inside Page 5 page 6 page 4 ACU sport teams to conduct tryouts Saturday Read a response to last week’s letter about abortion Students spread anti- bullying message with Day of Silence Abilene Christian University Features page 5 sports opinion news acuoptimist.com See more photos of the ACU rodeo photos vol. 100, no. 53 Wednesday, april 25, 2012 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES Ride ‘em, Cowboy Students participate in rodeo events crime Students arrested in theft case Moving forward with a planned salon on Cam- pus Court, the university has begun construction, is negotiating with area stylists and has picked a name – Pura Vida. The opening date for the new salon has been pushed back until mid- July while crews work to convert the former home of Abilene Educational Supply to a hair and nail salon. Several local stylists said they have been in negotiations with the university to staff the lo- cation, and confirm the university has settled on Pura Vida, which means “pure life,” as the salon’s official name. That name was one of four options floated to stu- dents in a February survey. The other options were Studio 16, Lift and 1658. Anthony Williams, chief auxiliary services officer, said Pura Vida will employ nine stylists, two of whom will be part- time. The salon also will employ four nail techni- cians, two massage ther- apists and an esthetician, a hair-removal specialist. Caroline Howard, co- owner of Jacques & Ver- nay, a salon on North Sec- ond Street in downtown Abilene, said she and her husband are negotiating to move their services to the new salon on Campus Court. If Howard moved to the new salon, so would her clients, many of whom are university faculty and staff. Steven Stewart, a styl- ist at Nelda’s Styling Cen- ter on South 14th Street, said he has agreed to join the Pura Vida staff and bring his clientele. “It’s something I’m re- ally passionate about,” Stewart said. “I just like letting them know beauty comes from more than getting your hair done.” Williams said the leadership team has vis- ited other salons in the Metroplex and used a comprehensive process while planning for the salon. He said the added revenue to the university from the salon will pro- vide the administration with more flexibility. “When it’s all said and done, we’ll have a salon we’re proud of,” Williams said. “We’ve done our homework.” Four ACU students were arrested over the weekend and charged with Class A misdemeanor theft for tak- ing computer equipment from campus offices and classrooms. ACU Police arrested three students late Friday afternoon: Marc Little, family ministry major from West Chicago and a starter for the ACU 2011-12 men’s basketball team; Anthony Miller, freshman nursing major from Greenville; and Maverick Webb, freshman exercise science major from Clifton. Raoul Garcia, freshman political science major from Culver City, was arrested on Sunday at about 4:30 a.m., according to police and Taylor Coun- ty Jail records. The police were acting on arrest war- rants issued earlier Friday. ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said keyboards, mouse accessories and a document camera were sto- len from the AT&T Learn- ing Studio in the Brown Library, administrative offices and classrooms in Chambers Hall and from an administrative office on the third floor of the Har- din Administration Build- ing during the weeks be- fore and after Easter. In all, 20 items were stolen, and ACU Police have recovered 17 of those and are actively investigating the remain- ing missing items. “Primarily these thefts were wireless keyboards Farron salley multimedia managing editor During a ceremony on Fri- day morning, 50 undergrad- uate students were honored by faculty members as Uni- versity Scholars. Besides the requirement of senior level hours and a 3.5 GPA, these students were nominated by faculty based on their scholarship inside and outside of the classroom. Unlike other university awards, University Schol- ars are chosen directly their professors and faculty members. Nominations are then reviewed by the faculty senate, an elected group of faculty members. “It is a very high honor for students to be named a Uni- versity Scholar,” said Jason Morris, associate professor of higher education and fac- ulty senator. “It means that they have, throughout their time at ACU, impressed their faculty members very much. The faculty members who have watched them grow and mature have identified them as a student worthy of being deemed University Scholar.” Many of the students have excelled in their re- spective fields for many of the same reasons. “What you see with the students is a high degree of motivation and engage- ment with their discipline,” Morris said. “I think you see a curiosity to discover new things and an element of service and care for the broader world.” While the students share many of the same qualities, their research has covered many different areas. Research has included subjects such as biodiesel, cancer treatment, mod- ern dance, physics theo- ries and environmentally friendly furniture. “Their is a vast differ- ence between some of these students,” Morris said, “but what they have in common is that their faculty mem- bers notice them for their excellence and decide that this is a student who our department wants to rec- ognize.” One student to receive the honor, Evan Jones, senior biochemistry major from Canyon, has worked on mul- tiple research projects out- side of his coursework. “I conducted a number of research projects here at ACU and also at some in- ternships over the summer,” Jones said. “Research, for me, has been something sig- nificant that I have definitely enjoyed and seen at ACU.” Jones’ teamed up with fellow student Blaine Smith, senior biology ma- jor from Keller, to write a journal article discussing the correlation between science and religion which was published in the Eu- ropean Journal of Science and Theology. Aside from the award, Jones also enjoyed seeing a group of students that he felt were similar to him. “It was great to see like- minded people contribut- ing to their fields through scholastic endeavors,” he said. “Each individual has a great sense of personal motivation and self drive. That drive to go beyond the books and outside of the classroom is one thing that helps to set apart Uni- versity Scholars.” honors University University scholars named, honored for scholarship Construction begins on Pura Vida salon david singer arts editor The Kirk Goodwin Run invited students to run in remembrance of former student contact singer at [email protected]contact salley at [email protected]Mark smith managing editor see Thefts page 4 RUNNING WITH PURPOSE evan jones senior biochemistry major from canyon Each individual has a great sense of personal motivation and self drive.” “ Brittany williams staff photographer Zack Morgan, junior biology major from Keller, runs in Galaxy’s 29th annual Kirk Goodwin Run Saturday. This year, the proceeds will go toward the medical expenses of ACU’s Nov. 4 bus crash victims. Steven Stewart stylist at Nelda’s styling center It’s something I’m really passionate about. I just like letting them know beauty comes from more than getting your hair done. “
Transcript
inside
Page 5 page 6 page 4
ACU sport teams to conduct tryouts Saturday
Read a response to last week’s letter about abortion
Students spread anti-bullying message with Day of Silence
Moving forward with a planned salon on Cam-pus Court, the university has begun construction, is negotiating with area stylists and has picked a name – Pura Vida.
The opening date for the new salon has been pushed back until mid-July while crews work to convert the former home of Abilene Educational Supply to a hair and nail
salon.Several local stylists
said they have been in negotiations with the university to staff the lo-cation, and confirm the university has settled on Pura Vida, which means “pure life,” as the salon’s official name.
