Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

WEDNESDAY

IN THIS ISSUE

CAMPUS

Leaving a markThe Outdoor Club will travel to Paradise on the Brazos this weekend to go rock climbing. Anyone interested can participate, page 3

The OPTIMISTFebruary 14, 2007Vol. 95, No. 36 1 section, 8 pages www.acuoptimist.com• •

Calling all menThe ratio of men to women who participate in Spring Break Campaigns is disproportionate. Openings are available for some campaigns, page 3

Close callThe Wildcat men’s basket-ball team lost in overtime against Tarleton State on Saturday. The men must win their last four games to make the postseason, page 8

SPORTS

Welding a quiltSee what Dr. Geoff Broderick’s sculpting class created Friday from iron scraps, page 5

FEATURES

Larger than lifeFriday’s issue of the Optimist will feature news on campus as well as Sing Song related news. For results of the Sing Song competition, please check online at www.acuoptimist.com Saturday night.

Setting the record The women’s basketball team won its game Saturday against Tarleton State, 73-68. The team will take on Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday, page 8

SPECIAL EDITION

n Sing Song attendees can either vote online for their favorite act or they can attend a backstage party following Saturday night’s performance.

By CAMILLE V and CAMILLE PAINTER

Student RepoRteR

People who buy tickets for Sing Song this year get the opportunity for more than just a show. With the ticket, the audience has the power in the palm of their hands.

“We’re trying to involve the audience more this year,” said Courtnee Hembree, Sing Song co-chair.

All of the tickets this year were printed with bar codes that will be scanned at the door to show that the ticket owner saw the show. Once a ticket is scanned, it allows the holder to vote once for his or her favorite acts.

“After the show, you can go online and vote for your

favorite boy club, favorite girl club and favorite class, and that will total in to the total number to decide who the winner is overall,” said Hem-bree, junior broadcast jour-nalism major from Abilene.

Online voting is one thing viewers on Friday night and Saturday afternoon get to en-joy that viewers of the Satur-day night show won’t.

Attendants will be given a password so they can vote online from one of the com-puters set in Moody or on any computer before the last show. The winners of Sing Song will be announced at the conclusion of the Satur-day night show.

As for ticket sales, Sing Song house manager Ernesto Villarreal said all but two tick-ets of the about 3,000 tickets to be sold per show were sold for the Saturday night show by last weekend.

“We’re expecting to be within 70 or 80 percent of

capacity for Moody on Sat-urday afternoon and we’re expecting to hit about 60 percent on Friday,” said Villarreal, senior interdis-ciplinary youth and family ministry and Spanish dou-ble major from Brownsville.

A dozen of individual seats remained unoccupied one week from the pre-miere, but no seats were left as of Monday morning, said Tom Craig, Sing Song managing director.

Craig said 30 percent of Friday night tickets have been sold so far.

“Lots of good seats are still available for Friday night,” he said.

Tickets for Friday night and Saturday afternoon are still available and can be ordered in the ticket office, online at www.acu.edu/singsong or through the box office by phone at (325) 674-2648.

Villarreal said another op-

tion is available for students.“I’d recommend the

Thursday showing. … It’s kind of the discount show-ing. It’s $10, and you pay at the door,” Villarreal said.

Thursday night viewers will see the first run through of the show, which may last about 30 minutes longer than the projected two and a half hours that the other shows are expected to run.

Saturday night’s awards still draw the biggest crowd, said Hembree. Plus, this year Saturday night viewers get something extra too: a back-stage reunion party.

“We’re inviting everyone that came to the show to come back stage and meet the people that were in the show,” said Hembree.

The reunion will be in the double gyms and refresh-ments will be available.

Saturday ticket sales soar for Sing Song

n Oprah Winfrey was searching for one of the children Crista Cope’s family rescued from child slavery and invited them on her TV show to hear their story.

By MALLORY SCHLABACHeditoR in Chief

When the Cope family read a New York Times article about a 6-year-old boy named Mark that had been sold into slavery to bail water out of a fishing boat in Ghana, Africa, they knew they had to do something.

So Pam Cope and her daugh-ter Crista, freshman elementary education major from Neosho, Mo., decided to rescue him and

six other children also working as child laborers.

“My dad saw the article while we were visiting in New York and showed my mom,” Crista said. “She and I read it and were weeping by the time we were done. We knew we had to help them. Something had to be done.”

Pam contacted the Times reporter, Sharon LaFraniere, who put her into contact with the guide she used while writ-ing the story. Pam learned the children could be rescued for $320 per child, but they needed a place to live.

She contacted her brother-in-law, Mike Cope, adjunct in

the Bible, Missions and Ministry Department and senior pastor at Highland Church of Christ, who told her about Village of Hope, an orphanage in Ghana where an ACU professor was on the board: Dan McVey, mis-sions coordinator for Africa.

“My mom wrestled with the idea of what to do for a while because she assumed that out of all the people that read the New York Times, someone would help these children. We were the only ones though,” Crista said.

Little did the Copes know, but Oprah Winfrey was also

Heroic efforts by freshman, mom land them on Oprah

n Pi Kappa will no longer function as a social club on campus. Instead, the members decided to form a brotherhood that is open to anyone on campus to join.

By MALLORY SCHLABACHeditoR in Chief

The men of Pi Kappa no longer exist as a social club. As of the spring semester, the former club of 12 members has now formed a brotherhood, which also includes women.

Pi Kappa president Robert Cas-key said the group used last year to rethink what they were about and to figure out who the group was. Pi Kappa was created a decade ago by 16 men based on the seven commitments of Promise Keepers, including to honor Christ through worship; pursue relationships; to practice spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity.

Pi Kappa disbands as social club this spring

n Students who participated in the compatibility test last week may have to wait longer to find out their results because of technology problems.

By VALERIE VALLEStudent RepoRteR

Students who are hop-ing to find love this week through the ACM Valentine’s Day compatibility test may have to wait a bit longer.

The 13th annual online compatibility test, which is taken in a survey-like man-ner, began later than ex-pected this year because of a combination of problems with the test.

Students from the group ACM, who create the test, started rebuilding the sur-vey software later than usu-al this year. They were also short handed in help from software developers, who

help make up the survey. In hopes of creating a

better product than in pre-vious years, makers of the test used new survey soft-ware as well, which meant they had to completely start over on creating the software. Extra time went in to making sure the survey which they created could be applied to any type of sur-vey for others to use.

“We wanted to make it

so other students or classes could use the survey soft-ware as well. We designed it with that in mind,” said Topher Fangio, ACU gradu-ate and software developer for the test.

Software developers ran into a few trouble spots and had a hard time making the Web site work in the begin-ning. Figuring out details of

Love test upgraded, delays caused

n Only three of more than 300 black alumni returned this weekend for the African American Alumni Family Reunion following the 10th annual Black History Production.

By ERIN JORDANStudent RepoRteR

Mixed emotions emerged during the past weekend’s Af-rican American Alumni Family Reunion, hosted by the Office of Student Multicultural Enrich-ment. Emotions varied with each generation of African American ACU graduates from the last 10 to 20 years.

The African American Family Reunion was an attempt to re-unite past ACU alumni to cele-brate the 10th annual Black His-tory Production. More than three

Few return for African American reunion

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of the freshman class rehearse their Sing Song act on Friday during Moody Weekend in Moody Coliseum.

cOntribUtEd PhOtOCrista Cope, freshman elementary education major from Neosho, Mo., hugs Sarah and Hagar, two children her family saved in Ghana, Africa, in January, while visiting the “magnificent seven.”

