What is homework compared to racial genocide?Cross country standout Serge Gasore’s past makes competition more like a walk in the park, page 5

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

November 14, 2007

WEDNESDAY

Vol. 96, No. 22

1 sections, 8 pageswww.acuoptimist.com

THE

Mind your mannersSIFE’s etiquette dinner offers a look at business fashion, meal etiquette, page 4

Homeward boundACU’s 42-41comeback win Saturday gives Wildcats a home playoff game, page 8

OPTIMIST

By Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

The university launched its new text message alert system, ACU ALERT, Wednes-day morning, aiming to fur-ther pursue a commitment to safety.

“It is amazing how fast of a response you get with this system,” said Lynne Bruton, Campus Emergency Response Team member.

The university purchased the system in October, and

since the purchase, there has been pre-testing and plan-ning to encourage students, faculty and staff to register for the system.

ACU ALERT, a product of OMNIALERT’s e2Campus text message alert system, will send text messages for emer-gency or urgent situations — but users must register themselves annually.

“It makes sense for every-one to want to be a part of this system when it could po-tentially save your life,” said

ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison.

R e g i s t r a t i o n opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday morn-ing, and any mem-ber of the ACU community can register through the ACU homep-age, in a perma-nent box at myA-CU and through the ACU Police Department Web site, as well as through additional

venues. Bruton said the registra-tion process will require users to have their cell phone available and to enter their user ID. The sys-tem works for all carriers, and trou-bleshooting must be directed to the user’s carrier or e2Campus.

The response team opted for a system that would uti-

lize e-mail and text messag-es — the fasted methods to reach a community of people who admittedly always have a cell phone with them. And the immediacy of the system offers a solution “when sec-onds count,” as the slogan says. Proponents of the sys-tem cited the Virginia Tech shootings and last winter’s campus closure due to se-vere weather as instances when urgency is vital.

“Sometimes we just don’t have the luxury of time,” said

Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president of student life.

Thompson said the sys-tem will be required for Campus Life staff — includ-ing residence assistants and residence directors, and ACU ALERT will be incorporated into emergency planning.

“It’s not going to be used and abused for announce-ments,” Thompson said, “I think it’s a must-do.”

New text alert system gives immediate, important information

By Sondra RodriguezStudEnt rEportEr

The Service Action Leadership Team (SALT) and the Volunteer Ser-vice Learning Center are preparing for the annual Thanksgiving Meal Project, an event where students and faculty donate money and time to provide families in Abilene with a Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving meals are provided by the food bank of Abilene, collect-ed on campus and distributed to families in need. Taylor Elementary identifies these families.

“We ask them to identify fami-lies that they know are in need of meals,” said Nancy Coburn, direc-tor of Volunteer and Service-Learn-ing Center. “Every year, they give us a list of families who have either

asked for help, or that they know need help. Funds are distributed ac-cordingly, and any extra meals are sent to “211- A Call For Help. If we get enough money for 70 meals, and they only give us 50 names, we’ll call 211 and tell them we’ve got 20 more. We’ll get the addresses and deliver those as well,” Coburn said.

Meals cost $55 and are made to feed a family of five to eight.

“Even if it’s a small family, they’ll have enough food to get them through the week,” she said.

Once the meals are retrieved from the food bank, they are deliv-ered to the families. This is done by student volunteers on the Monday of Thanksgiving week.

Groups make meal possible for some

By Daniel JohnsonSportS Editor

Texas highway construction, public education and whatever else was on a handful of constituents’ minds were the main topics dis-cussed at a local forum conducted by State Representative Susan King on Tuesday.

The Abilene Chamber of Com-merce hosted the event, which King said was meant to be informal.

The public forum — which is one of many that King appeared at throughout her first year in office — was to learn about constituents’ problems and concerns now, and not just be a politician who reacts

to problems when it was too late. “To get influence and have ac-

cess to an elective official prior to something blowing up, to me…is important,” King said. “And quite frankly when I was growing up in Houston, I couldn’t tell you who my state representative was…but it is important to know who they are because they are a direct access to you and the state government.”

And in the candid environment at Texas Tech University at Abilene site on 302 Pine St., more than 20 attendants were given a public fo-rum to discuss whatever issue was on their minds.

King admitted she was not an expert on some of the subjects

discussed but was eager to hear where her constituents stood on issues she may be able to do some-thing about.

A bulk of the discussion was about the Texas Department of Transportation and the Trans Texas Corridor, a new transportation net-work that is still in the planning and early construction stages. A large part of the conversation moved onto public education and King, a former Abilene school board mem-ber, said she was fighting for the area’s list of schools.

“Education is always a concern for everybody because that is the basis, I believe, of our democracy and how we will proceed,” King said.

Larry Sanders, executive direc-tor of the Abilene Association of Independent Business Owners and senior sponsor of men’s social club Frater Sodalis, said he was im-pressed with King’s openness.

“This is a very real risk area for an elected official, and events of this type are very rare,” Sand-ers said. “Representative King is showing an access that politicians wouldn’t usually be open to.”

King said she plans to continue local forums like Tuesday’s every other month, with the next forum planned for January.

Rep. King hears constituent concerns at forum

By Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

Mike Yankoski’s desire to under-stand homelessness led him to take action — not in a soup kitchen, but on the streets of Denver, Washing-ton, D.C., Portland, Ore., San Fran-cisco and Phoenix.

A sermon about living com-passionately rather than learning about compassion spurred Yankos-ki — who was in college at the time — to give everything up and hit the streets with his friend, Sam.

After living as a homeless man while in college, Yankoski returned to write “Under the Bridge,” a memoir of the experience and chal-lenged Christians across the nation to take action.

“If you and I as followers of Christ are willing to be free with our money and available with our time, imagine what God can do with us,” Yankoski challenged students at Monday’s final Faith Alive Chapel forum. “It’s easier to pray some-one’s needs are met than to actually meet those needs.”

After his time on the streets, Yankoski knows about the needs of the homeless. He told students about his experiences in churches but said some of the greatest com-passion he encountered came from unexpected sources: children and the homeless.

Yankoski recalled an evening spent panhandling in George-town, a wealthy area near Wash-ington, D.C., where four hours of stringent panhandling saw only $1.18. A group of young boys ap-proached Yankoski and his friend, Sam, asking for money to pur-chase baseball uniforms for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. When Yankoski offered his $1.18, one boy recognized his need, and instead tossed $1.25 to Yankoski, saying, “Don’t worry about it man — I got you covered.”

In Oregon, a fellow homeless

Chapel forum speaker shares lessons learned on the street

todd piersall STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Mike Yankoski shares his experiences as a homeless man at Monday’s final Faith Alive Chapel forum.

katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

State Representative Susan King speaks at an open-community forum Tuesday night at Texas Tech University at Abilene.

Candid conversationSee MEALS page 3

See FORUM page 3

See TEXT page 3

Courtesy oF CreatiVe serViCes

The ACU ALERT text messaging system logo.

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

The last weekend campaign of the semester will take place this weekend. Students will travel to Oklahoma City to help pack and hand out Thanksgiving dinners for those in need. For more information or to sign up, e-mail mem04d@acu.edu or visit the weekend campaign table in the Campus Center by Thursday after Chapel. Campaign participants will meet at 3 p.m. on Friday and plan to be back in Abilene by 3 p.m. on Sunday. Transportation and housing costs are covered. The only expenses will include purchasing a few meals during the weekend.

Thanksgiving holidays will begin at 8 a.m. on Nov. 21, rather than on Nov. 20 as the ACU stu-dent planner says. This means all Tuesday classes, including evening classes, will meet that day.

Spend the summer in New York.

