You can pass go, but jail doesn’t existAbilene businesses cast town favorably with ‘Abileneopoly’ release, page 3

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

September 5, 2007

WEDNESDAY

Vol. 96, No. 4

1 section, 8 pageswww.acuoptimist.com

THE

Saying ‘jambo’ to KenyaTwo ACU students spent time in Kenya discovering ‘true joy’ this summer, page 5

Going to the countryThe ACU men and women opened their cross-country season, page 8

OPTIMIST

By Sara SnelsonArts Editor

The department of art and de-sign added a new faculty member in April who will direct the Shore Art Gallery.

Garlan Jenkens, director of the Shore Art Gallery and ad-junct professor of arts, wanted his first big show to correspond with Lectureship.

“I conducted a lot of research to find something that would be spiritual and fitting to this day in age,” said Jenkens. “I then came across the exhibit in New York.”

The Shore Art Gallery will be featuring The Next Generation: Contemporary Expressions of Faith, on Sept. 4 – Oct. 5.

New York City’s Museum of Biblical Art is loaning out this ex-hibit and is traveling around fea-turing 25 different contemporary Judeo-Christian artists. All of the pieces have a variety of styles and media and are contemporary and recent pieces of work.

The show includes paintings, sculpture, film, photography, mixed media, collages and com-puter aided design. The artists were asked one question when creating their pieces— “What are Christian-Judeo relationships like in the 3rd century?” Once the artists figured out their take on the subject, they addressed it through their work.

Each piece will come along with the artist’s statement about the work, as well as their resume, which will give background to the artist’s life.

“This is a stunning show that required shipping the work in crates, security and climate con-trol for the pieces and sponsor-ship which made this show pos-sible by The Adams Center for Teaching Excellence, the Office of Spiritual Formation, the depart-ment of art and design and ACU’s

Shore Gallery debuts Bible art

By Yuri SudostudEnt rEportEr

Freshman Follies is now looking for freshman stars for its show in Cullen Audi-torium on Sept. 28-29. Audi-tions are taking place this week for students interested in participating.

“We are in full swing now,” said Tom Craig, Student Pro-ductions Director. “We proba-bly have around 400 students involved. But we involved as

many [people] as possible. Now, if someone does not sign up, they can still be in the show.”

The theme for this year’s Freshman Follies, an annual event meant to show the tal-ent of incoming students, is “UTube;” the “U” stands for “university,” and the “tube” stands for “television.” All acts will center around a tele-vision show theme. There are four categories involved in the show: residence hall acts,

specialty acts, Dance Troupe and Large Chorus.

Oriana Gonzalez, freshman financial management major from League City, is involved in her residence hall’s act.

“I am excited about it,” she said. “It is good to [be] involved in the show and to know the people.”

After seeing students’ tal-ents displayed during the Welcome Week talent show, Craig said he’s excited about the upcoming show.

“[There were] lots of good singers, songwriters and musi-cians, so the show itself should be really good,” Craig said. “We are excited about that.”

Allie Souder, freshman bi-ology major from Arlington, is participating in Follies.

“We have not started our practices yet, but I hope that we start soon,” Souder said. “I have been looking forward

Freshmen prepare to launch Follies on ‘UTube’

By Valerie ValleonlinE Editor

ACU is going “green.”About a year ago, a task force was

formed to explore ways for the ACU community to help protect the earth.

“We are more conscious of be-ing more environmentally friendly; if we’re not, then this impacts us in a negative way,” said Bob Nevill, direc-tor of physical resources.

This issue sparked interest last se-mester during Lectureship when Jim Ball, director of the Environmental Evan-gelical Network, gave a presentation and spoke about climate initiative.

“As Christians, we have a responsibility to the creator and to represent apprecia-

tion toward it,” said Dr. Jim Cooke, pro-fessor of agricultural and environmental sciences, who is apart of the Task Force.

Physical Resources has provided a list of ACU’s recycling initiatives, which can be found at www.acuoptimist.com.

As new ideas are being brought forth, the list will continue to change. In order to get more people involved, Cooke hopes that promoting the idea of a “green” ACU, and campaigning to heighten awareness will get more people involved on this project, especially students.

“This is the ACU community’s home”, said Cooke. “We all have to work to-gether. We want to embrace and engage students in this.”

ACU headed towards “green”-er pastures

By Mallory EdenspAgE 2 Editor

Jimmy Dingler, a Bean em-ployee since 1995, died after a heart attack late Monday af-ternoon at age 66.

The last students to leave the Bean at lunch that day found him lying on the floor in the tray disposal area when they went to put up their trays. They informed anoth-er Bean worker that he was sleeping, said Tom Morris,

Bean assistant director. Morris and other Bean

employees knew something wasn’t right, but Morris said he wasn’t thinking the worst had happened.

“The first thing I thought was he fell,” Morris said. “I called 9-1-1, and when I went up to the front, Bruce, one of our chefs, was doing mouth to mouth on him.”

The Bean employees gave Dingler CPR for about 10 min-utes, Morris said, until the

Fire Depart-ment came. The employ-ees and the ACU Police Department were the first to arrive on the scene.

The ACU Police De-partment received a call at 4:51 p.m. reporting the inci-dent. Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks all rushed to

the scene and transported Dingler to Hendrick Medical Center where he died shortly after arrival.

