The Optimist - 04.12.13

Tyler Eidson and J.P. Ralston aren’t done campaigning for Students’ Association treasurer yet.

Ralston, junior finance and accounting major from Plano, received 588 votes, or 49.5 percent of the 1,185 votes cast in the treasurer election. But, though he received the most votes, he had to get more than 50 per-cent of the total votes to be elected. Eidson, sophomore marketing and finance ma-

jor from College Station, received the second-most votes in the race, 373, and will face Ralston in a runoff election on Friday.

The other two SA ex-ecutive officers have been elected: Dylan Benac will be the next president of SA, and Rodney Johnson won the race for vice president.

Ralston, who was five votes short of victory, said he had expected a runoff to occur.

“I think Tyler had a really good advertising campaign, but I’m still very confident that I’m the best candidate

for the position,” he said.Eidson said he’s glad that

if he doesn’t win, Ralston will.

“He’ll do a great job and I’ll be happy for him,” he said. “And I’ll know it was God’s plan for him to win and that’s completely cool.”

Benac, junior political science major from Boerne and current SA vice presi-dent, said he had been ner-vous about the election.

“I’m really excited and kind of relieved honestly,” he said. “I was really wor-

Abilene Christian University

SportsPage 6

vol. 101, no. 49 friday, april 12, 2013 1 SECTION, 6 PAGES

Treasurer candidates to face off on Friday

Rained OutSoftball team preparing for busy weekend afterweeknight games were canceled

WE’RE NOT DONE YETstudents’ association

theoxfordcommablog.wordpress.com

Marissa Jones, our Oxford correspondent, details her latest experiences abroad

INSIDE

acuoptimist.com

Students gather for sunny All Club Rush to open rushing season

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Tennis teams to play final regular season match in Florida

SA team to select greatest idea in challenge

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acuoptimist.com

Sing Song co-chairs named, planning the February 2014 event

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ONLINE

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Check our Flickr for more shots from club rushes

Page 4

Sophomore advocates for women’s rights to President Schubert

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An open letter from the weather to complaining ACU students

Committee to choose Study Abroad director

Goodenough’s rebuilding of the women’s basketball team is working

OPINION

NEWS

VIDEO

PHOTOS

OXFORD

OPINION

NEWS

SPORTS

SPORTS

NEWS

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Ad/PR club tours agencies in Dallas

NEWS

staff report

see elections page 5

mandy lambright chieF Photographer

Above: J.P. Ralston, junior finance and accounting major from Plano,

and Tyler Eidson, sophomore marketing and finance major from

College Station, will face off on Friday in a runoff election because

neither received the required amount of the vote, more than 50

percent. Ralston narrowly missed the victory, getting 49.5 percent.

Left: Dylan Benac, junior political science major from Boerne, was

elected the president of the Students’ Association with 51.2 percent

of the vote. Right: Rodney Johnson, sophomore management major

from Odessa, won the race for vice president with 59.7 percent of

the vote.

Cullen Auditorium has proven to be a challenge to book. Anyone planning an event must reserve the space a year in advance.

This practice of claiming a space for venues in ad-vance is not uncommon for event coordinators. In fact, it’s a “rule of thumb” that most sites are unavailable to secure locations at last minute.

Because of its high de-mand as a multi-use facility, the auditorium functions on a large scale for secur-ing activities. Therefore, the procedure for retain-ing a spot is tailored to the professional world, just as it is for saving a spot in the Civic Center or Paramount Theatre.

Jacob “KP” Kilpatrick, junior Ad/PR major from Mesquite and captain of Sanctify, recently tried to book Cullen for the hip-hop group’s dance show. He said

he hasn’t been able to get the dance group into the fa-cility for a spring show since he’s been at ACU.

“I’ve never had a prob-lem reserving it in the fall, only the spring,” Kilpatrick said. “And having a spring show that’s not in Cullen isn’t impossible. It just takes a little more work than usu-al and some focus.”

Instead, the Sanctify members performed in the Beauchamp Amphitheatre last week.

In this past year Cul-len has housed 59 major events. Some events lasted two-three days while oth-ers lasted an entire week. The auditorium may seem empty at times, but the shows that occur take up a majority of its availability.

For example, the ACU Opera reserved all of last week to prepare for its per-formance. These prepara-tions involve more than simply booking Cullen and rehearsing. They require completing tasks such as fixing the lighting, adjust-

ing the sound system and constructing sets.

Tom Craig, director of student activities and pro-ductions, said there are a lot of variables event coordina-tors must consider when or-ganizing an activity. Things such as weather conditions, holidays and other activi-ties happening in the com-munity could significantly increase or decrease the event’s attendance. He ad-vised that coordinators first work with the performers to find a reasonable date and then immediately put a hold on the spot in Cullen.

“You have to think about all of those things,” Craig said. “Successfully manag-ing an event is a learning

Advance booking frustrates plannerscampus venues

brittany jacksonstudent reporter

see cullen page 3

Don’t put away those sweat-ers just yet. The weather just can’t seem to make up its mind.

A cold front brought Tuesday’s high tempera-ture of 93 degrees down to

below the freezing point on Wednesday morning. With the 62-degree drop came a little more than an inch of rain and some pea-sized hail. The Wednesday high of 50 was a record high minimum, according to an Abilene Reporter-News re-port.

This spring season has

been unseasonably cool in Abilene, only nearing av-erage temperatures, with a few exceptions, about a week ago.

The inch of rain per-suaded Taylor County Judge Downing Bolls to lift the burn ban on Wednesday. It also canceled two ACU soft-ball games and convinced

many students to stay in-side.

“I was looking forward to finally wearing shorts and not be freezing,” said John Martin, junior Ad/PR major from Pflugerville. “It’s sup-posed to start getting warm in April.”

The weather on Thurs-day was a welcome change.

Sunny skies, a high near 70 and little wind made for a pleasant spring day.