Work at Camp Shiloh, a Christian summer camp where children from New York City’s toughest neighbor-hoods enjoy games, camp-outs and activities that enrich their lives socially and spiritually. Camp Shiloh is now accepting applications for its summer 2008 staff. For more information or to download an ap-plication, visit www.shilohnyc.org or e-mail camp@shilohnyc.org.

WorldWide Witness is accept-ing applications for summer intern-ships and two year apprenticeships. New locations for ministry include Cologne, Germany; Maiduguri, Nigeria; and Morelia, Mexico. More than 50 locations are available worldwide. Those wanting to fund raise during Christmas break must submit an application before Saturday. For more information, visit www.worldwidewitness.org or contact witness@bible.acu.edu.

7 p.m.The Call will take place in Brown Library Auditorium.

8 p.m.IM Ethnos, the annual student-pro-duced culture show hosted by the International Students Association, will take place in Cullen Auditorium. Tickets are on sale for $5 this week in the Campus Center and can also be purchased at the door.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Calendar Events& The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities.

Groups may send announcements directly to optimist@acu.edu or to the Page 2 Editor at mxe06a@acu.edu.

To ensure that an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This Page

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Announcements

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Volunteer OpportunitiesProvide Thanksgiving meals

to families in need. Collect donations and turn them into the Volunteer Service-Learning Center by Wednesday. Meals will be delivered Monday.

Love and Care Ministries, in partnership with Arrow Ford, will hold its annual Mission Thanksgiv-ing on Friday. Volunteers are needed from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. to unload and load donations at the Arrow Ford dealership. Volunteers are also needed from 8 a.m.-noon on

Saturday to help unload trailers at Love and Care Ministries. For more information, contact Aubi Martinez at (325) 692-9500, ext. 239.

The Salvation Army and the Veterans Administration need help with Thanksgiving lunches on Nov. 22. Help is needed at the Salvation Army from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. The Veterans Administration needs help at the Abilene Civic Center from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Volunteers for both events will assist with setting up, serving lunch and cleaning up.

9 a.m.Dr. Paul Pinckley of Pepperdine University will be in the Campus Center to talk to students about the following graduate business programs: MBA, International MBA, M.S. in Applied Finance and M.S. in Global Business. Students may also attend his presentation in the Campus Center Living Room at noon.

Last day to withdraw from a class

8 p.m.IM Ethnos, the annual student-pro-duced culture show hosted by the International Students Association, will take place in Cullen Auditorium. Tickets are on sale for $5 this week in the Campus Center and can also be purchased at the door.

8 p.m.Wouk, Alex Howard, Play Heaven and The Rockin Extensions will play at Crossroads, a new venue in Abilene located at 4216 N. 1st St. The show will cost $5 at the door.

ACU alert: when seconds count.Enroll in the new ACU emergency notification system today at www.acu.edu/acualert.

Report all suspicious activity to the ACU Police Department at (325) 674-2305.

Mon., Nov. 5, 200710:30 a.m. Report of suspicious subject near Elmer Gray Stadium, checked okay 2:10 p.m. Checked 400 College for possible burglary, all okay, door left open

Tues., Nov. 6, 20072:12 a.m. Medical emergency at Gardner Hall, student fell from second floor window, transported to Hendrick Hospital 12:25 p.m. Vehicle accident at Gard-ner Lot, no report, log entry only 2:15 p.m. Theft at Teague Special Event Center

Wed., Nov. 7, 2007 1:53 a.m. Loud party at 1900 Cedar Crest, contacted resident

Thurs., Nov. 8, 2007 9 p.m. Assisted Abilene PD with intoxicated subject at Sanders Intramural Fields, subject was trans-ported to Hendrick Medical Center

9:50 p.m. Report of suspicious subject at 600 College, subject was gone upon arrival

Fri., Nov. 9, 2007 9:45 a.m. Theft at Gibson Health and P.E. Center9:34 p.m. Student requesting drive by in reference to male subject knocking on doors at Hillcrest Apartments 11:46 p.m. Report of loud music at 600 EN 23rd, contacted resident, he did comply

Sat., Nov. 10, 2007 9:47 a.m. Parking violation at 600 EN 18th

Sun., Nov. 11, 2007 2:52 a.m. Report of suspicious subject at 900 EN 12th, vehicle was gone upon arrival 7:30 p.m. Assisted Abilene PD with injured subject at 1300 Cedar Crest 8:15 p.m. Fire alarm at Barret Hall, burned food, Abilene FD responded.

Police LogEdited for space

ACU Police Tip of the Week

CorrectionsKimberly Prather wrote the article ‘Math club aims to make math fun, serves local kids,’ which ran in the Optimist Friday, not Sondra Rodriguez as the by-line said. In the story ‘Philharmonic orchestrates new show,’ which ran in the Optimist Friday, the price of both performances was listed as $20 for adults and $10 for children and students. That price is only good for the matinee. Prices range from $10-$35 for the evening performances.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS / FROM THE FRONT

Continued from page 1

E-mail Peace at: knp04a@acu.edu

“You’re pretty much driv-ing your car around with a map and delivering food wherever we need you to go,” said Courtney Holden, sophomore history major from Belton and co-chair member of SALT.

Volunteers and dona-tions are still needed by the committee to make this event possible.

“There is a lot of stress in getting people to donate. We try to reach people through residence halls, advertisements on campus,

signs and announcements in Chapel and mass e-mails telling about it,” Holden said. “Getting donations is the biggest obstacle, find-ing enough volunteers is the second. Committee members end up begging their friends to help out.”

In past years, offices on campus and U100 classes have committed to sponsor-ing families, and students have gone door-to-door collecting spare change in residence halls.

“U100 classes have been one of the primary targets. We try to encourage it as

much as possible, and we end up with about 60 to 70 percent of U100 classes par-ticipating,” Coburn said.

Anyone interested in vol-unteering can come to the VSLC office, located in the Bean Sprout, and sign up or bring a donation.

“It’s two hours of your time and a little pocket change,” Holden said. Any help or amount is appreci-ated, and each dollar will go toward another meal for a family.

Meals: Volunteers still wanted

E-mail Rodriguez at: optimist@acu.edu

man offered Yankoski half a loaf of bread to feed him, ignoring his protests that the extra would guarantee food the next day. Instead, Yankoski said, the man told him God would provide.

“It was the people like those two… that’s what made the difference,” Yankoski said. “There were a few really strong home-less Christians. We met some pretty phenomenal followers of Christ out on the streets.”

The experience marked Yankoski’s life, spurring a decision to act as an advo-cate for the homeless instead of opening a small business with his computer science degree. Not that Yankoski didn’t try — he said after three failed businesses, he knew “our lives are not meant to be about that.”

Instead, he spends his time passionately sharing his experiences and spout-ing statistics that hold personal meaning. Of the 700,000 people on Ameri-can streets today, and the $3.5 million who will be

homeless over the course of the year, Yankoski remind-ed students a son or daugh-ter is represented.

“Those aren’t just numbers, these are lives,” he said.

He levied a challenge at stu-dents to help the homeless: of-fer both time and resources.

And sometimes, it’s the time that is the most valuable.

“I can open up my jour-nal and show you where I’ve written, ‘Someone talked to us today,’” he said.

The sense of isolation and detrimental effect of being ignored stuck with Yankos-ki when he left the streets. After months spent cart-ing a sleeping bag, books, a Bible, an old camera and a change of clothes in a back-pack, he returned to a place where food and water were at his fingertips, and people looked him in the eye again. But it took months, Yankos-ki said, before he could re-turn a gaze.

“We’re unwise if we ap-ply [stereotypes] to every person,” he said, citing in-stances of homeless people he met with phDs.

Yankoski challenged stu-dents to get involved — list-ing Web sites for social jus-tice issues, including and slavery, and encouraging students to sponsor a child for $32 per month with Compassion International.

