The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 08, 1998, Page 9, Image 9
Wednesday, April 8,1998
Snyder named 1
* the week, Abshi
Bryan Johnston
Brad Snyder has had a pretty good year. He set the
Southeastern Conference record in the shot put then went
out and won his first NCAA shot put title. Well, it just
keeps getting better.
Monday, Snyder was named the
1998 SEC Track Athlete of the Year
as selected by a vote of the league
coaches.
Tm shocked to win this award,"
h1;- J ||t Snyder said. "It's such a high caliber
H r ;$ f track conference with Seneca Lassiter
ft: W and Rtibert Howard [NCAA Champions
from Arkansas], Terrance Tramjp
\ mell [USC freshman hurdler who
??? set an SEC record] and so many othSNYDER
ers. To be honored like this is outstanding,
but a shock. I didn't even
^ know they had this award. It makes all the hard work I
put in all year training and stuff worth it."
The sophomore from Windsor, Ontario, was undefeated
the entire indoor season, throwing 66-feet-8-inches to break
three-time NCAA Champion Brent Noon's SEC record of
66-feet-3-inches set in 1993 at the SEC Championships.
Snyder went on to throw 66-feet-6-inches at the NCAA
Championships to win the title, helping his team to seventh
place.
It's the third year in a row South Carolina has won a
share of the SEC Indoor Athlete of the Year as four-time
NCAA Champion Dawn Ellerbe won the award the past
a two years.
^ *%rad is deserving," said USC throws coach Mike Sergent.
"He had an outstanding indoor season, going undefnaforl
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title indoors. His confidence should be growing as he
continues to improve. He just needs to stay healthy and
remain patient, and he will throw much further."
Snyder currently has a best of 63-feet-3 1/4-inches outdoors.
Snyder and the rest of his Gamecock teammates will
host the South Carolina State Collegiate Championship
Wednesday at the Weems Baskin Track on the campus of
^ use.
The meet will begin at 1 p.m. with the women's hammer
throw.
Snyder is scheduled to throw in the shot put around
6 p.m.
Carolina has four NCAA automatic and eight NCAA
provisional qualifiers during the early stages of the outdoor
season. The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be
held in Buffalo, N.Y. June 3 through 6.
USC, Woflford, South Carolina State, The Citadel, Francis
Marion and Benedict are all scheduled to compete
^ Wednesday.
Volleyball USC volleyball player Shani Abshier has
been named as a 1997-98 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Schol%
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track athlete of
ier wins award
ar-Athlete of the Year, Commissioner Roy Kramer ai
nounced Tuesday.
Abshier was chosen by a committee of Faculty Atl
letics Representative from the 12 SEC universities.
She will receive a &10 000 nnst-orflHiiate schnlershi
provided by the Bellsouth Corporation.
A four-year starter for the USC volleyball team, A1
shier was named to the GTE Acad
mic All-America District III team i
1996-97. Abshier helped lead the L
dy Gamecocks to NCAA Tournamei
: J berths in 1995 and 1997 ? the schooi
" 1 second and third appearances ever i
the NCAA Volleyball Tournamen
She was named to the SEC Acaden
5 ic Honor Roll during her last thre
seasons at South Carolina and serve
IbV : as her team's co-captain as a senic
ABSHIER inl,?f7-.
She is a native of Tucson, Ariz
and a member of the Phi Beta Kapp
Honor Society and earned Dean's List honors in eight si
mesters while attaining President's List honors in foi
other semesters.
She has been active in the USC and Columbia con
munities, serving as a volunteer at children's museum
homeless shelters, rape crisis centers and the America
Association of Museums National Convention. She has a
so worked as a mentor at elementary schools and in tt
USC Honors College.
Abshier has earned a 3.95 GPA throughout her care(
at South Carolina with a double major in history and a
history. She plans to earn her doctorate degree in pursu
of her goal to teach art history.
Men's Golf
The USC men's golf team carded a final round scoi
of two-under-par 286 and rallied to finish seventh at tt
Carpet Capital Classic in Dalton, Ga.
The Gamecocks, who finished with a final score of 88
were one of two teams to shoot under par for the final da;
Clemson held on to win the team title.
The Tigers defeated host Georgia Tech for the char
pionship. Houston, Auburn and Georgia rounded out tl
top five.
Gamecock sophomore Eric Ecker fired a final round i
68, lowest of the day, and finished tied for 11th place wit
a score of 219.
This marks Ecker's sixth Top 20 finish of the seasoi
Kyle Thompson, Jake Kransteuber and Mark Catalar
each finished tied for 30th with a score of 223. Stewai
Ginn finished tied for 53rd with a final score of 228.
The Gamecocks will be in action again this weeken
when they travel to Auburn, Ala., for the Billy Hitchco<
Invitational April 10 through 12.
After the Hitchcock Invitational, the Gamecocks wi
travel to Athens, Ga., for the SEC Championships Api
17 through 19.
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mark PIRA8
1_ Guest Columnist
Actually, we're well past the midway
point, with 36 of the scheduled
P> 56 games already played, but this could
be the year the Gamecocks end up play3"
ing plenty more games than that.
