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Trials CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 ner-up last year in the 400-me ter at the NCAAs. “Time really doesn’t matter,” Harris said. “What matters is to win titles and you win, then times gre going to come.” Ellerbe finished 12th in the hammer throw, advancing to the finals with her throw of202’ 9” that made her the last qualifier. She fin ished seventh four years ago at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and she’s a five-time U.S. champion. Washington and Barber made it to the finals of the 400-meter with times of 52.13 and 52.30, respec tively. Washington, who holds the school record with 22 All American honors, finished first, while Barber came in fifth. It was a season’s-best time for both athletes. “All I was worried about was getting to the semi-finals, and I feel much better,” Washington said. “I wanted to execute my race plan and advance to the semi-fi nals and I did that.” The athletes get two days off be fore returning to action on Thursday to complete the event and prepare for the Olympics, which run Aug. 18-29. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Former Bears coach Mike Ditka considers run for U.S. Senate THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO — In a measure of the Illinois Republican Party’s desperation and Chicago’s devo tion to Da Bears, a movement is afoot to draft the team’s brash, tough-talking former coach Mike Ditka to run for the U.S. Senate. Ditka, a Hall of Famer who led the team to the 1986 Super Bowl and now spends most of his time on TV as a football analyst as well as a pitchman for a casino and an impotence drug, has said it is an exciting idea, but he has not made up his mind. “I am very conservative, and a lot of people aren’t going to like that. I am very outspoken, and a lot of people aren’t going to like that. But that’s me,” Ditka said in Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times. “I want the best for this country, the best for this state, the best for this city, that’s what I want. It’s sim ple.” What started out almost as a lark has become a real possibility to the Illinois Republican Party, which has been unable to find anyone of stature who wants the Senate nomination. The GOP is still without a can didate nearly three weeks after Jack Ryan dropped out over em barrassing allegations in his di vorce papers that he took his wife, “Boston Public” actress Jeri Ryan, to sex clubs before they split up. The party’s top choices have refused to run, leaving GOP lead ers scrambling to find a replace ment with the money and recog nition to beat state Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic rising star, with less than four months to go before the election. “I think Da Coach would be a great U.S- senator, and I’d love to see him on the floor of the United States Senate,” said GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, whose retire ment is creating the open seat. “The question I would have is: Would he want to give up the wonderful life he enjoys now to take on the chores of being a pub lic servant and having 12.6 mil lion bosses?” He would just be walking onto another gridiron, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “I’d say, ‘Mike, you’ve had sev eral bruising experiences in your life. Be prepared for another one,’” McCain said. Off the field, Ditka is well known as a conservative Republican. In 2000, he warmed up a crowd for then-candidate George W. Bush by saying the W “stands for women. I believe women want a man for president of the United States.” If he ran for Senate, Ditka could energize the Republican base as well as independent vot-. ers, and possibly put Illinois back into play for Bush, Fitzgerald said. Ditka, 64, said a potential run is very much on his mind, even though his wife, Diana, has been telling the media: “I wouldn’t bet on it.” “I’m getting excited about it and I’m just thinking about it,” Ditka told WGN-TV from his Chicago restaurant on Monday. Thousands of fans have weighed in on the draftditka.com Web site — created to urge Ditka to become the state’s GOP chair man but transformed into a Ditka-for-Senate movement. Even Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, thinks Ditka would be a good choice, though he predict ed Obama will win no matter who runs against him in November. Blagojevich noted Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger made the tran sition from movies to politics, and former sports stars have done the same. “If they can do it, Mike Ditka can do it,” Blagojevich said. But Ditka, who recently joined ESPN as an NFL analyst, could lose his endorsement deals if elected. He also has a new cloth ing line and his restaurant. He' said he plans to decide on a Senate run by the end of the week. Mike Lawrence, interim di rector. of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, said the GOP’s fascination with Ditka is understandable. “In some respects, the Republicans are in the position where it looks as if they’re going to have to throw a Hail Mary here,” he said, “and Mike Ditka was an All-Pro end.” . I °°(lu,y 7-August?) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday _ 11;30-12:30p Tai Chi Pilates Tai Chi Slide 1:00-1:45p Body Sculpt Body Sculpt 5:30-6:30p pilales Pila,es 6:00-7:00p Group Cycle Group Cycle Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 12:00-1:00p s,eP & Sculpt Step & Sculpt 5:30-6:30p Kickboxing Step & Sculpt Kickboxing Step & Sculpt 6:35-7:OOp Ab Express Ab Express 7:00-8:00p Step Step Step Step _^k % 7:00-8:00a Group Cycle Body SculptStep_ 7:30-8:30a Slide Slide Tai Chi 12:00-1:00p Step Express Step Express Step Express Step Express Step Express 1:05-2:05p Faculty/Staff Faculty/Staff Faculty/Staff - 5:30-6:00p Ab Express Ab Express 6:00-7:00p Group Cycle Step & Sculpt Group Cycle Step & Sculpt | 5:30-6:30p | | ' I