The swarm of students who waited to speak with Yankos-ki after the forum peppered him with further questions, and 14 students committed to sponsor a child.

When students asked about the overwhelming sta-tistics and plethora of ways to get involved, Yankoski assured them hope exists.

“Don’t be discouraged,” he said.

Forum: ‘Don’t be discouraged’Continued from page 1

E-mail Touchette at: optimist@acu.edu

Text: System awaits registered usersContinued from page 1

E-mail Peace at: knp04a@acu.edu

proponents also touted the simplicity of the system — which is free to regis-ter. Fees for text messag-ing will be applied as part of each user’s personal cell phone plan.

During the course of the semester, Bruton and Elli-son said they expect to test

the system at least once. But other than tests, they em-phasized the system’s strin-gent regulations — emergen-cy use only.

“We’re very committed to only using this system for emergency or urgent situa-tions,” Bruton said.

A regulatory policy has been established, Bruton said, detailing who can send

systems and under what circumstances. Authorities in the President’s office, Student Life and the Police Department are authorized to use the system, a system Ellison says he hopes they never have to use.

“It’s just like good life in-surance,” he said.

Katie gager CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lyssette Lozano, fifth grader at Taylor Elementary, writes out a check to pay for her items at SIFE’s Enterprise City at University Church of Christ Friday.

Checkin it out

By Laura TouchetteStudent RepoRteR

Dr. Wayne A. Meeks, Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies Emeritus in the De-partment of Religious Stud-ies at Yale University, called ACU students and faculty to “live a life of inquiry, a life of asking questions that may never be answered — a life I have loved living.”

Meeks spoke on Nov. 8 as a part of the 21st annual Carmichael-Walling Lecture

series. This two-part lecture series titled “Living by the Bible: the Bad, the Good, and the Question” and “To Tell the Truth: Moving To-ward Greater Honesty” was about the subject of Bibli-cal interpretation in and for contemporary culture.

Meeks challenged listen-ers to continue to ask ques-tions; he or she will never have all the answers. He also asked listeners to redeter-mine how they interpret the Bible on a daily basis.

The first part of the lec-ture dealt with the question of whether the Church can encourage people to live by the Bible after considering the history of people who have claimed to do so.

“The problem is not in the book — it’s in the ways we use the book,” he said.

Meeks told the stories of two people who used their knowledge of the Bible to hurt others, but that was not their intent. Patrick Hughes Mell, advocate for slavery in

the 1800s, and Gerhard Kit-tel, Jewish advocate turned Nazi supporter in World War I, are both examples of peo-ple who used their knowl-edge of the Bible and God against people.

“We will not all get the an-swers right, and some of our right answers might do ter-rible things to real people,” he said. “But their lives were in accord with the Bible as they knew it.”

The second part of the lecture dealt with attempt-

ing to have greater honesty and faithfulness in inter-preting and employing the Bible, as well as how to dis-cover currently applicable truths in the text.

“What do we do with the Bible?” he said. “The Bible has been used for abominations and also loving acts in histo-ry. It’s about the Bible’s Jekyll and Hyde role in history.”

Meeks said to read the Bi-ble with four rules: to forget certainty, good communities make good interpretations,

respect the text and culti-vate discernment.

“To be a faithful commu-nity we need to listen to the inconvenient voices,” he said. “Listen to the outsiders. Those armed with misgivings.”

His final call was one of strong accord. “One biblical rule is important in world we live in today,” he said. “Love your enemy.”

Lecture series levies challenge: ‘Love your enemy’

“I can open up my journal and show you where I’ve written, ‘Someone talked to us today.’”

Mike Yankoski, author of ‘Under the Bridge’

Page 4 Wednesday, November 14, 2007CAMPUS NEWS

By Grant AbstonStudent RepoRteR

Crossroads Entertainment Complex, a new music venue, looks to provide a variety of en-tertainment, as well as bringing live entertainment to Abilene.

Music lovers have some-thing to be excited about with the opening of Crossroads En-tertainment Complex. A new venue in Abilene, Crossroads boasts the largest concert hall in the area at approximately 20,000 square feet. With the biggest stage available and a ca-pacity of nearly 1,500, it is easy to understand the excitement.

“I have heard it’s an amaz-ing place,” said Andrew Duge, senior marketing major from Corpus Christi and lead singer of The Rockin’ Extensions. “It is a new place for music and bigger bands in Abilene, with a huge stage and dressing rooms in the back.”

The Rockin’ Extensions will be playing at Crossroads Friday at 8 p.m., and the band is excit-ed about the opportunity.

“Just getting an opportunity to play with new bands and play in front of a bunch of new people will be good,” said Jared Durham, junior management major from Corpus Christi and drummer for The Rockin Exten-sions. “The venue is big, and it will be a lot of fun.”

Not only does Crossroads offer one of the biggest ven-ues around, it offers numer-ous services that cater to mu-sicians as well as fans. Hotel arrangements, private dress-ing rooms, a hospitality room and catering are a few attrac-tions that put Crossroads above other venues.

“What we found so far is that smaller places al-low us to get really involved and make a connection with your emotion on stage,” Duge said. “The audience gets into it, and then we get more energy; I get excited just talking about it.”

Crossroads’ attempt at creating a larger, successful venue can be attributed to the size and population of Abilene. With approximately 150,000 residents, three pri-vate universities and one state college, Crossroads hopes to attract quality entertainment and large audiences.

“I’m excited to play in a big-ger venue,” Duge said. “We are taking steps forward with the band and playing in bigger, nicer places which is exciting.”

For more information about concerts and tickets, go to crossroadsabilene.com.

Crossroads to be scene of musical interchange

E-mail Ballard at: optimist@acu.edu

By Kelline LintonStudent RepoRteR

Students enjoyed food, fashion and business advice at the annual Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) fash-ion etiquette dinner last Tuesday in the Living Room of the Campus Center.

The event began at 6:30 p.m. and lasted for about two hours. Attendees ate a full course meal before lis-tening to a guest speaker and watching a fashion show that had a business twist.

ARAMARK catered the dinner. “The meal [includ-ed] foods you eat at a nor-mal business dinner — a meat, two sides, a salad and a dessert,” said Courtney Arrington, one of two co-leaders for the SIFE event.

The guest speaker was Liza Smallwood, the mar-keting coordinator for AR-AMARK Higher Education and pastor and founder of Prophetic Transitions Min-istries. Smallwood talked for about 40 minutes and covered a wide range of topics like interviews, con-versations, dinners outside of work, dinners for work and anything one could come across in a business atmosphere, said Krystal Edwards, the other SIFE co-leader.

Smallwood was cho-sen as the speaker for her energy and her constant professional attire and

attitude, said Arrington, senior accounting and fi-nance major from Dallas.

“She won’t even wear a pair of sweats to Wal-Mart,” said Edwards, senior mar-keting major from Dallas.

The fashion show was the big finale of the evening and ranged from business professional to business casual attire. Five female and four male students paraded two outfits each from Dillard’s. The models were of all shapes and body types. “What we’re trying to do was get all genders, sizes and races, so it could be a diversified fashion show,” Arrington said.

Edwards said, “the main goal of this event was to teach students how to pre-pare themselves to get far in whatever their chosen path,” Edwards said. “Peo-ple think college is a time to play, but college is pre-paring you for your actual career; it’s better to start developing techniques to help make a lasting im-pression,” she said.

The dinner cost $15 or two meal plans. Reserva-tions were taken through e-mail with a maximum cut-off of 65 people due to limited space in the Living Room.

More than 65 people were allowed to attend, but they could not eat the dinner or take a seat at a table. They also were not charged. “They [got] the

benefit of seeing the fash-ion show and hearing Mrs. Smallwood speak,” Ar-rington said.