Dr. Kerri Hart, associate director of the Money Stu-dent Recreation and Well-ness Center, said she had been complaining about how unpredictable, and of-

Weather didn’t get the memo: it’s springlocal

mark smitheditor in chief

see srping page 3

SA election results compared to last year

2013

Overall1,213

For PresidentBenac: 614Aaron Johnson: 418Braddock: 167

For Vice PresidentRodney Johnson: 713Rosales: 250Fullerton: 231

For Treasurer Ralston: 588Eidson: 373Goodman: 224

2012

Overall468

For PresidentDial: 443

For Vice PresidentBenac: 439

For Treasurer Austin: 237Bracken: 222

mandy lambright chieF Photographer

Laura Kaminsky, junior business management major from Oceanside,

Calif., performs with Sanctify Dance Co. in Cullen Auditorium last

semester. The dance group was unable to book the auditorium for

its spring show.

tom craigdirector of student activities

Successfully managing an event is a learning

process.”“

Benac elected president, Rodney Johnson to be VP

85 14@acuoptimist

The Optimist

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Chapel checkup

12 13 14 15friday saturday sunday monday

All Day - Golf - Lone Star Conference Championship

5 p.m. Zeta Rho Rush

7:30 p.m. ACU Percus-sion Ensemble Con-cert

10 a.m. Men’s and Women’s Tennis at Pensacola, Fla. vs Uni-versity of New Orleans

1 p.m. Baseball vs Cameron

12 p.m. Men’s and Women’s Tennis at Pensacola, Fla. vs Auburn-Montgomery

6 p.m. Softball vs Cameron


7:30 p.m. Footloose - ACU Theatre

All Day - Track - UTEP Invitational

8 a.m. Noah Project Walk-A-Thon

10 a.m. Men’s and Women’s Tennis at Pensacola, Fla. vs West Florida

12 p.m. Softball vs Cameron


2 p.m. Pack the Park Rush

7:30 p.m. Footloose - ACU Theatre

Police Log

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Police log

Announcements

The ACU Career Center is now on Pinterest. Go to pin-terest.com/acucareercenter to begin following the boards from the ACU Career Center Pinterest today.

OME will have its last Sun-daes on Monday April 15 at 8:30 p.m. in the Mabee Core Classroom. Come for free ice cream sundaes and to dis-cuss the minority experience at ACU.

Upward Bound is still looking for male sumer advisors to come work with high school students for six weeks this summer.

Omega Dance Company is having its spring show April 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Cul-len Auditorium. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Tickets will be sold in the Campus Center the week of the show after Chapel.

The FAC Dodgeball Tour-nament is April 13 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Each team costs $30 to register and must have 8-12 players. Each team must include two guys and two girls. All proceeds go to charity of the winning team’s choice.

Shades Step Squad presents Reminiscing the 90’s April 19 and 20 starting at 7 p.m. in Gym D of the SWRC. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 pre-sale and $7 at the door. Tickets will be sold in the Campus Center from 11-2 p.m. April 15-19.

Percussion Ensemble and Steel Band will have a concert April 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium. Recent recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and ACU grad, David Degge, will be featured as guest artist. Admission is free.

World Wide Witness is host-ing a dinner fundraiser April 16 at 6 p.m. in Gardner Hall, West Lobby to support in-ternships this summer. The main course will be spaghet-ti. A minimum donation of $5 is requested.

Voting for ACU 2013-2014 Student Body Officers is in the Campus Center April 12 from 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

4/03/2013 9:08 p.m. A citizen reported that a male in a black pickup had exposed himself at the United Supermarket on Judge Ely. Officers lo-cated the suspect at a convenience store in the 300 block of N Judge Ely. Suspect was identified and charges pending. 4/05/2013 3:42 p.m.ACUPD received report from an area resi-dent that an unknown person was in her fenced backyard and upon being spotted by the homeowner, jumped the fence and left in an unknown vehicle. On-scene investigation by officers revealed several dead birds in the back yard. It is unknown if the prowler had killed them or what he was doing there.

4/06/2013 12 a.m.ACUPD received a report of loud music coming from outside a house on Wildlife Trails Pkwy. The responding officer con-tacted the home owner who turned the music down.

4/06/2013 9 a.m. An ACU student re-ported that several parked cars had their windows shoe polished with numbers that created a phone number. None of the vehicles were damaged. The student who had written his number across the window glass called and admitted having done the writing. 4/07/2013 10:08 p.m. A Lunsford Trail walker reported having seen unknown persons smoking marijuana at Jacobs Dream. The responding officer found no one at the site.

4/08/2013 6:26 p.m.ACUPD assisted APD narcotics officers in arresting a suspected wanted for several felony parole warrants.

Police Tip of the Week: With warmer weather coming soon, remember to be safe while exercising outdoors. Run, walk or bike with groups, always carry a cell phone, stay on the Lunsford Trail or other well-lighted area, and always re-port suspicious behavior to ACUPD.

Volunteer Opp0rtunities

The Center for International Education is looking for conversation partners for international students to practice English, conversations and cultural learning. Partners meet for one hour each week at a time and place determined by the partners. For more informa-tion contact Laura McGregor at 325-674-2821 or [email protected].

St. John’s Episcopal School is seeking volunteers to paint metal playground equipment anytime Monday-Friday after 3 p.m. and Saturday anytime. For more in-formation contact Rebecca McMillon at 325-695-8870 or [email protected].

Center for Contemporary Arts needs a gallery assistant to greet patrons, answer phones and answer basic questions about the Center and its programs. This opportunity is open Tuesday-Friday. The Center for Contemporary Arts is located at 220 Cypress Street. For more information contact Jessica Dulle at 325-677-8389 or visit: http://www.center-arts.com/.

Rescue the Animals is seeking volunteers to take pic-tures and videos in preparation for the launching of their new website as well as maintenance of the site after the launch. This opportunity is open Monday, Tuesday, Thurs-day and Friday from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. For more information contact Kathy Walker at 325-677-7722 or [email protected].

The National Center For Children’s Illustrated Literature is looking for volunteers to greet patrons, assist with art activities, sell books and make visitors feel welcome. Help is also needed for special events like Artwalk and exhibit openings. The NCCIL is located at 102 Cedar St. For more information on times and dates contact Debby Lillick at 325-673-4586 or visit: http://www.nccil.org/index.htm.

The Christian Ministries of Abilene: Food Pantry is searching for volunteers to greet and interview neighbors, do computer entries, shop with neighbors, take grocer-ies to vehicles, bag, stock and pick up orders on Mondays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. The Food Pantry is located at 701 Walnut St. For more

information contact Becky Almanza at 325-673-1234 or [email protected].