See TEST page 4

See PI KAPPA page 4

See REUNION page 4

See OPRAH page 4

E-mail the reporters at: optimist@acu.edu

Money grows on treesPresident Bush proposed an increase in student loans for both college students last Monday. The proposal would allow students to borrow up to $30,500 for undergradu-ates and up to $156,000 for graduates. Mixed emotions have arisen with some students concerned with how much debt this could incur while others are glad for the first student loan proposal made in the Bush administration.

SPEED READS

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Calendar Events& The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities.

Groups may send announcements directly to optimist@acu.edu or to the Page 2 Editor at mxe06a@acu.edu.

To ensure that an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifi cations of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This PageWednesday, February 14, 2007

Announcements

Volunteer Opportunities

Spring Preview Weekend for prospective students.

4 p.m. and 7 p.m.The baseball team plays East Central at the Crutcher Scott Field.

8 p.m.ACU Theatre performs ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ in Culp Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

8 p.m.Sing Song in Moody Coliseum.

Valentine’s Day

11:30 a.m.ACM Valentine`s Day Compatibility Test results may be picked up until 4 p.m. in the McGlothlin Campus Center ticket windows for $1.

11:30 a.m.ACM Valentine`s Day Compatibility Test results may be picked up until 4 p.m. in the McGlothlin Campus Center ticket windows for $1.

7 p.m.Private Sing Song show for faculty, staff, students and friends at a special $10 general admission price at the door. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m.

8 p.m.ACU Theatre performs ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ in Culp Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Spring Preview Weekend for prospective students.

1 p.m. and 4 p.m.The baseball team plays East Central at the Crutcher Scott Field.

2 p.m.Groundbreaking for the Diane and John Duncum Center for Confl ict Resolution at the Southeast corner of Judge Ely Boulevard and E. North 16th Street.

2 p.m. and 8 p.m.Sing Song in Moody Coliseum.

7 p.m.The men’s basketball team plays West Texas A&M at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.

8 p.m.ACU Theatre performs ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ in Culp Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

9 p.m.The women’s basketball team plays West Texas A&M at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.

16 Friday14 Wednesday 15 Thursday 17 Saturday

Sing Song shows are scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are available for the Friday 8 p.m. show and the Saturday 2 p.m. show for $14, $16 and $18 per ticket. The Sing Song ticket window will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. Tickets will not be required for the Thursday show. Just pay $10 for general admission at the door.

The Alumni Day Luncheon hon-oring Dr. James Womack, class of 1963, upon his selection by the ACU Alumni Advisory Board as the 2006 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year is Sunday at 12:15 p.m. at the Teague

Special Events Center. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased through the ACU Alumni Relations offi ce at 809 EN 16th St.

ATTENTION ALL MAJORS! Study while traveling this summer. Programs are offered in Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica and more. Scholarships are available. The deadline to sign up is Feb. 28. See Ed Timmerman for more info or e-mail him at timmermanj@acu.edu.

Looking for an adventure this summer? Come intern with Dry Bones in Denver. Dry Bones is a ministry that works with homeless youth living on the streets of down-

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Chapel Checkup21 51

Meals on Wheels needs volun-teers immediately to deliver meals to seniors and adults with disabili-ties. This usually takes about an hour, and students can have one day of chapel per week excused for this service. Contact the Volun-teer Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout for more information.

McKenzee Cheng, an interna-tional student, would like a female volunteer to help her pronounce vocabulary for her sociology class on Monday and/or Tuesday af-ternoons. If interested, contact McKenzee at (325) 669-7800 or at yxc06a@acu.edu.

Volunteers are needed on March 1 from 9:30 a.m. until noon to assist senior adults walk up and down stairs at the Civic Center and escort them to lunch while they attend a conference. Con-tact the Volunteer Service-Learn-ing Center in the Bean Sprout for more information.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters is looking for young women willing to volunteer time and energy in a pro-

gram called Y-teens. Y-teens will give young women from Abilene High School the opportunity to men-tor girls from Franklin Middle School. Through activities and service proj-ects, this program will empower young girls with knowledge about life skills and build self-confi dence while creating an atmosphere for learning and emotional growth. Help is need-ed every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Franklin Middle School and Lincoln Middle School. For more in-formation, contact Erin McMullen or MC Jennings at (325) 677-7839.

Day Nursery of Abilene needs volunteers to set up for their annual Mexican dinner, prepare and serve food and clean up. The dinner will be held on March 24 at the Abilene High School cafeteria. Help is re-quested from noon to 10 p.m. For more information, contact Pat Peck at (325) 670-0002.

Fannin Elementary needs volun-teers until the end of February to tu-tor fourth grade students in reading, writing and math in order to prepare the students for TAKS testing. Call to

set up an appointment. For more in-formation, contact Rosalinda Walker at (325) 677-8085.

The Christian Service Centerneeds volunteers to help maintain the furniture room. This might include picking up donated items or deliver-ing furniture. It is helpful to have a pickup truck. For more information, contact the Volunteer Service-Learn-ing Center in the Bean Sprout.

Abilene Hope Haven needs volunteers in a variety of ways. Jobs vary from daytime hours to evening hours and include helping with children, answering phones and doing offi ce work. If interested in any of these opportunities, con-tact the Volunteer Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout.

Adaptive Recreation Services needs volunteers to assist staff with physically and mentally challenged participants in activities. Help is needed Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more information, contact the Volunteer Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout.

town Denver. The ministry needs four city interns and one moun-tain intern who will facilitate youth groups backpacking in the mountains and working in the city. Visit the Web site or contact Rebekah Duke at rebekah@drybonesdenver.org for more information.

For those planning to gradu-ate in May, the deadline to submit the application for graduation to the Graduate School is March 1. The ap-plication is available in the Graduate School Offi ce, Room 204, in the Har-din Administration Building or online.

Come to the Chapel Prayer Room on Tuesdays in the Chapel on

the Hill and Thursdays at the Quiet Place in the Onstead-Packer Bibli-cal Studies Building. Chapel credit is given. For more information, contact James Rhea at jcr04a@acu.edu or e-mail SLC@acu.edu.

What do Tupac Shakur, Lau-ryn Hill, and Kanye West have to do with Jesus? Come fi nd out at the weekly “Jesus and the Hip-Hop Prophets” Bible study on Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, Room 128. For more information, contact Matt Worthington at mrw03b@acu.edu or e-mail slc@acu.edu.