In the past attendees were charged $10 or one meal plan for the dinner, said Jessica Sneed, SIFE leader for last year’s eti-quette dinner and senior marketing and manage-ment major from Keller. About twenty-five people attended last year.

The event this year was open to anyone in the Abilene community.

The publicity focus for the dinner was placed on freshmen and sopho-mores, since they are usu-ally in introduction busi-ness classes. Arrington and Edwards wanted at-tendees from a variety of majors. “Even if you’re not a business major, you need to know how to act and make yourself appropriate and leave a lasting impres-sion,” Arrington said.

Some introduction to business professors offered extra credit to students to encourage attendance.

SIFE had a new aspect to the dinner this year. An outreach table was re-served exclusively for eight women from the Noah Proj-ect, a shelter that helps and cares for battered women. ARAMARK sponsored the table and paid for the wom-en’s meals. “It [gave] them the opportunity to get out

and get their lives together, so they could make it far without depending on any-body,” Edwards said.

Carino Cortez, president of SIFE, had the idea for the sponsored table. Mem-bers of SIFE hope outreach tables will grow in number for future dinners.

“We would like for more companies to sponsor next year, so we can allow more [battered] women to come or younger kids from the Boys and Girls Club to come and get a benefit at an early age,” Arrington said.

SIFE has hosted the eti-quette dinner for the last three years.

SIFE’s other big event of the semester was Enter-prise City that took place on Nov. 9 for Taylor Ele-mentary fifth graders. The program allowed students to work, buy and sell in a small-scale city that in-cluded a bank and numer-ous shops. “It taught them how to live in our growing economy,” Arrington said.

SIFE’s big event next se-mester involve the Noah Project as SIFE members work to provide speakers and technical classes for battered women, and, “a big secret project [that] is also coming up,” Ar-rington said.

Post-college prep lesson given at dinner

By Aaron BallardStudent RepoRteR

Applications are being ac-cepted for World Wide Wit-ness, a program that provides students an opportunity to gain practical missions experi-ences under the guidance of missionaries around the world. Students can participate in one of two ways: through a summer internship that lasts 6 to 10 weeks, or through a post-grad-uate apprenticeship that lasts 6 to 24 months.

“The most common feed-back we get from students after these experiences is how life-changing it was,” said Wimon Walker, co-director of World Wide Witness. “It can be challenging, but for the most part it is an incredible learn-ing experience.”

Applications submitted by November 16 are guaranteed

to be processed before Christ-mas break, so that fundraising can begin as soon as possible. However, applications will still be accepted through January.

This year, there are close to 50 different sites available around the globe, including lo-cations in Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the U.S. On average, two interns are sent to each site during the sum-mer, so the program hopes to have nearly 100 students participate. Last summer around 80 students partici-pated in an internship.

“We try to send only 2 to 3 students to each location so that they can become fully im-mersed in the local culture,” Walker said.

Anyone can participate, un-dergraduate or graduate stu-dents, and not just Bible or Mis-sions majors.

“Although Bible and missions

majors make up a large portion of those that participate, usu-ally more than half come from different majors,” Walker said. “We are delighted to have stu-dents from all majors. You do not have to be a missions per-son for this to benefit you. It re-ally gives you a new perspective on everything.”

Once students turn in their applications, Walker and co-director Gary Green have the final say on how students are matched up with the various locations. However, student de-sires play an important role in the decision.

“Deciding who should go where is really a collaborative process,” Walker said. “We try to make sure that students are a good fit for the locations they are assigned.”

Intern preparations go into full swing in the spring semes-ter. All interns participate in a

retreat at the end of January to help them get to know the people they will be working with. In addition, the interns have training meetings week-ly to help facilitate commu-nication between the interns and their host missionaries. Furthermore, students are required to find an oversee-ing congregation to handle fundraising because ACU does not directly deal with the funds. Finally, all interns take a Maymester missions course to put their experi-ence in the larger context of God’s mission in the world.

It is a process of spiritual, at-titudinal and academic prepa-ration,” Walker said. “We want them to go out and observe and learn, to lend a hand, and to grow.”

World Wide Witness sent its first interns in 2002. The program is the brainchild of

Wimon Walker and Gary Green, who were hired in 2000 and 2001 in part to help start an apprenticeship program for ACU. When it began, locations were chosen based on personal relationships that already exist-ed with missionaries. Since then, new locations have been chosen based on two criteria, Walker said.

“Are there significant min-istries with a good model from which to learn? And are the host missionaries willing to invest time and attention into personal mentoring?” Walker said. “That is what we look for in host missionaries.”

Vanessa Whitt, junior graph-ic design major from Cebu City, Philippines, participated in World Wide Witness last sum-mer. She spent five weeks with a fellow intern working with her parents in her hometown.

“My parents are missionar-

ies, and I thought it would be cool to get ACU students to experience what my life is like back home,” Whitt said.

Her dad directs a small Bi-ble college in Cebu City, and Whitt helped with campus ministry this summer. In ad-dition, she and her fellow intern helped with VBS on Saturdays and taught a chil-dren’s class twice a week.

“It is hard to put into words what to expect,” Whitt said. “You will always come out with a changed perspective on everything. It allows you to see how a different culture deals with life, the church and various struggles. A different per-spective helps you under-stand the world we live in by giving you a better grip on reality.”

World Wide Witness whets cultural appetite

E-mail Abston at: optimist@acu.edu

E-mail Linton at: optimist@acu.edu

By Jared FieldsEditor-in-ChiEf

We watch war movies for entertainment.

The horrifying scenes of war — death, gunfire, explosions, agony, fear — many of us only see on a screen.

Serge Gasore lived those scenes. Though not on televi-sion, movies, a computer or in books.

He saw it all in a Rwanda church.

Beginning in April 1994, extremists of the Hutu tribe killed at least 500,000 Tut-sis during the 90 days after president Juvenal Habyarima-na died in a plane crash. The Hutu extremists tried to take control of the government through genocide, immediate-ly hunting down members of the Tutsi tribe. When the mi-litia arrived in Serge’s town of Ntarama, they began by burn-ing the grass roofs and terror-izing its citizens.

Taking sanctuary inside the church, many believed the soldiers surrounding the building would not attack. However, on the third day they invaded the church.

The militia killed about 5,000 in the Ntarama church alone.

Seven-year-old Serge wit-nessed the death of his grand-mother by a grenade while pressed against her back.

He had no time to worry about that or the chaos sur-rounding him. He needed a way out.

“I didn’t recognize what hap-pened. I just saw blood on me,” Serge said. “Her body was to-tally broken. I was very close. I just got crazy and went through the door.”

Outside the door was a po-liceman, but this policeman wasn’t helping Tutsis. Spotting little Serge, the policeman did not shoot, and Serge ran into the “bush,” or forest.

Serge rendezvoused with four others two miles into the bush. They hid there the rest of the night, waiting until morning to return and see the remains of Ntarama.

Serge’s life is filled with re-turn trips.

Natural runner

This weekend he returns

to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship at-tempting to win Abilene Christian University’s second national title.

Running competitively, not for life or death, Serge is a contender for the individual title after winning the Lone Star Conference and NCAA Division II South Central Region meets.

For those efforts, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association awarded Serge the region’s Male Athlete of the Year.

“You keep going”

Running comes naturally to Serge. He stills shows dozens of scars on his body from his time running from Hutu soldiers in the Rwandan bush.

Serge’s group went to the school after the first night in the bush as refugees. There they met other survivors, but Serge’s heart longed to see what became of his family at the church.