^ So far, in the aforementioned 36
31 games, the mighty 'Cocks are 29-7, the
a" best overall record in the SEC. Their
fr SEC record is 10-4, second best in the
's Eastern Division behind Florida. They
11 have steadily moved up the polls and
* now sit at number 8 in the country.
a" How good is that SEC record?
;e Eight of the 12 SEC teams have
^ been ranked in the top 25 at some time
)r this season. USC took two of three from
a No. 4-ranked Alabama team, watched
Auburn jump into the No. 4 spot, and
,a strode into Auburn the next weekend
^ to sweep the three game series.
ir The 'Cocks have now won seven
straight games against SEC opponents
to move within one game of the Easts>
ern Conference leader, Florida.
n How is this team succeeding so well?
Where are the strengths, and what arie
eas can be improved upon? Let's take
a look, and give a grade to each area of
jr the team,
rt
Pitching
This was the team's biggest question
mark coming into the season. The
staff was loaded with freshman pitchre
ers who came in highly touted, but unre
proven at the collegiate level. Brett
Jodie was the team's best starter last
5, season, and he has continued to pitch
y- well, eating up innings and compiling
a 4-3 record,
ft- Freshman Kip Bouknight is now 7
0 and has been extremely dominating
at times. Junior transfer Bret Kondro
of is 3-0. Junior Jason Pomar has taken
h over the closer's role and has been consistently
effective, notching eight saves.
Q- The rest of the bullpen has also
10 * stepped up in key situations, holding
rt opponents down and allowing the offense
to rally in it's many come-frombehind
wins.
Overall grade: B+
M Catching
"il Junior Ryan Bordenick has been
the team's catcher for the entire season
after catching sporadically in 1997,
stuck behind senior Rob Streicher.
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mtii
aseball team e
'ks midway int
Bordo has risen to the challenge,
however. His .997 fielding percentage i
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mitted one error all season. His offen- ^
sive numbers may not be as staggering
as they were last season, but he continues
to be the team's most dangerous
hitter, especially in the clutch.
Overall grade : A I
Infield
The biggest improvement over last J
season, this defensive core is one of the
best in the country. Anchored by the j
slick fielding of shortstop Adam Everett, ^
this infield is the place where base hits
go to die. ^
Freshman Mic Knox continues to
scoop any ball thrown into the dirt at 1
first base and Jay Lambert plays de- I
fense at second almost as well as Everett 1
does at short.
Eric Stanton was moved to third (
this year, but has evolved into the po- t
sition nicely and continues to improve ^
as the season wears on.
Everett is probably the second most
dangerous hitter in the lineup, especially
in the clutch, with the ability to 1
hit for power and average, land steal a
base if needed. i
The bats of Lambert and Knox are ?
beginning to show signs of life, and that }
will only help make this tremendous
infield even better.
Overall grade: AOutfield
Mike Curry and Derick Urquhart 1
are excellent defensive players. Curry's t
cnixnsl onaKloc Vnm fn mm rinwn in
the gaps and makes it nearly impossible
to hit a ball over his head unless it
goes out of the park. When he gets a ^
good jump, Curry can take away hits ,
"that no other SEC outfielder can.
Urquhart is the team captain and 1
always seems to be playing in the per- *
feet spot for every hitter. Right field is
a platoon of sophomore Adam Poe {
and junior transfer Tim Angiolini, de- r
pending on who Coach Tanner feels like (
playing in the field that/lay-the other j
will usually DH.
While their defense isn't as dazzling
as the other two, they are both effective
as right fielders. The offense that 1
these four can put up is staggering. (
Urquhart was tied for the team lead in 1
homeruns entering last weekend. ]
Page 9
arns above
;o season
Curry leads the team in hitting and
n less that two full years, he is second
)n USC's all-time stolen base list. Poe,
vhen hot, is a gap-power hitter who
:an also give you the long ball.
Unn fa 11 frt 1 A4*A
niigiuiuii a uat nod tuiuc \aj jxlc iatey
after a dismal start, but he is also a
jap-power hitter.
Overall grade: B+
Head Coach :
Ray Tanner is in his second year as
JSC's head coach, but already his inluence
has turned this baseball program
into a winner.
, Tanner is not only a genius at playng
situational baseball, but he also
jushes his players in such a way to
jring the most out of them.
This year's solid recruiting class is
>nly a microcosm of the promising fuure
ahead for the baseball program of
JSC.
Overall grade: A+
Iverall
This team is strong and developed
n all areas. The only real weakness is
i lack of team speed. Looming on the
lorizon as a potential weakness is the
nexperience of the pitching staff in bigfame
clutch situations, but so far this
staff has risen to that challenge.
If the pitching staff holds up, this
earn is capable of playing itself into
;he College World Series.
Overall grade: ASome
other intangibles that help
;his team include attendance by the
ans. USC has received a strong showng
at the gate so far this year, but
;here's always room for more people.
The Gamecocks play their next home
fame tonight against Furman at 7pm.
rheir next SEC series is this weekend
at home against Georgia. Game
;imes are 7 on Friday and Saturday,
md 1 on Sunday.
Looming just around the corner is
vhat promises to be the biggest series
)f the season when USC hosts Florida
;he weekend of April 17-19, with first
place hanging in the balance..