Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

1 Gymnasts ro By LEROY WILLIAMS Gamecock Staff Writer Good all-around performances by Cheri Richards and Lisa Spoerl plus balanced scoring among their teammates lifted the USC women gymnasts by William and Marv. 1 121.75-104.7, Saturday afternoon in the P.E. Center. USC outscored William and Mary in all four events teamwise. In the vaults, Carolina scored 31.85 points to William and Mary's 30.75, in the uneven parallel bars it was 31.35-19.30. The balance beam competition competition score was 28.65-28.10, and in the floor exercises the score was 29.90-26.55. Individually, William and Mary's Jan Roltsch took top allaround scoring honors,placing first in the balance beam and floor I "Since gymnastics has I CJJ been reinstated for next year, the girls' spirits have really come up." -Coach Bob White Kappa Alphi to the numbe For the third week in a row Kappa Alpha is tlie number one team in the intramural basketball poll. The defending intramural basketball champions won their second game of the year 89-33 over Lambda Chi Alpha. Filling the number two and three positions also for the third consecutive week are Alpha Phi Alpha and AFRO. Alpha Phi Alpha increased their record to 2-0 with an easy 77-47 victory over Phi Kappa Psi. AFRO also remained unbeaten in two outings with a 71-411 win over Delta Epsilon Pi. In the fourth and fifth positions there is a slight change in the poll. Omega Psi Phi moves from fifth to fourth while Maxcy drops a spot in the rankings to number five. Omega Psi Phi picked up its second win as they defeated Kappa Sigma 43-31. Maxcy also remained undefeated but had a tough time before finally downing Snowden 3125. Pi Kappa Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi hold the sixth and seventh spots. Pi Kappa Phi defeated Phi Intramurals results Wednesday, February I, 1979 Townmen 71 AP O 23 PDT 35 Chi Psl 32 APA 77 PKP 47 Newman 42 Kappa Psi 3' PrMlnn XI " * . ?? nurswnoe Heroes 40 Law Review w AAagnlf. 7 42 SAE 2 u Dogs 54 Psych. Dept. ' Cola. Boys 71 Douglas 6th Jays 73 NROTC 2 29 11 over W&M exercise competitions, and tying for sp/?nnH TTCP'o d;?u i? n>ui uuv o ivivaimus in the vaulting event. Richards also took second in both the bar and balance beam events. Spoerl took second in the floor exercise and third in the uneven bars. Richards and Spoerl took second and third all-around scoring honors, respectively. Other USC gymnasts who placed in their events were Kathy Rusnov, who placed first in the uneven bars ana tnird in the floor exercise. Melanie Huff placed third in the balance beam event, and Julie Fisher took fourth in the vaults. William and Mary's Lynn Atkins placed first in the vault. U?C coach Bob White was pleased with his team's performance. "I think that this has been our best effort to date. We were comparatively weak in the vaulting and balance beam, but we were best in the floor exercise," White said. "We have really improved in our uneven bar event. All this is good considering that all the fiirls that competed for us today were freshmen," White said. "We have one junior out with an injury. Since gymnastics has been reinstated for next year, the girls' spirits have really come up." The lady gymnasts' next meet is this Saturday against Jacksonville State in the P.E. Center. a holds on t one spot Kappa Sigma 41-36 for their second win of the year and Kappa Alpha Psi defeated Zeta Beta Tau 49-32 to raise their record to 2-0. PKi Pci locf V?> M. Ul, lUill VT o IIU1I1UC1 eight team dropped out of the rankings losing to Phi Delta Theta 35-32. Columbia Hall took advantage of Chi Psi's loss as they moved up one spot to the eighth position by a 20-0 forfeit win over Bates. Entering the poll for the first time this season is business fraternity Omicron Delta Epsilon. ODE has the ninth spot by virtue of its first two wins this season against ranked teams. They defeated eighth ranked Newman a week and a half ago 5753 and previously tenth ranked Young Democrats 53-51 on a three point basket with seconds remaining. Preston takes the vacated spot as they won both of their games by lopsided margins. Preston's first victory came over Bates 66-31 and their second win came over Horseshoe 62-26. Thursday, February 9, 197t AFRO 71 DEP *1 KAP 49 ZBT 3? uoogias l Tnornwell w PKP 4) PKE 34 Kappa Alpha 89 LCA 33 Skeeters 50 Grouchos 48 Univ. Union 61 Gen. Studies 47 Navy ROTC 32 Life Science 24 School Psych. 