Monday 02/05/20078:08 a.m. Traffic stop at EN 18th & Campus Court for disregarding stop sign 12:34 p.m. Traffic stop at 1700 Campus Court for disregarding stop sign 4:30 p.m. Criminal mischief report at Zona Luce 9:30 p.m. Parking violations on main campus

Tuesday 02/06/20076:55 a.m. Traffic stop at EN 16th & Campus Court for disregarding stop sign 2:50 p.m. Vehicle hit and run ac-cident at University Church Lot4:30 p.m. Vehicle accident on EN 16th in front of Nelson Lot7:30 p.m. Parking violation at main campus

Wednesday 02/07/2007 8:10 a.m. Report of trash dump-ing on 2600 Garfield 12:22 p.m. Released gun from safe-keeping to student at the Station 2:30 p.m. Contacted students throwing baseball near vehicles, agreed to be careful 6:20 p.m. Stand by at University Park Apartments while grand-mother picked up belongings

Thursday 02/08/2007 3:35 p.m. Checked on dead birds in WPAC Lot, notified grounds to remove them

7:57 p.m. Burglary alarm at Phys-ical Resources at Maintenance, false alarm

Friday 02/09/2007 2:35 a.m. Assisted subject out of gas at EN 16th & Campus Court 12:40 p.m. Criminal trespass placed on student at Campus Life 5:50 p.m. Burglar alarm at Physi-cal Resources, false alarm 6:30 p.m. Met with student in Campus Center reference to ac-cident report

Saturday 02/10/2007 1:03 a.m. Noise violation at 400 College, party broken up 1:25 a.m. Assisted Abilene Police Department with chase of two subjects at Cimmaron Apart-ments, subjects were arrested and transported to jail 2:48 a.m. Burglary of motor vehicle at Barret Lot7 p.m. Report of trespassers on tope of Central Plant, subjects were gone upon arrival

Sunday 02/11/2007 12:30 a.m. Burglary of Motor Ve-hicle at University Park Apartment 10:40 a.m. Jumpstart vehicle at University Park Apartments Lot 11 a.m. Burglary of a Motor Ve-hicle at University Park Lot2 p.m. Burglary of a Motor Ve-hicle at Barret Lot3 p.m. Burglary of a Motor Ve-hicle at Barret Lot

Police LogEdited for space

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

n Students can still sign up to participate in Spring Break Campaigns, and male students are encouraged to join because of the less number of male participants.

By NATHAN MACDONALDStudent RepoRteR

Since 1977, Spring Break Campaigns have blessed people from Alaska to Haiti, but in past spring breaks there has been a missing in-gredient from the SBC mix: male involvement.

Over the past years, the gender breakdown of stu-dents going on campaigns has been 55 percent female students to 45 percent male students. Mark Lewis, direc-tor of Spiritual Life and Stu-dent Ministries, said males don’t usually think about spring break during Novem-

ber when most people choose where they want to go.

“The indecision is usually because that’s not what they want to do for spring break or they haven’t even thought about it,” Lewis said.

Lewis said campaign lead-ers and SBC locations alike want male students to partici-pate and come to their town.

“There are campaigns out there that want guys,” he said.

With some campaigns, it is beneficial to have male stu-dents because they can help with excessive physical activ-ity, such as heavy lifting.

Jordan Lyons, junior missions major from Tyler and leader of the St. Paul, Minn., campaign, said he feels male students should go regardless.

“Last year there were six

guys on the campaign to St. Paul, but this year there are only three. Our campaign primarily works with kids so traditionally girls go, but if guys would go they would see what a blessing it is.”

If there are any male stu-dents that didn’t know what they wanted to do on spring break in November but now want to go help serve, there is still hope. There are still SBC openings in: Anaheim, Calif.; Columbus, Ga.; Lihue, Hawaii; Huntington Beach, Calif.; Libby, Mont.; Seattle, Wash.; Laredo; Manhattan, N.Y.; Memphis; and Nicara-gua. This year’s spring break is March 12-16, so time is limited to get involved.

SBC seeks more male interestsn Outdoor Club will go rock climbing and mountain biking outside the city of Graham. Spaces are limited, but non-members can also join the trip for $25.

By KRISTA MEYERStudent RepoRteR

The ACU Outdoor Club is going rock climbing at Para-dise on the Brazos outside the city of Graham on Feb. 23 to Feb. 25.

The trip costs $15 for Outdoor Club members and $25 for non-members whose extra $10 will earn them membership to the club. All fees include gear, food and transportation — no other payment is necessary.

Beth McElwain, president of the Outdoor Club, said a few alumni are attending as well.

Spaces are limited, so those

who want to attend need to sign up as soon as possible.

“There aren’t any classes or experience needed to at-tend,” McElwain said. “This is actually where I first learned how to rock climb last year. There will be climbing for be-ginners and more advanced climbing for those who are really into the sport.”

For those who aren’t the rock climbing type, the group will also go mountain biking.

The group will climb for a short while on Feb. 23 after setting up camp. On Feb. 24 students can climb or moun-tain bike. Staying that night is optional, but most of the group will return during the evening on Feb. 24.

The Outdoor Club became an ACU organization in Septem-ber of 2005, and within a year

the club grew to 100 members. The club participates in vol-unteer events around Abilene, such as cleaning up parks for National Lands Day.

The club has also taken numerous outings and en-courages ACU students to enjoy the outdoors.

“We decided on rock climbing as our first outing,” McElwain said. “We’re going kayaking next month and backpacking sometime after that.”

Outdoor Club to go to Paradise

n Dr. Lloyd Goldsmith, chair of the Department of Graduate Studies in Education, spoke at a luncheon about the problems of school consolidation in West Texas.

By KARIE SCHMIDTStudent RepoRteR

An ACU professor spoke Tuesday to surrounding Big Country school administrative faculty about the definition of consolidation and what effect it has on a community.

Because of the decline of attendance in Abilene middle schools, two schools — Lincoln Middle School and Franklin Middle School — will be consolidating for the next school year. With the joining of the two middle schools, the local school board will have to redraw the attendance zones for Abilene High School and Cooper High School.

Pass the railroad tracks on Judge Ely, construction work-

ers are working full force to complete the new middle school for Abilene children.

Franklin Middle School and Lincoln Middle School are just one example of con-solidation that is happening all over Texas.

Dr. Lloyd Goldsmith, chair of the Department of Gradu-ate Studies in Education, fo-cused on the topic of consoli-dation and what impact it has on communities at the faculty luncheon on Tuesday.

Dr. Donnie Snider, asso-ciate professor of education, said, “Consolidation in small schools are fighting words.”

Goldsmith and Snider have been researching for two years to help define what consolidation is and explain what an impact it has on a community.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of research on small schools. Researchers seem to do re-search on larger schools, so

that’s why we chose them,” Snider said.

The two have been mostly focused on West Texas be-cause it is in proximity to ACU, and they train several students to become principals and superintendents of many small West Texas schools.

Based on the online sur-veys Goldsmith sent to small schools, there are three ma-jor reasons identified by board presidents that their school districts are facing problems: financial prob-lems, declining enrollment and student achievement. The first two reasons are connected because the state gives money to schools based on attendance.

However, when these small school districts close “it’s a death nail to the community; it shuts down the town,” Gold-smith said. “The communities are built around the school; it’s a real big social thing.”

Texas has around 1,040 school districts, and 31 per-cent of those school districts have less than 500 students. In the small towns of West

Texas, consolidation is a problem because the towns are so far apart. In the lun-cheon Goldsmith wanted to help define the problems of

consolidation in West Texas “because they are our neigh-bors,” he said.

Faculty discuss school consolidation problems in Texas

E-mail Meyer at: optimist@acu.edu E-mail MacDonald at: optimist@acu.edu

E-mail Schmidt at: optimist@acu.edu

EMILY SMITH CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dr. Lloyd Goldsmith, chair of the Department of Graduate Studies in Education, speaks to surrounding Big Country school administrative faculty about school consolidation at a luncheon on Tuesday.

n Outdoor Club Web site: www.acuoutdoorclub.org

n Paradise of the Brazos Web site: www.paradiseonthebrazos.com

OUTDOOR CLUB AND ‘PARADISE’ WEB SITE

hundred invitations were sent out; only three African American Alumni were in at-tendance. The Reunion was a weekend-long event com-plete with a talent show and concluded with the Black History Production of “Lo-gos: That Which You Say, So Shall It Be.”