Arriving at the church he fled the previous day, Serge saw the destruction and dev-astation leveled upon the building where his family, friends and community wor-shipped. Serge saw dead bod-ies heaped in a pile, and, while walking away, heard pleading cries to his name:

“Serge! We are still alive!”The calls came from two

younger cousins, hiding in the pile of dead bodies. As he pulled a third cousin out of the pile, he noticed she had died from the crushing weight of the bodies.

Serge and the two surviving girls went to the school to meet again with the survivors.

But Serge and the rest of the survivors didn’t stay long. From the top of the hill where the school sat, they could see the bus of soldiers approaching.

Everyone left the school in a frantic rush through the bush.

“The way there, there were bullets everywhere,” Serge said. “You are walking with someone, you are here, they are here, they shoot somebody in front of you, they fall down, you keep going.”

The soldiers didn’t pursue Serge and the group far into the bush. Instead, the soldiers took and killed their cows, ate, got

drunk and went to sleep. Like a work day here, the sol-

diers sought Tutsis from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“When you passed 5 p.m., you know that day you are OK,” Serge said.

Serge’s daily routine for the next two weeks consist-ed of him going to town to scrounge or beg for food be-fore taking it back to the bush during the day.

“At 5, I know they’re leaving, I come back all the way down my way, there’s all the people who died, they’re people screaming, they’re calling me, they’re say-ing, ‘Bring me water,’” Serge said. “I can’t do anything.”

Finding food and water, de-spite living in a beautiful forest, was no simple task.

“Sometime they kill people on top of the mountain, and because it was raining season, the rain would bring down the bloody streams,” Serge said.

Having no other choice, the people would sometimes drink the contaminated water.

The killers

One day, Serge was walking to meet with his cousin Giten-jye when the soldiers caught her. Hiding nearby and seeing the situation Gitenjye faced, Serge quietly watched the un-folding drama.

“Do you have money?” the killers asked.

“I don’t have money!” she said.

The killers gashed her neck and in pain she succumbed to their pressure.

“My cousin has money. Call him to come and bring the money,” Gitenjye said.

As she called, Serge knew the killers’ plan. They were go-ing to kill them both. He knew they would kill Gitenjye wheth-er she gave them money or not. If Serge responded, they would kill him, too. He chose not to respond, sitting quietly close by. Her captors sliced her neck, killing her, and left her. Serge returned to the bush.

“It’s easy”

Serge wants to return home again in the summer. He wants to write a book about his life and the events from Ntarama in 1994. He also wants to repre-sent his country by running for Rwanda in world competitions.

Serge’s dad survived the genocide and still asks Serge if he is normal.

“Some people go crazy,” Serge said. “My dad, he’s always like, ‘You’re not nor-mal.’ Maybe because I had to go through hard things and went to the army I had to be strong.”

Serge has no problem talking about the things he’s seen. His only problem with telling his story is that it takes too long.

When Serge recalls his past, he doesn’t show sadness. In-stead, it motivates him.

“When I recall, that’s when I feel I have to work harder,” Serge said. “It doesn’t take me to the negative side; it takes me to the positive side.”

For Serge, that thinking keeps him from thinking of

anything as difficult.“Everything beside genocide

is easy.”In the library, translating all

of his homework into French so he can understand it is easy.

Morning workouts at 6 a.m., after hours of homework from the previous evening’s work-out, are easy.

“When I am working, they say, ‘Oh man, how can I do this? I’m dying,’” Serge said, laughing at someone’s statement.

“You are joking. What’s go-ing on? It’s easy.”

Rescue

Serge returned to school after the 90 days of genocide. While standing on the side of the road in the city of Nyama-ta, a truck pulled up beside young Serge.

A soldier asked Serge to get in the truck. For some rea-son the man who asked Serge to get in the car, Gen. Paul Muyenzi, liked him. He kept Serge on guard around his home and in September put Serge back in school.

When Serge turned 15, he joined the army officially.

“The people around him were complaining about me. They were saying, ‘You are in the army and you don’t do ser-vice. You are going to school,’” Serge said. “They were jealous. I joined the army, but my boss — he protected me.”

But once Serge almost lost his life when he left Muyenzi’s protection.

At 14, Serge went alone to visit his uncles. On the way, Hu-tus kidnapped him to Congo.

The group asked if Serge knew a certain man. Serge did, so they asked him to get in the car. He stepped in with four other guys. They tied his hands and made him write a letter to his dad saying the group was going to kill Serge.

Serge spent three days in the Congo bush, tied naked, stand-ing to a stake facing the sun.

Blind from the sun ex-posure and exhaustion, the group gave a machete to a member, ordering him to take Serge and kill him.

“When we got somewhere to have to kill me he said, ‘I will not kill you because this group has killed a lot of innocent people. I will not kill innocent

people, and I am leaving.’ So he left me,” Serge said.

Serge found a trail that even-tually led to a road. A man in a car stopped and asked Serge a question. Serge didn’t under-stand Swahili and could not answer, but the man let him in the car.

The man dressed Serge in the only clothes he had, wom-en’s clothes. The man was driv-ing to Uganda and took Serge to the border on his way.

Immigration took Serge home after some time in the hospital and in an investiga-tion to determine why a beaten man in woman’s clothing was brought to them.

In a miraculous Tom Sawyer moment filled with relief and joy, Serge limped home to his family mourning for him.

Serge stayed with his family for three months before being ordered to return to the army and school.

Serge attended school and then performed his military job at night until he turned 18.

Then Serge graduated and after national testing, enrolled at the University of Rwanda to run for the school. He attended school and ran there for a year before former ACU track and field coach Steven Moore dis-covered Serge and recruited him to Abilene.

Serge arrived in Abilene in August of 2005, speaking no English and wary of everyone.

“When I got in America, it changed a little bit because before I used to think that ev-ery people are mean,” Serge said. “Even when some people would try to be nice to me, I would think you want to try to kill me tomorrow, because that’s what happened.”

Now Serge says he can see that people are kind.

He saw little genuine gener-osity growing up. If he did see “nice,” it could easily be con-fused with luck.

Running for Uganda, writing a book, graduating with a de-gree from ACU — it’s all easy.

No one knows how his goals will culminate: cross country meets, his travels, a career.

We’ll have to wait for the book.

November 7, 2007 Page 5

FocusWednesday

Before competing for ACU, Serge Gasore ran

for his life in Rwanda

Living to run again

EMILY SMITH SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Serge Gasore, the CCCA regional runner of the year, survived the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. He will compete in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Bryan and Libby Harrison

A memorial sign outside the church in Ntarama, Rwanda, honors the victims of genocide, including many of Serge’s family and friends.

Photo courtesy of Bryan and Libby Harrison

Skulls of the genocide victims killed at the Ntarama church building during the tribal conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis. E-mail Fields at: jrf03b@acu.edu

ViewswednesdayOptimistPage 6 November 14, 2007

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Editorial Board and News Staff

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The problem:Def Poetry Jam, a show on HBO, wants to come to ACU’s campus but funding for the members to come is scarce due to budget cuts.

Our view:Groups on campus should share budgets and funding to get the group on campus because having Def Poetry Jam at ACU would benefit the school and student body.

The solution:Budget sharing and attention from the administration will get the group here sooner.

Def Poetry Jam would benefit students, campusIf the university doesn’t scour all resources for fund-

ing a Def Poetry Jam performance, it will miss an oppor-tunity to engage diverse perspectives.

When representatives from HBO’s popular slam po-etry show, Def Poetry Jam, approached SA president Matt Worthington about coming to campus earlier this semes-ter, sadly only a few departments jumped at the chance.

The initial $12,000 quote to bring the group to Abilene pushed the program off the calendars for at least the fall semester.

The edgy slam poetry show could bring some big pop culture names to campus — guest appearances from Dave Chappelle, Alicia Keys, Smokey Robinson and Kanye West suggest the show is no small deal.