Morris said while some may not know Dingler by name, they would certainly know his face. He said Dingler was be-loved, and his death has left a hole in the Bean.

“He was an institution in himself,” Morris said. “Every-one here thought the world of him. It’s a very sad situation for us.”

Morris said Dingler did not look at the Bean as a job but as a family, as all Bean employees do.

“The students are their kids that they take care of when parents aren’t around,” Morris said.

Paula Hall, Baker supervisor, said the students were Dingler’s favorite part of his job.

“He loved to play tricks,” Hall said. “Just to get a rouse out of you, he would pretend to get mad at you. Jimmy

brought a smile to your face. He was a kidder. His favorite part of his job, I would say, was the students. He loved the camaraderie, especially the football players. He loved to tease with them.”

Hall said Dingler was very dependable and loved people, and everyone who met Din-gler loved him.

“He was a hugger,” Hall said. “He just loved people in

Bean employees shaken by colleague’s death

TODD PIERSAL STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Josh Lopez, sophomore psychology major from Columbus, battles Scott Marshall, senior engineering physics major from Abilene, at the Frater Sodalis American Gladiators rush Mon-day evening on the Saunders Intramural fields.

bRIAn SchmIDT FILE PHOTO

Women from Gardner 3rd East perform their act “Wild West Texas Weather Wonders,” during Freshman Follies in 2006.

Dingler

The university’s “green” initiatives seek to minimize environmental impact. A complete list of initiatives is available at www.acuoptimist.com

GoinG Green

See DinGLer page 4

See SHore page 4

See FoLLieS page 4

Gladiator Games

n Parking Lot Asphalt Recycling

n Energy Savings Initaitves: Water pumps were replaced

n Outdoor Lighting: Changed to energy efficient metal halide

n Campus Drain System: Natural bacterium used instead of detergents

n Building Design: Use natural light and are more energy efficient

n Vehicles: Maintenance vehicles replaced with “Gators” and electric cars to save more than 3,170 gallons of gasoline per year

n Paper, Plastic Bottle and Aluminum Can Recycling

n Algae Control: No chemicals used

n Effluent water for irrigation

n Yard Waste: Recycle lawn clippings

n Water-saving shower heads, toilets

n Food Waste: Sold to hog farmers

n Recycled paper sold on campus

n Additional initatives: Fair Trade coffee and clothing purchases in compliance with sweat-shop labor laws

e-mail Valle at: vmv04a@acu.edu

Eternal Threads has an urgent need for help Saturday with unpack-ing a shipment of totes, verifying inventory, attaching barcoding and laminating tags. This will take place from 9 a.m.-noon at the Pfeiffer Building, located at 101 Walnut St. on the corner of N. 1st and Walnut. To help, contact the Volunteer Ser-vice-Learning Center or Linda Egle at (325) 677-4146.

There is an urgent need on campus for trans-typists for a hear-ing-impaired student. This requires sitting with the student in class

and taking notes on her personal laptop. Class times are Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon-1:20 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.- 2:50 p.m. Contact Mattia Bray at (325) 674-2554 for more information.

Abilene Habitat for Humanity is asking for volunteers to help with CANTASTIC Night at the fair Sept. 13. Volunteers are needed from 4:15 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will be at the en-trance gates to collect soda cans and give out free admission tickets. To help, contact the Volunteer Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout.

Last day to request credit/no credit or pass/fail for courses.

6:45 p.m.Dinner begins for Fall Dinner Theatre. Tickets for dinner and the show, ‘Star Spangled Girl,’ are $25.

8 p.m.‘Star Spangled Girl’ will be performed in Fulks Theatre. Tickets for the show are $12.

10 a.m. The Volunteer Service-Learning Center will host a Service Expo in the Campus Center until 12:30 p.m.

1 p.m.A blood drive will be held until 6 p.m. between Brown Library and the Administration Building.

7 a.m.Abilene Farmer’s Market will be held in the pavilion across from Frontier Texas!. The market will go until noon or until vendors sell out of goods.

6 p.m.Sneak-a-Peek, a preview of the West Texas Fair and Rodeo, will be held at Midway at the Abilene Convention Center. Rides and concessions will be open.

6:45 p.m.Dinner begins for Fall Dinner Theatre. Tickets for dinner and the show, ‘Star Spangled Girl,’ are $25.

8 p.m.‘Star Spangled Girl’ will be performed in Fulks Theatre. Tickets for the show are $12. For tickets, call (325) 674-2787.

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 clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This Page

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Announcements Volunteer Opportunities

07 Friday05 Wednesday 06 Thursday 08 Saturday

Interested in Service? Apply for the Service Action Leadership Team. Join other students in ser-vice to the community and leader-ship across campus. S.A.L.T. ap-plications are due Friday and are available in the Volunteer Service-Learning Center, located down-stairs next to the Bean Sprout.

Attention all student groups requesting funds from the Stu-dents’ Association for the fall se-mester. Budgets are due no later than Friday at 5 p.m. To submit a budget, use the program located on the Students’ Association Web site, www.acustudents.com.

Available spots are open for the Oxford Spring 2008 semester. Sophomores and juniors can turn in their applications to the Study Abroad Office.

