Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Sports sho Bender leaves for position at Mice The coaching changes on the Gamecock football staff continued Tuesday as USC offensive line coach Mike Bender was named to the staff of new Rice University coach Fred Goldsmith. Goldsmith, a former defensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas, was named head coach of the Owls earlier Tuesday. Bender came to USC in 1983 with Gamecock head coach Joe Morrison. Bender had worked on Morrison's staff at New Mexico from 1980-82. "Mike Bender has done a tremendous job for us over the years, both at New Mexico and at South Carolina. He's a good football coach and has done a good job coaching the offensive line. We wish him and his family the best in the future." "We love Columbia and the University of South Carolina," Bender said. "My family and I will always have fond memories of our time here and will always be Gamecocks at heart. Going to Rice is a good opportunity for me, and we're excited about getting back in the Southwest Conference. "I'm truly grateful to Coach Morrison and the University of South Carolina for the opportunity I've had here over the past six years. I wish the players and coaches the very best." Bender, who was an All* Southwest Conference lineman at Arkansas during the 1964 season and played two years for the Atlanta Falcons before entering the Track team as indoor si By DAVE KAY Staff writer This Saturday, a USC track team I loaded with depth and experience will lace up the track shoes for the first meet of the season at the Marriott Indoor Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. USC head track coach Charlie Strong is confident in his team's ability and has high expectations for the 1989 season. "Personnel-wise we have probably the best team that we've ever had," Strong said. "Our goal is to win the Metro Conference championship." The 32-member team consists of 10 seniors whom Strong expects to provide the leadership for this otherwise young Gamecock club. "Our 10 are really outstanding kids," he said. "They could see last year we had a chance to win the (Metro) conference meet, and this year it could be more of a reality." Dating back to 1984. the vear USC joined the Metro, Florida State has won each conference meet. The Gamecocks have finished second three years in a row, but each year their point total has increasingly inched up behind the Seminoles'. "A couple of years ago, we were second and scored 130 points," Strong said. "Last year we scored close to 170, so we're making some in-roads." W ^jj^^^pUU22C23QE jvnipnaMi IJIL1 L* k # i? 11 lwj HMKEmKI ITMBHnainK j i VaTjfTTvi JI pe^ HIHUIiMiUAMi rts coaching profession, said his leaving was not related to the recent turmoil in the USC program. Berson leads squad in USSR USC head soccer coach Mark Berson was selected recently to coach the United States 18-andunder team that was recently in a 10-day tournament in the Soviet Union. Berson was chosen to coach the squad that consists of the nation's best soccer players under the age of 18. The team played in the Grenatkin Tournament in Len ingrad, Russia against teams from across the world. The United States team participated against the Soviet Union "A" team, China, Belgium, West Germany and the Soviet Union "B" team. The tournament ended yesterday, and the USA squad is returning to the states today. "1 feel very honored to be coaching a group of youths as they promote the sport of soccer in Russia," Berson said. "More importantly, I think representing the United States abroad is the highlight of my work with the USA squad. I look forward to future opportunities to coach USA national teams." Berson left for the Soviet Union with his squad just five weeks after the USC soccer squad advanced to the NCAA Final Four, the farthest advancement ever for a USC team. Berson was named South Region Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America earlier this week for the third time in five years. Berson won the award in 1984 and 1985 as well. i confident ?n?nm v V^UV/I I' kJ I'Ml l>kj Fifty teams with over 1500 athletes will be participating in Saturday's indoor meet at Blacksburg. The Gamecocks will also be participating in at least four other indoor meets, which are used as stepping stones to the outdoor season. There are no conference meets held indoors, but Strong's team participates in these indoor meets so the team members will have a chance to qualify for the NCAA indoor championships March 