Hazim was there signing and promoting his new book, “Islam in the Heartland of America,” which he authored to inform and educate the public about how Islam is taught in the mosque in Topeka, Kan. The book’s editor, Kahlil Green, sums up the purpose of the book in the publication’s introduction.
“For anyone who ever thought about or wondered what is taught in the Friday services at a mosque, for them, this book is a must read.” (ISBN 978-1-4568-5797-4)
Western student, Alisher
Sharipov helped build the mosque and recently was involved in repair-ing the roof.
“There was a problem with the dome; we had to install a slope and put roofing materials on it,” Sharipov said. He was also involved in the construction phase of the project.
“As we worked on the building, a few people would drive by yelling things that were not too nice at us,” Sharipov said. “I understand where these feelings come from. Some people are confused about who we are. Islam is actually a religion
of peace.” Sharipov is a junior at Western, and is currently studying accounting on a student visa. He is from Turkmenistan in central Asia.
Not all members are from for-eign lands. Self-proclaimed army bratt James Rager is a member of the local Islamic group. Rager was reared a Catholic with his mili-tary family in Germany and then became an atheist until six years ago when he converted to Islam.
“When we come to pray at the mosque, we focus on God. That is why the women pray in a separate area. The men can pray without distraction this way,” Rager said. “Our commitment is to this neigh-borhood and hopefully lowering some of the violence in the area.”
A portion of the violence has been directed at the mosque as reported by St. Joseph Police Officer Roy Wedlow. He was on hand at the open house during his lunchtime. The leaders of the church asked him to stop by during the open house.
“There has been one arrest of a man who was allegedly threaten-ing the mosque and attempting to vandalize it,” Wedlow said. “I hope this mosque can educate people and lower the crime rate in the area by helping people and changing the perception of Islam.”
St. Joseph mosque opens its doors in welcome
Craig School of Businessoffers sweet opportunities
Western is focusing on finances in forums
P’Allen Stinnet looks to get the ball to Lavonte Douglas during their first round MIAA tournament game against Fort Hays State. The Griffons fell 86-85 on last minute free throws. The game marks the end of Stinnet’s college career.
See more MIAA coverage on page 8.
Griffons fall to Fort Hays
Missouri Western State University President Dr. Robert Vartabedian
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The mosque welcomes community members to open house for the convergence of ideas and faith.
SGA President Elect Alison Norris addresses the student body in an open letter.
Opinions page 4
Golf coverage:
• Women’s golf spring preview• Shane Fiest feature on over-coming cancer and returning to golf
Sports Page 7
See next issue for Men’s Golf
SGA election resultsSGA constitution changes----PASSESTobacco free MWSU----FAILED
YES NO672 314
797 470
SGA constitution changes
Tobacco free MWSU
01.indd 1 3/9/11 10:00 AM
Missouri Western students and St. Joseph residents got up at 7 a.m. on Wednesday March 2 to eat some eggs and listen to stories about gangsters.
Bill Ouseley, a retired FBI agent, spoke at Missouri Western about the Kansas City mob, or La Cosa Nostra. This is Ouseley’s second time at Missouri Western’s Eggs and Issues. He also spoke the day before at an event hosted by the criminal justice department.
Public Relations, Marketing & Alumni Services Coordinator Diane Holtz organized the event with the help of the criminal justice department. Holtz said that the first Eggs and Issues was held in 1988 and only had 15 attendees.
“A year ago someone said he was a very good speaker,” Holtz said. “Everyone in the audience loved him. He spoke about the mafia and how it came to Kansas City and everyone said, now we want to hear about his experiences as an FBI agent.”
Experience is one thing Ouseley has. His speech touched on vari-ous topics relating to the mafia in Kansas City but Ouseley’s speech was more about his specific unit and some of their operations.
“I retired after 25 years of ser-vice,” Ouseley said. “I spent the better part of that, 22 plus years, working in the organized crime program in Kansas City.”
For anyone that is wondering, Kansas City did have a mafia, and Ouseley wrote a book on them. “Open City” was published in 2008 and historically documents how organized crime evolved in Kansas City. “Open City” only highlights organized crime from 1900 to 1950. Ouseley has another book, soon to be released, which will show the latter half of the twentieth century.
Ouseley said that during the 1970’s, the River Quay in Kansas City played an integral role in how organized crime operated in Kansas City
“My second book is built as if the spine is the River Quay,” Ouseley said.
Ouseley said that during his time with the FBI, different members of the Kansas City mob fought over the River Quay.
Early on in Ouseley’s career, he helped arrest Nick Civella. Civella, who was already losing power among other members of the Kansas City mob, was charged and later found guilty on counts of illegal gambling. In particular,
Civella was running rackets on the 1975 Super Bowl.
After arresting him, Ouseley said that he asked Civella to sign a receipt for the belongings that the jail have confiscated. Civella refused and Ouseley said this gave him an insight into the minds of most mobsters.
“He was telling me in so many words how his world works,” Ouseley said. “He said, ‘We do things differently. We see things differently and I’m not trying to impress you and I would never try to impress you.’ And I didn’t under-stand that either, in his world, he looked up to no one.”
Melanie White, a St. joseph resident who owns Ouseley’s first book, has attended Eggs and Issues before, but hasn’t been in quite some time.
“I enjoyed hearing him in per-son,” White said. “I found it inter-esting because some of the details he told us were not in his book.”
Ouseley’s new book is slated to appear on shelves this summer.
NewsMarch 10, 2011The Griffon News
Page 2
Dave Hon | Editor [email protected]
Campus Information
Calendar of EventsCampus Crime Reports
If your organization would like to announce an event, e-mail the information to
Friday, March 4• University Budget Forums,
Kemper, 3 p.m.
Thursday, March 10• MWSU Brass Day, Potter Hall
Theatre, All Day
Friday, March 11• High School Science Fair,
Agenstein 330, 12 p.m.
• High School Science Fair, Agenstein 224, 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 12• NCAA Div II Men’s or
Women’s Basketball Regional, Looney Arena, 8 a.m.
Sunday, March 13• NCAA Div II Men’s or
Women’s Basketball Regional, Looney Arena, 8 a.m.
Monday, March 14• NCAA Div II Men’s or
Women’s Basketball Regional, Looney Arena, 8 a.m.
Tuesday, March 15• NCAA Div II Men’s or
Women’s Basketball Regional, Looney Arena, 8 a.m.
1
1. GoodnewsGriffons,Westernwassafethisweek!
When Missouri Western started their search for a new director of career services, they had a list of 33 initial candidates. They now have that number whittled down to the two candidates invited to campus.
The career director candidates for Missouri Western presented their case for employment last week in front of the search committee and those in attendance.
On Monday, Feb. 28, Western invited Kim Caponi to campus and gave her an opportunity pres-ent some ideas and state her case as to why she’s the best person for the director of career services position.