The Christian Service Center is seeking volunteers to help assist with filling requests for items such as clothing, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. from the donation center, sort and organize donations and occasionally pick-up donated items. Volunteers are needed every weekday and the first Saturday of each month between 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. For more information contact Roberta Brown at 325-673-7561 or at [email protected]. For more information on the program visit: http://www.uccabilene.org/ministries/csc.htm.

The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volunteers to help sort and stock food and other items any week-day Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The Food Bank is located at 5505 N. 1st St. For more information contact Janice Serrault at 325-695-6311 or [email protected].

Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Monday-Friday between 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Training is provided. For more information contact Sa-mantha Barker at 352-672-5050 or visit: http://mealson-wheelsplus.com.

The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs including sorting and pricing items in the thrift store, helping in the kitchen and/or doing yard work. Times are flexible. Volunteers are needed throughout the week Monday-Saturday. The Salvation Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit: www.satruck.com.

The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile children any day Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Contact Keith Loftin at 325-672-6061.

The International Rescue Committee is seeking volun-teers to work with refugees who recently moved to the U.S., teaching English, helping with homework and men-

toring. Contact Susanna Lubango to make an appoint-ment at 325-675-5643.

University Place is seeking volunteers to help with the resident birthday party for residents the third Wednesday of each month at 2:30 p.m. For more information con-tact Linda Tijerina at 325-676-9946.

Breakfast on Beech Street is seeking volunteers to help set up, prepare and serve breakfast to homeless/lower in-come folks any Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 5:30 a.m. or Tuesday at 5 a.m. B.O.B.S is located at First Christian Church on 3rd St. and Beech St. Service times must be scheduled in advance. To serve on Mondays contact Jody Depriest at 325-669-3312 or [email protected]. To serve on Tuesdays contact Allen Daugh-erty at 325-660-6949 or [email protected]. To serve on Wednesdays contact Jane Harvey at 325-695-0092 or [email protected]. To serve on Thursdays contact Margaret Beasley at 325-692-4149 or [email protected]. To serve on Fridays contact Rachel Brown at [email protected].

Christian Homes & Family Services is seeking volunteers to do minor landscaping such as raking, trimming bushes, minor apartment repairs and general upkeep Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. For more information contact Shaylee Honey at 325-677-2205 or [email protected].

The Abilene Public Zoo is seeking volunteers to help clean/feed animals, assist zookeepers and assist with educational classes any weekday any time between 12 p.m.-4 p.m. They are also seeking volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and painting any weekday at any time between noon and 4 p.m. For more information contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487.

For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/ccsl/ministry-service/volunteer-opportunities/

Weekly Stats for week of April 2-April 9

911 callAccident Administrative activity AlarmAnimal call AssistAttempt to locateBack up officer Building lock/unlock Check building Criminal mischiefDirect TrafficDisturbanceEscort Foot patrol Found propertyIndecent exposureInformation report Investigation follow upLost propertyMaintenance: University assetsMedical EmergencyMonitor facility/lot

Motorist assist: Inflate tire Jumpstart Other UnlockNoise violationOtherParking lot patrolParking violationPatrol vehicle: Maintenance Refuel ProwlerPublic serviceRandom patrolReckless driving Report writing Special assignment Suspicious activitySuspicious personTraffic hazard

Total Events: 247

Five presentations competed for the title of ‘Greatest Idea’ Tuesday afternoon.

Finalists Naomi Johnson; Cole Brentham and JP Festa; Joesph Austin; Nathan Mc-Clain; and Dylan Benac had nine minutes to present and five minutes to answer ques-tions by the senior leader-ship team Tuesday as a part of the Students’ Association’s

Greatest Idea Challenge. The senior leadership team includes Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, and his senior level advisers.

Before the final round, 10 semi-finalists presented their ideas in-person to the strategic review team. This team consisted of several de-partment heads, deans and upper level administrators.

“I’ve enjoyed seeing all the presentations develop from the beginning to final stages,” said Rebecca Dial,

political science and finance major from Lexington, South Carolina and president of SA. “It will be cool to see which idea is picked and to see it implemented.”

First place will receive $2,000 and will meet with administration to have their idea implemented. Runner-ups will receive $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.

Joesph Austin, SA execu-tive treasurer, said he is ex-cited about the idea he sub-mitted to build two water

fountains around the Lun-sford Foundation Trail.

“They are designed iden-tically to the existing lime-stone on the Lunsford,” said Austin, senior accounting and pre-law major from Houston. “They would also help with ACU’s sustainabil-ity effort by decreasing the amount of water bottles and also being a water bottle re-filling station.”

Other finalist ideas in-clude Campus Center food delivery, a mentoring pro-

gram, the ability to use Bean bucks off-campus and more.

“The Greatest Idea Chal-lenge really puts adminis-trators and students on the same level for dialogue to happen,” Austin said. “Ad-ministrators are really as open to talking to students as much students want to talk to administrators—it’s just finding the process for dialogue to happen.”

Dial said administrators get to hear about the issues that students care about.

“Although it might not be a winning idea that ac-tually gets implemented, it still brings up issues to the administrators’ atten-tion that they may not have thought about before,” Dial said.

The winner of the Great-est Idea Challenge will be announced in Chapel on April 19.

ACU’s Partnering in the Journey scholarship cam-paign has reached $20.6 million in commitments since its public launch in February 2011.

The campaign is a subset to ACU’s endowment dedi-cated to providing scholar-ships to students through generous donors. It raises funds through donors and sets up scholarships avail-able for ACU students in need. There are currently 670 endowed scholarships on record, most with a min-imum of $10,000 given, said Rendi Young Hahn (’83), an Advancement campaign coordinator.

Scholarships range in award amount and criteria, based on the donor’s wish-es. They may be set up to honor a person or group as the donor wishes. Alumni are the main donors in the campaign, and even recent graduates have been con-tributing, Hahn said.

“We have a growing number of people mak-ing their first commitment, most with the minimum of $10,000,” she said. “Two graduates from 2010 are doing that – committing to a minimum of $10,000 and paying it off in small chunks. That’s a huge sac-rifice.”

Billie Currey (’70), direc-tor of advancement strate-gies, agreed.

“It is encouraging to see our alumni help others ex-perience the Christian edu-cation we continue to pro-vide at ACU,” Currey said.

The campaign not only helps students attend ACU, but it also allows for rela-tionships to be formed be-

tween the donors and the recipients.