Join the new outdoor ex-ercise classes. Forever Fit in-cludes classes focusing on car-dio workouts, Yoga, Pilates and core strength. Classes for the fall are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6-7 a.m. and Tues-days and Thursdays from 5:30-7

p.m. Classes cost $25 per month for the 6 a.m. or the 5:30 p.m. classes and $35 a month for ac-cess to all classes. Nutritional counseling and wellness services are also available. Visit www.for-everfitabilene.blogspot.com for more information.

Sign up to play in a new ACU orchestra ensemble. The ensemble, the ACU Camerata, is headed up by the music depart-ment this year. The Camerata will play chamber orchestra literature and will perform one concert per semester. The class meets Fridays from 2-2:50 p.m. Students inter-ested in being part of this group should contact Steven Ward at steven.ward@acu.edu.

Lectureship will be held Sept. 16-19. The theme for this year’s Lectureship is ‘Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly: Messag-es from Micah.’ The afternoon schedule will now feature work-shops on topics including gospel and culture, justice and mercy, marketplace faith, missional lead-ership and youth ministry.

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Chapel Checkup0759

Vehicles parked in ACU lots must have a valid parking permit, which can be bought from The Depot or the ACUPD and can be charged to stu-dent accounts. Report all suspicious activity to the ACU Police Department at (325) 674-2305.

Monday 08/27/20076:11 a.m. Fire alarm at Zona Luce, contacted Physical Resources 6 p.m. Burglar of motor vehicle at Elmer Gray Stadium7:41 p.m. Disturbance between Soccer field and Wells Softball Field, unable to locate

Tuesday 08/28/2007 3:32 a.m. Report of suspicious sub-ject at Ambler and Oliver Jackson, Checked OK.8:31 a.m. Traffic stop at 2200 Cam-pus Court for speeding 12:32 p.m. Vehicle accident at 1900 Campus Court2:15 p.m. Recovered missing moped 3:10 p.m. Assisted City Marshall with arrest of student with warrants 5:03 p.m. Incomplete 911 at Library, misdial 6:46 p.m. Fire alarm at Gardner Hall, false alarm11:10 p.m. Report of suspicious subject at Ambler and Church Street, contacted subject waiting on ride

Wednesday 08/29/2007 7:51 a.m. Vehicle accident at 1700 Campus Court, no report minor damage 8:08 a.m. Found keys on Ambler4:45 p.m. Suspicious vehicle on Oliver Jackson Blvd, all okay8 p.m. Attempted to stop DWI, 1800 Campus Court. Followed, arrest made at S. 27th. Arrested for DWI, Felony Evading Arrest.11:27 p.m. Incomplete 911 at call box at Elmer Gray Stadium, unable

to locate anyone.Thursday 08/30/20079:19 a.m. Medical emergency at Nelson Lot, female trouble breathing, no transport by ambulance.11:02 a.m. Report of suspicious subject in front of the Administra-tion Building, contacted female and retrieved nun-chucks (prohib-ited weapon) and booked them into evidence 1:50 p.m. Vehicle accident at WFF Lot, no report minor damage 5:45 p.m. Contacted wrecker for student with disabled vehicle at Bible Lot 9:47 p.m. Report of noise distur-bance at 600 EN 23rd, did not hear noise upon arrival

Friday 08/31/2007 10:21 a.m. Contacted subject look-ing into vehicles on EN 14th and Ave F, identified as student 11:40 a.m. Traffic hazard at 1800 Judge Ely, contacted female taking pictures, did move her vehicle 2:40 p.m. Stand by at 700 EN 14th, female removing item from house 3:58 p.m. Vehicle accident at EN 16th and Judge Ely

Saturday 09/01/2007 2:10 p.m. Contacted subject solicit-ing money at 1300 Cedar Crest. 9:56 p.m. Incomplete 911 at emer-gency phone between Sherrod and Smith Adams Lot, checked all okay

Sunday 09/02/2007 5:15 p.m. Parking violations at Morris Lot

Police LogEdited for space

ACU Police Tip of the Week

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

By Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

The Students’ Association will divvy up funds to student organizations after groups complete the forms and inter-view process next week.

Requests are due Friday by 5 p.m., and a representative of the organization must sign up in the SA office to review the request next Monday, Tues-day or Wednesday.

Last year, the process went online, allowing student groups to fill out the form electronically and then meet with the SA executive treasur-er or chief financial officer to discuss their plans and finan-cial needs.

Treasurer Kevan Kirksey said this semester the process has not changed, but he did at-tach a financial guide to the e-mail he sent to organizations announcing the process.

Several groups did not re-ceive funds last spring because

they missed the deadline or failed to schedule a meeting. Kirksey said filing early is a good idea in case groups have questions about the process.

Organizations are not guaranteed to receive all the money they request—and in the meeting Kirksey or Spencer Hemphill, chief fi-nancial officer, will discuss budget items and goals with the organizations.

“It all depends on how much is requested,” Kirksey said. Once Kirksey and Hemp-hill have reviewed all budget requests and met with stu-dent organizations, they will present a recommendation to Congress for approval.

Emphasis was put on grant writing last spring as a way to garner extra funding, and Kirksey said it’s still a possibil-ity, though not the only one.

“It’s on the horizon,” he said. “But grants are a one-in-a-million chance.”

Instead, SA will work

with organizations to fund-raise and obtain donations through chief advancement officer Ryan Stephen.

Stephen worked with do-nors this summer and or-ganized about $3,000 from sponsors for SA’s Welcome to Abilene event last week.

