architecture

Taking into account the different living conditions facing Sub-Saharan Africa, A&M environmental design students have a plan to ad-dress health problems in Ni-geria.

Teams of design students will present five “dual-hospital” designs Monday for the Thompson & Grace Medical City, a complex consisting of two hospitals as well as a medical school, re-search institute, conference center, elementary school and artisan village, according to a College of Architecture press release. The project is supported by Thompson & Grace Investments, a Nige-rian based firm.

George J. Mann, A&M professor of health facilities design, oversaw the design teams and said students had to consider the climate’s role in the health of Nigeria.

“In developing their de-signs, student had to con-sider Nigeria’s climate and culture, as well as the leading causes of illness and death in the country — malaria, lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS and diarrheal diseases,” said Mann in the press release.

Mann said student designs include well-sealed build-ings and rooftop drainage to compensate for the 100 inches of annual rainfall in the Nigerian region.

Student participant Aus-tin Ash said in the release that students were pressed to consider cultural norms in addition to the extreme topi-cal conditions while design-ing the hospitals.

The presentation is open to the public and will take place at 1 p.m. in Legacy Hall at the Jon L. Hagler Center.

Fueled by a long-time love of fantasy and free time between class-es, senior kinesiology major Claire Banschbach wrote and had her first novel published.

Since the publishing of “The Rise of Aredor” in March 2014, Banschbach has been promoting the novel while encouraging fel-low students to take the same liter-ary leap. Sweet Eugene’s House of Java hosted Banschbach’s latest book signing Saturday.

The novel details the journey of Corin, who is kidnapped when he is a young boy and taken to a for-eign land as a slave in the house of a lord. After he is freed, Corin returns home to try and find his family after his country, the titular Aredor, had been invaded. Banschbach said she gained inspiration for “The Rise of Aredor” from the large assortment of fantasy books she read as a child and teenager growing up in Mid-land, Texas.

“I read the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and the ‘Chronicles of Nar-nia’ and pretty much any fantasy I could get my hands on when I was little,” Banschbach said. “That’s why I started writing. I just wanted to make my own story.”

While always having been enam-ored with storytelling, Banschbach said she didn’t start writing until she

was 17. Banschbach said that writing started off as a pastime, and that she submitted what became her book to a publisher on an impulse.

“It became a hobby that I am very fond of now,” Banschbach said. “It started off just kind of writ-ing it in my spare time. I’d keep a notebook around, as well as a bunch of pens. I typed it all up and my sis-ter, who’s an English major, edited it. I submitted it to a publisher on a whim. I found Tate publishing on a whim. They had a spot for submit-ting a manuscript online. They got back to me within a few weeks and offered me a contract.”

As a college student, Banschbach said balancing writing with her aca-demic pursuits was difficult and she had to quickly organize her priorities.

“It’s difficult because obviously you have to put education first,” Banschbach said. “It was kind of a struggle, trying to balance every-thing. I wanted to keep writing, but I also wanted to focus on school at the same time.”

When asked what her advice was for aspiring writers, Banschbach said to make sure to persevere and con-tinue writing, and to make sure to surround yourself with people who can help you.

“Keep writing, find people with similar interests,” Banschbach said. “Find people who like the same sort of stuff you do. Get as much feed-back as you can.”

Banschbach’s next scheduled signing is May 24 at Hastings in Bryan.

Sounds of dribbling basketballs, feet scurrying across a gymnasium floor and the laughter of excited children echoed throughout the Physical Education Activity Pro-gram Building on Saturday.

Sports for Kids, a student-run or-ganization dedicated to promoting sports and physical activity among College Station youth, held its larg-est event of the year, Sports Fest.

With more than 50 children at-tending, Hillary Webster, a junior health major and Sports Fest execu-tive, said the attendance was one of the highest the organization has ever seen.

“We had a great turnout this year, one of the best, and all of the kids are so excited for the sports,” Webster said.

The organization’s motto, “Be-cause every child deserves a chance to play,” was put into practice with Sports Fest. Children who attended were able to play seven sports across four gyms for free.