Worthington showed Congress a petition Oct. 10 that garnered 800 signatures from students, faculty and staff who support bringing the group to campus — a clear mandate from a community where few events attract more attention and support.

Such widespread support stems from the universal appeal of Def Poetry Jam’s focus on diversity and expression.

In an amiable move, co-founder Bruce George told the Optimist the sometimes-profane group would mon-itor content in the proposed poetry workshops, panel discussions and per-formances.

Although content and censor-ship of a show HBO calls “audacious, uncensored,” concerns administrators, the staggering cost continues to create the largest obstacle.

Def Poetry Jam also demonstrated concerted efforts to accommodate the university, reducing the initial quote to $7,000 to $8,000 dollars.

Now, the theatre, Bible, sociology and English departments are scouring their cut budgets for money, and Congress has discussed appropriating money. As these departments seek funds to bring the group to campus, other depart-ments and organizations on campus should pitch in as well.

With the fall enrollment drop, the

university’s overall funding came up $3 million short, leaving departments short of funding. But an $8,000 price tag for Def Poetry Jam becomes less challenging when spread across multiple groups instead of just four or five.

HBO touts Def Poetry Jam performers as the “fresh-est and most fearless voices in America today,” and if the university desires cultural relevance, the community should hear what such voices have to say.

The group has visited other colleges and universi-ties, among them Butler University in Indianapolis in the 2003-2004 year, as part of its diversity celebration.

Students participate in this cutting-edge “written cure,” for emotional angst, as George describes the slam poetry, and in doing so, welcome performers with an ar-ray of ideas.

The university trumpets the 21st Century Vision as

ACU aims to become the premiere institution for Christian education – part of which entails providing innovative experiences unprecedented among other Christian universities.

Def Poetry Jam, which is now in its sixth season, of-fers a chance to explore a progressive venue and accom-modate a community eager to engage in dialogue with many views.

Groups and academic departments should appropri-ate funds and join the push to bring Def Poetry Jam to campus this spring, paving the way for powerful and real dialogue on campus.

WCVB-TV in Boston re-ports that veterans diag-nosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are

being or-dered to re-deploy to Iraq and Af-ghanistan.

W a i t , what? Have we exhaust-ed so much of our mili-tary resourc-es that men and women who are dis-abled by a

disorder are being forced to go back to the same places that caused their disor-ders? And I thought the war couldn’t get much worse.

It seems that the Bush administration has ceased

to care about the well-being of our soldiers and is now playing a ruthless, heartless game of numbers.

The Department of De-fense’s policy is that sol-diers can only be re-de-ployed after three months of stability, but one man, Michael DeVliger, was re-de-ployed one day after his re-lease from a Kentucky hos-pital for treatment of acute stress disorder.

DeVliger’s mom, Sue, said in the article, “… I am extremely disappointed in the Army because they don’t care about our men and women that they are sending over. They are just worrying about the num-bers. And to me, that’s just atrocious.”

Sending over disabled veterans is atrocious. When

we stop caring about the hu-man lives lost, and begin to worry more about amount of troops, it’s time to re-evaluate our views on life.

When 25-year old Damian Fernandez came back from the war with severe PTSD, doctors classified him as 70 percent disabled by the dis-ease. But yet, the young man was called to re-deploy.

The Army was quoted in the article as saying that their standards for re-de-ploying PTSD soldiers are based on the individual and they “do not want to stig-matize the soldiers by say-ing they cannot deploy with

their unit because they have symptoms.”

Dr. Judith Herman, a PTSD specialist, said in the article that she was appalled by the practice and to send a sol-dier back into war endan-gers his life and the lives of those in his unit.

“It’s not safe for the indi-vidual soldier... it’s not safe for his unit either to send someone who is so impaired back into a situation of dan-ger,” Herman said.

So, now, we’re endanger-ing the lives of multiple people through this sicken-ing practice of sending over soldiers who can’t function

as well as they used to. Excellent, and I think also

we should start sending over the children; they might as well take up arms too.

While we’re at it, let’s send over everyone over the age of 65. If we’re going to play this numbers game, we’ve gotta do it right. Might as well force all the other disabled people to go, too. We’re already sending some over, why not a few more?

And let’s reinstate the draft. We obviously need more people if we’re send-ing mentally unstable sol-diers, so we might as well force others who don’t want to go to Iraq to fight.

I’m not saying I’m against our military, because I’m not. Without our troops, we wouldn’t have our freedoms that we have today. But

sending over mentally un-stable soldiers just serves to illustrate how much we’re in over our heads in the Mid-dle East.

We can’t continue to do this. We can’t continue to waste valuable lives in a war that seems to serve no purpose.

I hope someday soon we’ll be able to get out of Iraq and save lives that don’t need to be lost. Until then, I’ll just keep praying for our troops and hoping that their lives weren’t lost for nothing.

Sending disabled veterans back to battle sets dangerous precedent

Work inProgressRachelDavis

It seems that the Bush administration has ceased to care about the well-being of our soldiers and is now

playing a ruthless, heartless game of numbers.

Nothing lasts forever; that’s the way it’s gotta be.

This is what The Arcade Fire kept telling me the other day. And I’ve been think-ing about endings ever since.

T h i n k about the things you wish would end. My list

includes the war in Iraq, bad dates, NASCAR and Nickel-back’s career.

Then there are things

you wish never ended. The 1980s, Harry Potter books, those Reebok basketball shoes that could be pumped up, football season, good dates and college — they all end too quickly.

College ending seems not so good. Many of us graduate this year, and we’ll be forced to move on to the next stage of life. It’s not so much fear of real adulthood as it is we’re all certain college has been fun and will be missed. As my friend once pointed out, when is the next time all of your friends will live within two miles?

Strange how four years seemed forever long before

college began, but now- five and a half years later- it went by rather quickly. Luckily, the next stage of life lasts a dang long time, like until retirement. For some folks that can sound like a punishment of sorts, but it doesn’t have to.

Two of my friends gradu-ated in May ’06. While they didn’t wait until college was over to start having adven-tures, they have been busy enjoying life on the other side of college. They’ve taught school in Kenya for a

year, backpacked China and Europe, taught English in South Korea for a year and are wrapping up a trip that included stops to Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India and Nepal.

Trips like those are not really feasible while going to school, so there’s one point for the adulthood side.

Post-college, aka real life, looks pretty cool to me. True, leaving friends and the schedule college kids keep will be tough, but it’ll be OK.

Except for the debt, you

are basically free to do what you want when you finish school. True, you have to work, but if you get a job you really like, it should be rad. And if no such job exists for you because you don’t like your major, just get a job outside of your major — it worked for the guy from Office Space.

For starters, the prospect of getting out of Abilene has to appeal to a lot of people. Plus, everywhere I’ve been, it seems some nice people live there (well, I haven’t been to the North very much, so take caution there), so mak-ing friends shouldn’t be too tough and that is what

makes life the best anyway, friends.

The end is near — that is true for some of us.

But more good stuff is around the corner, I’m pret-ty sure.

The end.

Graduation brings new, exciting opportunities for college kids

FeelingOptimisticDentonJosey

E-mail Davis at: red04a@acu.edu, optimist@acu.edu

E-mail Josey at: v, optimist@acu.edu

E-mail the Optimist at: optimist@acu.edu

Leaving friends and the schedule college kids keep will be tough, but it’ll be OK.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Page 7SPORTS JUMPS

Comeback: Wildcats host No. 17 Mesa State on Saturday

quarterfinal match. Except for the second game, ACU domi-nated the match as middle blockers Lauren Leone and Ba-con each ended with 13 kills. Lowry finished the match with 12 kills, and Moronu served up a match-high 43 assists and seven kills. Freshman middle blocker Shawna Hines blocked 5.5 shots, while sophomore libero Amy Wilson finished with a team-high 17 digs.