This year, Stephen said he will work to stretch SA’s funds, which come in part from the $35 collected from the $70 student activity fee. Stephen said local businesses are of-ten willing to help ACU orga-nizations, and he will work to obtain donations and spon-sorships from them that can be used instead of SA funds, thereby freeing up money to use elsewhere. Stephen does not participate in applying the budgetary principles, but will work with organizations after Congress has appropri-ated its funds.

SA solidifies student group budgets

E-mail Peace at: knp04a@acu.edu

Zida opens locations nationwideBy Kate WhitworthContributing WritEr

Abilene is becoming a place where it is possible to buy a trendy bangle while helping bridge a trans-Atlantic gap.

Zida, the popular women’s accessories store that opened in downtown Abilene last Feb-ruary, is only a small piece of a much bigger picture for ACU alumnus and business entre-preneur, Jonathan Jenkins, who has recently opened two new stores.

While business continued to grow at the Abilene store, Jenkins opened a company-owned store in Lubbock on June 29 and a partner store in Minneapolis on Nov. 17.

Jessica Bills, senior fam-ily studies major from Lub-bock and an employee at Zida, helped open the Lubbock store over the summer.

“I talked to the manager there [in Lubbock], and she said it’s really starting to pick up because people are start-ing to talk about it more,” Bills said.

ACU alumnus Shelbi Rampy (‘04) manages the Zida in Lubbock, and the mother of ACU student Ash-ley Berres manages the part-ner store in Minneapolis.

“We do fully opened corpo-rate stores, and we partner so it’s not a franchise,” Jenkins said. “It’s a partnership. Ev-eryone we partner up with has ACU connections.”

Continued growth is in the future of Zida as stores in Ed-mond, Okla., and Norman, Okla., will open Nov. 2. Jenkins is also talking with individuals about opening more partner stores in Forth Worth, George-town and Eugene, Ore.

Business is booming, but the progress does not stop here. Jenkins’ goal is to open a minimum of six corporately owned stores next year. He is looking at locations like Nash-ville, Colorado Springs, Co., and Scottsdale, Ariz.

Jenkin’s concept for these stores comes from a much broader perspective.

“What our company does, Zida is like one section of what

we do,” Jenkins said. “We do international trade through China, which will help certain companies source products out of China directly.”

The small boutique is only a minor outlet for what is be-coming a web of cultural, busi-ness and missional integra-tion, which is attempting to bridge a gap between Abilene and Hong Kong.

But it’s not just about the business; it’s about people and the melding of different cultures as well as the family that is Zida. “We all either go to ACU or graduated from ACU,” Bills said. “It’s not just a bunch of different people; most of us have been friends, like, before this.” This hits especially close to home for the employees of Zida with the recent death of Aaron Fry.

“When [Fry] was killed, it’s one of those things that has brought us all closer togeth-er and made us realize how blessed we are,” Jenkins said.

E-mail Whitworth at: optimist@acu.edu

By Val ValleonlinE Editor

The ACU Speech and De-bate Team, which is made up of about 16 students, will have its first tournament of the year Sept. 14-15 at the University of Houston.

Colleges from across the nation will be competing at the tournament.

“It’s a good little starter tournament,” said Dr. Sally Gary, assistant professor of communication and director of forensics.

Returning students on the team have been preparing since August for the upcom-ing tournament. The team has spent time researching

their topic, the Greater Horn of Africa, as well as work-ing to put cases together and gathering evidence they will need to be knowledgeable and prepared for the debate. The team meets once a week on Tuesdays from 4-6 p.m. for practice.

Though the team devotes many hours practicing indi-vidually outside its weekly teem practice, “the team is more like a family,” said team captain Brandon Smith, senior international relations major from Kansas City.

“We don’t compete against each other like some of the other schools do,” Smith said. “We try to help each other out. Our team is united.”

The team will have three to five tournaments this semes-ter and are beginning to pre-pare for Nationals, which will take place in March and April.

It’s not too late for any-one who is interested, experi-enced or not, to join the team. Those interested can attend the team’s practice in Sherrod Building, Room 217 or visit with Gary.

“Besides the sheer amount of fun we have, being on the team improves public speak-ing, critical thinking and helps you to think quick on your feet — all are skills the work force will require,” Smith said.

Forensics Team speaks out in Houston

E-mail Valle at: vmv04a@acu.edu

E-mail Linton at: krl04b@acu.edu

By Kelline LintonStaff WritEr

Brad Engel, the owner of Tuscany’s Coffee House on South First Street, has not only provided the community an at-mosphere for customers to play a variety of board games over a cup of coffee; he has partici-pated in the creation of a game that is unique to Abilene. While Engel’s independent coffee house is recognized as a place to mingle with friends, listen to live music and enjoy an exten-sive selection of board games, a new entertainment will soon appear among the coffee-crav-ing crowd: Abileneopoly.

Engel and his partner, Bridget West, created Abile-neopoly, a board game similar to Monopoly but with an Abilene theme and positive twist to the rules. The board featured no jail but had a downtown where players shopped until they rolled doubles.

“This allowed us to picture downtown businesses in a posi-tive light,” Engel said.

Each design space on the board is a recognized Abilene fixture, including The Grace Museum, Frontier Texas! and KTAB news. According to En-gel, the creators wanted at least one business from each different industry.