Stephanie Phillips, junior psy-

chology major and Sports for Kids intramurals executive, said Sports Fest is effective in exposing children to many different sports.

“It’s a great way to get involved and get children active,” Phillips said. “A bunch of kids don’t get the opportunity to play and try out a bunch of different sports, but with Sports Fest, this is an opportunity to do it for free.”

Lindsay Anderson, junior kinesi-ology major and Sports Fest execu-tive, said the kids love to play all the different variety of sports.

“I think the crowd favorite has to be gymnastics,” Anderson said. “It’s something for them, and they get to jump on the trampolines and into the foam pit.”

Anderson said she feels it’s im-portant to encourage children to be active, and said Sports Fest is a way to give back to the Bryan-College Station community.

“First of all, I’m a very big advo-cate for physical activity in general. Any way that I can get kids to get up and move is great,” Anderson said. “I also think it’s neat that we can create events for these kids. A lot of their parents are having to deal with us college kids taking over the

Claire Banschbach, senior kinesiology major, signs her book at Sweet Eugene’s Saturday.

March shatters fundraising record TO THE BRAZOS

By the time cadets returned from their annual 18-mile March to the Brazos on

Saturday, they had broken a fun-draising record and fundamentally altered relationships between the classes.

Up from $68,000 last year, cadets raised a record-breaking $113,000 for the Brazos Valley chapter of March of Dimes, an organization that advocates for prenatal health education and re-search.

Community director Kathryn Scott said the March to the Bra-zos is the largest student-run fun-draising event related to March of Dimes in the nation and has raised around $2.3 million since its be-ginning in 1976.

Scott said March of the Dimes was responsible for the first neo-natal intensive care units, the research that led to the wide availability of folic acid and the first education campaigns to stop women from smoking and drink-ing while pregnant.

Corps of Cadets public rela-tions officer Austen Jacobs said the

fundraiser has been so successful in part because the service is relevant to everyone.

“We were all babies once and most of us plan of having chil-dren someday,” Jacobs said. “So one that’s really interesting to me about what we do, which is sup-port new-born health, is that it’s something that affects everyone regardless of who you are, where you come from. Everyone was born at some point.”

Jacobs said the March to the Brazos also serves as an informal transfer of ranks within the Corps and is especially important for freshmen.

While cadets do not officially transfer ranks until final review next Saturday, Forest Allen, junior university studies major, said the event is a tangible representation of passing down responsibilities from one class to the next.

In addition to donning the belts of the class above them on the march back to the Quad, Craig Hogg, freshman political science major, said a big part of March to the Brazos is “dropping handles,”

Aimee BreauxThe Battalion

See March on page 3

service

Victoria RivasThe Battalion

Aimee BreauxThe Battalion

Bradley D’SouzaThe Battalion

Aggie turns love of fantasy into published novel

insideq&a | 3Prof talks undergrad researchDuncan MacKenzie said there are opportunities for research everywhere.

sports | 4A&M tops MSUAggies claim victory over Mississippi State in two of three weekend games.

service | 2Frat packs food for hungry230 volunteers bagged 125,000 meals Saturday.

The Battalion

@thebattonline

thebatt.com

@thebattonline

Roger Zhang — THE BATTALION

Jonathan Sheen — THE BATTALION

Graphic by William Guerra, photos by John Benson — THE BATTALION

TOP

Student makes literary leap

Group designs Nigerian hospital complex

Motto: ‘Every child deserves a chance’

Students teach city youth about sports

Nicole Peake, sophomore biology major and Sports Fest volunteer, passes a basketball to participants.

See Sports Fest on page 6

Jonathan Kappelman,

freshman aerospace

engineering major, and

Andrew Taylor,

sophomore industrial

distribution major,

wrestle during

March to the Brazos.

● monday,april 28, 2014 ● serving texas a&m since 1893 ● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2014 student media

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THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center.News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit within the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://www.thebatt.com.Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979-845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com.Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1.