That name was one of four options floated to stu-dents in a February survey. The other options were Studio 16, Lift and 1658.
Anthony Williams, chief auxiliary services officer, said Pura Vida
will employ nine stylists, two of whom will be part-time. The salon also will employ four nail techni-cians, two massage ther-apists and an esthetician, a hair-removal specialist.
Caroline Howard, co-
owner of Jacques & Ver-nay, a salon on North Sec-ond Street in downtown Abilene, said she and her husband are negotiating to move their services to the new salon on Campus Court. If Howard moved
to the new salon, so would her clients, many of whom are university faculty and staff.
Steven Stewart, a styl-ist at Nelda’s Styling Cen-ter on South 14th Street, said he has agreed to join the Pura Vida staff and bring his clientele.
“It’s something I’m re-ally passionate about,” Stewart said. “I just like letting them know beauty comes from more than getting your hair done.”
Williams said the leadership team has vis-
ited other salons in the Metroplex and used a comprehensive process while planning for the salon. He said the added revenue to the university from the salon will pro-vide the administration with more f lexibility.
“When it’s all said and done, we’ll have a salon we’re proud of,” Williams said. “We’ve done our homework.”
Four ACU students were arrested over the weekend and charged with Class A misdemeanor theft for tak-ing computer equipment from campus offices and classrooms.
ACU Police arrested three students late Friday afternoon: Marc Little, family ministry major from West Chicago and a starter for the ACU 2011-12 men’s basketball team; Anthony Miller, freshman nursing major from Greenville; and Maverick Webb, freshman exercise science major from Clifton. Raoul Garcia, freshman political science major from Culver City, was arrested on Sunday at about 4:30 a.m., according to police and Taylor Coun-ty Jail records. The police were acting on arrest war-rants issued earlier Friday.
ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said keyboards, mouse accessories and a document camera were sto-len from the AT&T Learn-ing Studio in the Brown Library, administrative offices and classrooms in Chambers Hall and from an administrative office on the third floor of the Har-din Administration Build-ing during the weeks be-fore and after Easter. In all, 20 items were stolen, and ACU Police have recovered 17 of those and are actively investigating the remain-ing missing items.
“Primarily these thefts were wireless keyboards
Farron salleymultimedia managing editor
During a ceremony on Fri-day morning, 50 undergrad-uate students were honored by faculty members as Uni-versity Scholars.
Besides the requirement of senior level hours and a 3.5 GPA, these students were nominated by faculty based on their scholarship inside and outside of the classroom.
Unlike other university awards, University Schol-ars are chosen directly their professors and faculty members. Nominations are
then reviewed by the faculty senate, an elected group of faculty members.
“It is a very high honor for students to be named a Uni-versity Scholar,” said Jason Morris, associate professor of higher education and fac-ulty senator. “It means that they have, throughout their time at ACU, impressed their faculty members very much. The faculty members who have watched them grow and mature have identified them as a student worthy of being deemed University Scholar.”
Many of the students have excelled in their re-spective fields for many of
the same reasons.“What you see with the
students is a high degree of motivation and engage-ment with their discipline,” Morris said. “I think you see a curiosity to discover new things and an element of service and care for the broader world.”
While the students share many of the same qualities, their research has covered many different areas.
Research has included subjects such as biodiesel, cancer treatment, mod-ern dance, physics theo-ries and environmentally friendly furniture.
“Their is a vast differ-
ence between some of these students,” Morris said, “but what they have in common is that their faculty mem-bers notice them for their excellence and decide that this is a student who our department wants to rec-ognize.”
One student to receive the honor, Evan Jones, senior
biochemistry major from Canyon, has worked on mul-tiple research projects out-side of his coursework.
“I conducted a number of research projects here at ACU and also at some in-ternships over the summer,” Jones said. “Research, for me, has been something sig-nificant that I have definitely enjoyed and seen at ACU.”
Jones’ teamed up with fellow student Blaine Smith, senior biology ma-jor from Keller, to write a journal article discussing the correlation between science and religion which was published in the Eu-ropean Journal of Science
and Theology.Aside from the award,
Jones also enjoyed seeing a group of students that he felt were similar to him.
“It was great to see like-minded people contribut-ing to their fields through scholastic endeavors,” he said. “Each individual has a great sense of personal motivation and self drive. That drive to go beyond the books and outside of the classroom is one thing that helps to set apart Uni-versity Scholars.”
honors
University
University scholars named, honored for scholarship
Construction begins on Pura Vida salon
david singerarts editor
The Kirk Goodwin Run invited students to run in remembrance of former student
Zack Morgan, junior biology major from Keller, runs in Galaxy’s 29th annual Kirk Goodwin Run Saturday. This year, the proceeds will go toward the medical expenses of ACU’s Nov. 4 bus crash victims.
Steven Stewartstylist at Nelda’s styling center
It’s something I’m really passionate about. I just like letting them know beauty comes from more than
getting your hair done.“
25
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26 27 28wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
5 p.m. Sigma Theta Chi Rush
6 p.m. Freshmen Slip and Slide into Summer
7 p.m. GATA Rush
5 p.m. Gamma Sigma Phi Rush
7 p.m. Sub T Rush
9 p.m. Pi Kappa Rush
All day - Outdoor Track @ Penn Relays
3 p.m. Habitat for Hu-manity World Record Volleyball
11:30 a.m. The 6th Annual Call Her Blessed Luncheon will feature celebrity mom Anitat Renfroe at the Abilene Civic Center. Proceeds will benefit Christian Homes and Family Services. For more informa-tion vist www.callherblessed-abilene-eorg.eventbrite.com/. Tickets are $30 per person.
April 26
7 p.m. Play Faire Park will be holding a two person team, 36 hole miniature golf tournament. Admission is $12 per team.
April 27
7:30 p.m. The Wylie High School Jazz Band will be holding their annual spring concert with guest art-ist Lenny Picket, a former member of Tower of Power and current saxophonist and musical director for the SNL band. The concert is free and will be held at the Para-mount Theatres.
April 28
9 a.m. Dyess Air Force will be having an open house show-casing military and civilian aircraft, food and family fun at the Dyess Air Force Base. Admission is free. Visit www.dyessfss.com/airforce for more information.
The ACU Student-Athelete Advisory Com-mittee will be hosting the 2nd Annual Run for Wishes on May 5 from 8 - 9:30 a.m. Par-ticipants, area Make-A-Wish kids and fami-lies and volunteers will run together to help raise money for children with life-threaten-ing conditions. Register at bit.ly/acurunfor-wishes. Registration costs $15.