“We wanted to give players a feel for everything that is in Abilene,” he said.

Eight days after the Abile-neopoly idea was pitched in February 2007, Engel and West had the whole game designed, and each business space was filled. A list of 300 businesses still wanted to feature on the board.

Kent’s Harley-Davidson, spe-cialty gift shop Jordan Taylor & Co. and Busch Jewelers could be found next to the Abilene Zoo, Cassandra’s Gift Shop and the Abilene Chamber of Com-

merce. Abilene’s three univer-sities—ACU, McMurry and Har-din Simmons—were all on the board as well.

The game was an Abilene community investment. Each business purchased their de-sign space to help cover the cost of game production. American State Bank provided the game’s fake money, Senter Realtors supplied the houses and Whit-ten Inn provided the hotels.

Dan Carpenter, marketing and public relations director of The Grace Museum, was a ma-

jor contributor in the game’s marketing. CA Graphics creat-ed the board’s design work, and Steve Butman Photo provided the downtown profile picture for the board’s center, which prominently displays buildings, including the Windsor Hotel.

Abileneopoly will be avail-able to the community in Oc-tober and will be sold in local businesses and the Mall of Abilene for $19.99. The game will be “extremely high qual-ity and as classy as Abilene,” Engel said.

Hundreds of games have al-ready been pre-ordered by local businesses, and Engel and West plan on a total sale of 20,000 to 30,000 games.

The proceeds from Abile-neopoly’s sales will go to West’s non-profit organi-zation Inspire Greatness, a leadership education orga-nization that inspires chil-dren and adults to learning and edification.

A promotional Abileneopoly tournament will take place Feb. 1-3. Players can enter the com-petition for $25 a person, but they must also provide their

own game boards. Prizes in-clude a new car and a vacation package. All proceeds will ben-efit Inspire Greatness.

“I really have no interest in Monopoly; I have a great in-terest in Abilene,” West said. “My hope in creating Abile-neopoly was to put together something that represented a piece of our town and showed the strength of who we are and where we live.”

Engel liked the idea of the game because “there were so many wonderful places and

benefits to Abilene that needed to be explained.”

“I don’t play board games; I do have a joy and love for this city,” Engel said.

Some ACU students agreed with Engel and West’s goals. “Abilene is its own little world, and people don’t understand Abilene,” said Shevaun Zabihi, sophomore biology major from Albuquerque, NM. “I think [this game] would be a cool way for people to see that Abilene is a cute little town.”

Other ACU students had mixed feelings about the new game. “I would buy [Abileneo-poly] because I think it would be fun to play with other peo-ple who go to Abilene Chris-tian; it’s going to be as fun as the real Monopoly, probably more fun,” said Carrie Gar-rman, junior interior design major from Sugarland.

Why should students take advantage of the Abileneopoly game? West summed it up best: “Play where you live, and love where you play.”

Abileneopoly: Do not pass go

“We wanted to give players a feel for everything that is in Abilene.”

Brad Engel, owner of Tuscany’s Coffee House

Page 4 Wednesday, September 5, 2007CAMPUS NEWS

general. He lived the golden rule. If you asked him to go a mile, he would go the second mile to do anything for anyone.”

This ethic was instilled in him early in his life when he grew up on a farm with his seven brothers and sisters.

On February 15, 1995, Dingler came to work at the Bean where he has been ever since, working lunch and dinner daily with a two-hour break every afternoon.

“He was not afraid of work-ing,” Hall said. “He loved his job. It seems like he’s been here forever. You don’t think of a day when he wasn’t.”

On his breaks, Dingler liked to go talk to people in the Campus Center and in the Campus Store.

“If he wasn’t resting, he would go around and visit with the many friends he had on campus,” Hall said. “He just loved to talk.”

When he wasn’t at work, Dingler’s favorite activities included going to the mall and sitting on the benches while watching the people around him, and going to the Abilene Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings to visit with people there.

Hall said Dingler was also very wise. He was up on cur-rent events and was quick with math.

“He was a very knowl-edgeable man,” Hall said. “He had wise words, and he was so good with math that he could do anything in his head before I could do it on a calculator.”

Hall met Dingler the first

day he started, and she said he was like one of her chil-dren. With tear-filled eyes, Hall recalled how Dingler would always come to her if anything was wrong. That day though, she said he seemed fine.

“He called me Mama Pau-la,” Hall said. “When he felt bad he would always come tell me. He didn’t tell me anything was wrong [Mon-day]. He even kidded.”

When Dingler was rushed to the emergency room, Hall was right there with him.

“That’s how close I was

to him,” she said. “I didn’t want him to be alone. It’s just hard when you lose one of your own. You’re devas-tated because you become a family, and you think that family will stay bound to-gether forever. You don’t think you will lose them, but you do, and you’re nev-er ready for it. Even though he’s gone, he will always be remembered in our hearts.”

Dingler lived at Barrow Place, an assisted living home, and while he did not live with immediate family, Hall said everyone he knew saw him

as family, including Bean em-ployees like Sylvia Stevens, salad supervisor, and James Moore, ice cream maker.

Hall said Dingler knew her son since he was born, and Stevens said he never failed to ask how her fam-ily was. Hall made sure he always got home.

The staff cooked for him and made sure his rent mon-ey went toward his medicine and his necessities.