The position has remained va-cant since last October, when pre-vious Director Linda Garlinger de-cided to retire.
Caponi started off by introduc-ing her presentation with some vi-sual aids. She brought Playdough and talked about how the moldable substance represented students and their potential.
“When you’re starting out in your education-and even before you reach the university level-this is you,” Caponi said holding the Play-dough. Caponi said that it’s easier to work with the dough when it’s soft and that’s where she said that Career Services fits in by trying to
work with students, directing them to an educational path that fits them.
On Wednesday, March 2, it was Donnell Turner’s chance to per-suade the search committee his way.
“Do students really have real world experience?” Turner said. “Rules change once students get into the real world.”
Turner’s presentation was focused mainly on how he would handle the job as career director, focusing on students and how their future is go-ing to be impacted from college.
“Helping students tap into both their strengths and their passion will make them successful,” Turner said.
Turner spoke about the challenge it takes for students to not only make it through college, but to find a job afterwards and be able to do
that job at their best. He believes he is the right man for the job because of his past experiences as well as his passion for this opportunity; pas-sion that is undoubtedly needed in the real world.
“I would do what I do for free
because I love what I do so much,” Turner said. “Having your own passion or own calling is very im-portant.”
Strategies are very important for students, Turner said. He also stated that they need to approach these by talking to an advisor and he would help a student out by tell-ing them his own strategies for be-ing successful out of college.
Student involvement and men-toring were major components of Turner’s personal guide to success in college.
Turner’s third strategy he spoke about was to have students get in-ternships and externships. “Be able to network,” Turner said. “These are essential. Students can gain a competitive advantage by having resumes.”
Caponi said that while network-
ing in the traditional sense is still very important, social networking is becoming important as well.
“It doesn’t replace the personal networking,” Caponi said. “But, it can be a place to start.” Caponi then recounted a story of how she helped a student using LinkedIn to secure a job in the town he wanted to live, after he had been offered a six-figure salary in another market.
Both candidates said globaliza-tion is changing the way that stu-dents need to approach education, and that study abroad learning will only make them more marketable.
Turner ended his presentation by taking a few questions from the crowd. Taye Triggs, assistant dean of student development, asked him what he how he would approach a non-traditional student.
“(I would) help lead them with skills they’ve had in the past, re-searching them,” Turner said. “The reality is, we never really stop learn-ing.”
Student Coordinator Matthew Gregg weighed in on the candidates for the position.
“I think both of the candidates we have coming to campus are very strong candidates,” Gregg said. “We wouldn’t have brought them to campus if they weren’t.”
Gregg said that they really tried to select candidates that reflect what the students want, and believes that both candidates have those quali-ties.
Todd Fuller | News [email protected]
Thomas Huitt-Johnson | [email protected]
Kim Caponi a candidate for the direc-tor of career services makes her case.
Donell Turner addresses the search commitee as gives his views on the direction for career services.
Kim Caponi qualifications:
• Education: B.A. in communica-tions with a pr emphasis from Union College in Neb., an M.A. in Management with a community college emphasis from Antioch University in Ohio
• Professional: 17 + years ex-perience in career counseling services at a research 1 land grant university, at a community college and a state employment agency
• Currently the Associate Director of Career Services in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University for the past three and a half years in Ames, Iowa
Donnell Turner qualifications:
• Education: B.A. in Education and Theological Studies, a M.A. in Education Ministries from Wheaton College of Illinois.
• Professional experience: over 12 years experience in career counseling in the public and private sector
• Currently a career advisor at the Loyola University of Chicagao for the past five and a half years where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Work
Career services director, and then there were two
Eggs and issues with a side order of Kansas City mafia and retired FBI agent Bill Ousley and his book chronicling organized in KC.
Bill Ousley proves that crime can pay with book
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News March 10, 2011The Griffon News
NEWSNOTES
Craig continued from front: Craig School of Business preparing to award another franchise
Focus continued from front: Western budget forums attempt to define financial crisis facing campus
The Griffon’s Nest at The Belt Sports Complex
16" one topping pizza
only $7 anytime!
Belt Bowl
Playa’s ClubWednesday Nights
ALL YOU CAN BOWL!ALL YOU CAN DRINK!
Only $10! Lights! Music! Videos! Fun!
The Belt Bowl210 N Belt Hwy., 233-1054Part of The Belt Sports Complex
Belt Bowl Sports ComplexNews from the
210 N. Belt Highway (816) 233-1054
This Week at the ComplexSun Tue WedMonThu Fri Sat
Rock & Bowl 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. ($12)Karaoke with The Sound Ninja in The Griffon’s Nest
Rock & Bowl 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. ($12)Open Mic Night and Dance in The Griffon’s Nest
Beat the Genius Poker (free)Party w/ Q in Legends 9-closeMWSU Intramural Bowling 7 p.m.
Texas Hold Em Poker 7 p.m. ($10)Buck Night Bowl $1 games/shoes/snack bar 7 -11 p.m.
Playa’s Club -- All you can bowl, all you can drinkfrom 10 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Dance to music and videos in The Griffon’s NestBowl 3 games w/ shoes $5 (9 to close)
3 games w/ shoes for $5 from 9 to close
Karaoke Superstars contest every Friday in The Grif-fon's Nest. Step up to the stage and win a chance for a free trip to Dallas and entry into the International Karaoke Superstars contest. There you can win up to $5,000 cash! The singing starts at 9 p.m.
Canvas, Missouri Western State University’s student literary and art journal, is now accepting submis-sions from students, alumni, staff, and faculty of Western until March 23. Artists, writers, and photogra-phers are encouraged to submit their work as soon as possible!
Submissions can be e-mailed via [email protected] or delivered to the editor at [email protected] or [email protected]
Further, submissions can be hand delivered to the English, foreign languages, and journalism depart-ment in Eder Hall, Room 212.
Canvas is an applied learning op-portunity funded by the MWSU Foundationand will be available in May. Share your art!
Canvas seeks scintillating submissions from artistic academians
Craig approached RMCF about giving stu-dents the opportunity to compete for a franchise that would be located within one of his outlet malls. The company agreed to join together with Craig to make this prospect possible for the students.
Carol Roever, former Dean of CSB, says that since this program was started it has been a great success and she hopes it can continue to grow. Roever stated that Western’s CSB is the only school she knows of that offers this type of award for hard working students that want to become entrepreneurs.
“The three previous winners are doing well with their franchises,” Roever said. “They have really embraced the opportunity and are work-ing hard to be successful.”
The prior winners are Seth Lyons, Brady Ellis and Robert Schimming. Lyons was given a franchise in Silverthorne, Colo. Ellis received a franchise in Vicksburg, Miss. Schimming opened a third one in Lake Elsinore, Calif. The fourth store will open in Manteca, CA. once the winner is chosen this summer.