ACU’s PULSE A Cappella will present their first concert on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the WPAC Recital Hall.
All seniors are invited to the Senior Send-Off on Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the covered porch behind the Hunter Welcome Center. RSVP at www.acu.edu/seniorsendoff.
The Department of Music presents the ACU Bands Concert on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium. Admission is free.
The Campus Store will be holding a ga-rage sale from Wednesday to Saturday. Campion, JanSport, Under Armour, Acu Camp shirts and other products will be on sale.
The ACU Department of Music presents the Spring Orchestra Concert featur-ing Dr. Paul Piersall. The concert will be held on May 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public. Call 325-674-2199 for more information.
The Students’ Association is looking for a Chief Communication Officer. The officer would be involved with SA’s AD/PR, marketing and design. To download an application, visit www.acustudents.com/administrativeofficers. Applica-tions are due Friday at 5 p.m. in the Students’ Association office.
The Service Action Leadership Team wants you to bring your old clothes, room stuff, plastics, cardboard, glass, paper and alu-minum to recycle. If you bring something to donate, you may swap it with other donations. Free Cajun Cones will also be provided. The Year-End Recycling Project will be held on May 5 from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. in the University Church parking lot. on the corner of E.N. 16th and Washington.
2nd Annual SDA 5k and Pet-a-thon will be held on Saturday at Red-Bud Park. Regis-tration is available in the Campus Center this week. Tickets are $15 for the 5k, $7 for the Pet-a-thon and $20 for both. 5k reg-istration comes with a shirt. Also sign up for a $1 raffle ticket. The raffle includes an ACU fleece blanket, a shirt, pens and pen-cils, energy bars, Gatorade, an ACU water bottle, a pom pom and a free semester of exercise classes in the SWRC.
The Office of Multicultural Enrich-ment presents Combined Multicultural Chapel to celebrate the closing of the spring 2012 semester on May 3 in Busi-ness Building Room 201. Russ Kirby will be speaking at this last combined Chapel and burritos will be provided.
The Students’ Association is looking for a Chief Financial Officer to work next to the Executtive Treasurer and man-age the SA budget. Download an ap-plication at www.acustudents.com/administrativeofficers.
University Church of Christ is holding a neighborhood block party on April 29 from 6-8 p.m. on the east side of the UCC gym at 733 E.N. 16th. This event will include food, games, a petting zoo, a bounce house and live music. Admis-sion is free.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
Windcrest Alzheimer’s Care Center is looking for vol-unteers on April 24-26 to help with a Senior Prom they will be having for their residents. Help is needed on April 24 and April 25 with set up, and you should call regarding times you can help. On April 26, volunteers are needed between 2-9 p.m. to help the residents get reatdy and to escort the residents to the prom. Dinner will be provided. Contact Mary Gauldin at 325-692-1533 or e-mail [email protected].
Abilene Hope Haven needs volunteers from May 4 through May 6 to help in a variety of ways with their annual youth soccer tournament. The event will be held at the Abilene National Soccer Complex at 3025 Maple. Contact Alan Jeter at 325-677-4673 or [email protected] or Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or [email protected].
Ben Richey Boys Ranch is looking for volunteers for their annual Ben Richey Boys Ranch Clay Break Classic on May 5 for shifts throughout the day from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Duties will include set up, helping on the clay-break range, clean up and variety of other tasks during the event. Contact Patty Dunn at 325-668-0557 or Karen Martin at 325-668-9554 or e-mail [email protected]. Child Protective Services needs volunteers for clerical work as well as volunteers who can organize a play-room. Volunteers are needed any weekday anytime between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Child Protective Services are located at 3610 Vine St. Background checks are re-quired and are done at the center. Background checks usually are cleared in about two weeks. For more in-formation call V. Danette Cummings at 325-691-8214.
Medical Care Mission is looking for volunteers to assist medical or dental staff with patients any weekday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. For more information contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or email [email protected].
Abilene Hope Haven Inc. needs volunteers to pro-vide childcare while parents are in class, any evening Monday-Thursday from 6:45 - 8:15 p.m. Abilene Hope Haven is located at 801 S. Treadaway Blvd. For more information contact Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or visit www.abilenehopehaven.com/volunteer.
The Abilene Boys and Girls Club needs help any weekday between 3:30 - 6 p.m. helping children of all ages with games, art, gym time, reading and computer skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th St. or 1902 Shelton St. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.
Volunteers are needed to enjoy a free lunch with students at Bonham Elementary School on a weekly basis. This would be sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and would involve spending lunch time with students and having a positive impact on their lives. Contact Jason Shaw at 325-639-3745 or e-mail [email protected].
Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with dis-abilities Monday through Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Training is provided. A Chapel exemption is available if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Jessica Stewart at 325-672-5050 or email [email protected].
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is looking for volunteers to participate in Lunch Buddies. Bigs and Littles will enjoy lunch together at the child’s school once a week. Students can earn Chapel credit for each visit. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for volunteers for its Community Based program. Bigs are matched with Littles in a one-on-one relation-ship and spend four to six hours per month together in the community. To sign up or learn more visit www.bbbstx.org or call 325-674-3113.
New Life Alliance is looking for volunteers to help with their after school program on Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. You will help with snacks, homework, crafts, games and other activities in addition to mentoring and building relationships with youth. Contact Ashley Kee at 325-672-1636 or e-mail [email protected].
The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile chil-dren any day Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.
Rescue The Animals is looking for volunteers any-time between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. They need help around the adoption center with general cleaning, socialization of the animals, helping potential adopters and other tasks. Con-tact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or email [email protected]. The center is located at 5933 S. 1st St.
Young Life Ministries needs volunteers Mondays, Tuesdays and weekends from 6-9 p.m. Volunteers will hang out with kids, experience leadership roles,
serve others and introduce students to Christ. Young Life is located at 1917 S. 6th St. For more in-formation contact Chuck Rodgers at 325-676-1211 or email [email protected].
Disability Resources, Inc. is looking for volunteers to as-sist developmentally disabled residence. Help is needed with activities, art projects, reading books, exercise activities, assisting with vocational training needs and other interactions Monday through Friday from 9 a.m-4 p.m. For more information contact Becky Moody at 325-677-6815 or e-mail [email protected].
Volunteers are needed to read to Taylor Elementary School students Monday through Thursday afternoons at UCC from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Enter through the south entrance. Contact C.G. Grey 325-668-2842.