Erica Ray, president of Es-sence of Ebony and a partici-pant in the event, explained her talks with the three alumni in attendance.

“The alumni who attend-ed expressed that during their time here in the 80s to early 90s either they had re-ally, really bad experiences at ACU, or they didn’t feel like there was a connection here at ACU that drew them back,” said Ray, junior so-cial work major from Fort Worth. “Before organiza-tions like Essences of Ebony, they didn’t feel socially con-nected to the campus. They came back in hopes to meet other alumni and see how they felt and to possibly de-velop a connection.”

Freshman Charles Gaines, political science major from

Cedar Hill who participated in the Black History Produc-tion, expressed his feelings on the low turnout at the reunion.

“I thought the reunion was kind of cool, but I heard that only three alumni came back. It’s kind of discour-aging because I heard over three hundred invitations were sent out. I don’t know why more people didn’t show up.”

More recent alumni how-ever felt joy from the week-end’s events.

Linnita Thomas, class of 2002, said, “Events like this may seem small at the time but they are really impor-tant. Being a graduate has meant a lot; my sister and I came here for graduate school it was a big step in our success.”

Malik Crowder, class of 1993, said, “I’m so proud. I remember being in the Black Student Union when we were here at ACU in the early 90s. This Black History Program has come a long way; I’m so glad at the increased amount of black students here.”

Crowder said it’s impor-tant to remember past sac-

rifices made by former stu-dents and generations.

“In years past their grand-parents probably couldn’t come to school here at ACU, so I want them to appreciate that they’re here now and the numbers are increasing. They have this freedom here on campus because of what those before them did for them,” he said.

Current students already recognize this production’s importance.

“In the future I plan to contribute more to the Black History Production. It was a lot of fun; I learned a lot about Black History I didn’t know previously. I hope this tradition is kept alive at ACU,” Gaines said.

Ray said that EoE has learned a lot from this experience. In the future OSME plans to reach out to past African American alumni by starting a news-letter to inform alum of events and the progress of African Americans here and also to express a desire for all to feel connected to the campus.

Page 4 Wednesday, February 14, 2007FROM THE FRONT

semester, we realized that the social club atmosphere couldn’t serve our pur-pose,” said Caskey, senior Christian ministry major from Stockton, Calif. “With the image of a social club, we couldn’t do that.”

Last fall Pi Kappa was unable to participate in the pledging process because the advisers were unable to be there for Bid Night. Cas-key said not being able to do what they had planned broke the spirit of many members, which inspired their thinking about dissolv-ing as a social club.

Mauri Westbrook, coordi-nator of Student Activities and Organizations, also en-couraged the group to try other things, Caskey said.

“Mauri encouraged us to rethink who we were and if being a social club was what we wanted,” he said. “We de-cided to still be a presence on campus but not a club.”

He said last semester half of the members wanted to try one more year to re-build their numbers. Now all members are on board, he

said, and excited about the prospects of this group.

Maher Saab, SA president and Pi Kappa member, said Pi Kappa wanted to change directions so it could reach more people.

“Social clubs are not bad, and we’re not saying we’re better than them,” he said. “But many students are either really attracted or repulsed by the idea of clubs. We want to reach both groups.”

Both Caskey and Saab said becoming an off-cam-pus group allows freshman to participate and females, if they’d like.

“We’re just a group of guys who want to hang out with friends but also have a level of accountability and trust here. In everything we do, we invite everyone to participate,” Caskey said.

Caskey said Pi Kappa was not an alternative to the so-cial club, per se, or a co-ed group, but the members wanted all friends to be able to participate in its activities, and perhaps in the future, women may want to begin a sisterhood, similar to what Pi Kappa is trying.

“It’s a difficult thing to ex-plain because its vague,” he said. “It’s fundamental that we remain a brotherhood because that’s who we were founded as.”

Caskey said anyone can participate with the club, ex-cept during Wrestle mania, which is for men only.

He said Pi Kappa will par-ticipate in Sing Song in the future and still have socials and participate in service projects too.

This semester the group is focusing on helping Global Samaritan. They also are beginning Pike lunches again on Fridays after Cha-pel. Caskey said it was a tra-dition the club had when it was founded that died out during the past few years.

“We knew that if we just kept talking about what we wanted to do that we were going to fade away,” Caskey said.

“We created this because our No. 1 concern was to maintain the image our founders created us on. They didn’t want to just be-come another social club, and that’s what we were,” he said. “A club should be something that shapes your life and your vision for what you do. That’s what our in-tention is.”

Pi Kappa: Social club no moreContinued from page 1

E-mail Jordan at: optimist@acu.edu

Reunion: Alumni returnContinued from page 1

E-mail Schlabach at: mes02e@acu.edu

searching for Mark to rescue him. Winfrey sent Lisa Ling, her ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ corre-spondent, to Ghana to find Mark. Instead, they learned that a mom of four from Missouri had rescued him, so they invited them onto the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ to talk about how they had rescued him.

The show aired Friday on ABC and opened with this statement by Win-frey: “When I saw this picture of this little boy in the New York Times, I was haunted by this little boy and his story. I was not alone. So did this Missouri mom, and what she did will make your heart soar.”

Pam was the only per-son onstage with Oprah, who was hearing of the Copes’ rescue of the seven children for the first time. Crista and her dad Randy were shown sitting in the front row when Winfrey asked both of them questions about how the rescue trans-pired in their home.

Crista said before the show Winfrey came into their dressing room and taked with them.

“Most people don’t re-alize it but Oprah didn’t know everything about our story when we were on the show. She sees the footage and hears our story for the first time, so everything you see her react to is real,” Crista said.

Two weeks before Christmas, the children the Copes rescued were released from the fish-ermen who owned them

and taken to Village of Hope orphanage. At the beginning of Janu-ary, Crista and her mom traveled to Ghana for a little more than a week to meet the kids and let them know they were loved.

Crista said that by the end of the trip the kids were calling her Sis-ter Crista and her mom Mama Pam.

Crista said her family calls the children they rescued the “magnifi-cent seven,” and they plan to go back to Ghana as often as they can.

On the episode that aired Friday afternoon, Ling said it is estimated that one in every four children in Ghana work as child laborers.

Children are often sold into slavery by their parents for money. Some are promised $20 per child for a year but of-ten don’t receive all the money they are promised or have to spend half of it on transportation fees to go pick it up.

When parents send their child with fisher-men looking for work-ers, they are promised money in return for their child, along with the promise to keep them safe. Ling said par-ents don’t realize the terrible conditions their children are forced into by selling them.

While people may think the fishermen are evil for forcing the children to slavery, most fishermen on these lakes were fish-ing children themselves, so they know what it’s like. It’s simply a way of life for them.

Crista said the chil-

dren work 12-14 hour days on fishing boats beginning as young as age 4. Many cannot swim and are forced to jump into the water to find nets entangled in the lakes.

The Ghanaian gov-ernment is trying to stop parents from sell-ing their children. Child slavery is illegal in Gha-na — but the govern-ment just doesn’t have the resources to stop all the trafficking of children, said Richard Danziger, the head of counter-trafficking at International Organiza-tion of Migration, an or-ganization that rescues children from slavery, on the show.

After visiting them in Ghana, Crista said it was neat to see them happy.