Jonathan Pruitt, senior criminal justice major from Brazil and a recipient of the Kay and Bob Onstead Min-isters Progeny Endowed Scholarship, has been able to meet the donor, Kay On-stead, at a yearly dinner.

“The yearly dinner with Mrs. Onstead and the other scholars is always some-thing I look forward to, not only to hear other Onstead scholars’ stories and to hear from Mrs. Onstead,” Pruitt said. “She talks about how much she loves hearing our life stories, and she makes us feel important when she hears about what we’ve had to overcome to get here.”

Victoria Costa (’12), re-

cent Ad/PR graduate and Onstead scholar, attended the dinners while at ACU and is also thankful for the scholarship.

“If it weren’t for the Onstead scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to attend ACU at all,” she said.

Pruitt agreed.“Mrs. Onstead and her

donation has made it much easier to be able to attend the best university in the world: ACU,” he said.

To learn more about the Partnering in the Journey scholarship campaign, visit www.acu.edu/journey.

ACU Theatre presents Foot-loose, a story about stand-ing up for your heart and overcoming the hardships life can throw at you.

Footloose will be show-ing in Fulks Theatre on Friday and Saturday, April 19-20 and 26-27. Tickets are $15 and groups of 10 or more may receive a $5 dis-count per ticket.

“This is definitely a show where people will walk away singing the songs,” said Amanda Jarufe, senior musical theatre major from Coppell. “The show is full of astonishing dance num-bers and songs the entire family can enjoy.”

Jarufe will be playing the role of the reverend’s daughter, Ariel.

“Dawne did a wonderful

job of cutting the adult ma-terial,” Jarufe said, “and so it is appropriate for 10 and up.”

Footloose will have the whole family dancing and singing along by the end.

With ACU’s dance ban being lifted last year, this musical has more implica-tions than one might think. Standing up for what you believe in is a value close to the hearts of ACU students.

“It was so important to me that through this pro-cess we did not create fluffy caricatures,” said Dawne Meekes, Associate Professor in the theatre department and director of the show. “I really wanted to make sure that these characters were grounded in a truthful place and that we explored some of the tougher issues, some of the grittiness.”

This musical is a chance for students to see opposi-

tion in a new light. Rather than making the show about judgment and rebel-lion, the students are at-tempting to send a message of restoration and reconcili-ation.

Performers in the show are faced with the challenge of deciding how they will portray these “close-mind-ed” and “rebellious” char-acters on the stage.

Perhaps the most chal-lenging character is the reverend, played by Jacob Alexander, sophomore mu-sical theatre major from Amarillo.

“It would be really easy to play the reverend as a villain, who has no justi-fication for the way he is thinking,” said Alexander. “But what we wanted to do is make it a little more com-plicated for the audience so we really tried to go into the text and discuss why he has

to be this opposition to the story.”

Students are being in-vited to watch this show to have a good time and to see what it means to under-stand another person who doesn’t share their perspec-tive.

“The whole point is that we have to step back and try and put ourselves in some-one else’s shoes before we mark them off as good guy or bad guy,” Alexander said.

Tickets can be purchased by calling (325) 674-2787 or by going online at acu.edu/theatre.

The JMC Network is pro-ducing a video report on Footloose. Check our web-site at acuoptimist.com Fri-day for the video.

friday 04.12.133 news

contact the optimist [email protected]

Spring: Weather being bi-polarten unpleasant, the weather has been lately until read-ing a devotional-like book Thursday morning, which included Psalm 118:24.

“It talked about how

we shouldn’t complain about simple things like the weather, and just be glad that we’re living and we have the opportunity to live in the day,” Hart said. “I needed to hear that be-cause I had been complain-

ing about the weather lately because it’s been so sporad-ic. I think yeah, it’s wacky, but maybe it’s made that way for a lesson we’re not even aware of until we have beautiful days.

Temperatures are fore-

casted continue to rise this weekend and reach the 90s by next week.

local

katie williamsonstudent reporter

theatre

Students to provoke thought in musical

Campaign almost to $21 million

contact orr [email protected]

Students’ association

Leadership team to select Greatest Idea

contact smith [email protected]


scholarships

jocelyn nederhoffstudent reporter paige otway staff Photographer

Freshman Rylee Schafer, psychology major from Keller, gets to know Carleigh Weider, junior family studies major from Richland Hills, at the Alpha Kai Omega rush in the Hunter Welcome Center.

continued from page 1

Adrian Patenaude Staff Photographer

Members of ACU Theatre perform ‘Footloose.’

Madeline orrcopy editor

Victoria Costa (‘12)Ad/Pr gradiate from

Winston-Salem, NC

If it weren’t for the Onstead scholarship, I

wouldn’t have been able to attend ACU at all.”“

campus venues

Cullen: Auditorium must be booked a year in adavance

process.”Craig has already begun

planning out next year’s official schedule for Cul-len, with events ranging from Freshman Follies to the CORE curriculum’s presentations. He said

there are events in Cullen planned until the summer of 2015, so anyone want-ing to have a performance in the auditorium must think ahead.



Students,Thank you for contacting

the Weather. We are aware that many of you have ex-pressed frustration with some of our policies. We ap-preciate your feedback and believe that you deserve the right to a response.

As you know, we have been developing our ser-vices since the dawn of time. Throughout this period, we have cultivated a variety of weather patterns. We enjoy giving people the oppor-tunity to sample extremely hot weather in one part

of the week, while plum-meting temperatures a few days, sometimes just hours, later. This variable climate is unique and allows for an exciting experience. In addi-tion, it ensures that all parts of a student’s wardrobe are kept clean and ready to wear.

We believe one of our most attractive offerings is the wind. We take pride in being defined by it; certain attributes characterize a re-gion, though they may have a few detractors. Tradition is an important aspect of the society we live in. Incessant,

turbulent winds blowing on a day that might otherwise be lovely is one of our flag-

ship features and we stand by this. We regularly receive compliments about the wind and have observed that it requires students

to maintain a manageable haircut.

We invest an enormous

amount of energy and time in making our services great. The suggested changes would result in a detrimen-tal experience for you, the

student. Our unpredictabil-ity and inconsistency allows you to preview weather from all over the country right here in Abilene, sometimes within the span of a day. Where else would you have the opportunity to prepare for 90 degree weather fol-lowed by a hailstorm and freezing temperatures?