Jake Walker, Editor in ChiefMark Doré, Managing EditorJessica Smarr, Copy ChiefAimee Breaux, City EditorJennifer Reiley, City Editor

thebattalion THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE OF TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893

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Application forms should be picked up and returned to Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite L406 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application: 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, 2014.

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Hundreds of volunteers came to Cen-tral Baptist Church Saturday to package 125,000 meals for starving children in third world countries.

A&M Christian fraternity Kappa Up-silon Chi partnered with the global hun-ger charity Feed My Starving Children to bring an annual mobile food-packing event to Bryan-College Station.

The mobile food-packing event con-sisted of volunteers packing basic raw ingredients — rice, soy, dehydrated veg-etables and a mixture of vitamins — into packages and putting them into larger boxes for shipment, said Ryan Jicha, ser-vice and FMSC committee chair of KYX and sophomore petroleum engineering major.

Jicha said the 230 volunteers this year attempted a new record in number of meals they could provide for those in need.

“Previous years we had raised $22,000 in order to pack 100,000 meals, but this year we decided that we could do more than that,” Jicha said. “And so, we have decided to raise $27,500 in order to pack 125,000 meals. We kind of challenged ourselves, but I think we’ve met it well and so far it’s been a success.”

Jicha said his fraternity has grown to become a patron of the charity over the past few years.

“We vote every year on what our global outreach is going to be for the spring semester and so we as a body vot-ed for Feed My Starving Children,” Jicha said. “But we’ve done it for the past four to five years now, so it’s kind of becoming a regular thing.”

Cody McCarthy, external vice presi-

dent of KYX and senior psychology ma-jor, said his organization enjoys partici-pating in FMSC because it’s a hands-on service activity.

“We actually get to see the fruits of our labor,” McCarthy said.

Jicha said events like FMSC food-packing challenged his perspective about how he spends his money.

“It really makes me think about what I’m spending my money on just because it is just 22 cents per meal, and if I just spent five dollars at a restaurant which seems relatively cheap for a meal,” Jicha said. “That’s a lot of meals that could be provided to these children who really need them.”

The volunteers also managed to have fun while preparing and packaging meals for the cause, Jicha said.

“Everyone loves it,” Jicha said. “It’s kind of like a little competition, trying to see who can pack the most.”

The event included fun and exciting antics to encourage the volunteers to work quickly, McCarthy said.

“Once you pack a box, there’s 36 meal packs in a box, you scream ‘Hey!’ or something like that,” McCarthy said. “Most teams have a chant to get everyone pumped up and pack some more meals.”

“It was great. I think my group must have gotten around six boxes. [The com-petition] gave us a little motivation to keep pushing,” said sophomore petro-leum engineering major Kenny Guion.

KYX was also able to incorporate the good will of their faith in the event as well, McCarthy said.

“My favorite part is before the last ses-sion,” McCarthy said. “They’ll gather around the packaged food and pray over it before we ship it out, which I really think is something special.”

Tanner Carroll, sophomore commu-nication major, said he loved participating in the previous FMSC event and enjoyed coming back as a fraternity member.

“It’s a great opportunity to just have fun with friends, dance around and act crazy, but still get to help kids in need,” Carroll said.

“Just in the first session we fed over 130 kids for a year,” Carroll said. “It’s re-ally awesome that we could have such an impact in such a short amount of time, and we’re all just having fun.”

Christian fraternity stuffs ‘manna bags’ for the hungry

Andrew HarrisSpecial to The Battalion

service

230 volunteers bag 125,000 meals

(From left) Jared Kitchens, senior finance major, and Ethan Perry, senior supply chain management major, fill buckets with rice Saturday at Central Baptist Church.

Photos by Jonathan Sheen — THE BATTALION

(From left) Jake Sandelin, sophomore industrial engineering major, and Tyler Green, junior mechanical engineering major, seal Manna Packs.

BAT_04-28-14_A2.indd 1 4/27/14 7:43 PM

THE BATTALION: Why did you choose your specific research field, which concerns hormones?

MACKENZIE: I’m interested in how animals work. My background is in hardcore zoology, so I’m interested in where hormone systems come from and how they have changed over time. The way we study that is to look broadly across different animals and their endocrine system. So there are a lot of interesting questions about hormones and how they function that can only be answered by looking at different animals. I came out of a program at Berkeley where we were interested in basic animal function and to this day I still work on that.

