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me (Bamecock As much as I can’t wait for the school year to end, there’s one thing I’m going to miss more than any thing: covering Kyle Almond Gamecock sports is a second-year on a daily basis, student in the This year has been College of one of USC’s best, Journalism and and to experience M ass it as sports editor of Communications. The Gamecock is He can be reached something I 11 Via e-mail at never forget. It’s gamecocksports© truly been an honor. hotmail.com. I will be passing the torch next semester, but I hope I ve made Gamecock Sports a more readable, informative page than when I started. I also hope you’ve had a few laughs along the way. Since August, I’ve worked my tail off to breathe new life into the section. My grades have suffered, my social life has seriously decreased, my vision is all but gone and I have carpal tunnel syndrome, but I think it was well worth it. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to compete with The State, but considering what we have, I think we did a pretty money job. And judging by the lack of hate mail, you agree. Thanks. Anyway, it’s been a pretty memorable year for the Gamecocks, and I’m going to use my final column to look back at the year that was (and still is, for a few teams). Here are my Shiznittle Awards for excellence in USC sports: Male Gamecock of the Year: Phil Petty —Football This one might come as a shock to most, but hear me out. I understand the defense was a big reason the football team kicked so much tail this season, but last year, when we were 0-11, we had a good defense, too. When the offense turned around, the record turned around, and Petty deserves most of the credit for that. He had great talent around him, but his ability to protect the football and run the system efficiently was remarkable. He handled himself with class the whole way through, and he did the most with the least as far as raw talent goes. I never thought I would say this, but Petty has proved himself to be indispensable at the quarterback position. Honorable mentions: Kalimba Edwards - Football, Jordan Quinn - Soccer, Guillaume Legat -Tennis Female Gamecock of the Year: Demetria Washington—Track and Field i ms was a competitive category, out Washington has proven herself worthy with her dominance indoors and outdoors for the Gamecocks. She won the NCAA indoor title in the 400 meters and added a second championship as the anchor leg of USC’s 4x400-meter relay team. She was a three-time All-American, also qualifying in the 200. As the outdoor season continues, Washington continues to impress. Look for more NCAA titles when this season draws to a close. Honorable mentions: Cally Plummer - Volleyball, Joyce McMillin - Softball, Teresa Geter - Basketball Male Newcomer of the Year Otukile Lekote — Track and Field The freshman from Botswana isn’t just one of the nation’s best — he’s one of the world’s best. Running the fastest time in the 800 meters this season, Lekote is already grabbing headlines. He has a bright future at USC, and his humble attitude only makes him that much more appealing. Honorable mentions: Rolando Howell - Basketball, Deandre’ Eiland - Football/Track and Field Female Newcomer of the Year: Stacey Johnson — Softball Johnson has made the softball team almost unhittable. Opposing teams don’t get a break when star pitcher Matthews isn’t on the mound. Johnson is almost as lethal. Honorable mentions: Nihan Anaz - Basketball, Jessica Julin - Soccer Coach of the Year: Lou Holtz — Football Do I even need to explain this one? The man is a miracle worker. He changed the attitude cl the football team, and everything else fell into place. He is a class act and a hilarious guy, and USC is lucky to have him. Honorable mentions: Curtis Frye - Track and Field, Mark Berson - Men’s Soccer, Eddie Fogler - Men’s Basketball (OK, just making sure you’re paying attention.) Game of the Year Football’s 24-7 Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State This one was a gimmie as well. After heartbreak after heartbreak in football, the team