Consider this as another college class: Intro to Weath-er. You get a survey of every-thing we have to offer for wherever you end up living after school. It’s the cheap-est class you’ve had. You’re

welcome.Get used to the fact that

you can’t get used to it. We have no plans to make any changes at this time.

We encourage you to continue to communicate with us about ways we can improve. Again, we appreci-ate your feedback and look forward to serving you in the future.

Sincerely,The Weather

By Liz McKay, sophomore so-cial work major from Wichi-ta, Kan. Dear Dr. Schubert:

Let me begin by express-ing my gratitude for all of the change that has been happening on campus as of late. Compared to the past, there has been an incredible push for including women in many aspects of campus life, such as scripture reading in chapel and increased wom-en speakers. The effects have been noticed and greatly ap-preciated by a vast number of both students and staff. Thank you.

However, I am writing this letter to ask for the equal participation of women in all aspects of campus life. Al-though we have had a great start, the complete inclusion of women is a goal that is long overdue on our campus. The push for women’s rights on our campus is akin to the push for minority rights that occurred fifty years ago. Both are human rights issues.

The issue that concerns most is the participation of women worship leaders dur-ing chapel services. I am ask-ing that women be granted the ability to lead worship

during Chapel. By not allow-ing women to lead singing during Chapel, the univer-sity is discriminating against over half of the campus. If Abilene Christian University will grant a woman a Mas-ter’s of Divinity, why, then, is she not allowed to lead wor-ship during mandatory cha-pel services?

I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I love this campus and only desire for it to become even more Christ-like. Above all, I hope that the voices of the women of Abilene Chris-tian can be heard just as loud

as their male counterparts, as we are all equal in Christ.

Respectfully yours,Elizabeth C. McKayEditor’s Note: McKay wrote

this letter to Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, for an assignment in her SOCW 329 Diversity, Power and Oppression course. The as-signment was to create a pre-sentation about a group that advocates for a marginalized group of people and advocate for it locally.

There are people in life who I admire from afar. I get small glimpses of who they are through short encounters in meetings and passings in the Bean. I watch how they handle high-tension university crisis moments. I read about them in the pa-per. I don’t get to interact with them on a daily-BFF-basis, but I sleep soundly at night knowing that big decisions are in their very capable hands. When tu-ition rises and enrollment falls, I feel at ease know-ing that, somewhere in the mix, Delony would have a say in things. So in saying that, I have a con-fession: For the past two years of my resident life experience, I have been watching Dr. John Delony.

John Delony is the as-sociate dean of students who has taken the posi-tion of assistant dean of students at Texas Tech University School of Law for next year. He is the chief residence life and housing officer and has done incredible work in the Masters of Higher Education program. He has the cutest Hank (his son) on earth and a super-hero of a wife, Sheila. His family’s dedication to the ACU community is not something he’ll be able to sneak out of here unno-ticed. If a man moves his family into campus hous-ing, you know it’s true dedication.

I have watched De-lony conduct meetings, navigate through diffi-cult budget cuts and peg an RA in the face with a dodgeball. This man has my respect. If ever faced with an impromptu bat-tle, I would bet that ev-ery single ResLife staff would join his army in a heartbeat. So, I write this thank you on behalf of the Resident Life family to let John know that we think of him as a man of humil-ity, humor and a whole lot of heart.

Members of Reslife describe him as, epic, approachable and em-powering. Tracy Wetsel, residential services coor-dinator, agrees that Delo-ny is a rare find. He is able to walk into a meeting with the President of the University and conduct official ACU business, then see a student slap high fives and swap crazy

movie quotes as well as throw a mean dodgeball. He understands people and meets them where

they are.I asked Shannon Kac-

zmarek, area coordinator for Nelson and McDonald halls and associate direc-tor of ResLife, what it had been like working with Delony for longer than I have.

“John Delony is such a joy to work with and for,” she said. “He is upbeat, relational, and incredibly empowering as a boss. I have been so blessed to know and work with Dr. Delony for the past five years. Our team will miss his unforgettable pres-ence and his tendency to make each person he in-teracts with feel valuable. Dr. Delony is going to be such an asset to Texas Tech Law School no doubt but his imprint here at ACU will stick around long after he transitions out.”

I received a person-alized email from John Delony my first year as an RA. I thought I was in trouble at first, but then I read that he had written a personalized email to me, a newbie staff mem-ber, ref lecting on a short missions video I made. I was so scared of replying that I never told him how much it meant to me to be recognized by my boss in that way. In this email, he said something that I would like to throw back at him as he concludes his time at ACU. Delony, thank you for “inspiring those of us who are sup-posed to be in the busi-ness of inspiring.” We will miss you dearly, and hope that you rock it at the lucky school who gets you next.

EVAN’s marks evan marks

4Friday 04.12.13Opinion

contact Todd [email protected]

letter

guest column

Editorial

Weather responds to student complaints

Confession: I’ve been watching you, Delony

THANK YOU HUMANITY

ASIA TODD

McKay: Women should have equal opportunities at ACU

hashtagACU

@elihoover

@Megan_Claycomb

@Angela_Wilson_

3:17 p.m. Apr. 10

11:16 a.m. Apr. 11

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@Laynie_H@Sh4zam

7:45 p.m. Apr. 4

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That moment in life when you make songs about your cat socks...

Whatever happened to the days when guys wore shirts while run-ning the Lunsford??? I blame the dance policy. #slipperyslope @over-heardACU

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that my life will never be as cool as CW television series

Shout out to the guy lounging on the sing song stage during chapel.

I cut my lip...anyone want to kiss it better?

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@CallieKerbo @emilymichelle53

@RebeccaDial

2:21 p.m. Apr. 11

7:58 p.m. Apr, 9

You start to re-evaluate your life when you see a 14 year old in the Masters.

Teacher:”where can a man go where he will never feel rejection?” Student:”like strip clubs and stuff?” #ministryto-fathers #acudifference

You know what doesn’t look like a typical SA President? A woman :)

233 p.m. Apr. 11

We enjoy giving people the opportunity to sample extremely hot weather in one part of the week, while

plummeting temperatures a few days, sometimes just hours, later.”“

@BrandyRains

2:11 p.m. Apr. 9

Head out to my Pi Pi Pi rush tonight! I will feed all misfits, introverts, and non-clubbers 14 pies each.

When tuition rises and enrollment falls, I feel at ease knowing that,

somewhere in the mix, Delony would have a say

in things.