THE BATTALION: Over the 30 years that you’ve worked here, how do you think the university’s focus toward undergraduate research has changed?

MACKENZIE: One thing that has changed quite obviously is that for the first 20 years that I was here only honors students could do research. Each year there were only about 15 to 20 students that did a formal research thesis. So Dr. [Sumana] Datta and Dr. [Robert] Webb started the Undergradute Research Scholars program and the objective of said program was to provide a formal thesis experience for any student across any discipline on campus. What that has allowed us to do is to expand the reach of rigorous research expectations of students in a much broader area.

THE BATTALION: How have the faculty reacted to the fact that students are gaining the opportunity to do more research?

MACKENZIE: Generally, it’s been

extremely positive. There are a lot of faculty, such as us in the sciences, that will tell you we’ve been doing this for a long time. Part of what we’ve been trying to do in this office is to make sure that faculty in areas which are traditionally less recognized for undergraduate research are aware of its benefits. What we’re finding is that there are opportunities for research all over campus and some of them may have been cryptic in the past, so they might need a little bit of incentive to blossom.

THE BATTALION: How do you go about approaching the students in the disciplines that have less obvious research opportunities and informing them of the potential benefits of participating?

MACKENZIE: We’re really doing two things: One is we’re directly working with faculty, those who are actively participating in undergraduate research, and we’re providing them with some financial support so their programs can expand. The other is we’re trying to provide better information to students regarding how to get engaged in research.

THE BATTALION: Do you think the university is actually committing to diversifying research in all areas?

MACKENZIE: Traditionally, we’re an engineering institution, so it makes sense that most of our heavier infrastructure would be in those areas. But I have to say, I’m very encouraged when I go to less prominent programs and see that there are strong opportunities everywhere. We’re still hoping to provide more in the college of business, but in general there has been very strong progress. You’d be surprised where the opportunities are, so we just have to provide the motivation for both students and faculty to get involved.

THE BATTALION: How do you create awareness in the students of their

thebattalion

news page 3

monday 4.28.2014

Prof conducts his own research while enabling that of others

GOAL: ENGAGE UNDERGRAD RESEARCHERS

David Cohen, photo desk assistant, sits down with Duncan MacKenzie, associate professor of biology and associate director for Honors and Undergraduate Research.

QA& :

David Cohen — THE BATTALION

Duncan MacKenzie, associate professor of biology, helps direct undergraduate research.

potential to do research?

MACKENZIE: I think one of the most effective ways is to expose them to peers that are doing similar work now. That’s what we’ve been trying to do with the ambassadors program. I think that one-to-one student interaction is the most effective way to foster our program.

THE BATTALION: Do you think all students should be encouraged to do research?

MACKENZIE: The simple fact is that there simply won’t be that many opportunities available. However, I do think that all students can benefit from a research experience. Sometimes, that benefit is knowing that you don’t want to do research. If you’re going to graduate school in any way, it’s probably a good idea to figure out whether you like it or

not as soon as possible.

THE BATTALION: What are the biggest improvements you’re looking to make to undergraduate research?

MACKENZIE: We need to make sure the students are well informed about the opportunities that are available to them. I think we also need to make sure that faculty are adequately supported financially for research, and that they are recognized for their participation in mentoring undergraduates. It’s a very time-consuming process, so we’d like to redefine that process. We keep trying to think of ways to provide more support, so we try to identify sources of funds or at least support student travel to national meetings so they can showcase Texas A&M research on the national and international stage.

or getting on a first-name basis, with upperclassman.

“The thing about March to the Brazos is from the outside looking in, you don’t really see the little things that matter, like first names,” Hogg said. “You probably think first names really aren’t a big deal, but when we are allowed to say that first name, it shows that we’ve earned that respect, that we’ve earned a place here.”