“These kids are liter-ally skin and bones, but they have muscles. They never got to play and never knew their parents. Now they can laugh and get an education,” she said. “It’s neat to see God working through you. These kids were nothing, and now they have a fu-ture and education and will learn about God.”

Both Crista and Win-frey came to the same conclusion: If a mom in Missouri can rescue chil-dren in Ghana, then any-one can do it.

“I’ve interviewed thousands of people — famous people, rich people — but never has anyone deserved a standing ovation more than you,” Winfrey said to Pam on the show.

Oprah: Cope family honored on show for rescuing childrenContinued from page 1

E-mail Schlabach at: mes02e@acu.edu

the test and wanting to take the time in put-ting out a good product for surveyors further delayed the Web site to open up for partici-pants.

“We got a day or two behind, and so now the test is only going to be up for four days instead of five or six,” said Jona-than Gray, senior com-puter science major from Springfield, Tenn., and vice president of ACM.

The number of partici-pants in the Valentine’s

Day compatibility test last year was between 900-1,300. As of Sunday night, for this year’s test there were about 500 participants. There’s no way to know if the low number of participants is because of the late start of the online sur-vey; however, Gray re-mains optimistic despite the problems the test had this year.

“It’s just more prac-tice for next year’s test. We are always trying to improve our service,” he said.

At no cost for partici-pants, the test was avail-able online to students and faculty at http://cupid.acu.edu from

last Wednesday to Sun-day. After participants have filled out the sur-vey, they can pay $1 to find out the results of their 15 most compat-ible matches, five least compatible matches and your compatibility with a special match of your choice. Originally, par-ticipants could pick up their results from Mon-day through Wednes-day but because of the late start on the survey, results will instead be available on Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the McGlothlin Cam-pus Center.

Survey: Late start shrinks numbersContinued from page 1

E-mail Valle at: optimist@acu.edu

Page 5February 14, 2007

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Jordan Blakey, sophomore graphic design major from Rowlett, guides the iron lava. The molds take 3 or 4 hours to cool.

Emily smith CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students found iron scraps for their project at Pine Street Salvage. The iron was poured into fruit molds and molds that will create a quilt.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Students wear steel-toed boots, leather shin guards, a leather apron and sleeves, gloves, a helmet and a visor to protect themselves from the heat.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Desiree Street, freshman art education major from Dallas, pours melted iron into a mold near Moody Coliseum.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

A furnace, called a copula, heats up the iron using coke, a by-product of coal.

Salvaged scraps to molten iron lava

Students of Dr. Geoff Broderick, associate

professor of art and design, melted 500 pounds of iron into lava on Friday, which they poured into molds to

create a quilt.

Page 6 February 14, 2007

Get engaged this Valentine’s DayValentine’s Day inspires

countless commercials for expensive diamonds, gourmet chocolate and all things expensive and ro-mantic. For a holiday that is supposed to be all about love, it sometimes seems to have a very narrow scope, focusing only on ro-mantic love and overlook-ing love for one’s friends, family or neighbors. But in a refreshing per-spective on the holiday that celebrates all things related to love, The Case Foundation challenges sin-gles to “Get Engaged” this Valentine’s Day by volun-teering with various ser-vice organizations across the nation and making a commitment to stay en-gaged in their community.

Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia orga- nized weekend service

e v e n t s with the Hands On N e t w o r k this past weekend, but more than any-thing the Web site (www.casefoundation.org) en-courages people to “Get Engaged” in their com-munities, listing the top 10 organizations with volunteer opportunities and offering a plethora of suggestions for volun-teering as an individual.

The Case Foundation isn’t joking — they chal-lenge volunteers to make a commitment and give their name and e-mail address to ensure they keep their promise later in the year.

While no one has stepped forward to organize any specific events with the

“Get Engaged” campaign in Abilene, the Volunteer Service-Learning Center does offer many opportu-nities for students to “Get Engaged,” from answering phones at the Noah Project to painting houses for Hab-itat for Humanity.

The only drawback to the Case Foundation’s proj-ect: it will console lonely singles with a free two-month membership to Per-fectmatch.com and flow-ers from Organic Bouquet, which distracts from the project’s challenge to “share the love” and could work to direct people’s thoughts back in the wrong direc-

tion: toward themselves. Regardless, if the proj-ect works to encourage people to love in less

traditional ways this holi-day, it’s a commendable ef-fort, especially considering the excess of money spent on the holiday.

According to aboutflow-ers.com, 189 million roses were produced for Valen-tine’s Day in 2006. Thirty-four percent of yearly reve-nue comes from the holiday — proof enough that the holiday produces plenty of sales. In 2001, a survey conducted by the Interna-tional Mass Retail Associa-tion projected 18 to 24 year olds would spend the most money on Valentine’s Day at an estimated average of

$183.80. The college de-mographic obviously rec-ognizes and celebrates the holiday — so why not find alternative ways to cele-brate this year?

This is not to suggest that all the romance tradition-ally associated with Valen-tine’s Day is wrong, but the Optimist would like to point out other ways to look at the holiday that celebrates love. Love your roommate, love your significant other, love your family, but love your neighbor, too — even the one you don’t know.

So whether or not you have a significant other this holiday, “Get Engaged” and show love in a different way this Valentine’s Day.

Growing up I remember seeing commercials for Space Camp. It seemed like a cool idea when I was

y o u n g , but as I grew old-er Space Camp be-came un-cool, so I ditched the idea and made fun of it instead.

S t u d y -ing in Rus-sia, I’ve

been thinking about space exploration because Rus-sians are proud of the space program and their cosmonauts. The univer-sity I attend is on Gagarin Avenue, a street named after the first cosmonaut in space: Yuri Gagarin.

I haven’t learned much Russian language yet, but I can say “my name is Cos-monaut” or “I am a cos-monaut,” and even “are you a cosmonaut?” I have a poster of a cosmonaut standing in outer space holding a hammer in one hand and a sickle in the other.

This feeds my fascina-tion with cosmonauts because it takes a brave person to leave behind everything familiar and safe and go explore new worlds. I be-lieve they do this because people rarely regret ad-ventures and journeys to new, foreign places.

Still, at certain times you might doubt how good an idea of leaving things was, and most of us can relate. Head off to college as a freshman and you say goodbye to friends from home who will indeed move on with-out you. Sometimes that is why we worry about school ending in May; will I still be friends with everyone next year or will something change over the summer?

Those who have stud-ied abroad can under-stand even better. You worry about coming back

to ACU and finding you don’t have a place with your friends anymore and they all got along OK without you. You cringe when the conversations turn to times that hap-pened while you were gone — and no one is re-ally too interested in all the cool or funny things you experienced while studying abroad.

There are people I’ve met in Russia that are a lot like cosmonauts. The other international stu-dents I have met have to stay in Russia until they graduate, and they have to learn Russian for a year or so before they can take other classes. Imagine being gone from friends, family and famil-iar food or language for five years.

There’s a similar scene at ACU. We have a thriving international culture with students from all over. Though Texans even drive friendly, sometimes our

guests have a hard time ad jus t ing . Sometimes it may not have any-thing to do with Amer-ica or ACU, but with the sheer fact that they

miss home.I propose we appre-

ciate our international students, much like the Russians appreciate their cosmonauts. It’s not so different — space ex-ploration and what our international students have to go through. I sug-gest we ask about their life back home and about their families. Look at their pictures. They are an integral part of the ACU environment.