The stores are not completely free, however. A franchise would normally cost roughly $350,000 to buy, but CSB students pay around $150,000
for one. In addition to the huge discount, Craig offers the students the loan with minimal interest and up to five years to pay it back.
The winners of the RMCF must also make a financial donation to the CSB and return to Western to speak to business students. The financial donation is based off a percentage of their profits.
Greg Pope, senior vice president of franchise development for RMCF, says that the franchise winners have been doing a great job running their businesses. Pope stated that he heard Ellis plans to pay his loan off in two years and is on track to do so.
“I am very pleased with what I am hearing about their profitability and pay back schedule,” Pope said.
Pope says he is not worried about turning the RMCF brand over to students that have little or no hands on business experience.
“When you consider the education back-ground and the curriculum that’s in front of them, I feel they have a great chance for suc-cess,” Pope said.
The students enrolled in the Management 499 class are eager to make their bid at becom-ing an RMCF owner. The students have been
working hard all semester in preparation for the competition.
Leslie Oberg, Western senior, is one of the students competing for the franchise. Leslie says she understands the magnitude of what is at stake in the contest.
“I would have never been given this oppor-tunity if it wasn’t for the Craig School Business and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory,” Oberg said.
Darby Meehan, Western senior, is another student that is competing for the store. Meehan feels his experience will give him an edge in the running.
“I work full-time, attend classes full-time and have a family,” Meehan said. “I see this oppor-tunity as a journey or adventure; it’s a win-win situation.”
The students competing now and the previous winners all agree that everyone involved with the CSB has been of great help. Several staff members are at their disposal if they need help with anything.
The students are very grateful to Steven Craig and the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for giving them what they feel is an opportunity of a lifetime.
This tuition increase followed by another one the next year with no projection of how high that one will be, would allow MWSU by 2013 to unfreeze wages and hire more full time staff. This would also let the University add to it reserve fund, that it has been operating out of the last few years to cover budget shortfalls.
Director of Honors Program Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin, believes that people in our region may not be aware of Western’s situation.
“I think the people in Northwest Missouri don’t understand how inequitable funding is for Missouri Western State University,” Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin said.
If the Board of Governors
approves the tuition increase that doesn’t mean it will happen. Senate Bill 389 states higher education cannot raise its tuition above the consumer price index. That tuition cap can be raised if the commis-sioner of higher education approves a waiver. The commissioner can also decline the waiver and fine the institution.
“He can fine us to five percent of our state appropriation, for Missouri Western that is about $1 million,” Klinkner said.
Missouri Western State University has not raised tuition in the last two years. Western has done several things to keep from raising tuition. They have frozen salaries and wages for the last two
years. Classrooms have been filled to capacity. They have eliminated administration positions.
“We are already asking the fac-ulty here to do a lot more with a lot less,” Klinkner said.
The Golden Griffon scholarship was reduced. They also cut faculty salaries for summer school. The use of adjunct faculty has increased by 25 percent in the last two years.
The cause for the budget short fall comes in for several reasons one is tuition has not been raised in two years.
“The last two years, Gov. Nixon has made an agreement with the presidents that he wouldn’t cut higher education if they wouldn’t raise it a penny,” Vartabedian said.
Other reasons for the short fall are insurance and utility hikes and other miscellaneous expenses that take around five percent out of the budget every year. These expenses cannot be accounted for ahead of time.
There have been two of these budget focus groups and there are two left. The information provid-ed in these focus groups will be made available on the Board of Governors web site in the coming month. In this focus group there where only three students present. Klinkner did inform us that all 6,134 students were invited to these budget forums. There was a lot of Missouri Western staff present.
Stefan Mumaw, creative director for Kansas City-based advertising agency Reign, recently spoke to Dallas Henry’s scriptwriting class about the creative process. Mu-maw’s book, “Chasing the Monster Idea,” provides a seven-question process for gauging the potential of advertising and marketing ideas. He described those questions to the class and showed them examples of campaigns that qualified as “mon-ster ideas.”
The class will be looking for monster ideas of their own when they meet next week with a client to learn about the client’s web site and write commercial spots for them. The spots will be produced and ed-ited by other video classes. “This is very, very exciting for the students, as the client is going to air the spots and post them on web sites,” Henry said.
Reign has Monster idea
03.indd 1 3/9/11 10:52 AM
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opinionsMarch 10, 2011The Griffon News
The Griffon News is written and published by students of Missouri Western State University dur-ing the fall and spring semesters. The first copy of each issue is free; additional copies are 50 cents. Content of this paper is developed independently of the faculty and administration, or other campus organizations or offices. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas, information and advertising to The Griffon News office, Eder 221, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, Mo. 64507, or by phoning (816) 271-4412 (advertising and news room). You may also e-mail [email protected]. Copy and advertising must be received by noon Friday, the week prior to publication.
Guidelines for letters to the editor:• All letters to the editor must be typed and double spaced. Letters must be no longer than 350-400
words and guest columns no longer than 500 words. Letters and columns will be edited for style.• All letters must include signature and identity verification information, such as phone number.
The Griffon News reserves the right to edit all letters for length and Associated Press style.• The Griffon News will not withhold names under any circumstances. Anonymously submitted
letters will not be published.• Views expressed on the opinion pages are not necessarily those of The Griffon News staff or
Missouri Western State University.
Design EditorPhoto and Graphics Editor
News EditorLifestyles Editor Opinion Editor
Sports EditorWeb Editor
Copy Editor Copy EditorAd Manager
Faculty Adviser
Dave HonEditor-in-Chief
Charlene DivinoBrooke CarterTodd FullerCaitlin Cress Eboni LaceyMatt GleavesLuke MasonLauren BurbachBlair Stalder Ryan ScrogginsBob Bergland
The Griffon News Staff
Did you vote for or against the tobacco policy and why?
Danielle WagnerJunior
“I voted for the tobacco policy because I think it will promote better student health and provide a step in the right direction.”
Brandon Bernhardt
Junior
“I voted in favor of the tobacco policy because it is a good environmental move for Western.”
“I’m voting for the policy because it’s unfair for stu-dents that don’t smoke to walk through it and smell like it.”
Kayla BazerSophomore
Campus
Voice
Dwayne KempSophomore
“I haven’t voted. I really don’t care. I’m quite sure that it’s really what they want though. But, I think students will pick against it.”
Patrick Putnam
Sophomore
“I voted for the policy. It will only change Western it for the better.”
“I don’t think they should ban it because everyone should be entitled to smoke outside. Students need a break and pay to be here.”
Octavia Ball Sophomore
New attendance policy becomes professors’ choice
Editorial
F i n a l l y M i s s o u r i Western gets smart and decides to elimi-nate the manda-tory attendance policy for 100
and 200 level courses due to New Federal Aid Guidelines. This means that the FA (failure due to absences) grade will be eliminated. Well, it’s about time! But, don’t just think that students can waltz into class whenever they feel like it. Though the mandatory attendance policy will be eliminated, attendance will still be an issue as professors now solely have the power to create and enforce their own policies.