After beginning the year with 16 freshman cadets in their unit and ending the year with 12, Hogg and Emilio Alvarado, a freshman com-puter science engineer in the same unit, said privileges gained at March to the Brazos were earned through the weeks of physical training.

“I know in other outfits people punched out, and we’re still here,” Alvarado said. “Everyone here had the same training, we all made sac-rifices, we sweated through these shirts like crazy. March to the Bra-zos is the transition, it’s a huge step.”

Hogg said the event is not only

a fundamental change in the re-lationship between the freshman and sophomore class but also an ac-knowledgement of the responsibili-ties ahead with the incoming fresh-man class.

“This whole year, you’ve been dealing with the pissheads saying, ‘I’m not your buddy, I’m not your friend,’” Hogg said. “They’re al-ways yelling at you, so when you finally get that pass down, we can finally just have a normal conversa-tion.”

Once the cadets reached the An-imal Science Teaching, Research and Extension Complex, their nine-mile breaking point near the Brazos River, units broke off into various physical training activities, most of which were centered around chal-lenges between the classes. After years of participating in March to the Brazos, Jennifer Nelson, senior agricultural leadership and devel-opment major, said everyone most looks forward to the wrestling chal-lenges.

“I think the one thing that ev-eryone looks forward to is the wres-tling, just because it’s your chance, especially as a freshman, to call out

some of those really annoying up-perclassman that really bugged you and kind of take out some frustra-tion,” Nelson said.

Justin Schuster, sophomore aero-space engineering major, said two

freshmen chal-lenged him to wrestle. While Schuster said it is purely for fun when upperclass-men challenge each other, but a challenge from a freshman heats up a bigger rivalry.

“As a freshman, when you’re call-

ing out an upperclassman, it’s kind of like an inner-rivalry heats up, and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s on now,’” Schuster said. “That’s what hap-pened when a fish called me out. This is a guy I’ve been training all

year, I’ve been yelling at. It’s re-venge time on his part, that’s just kind of the rivalry.”

Schuster said dawning a white belt on the way back also comes with new responsibilities.

“Between the freshman and sophomore is definitely the biggest jump,” Schuster said. “But, through each transition, it’s pretty significant in that it gives us new privileges and new sense of leadership, new sub-ordinates to work underneath us.”

Riding the bus with the rest of the seniors, Nelson said the event is more bittersweet for the graduating class.

“We consider it dying,” Nelson said. “We are officially letting them take the rein of the outfit.”

While rivalries factor in, for Dan-iel Harpster, senior university stud-ies major, the event as a whole is about simply getting together.

“It can be hard to get your en-tire outfit together throughout the year, but it’s one of those few times throughout the year that everyone comes together,” Harpster said. “You’re doing something together and there’s a bond, a camaraderie.”

MarchContinued from page 1

Photos by John Benson — THE BATTALION

Freshman Logan Bouma runs around

a bend at the one point during March

to the Brazos that cadets were

required to move in a single file to cross

a small bridge.

Josh Hewett, senior applied mathematics major, leads C-Company as commanding officer during March to the Brazos.

Everyone here had the

same training, we all made sacrifices, we sweated through these shirts like crazy. March to the Brazos is the transition, it’s a huge step.”

— Emilio Alvarado, freshman

computer science major

BAT_04-28-14_A3.indd 1 4/27/14 9:12 PM

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT REQUIREMENTS: 1. 90 cumulative completed undergraduate credit hours.

2. 45 undergraduate resident credit hours completed at TAMU.

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GRADUATE STUDENT REQUIREMENTS:Master’s Thesis Option 1. Defended Thesis Due to ordering deadlines, you may order at the beginning of the semester you will graduate. Your Aggie Ring will be delivered on Aggie Ring Day if you have defended your thesis prior to the deadline set by the Office of Graduate Studies. If you do not defend your thesis prior to this date, your Aggie Ring will be held until the qualification is met.

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Master’s Non-Thesis Option 1. 75% of coursework completed for degree program at TAMU.

2. Must not be on academic probation, suspension, dismissal, expulsion, or on honor violation probation from the university.

Ph.D. Students 1. Accepted as a Ph.D. candidate at TAMU.