Da’ Cipher 360, a program for at risk children, is look-ing for volunteers on Monday evenings from 5-8 p.m. at the Rose Park Activity Center, 2625 S. 7th St. Vol-unteers can help in a variety of ways including helping with set up, learning activities for kindergarten-3rd graders, tutoring 4th-8th graders, and assisting with clean up. Contact Alvina Scott at 847-333-7026 or e-mail [email protected].
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 Salva-tion Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.
The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volun-teers to help sort and stock food and other items any weekday 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].
Access Learning Center is looking for volunteers to help elementary school kids with homework, reading, com-puters and games. The center is located at 2102 Ambler Ave. For more information contact Bret Hines at 325-670-9727. Call ahead to schedule a time to volunteer.
College Heights Friendship House needs child mentors Monday - Thursday from 3 - 5 p.m. Contact Dusty Gari-son at [email protected] for more information.
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/slvr/vol_opps/
announcements
wednesday 04.25.123 campus news
Campus Store cleaning house with garage sale
The Campus Store will do some spring cleaning this week.
To make room for new products, they will sell much of the current merchandise for a discounted price.
The campus store ga-rage sale will take place from Tuesday-Saturday. The Campus Store will of-fer markdowns on all ap-parel and special pricing on select Under Armor and children’s products.
Scott Harsh, Campus Store director, said the store has changed its pur-chasing schedule, so hav-ing a clearance sale will help move older products to make room for new mer-chandise.
“We have changed our apparel buying so that instead of buying for the entire year we are now buying seasonally, two to three times a year, like most retailers do,” he said. “Our regular shoppers will have noticed that we had new products featured in our fall season, and then another set of new product in for spring.”
Harsh said the store changed to seasonal sell-
ing for a variety of reasons.“First, to help us man-
age our inventory better, and second, to provide our customers with a more exciting shopping experi-ence,” he said.
Chistow Langston, sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colo., is a Campus Store employee. He said a variety of merchandise will be offered at the event.
“For the garage sale, we will be selling T-shirts for $5, sweatshirts and hood-ies for $12 and pants and hats for $10. It’s a huge discount, so as a student, I would definitely be inter-ested,” Langston said.
A garage sale will only be offered once an aca-demic year, but because of this purchase change, The Campus Store will be utilizing sale and clear-ance areas throughout the semester to manage inven-tory levels.
Harsh said The Campus Store will be featuring new products on the website as they come in. In addition, new products for the fall semester will be set up by August, just in time for the back-to-school rush.
Christian slam poet Da-vid Bowden visited cam-pus Thursday as part of an event organized by Wish-ing Well.
Bowden, a graduate of Oklahoma Christian Uni-versity, has been perform-ing for three years. He is married and currently lives in Oklahoma City.
Bowden said he was been writing slam poems for the past five years and really enjoys it.
“I enjoy being able to meet audience members at all of my shows and just the creative process,”
Bowden said. “I also love traveling and, of course, performing.”
Bowden said it usually takes him two weeks to write one poem and then ten hours to memorize it. He said his favorite subject usually changes every two months, but right now it’s restoration.
Bowden also explained why he does slam poetry.
“I can’t do anything else, there’s really no other option for me,” Bowden said. “It’s a part of me.”
Wishing Well raises money and awareness for the water crisis all around the world. Bad water is re-sponsible for 80 percent of all disease, and 884 mil-
lion people lack access to clean water.
Ryan Groves, co-founder and CEO started the organi-zation with his brother Bren-dan five years ago. Groves met David Bowden while they were both attending Oklahoma Christian Uni-versity. Groves decided that Bowden could be a voice for their organization.
“We want to give indi-viduals the opportunity to use their gifts for God,” Groves said. “We want to use the type of creativity like slam poetry to change the world.”
There wasn’t a very large turnout for the event, but some students in atten-dance said they enjoyed it.
Meredith Speight, soph-omore pre-architecture and interior design major from Chattanooga, Tenn., attended the event.
“I thought David was pretty awesome and in-spiring. The poem en-titled “Unity” really made me think,” Speight said. “He talked about how a church can be anything, it doesn’t matter if you use instruments or sing or even dance in the service. It just matters that you are getting closer to God, and I don’t think He cares how you get there.”
Slam poet David Bowden performs in the Amphitheatre Thursday as part of the Wishing Well slam poetry concerts.
wednesday 04.25.12 4news
Thefts: Arrested students post bailand computer mice from the Learning Studio,” Elli-son said. “Some of the stu-dents arrested were work-ing together as a group, and some were acting indi-vidually.”
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine not to exceed $4,000, jail time of not more than one year or both. All four students were released the same
day they were arrested on $1,000 bond.
Dr. Kyle Dickson, direc-tor of the Learning Studio, said the thefts have cre-ated added inconvenience for students using the stu-dio opportunities.
“The losses are more frustrating to students than to the Learning Stu-dio,” Dickson said. “It is now necessary to check out equipment, like the wire-less keyboards and mice,
that were previously al-ready located in the rooms. So during the busiest weeks of the semester, students will have an added hassle when they want to utilize the Learning Studio.”
Ellison said he was dis-appointed that the large number of thefts came in a short span after a full school year of no such problems in the Learning Studio.
“It’s an unfortunate event that a group of stu-
dents chose to take that level of advantage of the university’s assets,” Elli-son said. “The university tries to provide premier equipment and facilities and some students tried to abuse their rights to these opportunities, and that’s the saddest part about this.”
crime
Students spread anti-bullying message with tape
LGBTQ students on cam-pus participated in a “Day of Silence” last Friday to bring awareness about the silencing effects connected to anti-LGBTQ bullying.
Alexander Hill, sopho-more biology major form Abilene, participated by wearing black tape on his mouth with the words “No Hate – Day of Silence” written on it in silver Sharpie and handing out
cards explaining what he was doing.
“The Day of Silence is an attempt to convey the feel-ing of not being out as an LGBT student and not be-ing able to be your true self because you know on some campuses that you would lose friends or be judged and on others that there are actual rules against you,” Hill said.
Hill said the goal was to raise awareness of LGBTQ issues on campus. He also wanted show these are not problems that can be swept
under the rug.“I didn’t ever get overt-
ly negative responses,” Hill said. “I did get some strange looks. Some un-comfortably laughed; oth-ers legitimately asked me what was going on.”
Hill said he believed stu-dents are responsible for changing the atmosphere surrounding the LGBTQ community on campus.