It takes brave people to decide to leave be-hind everything familiar and safe and go explore new worlds. Historically, these people are valued and celebrated. All I’m re-ally saying is don’t forget the cosmonauts.

E-mail Josey at: jdj03e@acu.edu, optimist@acu.edu

Correspondence from Russia

Denton Josey

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing personal

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Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

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Editorial and Management Board

Mallory SchlabachEditor in Chief

Jared FieldsManaging Editor

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Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

Kenneth PybusAdviser

For a holiday that is supposed to be all about love, it sometimes seems to have a very narrow scope, focusing only on a romantic love and overlooking

love for one’s friends, family or neighbors.

E-mail the Optimist at: optimist@acu.edu

Cole WilliamsLet Loose

ViewswednesdayOptimist

You worry about coming back to

ACU and finding you don’t have a place with your

friends anymore.

Don’t forget allthe cosmonauts

My name is Dylan Wann, and I am a junior at ACU, meaning that this February is my third chance to expe-rience Black History month on campus. The purpose of this letter is to express my strong disappointment and confusion with Friday’s Chapel presentation.

The vignette of this year’s Black History Month produc-tion left me, and a good num-ber of my peers, questioning

the validity and overall pur-pose of such a presentation. Though it was very creative and well performed, what exactly was it that was being accomplished?

Unfortunately, I get the distinct impression that every February I must feel guilty and serve my subse-quent penitence for being a Caucasian, middle-class American. This underly-ing sentiment seemed to be typified by Friday’s per-formance. I walked away feeling as though I was somehow targeted for be-ing a white, racially-biased bigot, though I am nothing of the sort. Though I am a Welsh-Irish-English mix,

with ancestry drawing from tobacco plantation owners in the Carolinas and south-ern Kentucky, I have never owned slaves myself nor tried to somehow oppress the African American pop-ulation of the U.S., even in my youthful ignorance.

Nevertheless, I am a fol-lower of Christ, called to love my fellow man, despite any prejudices I might have. I believe that my lifelong ef-forts to achieve such a goal are good enough for man and for God.

Racism itself stems from those darker, more deep-seeded evils that plague the heart of mankind and taint all relations among humans

— namely, prejudice and an innate fear of the unknown. Let us understand and attack these deeper issues that confront us all instead of being blinded by our ob-session with the plight of one ethnic group versus an-other. Let us follow Christ’s example of love and preju-dicial blindness. Let us love without regard.

Dylan Wann sophomore environmental science major from Torrington, Wyom. dqw04a@acu.edu

Love should see past skin colorA letter to the editor in response to the 2007 Black History month.

LEttER tO thE EDitOR

Dear Optimist Editors, I wanted to let all the writers in the Optimist know I was greatly offended and hurt by some of the comments made in the article “Ending the Wor-

ship Monotony in Chapel.” As one of those “boring”

leaders called upon to lead Friday praise days, I put a great deal of effort and thought into each and every Chapel time. Though it may look like a “concert” some-times, you do not know how discouraging it can be to lead Chapel because of the exces-sive talking and other dis-tracting antics going on.

It is not the leaders’ fault

they are called on frequently to lead Friday praise day. I un-derstand there is a problem with racial diversity in the leadership of Friday praise days, but I hardly believe this fact alone justifies the bash-ing and embarrassing of hard working worship leaders.

If there is a concern about the organization of praise day leaders, this problem should be taken before the Chapel committee and not publicly

addressed. Please remember there are people who work very hard behind the scenes in Chapel to make it a good experience.

Jake Lollar sophomore biblical studies major from Tucson, Ariz. jal05a@acu.edu

A letter to the editor in response to the Optimist’s Feb. 7 editorial headlined “End the worship monotony in Chapel.”

LEttER tO thE EDitOR

Worship leader defends Chapel

the issue:The program “Get Engaged” offers individuals an opportunity to participate in community service projects.

Our view:“Get Engaged” is a great opportunity for students to focus on helping others as opposed to thinking about themselves.

the solution:While Valentine’s traditionally celebrates the love of family, friends and a significant other, this year, look for ways to serve the less privileged around you.

n The ACU baseball team lost twice on the road to Southern Arkansas over the weekend. The loss dropped the Wildcats’ record to 5-2 and national ranking to No. 16.

By DANIEL JOHNSONSportS Editor

Head baseball coach Britt Bonneau knows the benefit of consistent hitting.

Had the Wildcats scored runs late in its game against Southern Arkansas on Sunday, it would have won the series over its regional opponents.

“Once we get the lead we’ve got to continue to put runs across the board,” Bon-neau said. “We’ve got to learn to play all nine innings.”

ACU lost two out of three games to regional opponent Southern Arkansas this week-end dropping its record to 5-2 and ranking to No. 18 in the nation. ACU lost Saturday 8-6 and 8-7 Sunday.

Despite scoring a pair of

high run innings — three in the first and four in the fifth — the Wildcats were unable to facilitate runs when it count-ed in Sunday’s loss. Southern Arkansas, though, spread out its runs, eventually sending it to extra innings tied at 7-7.

“That game was like a see-saw match,” Bonneau said.

The Mulreiders won af-ter Jeremy Triche ended the game with a walk-off solo homerun.

“We just didn’t get the breaks we needed,” said pitcher Chris Wiman.

ACU’s only win of the weekend was a 3-0 shutout in Saturday’s second game. Wiman, who pitched six full innings and struck out seven Mulreiders, started on the mound in that win and played a large part of it.

“Wiman threw a great game,” Bonneau said. “He threw a shutout and that’s

just what we needed.” Wiman is 2-0 as a start-

er and has thrown 10 total strikeouts.

Although the pitching wasn’t perfect in the Wildcats two losses, Bonneau wasn’t surprised.

“It’s always tough to be pitching on the road,” Bon-neau said.

Although the Wildcats lost the series, Bonneau said he is thankful for the benefits playing close games early in the season has for the rest of the season.

“That’s why we scheduled these tough games on the road to get better,” Bonneau said.

ACU’s next three game se-ries will be against East Cen-tral at Crutcher Scott Field on Saturday and Sunday.

Wednesday February 14, 2007 Page 7SPORTS JUMPS

three errors in the same in-ning that resulted in the Wild-cats scoring three more runs.

“To be able to come into the game and hit the ball like that at a time when we really needed to get something go-ing was a great feeling,” John-son said.

ACU scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, making the final score 11-3.

“The highlight was being able to come back on the sec-ond day and win,” Johnson said. “It was great to see the offense and defense come to-gether like that.”

In the night game, ACU began with a 2-0 lead and never lost it. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the offense really took off, spurred by Borgeson’s single RBI to left field. The team went on to score four runs in the fifth and scored twice more in the

sixth inning, shutting out the Skyhawks with a score of 8-0. The last win gave the team a third-place finish in the tournament. Both of the S a t u r d a y games end-ed early be-cause of the e i g h t - r u n rule, which states that a game is ended when a team is up by eight runs.

“I was satisfied with our performance on Saturday,” Wilson said. “The pitching, hitting and defense helped with those games. Hopefully it’s gotten us back on track and where we need to be.”

The team now has an over-all record of 5-4 and is 19th in NCAA Division II national rankings.

Softball: Johnson hits home runContinued from page 8

E-mail Davis at: optimist@acu.edu

won 5-0. The Wildcats did not have any luck this time around either as ACU fell by a score of 8-1.

“I just don’t see anybody in Division II coming close to them,” said head coach Hutton Jones. “Playing BYU-Hawaii is really like playing a profession-al team.”