“

@Audrey_Brooke

3:02 p.m. Apr. 11

I was sitting in my car at the welcome center parking lot. Man tried to give me a ticket, then walked away when he saw me sitting there #BOOM

@hottmessjess13

2:39 p.m. Apr. 10

Today I was four differ-ent people’s #wcw... But they were all girls. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?

@sholleyholley

3:52 p.m. Apr. 8

Oh, you know, just hav-ing lunch with the edi-tor of the best college newspaper in the state of Texas. #deserving @acuoptimist @Mark-Smith850

friday 04.12.135 sports/news

Teams look to stay hot at WTThe ACU track and field team will compete in the West Texas A&M Open and Multi at Canyon this week-end. The nationally ranked Wildcat men’s and women’s teams will look to continue their great play of late after a good outing at Lubbock last weekend.

“Every week we are making strides and im-proving overall as a team,” Coach Jerrod Cook said. “I see us coming closer as a team and pushing each other to higher levels. Ev-

ery week we are taking an-other step up the ladder to reach the top.”

The Wildcats had several standout performances last weekend.

Senior Chloe Susset was superb in the steeplechase, taking first place with a 10:56 time.

Hammer throwers Sha-lania Lakey and Baptiste Kerjean also did well as each won their event with 164 feet - 5 inches (50.11 meters) and 154-6 (47.10m), respec-tively. For Kerjean, it was his second first place finish in his past three events.

“We have to continue to raise the bar for our perfor-

mances,” Cook said. “We had some great placement performances at Texas Tech this past weekend. I was very pleased with the meet overall, especially after a tough week of training.”

Freshman Johnathan Farquharson, from Free-port, Bahamas, did very well in the 200m. He fin-ished with a 21.23 second time, ranking tenth in Di-vision II.

“Jay Farquharson had a great time in the 200m,” Cook said. “I am excited about his performances moving forward because he is very hungry for more and I know he hasn’t

reached his potential. He is definitely an athlete that will rise to the occasion and give one hundred per-

cent every time he steps on the track.”

Junior Andrew Hudson and freshman Jelani Rainey also registered personal re-cords in the hammer, as did

senior Tara Riley in the jave-lin (123-8/37.69m). Hudson finished third in the ham-mer with a distance of 169-0

(51.51m), while Rainey came in fifth (159-1/48.48m). ACU also did well in the pole vault event, as senior Matthew Stark recorded a 15-1.25 score. Stark also competed

in the 110-meter hurdles and finished with a time of 16.00 seconds.

“There is a ton of talent out here and everyone is working hard to reach their potential and their goals as individuals as well as our goals to leave division II as conference and national champions,” Cook said.

Events this weekend be-gin at 2 p.m., Friday with the decathlon and 100-me-ter dash and conclude Sat-urday night with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

track & field

daniel zepedasports reporter

contact zepeda [email protected]

Rutgers coach fired for losses not tantrums

A couple of weeks ago, the basketball coach at Rut-gers University was fired because he never won more than six conference games in a season and be-came more trouble than he was worth.

Of course, Rice was of-ficially fired because he used several different “F” words in the direction of his players and threw bas-ketballs at them after bad

plays in practice.But if we are honest,

nobody would have cared what he said or did if Rut-gers was playing in the Fi-nal Four, and that is a fact.

Is using “F” words at your players wrong? Ab-

solutely. Is it uncommon? Absolutely not.

Physical contact is nothing new in the coach-ing world either. Take Bob Knight for example. Knight is on the Mount Rush-more of college basketball coaches, and it would be silly to assume he never grabbed one of his players by the arms and sprinkled a few choice words in that

young man’s direction.The fact of the matter is

that competitive athletics is littered with stories of coaches grabbing a play-er’s facemask or even giv-ing them a shove, that’s the way it goes in sports.

Rice’s record at Rutgers speaks for itself. 44-51 over-all, 16-38 in Big East play.

Rice could not put a good basketball team on the floor for three years in a row, and a basketball being hurled at his point guard’s knee caps was the straw that broke the camel’s back, not the prima-ry reason for his removal.

If somehow videos of Coach K or Rick Pitino curs-ing and pushing their play-

ers hit YouTube next week, everyone would shrug their shoulders and maybe even laugh because those coach-es win 25 or 30 games a year.

Winning covers a mul-titude of sins, and nobody would even bat an eyelash if a winning coach lost his cool and used some salty language or yanked at a player’s jersey.

In fact, hundreds of for-mer players would come out of the woodworks to defend their former coach as they polished their championship rings and looked at their banners hanging in the rafters.

What Rice did is wrong

and should not be con-doned or encouraged by any stretch of the imagi-nation. But, I am sure doz-ens of basketball coaches around the country saw the Rutgers practice video and thought, “wow… that looks familiar.”

Rice is on the record saying that he regrets the way he treated his players and would not make the same mistake again. How-ever, the biggest mistake he made at Rutgers was losing.

column

contact sloan [email protected]

the welcome mattmatthew sloan

Is using ‘F’ words at your players wrong? Absolutely. Is it uncommon? Absolutely not.”“

mandy lambright chief Photographer

Seth Carstens, senior finance and accounting major from College Station, rides his unicycle through Bennett Gym during the Trojans’ Dodgeball Rush.

The International Stu-dent’s Association annual Food Festival will take place Saturday from 6-9 p.m. in the Hunter Wel-come Center. Food from 13 different countries will be featured.

Mai Anthes, vice presi-dent of ISA and junior psychology major from Okinawa, Japan, and Guinia Wooden, secretary of ISA and sophomore

nursing major from Mis-sion, are leading the com-mittee for the Food Festi-val. Preparations for the event have been ongoing since the beginning of the semester.

“We hope that this event will cultivate a cul-tural awareness and ap-preciation for cuisine from around the world,” Anthes said. “Attendees will be encouraged to par-ticipate in activities that will allow for exchanges between students from varying backgrounds.”

Anthes said because of FDA regulations, home-cooked food can only be served for private par-ties. As such, only mem-bers or participants of the contributing organi-zations will receive the invitations. Students that are interested in attend-ing the Food Festival can acquire tickets from ISA Chapel or other organiza-tions including Students’ Association, Office of Multicultural Enrichment organizations and African Students’ Association.

Attendees will receive a passport with names of the countries represented. Questions are listed in the passport and if all are an-swered, the individual will be given a prize. There will be a total of 15 booths.