As for Dingler’s immedi-ate family, he is survived by an older brother, Billy.

Jimmy Ellison, ACU Police Chief, knew Dingler also and said he was a great guy.

“He and I had the same name, and he always had to come up and make a joke about how we had a great first name,” Ellison said. “To those who knew him, he

will be greatly missed.”Ellison said also this inci-

dent should remind people to keep in mind what could happen unexpectedly.

“This was the second medical emergency we had yesterday; the first was in the Mabee Hall lobby,” El-lison said. “Unfortunately, this is a sobering reminder to keep parking lots uncon-gested and managed. Unfor-tunately, we can’t predict when a fire and medical emergency will occur.”

Dingler’s funeral ar-rangements are tentatively scheduled for Thursday at North’s Funeral Home. The funeral time is was not set at press time.

Dingler: ‘He lived the golden rule,’ co-workers say Continued from page 1

E-mail Edens at: mxe06a@acu.edu

biblical Lectureship,” Jen-kens said.

“I think it is impressive that ACU is bringing an ex-hibit all the way from New York to our gallery on cam-pus,” said Amy Vanland-ingham, junior art major from Arvada, Colo. “It will be beneficiary for art stu-dents, as well as the public, to see how artists can in-corporate spirituality into their pieces.”

On Friday, the gallery will host a public reception from 7-9 p.m., and Jenkens will speak about new technology

and an interactive media. On Sept. 16, there will

be a brown bag lectureship meeting, and on Sept. 18, a lectureship reception will be held in the gallery for all who want to come.

“I want this gallery to be more than just a depart-ment art gallery,” said Jen-kens. “I want the students, staff, media and public to be able to learn and en-

counter from exhibitions from all over.”

Jenkens is offering guid-ed tours of the exhibit to any professor and class on campus. The Shore Gallery will be open to anyone Mon-day- Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Shore: Exhibit open to allContinued from page 1

E-mail Snelson at: sas04b@acu.edu

to the production ever since I saw my brother, Sam, in it last year, and I heard about how much he and his friends enjoyed it.”

There is an opening spot on the production staff for

freshman students who want to be a part of the behind-the- scenes action.

Tickets are available on-line at http://www/acu.edu/events/foll ies/index.html. Tickets cost $10, all general seating. Doors open 30 min-utes prior to show time.

Students interested in be-ing involved with the show, should visit the Freshman Follies Web site or contact Tom Craig at craigt@acu.edu.

Follies: HeadlineContinued from page 1

E-mail Sudo at: optimist@acu.edu

LAURA ACUFF STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Adam Dittemore, junior business management major from Seattle, bobs for apples at a barbecue for University Apartment residents Friday evening.

“I want the students, staff, media and public to be able to learn and encounter from

exhibitions from all over.”

Garlan Jenkens, director of the Shore Art Gallery

“He was not afraid of working. He loved his job. It seems like he’s been here forever. You

don’t think of a day when he wasn’t.”

Paula Hall, Baker supervisor in the Bean

Barbecue Bob

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Page 5

Night Riders

Top: A mother and her child outside The Day Center in Eastleigh.

Left: A girl at The Day Center for Made in the Streets smiles for the camera.

Center: A boy at The Day Center.

Right: A mother bathes her older child while her younger one takes a nap.

Bottom: Children take a break from arts and crafts for lunch.

By Denton JoseyFeatures editor

Kenya wasn’t her first plan, but Erin Shoulders, senior in-terdisciplinary ministry and communication major from Keller, is glad she went.

Originally, Shoulders want-ed to go to South Africa but when plans fell through, she felt God leading her to talk about the trip with a friend, Meredith Isenberg.

Isenberg, junior speech pa-thology major from Garland, was also praying about going to Africa, so she and Shoul-ders contacted Isenberg’s aunt and uncle in Kenya and started raising money. Both raised money for the trip

very quickly—Isenberg said all her money was in within two weeks.

Shoulders and Isenberg stayed with Isenberg’s uncle and aunt, Larry and Holly Conway, in Nairobi. For the month of June, the two ACU students worked beside the missionaries. “We got to see what a missionary’s life was like,” Shoulders said.

The Conways, residents of Kenya for 23 years, work with a ministry called Made in the Streets, which provides care for poor and homeless people living in the slum area of East-leigh. Different days of the week, the ministry provides food, baths and classes to mothers and orphans, as well

children living completely on their own on the streets.

Shoulders said walking through the slums was unre-al. “Seeing the amount of pov-erty really challenged me and made me feel like if I’m not involved with something like that for the rest of my life I’ll be wasting the gifts I have.”

Every Monday, mothers, sometimes rape victims and often times without a father figure to help raise the chil-dren, would bring their babies to be bathed. Living on the streets, the mothers have no water, so the babies are only cleaned once a week. The Day Center, the name of the min-istry’s building, also provides lunch, which is sometimes

the only meal the women and children will receive that day, Isenberg said.

In addition to bathing the babies, Isenberg and Shoul-ders helped the children cre-ate arts and crafts such as bracelets, visors and stamps.

‘It wasn’t like we were preaching these big sermons,” Isenberg said. “We were just sharing practical love with them through our actions.”

When they weren’t working with The Day Center in East-leigh, Shoulders and Isenberg went with the Conways to an AIDS orphanage and a school for orphaned children.