redeemed itself and all of its fans with a New Year’s Day upset on national television. By the time the final whistle blew in Tampa, everyone had foigotten about the Rod Gardner debacle and partied like nobody’s business. nuiiuHiuie liiciiuuiib. men ixiMieuxui over Clemson, any of baseball’s wins against Clemson Best Individual Performance by a Male Athlete: Ryan Brewer at the Outback Bowl No Derek Watson? No big deal. Brewer stepped up and lit up the Buckeyes for three touchdowns, tying an Outback Bowl record and forever etching his name into Gamecock lore. Brewer’s big day was a victory not only for USC, but for the underdog in all of us. Ignored by Ohio State coming out of high school because he was too small, the versatile tailback proved that heart and hard work go a long way when he trashed the team that said he wasn’t good enough. Honorable mentions: Baseball’s Kip Bouknight coming four outs away from a no-hitter at Tennessee, Jordan Quinn’s two goals in a win over No. 1 Vnginia, Tennis’ Guillaume Legat crushing the No. 1 player in the nation (Arkansas’ Oskar Johansson), Otukile Lekote running world’s best 800 time for 2001 Best Individual Performance by a Female Athlete: Golfer Kristy McPhereon wins the SEC Tournament The sophomore shattered the tournament record by six strokes, finishing nine under par and winning by three to become conference chantpiosn. Honorable mentions: Teresa Geter scores 34 at Alabama, Demetria Washington at NCAA Indoor Championships, Softball’s Megan Matthews one-hits No. 6 Alabama Lifetime Achievement Award: Cleveland Pinkney—Football Pinkney is the absolute best player to interview. I know a lot of sports writers are going to miss talking to him, myself included. He’s down-to-earth (as you could tell by his thumbs-up picture in Monday’s issue), funny and tells it like it is, even to liis teammates. He was looked up to by the defense and was truly the team’s rock. He was the Gamecocks’ heart and soul, and it’s going to be tough for Holtz to replace him. We’ll miss you, C. P. Honorable mentions: Kip Bouknight - Baseball, David Ross - Men’s Basketball, Henry Ring - Men’s Soccer. A look back at the year that was Softball from page B1 Matthews (20-11) got the win, striking out six over 11 innings. Matthews also took the win in the first game. “I had great defensive backup, and we came through and got the runs,” Matthews said. “Although we didn’t score as many as we would have liked to, we came back and got them.” Matthews’ win Saturday broke an 18-game extra-inning winning streak by Alabama and a nine-game winning streak overall for the Crimson Tide. “Anytime you beat a top 10 program, you got to feel good about yourself,” Compton said. “It’s a great way to have 10 to 12 days off for right now, considering that we bounced back from our second game yesterday, which was a fiasco. “We got ourselves out of some jams today, and we had some opportunities % that didn’t cash in. We kept battling, despite an early lead by Alabama, and we never doubted that we could find a way to score. I give the team credit for that.” Though the regular season has come to a close, the SEC Tournament will begin May 10 in Chattanooga, Tenn. USC will have the second seed overall for being the SEC East winner. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom Gamecock Sports wishes you a great summer! KEVIN TONEY ABBOTT ALEXANDER BRYSON ANDERSON STEPHE THOMAS ANDERSON JR JARED WILLIA ATKINSON LINDSAY CROMWELL BAILEY DENTAVIUS LAMARN BARBER JEFFREY ALLEN BEEMON JR HARIKRASHNA B. BHATT JOHN ANDREW BINDEWALD III SETH THOMAS BLACK BRUCE EDWARD BONDO TRACY CHRISTINE BONDS MIRANDA MICHELLE BOWEN RUSSELL QUINTON BREWTON TODD AARON BRIDGE TERRY LEE BROWN MARGARET COKER BUNDY TASHATINA BYRD KENDRA LEE-IDA CAIN NATHAN HUGHES CAMPBELL SAMUEL NAMA CAOILE RENATO ARRIGO CAROTTI WENDY NOEL CARROLL KATE HAVENS CASSONE JASON MICHAEL CLARK LAUREN DELAINE CLARK GINA LEE CLAYTON ANDRENAW. COUNTS ANDREW MANGAN CROWLEY JOHN GARY CROWLEY III BRIAN JOHN CULLUM SEAN PATRICK CURTIS JENNIFER BROOK DAVIS WILLIAM KRISTOPHER DAVIS DANA CELESTE DAWKINS STACI