Starting the Fall 2011 semester, attendance policies will strictly be a professor’s personal decision. This means that every Missouri Western educator will have to personally develop an attendance policy that they feel is reasonable for students. Though this gives educators more freedom, it can also become prob-lematic. A professor could require
students to miss no classes without a valid medical excuse, or simply fail the course. Then students that have a busy schedule, that work, or that have children will have an extremely difficult time abiding by this policy.
This new policy also means that a student must pay very close atten-tion to the course syllabus. This will now be the only way a student will know how many classes they can miss. Students will have to make sure they are printing off their syllabi because professors have stopped printing them off for us. Students will definitely need to think twice before missing the first day of classes. This is because that first day absence might be the only absence they have; or at least one of the few.
Though Missouri Western has taken a firm step in the right direc-tion involving attendance, profes-sors should take an even bigger step by eliminating their policies. Professors should not be forced to hold students responsible for being in class. Instead of professors hold-
ing students accountable, students need to hold themselves account-able. Then, when students graduate and go into the work force, they will understand what self-accountability truly means.
Checking attendance also takes a huge amount of time from class work, especially with courses that have around 50 to 70 students in them. With a 50 minute class and 10 minute time to take attendance, students are really only getting 40 minutes of actual useful class time.
If any student thinks they could miss numerous classes and still pass, then let them. Ultimately, it will be nobody’s fault but his or her own. Professors have enough responsibil-ity involving class work, lecture, and creating, checking and grading tests and quizzes. Why don’t we take a little stress off of the many things they have to do on a day-to-day basis? Frankly, no student deserves to be at Missouri Western if he or she can’t be in class in a proper manner. We don’t need any profes-sor to tell us that.
YES! No attendance policy, now I
can skip class all I want.
WHAT? Professors are still enforcing
their own attendance policies?
SGA president elect speaks to studentsB
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Dear Missouri Western Students,
I first want to say thank you for voting for myself, Alison Norris, and Jacob Scott as your new SGA President and Vice President. We are honored to be serving you. I realize that we were the only can-didates on the ballot this year, but I assure you that we will do the best job possible and with our experi-ence and good work ethic, we are the best candidates for the job.
As your new Student Government Association President, I assure you that I will do my best to work for you and do what’s best for the inter-est of the students. SGA president is a position of service and I will dil-igently work to serve the students.
Throughout our campaign, we met with many organizations and student groups that gave us many great suggestions of things they want done. We have kept this list of suggestions and will be using those to determine what we will be doing next year. We are already formulat-ing our plan for next year, but we will continue to listen to your sug-
gestions throughout our term and continue to get your feedback.
Our administration will not just work for the students fall and spring semester, but throughout the sum-mer and winter breaks because Student Government requires year-round vigilance.
I will be e-mailing applications for new SGA director positions soon. The positions that will be open are: director of communica-tions, director of student relations,
and director of finance. We will be hiring dedicated students that are leaders on campus and off campus. I encourage all students to apply. Our directors will be held at a high standard and we will hold ourselves and our directors accountable.
I am excited for the changes and challenges of next year and I am ready to serve the students. My office will always be open to all stu-dents and I would like to encourage all of you to bring any issues, con-cerns or suggestions to me because I will always be happy to listen.
Sincerely,
Alison NorrisIncoming SGA President
Alison Norris | SGA President Elect
Alison Norris is a Convergent Media Major. She will be graduating in the Spring of 2012. She has played nu-merous roles at Western such as Life-styles Editor and Editor-in-Chief for the Griffon News and Communica-tion Director of SGA.
Students should not be confused about the new attendance policy starting for Fall 2011. Though the policy will no longer be a standard department or university decision, it is now solely a professor’s decision. For some courses the policy might even be more strict then before.
Feel strongly about the results of the tobacco policy? Griffon News encourages you to write about it. Send a letter to the editor and
e-mail it to [email protected]. We want to hear your
voice!
04.indd 1 3/9/11 10:52 AM
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lifestyles March 10, 2011The Griffon News
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Caitlin Cress | Lifestyles [email protected]
In the Lifetime Original Movie “The Client List,” Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Sam Horton, a mother who will do anything to keep her family’s home out of foreclosure. At first glance, this scenario seems too everyday to be the plot for a movie shown
on Lifetime. The twist is what Sam does to get ahead: she prostitutes herself. Watching Sam’s adventures in the world’s oldest profession is most definitely an entertaining way to spend 95 minutes.
The first shot of the movie is an extreme close-up on the Texas flag, flapping in the breeze. What follows is a series of establishing shots, showing cowboy boots, beer, longhorns, pickup trucks and rampant Republicanism. This opening sequence proves to be unnecessary as soon as the characters open their mouths. From the first scene, it is evident where these characters are from: a land where big hair, push-up bras and sundresses are everyday wear for a struggling mother of three; a place where a mother will tell you “knockers up!” instead of asking you to stand up straight; a state where accents cannot be too thick and people actually use the expression “hell’s bells.” From this description alone, it is apparent what kind of movie “The Client List” is—a fun, ridiculous romp, following a moth-er’s journey from hot housewife to hooker.
Believe it or not, Hewitt was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television) for her role in this film. Hewitt is surprisingly strong in her role as Sam, a fairly outrageous character. From the very beginning, she struts around in Christian Louboutin pumps and false eye-lashes, her four-carat engagement ring flashing; it is easy to see how her family got in such a financial pickle. Hewitt takes Sam’s most outrageously awful lines (“I promise you’ll leave here satisfied, ‘cause when I do something, I do it right.”) and creates a character that the audience can root for. Hewitt easily takes Sam from sobbing mess to impec-cably made-up call girl, and back again. Hewitt stands out from the rest of the cast starkly. Especially stiff are Sam’s girlfriend/lawyer Laura (Kandyse McClure) and her hus-band Rex (Teddy Sears).
In the beginning of the film, Sam often talks to an angel
ornament on the dash of her pick-up. She vents to the small trinket, defending her choices; by doing this, the screenwriters are allowing the audience to hear Sam’s conscience. What starts off as an awkward device becomes ridiculous as Sam begins voice her streams of conscious-ness everywhere: not just in the car, but in the kitchen, in the hallway while her Johns are undressing in the next room, etc. This uncomfortable monologuing only shows the weakness of the screenwriting, and majorly slows down the salacious action of the plot.
“The Client List” will probably be forgotten in the next few years. But Redbox users should snap up this entertain-ing DVD while they can: Sam’s story is perfect for a girls’ night in, an afternoon spent procrastinating, or a reminder that, while your problems may be bad, they could always be worse. You could be a prostitute… Or a housewife in Texas.