“It showed me a lot of where my passions are and the depths of those passions,” Shoulders

said. “It opened up my eyes more to the kind of thing I want to do with my life.”

“I’ve got a new picture of what true joy looks like,” Isen-

berg said. “They’re the poorest of the poor, but they have so much joy.”

‘What true joy looks like’

Isenberg and Shoulders with children from the ‘Made in the Streets’ ministry in Eastleigh.

Photos courtesy of Erin Shoulders and Meredith Isenberg

E-mail Josey at: jdj03e@acu.edu

FocusWednesday

ViewswednesdayOptimistPage 6 Wednesday, September 5, 2007

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

attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

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.

Address letters to:ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu

Editorial and letter policy

Published by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

Newsroom:(325) 674-2439

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Online:www.acuoptimist.com

Editorial and Management Board

Jared FieldsEditor in Chief

Kelsi PeaceManaging Editor

Lauren SuttonCopy Editor

Rachel DavisOpinion Editor

Katie GagerChief Photographer

Denton JoseyFeatures Editor

Daniel JohnsonSports Editor

Sara SnelsonArts Editor

Camille TurnerVideo Editor

Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

Kenneth PybusAdviser

Val Valle Online Editor

In Your WordsHow do you feel about the new Chapel changes?

Cecilia ClowdusJunior psychology majorfrom Hurst.

I think it’s great; it keeps things different. I’m really excited about Tuesdays.

It’s good that they’re changing it up a bit, but it might be more of a pain to go to different places.

Favi RiettiJunior interior design majorfrom Honduras.

I don’t know how I feel about it yet, but I am excited about the new topics and a change of pace.

Bud ArcherJunior pre-architecture major from Fort Worth.

The problem:Sherrod apartments continue to be neglected by ACU residence life and now a proposal to get rid of it may displace several ACU students.

Our view:The Optimist believes that any changes made to Sherrod will benefit the residents.

The solution:Whether ACU decides to close Sherrod or make major repairs, ResLife needs to look into the living conditions at these apartments, and soon.

Sherrod apartments deserve attentionLiving in a cricket-infested

apartment where you make your own repairs, doubt your safety and pay an increased rent each year attracts few residents.

Yet residents live in these conditions just blocks from the university.

However, housing projects or bad landlords aren’t the problem, but rather housing at ACU falls short of good standards. Mostly married couples reside in Sherrod Hall, which opened in 1974 and contains 30 apartments. ResLife bills 20 ACU students but does not keep track of the number of residents who live in the apartments.

Now a proposal could dis-continue the use of Sherrod and stop new couples from moving in until action is taken.

Still in his first month as the director of Residence

Life, John D e l o n y p r o p o s e d the idea to J e a n - N o e l Thompson, vice president and dean for student life.

Delony said the proposal amounts to more than an idea, but not a formal plan.

President Royce Money; Dean for Students Jean-Noel Thompson; Kevin Watson, associate vice president for administrative services and chief operations officer; and Delony will meet Sept. 10 to discuss options for the Sher-rod Apartments.

Delony also said a forum will take place before Sept. 10 open to Sherrod resi-dents for voicing concerns about their living accommo-dations. He said no date is

set for the forum because he wants to select a time conve-nient for as many residents as possible.

He said the university re-cruits couples to the univer-sity by promising to provide student housing. The universi-ty will uphold promises made to residents, he said; “We’ll be very fair to the residents.”

Delony’s actions should come as a relief to disgruntled Sherrod residents. Any small change in their current living would improve the situation.

Since 2003, rent went up $65 a month, and residents say they received little in re-turn for their pay increase.

In the past, ResLife has been respon-sible for set-ting the rates and the divi-

sions and budgeting director helps revise and ultimately approves it. Delony did not give a reason for the in-creased rent because it was set before his arrival.

In four years, Troy Shock-ley, a Sherrod resident and ACU alum whose wife, Rosanne, is a senior inter-disciplinary major from Billings, Mont., said the uni-versity fixed one thing: the door. Now the door, which lacks weatherproofing, lets crickets into the apartment. Each morning, Troy and his nearly two-year-old daugh-ter sweep more than a doz-en crickets from their apart-

ment during ‘cricket patrol.’Residents do not use the laun-

dry facility because of a lack of security. The unlocked laundry room in an empty apartment doesn’t alleviate resident fear about an attacker lurking in the unprotected laundry rooms.

The proposal does not say what would replace Sherrod or where married couples would stay. Any solution, such as reno-vation or demolition, is con-ceivable. The university cannot answer those questions before researching its options.

We think the university intends to meet its moral obligation to repair and im-prove Sherrod – or to move the residents to safe and up-to-date apartments with good pest control.

Now a proposal could discontinue the use of Sherrod and stop new couples from moving

in until action is taken.

Alex YorkLebensgefahr

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

“Coed.”I almost gave up on you.Usually this word signi-

fies a great idea will follow. I used to think it was one of the best words, right up there with “free” and “buffet.”

But there is a limit.

A c c o r d -ing to the Boston Globe, some uni-versities and colleges up

north are going “gender-neu-tral” with their bathrooms. Oh, dear. This means everyone—guys and girls—use the same bathrooms.

At Emerson College, the most recent school to implement this, David Haden, the associate dean of housing and residence life, said, “I am all in favor of supporting students and their expressions. Hav-ing gender-neutral bathrooms doesn’t take anything away from anyone; it just gives stu-dents more options.”