RAE DEFIBAUGH KRISTEN DENISE DREW SARAH THERESA EIBLING MARCIA LEA ELLIOTT JAMES RUSSELL FAKAS WILLIAM WORTHY FOGLE BRADLEY PEYTON FOLSOM WOODWARD HOLLAND FOLSOM JENIFER JEAN FREEMAN ANGELA DAWN GARRETT KATRINA DANYELLE GARY NICHOLAS DARGAN GEE JOHN CHRISTIAN GOOLSBY KEONDA RAQUEL GRANT MANDIE JO GREENE JENNIFER LEIGH GULLEDGE JANICE HUNT HAGE BRYAN CAMERON HARRIS TOSHA RENEE HENDERSON MAYA MICHELLE HOLLINSHEAD BRIAN PATRICK HOTTINGER KARA CELESTE HOUSE SHEILA ANN HUDSON SANDRA DENISE HUGHES LAURA ANN HUTCHENS LAURA MARIE JACKSON PATRINA LYNETTE JOHNS ELIZABETH BRADLEY JOHNSON SHONDREYA DENAY JOHNSON BENJAMIN CRAIG JORDAN OMORO KING AMY LOUISE KOSYDAR DEBRA NORRELL KREPPS JENNIFER LOUANN LEACH DIDIER ROGER LECLAIRE Holtz from page B1 Athletics department spokesman Kerry Tharp said he doesn’t expect Holtz to need back surgery. Holtz underwent backsuigery in 1995 when he was head coach at Notre Dame. The accident kept Holtz from testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing on gambling in college sports. However, it didn’t keep him off the golf course. He participated in a Lake City Gamecock Club outing last Friday. “I can do everything normal,” he told The Greenville News. “It’s just that I’ve got a lot of pain.” % Though there aren’t any torn ligaments in his right knee, Tharp said that it was “pufiy.” “[Holtz] is limping a little, but he’s swinging away,” Tharp added. The Gamecocks’ coach will continue liis spring schedule of speaking engagements and will head to the Middle East on May 12 to talk with U.S. troops in Saudi Ardbia and Kuwait. Holtz also will speak to troops on an aircraft carrier. The sports desk aw be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Baseball from page B1 Taylor. Taylor came in and mishandled a bunt. The next batter, Moran, bunted runners to second and third. Kent hit a sacrifice fly on the next play to extend the lead to 5-3, and Eric Brandon retired the Gamecocks over the final two innings to pick up his third save of the season. After Sunday’s contest, USC and Auburn are tied for seventh place in the conference. The top eight teams make the SEC ‘ Tournament. If the tournament were to strut today, USC would be the seventh seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker over Auburn, which would be the eighth seed. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@ho1mail.coni Thanks to these rising stars... . 4 ^ the members of the class of2001 whot |C 9 j have made a gift to the Senior Challenge: ADAM JOSEPH LENTZ ANDREW DAVID LOPES KATHERINE ELIZABETH LORENTZ REBECCA WATSON LOVELL AMANDA ELAINE LUCAS MARC ROCCO MACCHIAVERNA ERIKA ANDERSON MANGAN SARAH CATHERINE MAXWELL LESLEIGH FAYE MAYO LUCINDY BINNICKER MCCALL BRENDA HOWELL MCCOY STACEY ROSEMARIE MCCRAY BRIENNE LYNN MCCUNE RACHEL MARIE MCCURRY KENNETH BRIAN MCMANUS JEFFERY EDWARD MENDENHALL WILLIAM ROBERT MERTON JR MATTHEW GRAHAM METZ JENNIFER LYNN MILLETT TIKEYASHAMON Ml ANDREW ROBERT MOHR DAVID EUGENE MOORE FREMONT TERRILL NELSON ERIN MICHELLE NICHOLSON REBECCAANN PAYNE LEIGH DAWSON PEELER WATKINS TARA AUTUMN PERKINS LAURA LEE PHILLIPS TEMPLE KANDICE POSTON CHERIE LYNETTE REESE JANET MEGAN REGAL MARGARET PATRICIA ROSE PHILIP ANDREW SCHOON JAMES EDWARD SCHWALLER JEANNETTE AMELIA SEAGRAVES AUDREY LYNN SHEALY KERI REBECCA SHEALY SHAMIKA LATASHA SHELTON MICHAEL BENNO SHRYOCK JR THOMAS JOSEPH SILVESTER KESHIA YVETTE SIMPSON JAY CORBIN SI KISLAYA KISHORE SINHA CHARLES DOUGLAS SNYDER MELISSA ANDREWS SOUTH JOHN OGDEN TABB ADEENASHIFRA TERES CHARLES WESLEY THOMPSON LATASHA KEWANDO THOMPSON JUriNAI HUN nAIMUULrn I ILLMAN MATTHEW ALAN TORRES KELLEY MCCABE TRIBBLE OMAR ALI SHABAAZ TROUTMAN NELL MARIE VARN MIANSINEE MESHAUN VAUGHN AMANDA LYNN VELDMAN REBECCA CAROL WALDREP KUSTON SHALIKA WASHINGTON STEPHANIE N. WEISSENSTEIN SHERICKA NICKOLE WHITE THOMAS SHEFFIELD WILDS CASEY LEON WILLIA VALERIE ANN WILLIA BRIAN EDWIN WILSON CHARNETRA TONLIELA WOLFE JAMES GRANT WOOTEN II ROSHELLE LYNN YOUNG REBECCA MEGAN ZIMMER (7\ROLINA /\LUMNI A S S < ) ( I A I ION' l VI \ I KM n < >1 Sin I II ( \l« ll INA^H (oil Mill \ Sol I II ( AMI il INA H||