“We have to start think-ing about how our words and how our language af-fects people and about how not everyone is like us,”
Hill said.The Day of Silence start-
ed at the University of Vir-ginia in 1996 and has now spread to over 8,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges in the U.S., accord-ing to DayofSilence.org.
Brent Bailey, first year master of divinity student from Kingwood, said many non-LGBTQ individuals participate in the Day of Silence to show support for the LGBTQ community and also to stand up against bullying and oppressive vi-olence in general.
“Sometimes school hall-ways can be the most un-safe places for LGBTQ teens because they don’t know what to expect from their peers, and a lot of times the reaction from peers, if they express their orientation, is going to be negative and maybe even violent,” Bailey said. “So it’s trying to bring awareness of the dangers and difficulties of being LGBTQ in a world that is not welcoming of it.”
Bailey said he thinks there is a growing number of students at ACU who are
passionate about this issue who are not personally af-fected by it.
“I think that this issue needs to cease being a ta-boo it needs to be some-thing that we’re comfort-able talking about in a mature and sensitive way so that people who have experienced life as a sexual minority can feel comfort-able sharing what they’ve been through,” Bailey said.
The ACU Alumni Associa-tion and Student Alumni Association will conduct the Senior Send-Off at 5:30 p.m. on April 26 at the Bob and Shirley Hunter Wel-come Center veranda.
The event is intended to launch the class of 2012 into their futures with blessings
and encouragement from their fellow classmates. The Alumni Associations want to help seniors celebrate their upcoming graduation and welcome them into the university alumni family.
Light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served during the event. Lawn games including croquet, horseshoes and bocce ball will also be set up for guests to enjoy.
“I’m excited for Senior Send-off and graduation,” said Tiffany Steinkamp, senior nursing major from Fredericksburg. “It will be nice to catch up with friends and celebrate our hard work and accom-plishments while at ACU. But at the same time it’s bittersweet to think about my final days at ACU.”
Attire for the event is business casual. Men are
asked to wear pants or kha-kis with a dress shirt or polo. Women should wear casual dresses or dressy separates. This event is reserved for graduating seniors only and attendees are asked not to bring dates.
“A piece of advice I would tell underclassmen is to take advantage of all of the opportunities of-fered at ACU,” said Ashton Hall, senior education and
biology major from Austin. “It’s undoubtedly a won-derful place and full of good memories.”
A brief program will begin at 6:3o, followed by prize drawings. Seniors are encouraged to register on-line before April 25, so that they can have a chance to win an iPad 2. There will also be several other door prizes given away that evening. For more infor-
mation, go to www.acu.edu/alumni/events/senior-sendoff/. Students will also be able to learn more about the Alumni Associa-tion while at the event. For more information, go to http://www.acu.edu/alum-ni/index.html.
Students whipped out their cowboy boots and Wran-glers to get their hands dirty in the Agriculture and En-vironmental Science club’s
57th annual ACU Rodeo Friday night at the Taylor Country Expo Center.
The rodeo, which served as a fund-raiser for the AES club, featured events such as goat roping, a calf scramble, steer riding and a chicken chase said Grant Lawrence, junior wildlife man-agement major from Bangs.
“It’s more of a comical kind of ro-deo,” Lawrence said. “It used to have pretty real events like bull riding, team roping and barrel racing, but now it’s shifted due to liability reasons.”
Students entered as teams of four guys or girls and competed in differ-ent heats for each event. Many social clubs signed up and earned intramu-ral points, but entry was open to any students who wanted to participate, Lawrence said.
Lawrence said some of the events were still rather rough. For the steer saddling event, steers were released into the arena with a rope around their horns. Teams were required to capture a steer and lead it from one side of the arena to the other with one of their team members on its back.
For cowbell chaos, one of the girls events, teams had to chase down a calf and untie a ribbon with a cowbell around its neck. The first team to ring the bell inside the circle in the middle of the arena won.
The men of Galaxy won first place overall in the men’s division and the Kojies won first for girls. Jenny Sko-rusa was crowned Rodeo Queen and Chip Moore was named the Roughie Champion.
DJ Acevedo, junior youth and fam-ily ministry major from Tuscola, par-ticipated in the rodeo with two other team members.
“The steer wrestling was my favor-ite event; there was higher anxiety and excitement having to hop in the chute and wrestle down a steer,” Acevedo said. “My teammate and I double-teamed him, and I had the head of the steer. It was literally grabbing the bull by the horns.”
Acevedo said the rodeo was impor-tant because it brought attention to the agriculture department and ma-jors that are not frequently highlight-ed on campus.
“Those majors and those depart-ments are actually very important to our state,” Acevedo said. “And the rodeo is a kind of heritage. When you think
about Texas you think of rodeos.”Acevedo said the events selected
were not overly difficult for people who had no prior experience with livestock.
“There’s something about just get-ting together and getting dirty,” Aceve-do said. “Getting a team together and finding an excuse to roll around in the dirt is a cool chance to hang out with people and try something different.”
Acevedo said a highlight of this year’s rodeo was watching his team-mate, Adam Browning, graduate stu-dent from Abilene, take down a sheep in the sheep dressing competition.
“Adam form tackled a sheep into a panel and the sheep was so stunned that it just kind of rolled over on its back and we got it dressed in no time at all,” Acevedo said. “We saw a couple of guys start to drag their sheep to the circle and we just decided to pick it up and run with it towards the middle circle.”
Afterwards, Jamie Richards played a concert. Lawrence said it felt like a private party for those who stayed.
“This was probably the smoothest most efficient rodeo that we’ve had in recent years,” Lawrence said. “Num-bers were down this year because of conflicting events but there was still a good showing that came out.”
Students compete in ACU rodeo events
Photos by Curtis ChristianStory by Samantha Sutherland
CHAOSCATTLE
Above: DJ Acevedo, junior family ministry major from Tuscola, (far right) and other contestants work to untangle a mess of ropes in the steer saddling competition. Right: Two teammates work together to bring a steer to the ground in the steer wrestling event which requires all four of the steer’s legs to be in the air. Left: Adam Browning, graduate student from Abilene, and Mitchell McLean, senior electronic media major from Abilene, struggle to maneuver their steer across the finish line.
Sarah Miller, junior accounting major from Irving, brings her second chicken to the finish line to finish off the chicken chase event.
& COMEDY
Pinterest – a rapidly growing online cult-like community. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big sup-porter.
It is very useful in finding inspiration or just being entertained. Pinterest is somewhat of an exclusive experi-ence, filled with the vi-sual ramblings of far too many hormonal college-aged women. While I love to cook, create and dream, I am still some-what baff led by some pins by my peers.