10-11 in Indianapolis. "We don't really push real hard indoors," Strong said. "We use it to prepare for our outdoor season, and most of our goals are going to be outdoor-related." Standouts on this year's squad are 1987 Metro Conference Most Valuable Player Anthony Bennon, All-American Wade Brantley, 1988 All-Metro recipient Andy Foster and Patrick Keegan, who holds the conference record in the javelin throw. Other leaders include USC football players Ray Bolton and Eddie Miller, pole vaulter Dale Gerke, middledistance runner Don Sutton and jumping specialists Paul Wiechern and Anthony Wood. USC will begin its outdoor season March 17-18 at the Florida State relays in Tallahassee. CISC-F Gamecocks By BRANT LONG our pressui Staff writer zone. That Behind the inside play of John run." Hudson, the outside shooting of "We did Brent Price and the all-around play supposed t of Barry Manning, the USC basket- head coach ball team took a 78-66 decision over think that r Metro Conference foe Memphis us down. It State Wednesday night at Carolina the game. Coliseum. after that." A crowd of over 10,000 watched a The Gan see-saw first half as six lead changes bounds frc occurred and a Gamecock- from Huds dominated second half with USC boards, ou leading by as many as 13 points on 37-28. its way to posting a second-straight "Barry 1 Metro Conference win. basketball,' Price and Hudson led all scorers "He has bei with 21 points each, with Price hit- ning to end ting three of five shots from three- the floor." point range. Meanwhile, Manning The Gam scored 14 points on seven of 11 overall and shooting from the field and also add- Tigers fell ed 10 rebounds and seven assists. The conference. Tigers were led by sophomore guard "I'm hap Elliot Perry, who had 20 points and the team," hit three of four three-pointers. played somi Gamecock senior forward Terry lost only th Dozier picked up his fourth foul with got to feel p almost 15 minutes remaining in the USC pla; second half, but the USC bench State at 7:3( responded and filled in without a conference j noticeable drop-off in production. "It was a good win for us at this MEMPHIS S point in time," said USC head coach Smith 3-6 George Felton. "I was very pleased Ballard 2-4 C with our bench play with Troy Perry 6-12 3 McKoy, Michael Glover and JoJo McLaughlin : English. They picked us up when we 10, McClain ( needed it." Watson 1-4 0 Both teams fought for control in the first half. The Tigers, led by USC (78) Perry with nine first-half points, Dozier 1-4 took a 25-20 lead following a 10-0 son 5-9 11-13 run with 9:16 left in the first half. But ing 7-11 0-0 the Gamecocks tought back to take a English 1-3 37-36 lead at the halftime break. Glover 1-1 O-i The second half was controlled by 27-50 21-30 7 USC, as the Gamecocks took a 42-40 Halftime lead and never lost it. Spurred on by 3-point goal the intense play of John Hudson, (Douglas 0-1 USC made a 13-0 run with 12:19 re- McLaughlin maining and never looked back. (Price 3-5). R "The second half we had better in- (Ballard 10), tensity than in the first half," Felton Assists ? Me said. "We started to play basketball 16 (Manning like we are capable of. We mixed up St. 24, USC ; Swim teams 1 < > By FRED GONZ/U^EZ Staff writer The USC swimming teams will have their hands full this weekend as they head into the home stretch of their 1989 season. The 14th-ranked men's team will host the topranked and defending national champion Texas Longhorns at 2 p.m. today at the Carolina Natatorium in the Sol Blatt P.E. Center and will tangle with the lOth-ranked Volunteers of Tennessee at 2 p.m. Saturday. Meanwhile, the USC women's team, also ranked 14th, will face the third-ranked Texas ladies Friday before traveling to Virginia Tech Saturday. For men's head coach Kris Kirchner, today will be a reunion of sorts, as he faces his alma mater. Kirchner was an All-American swimmer for Texas and an assistant coach for four years with the Longhorns before becoming head coach at USC in 1985. "I'm a good friend with the coach (at Texas), and I recruited some of the seniors on the team," Kirchner said. "It would be real sweet to win." But Kirchner feels there's a much more important issue than the "reunion." "It's more important for our swimmers to swim at a performance that they are pleased with, and race well with these (Texas) guys. But we're not swimming to lose, we want to win." The key swimmers Kirchner will be counting on M AWESOME ALTERNATIVE 90. % APARTMENTS * 1,2 and 3 bedroom