The Wildcats, however, did have one bright moment in their match-up when sophomore Irene Squillaci and junior Aina Rafolomanantsiatosika teamed up to beat BYU-Hawaii’s No. 1 doubles team of Jing Jing Liu and Kun Deng by a dominating score of 8-3.

“Irene and Aina had a huge win beating BYU-Hawaii’s No. 1 doubles team which will probably end up being one of the top doubles teams in the country,” Jones said. “And that’s probably going to do a lot towards making Irene and Aina one of the top doubles teams in the country, And I do think they are.”

On Friday, the Wildcats lost 6-1 to the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Then on Saturday, the ACU women fin-ished up their road trip with a win over the No. 18 team in the nation, Hawaii-Pacific. De-spite losing two of the three doubles matches against Ha-waii-Pacific, ACU was able to

recover and take the match-up 6-3 by winning all but one of its singles matches.

“It was a great trip to get to experience being in Ha-waii,” Jones said. “It was a little bit tough from a com-petitive standpoint.”

While the women were in Hawaii, the men were hosting the ACU Indoor Classic.

Friday, the men, ranked No. 22 nationally, squeaked out a slim 4-3 win over Lamar Uni-versity. Later in the day, ACU took on Texas-Pan American but lost 5-1.

The back-to-back matches took a toll on the Wildcats as they appeared to be a little winded by the end of the day, said ACU’s assistant head coach John Walker.

Coach Jones said the match play on Friday can be nothing but beneficial for the Wildcat men.

“It really does help our conditioning,” Jones said. “We are going to have to win some matches at some point when we’re possibly tired. We’re trying to lay a foundation, and part of that foundation is conditioning.”

On Saturday, the Wildcats rebounded from Friday’s loss and took down the No. 24 team in the nation, Oklahoma Christian. Finally, ACU crushed Hardin-Simmons by a count of 9-0. One major plus from

the Hardin-Simmons match-up was that sophomore Brett Proctor, who had been nurs-ing an ankle injury, was able to play and pick up an 8-4 win against Doug Eckstein of Har-

din-Simmons.Both ACU tennis teams

played Hawaii-Hilo on Tuesday at home.

Wins: Cats win in Hawaii, Abilene

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.edu

Morgan posted a provi-sional time of 57.04 in the 400-meters, and Mwangi ran a 2:13.80 to provisionally quali-fy in the 800-meters.

While the Arkansas meet saw success, the members of the men’s 4x400 relay, who went to the Iowa State Classic, saw different results.

Hood said he hoped to use the bigger track and

tougher competition to his team’s advantage; howev-er, the men failed to post a qualifying mark in the 4x400-meter relay.

“I don’t know what’s work-ing there,” Hood said about the relay team. “We’ll try a dif-ferent combo in Oklahoma.”

Hood sent most of the ath-letes to Texas Tech, where two people provisionally qualified.

Women’s shot-putter Liga Klavina posted a qualifying

mark with a distance of 44-1.25, but Hood said she could do better.

“She’s still not quite where she wanted. It’s at least a start,” Hood said of Klavina, who has been bothered by injuries in her career. “Her knees are more healthy now than they have been since she’s been in Abilene.”

The men’s long jump saw a surprise qualifying. Campy Pounds, while competing in the pentathlon, jumped 23-

5.50 feet to provisionally qualify for nationals. His mark currently puts him seventh in the nation.

Pounds said he thought he had a chance to qualify for Boston but not in the long jump.

“I’m not satisfied, I want to do more,” Pounds said. “Train-ing wise it doesn’t change much, I’m still trying to make it on the pole vault.”

Qualify: Athletes post new marksContinued from page 8

E-mail Fields at: jrf03b@acu.edu

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Luke Hawk returns a shot in a doubles match against Lamar University during the men’s ACU Indoor Classic on Friday. ACU beat Lamar 4-3.

women’s basketball team jumped out to a quick 11-point lead in the opening half and did not let go even though the TexAnns battled back. After building a 31-20 lead in the first half, Tarleton State cut the lead to 36-32 by halftime. In the second half, Tarleton State crept to within two points, but the Wildcats held the TexAnns off for a 73-68 win.

Five Wildcats scored in double figures Saturday night. Guard Lacey Blau led ACU with a game-high 19 points. Behind her, forward

Kristee Davidson had 13 points and four assists. Also, forward Ashlee Barr, center Audrey Maxwell and forward Jody Meyer contributed 10 points each.

ACU shot 45 percent from the field and 46 per-cent from behind the three-point arc for the game.

Coach Lavender said she thought it was most likely the best game the Wildcats had played since defeating Angelo State 76-64 on Dec. 5.

The Wildcats will hit the road and take on Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

Tarleton: Five score in double figuresContinued from page 7

E-mail Freeman at: mxf04b@acu.edu

Women’s basketball

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

Wildcats go 1-2 over weekend

Johnson

Continued from page 8

n The women’s tennis team went 1-2 in Hawaii and the men went 3-1 at the ACU Indoor Classic this weekend. The women are now 4-2 while the mend are 7-2.

By MICHAEL FREEMANOnline editOr

The ACU women spent last week in paradise, but their time on the tennis court was less than heaven-ly. The women’s tennis team finished 1-2 against teams in Hawaii last week. The ACU men, however, went 3-1 dur-ing the ACU Indoor Classic at Teague Special Events Cen-ter on Friday and Saturday. The women have an overall record of 4-2, and the men have a record of 7-2.

Last Wednesday, the wom-en’s first match against Cham-inade University was canceled due to rain. Thursday No. 5 ACU played the No. 1 team in the nation, BYU-Hawaii. The last time the Wildcats took on BYU-Hawaii was in last year’s playoffs when BYU-Hawaii

n After winning both games over Fort Lewis University on Sunday, the ACU softball team finished 2-2 at the CBS Insurance Classic on Saturday.

By RACHEL DAVISSpOrtS Writer

The Wildcats walked away from the ACU-CBS Insurance Classic this weekend with a third-place tournament rank-ing and two wins.

The women lost 7-3 to St. Mary’s University and lost to Southeastern Oklahoma State 10-1 on Friday. The team never took the lead in either game and had only 13 hits in both games. Wildcat pitchers gave up 25 hits, including 10 extra base hits.

“I think Friday was kind of a disappointment to all of us,”

said head coach Chantiel Wil-son. “We’re a better team than what we were on Friday.”

In the loss to St. Mary’s, ACU was down 4-0 after five innings until freshman Courtney Clark drove in a run. She and senior catcher Samantha Borgeson then scored on a two-run double by Tayler Wilson.

Saturday’s games were quite different for the Wild-cats. The women took on Fort Lewis University twice and won both times. In the morn-ing game, the teams were tied at three runs in the bottom of the fifth, until junior Jessica Johnson hit a two-run homer and the Skyhawks committed

Wednesday

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU at Eastern New Mexico, Portales, N.M. 6 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALLACU at Eastern New Mexico, Portales, N.M. 8 p.m.

Thursday

SOFTBALLACU at NFCA Leadoff Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.

MEN’S TENNISACU vs. Seward City Junior College, Spearman 2 p.m.

Friday

SOFTBALLACU at NFCA Leadoff Classic, Phoenix Arizona

MEN’S TENNISACU at Colorado State, Pueblo, Colo. noon

ACU at East Central, Colorado Springs, Colo. 7 p.m.