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HOW TO GET YOUR AGGIE RING ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2014:

If you meet the requirements after Spring 2014:

1. Log in to AggieNetwork.com beginning May 19 to check your Ring eligibility. (You will need to create an

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2. If eligible, schedule an appointment online to order your Aggie Ring at the Aggie Ring Office.

• Select from available order dates between May 20-June 13.

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3. On your appointment day, visit the Aggie Ring Office to find your Ring size (with official Aggie Ring sizers) and pay for your Ring.

• FULL PAYMENT IS DUE AT TIME OF ORDER.

• Pricing will be available online beginning May 10.

• Ring Loans are available to qualified, currently enrolled students at the Short Term Loan Office. Visit AggieNetwork.com/Ring for full details.

AggieNetwork.com

Visit AggieNetwork.com/Ring for complete details or call the Aggie Ring Program at (979) 845-1050.

Check Ring Eligibility: May 19 - June 12

Order Dates: May 20 - June 13

Aggie Ring Day: September 19, 2014

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HOLD ONTO A PIECE OFAGGIELAND

Rain fell once this weekend and the Bulldogs fell twice as the Aggies claimed two of three games against SEC foe Mis-sissippi State (28-17, 11-10 SEC) at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Miss.

Grayson Long played five innings to earn his sixth win Saturday, aided by four blank frames of relief from A.J. Minter, Corey Ray and Ty Schlottmann.

“The bullpen was great,” Ray said. “We threw a lot of guys out there and we threw strikes. The defense was amazing today and it made it easy for the pitchers.”

Leading 5-4, Nick Banks drove home Blake Allemand to beat the tag and bring the score to 6-4 where it would remain. The Aggies had 12 hits on the day, with Allemand claiming 25 percent of them on a 3-for-4 day. Patrick McLendon, Cole Lankford and Banks tallied two RBIs each.

“We got ahead early, which was im-portant,” said freshman infielder Ryne Birk, who tallied two walks on the day. “They tied the game, but we got some more runs and had them on their heels most of the game. Our offense had a good approach.”

The victory was the third in four games against ranked opponents for head coach Rob Childress’ squad.

“This was a big week for us playing four ranked teams on the road and getting three wins,” Childress said. “It says a lot about the character and toughness of our guys. I thought we played very well in every facet of the game. We were good offensively against a very good pitching staff. Defensively we were outstanding and on the mound we had different guys step up for us in some pressure spots.”

A&M (27-18, 10-11 SEC) evened the series a day before with a 6-3 victory. Daniel Mengden (3-6) and Schlottmann worked six and three innings respectively to earn the win. Schlottmann gave up just two hits.

Earlier the same day, the Thursday night contest, which was rained out in the sixth inning, was completed.

Jace Statum scored the only run of game one after replacing Krey Bratsen on the base paths in the fifth inning. Statum found himself at third after a steal and a fielder’s choice before advancing home after a wild pitch to bring the score to 4-1. The Aggies lost the game 5-1 with Tyler Stubblefield (3-2) being tagged with the loss.

Next on the board for the Aggies are the Texas State Bobcats, who will arrive in College Station for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday.

Aggies steal series from MSUbaseball

Brandon Wheeland The Battalion

A&M to host Texas State in mid-week matchup

Photo provided by Texas A&M Athletics

Junior Daniel Mengden earned a win Friday against Mississippi State after pitching six innings and striking out two batters.

The No. 23 Texas A&M softball team fell to the Au-burn Tigers (37-14, 10-11 SEC) on Sunday by run-rule, 9-1, and was swept in its final Southeastern Con-ference series.

The Aggies (31-20, 9-15 SEC) lost Friday’s opening game 7-6 after a walk-off home run, despite leading 6-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning. The Aggies fell

Saturday 6-0. Head coach Jo Evans said she was disap-pointed by the Aggies hit-ting performance on Sun-day.