Ellis Cross | [email protected]
“Phantom” is based on the book with the same title by Arthur Kopit. His book is based on the novel “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux.
The leading role is Eric, a tor-tured soul who lives in the base-ment of an opera house. He is the disfigured love child of a stage manager and beautiful performer who has died before the time of the opening scene.
Eric, played by Raymond Johnson, wears a mask at all times after seeing himself in a puddle of water as a youngster.
It may be the number of vocal works performed by Johnson that won the hearts of the audience or his strong baritone voice.
Either way, he moved through the scenes with unwavering grace and confidence. Only Eric’s father, Gerard Carriere, played by Steve Catron, knows his identity and has protected him for years from the public and opera house performers.
Catron’s performance Sunday started out almost as a carryover from his character in his last per-formance, “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.” He almost type-casted him-self but quickly recovered.
In his best scene Catron moved the audience through an emotional father and son bonding moment when Eric is mortally wounded.
The urgency to bond and explain everything was masterfully por-
trayed to the degree that sniffles could be heard throughout the crowd.
Eric’s entire world is the base-ment of the opera house. He plays there as a youngster in a park of artificial prop type trees. He sleeps on a bed from a different produc-tion and teaches a costume girl how to sing in a set that must be from an opera of horror genre.
After hearing grand opera all his
life Eric knows good performance and talent. Both are developed in his protege, the lovely costume girl Christine, played by Morgan Breckenridge, with whom he falls in love
Breckenridge makes both her relationship with the Eric and The Count Philippe De Chandon seem real because Christine loves each man for different reasons.
The energy is equally played
between her character and the phantom and she and the Count played by Brian Shewell. Nearly every available girl on the set claims to be in love with the Count and Shewell artfully strings them along while pursuing his new found talent and love Christine.
MWSU President Robert Vartabedian is credited with the idea for a production involving the music, art and theater departments,
Director Tee Quillin’s program notes. The idea is more than bold.
Only perseverance and dis-cipline of each performer could bring about the cooperation of each department on this large scale production. In the words of Eric, “People are born for many things.”
This performance was nearly constantly accompanied by a music score by Maury Teston.
The execution was so well per-formed by the live orchestra that the audience could almost forget it occupied the pit.
Conductor Rico McNeela kept each moment of “Phantom” a seamless emotional experience with talented Western students. The company of artist played four times to a sold-out house.
If that sounds familiar it’s because “Phantom” comes on the heels of Dallas Henry’s direction of “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” last fall which also enjoyed sold-out performances.
Henry was the box office/house manager of this production and shared a funny but nervous curtain speech with Director, Tee Quillin. Both of these gentlemen are fairly new to Missouri Western but have hit the ground running with these two pieces.
The company has earned their audience’s highest compliment. At the end most were hoping the house lights wouldn’t come up so quickly that fellow audience mem-bers could see their tears.
Sarah Waters as La Carlotta flaunts her “divaness” on stage (right).Raymond John-son (The Phan-tom) poses in one of several masks made for the pro-duction by the art department. His masks changed throughout the show to match his character’s mood (below.)
Phantom moves audience
Client List worth the dollar
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Thomas Huitt-Johnson | [email protected]
Missouri Western’s Tennis season is underway, and already things are looking up from last year.
The 2010 Tennis season is well behind coach Ron Selkirk and his team. The season is over; done; finished. 2011 has started and there could not be better news surround-ing the tennis team.
Last year, finishing with a record of 0-7 in the conference and 3-15 overall, Western did not look any-where near a team ready for the MIAA tournament. They drew the number one seed, Northwest Missouri, and was ousted 5-0.
In just the first week of competi-tion of the 2011 season, Western has already won two games, just one less than the total of last sea-son, and already looks more com-petitive. This is definitely some-thing coach Selkirk can build on.
“We’re doing pretty good,” Selkirk said. “I would have liked to have been 4-0 but they’re things to build on.”
Western defeated Lincoln University last Friday, a team they lost to 8-1 a year ago. Not only did Western get payback against Lincoln, but they also took care of Morningside 7-2, a team that they defeated last year.
Senior Mindy Buschbom knows this is her last year and is ready for the rest of the season.
“I want to win more games,” Buschbom said. “For me person-ally I want to win more singles and doubles.”
Buschbom did not play on the team last year but will be looked at as a leader for her final season. She was not eligible to play last year becaue of credit hours. Being back on the team is great for Western because she is one of the better players.
“I like everyone; we all get along,” Buschbom said. “We are all like the same person. As for the coach, he is a great coach. He’s always getting us feed back on what to do.”
Western has a favorable sched-ule early on. They already defeat-ed two of the four teams they played. Next is Johnson County
Community College, a team that finished 4-11 in the regular season last year before making a run for the Region 6 title, taking second. They also play Emporia State, who finished 6th in the conference last season, and Baker University.
The schedule gets tougher in the middle of the year, as Western has to travel to Iowa to play Graceland University, go to Maryville to play last years regular season confer-ence champions Northwest and also go to Topeka to play the defending confer-ence tournament champi-ons Washburn University.
“Playing the conference as a whole, it’s tough; there are some good teams so good com-petition,” Selkirk said.
Western has four freshman who were not part of last years dismal season. This includes Erin Ward, Sophia Robertson, Katherine Guinn and Katie Field. Continuing down the roster, Western has the only sophomore on the team, Nicole Kerr and junior Alecia Jenkins. Western has two seniors, the aforementioned Buschbom and Sarah Hatten, a public relations major who transferred to the team after attending the University of Oregon.
Last season, Selkirk talked great about how well Hatten played dur-ing her single’s matches. If she can continue donig that this season, she will help Western get more wins.
According to the MIAA website, the women’s tennis division did not have one team finish in the regional rankings last year. However, Selkirk thinks there is great competi-
tion for his team this year.“We beat Lincoln so we’re already
1-0,” Selkirk said. “That is a good thing; getting the monkey off our back because we finally won a con-ference game.”
Look for Western to rebound from a poor 2010 season and gain great experience from a young team in 2011. With leadership from Buschbom and Hatten as well as quailty play from the two, Western is capable of upsetting some teams along the way and if they can do that the 2011 season will be much more enduring and easier to man-age than the year before.
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sportsMarch 10, 2011
The Griffon News
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Q: What do you think will be the stand out accomplish-
ment for the athletic department as a whole this spring?
A: It’s a little hard to predict right now. We are excited
about all the teams this spring. It’s one of our busiest times because we have the most sports playing and I think everyone, especially baseball and softball are looking forward to getting into their new facilities.
Q: How excited are the base-ball and softball teams
about having their new fields?
A: It’s been a long time com-ing for baseball. Softball
was on campus before, but not in as nice of facilities. By being off campus last year I think softball understands the value of being on campus. They are excited as well about their new field.
Q: On the baseball field, what was the reasoning behind
having a turf infield opposed to a natural surface?