BASEBALLACU vs. East Central, 4 p.m. (DH)

n Home games listed in italics

SportSWedneSdayPage 8 Wednesday, February 14, 2007

SCorEBOArd

Standings

Upcoming

INTrAMUrAL rOuNd-up

Upcoming

Thursday

INTrAMurAL BASKETBALLNo intramural games due to Sing Song .

n The intramural schedule seen on the Optimist sports page is not final and is subject to change. Any last-minute changes can be viewed on the intramural bulletin board in Moody Coliseum.

MEN’S BASKETBALLTeam Div. OverallMSUTarletonWTAMTAMK-UENMU

Angelo St.

6-26-26-23-53-53-5

17-517-614-816-79-138-14

ACU 1-7 10-12

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLTeam Div. OverallWTAMTarletonAngelo St.

ACUMSU

TX Woman’s

10-06-45-55-54-64-6

21-313-714-1014-1011-1110-13

ENMU 3-7 12-10TAMK-U 3-7 8-15

Scores

Saturday

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU 73, Tarleton 68

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLTarleton 81, ACU 80

Scoreboard as of Tuesday

For complete intramural scores and schedules

visit:w w w. a c u o p t i m i s t . c o m

BASEBALLTeam Div. OverallENMU ACUAngeloTAMK-UWTAM

Tarleton

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

7-15-23-31-21-22-6

SOFTBALLTeam Div. OverallAngelo St. TarletonENMUTAMK-UACU

TX Woman’s

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brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Shortstop Courtney Clark stretches for a grounder during the top of the fifth inning of ACU’s 7-3 loss to St. Mary’s on Friday. Clark threw out St. Mary’s base runner Sarah Cooper at first after making the catch.

Softball

See SOFTBALL page 7

n The men’s basketball team lost 81-80 in overtime to Tarleton State on Saturday. ACU will play Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

By DANIEL JOHNSONSpOrtS editOr

With less than four seconds left in overtime, guard Tiago Souza caught the inbound pass, dribbled past one Tarleton State defender, squeezed through two more and lofted what would’ve been the game-winning shot from the top of the key.

But like most things lately for the Wildcats, the shot fell short.

“That hurt a little bit,” said head coach Jason Copeland. “It was just a game of both teams fighting hard, and we’re proud of our kids’ effort.”

Despite leading by as many as 16 points, the Wildcats lost to the Tex-ans 81-80 in overtime Saturday drop-ping the Wildcats’ conference record to 1-7 and overall record to 10-12.

The loss doesn’t completely dash ACU’s chance at a postseason ap-pearance, but it doesn’t make it any easier. ACU has to win its remaining four games to bridge the gap between it and the three 3-5 Lone Star Confer-ence teams tied for fourth in the LSC South Division.

“We just want to win so bad,” said guard Cortnie Ross.

ACU was winning 37-27 at halftime against Tarleton and kept winning af-ter jumping to the game high 51-35 lead with 16 minutes in the second half. But Tarleton stormed its way back into the game with a six-minute 22-3 run that gave it a 58-54 lead.

The two teams continued to go back and forth and went to overtime after Tarleton forward John Davis sank a three-pointer from the right-corner to

end the second half at 72-72. “Yeah, we took it to them, but

we didn’t bring enough,” said guard Elmo Williams.

Williams said the loss was espe-cially hard on the three Wildcat seniors —Souza, forward Igor Vrzina and guard Norman Alexander—as the game was their last true home game.

Although there is one more home game on the schedule for Saturday, it will be played at McMur-ray because of Sing Song.

ACU’s game Wednesday will be against another opponent that slid past the Wildcats the last time they played: Eastern New Mexico.

Eastern New Mexico beat ACU 86-82 in its conference opener on Jan. 18.

The Javelinas are 3-5 in confer-ence after losing its last five confer-ence match-ups.

If the Wildcats keep playing with the same intensity they had against Tarleton, Copeland said he knows things will fall their way eventually.

“If the guys keep playing like the way they did tonight, we will win games,” Copeland said.

A win over the Javelinas may be the push ACU needs to claim the program’s first postseason appearance since 1999.

“All we can do is take it one game at a time,” Ross said. “If we win the last four games, we still have a shot at the playoffs.”

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Guard Tiago Souza shoots the last shot in the ACU’s 81-80 overtime loss to Tarleton on Saturday. Souza’s last-second shot bounced off the back of the rim as time ran out.

Men’s basketball

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

Wildcats fall short in overtime

n The list of the ACU track and field athletes who have automatically and provisionally qualified continued to grow after various meets over the weekend.

By JARED FIELDSManaging editOr

After splitting his teams across three meets last week-end, head coach Don Hood returned with three new au-

tomatic qualifiers and eight provisional marks.

All but two provisional marks came in Arkansas at the Tyson Indoor Invitational.

“The highlights there were probably Serge [Gasore] and Nicodemus [Naimadu],” Hood said. “Nicodemus wasn’t feel-ing well and still ran well.”

Gasore ran a time of

14:27.35 in the 5,000-meters for a provisional mark.

The women picked up automatic qualifiers in the 4x400-meter relay and in the pole vault, with Angie Agui-lar posting the best height in the nation at 13-0.75 feet.

The women’s relay team notched the third-best time in Division II this with a time of 3:44.25.

Azraa Rounds, who an-

chored the relay, provision-ally qualified in the 400-me-ters with a time of 56.37.

Hood said Denise Morgan and Mary Mwangi ran per-sonal bests in their respec-tive events.

“That’s people we didn’t have in nationals last year,” Hood said.

Track & Field

Track automatic qualifiers’ list lengthens

See WINS page 7

Teams win at home, abroad

Cats drop to 5-4 after CBS Insurance Classic

n The Wildcats overcame Lone Star Conference South division second place team Tarleton State on Saturday and will move on to play Eastern New Mexico.

By MICHAEL FREEMANOnline editOr

The Wildcats upset Tar-leton State, the No. 2 team in the LSC South Division, with a 73-68 win Saturday night in Moody Coliseum.

The women’s basketball team will face Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday in Por-tales, N.M. Eastern New Mexi-co is 12-10 on the season and is going into Wednesday’s game riding on a three-game winning streak.

“Eastern is always really tough,” head coach Shaw-

na Lavender said. “They’re playing with a lot of confi-dence. We’re going to have to play great. It’ll be a battle to the end.”

The Wildcats will play one of the Lone Star Confer-ence’s most potent offenses in Eastern New Mexico. The Zias of Eastern New Mexico average nearly 70 points per game. The ACU women will attempt to outplay Eastern New Mexico after coming off one of their best shooting games this month.

Saturday’s victory over Tarleton State inches ACU closer to advancing to the postseason as the Wildcats improve to an overall re-cord of 14-10 and a confer-

ence record of 5-5. The loss drops the TexAnns to 13-7 and 6-4 in the conference, leaving the Wildcats just one game behind Tarleton State with four games left in the season.

“I was very pleased with the way the girls played,” Lavender said. “I thought we did a much better job of playing great team basket-ball. We made the extra pass, we got to loose balls, made the defensive stops when we needed to, got offensive re-bounds when we needed to and really just did the extra things on Saturday that we hadn’t been doing the last several games.”

In Saturday’s game, the

Women’s basketball

See QUALIFY page 7

Women defeat Tarleton

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Forward Kristee Davidson shoots a three-pointer against Tarleton State on Saturday.See TArLEToN page 7

Copeland