“I was really proud of the way the girls played at the con-ference tournament,” Mock said. “We took care of busi-ness against Texas Woman’s.”

For their performance dur-ing the tournament, Bacon and Lowry were named to the LSC All-Tournament Team. Now the Wildcats can begin prepar-ing for next year where they will be without seniors Lowry and libero Liz Snoddy.

“I think they’ll do really well,” Lowry said. “I know coach Mock has been talking to the new girls that are going to be coming in, and they seem like they’re pretty good.”

For the time being, the Wild-cats can take pride in the 2007 season as ACU finished with a 15-14 overall record and an 8-4 conference record. Also, ACU finished fourth in the LSC in kills with 1,548. In her final sea-son, Lowry added 446 kills to her career stats, which gave her 1,513 for her career, the fifth most in ACU history. And in her final season, Snoddy added 331 digs, giving her 1,574 for her career, the second most ca-reer digs by a Wildcat.

“Abbie and Liz are very dear to my heart,” Mock said. “They are tremendous ath-letes and great volleyball play-

ers, but I think they mean so much more to the heart and soul of this team. They are going to be sorely missed.”

The Wildcats were also third in the conference in blocks, led by Hines who accounted for 120 of ACU’s 232.5 for the season. Moronu ended her first season with 1,146 assists, a statistic that counts as the

ninth best single-season per-formance in ACU history.

“I think this season has been a tremendous success,” Mock said. “We’ve learned a lot. We had a good time and played well.”

The playoff game will be the first time ACU has hosted a team since 1977 and is the first NCAA Division II football post-season game to be played at Shotwell Stadium.

In a matchup between the two top offenses in Division II football, the Midwestern fans at Memorial Stadium in Wichi-ta Falls were not disappointed — until the end.

ACU trailed the entire game, and the Wildcats’ playoff hopes seemed to be unreachable after falling into 38-21 hole with 9:35 left in the third quarter.

But after a pair of touch-downs from junior running back Bernard Scott and a de-fensive stance that held Mid-western to three points in the fourth quarter — the Wildcats found themselves with the ball, six points behind with 4:13 on the clock.

From there, all ACU had to do was give Scott the ball.

Scott, who rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns, was handed the ball five out of the nine plays in the 70-yard, three and a half minute drive and cruised into the end zone after a pass interference call put the Wildcats five yards away from the end zone.

Matt Adams nailed the ex-tra point after Scott’s 5-yard rush tied it up, to give ACU a 42-41 lead with 43 seconds left on the clock.

“That’s what you do when the game is on the line; put the ball in the hands of the playmakers,” said ACU coach Chris Thomsen.

But the game wasn’t over yet.

Polk and the Mustangs got the ball back and made it down to the ACU 28-yard line, but a last-second touchdown throw to Tyron Morrison was ruled in-complete, and the Wildcat side-line and small group of Purple and White fans charged the field in celebration.

“That’s the heart of this team, to keep coming no matter what,” Thomsen said. “When we lost to [University of Central Oklahoma] we won six straight, and when we lost to [West Texas A&M] we won three straight. That is what this team is about.”

Senior Billy Malone’s 304 passing yards against Mid-western made him LSC’s ca-reer passing leader with a total of 8,167 yards. Malone’s final game also made him the first ACU quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards for two seasons in a row. With one year of eligibil-

ity left, Malone is already No. 2 on the ACU career-passing list behind Jim Lindsey.

Senior wide receiver Jerale Badon’s team-leading perfor-mance of seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown put his career receiving yards total at 3,092 yards and broke the LSC’s career record.

Polk rushed for a career best and school single-game record 290 yards, broke former Coo-per High School graduate Dom-inic Rhodes Midwestern single-season touchdown record after rushing for three touchdowns for a season total of 19.

ACU’s nine-win season was the first one since 1977, and

its upcoming playoff berth is only the second time an ACU team has made the playoffs in 30 years. The win also pushed ACU up two spots from No. 17 to No. 15 in the American Football Coaches’ Association national rankings.

Semis: ACU falls to eventual champ

Continued from page 8

ACU 7 14 7 14 — 42MSU 21 10 7 3­­ — 41

First QuarterMSU — Daniel Polk 14 run (Jose Martinez kick), 11:17 MSU — Polk 28 run (Martinez kick), 6:03 ACU — Rodney Freeman 34 pass from Billy Malone (Matt Adams kick), 4:43MSU — Polk 16 run (Martinez kick), 2:31

Second QuarterMSU — Steven Harper 1 run (Martinez kick), 13:02ACU — Jerale Badon 22 pass from Malone (Adams kick), 11:19MSU — FG Martinez 34, 7:18ACU — Edmund Gates 4 run (Adams kick), 3:42

Third QuarterMSU — Harper 1 run (Martinez kick), 9:35ACU — Bernard Scott 2 run (Adams kick), 0:03

Fourth Quarter ACU — Scott 3 run (Adams kick), 11:03MSU — FG Martinez 30, 4:13ACU — Scott 5 run (Adams kick), 0:43

Team Statistics ACU MSUFirst downs 23 32Total net yards 484 654Rushing yards 35-180 57-467Passing yards 304 187Kickoff returns 7-149 5-99Interceptions/Ret. 1-0 3-26Comp-Att-Int 21-30-3 14-23-1Sacked-Yards Lost 1-13 1-8Punts/Avg. 1-48 0-0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards 4-30 12-90Time of Possession 26:04 33:56

Individual Statistics Rushing — ACU: Scott 27-178; Lampkin 2-10; Gates 2-4. MSU: Polk 28-290; B.J. Mathis 13-101; Marcus Mathis 11-74; Harper 4-2. Passing — ACU: Malone 21-30-3. MSU: Polk 14-22-1.Receiving — ACU: Badon 7-80; Scott 5-90; Johnny Knox 4-56; Gates 2-24; Kendrick Holloway 2-20; Freeman 1-34. MSU: DelJuan Lee 6-78; Wells 4-57; Tyron Morrison 2-24; Brandon Frazier 1-19; Chad Olson 1-9.

ACU 42, MSU 41

Todd pIerSall STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Abbie Lowry and Shawna Hines set up a play during the Wildcats’ regular season finale against Midwestern State on Nov. 3.

Gerald eWING ACU CREATIVE SERVICES

Junior running back Bernard Scott squeezes through a couple of hard-hitting Midwestern State defenders in Saturday’s game. Scott rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning score.

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

Continued from page 8

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.edu

Todd pIerSall STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

John Heintz, senior marketing major from Kirkwood, Mont., runs for the end zone in the GSP-Frats game on Nov. 5.

Social club sprint

Scott nominated for prestigious NCAA award

n ACU running back Bernard Scott is one of 24 players up for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II College Foot-ball Player of the Year. Scott, second in the nation in scoring and touch-downs, is the third Wildcat in the past three years to be named a regional finalist for the award, joining quarterback Billy Malone, who was nominated last year, and former defensive back Danieal Manning, who was up for the award in 2005. Regional voting concludes Nov. 16.

Optimist

spOrtsWednesdayNovember 14, 2007Page 8

Friday

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU at Incarnate Word, 1:30 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALLACU vs. Hillsdale Freewill Baptist, 7 p.m.

Saturday

FOOTBALLACU vs. Mesa State, 12 p.m.

CROSS COUNTRYNCAA Division II Nationals in Joplin, Mo., 9 a.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALLACU vs. Houston Baptist, 5 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU at St. Edward’s, 5:30 p.m.

n Home games listed in italics

Standings

Upcoming

FootballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUACUTarleton St.MSUTAMU-K

Angelo St.