A: One hundred percent stu-dent athlete welfare. The
amount of time and money it takes to upkeep a dirt infield for baseball is enormous. When it rains early in the season student athletes in the past have had to put in countless hours into getting the field ready. Think of a major league baseball team; they have a whole crew of workers to get the field ready. In Division II, we don’t have that crew, the crew in the past has been the baseball team. The advantage now is that they don’t have to do all that dirtwork. That was the driving force behind it in my mind.
The other driving force was the sometimes cold weather we get in the early season and the ability to guarantee that we will get to play a game even if it rained the day before.
Q: Do you think having base-ball and softball on campus
once again will spark more student interest in the spring sports?
A: We hope so. Before when we had softball here we were
getting nice crowds to the games. We noticed a definite drop off when we went off campus last year. Now, we’re hoping they will come back. One of the advantages of it being on campus is students can go for a few innings, an hour between classes, or between their last class and maybe dinner and don’t feel like they have to take a whole day to go off campus to see the baseball team play. Being in the location that it is in, we are hoping that as people are leaving campus, they will see a baseball game being played and decide to stop and watch a few innings. We think that there will be an increase, but I guess we’ll see when the sea-son starts.
Q: Other than the student interest, what other posi-
tives do you think will come out of having the fields on campus?
A: Well, the first one is not even athletically related.
The baseball field was built with MAX Experience money. The pur-pose of MAX Experience was that the students that voted for it want-ed to boost the pride in Missouri Western as a university through athletic facilities. So I think that all the facilities we’ve done from the indoor field to the Spring Sports Complex to Agenstein and Remington Halls to the new dorms, all they are doing is increas-ing the pride of Missouri Western students in their university. It will also help enrollment and retention of the student body and certainly there are going to be some athletic payoff as well. Yes, we will be able to recruit and it will be easier to recruit. Kids like shiny objects and the new field is a shiny object for a baseball player.
Kyle Inman | [email protected]
The Griffon softball team is trying to shake off a disappointing 2010 season and get back to winning form in 2011.
Western was picked to finish fourth in the preseason MIAA softball coaches poll. Nebraska -Omaha, Fort Hays State and Emporia State were the teams picked ahead of the Griffons. Head coach Jen Bagley would like them to finish higher than that. “If you finish in the top two in our conference, you should make the NCAA tournament.” Bagley said. “That is always our goal.”
Western finished with a .500 record of 28 wins and 28 losses
last year and failed to reach their ultimate goal of earning a trip to the NCAA tournament. According to Bagley the end result of last season was a disappointment for everybody involved. “This year the team feels that pressure of not meeting expectations last season.” Bagley said. “If everyone perfects what they are supposed to contribute to this team, then we will do very well this year.”
2010 honorable mention All- MIAA conference senior pitcher Jonnelle Belger returns in 2011 and brings with her a team low 3.51 ERA and a winner’s mentality.
“I was part of a team that won 32 games in a row and a divisional championship so last season was a disappointment.” Belger said.
“Expectations are high this season, we have really good girls who are going to work hard to be successful.”
The team also returns Toni Dance, a senior outfielder. Dance had a 3.11 batting average and earned honorable mention All-MIAA honors in 2010. She lead the team in hits, with 55, doubles, with 11, and home runs, with 8 last season and will be looked upon for leadership this year. Dance thinks that the team has a very good chance of doing well this season. “As a team we need to work together with good communication to win as many games as we can.” Dance said. “Personally, I need to be consistent both hitting and fielding.”
The Griffons will also return
senior right fielder Brittany Douglas to the team this season. Douglas suffered a season ending injury in 2010 but according to Bagley she is healthy and will be relied upon this season. In 2009, Douglas was an All-MIAA first team performer and finished the season with a .355 batting average. She will be looked on to provide middle of the line-up power for Western in 2011.
Western added some key newcomers to the team this season. Junior utility player Blair Stalder joins the team after transferring from Garden City Community College in Kansas. According to Bagley, Stalder brings a consistent bat to the team. “I am very excited to have her in the line-up.” Bagley said.
Freshman pitcher Jackie Bishop joins the Griffons from Kirksville High School in Kirksville, Missouri. Coach Bagley is expecting big things from the true freshman. “This is a great opportunity for Jackie to get a high number of innings and learn how the conference is played.” Bagley said. “We are looking for a great year from her.”
The Griffons started off their season by going 4-2 in the Southcentral Shootout in Durant, Oklahoma. Bishop and Stalder were named to the all tournament team. Stalder batted .389 with 7 hits on the weekend. In four games and two starts, Bishop went 3-0 with an ERA of 1.53 and struck out 21 batters in her collegiate debut.
Tennis looks to improve record
Softball gets back to winning ways; improves record to 4-2
Nicole Kew fires off a serve during practice at the Saint Joseph Tennis & Swim Club, February 24.
Women’s Tennis Roster• MindyBuschbom Senior• KatieField Junior• KatherineGuinn Freshman• SarahHatten Senior• AleciaJenkins Junior• NicoleKerr Sophomore• SophiaRobertson Freshman• ErinWard Freshman
Q&Awith Athletic Director Dave Williams
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Page 7
SportsMarch 10, 2011The Griffon News
Shane Feist is a senior account-ing major at Western. He has been playing golf for Western since his freshman year, and has loved the sport since he was seven years old.
“It’s just such a hard sport that you can’t ever perfect it,” Feist said. “I mean, you can go undefeated in basketball for a season, but you’ll never win every single tournament you play. Tiger’s probably the best that’s ever lived and he wins maybe 50 percent of the tournaments he plays in. It’s just something that you’ll never perfect. You’re always faced with really tough shots on the course. The reward is to actually hitting the shot how you’re trying to hit it and the result ending up good.”
Last summer, after being diag-nosed with testicular cancer, Feist had to take a nine-month break from golf. He’s now preparing for his first season back, after receiving a medical red shirt last season. The NCAA allows players with injuries and illnesses to sit out a season with the red shirt distinction.
“I took a lot of time off,” Feist said. “I stopped playing at the beginning of August for the first surgery and I didn’t really play until the following May. I’d never taken that much time off from golf. Ever.”
In June 2009, Feist began to suf-fer from unexplained back pain.
“I went to the chiropractor like five different times in two weeks and it didn’t help at all,” Feist said. “It was really bad pain; the worst I’ve ever had before. Other than that, I completely felt fine.”
Feist knew that the back pain was linked to something more serious; a couple of weeks earlier, he had found a lump in one of his testicles.
“I had kind of looked up on the internet after I found the lump, and was like ‘uh-oh,’” Feist said. “But at the same time, I’m like ‘No, that can’t be it.’ Being 21, you don’t really think you’re going to have cancer.”
Feist knew, however, what his eventual diagnosis would be. All of his internet research pointed him to cancer.