First, there’s the girl
that posts recipe after delicious recipe. Yes, those dark chocolate truff les sound amazing; yes, that banana caramel cream pie looks scrump-tious – then she pins a few recipes for “the best casseroles ever” and I begin to wonder how she went from being a des-sert crazed 21-year old to the ultimate mom/homemaker.
It really escapes me.Then there’s the wed-
ding gal. She knows she wants a five CT princess cut diamond ring; she
knows her ceremony color palette and honey-moon destination. The only thing missing – a boyfriend. Like I said, I am a dreamer, too. It’s not like I don’t think about these things as well. But is it healthy to plan your entire wedding without having the most necessary piece (AKA the guy)?
Now, we have the crafty girl. She knows how to make a jewelry holder out of garden tools and how to make a shabby chic headboard from an old wooden door. Although a family is not in her cards for a few more years, she knows how she will paint her future baby’s nursery and how she plans on cre-ating her children’s chore charts. How did she move
from decorating her dorm room to drawing up her nonexistent child’s recy-cled barn wood crib? Talk about planning ahead.
Finally, there’s the normal pinner, the one I strive to be. She does not post a million times a day, but pins casually. When she finds something real-ly great, she’ll confidently click the pin button, un-aware of just how loud her voice on Pinterest is. She’ll probably get quite a few likes on most of her pins, while others will go as far to repin them. She only pins what she thinks is cool, and avoids all the other nonsense. She’s the one you want to follow.
The abortion issue is made complicated by emotions and situational circum-stances. These attributes both contribute to its avoidance in conversation and to the general lack of understanding about it in our culture. In reading last weeks Optimist I was not surprised to find a pub-lished letter negatively por-traying my efforts to raise awareness of abortion by giving away 500 free cup-cakes. I thought the letter was poorly conceived in thought and motivation. The cupcakes were meant to be an inviting segue to start conversations, to edu-cate, and get people think-ing about abortion – all of which we accomplished.
When people realize not every baby get’s a birthday, or a chance to eat cake, they stop and think about it. The cupcakes made our point and were very well received, even by Dr. Money.
During the two days and six hours that we were in the campus center, indi-viduals, especially male, raised questions we were able to answer.
I was asked repeatedly, “What happens in an abor-tion?” A question I never enjoy answering. When people don’t understand the issue, making an in-formed decision about its ethical nature is impos-
sible. Naturally, those of us who baked cupcakes view abortion as wrong, but not once did we utter those words. Instead, we spent our time educating individuals so they could make their own informed conclusion.
Unsurprisingly, when people realize every abor-tion kills a tiny boy or girl, and stops a beating heart, most recognize it as wrong.
Since we know making the decision to keep a baby is hard, we were also advo-cating for an organization called “Save the Storks”, which operate buses equipped with sonogram machines and who offer abortion-minded women free ultrasounds. This en-ables each woman to make a more educated decision and get connected with the resources and support she may need to keep her baby.
Abortion is an issue made more convoluted by emotion and circum-stance; both which change through encouragement and assistance. The main factor, which remains con-stant, is that every abor-tion destroys a human life. When this fact is realized the right thing to do be-comes evident.
Rebekah LeitnerSenior nutrition major from Morrow, Ohio
My iTunes account was recently hacked. How it happened, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I knew I had to take action when my account password and security questions stopped working along with vari-ous bills for apps I didn’t buy started appearing in my inbox.
Getting the fraudulent charges removed was the easiest part of this experi-
ence: I just called PayPal and I had my money back the next day. Dealing with Apple to get my account back under my control was an ordeal.
I filled out their online form to submit my help re-quest, and got an email the next day from an iTunes customer service rep say-ing they had looked into the problem and essen-tially fixed my account to
the point where I could at least log in and change my billing info, password and such.
After that was squared away I tried making an iTunes purchase, entering my new password, but it said that my account was disabled. So I emailed her back and let her know of the problem. To this day I have not received a re-sponse.
Fed up with this email system, I tracked down their customer service phone number. If I could talk to a real, live person, I could get this mess solved much faster. I expected there would be some
touch-tone hoops to jump through, But, boy, was I in for a challenge.
Inspired by their recent success with “Siri,” this phone menu was com-pletely voice enabled, only here it didn’t work as well. After mapping out my route through this vocal dungeon I finally found my way to the holding queue. I breathed a sigh of relief as garbled Coldplay began to air over the line.
Finally, I was greeted by another representative. I told her my problem with my iTunes account, and I was a little confused when she began to ask my devic-es’ serial numbers, since
the problem was clearly not with them. But as it turns out, I can only get phone service if one of my devices had an Apple Care plan.
Again, the problem is with my account, not my devices.
Not willing to pay $250 for this bogus service, she instead directed me back to the iTunes support site where all of this started. I filled out the email form again.
A day later, a third iTunes rep re-enabled my account, but not without asking me to change my password yet again. After that I was fi-nally able to complete my iTunes purchase I set out to
make... two weeks ago.All electronics, no mat-
ter how good they are, break. Impenetrable se-curity can be penetrated, and when that happens Apple needs to be ready to help their customers, without charging them through the nose just to speak to someone on the phone. And with the re-cent news of about half a million Macs getting in-fected with the Flashback virus, their customer ser-vice is going to need some serious revamping.
I was sitting in the Cha-pel forum the other day, listening to the Seekers of the Word, when a joke was made regarding the decorative cabbage that we have on campus.
That joke spurred a thought in my mind. If we can grow decorative cab-bage, why can’t we grow real, edible cabbage?
There are hungry peo-ple in Abilene. The more I thought about it, the more realistic the idea became.
On ACU’s campus, we already have a wonder-ful grounds staff that keeps everything in or-der year-round as well as healthy soil that produces beautiful plants. We go to numerous Bible classes. We’re taught that we need to work in God’s world and reach His people. We have the entire Service Learning Center for this purpose. If we are a uni-
versity that claims to be “exceptional, innovative, and real” then we need to be just that.
We have the resources to produce a large quanti-ty of fresh, nutritious food for the people of this com-munity; what’s stopping us? Some may worry that it won’t be as aesthetically pleasing as the pansies. Think about that thought out loud. It sounds ridic-ulous.We don’t want to grow food for the commu-nity because the campus won’t look as aesthetically pleasing?
That is nothing but self-ish on the university’s part. It is certainly not the atti-tude of Jesus. We have the resources and the oppor-tunity, what are we going to do?