60 Douglas Jets 53 Rocs* ^ j^; V; USC Women's Gymnast Lisa Sp form on the balance beam as she I Is gymnastic This past Wednesday women's gymnastics here at Carolina was reinstated to the athletic program after being cancelled a little less than a rr?nnth acfn V??MS? M ativtsMi ugv; The reasons given for the cancellation of gymnastics were lack of competition on the collegiate level in the Southeast, little development of the sport on the high school level and the lack of SDace at the Phvsiral Erinratinn Center, where gymnastics meets are scheduled. According to gymnastic coach Bob White the major reason women's gymnastics was dropped by the athletic department was the lack of space at the P. E. Center. If so, the athletic department dropped gymnastics for no good reason. "TO THE PEOPLE in the athletic department the strongest argument given by the people who were responsible for the decision to drop gymnastics, the lack of space argument was the strongest they were offering," White said. "Gymnastics was a given a low priority beginning this year so if any sport was dropped gymnastics would be the first to go." In its haste to drop gymnastics the athletic department failed to contact White and see what his feelings were on the matter. "I was never consulted when they decided to drop gymnastics," White said. "I guess they felt they didn't want me to show my bias to the sport." Imagine^ if Coach Carlen or U>acn Mcuuire were not consulted if their respective sports of football and basketball were suddenly dropped. Such a situation would never happen. Why has the gymnastics coach not been given a chance to find out about the decision directly from the people who made it instead of find ing out from other sources? L BRB $ :' >oerl displays her convincing victory led the team to a at the Sol Blatt P s here to stay i use GYMNASTICS may not have the quality of the Russian national team but it must be given an opportunity to develop here. For the coach not to be consulted in the dropping of the sport is an insult to Coach White. Also, the timing of the dropping of the sport was inappropriate because it came approximately one week before the start oi tne season. How can any athlete compete to his best ability when he knows his sport has been dropped? The itfl Sportalk tidBHBHH By Matt Ward members of the team have little if any enthusiasm because they feel it's not worth competing This was the feeling most of the gymnasts had after the decision to drop gymnastics was made. "The girls were dejected when they found out and I can't blame their initial reaction," White said. "After you get ready for the season and then you suddenly find out all the work you've done has been in vain you have to wonder if it's really worth it." NOT ONLY did the initial decision to drop the sport hurt team morale but it affected recruiting for the next season. "When the decision was made to put gymnastics back our recruiting was hurt in some ways," White said. "The top gymnasts are aware of what has happened here and I believe next year will be a year where we will not get the top gymnasts in the state and nearby ' over William and Mary Saturday .E. Center. it use? other states. But we are fortunate most of the girls on this year's team are freshmen so we will not lose too many people." Gymnastics was reinstated to the athletic department because of pressure applied by parents of Carolina gymnasts, gymnastics coaches from other schools, and members of the United States Gymnastics Federation, according to White. "It was mainly a lot of concerned communication from other people in the state that helped get gymnastics back in the picture," White said. "I think it was insufficient research and information which made the athletic department make its decision to dr ., gymnastics." ONCE AGAIN the jletic department has put egg c. o face with its reverse decision on gymnastics. Though the sport has been put back on the athletic calendar it took a lot of phone calls and letters to do it. It seems no one in the athletic department wants to take responsibility either for the decision to ?. op gymnastics or the decision to put gymnastics back on. But as with most decisions which draw public attention the athletic department wants very little publicity dealing with the gymnastics story. But the gymnastics storv does have a happy ending. The program will be continued next year. Yet can anyone be sure that women's gymnastics is here to stay at Carolina? If it was dropped once there is always the possibility it can happen again. Gymnastics is in a strange position in the athletic program. First they were kicked out and now they have been returned. What happens next in this puzzling story is anyone's guess.