“It was kind of a surprised to think that that’s what it could be,” he said.
After being diagnosed on July
22, 2009, Feist went through months of treatment. His first surgery, on Aug. 3, removed the effected testicle. This opera-tion is called an orchi-ectomy. After the sur-gery, he went through 12 weeks of chemo-therapy. Following the chemotherapy, effected lymph nodes were still found in his belly and aorta. His doctors were not sure how to handle his treatment.
“I was not a by-the-book case,” Feist said. “They originally sent us home, thinking I was going to start another two cycles of chemo-therapy.”
Feist’s doctors con-tacted Lawrence Einhorn of the University of Indiana, a prominent specialist in the testicular cancer field.
“He is one of the doctors that treated Lance Armstrong,” Feist said. “He’s like the specialist in the United States about this cancer.”
Einhorn suggested that Feist’s doctors wait before performing any surgery. The wait might allow the lymph nodes to die off on their own. Feist’s doctors waited two weeks before operating. During eight hours of surgery, they removed 40 lymph nodes from Feist’s abdomen. They were all dead. The lymph node in the aorta was left.
“The lymph node in my aorta is in such a tricky place to get to, that they didn’t take it out,” Feist said.
At Feist’s most recent check-up, his doctor labeled him as “cured.” This is obviously great news to the golfer, who is more than ready to start the new season. He has been playing as much as possible since treatment, and feels he is now in the same shape he was before the cancer. Feist has worked hard to redevelop his skills.
“I lost a lot of weight: a little bit through chemo and most of it through my second surgery,” he said. “Just the effects from that and rebuilding your muscles. It was weird to swing a golf club; you almost lost muscle memory. It took a while to get it back. But now
there’s not any difference than what it used to be.”
While he is physically the same as he was before treatment, he does feel that some things have changed.
“Nothing like this had ever hit my family; never really had any disease or anything like that,” Feist said. “No heart attacks, nothing. I’d never dealt with it before. I guess I’m kind of more aware of things like that. I think I’m better pre-pared to handle it.”
Feist also has a different outlook on life off the golf course.
“You kind of realize you have to take your opportunities when you can get them,” he said. “If you have an opportunity to go on a trip that’s kind of once in a lifetime, you better figure out a way to do it. If I have the opportunity to do some-thing that’s not ‘everyday,’ then I try to do it.”
Testicular cancer is most preva-lent in males between the ages of 18 and 34. Feist wishes to spread the education that he does not feel he had on the topic.
“I was kind of mad because I wasn’t really educated,” he said. “Even though you have physicals every two years for sports, like in high school, I was never really told. I didn’t know what they were look-ing for, you know?”
Season Rounds Strokes Low Score Average
2008-09
2010-11
20
4
1546
320
70
73
Totals 24 1866 70
77.3
80.0
77.8
Shane Feist Career Stats
Bryant Porter| [email protected]
The Missouri Western wom-en’s golf team has been practicing hard in hopes of competing for an MIAA championship this season. The Griffons are coming off a very good fall season, but the team is hoping to do a lot better this spring. Head coach Cathy Habermehl is looking forward to the spring sea-son and she has good reasons to. The Griffons feel very confident no matter what five players are called up for action. They believe that any body on the team could step in and play as well as any one else.
“We have a lot of talent on this team, so I’m expecting great things,” Habermehl said.
The Griffons have talent throughout the team that can be trusted to step up at any time, even the underclassmen such as fresh-men Shelby Stone, who has already won her first invite in September. The team has the ability to get better winter work outs this year compared to past years because of the addition of the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.
“The girls have worked out very hard over the winter, the indoor facility has been wonderful for that. We worked out in the rac-quetball court the year previous to this,”Habermehl said. “We look forward to coming in and working out, sometimes I can’t even get rid of them.”
The team is made up of ten tal-ented golfers: sophomore Natalie
Bird, the MIAA freshmen player of the year, from Carl Junction, Mo., junior Sarah Campbell from St. Joseph, Mo., junior Kristen Cooley from Nixa, Mo., senior Katie Dugan, the Oak Park High School female athlete of the year in 2005, from Kansas City, Mo., fresh-men Lauryn Huske-Davies from Topeka, Kan., junior Britni Nikes from St. Joseph, Mo., junior Alexa Perry from Excelsior Springs, Mo. ,freshman Shelby Stone from St. Paul, Neb., and last but not least are sophomore Casi Webb and senior Lexi Webb who are sisters from Eau Claire, Wis.
The Griffons are looking forward to the spring season but sophomore Natalie Bird is really excited to get a chance to improve on her already impressive resume, but thinks she needs to improve her play in the spring season.
“I didn’t have a great fall so I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Bird said. “I was all conference as a freshman, so kind of a lot of pressure the rest of the year.”
She has been working hard over the winter and after being the MIAA freshman player of the year and all conference, really wants to reach that great achievement again. “I would really like to be all confer-ence again,” Bird said.
Shelby Stone is also playing very well as a freshmen this year and withe a solid spring she could have a chance to give Missouri Western another MIAA freshman of the year.
“She has that work ethic that even
a lot of seniors and juniors don’t even have,” Bird said about the freshmen Griffon who placed first at the Fort Hays State Invitation during the fall season.
“I would love to be MIAA fresh-men of the year,” Stone said. “Its kind of been something I’ve been thinking about, but I just try and not put the pressure on myself and whatever happens, happens.”
She believes the support of her team has been a key factor of her great transition from high school golf.
“I look up to all the players that are above me, Natalie Bird, Cassie Webb, Lexi Webb, all of the upper-classmen are just really good role models on and off the course,” Stone said. “We just have a solid team.”
The Missouri Western Griffon’s have three more scheduled matches before the MIAA championship April 18 and 19 at the Tiffany Springs Golf Course in Kansas City. Shelby Stone and the Griffon golf team are preparing and moti-vated to do well in the champion-ship.
“If our team got first or sec-ond in the conference tournament that would make this year perfect,” Stone said.
The women’s golf team will be traveling to Texas A&M Commerce on March 13 for the Lion Invitational where they will be looking to start the spring off on the right foot with a win.
Feist returns after battle with cancer
Women’s Golf Preview:Women look to continue success
Caitlin Cress| Lifestyles [email protected]
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Shane Feist sizes up a put in a practice round at Fairview Golf Course. Feist is returning after battling Testicular Cancer last season.
Kristen Cooley lines up a drive in a recent practice round for the wom-en’s golf team.
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Next Week: Men’s Golf Season Preview
Men’s Golf team member Shane Fiest
07.indd 1 3/9/11 10:00 AM
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SportsMarch 10, 2011The Griffon News
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The Griffon men lost in heartbreaking fashion 86-85 against the Fort Hays State Tigers in the MIAA conference tourna-ment Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, ending their season and leaving head coach Tom Smith with 599 career wins.