Jennifer CarpenterSophomore social work ma-jor from Fort Worth, Texas
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Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.
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Address letters to: ACU Box 27892Abilene, TX 79609
ClassifiedRENTAL HOUSING NEAR ACUAvailable June 1, 2012•649 EN 15th: 3 bedroom/1 bath, includes washer and dryer, $700•649 EN 16th: 1 bedroom/1 bath, $400No pets, no smoking. Deposit requiredCall (325) 677-1943
Wildcats salvage series with Mustangs
The ACU Wildcat softball team avoided a sweep by scoring six runs in the second inning Saturday afternoon en route to an 8-3 win against Midwest-ern State to salvage the last game of a three-game series in Wichita Falls.
The Wildcats had lost the first two games 5-2 and 7-0 in a doubleheader Friday prior to the series finale Saturday, which signaled the end of the regular season.
“Winning the game Sat-urday was a big deal for us for two reasons,” head coach Bobby Reeves said.
“For one, you never want to be swept. And two, it’s always nice to end the regular season on a high note because it builds confidence for what is to come.”
Abilene Christian ends the regular season with a record of (29-15, 15-11) and claimed the No. 5 seed for the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament which will begin Friday in Denton.
ACU will play No. 4 seed West Texas A&M at 4:30 Friday.
After being blanked 7-0 in the first game Fri-day, the ACU offense took little time sulking in the past, as the offensive on-slaught began early in the final game of the series.
ACU had nine hits and six runs in the first two innings against MSU pitcher Lindsi Glenn.
All of the runs and eight of the nine hits came in the second inning.
“You know, our offense is special,” Reeves said.
“When they get rolling, they are almost impossible to stop. The trickle-down
effect definitely came into play those first two innings and everyone was getting hot at the plate.”
Sophomore Lyndi Smith led off the second with a double, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and then scored the game’s first run on a single by senior Erin Gilliland.
Senior Brianna Fowlkes then hit a homerun to left field, making it a 3-0 game.
Outfielders Keanna Winkfield and Madison Buckley reached on back-to-back singles before soph-omore Sara Vaughn drove In Winkfield on a double.
Sophomore Courtney Flanary then hit a single, driving in Buckley. Sec-ond baseman Kim Briggs brought a halt to the scor-ing with a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-0 game.
ACU added another run in the fourth on a Smith RBI single, and then scored one more time in the fifth on a Buckley RBI double.
Junior Shelby Hall (5-2) threw a complete game, scattering 12 hits over her seven innings of work.
Hall did not allow a walk and used the de-fense behind her to its full potential, instigating a plethora of ground ball outs for the ‘Cats.
“Our defense came to play. They made a lot of really good plays behind me and made my job easy,” Hall said.
“I feel like I can throw anything with them out there to back me up. Hav-
ing them behind me is a huge confidence booster as a pitcher.”
In the opening game of the doubleheader Sat-urday, Mustang pitcher Brenna Hennan, fresh-man, threw a complete game, shutout, limiting ACU to a slim six hits en route to a 7-0 loss.
Junior Caitlyn Crain started on the mound for ACU, but she gave up six hits and four runs (three earned) in just 2.2 innings of work.
Sophomore Peyton Mosley gave up three runs and four hits in 2.1 innings before Hall fin-
ished up by throwing one inning of scoreless relief work for the Wildcats.
Midwestern scored two runs in the first inning, single runs in the second, third and fifth innings, and then two more in the sixth inning.
In Friday’s game, MSU came out of the box quick-ly and jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the third inning, holding on to win 5-2.
Midwestern State scored all of its runs on six hits against Mosley, but only managed one more over the final three innings against Crain, who came into the game in relief for the team.
Flanary accounted for both of ACU’s runs as she plated two on a two RBI single in the fifth inning.
Freshman Tyler Eager dropped down a perfect squeeze bunt to bring in Bryce Gerhardt with the first run of the game.
A solo home run off of ACU starter Jordan Herrera in the sixth tied the score, 1-1.
In the ‘Cats final at-bat, second baseman Chuck Duarte singled to center to drive in Kevin Finklea for a walk-off win.
The team was only three outs away from a LSC double-header sweep in the nightcap on Saturday however, Clint Cooper could not shut the door. He came in with a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning and walked the first three batters he faced. Cooper was quickly relieved without recording a single out.
Reliever Brady Rodri-guez came in for Cooper but he could not escape the jam. TSU eventually tied the game 2-2 and, with the bases loaded, hit a RBI fly out to center field deliver-ing the go-ahead run.
Aaron Lambrix received a no-decision for his ef-forts. He allowed four hits in 6.0 innings pitched.
The Wildcats blew an 8-3 lead in the final three innings of the finale in part because of a struggling bullpen.
“We have to be smarter when we have a lead like that and not allow a team to have a big inning,” Bonneau said. “You do that by taking care of the baseball.”
Rodriguez was called upon in the fourth to relieve lefty Austin Palmer. He was fine through his first 3.0 innings but gave up three runs in the seventh, cutting the ‘Cat lead to 8-6.
Stone came out of the bullpen in the eighth af-ter Michael Curtis allowed back-to-back singles. He walked the bases loaded then gave up three runs to give the Texans a 9-8 lead.
ACU still had an oppor-
tunity with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Pinch-hitters Ryan Luckie and Mi-chael Christiani were walked to load the bases. Unfortu-nately, the next batter Fin-klea was retired on three pitches to end the series.
After the game, Bonneau reassured his team that they still control their destiny but they must be prepared to battle Angelo this weekend.
“I don’t see it as a do or die game, but more of one where we need to bring the intensity,” Macy said.
Senior infielder Duncan Blades gets ready to throw one home against Tarleton State.
Leslie lewis stafF Photographer
Sophomore pitcher Peyton Mosley throws a pitch at Poly Wells Field against Eastern New Mexico. The Wildcats will play in the Lone Star Conference Championship tournament this weekend at Texas Woman’s University.
Bobby reeveshead coach
acu softball
It’s always nice to end the regular season on a high note because it
Softball plays in the LSC Tournament Championship on Friday and Saturday in Denton. The team begins the tourney against West Texas A&M on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
The baseball team will face LSC opponent Angelo State in San Angelo beginning on Friday. The four game series starts at 6:00 p.m.
Men’s tennis competes in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament Sunday and Monday.
Women’s tennis also competes in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament Sunday and Monday.
softball
standings
briefings
Player Profile
Upcoming
Softball is ranked No. 5 in the season’s second NCAA Division II South Central Region softball poll. Angelo State is ranked No. 1 followed by Emporia State, Central Oklahoma and Missouri Western State.
