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Briefly Track continues run of success in Relays i Continuing their success in the state of Florida this year, the USC track and field outdoor teams recorded a victory and seven NCAA automatic qualify ing marks in Gainesville this weekend. Winning in the women’s 4x400-meter relay was the team of Lashinda Demus, Shevon Stoddart, Tawana Watkins and Stephanie Smith. The ladies were victorious with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:32.53. Teamed up with Ronnetta Alexander and Chiquita Martin, Demus and Stoddart placed sec ond in the shuttle hurdles relay with a time of 54.57 seconds. Alexander was a member of the Gamecock team that qualified for the NCAAs in the 4xl00-meter re lay with a time of44.73 seconds. Posting automatic NCAA qualifying times for the women’s team were Khalilah Carpenter and Alexis Joyce in the 100-me ter with times of 11.52 seconds and 11.78 seconds respectively. On the men’s side, Fred Townsend ran a 110-meter hur dle time of 14.09 seconds and in the shot put, Adam Bishop threw a distance of 54 feet and 6.5 inch es, both automatic qualifying times. Swimming, diving earns 20th place Placing two athletes in the top five of their respective events, the USC swimming and diving team placed 20th at the 2004 NCAA Men’s Championships in Long Island, N. Y., on Friday. In the 400-meter individual medley, USC’s Istvan Bathazi finished fifth with a time of 4:13.25. In the diving portion, the Gamecocks’ Andy Bradley capped off a great performance to simply get in the finals of the three-meter diving competition at eighth place. Bradley took ad vantage of the opportunity by fin ishing in third in the competi tion. He also finished second in the one-meter competition. Baseball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 in favor of Jason Fletcher. __ Fletcher proceeded to walk Casey Rowlett and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly to leave the score 5-3 in favor of the Razorbacks. The Gamecocks rallied to score a run off an RBI double by Triplett in the bottom of the eighth inning to close the gap to 5-4, but couldn’t manage to break through. Rawl was charged with his first loss on the year, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits while striking out four. USC 10, Arkansas 2 The Gamecocks reaped some retribution Sunday after Bryan Triplett and Brendan Winn tal lied five hits apiece to power USC past Arkansas. Triplett tied a school record in the process, with three doubles on the day. Going into the fifth inning, USC was down 2-1 until the Gamecocks showcased their of fensive prowess for the first time all weekend. After a double by Triplett, the Gamecocks unload ed on the Arkansas pitchers for back-to-back-to-back home runs by Michael Campbell, Steve Pearce and Landon Powell. When the dust had settled from round ing the bases four times that in ning, the Gamecocks were up 5-2 and never looked back. USC scored another run in the sixth inning and added another four in the eighth inning to leave the score 10-2. Junior pitcher Matt Campbell went the whole nine in nings for his first career complete game, giving up two runs, both unearned, on five hits and two walks against six strikeouts. The Gamecocks face North Carolina in the Battle of the Border at Knights Stadium in Fort Mill on Tuesday. USC will travel to Vanderbilt for a three game series Friday. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Football CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 that after each practice. Sometimes I might get on a player pretty good during prac tice, and it’s important that I go by there afterwards and tell him why I may have gotten on him.” While Carolina is seeking to improve through team unity, the Gamecocks still have to overcome a traditional bane to football teams — injuries. At the end of the weekend, three wide receivers were sidelined by injuries. Noah Whiteside and Matthew Thomas are both out indefinitely with ankle sprains, while Derrick Harper has a sprained thumb. Also, the kicking game con tinues to provide problems for USC, with the jury still out on who is going to be the starting place-kicker when the season starts in September. “Some of the kickers have eliminated themselves from the competition,” Holtz said. “I’d prefer that Josh Brown not handle both the punting and kicking. Right now, Josh is our best punter and Joey Bowers is our best kickoff person. I’m not sure who our best place-kicker is right now.” Changes continue in the USC defense, where Rod Wilson is entering the spring trying out for his fourth differ ent position at Carolina, after originally committing as a quarterback. “I may weigh 222, but taking on some of those big linemen will be different,” said Wilson, who is moving to outside linebacker. “I ran into Jonathan Alston and he kind of knocked me back. But, I’m not going to back down from anyone. I look forward to the challenge.” USC hits the practice field again Tuesday. The Spring Game will be April 17 at 1 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Softball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 the real thrill of the game came in the seventh inning. Down 6-?, the Gamecocks needed offense, and senior Samantha Jennings came through, hitting a two-run homer over the right-field fence. The home run was the first time anyone has gone yard on Auburn this season. Auburn held on to win, howT ever, despite Jennings’ homer. Person was Carolina’s star in the loss, though, getting three hits in four at-bats and one run. Comments on this story ?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Sinclair CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 of Sports Illustrated. No matter what numbers LeBron would post in his first year, I thought for sure that sports fans would feel that LeBron underachieved. After all, even superstars like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal did not average double-digit scoring numbers in their first year out of high school. LeBron James has silenced all the critics. He is averaging over 20 points, five rebounds and more than a steal per game. Saturday night, LeBron James single-handedly led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a victory over the best team in the Eastern Conference, the New Jersey Nets. “King” LeBron posted a ca reer-high 41 points and 13 as sists. In less than one season, LeBron James has transformed the Cleveland Cavalier franchise from one of the NBA’s worst into a potential playoff team. As James gains NBA experience, this team will become dangerous to play in the near future. The NBA desperately needs more players like LeBron James. At the height of popularity for the NBA, the league had superstars like Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley. James is like the legends just mentioned because he stays out of legal trouble, lacks a selfish at titude, and appears to be humble and grateful for his talents and abilities. Asking for a NBA player to be a role model recently has been like suggesting that Michael Jackson should run a day care. Former New Jersey Nets star Jason Williams is currently on trial for murder. Kobe Bryant is in court trying to avoid spending his prime playing days in a Colorado prison. Damon Stoudamire was busted twice for marijuana possession. Allen Iverson got into legal trouble this past summer as well. Yes — the same Iverson who had a public fit because his coach accused him of not practicing hard. Only after Larry Brown left Philadelphia and the 76ers fell to the bottom of their division did Iverson seem to care about his former coach. LeBron is no angel, but he could qualify for sainthood based on the actions of his peers. LeBron did serve a suspension for getting free sports jerseys and had a questionable loan to receive a Hummer in high school, but what kid would turn down free sports jerseys and a loan for a Hummer that could be repaid easily in a matter of months? LeBron could probably own every Hummer dealership in the United States if he want ed to. I have to apologize to LeBron personally. With 10 games left in his rookie NBA season, LeBron James has met any possible goal I could have set for him this sea son. Not only did he prove him self worthy of making the jump from high school to the NBA, but he has also shown the world he has all the makings of a legend in a league that is in desperate need of one. “King” LeBron James has ruled the NBA kingdom this sea son. I now repent for not seeing the brilliance in this king a long time ago. Comments on this story? 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