Entering the tournament with a 12-15 record, Western was the seventh seeded team in the tournament while the Tigers (23-5) were the second seed.
The Griffons got off to a scorching start, shooting themselves to a 21-8 lead with 12:59 left to play in the first half on an Adrian Thomas three-point shot.
Fort Hays fought back by the 9:50 mark to cut the lead to four on a Ben Congiusta 3-pointer. Western held a four point lead at halftime, 44-40.
Both teams traded buckets the entire second half. Fort Hays guard Dominique Jones hit two free throws with nine sec-onds left in the game to push the score to 86-85 Tigers.
Western had one chance left to advance and keep their season alive with posses-sion of the ball and nine seconds left to play. Griffon guard P’Allen Stinnett had the hot hand all night and found himself double covered when it came down to the last seconds. The ball was swung to an open TJ Johnson, who missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
Senior P’Allen Stinnett scored 26 points,
grabbed eight rebounds, and shot 14-14 from the free throw line. Senior Adrian Thomas and junior TJ Johnson both added 18 points while junior Lavonte Douglas chipped in 12. Hays scored 25 points off fast breaks while the Griffons only put in four transition points.
There was 49 fouls called in the game but Smith does not believe officiating was a deciding factor in Western coming up just short.
“Calls are calls. The game was not decided by the officials; it was a very physi-cal game,” Smith said. “I am proud of our team because normally the tough and physical game gets the best of us.”
Stinnett said that he did not have second thoughts about bringing his talents to the Division II level and playing for Western.
“It was up and down, but I don’t regret it. I’ll have it forever; it was fun,” Stinnett said.
Thomas, also a senior, said that this is not how he wanted to go out.
“We knew coming in that this was going to be a roller coaster,” Thomas said. “Me, P’Allen and the other seniors this is not the way we wanted to go out.”
Smith wanted to get historic win num-ber 600 out of the way on Thursday.
“With this environment, it would have been a great place to get my 600th win,” Smith said. “Now I have to wait seven months and schedule the little sisters of the poor for the first game next season, someone that we can beat.”
MIAA heartbreak for Griffons
On a last second shot from Jessica Koch that just rolled off the rim, the Griffons’ sea-son came to a heartbreaking end with a loss to 20th ranked Washburn 58-55.
Western was looking to cap off a back and forth game with a solid, win against the num-ber two team in the MIAA.
With just 27 seconds left in the game and Western down by three, Alicia Bell stole the ball and took it the length of the court for a layup to make the score 56-55.
Coach Lynn Plett put the ball in the hands of his most reliable player, Koch, for the final shot to possibly win them the game and get them to the second round.
Koch drove in with just over 12 seconds left and put up a layup. She missed the layup but got the rebound and put up another attempt that missed as well. Washburn would rebound the missed attempt and Western would be forced to foul with eight seconds left in the game.
“We were just trying to get to the basket and get the lead and win the game, but that last shot just didn’t go in,” Koch said.
With five seconds left, Bell put up a des-peration layup that fell short and ended the Griffons season at a mark of 14-13.
Koch carried the team for the first few minutes of the game, as she scored the Griffons first nine points.
Koch would finish the game with 17 points,
leading all scorers, and 11 rebounds, ending the game with a double-double.
“Having Jess go off in the beginning of the game like that was huge for us,” Rachel Luteyn said. “It really gave us the confidence that we could play with them.”
Another key factor in the Griffons’ down-fall was their lack of three point shooting. Washburn shot 40 percent from behind the arc, while Western was only able to put in 29 percent from 3-point land.
“I was proud of our defense in the paint tonight,” Plett said. “Seeing that they only made seven shots inside the three point line is discouraging, though.”
Western’s season was defined by several up and down stretches, with the team playing great at times and struggling on the road.
However, this season’s squad helped to restore a sense of pride in the women’s bas-ketball program after the team has struggled with seasons of fewer than 10 wins the past two seasons.
“I will never forget this season and how we came together and didn’t let being picked 11th in the conference affect us,” Luteyn said.
Seniors that will be sorely missed will be Rachel Luteyn and Lauren Nolke.
Nolke shot 43 percent from 3-point range on the year and led the team in three point attempts.
Luteyn recorded 85 blocks on the season as well as leading the team in blocks as well.
Men lose on free throws to Hays 86-85 Women drop close game to Blues 58-55
The Griffons leave Arkansas with four more wins and zero losses, sweeping the four game weekend. The team played four games and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 31-4 and never allowed a team to have more than one run per game.
The Griffons continue to stay consistent, playing inspired softball. Western played two games against Southern Arkansas and then two games against Henderson State, winning them all in great fashion. The team stays determined to play great defense and to keep improving offensively. Western has now won six straight games and has been playing as team. Western has had plenty of help from their talented outfielder, Toni Dance.
“The games this weekend were a great show of team work,” Dance said. “We hit the ball as a team, which showed with the high scoring outcomes.”
The players all seemed to come together as if they had something to prove. Their last loss was against the University of Arkansas-Monticello who was ranked 13th in the nation. The Griffons got plenty of help from the pitchers, only allowing four runs in the four game span. Ashley Hudson has noticed the consistent play of teammates that the team has used that as motivation to continue winning and playing great softball.
“It was a group effort; there wasn’t just one or a few key players,” Hudson said. “We worked really hard, worked together and sought out the rewards for it and I am proud of the team work this weekend and group effort that allowed us to be successful.”
The Griffons were highly motivated to play well and Hudson said head coach Jen Bagley provided a little extra motivation or the players.
“We don’t get dessert unless we play well or win,” Hudson said. “We’re very motivated by that.”
Toni Dance added to Bagley’s unique motivation by saying, “Coach said she wouldn’t feed us.”
The entire Western team has really stepped it up as of late and the team has taken an emphasis on batting. The players have really stepped up to the challenge and play-ers like Blair Stalder have really taken it on themselves to work hard and get better.
“Our goals were of course to win but also to string together hits. At times we’ll have good hits but they’re really only worth it if they score runs,” said Stalder “Coach Bagley also wanted to work on good at bats and not focus on getting a hit exactly. Good at bats will lead to hits.”
Southern Ark.
Southern Ark.
Henderson St.
Henderson St.
8-1
10-1
4-1
9-1
Griffon Softball Scores
March 5
March 6
Softball rolls in weekend seriesGriffons sweep series 4-0 in Arkadelphia
Kyle Inman | [email protected]
Matt Gleaves | Sports [email protected]
Senior P’Allen Stinnett reflects on his season at Western. Stinnett is one of four seniors departing from this season’s squad.
Senior Rachel Luteyn tries to keep her composure as she answers questions from the press after Western’s heartbreaking 58-55 loss to Washburn in the MIAA tournament.
Bryant Porter | [email protected]
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Megan Roemmich watches as Hudson gets in line to catch a pop up dur-ing regular season game.
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