“We’ve got to be bet-ter,” Evans said. “Yesterday we got three hits off of [Au-burn pitcher Marcy Harper] and today we hit five. Eight hits against a pitcher that throws to you two days in a row — we should be bet-ter than that. We should be locked in to the strike zone better than that. I thought

early in the game we came up pretty aggressive at the plate and that made a differ-ence, but I thought we sort of backed off of that as the game went on. No excuses — we should just be bet-ter when we see a pitcher throwing that much.”

The Aggies will face La-mar Wednesday at the Ag-gie Softball Complex for a non-conference double-header.

Aggies swept in SEC finalesoftball

Milkyas Gashaw The Battalion

A&M golf takes 9th in SEC tourneyFollowing the team’s best round of the tournament on Sunday at fi ve-under par, the Texas A&M men’s golf team fi nished the SEC Tournament tied for ninth place. Top ranked Alabama claimed its third consecutive SEC title.

The Aggies next round will come in the NCAA regionals. Sites for the competition will be announced May 5.

BAT_04-28-14_A4.indd 1 4/27/14 6:25 PM

thebattalion

sports page 5

monday 4.28.2014

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The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track teams took home two relay titles and three individual victories Thursday through Saturday at the Penn Relay Carnival in Philadelphia.

“We had some really high end performances today, but we also had a bad day on some things we did,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “It’s really a great day for us and a really poor day for us at the same time. We’ve got a

lot of things we are going to get better at, we can’t make the mental errors we had a couple of times today.”

Both the women’s and men’s 4x200 relay teams ac-complished impressive feats as the women finished with a time of 1:30.21 — clocking the fifth fastest time ever at the Penn relays and their sixth 4x200 relay title over the past seven years. The men set a school record in the 4x200 with a time of 1:20.29 as they finished second behind UTech of Jamaica.

“Everyone gave their best effort and that led us to a vic-tory,” said Kamaria Brown, anchor leg for the women’s 4x200. “It’s amazing to come back here, defend our title and win a sixth title in this event as well. It’s good having com-

petition like we had this year with Texas back at the Penn Relays. It pushes everyone to better their time.”

Wayne Davis Jr. defended his title in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.50. In the 100 meters, Olivia Ekponé

Aggies run to 5 titles at Penn relaysElizabeth Kamenicky The Battalion

claimed her second consecu-tive victory clocking in at 11.23, a career best. Ekponé’s teammate Aaliyah Brown fin-ished second.

“This is like my third home, and my family is at the finish line of the 100, which motivated me,” said Ekponé. “The competition was stacked. It was Aaliyah’s first time so I wanted to show

her a good time and make sure she was comfortable.”

LaQue Moen-Davis took home first place in the triple jump with a mark of 44-1.5.

Jennifer Madu, Ashton Purvis, Kamaria Brown and Ekponé won the 4x100 re-lay with a time of 43.11. The women are collegiate leaders for 2014 and ranked second fastest in the world.

BAT_04_28_14_A5.indd 1 4/27/14 6:42 PM

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thebattalion

newspage 6

monday 4.28.2014

Photos by Meredith Collier — THE BATTALION

town, and this is a way for us to give back to them as well.”

Several of the Sports for Kids members are involved in sports at A&M as well, in-cluding Will Conte, a junior construction science major and member of the gymnas-tics club.

Conte said he was a gym-

nastics coach for children in high school.

“I wanted to find a way to continue to be involved,” Conte said.

Conte said Sports Fest is unique because it provides an opportunity for children to choose a sport they wish to pursue in the future.

“I think a lot of these kids don’t have the opportunity to try out a lot of these sports,” Conte said. “This way, they

can find one that they like after attending Sports Fest. They can go home, tell their parents what sport they like and sign up.”

Conte said the most im-portant thing is that the chil-dren have fun.

“What I love most is that when everyone leaves I can see a lot of smiles,” Conte said.

Sports FestContinued from page 1

Ring Dance brings senior class together for games, dance

(Top) Senior Stephanie Ruiz (in blue) and sophomore Juan Zermeno (in gray) play blackjack at Ring Dance Saturday in the MSC. (Left) Senior Andrew Koons dances with his date senior Mary Sparks

BAT_04-28-14_A6.indd 1 4/27/14 9:10 PM