Track and field took home five wins, three NCAA automatic qualifying marks, 14 provisional and 29 season best performances at Baylor’s Michael Johnson/Dr. Pepper Classic. Nick Jones was the highlight of the day. He won both the shot put and discus.
Junior Adam Carpenter was named the Lone Star Conference’s Academic Golfer of the Year on Monday. To be eligible for this honor, student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.30 grade point average and be at least a sophomore academically and athletically.
Baseball
TeamTAMU-KASUUIWWTAMUTSUACUCameronENMU
Div.16-816-814-914-1012-1211-1310-142-21
Ovrl.28-1232-1419-1627-1521-1924-2221-2412-30
Junior Shalaina Lakey recorded a person-al best hammer throw of 163-7 at the UTEP Invita-tional.
The throw qualified Lakey for a provisional and gave her a fourth place finish behind three DI throwers. She was honored with a share of the LSC’s Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after her performance.
Wildcats claim LSC title
The men’s and women’s tennis team breezed through the Lone Star Conference tournament this weekend to continue their reign of dominance.
The men began their weekend by ending Cam-eron’s hopes of an LSC title 5-2. The Wildcats were met by stiff competition from the start, with three com-petitive doubles matches, but were able to enter sin-gles play with a 2-1 lead.
From there, the ‘Cats pulled away, lead by Hans
Hach and Nick Plum, who won their first and second line matches in straight sets and left the Aggies on life support.
Borja Cortes finished off the Aggies, and sent ACU to the championship match with his come from behind win, and the ‘Cats were in the finals to defend their ti-tle against Incarnate Word.
Saturday, the ‘Cats won their fourth consecutive LSC title with ease 5-1. ACU won all three doubles matches and never looked back, torching the Cardinals and taking home the hardware.
Freshman Michael Mor-ris turned heads when he
helped account for two of the five points with his outstand-ing singles and doubles play.
“I knew when I came here that ACU was dominant in the LoneStar Conference,” Morris said. “It was one of the main reasons I came here is to win conference championships.”
The women’s tennis team obliterated their two opponents on their way to a fifth straight LSC title.
The ‘Cats did not drop a set the entire weekend. In fact, they were not even close.
On Friday, ACU dis-posed of Tarleton State 5-0 to advance to the con-ference finals.
After winning all of the
doubles matches, Brittany Reed and Hannah Kelley scored the last two points for the ‘Cats by winning their matches as quickly as possible.
Reed dropped only one game in the entire match, and Kelley blanked her op-ponent 6-0, 6-0.
Saturday’s champion-ship match was much of the same for the ‘Cats, who swept Cameron 5-0 to cap-ture the LSC crown in com-manding fashion.
Emily Conrad and Kelley earned the two points for ACU in singles play, and the Wildcats were perfect again in the doubles matches.
The victory earns ACU their tenth champion-ship since 2000 and puts them in position to host the South Central Regional tournament this weekend.
“It is great to win the LoneStar Conference be-cause it shows that our hard work paid off,” Micah Hermsdorf said.
The men’s team will also likely host their regional tournament, although dates and times of the matches have not been released yet.
The Wildcats suffered two heartbreaking losses to Lone Star Conference opponent Tarleton State University over the weekend at Crutcher Scott Field.
Looking for their first LSC series win of the sea-son, the ‘Cats failed to win or split the four-game set. Two straight late-innings heroics from the Texans smothered any hopes of a successful final home-stand.
“We definitely under-achieved this weekend,” junior catcher Rodge Macy said. “Losses like that re-ally hit your heart and are tough to swallow,” he said.
“Those losses affected me because I know how big these games are,” said head coach Britt Bonneau.
The team lost the open-ing game 5-2 then won the first game of a doublehead-er on Saturday 2-1. A 3-2 and 10-8 loss closed out the series against TSU.
The Wildcats drop to 24-22 overall and 11-13 in con-ference. Tarleton improves to 21-19 and 12-12. ACU is sitting in sixth place in the LSC, only one game ahead of seventh-place Cameron University (10-14 in the LSC). The top six teams qualify for the LSC Tournament.
The ‘Cats will face Angelo State University this weekend in a four-game series to end the regular season. A series win would ensure a spot in
the conference tournament.The Texans escaped six er-
rors in game one by stranding nine Wildcat base runners. Five of those runners were left in scoring position.
Abilene Christian led 1-0 through the first three innings and was tied 2-2 with TSU go-ing into the seventh inning. Tarleton’s leadoff hitter re-corded the game-winning hit off a RBI triple in the seventh.
Josh Stone (5-5) started for ACU. He didn’t allow a run until the fourth inning. Stone finished with 6.2 in-nings of work, five strikeouts and a walk.
The Wildcats and Texans were scoreless in the first four innings of game two before the team rallied versus Tarle-
edward isaacssports editor
baseball
see bullpen page 7
ACU sports to hold tryouts Saturday
Four Wildcat sport teams will be looking at add more athletes this Sat-urday, while ACU will be hoping to grab some more incoming freshman.
The athletic and ad-missions departments are teaming up to garner inter-est in the campus and ACU sports by holding tryouts
to prospective college ath-letes. Potential student-athletes can tryout for foot-ball, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball.
“This is for kids inter-ested in playing a sport here at Abilene Christian,” said men’s basketball head coach Joe Golding. “I’m go-ing in with an open mind and am going to evaluate the talent that comes out.”
While Golding is look-ing for walk-ons who can
contribute on the court next season, he didn’t com-pletely dismiss the idea of offering scholarship if someone wows him.
Tamara Long, the Direc-tor of Enrollment Services, thought the day would be a good idea for those students who think they can make an impact in athletics.
“Basically, we see a lot of campus visitors, and more and more are wanting to talk to athletics about playing a sport here,” Long said. “They think because we are a Division II school, it would be easier to play here. We are giving these
students a day to show coaches their talent.”
More than 40 high school seniors have signed up to try-out on Saturday, but sports isn’t the only thing that can be accomplished. Long said that the parents will have a chance to arrange a college visit on that day for their kids looking to come to ACU.
Junior pitcher Austin Palmer fires a pitch against Tarleton.
leslie lewis stafF Photographer
Junior Alfredo Desiati and Sophomore Hans Hach high-five after a doubles duel at Eager Tennis Center. The men’s tennis team entered the Lone Star Conference Championship tournament this weekend in Southlake undefeated in the conference.