Adrian Patenaude, ju-nior Ad/PR major from Phrae, Thailand, who is part of the planning com-mittee, said, “The pass-ports will control the amount of servings each person is allowed.”

Wooden said each per-son is allowed two serv-

ings of food from each country and additional two wild card servings to any booth.

Patenaude said she is looking forward to the event, as it will encom-pass different organiza-tions and cultures.

“Rather than making the event just a food tast-ing party, we want the stu-dents to interact and learn more about the coun-tries,” Wooden said.

In addition to the wide range of food, the committee has prepared

trivia, games and activi-ties for students to learn about other countries and have fun.

“We want to create a friendly, inviting atmo-sphere that will foster the exchange of culture be-tween other international and domestic students so that the campus may be more enriched,” Anthes said.

international

ISA to host annual Food Festival Saturdaydenzil lim

staff videographer

contact lim [email protected]

New director to be appointed within a month

Members of the committee searching for the new direc-tor for the Center of Inter-national Education com-pleted interviews with the candidates last week.

Rachel Brown, Study Abroad coordinator, said the listing for the director’s position was posted on the human resources website for several months and the committee began inter-viewing the final candidates at the end of March.

Dr. Robert Rhodes, pro-vost, said there were several applicants, but the commit-tee chose four finalists.

Rhodes said the first candidate was interviewed March 19 and the final in-terview was conducted April 1.

“All four of them have been interviewed,” he said.

“So now the committee is seeking feedback and then will be forwarding a recom-mendation on to me.”

Stephen Shewmaker served as the interim direc-tor for the Center of Inter-national Education for the past academic year. Rhodes said Shewmaker is one of the four finalists.

He said the duties of the director include “both the receiving and then sending of students.”

“This is an individual who helps both promote on-campus Study Abroad, who works closely with our directors in the vari-ous sites, who identifies and schedules faculty to be the visiting faculty at these sites, but then also works with our offices to be sure those students coming in-ternationally have their things taken care of for them,” Rhodes said.

He said the director also

works with “non-hub site” programs.

“When a college or de-partment takes a trip that might be to somewhere other than Montevideo or Oxford or Leipzig, as they do that they coordinate that with this office so that we have knowledge of where those various groups are around the world at any given time,” he said.

Rhodes said this posi-tion requires several differ-ent skills.

“They need to be able to understand the mission of ACU and our desire to edu-cate global leaders from a Christ-like prospective,” he said.

Dr. Lynette Sharp Penya is chairing the committee. Committee members are Dr. Laura Carroll, Dr. Ken Cukrowski, Dr. John De-lony, Daniel Garcia, Dr. Jeff Haseltine, Ronnie Rama and Dr. Phil Vardiman.

Rhodes said the commit-tee is looking for someone who understands the tech-nical and missional aspects of the position. He said the new director must also have the administrative skills to manage the large program.

Now that all the can-didates have been inter-viewed, Rhodes said the search committee will meet sometime in the next week to forward on a recommen-dation.

He said he an appoint-ment could be made in the next two to three weeks.

Rhodes said a challenge the new director will face will be to expand the pro-gram so more and more students are involved, but he said he looks forward to ACU continuing to grow in these areas.

contact cox [email protected]

study abroad

students’ association

Elections: Treasurers ready for Friday’s runoffried about a runoff.”

Johnson, sophomore management major from Odessa, said the week was stressful and required a lot of hard work.

“There was a lot of social media pushes and trying to get the student body to understand what I’ve been working on for them for the past year,” Johnson said.

Current SA Executive

Treasurer Joseph Austin served as this year’s election co-chair. Austin, senior ac-counting pre-law major from Houston, said students have taken more notice of the Stu-dents’ Association.

“They’re starting to value these positions even more,” he said.

Austin said he was proud of the election committee and candidates for their hard work.

“I thought we had some

fabulous candidates and that’s evident in how close some of the races were,” he said.

Austin said he is confident in both Ralston and Eidson.

“Both of them have ex-tensively talked to me about improvement in treasury,” he said. “Both of them have gone all out with their cam-paigning.”

Austin said for Benac and Johnson to enjoy the mo-ment, but to prepare for hard

work.“This job is about em-

powering students and low-ering yourself to lift them up,” he said.

The runoff will take place in the Campus Center on Fri-day from 11:30-5 p.m.

Josh Garcia, Madeline Orr and Mark Smith contributed to this report.



melany coxonline managing editor

Jerrod Cookinterim head coach

ACU track and field

I am excited about his performances moving forward because he is very hungry for more and I know he

hasn’t reached his potential.”“

The men’s and women’s tennis team plays Auburn University Montgomery at noon Friday at home in a non-conference match.

The tennis teams will also play the University of West Florida Saturday morning at 10 a.m.

The softball team hosts Cameron University for the first game of the series Friday at home at 6 p.m. They also play two games Saturday, the first game starting at noon.

The baseball team hosts Cameron University Friday at 7 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field. They also play a double-header Saturday and a game Sunday afternoon.

The track and field team will take part in the West Texas A&M Open Friday and Saturday.

women’s tennis

standings

briefings

Who’s Hot

The softball team’s two games Wednesday were cancelled due to inclament weather and are not expected to be rescheduled.

All of the social clubs will be set up around the baseball field Saturday for an all-club tailgating rush at 2 p.m. Clubs will provide food and drinks for rushers and watch the baseball team play as well.

men’s tennis

TeamCameronUIWACUMSU

Div.16-211-512-1213-5

Ovrl.3-01-11-21-2

Junior John Da-vid Baker has been one of the main storylines of ACU

spring practice. Baker has taken the majority of the first team reps in practice this spring in preparation for a spot as the starting quarterback next fall. Baker has appeared in several games over his ACU career, but is the frontrunner to take the reigns of a talented ACU offense in their first Division I season.

TeamACUCameronUIWMSUTSUTAMU-K

Div.19-512-48-810-58-81-5

Ovrl.5-02-31-32-12-10-2

friday 04.12.13 6sports

baker

baseball

TeamTSUACUASUTAMU-KWTAMUUIWENMUCameron

Div.12-410-6 9-7 8-8 8-8 7-9 6-10 4-12

Ovrl.23-11-122-15 24-13 25-12 21-1421-1419-1610-22

softball

TeamTWAMUTWUASUTSUMSUUIWCameronACUENMUTAMU-K

Div.12-312-310-59-68-78-76-95-104-111-14

Ovrl.30-434-925-1221-1529-1225-1513-2221-2012-3111-27

upcoming

Rain, rain cancels play The Abilene Christian softball team will be eager to play this weekend after their scheduled double header against St. Mary’s University on Wednesday was canceled due to in-clement weather.