6-05-14-23-32-41-5

11-09-29-28-33-82-8

ENMU 0-6 5-6

For complete intramural scores and schedules

visit:w w w. a c u o p t i m i s t . c o m

INTRAMURAL ROUNd-Up

n The intramural flag football playoffs came to an end Tuesday. See who won in Friday’s edition of the Optimist.

Scoreboard as of Tuesday

SCOREBOARd

VolleyballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUCentral Okla.MSUACUTAMU-K

TX Woman’s

12-011-110-28-46-66-6

32-731-627-515-1414-1215-13

Cameron 6-6 13-15Tarleton St. 5-7 13-15SW Okla. 5-7 14-19Angelo St. 4-8 6-21TAMU-C 3-9 9-19SE Okla. 2-10 7-20ENMU 0-12 4-25

Briefs

Thursday

VOLLEYBALLACU 3. Texas Woman’s 1

Friday

VOLLEYBALLWest Texas A&M 3, ACU 0

Saturday

FOOTBALLACU 42, Midwestern State 41

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU 66, Lubbock Christian 65

Scores

Scott

Coming soon

By Daniel JohnsonSportS Editor

Daniel Polk’s final college game could have been his best.

By the fourth quarter of ACU’s regular season finale Saturday, the Midwestern State quarterback had already broken two school rushing records, a single-season touchdown record and was on his way to a 300-yard rush-ing game.

But after an ACU fourth quarter comeback — Polk had his records, and ACU was going to the playoffs.

The No. 15 Wildcats secured their spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs after a 70-yard game-winning drive and a defensive stop in the final sec-onds helped them to a 42-41 come-from-behind win over Midwestern State on Saturday.

“It was do or die today,” senior cornerback Corey Jordan said Sat-urday. “They had nothing to lose, we had nothing to lose, basically we were just trying to get on that air-plane. That’s all we talked about is getting on that airplane.”

But ACU will not have to fly any-where for the first round of the postseason.

The Wildcats, who completed the season with a 5-1 Lone Star Confer-ence record and 9-2 overall record, moved up to No. 4 in the NCAA Di-vision II Southwest regional poll and earned the right to host a game against No. 6 in the region Mesa State from Colo. COURTESY OF GERALD EWING ACU CREATIVE SERVICES

Freshman linebacker Fred Thompson, right, celebrates after tackling Midwestern state quarterback Daniel Polk, while freshman Bryson Lewis, left, watches in the fourth quarter of ACU’s come-from-behind 42-41 win over the Mustangs on Saturday.

Comeback CatsLast­-minut­e win seals playoff spot­ for Wildcat­s

By Michael FreemanASSiStAnt SportS Editor

The ACU volleyball team’s sea-son came to a close Monday when the Wildcats were not selected to play in the NCAA Division II South-west Region Tournament.

ACU finished the season with a 15-14 overall record and a semi-final appearance in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tourna-ment, but it wasn’t enough to earn the Wildcats a fourth-straight trip to the regional tournament.

“We honestly felt like we had a good chance at going,” said head coach Kellen Mock. “There are a lot of factors that go into decid-ing who gets to go. When it comes down to it, I think we should’ve been on that list.”

Representing the Lone Star Con-ference in the regional tournament will be Central Oklahoma, Midwest-

ern State and the team the Wildcats lost to in the LSC tournament — West Texas A&M. On its streak toward its 13th league title, West Texas A&M downed ACU by the score of 30-25, 30-27, 30-25 Friday in Canyon. Each game was a back-and-forth battle, but the Lady Buffs came out trium-phantly in three games.

“The scores, and the fact that they swept us in three, doesn’t show how tight of a match it really was,” Mock said. “We were within four points of each other the entire match. As a team, I think it was one of our best matches of the year.”

Senior outside hitter Abbie Low-ry led the way for the Wildcats with 16 kills and eight digs. Sophomore middle blocker Michelle Bacon fin-ished with 10 kills, and sophomore

libero Amy Wilson ended the game with a team-high 19 digs. Freshman setter Ijeoma Moronu, who was the LSC co-Setter of the Week for two weeks in a row prior to the tour-nament, finished with a team-high 36 assists. But the Wildcats’ efforts were not enough to stop the Lady Buffs, who finished the tourna-ment by beating Central Oklahoma 30-16, 30-26, 30-22 to take home the LSC crown.

“They’ve got a good group,” Mock said. “And we’ve got a good group. It’s going to be a battle for the next three years as our sopho-mores fight against their sopho-mores, and our freshmen fight against their freshman.”

To make it to Friday’s game, the Wildcats first fought and defeated the Texas Woman’s Pioneers 30-21, 26-30, 30-26, 30-13 on Thursday’s

Women inch by Lubbock Christ­ian in exhibit­ion gameBy Michael Freeman

ASSiStAnt SportS Editor

A late-second layup by soph-omore forward Jamie Meyer handed the Wildcats a 66-65 victory over Lubbock Christian Saturday afternoon in Moody Coliseum. The game was an exhibition game for ACU, so the win did not affect the Wild-cats’ record. However, the game counted toward Lubbock Chris-tian’s record, which is now 0-1.

“Lubbock Christian is a great team,” said head coach Shawna Lavender. “I was fair-ly pleased with the way we played, but I didn’t think we shot the ball very well, and we didn’t play great defense. But I think one of the things that was really good for us was playing in a close game early and finding a way to win.”

Junior center Audrey Max-well led the Wildcats Saturday with a double-double perfor-

mance of 24 points and 16 re-bounds. Maxwell also had four blocks, including one on the last play of the game as Lady Chap guard Sierra Wilcox-Lov-orn tried to give Lubbock Chris-tian the win. The Lady Chaps fell behind with 10 seconds left in the game after Meyer scored a fast-break layup off an assist from sophomore guard Kat Kundmueller. Meyer finished the game with six points to go along with six rebounds.

“I almost called a timeout before she made the pass,” Lavender said. “Kat made a good look, and Jamie finished and got fouled at the same time. We did the right thing offensively, and were able to make a good defensive stop at the other end.”

Senior point guard Alex Gui-

ton and junior forward Kristee Davidson also ended the game scoring in the double-digits with 15 and 14 points respec-tively. ACU freshman guard Autumn Whitaker and fresh-man center Jenna Simmel got their first playing minutes in Saturday’s game. Neither scored, but Whitaker contrib-uted with one block, while Simmel grabbed one of the Wildcats’ 36 rebounds.

“I thought they did a good job,” Lavender said. “The thing I liked about both Autumn and Jenna when they came in is they didn’t play hesitant at all. They’re just going to get better every game.”

ACU will play its first regular-season game on Friday against the Incarnate Word Cardinals in Austin. Friday’s game will also be Incarnate Word’s opening game. Last season, the Wildcats played Incarnate Word twice, both times coming away with

a win. ACU started last year by beating the Cardinals 80-62 on the road. Then on Dec. 14, the Wildcats won 67-55 at home. The Wildcats also beat St. Ed-ward’s; a team ACU will play on

Saturday in Austin.“It’s going to be a good test

for us, both Friday and Satur-day,” Lavender said.

Wildcats end season with loss in LSC semifinals

TODD PIERSALL STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Freshman setter Ijeoma Moronu lofts a ball into the air during a match against Midwestern State on Nov. 3.

WTAMU 3, ACU 0

ACU 66, LCU 65

Volleyball

See SEMIS page 7

Women’s Basketball

See COMEBACK page 7

ACU 42, MSU 41

Football

TODD PIERSALL STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior forward Alex Guiton makes a move past a LCU defender during an exhibition game between the two in Moody Coliseum on Saturday.

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.edu