apartments * Fur * Excellent roommate floor plans ava * Soc * Flexible leases * p00 and $50.00 DEP Pre-lease Now for Sumim Located just minutes from USC. I on Greystone Blvd. Turn Right at CALL 779-2373 5 tame Tige re and played a tough helped us get the 13-0 some things we weren't 0 do," Memphis State 1 Larry Finch said. un in the second half got got the crowd back into We never were in sync lecocks, who got 10 re>m Manning and eight KL_gf also the t-rebounding the Tigers las been playing great ) r>.u __*j i reuon saiu 01 manning, en consistent from begin. He plays both ends of ecocks improved to 10-3 2-1 in the Metro. The to 10-7 and 2-2 in the >py with the progress of ' Felton said. ''We've e tough competition and ? Jt ree on the road. You've JH iretty good about that." Rki\<q ys host to Youngstown idpPyr > ]P| ) p.m. Saturday in a non- ^ 1-6 7, Douglas 0-5 2-2 2, SJr#' 1-2 4, Gibson 5-10 0-1 10, '^r ? -4 20, Mundt 3-4 0-0 6, BBi JV / ^1 2-5 0-1 4, Madlock 3-5 4-5 | )-l 0-0 0, Duncan 0-0 0-0 0, MHNMt % -0 3. Totals 25-56 12-21 66. | IB' 0-4 2, Rhett 3-6 2-2 8, Hud21, Price 6-11 6-7 21, Mann14, Roulston 1-1 0-0 2, .*f" m-Ji 2-2 4, McKoy 2-4 0-2 4, y 0 2, Vernau 0-0 0-0 0. Total 8. - USC 37, Memphis St. 36. s ? Memphis St. 4-11 , Gibson 0-1, Perry 3-4, 0-1, Watson 1-4), USC 3-5 ebounds ? Memphis St. 28 , USC 37 (Manning 10). mphisSt. 13 (Perry 4), USC USC guard Barry Ma 7). Total fouls ? Memphis Wednesday's Metro Con JO. Attendance ? 10,450. had 10 rebounds and se^ face tough w< "It's more important for our swimmers to swim at a performance that they are pleased with and race well with these (Texas) guys. But we're not swimming to lose; we want to win." Kris Kirchner, USC men's swim team head coach are sophomore Ray Burton and seniors Wade King and Gary Bimfield. King is the 1988 Metro Conference champion in the 100 butterfly, 400 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. Binfield was an Ail-American in 1987. and swam for the British Olympic team in Seoul this past fall. He's also the 1988 Metro Conference champion in the 200 backstroke. Other key athletes include divers Chris Dutka, a freshman, junior Johnathan Fisher and sophomore Alan Frazier. In fact, Kirchner feels all of the Gamecock freshmen will play an important role this weekend and, despite their lack of experience, has confidence in their ability to perform against the tough competition. "All of the freshmen will be a big factor. This is I I 7" r a o\ V* nished apartments H \ \ I ilable Oil ial calendar U 1 ft 1, tennis courts U 1 I \ club house U J \ 0SIT if o jr and Fall Q 1 v?' Sxit 1-26, right H \ Traffic Light. H f \ > RR-104 rs, 78-66 imp j fl m-iI^BiB*lj^^HuLi^8Hm^ l^B^HL^k \&i l; .ilMMapa r*?vu ^ i L^mffinv?. 5SBi^ *I^W^^ctScv s Tt Tr f f ? TEDDY LEPP/The Gamecock nning scores two of his 14 points on this layup in ference contest against Memphis State. Manning also en assists in the Gamecocks' 78-66 victory. :ekend meets their first meet against top competition like Texas, and they're not as experienced, but I think they'll rise to the occasion," Kirchner said. The women's team lost three key swimmers to graduation, but that hasn't dampened their spirits. "We've begun to come around the past couple of weeks, and we've got some real talented girls who it will take until the Metro tournament and the NCAA's before we really see how good they are," Lady Gamecock head coach Bailey Weathers said. According to Weathers, a key to this weekend's success will be on Saturday at Virginia Tech. "It's a hard trip to go up there (Blacksburg, Va.) anu come duck, weamers saia. "ii win maKe us tougher. In terms of competing on a third day, you need self-discipline because it is real easy to have a let down." Key swimmers for the women will be freshmen Isabel Arnold and Patty Hart, along with sophomores Michelle Smith and Michelle Ragusa. Arnold swam for the Belgium Olympic team at Seoul this past fall. In what will be the teams' last home appearance until the Metro Conference Tournament Feb. 23-26, Kirchner would like for more supporters to come out. "I'd like to see a lot of people out there. It definitely helps when there's an overflow of people, because it does give us a home-field advantage." T^\1 /I* ?.Kw*r. Kt 1 CfOfcfc Blood iow Off Your Bad Attitude Q ill Year Long With The g?m n 13 MONTH WALL CALINDM | 1 2-COLOR COVtt For Information Send Ifl J Life in Hell Q P.O. Box 36E64 n LA, CA 90036 H Allow 4-6 wks. deHvory. Fraa catalog with order, or sand $1. and an S.A.S.E.