The team returns home to Wells field after being on the road the past two weeks, looking to play Lone Star Conference foe Cameron University in a three-game series.

The first game starts tonight at 6 p.m. Tomor-row’s doubleheader starts at noon.

After coming off three losses to West Texas A&M this past weekend the ‘Cats look to gain mo-mentum coming home.

The Aggies of Cam-eron have a chip on their shoulder looking to upset the team after they swept Texas A&M Kingsville this past weekend.

The Aggies look to start pitcher Samantha Betts, who ranks second in the LSC with 132 strikeouts over 132.2 innings pitched this season.

The ‘Cats and the Ag-gies have a long history, with ACU leading Cam-eron 32-17 overall, in-cluding last season’s two out of three wins in the series.

Cameron has been a team known to upset. The Aggies beat Tarleton State and University of Incarnate Word earlier this year, but have been swept by Angelo State University.

The teams will meet for the first time this sea-son and after last year’s embarrassment in Law-ton, Oklahoma.

The Aggies have a solid .300 team batting aver-age, but it’s the circle where they struggle most.

With big hitters like

Courtney Flanary, Lyndi Smith and Keanna Wink-field, the team hopes to be successful on the of-fensive side.

The team looks to re-turn to the win column this weekend after losing the past four games.

Usually after such a streak, the ‘Cats will bounce right back.

The team would like to reverse their now 5-10 conference record with the last few games they have this season, which by the looks of the rest

of their season could be likely.

With only 12 games left this season, all against conference opponents, the ‘Cats look to compete in every last one of them.

Coach Reeves always tells his players, “Anyone

can beat anyone on any given day.” The team in-tends to do so.

softball

paige otway Staff Photographer

Junior outfielder Courtney Flanary catches a fly ball at Poly Wells Field. The Wildcats play a three-game series against Cameron University this weekend at home.

Teams tune up before postseason

This weekend, both the men’s and women’s ten-nis team will be traveling to Pensacola, Fla. to end their regular season.

They will gear up to play a three-day tourna-ment facing what might be the toughest of their competitors.

The team has no wor-ries as they have finished all of their matches that could affect their high conference standings.

“I look forward to play-ing teams that are highly ranked,” Micah Herms-dorf said, “We usually

don’t see [them] because of the distance.”

Day 1, Friday, in the Sunshine State, the Wild-cats will face the most challenging team of their tournament weekend, the Auburn University Tigers.

Day 2, Saturday morn-ing, the team will face the University of West Florida.

On Sunday, the Wild-cats will end their last day in Florida with a match against the University of New Orleans.

Upon their return to Texas, the men’s team will go head to head against McMurry, Wednesday, at the Eager Tennis Pavilion.

At the end of this

month, both teams will proceed to the Lone Star Conference champion-ship tournaments to de-fend their title as confer-ence champions.

This season, nearly half of the men’s team were freshman, which means they quickly had to bond and get use to playing new doubles.

This difficult task

seemed not to be an issue as they proved that they can work together like a well-oiled machine, win-ning their first game of the season, against Trini-ty University in February.

While the women’s team gained a few fresh-man as well, this season they will lose all of their superstar seniors, Hannah Kelley and twins Julia and

Laura Mongin.Overall in singles this

season, Kelley went 11-3, Julia went 13-5 and Laura was 13-4.

Hutton Jones, the lon-gest-serving head coach for tennis, has seen many great players come and go, and take part in shap-ing the program to what it has become.

“I like the foundation we’ve laid,” Coach Hut-ton Jones said. “We’ve done well battling the [many] adversaries we’ve had this season.”

tennis

Staff report


brittney johnsonsports reporter

contact johnson [email protected]

micah hermsdorfjunior

acu women’s tennis

I look forward to playing teams that are highly ranked. We usually don’t see [them] because of

the distance.”“

Coach is more than Goodenough

Head coach firings are usually looked upon in a negative light. In the case of the women’s basket-ball program, the change was a step in the right di-rection.

Julie Goodenough took over as head coach of the basketball team on March 27, 2012. She replaced Shawna Laven-der who began her head coaching career with the Wildcats during the 2002-03 season.

Lavender posted a 149-111 record and led the ‘Cats to seven LSC tour-nament appearances and two NCAA regional tour-nament berths. However, her team had lost much of that steam the past two seasons.

In 2010-11 ACU went 11-16 overall and 8-6 in conference. They made the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament but were knocked out in the first round by North-eastern State University.

In 2011-12 the Wildcats posted a 12-14 record and were only 7-13 in the LSC. They missed both the conference tournament and the NCAA Division II tournament.

Lavender put together many good basketball teams in her time at ACU, but in her nine full seasons she appeared only twice in the D-II tourney. Athletics director Jared Mosley was not satisfied with that. He shouldn’t be.

ACU athletics should strive to be competitive in their conference and on a national level. In her last two seasons, Lavender’s teams went a combined 15-19 in league play. A coaching change was a necessary step to get back

to that competitive level.Goodenough has al-

ready turned the program around in her first season as coach.

The ‘Cats were a stag-gering 21-7 team this year. They lost only four LSC games and were co-

conference champs in the regular season, the first time they’ve done that since the 1998-99 season.

Many of those divi-sional games weren’t even close. The squad defeated Texas A&M-Commerce by 21 points

early in the season. They also beat Cameron by 47, Texas Woman’s by 25 and Tarleton State by 16.

The team earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Divi-sion II South Central Re-gion tournament. They lost to the University of Texas of the Permian Ba-sin on a last second shot in the first round.

The Wildcats still have a long and tough road ahead of them as they are moving up to the Division I level next fall. However, this season a young, con-fident group of women left a lasting mark in the LSC.

Change is not always easy but sometimes it is a necessary part of life, even in the sports world. Coach Goodenough was a great hire by Mosley and she has already made an immediate impact.

column

contact isaacs [email protected]

gangnam styleedward isaacs

mandy lambright chief Photographer

Coach Goodenough watches her team from the sidelines.

The Optimist - 04.12.13

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