I don’t know what Dean Haden is thinking, but “more options” in the bathroom sounds like a horrible idea. Un-less if by “options” he meant “a crazy-high amount of opportu-nities for everyone to get em-barrassed so much their social lives may never fully recover.”

I don’t have much against girls. Typically, they smell good, and I really appreciate that. Still, I don’t want to see the feet in the stall next to me in cute flip-flops with a bird tattoo and painted nails.

Well, not to be left behind, we have this at ACU as well. Check out the bathroom in McDonald Hall. It is the only bathroom available for stu-dents taking classes there in a small corner of the building. It has showers. It has many stalls. And they are for everyone.

I can’t help but think about the awkwardness this is going to cause.

See, as it stands, my pro-pensity for finding myself in awkward situations is already so overwhelmingly strong I’m beginning to think it is my su-perpower. I just don’t know how to use it for my own good. I may not save lives, but if

you ever happen to say or do something really stupid and I walk by, just get my atten-tion and immediately all the awkwardness will be gone. And whomever you just made things weird with will look at me with all the disdain you should have received.

Since this is a problem I deal with already, I’m trying to be proactive and defeat on the front end this latest harbinger of doom known as coed bathrooms.

My roommate, Justin Sims, told me about Bluetooth tech-nology that can take music from your iPod or cell phone and, when you walk by, play

it through the speakers in your house. This is a per-fect solution to preventing the awkward epidemic that is bound to descend upon

our campus if more bathrooms go coed.

Here’s how it will work: mu-sic rocks. Ever been to Disney World? They have thousands of fake rocks that play music throughout the park. ACU is pretty hip; why not put them all over campus and sync them with our cell phones? This al-ready happens anyway; ever walked through the library and heard that little noise when you walk through?

Now, it may look a little out of place, having rocks in the bathroom, but I contend a girl in the stall next to me is even more messed up. With the music rocks synced with everyone’s cell phones, I’d hear when females were coming.

Not only would this provide the soundtrack to life people always talk about, but this would also help in some subtle profiling. If someone walks by and good music starts playing from nearby rocks, well, it is probably the start of a beauti-ful friendship. Conversely, if you think someone is cute, but then they walk by and some heinous music starts playing, well, the rocks just saved you some wasted time and maybe even a lame date.

There you have it, ACU, the awkwardness has been averted and “coed” is still a happy word.

Coed bathrooms do everything but rock

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

FeelingOptimisticDentonJosey

I always knew a good hand-bag empowered women.

Or at least for the wom-en involved with Eternal Threads, a tote means a job, an education and a better community.

The proj-ect, founded by Linda Egle, sup-ports about 200 women, according to the Web site, w w w . e t e r -nalthreads.org, and has been em-ploying Indi-an women to make totes

since 2000. Eternal Threads provides

the materials, pays the wom-en a “fair wage” for com-pleted bags and supplies villages with scholarship money from the profits.

In the fall of my freshman

year, I spent my first Service Saturday tying tags on the Eternal Threads totes, look-ing at the same woman’s face and marveling at how differently we viewed the bag in my hands.

For the woman who cro-cheted the tote in India, the bag was one of about four she would make that month, a chance to fund an educa-tion for someone’s daughter and a product she labored over to earn a wage that could mean the difference between food or famine. For me, it was something I thought was cute, and if I bought it, would be among the embarrassing amount of purses shoved in my closet.

This project is brilliant because it not only helps impoverished women in In-dia, but also puts that aid in their control. The Web site says it “imports hand-bags and exports hope,” but more than that, it allows these women to take control in their communities.

There’s something about this “girl-power” project that makes me proud of the women in this world, espe-cially those who stand up and fight for their sisters around the world.

Egle’s project is vying for a $10,000 grant from the “Your Better World” Award, an award combined with the “Stand on a Better World”

award. According to www.StandOnABetterWorld.com, the money will support women who impact people locally and globally.

Voting at the Web site ends Friday, and 52 ACU students are supporting the project in a Facebook.com group. This project touches close to home—ACU stu-dents often volunteer at the Abilene-based project, ac-cording the Abilene Report-er-News, and several ACU faculty members are deeply immersed in the project.

I may not doodle “girl pow-er” on my notebooks or gig-gle that girls are better than boys, but I still love watching women work together.

I might have to look into buying an Eternal Threads tote. A well-made tote is priceless.

Increasing the power of the purse

SoarSubjectsKelsiPeace

E-mail Peace at: knp04a@acu.edu, optimist@acu.edu

There’s something about this “girl-power” project that makes me proud of the women in this world, especially those who stand up and fight for their

sisters around the world.

There you have it, ACU— awkwardness

has been averted and co-ed is still a

happy word.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Page 7SPORTS JUMPS

Pertuit said the soccer field was filled with puddles of wa-ter, and the players tried their best in the midst of the storm.

“They did everything they could despite the worst weath-er conditions I’ve ever seen in soccer,” Pertuit said.

Wilson said because of the difficult field conditions, both teams struggled to score.

The Wildcats only attempt-ed four shots as the Rattlers tried to shoot seven, but Per-tuit said he was impressed by his team’s perseverance dur-ing the wet game.

“Our girls fought, and we know we can compete with one of the top ten teams in our re-gion,” Pertuit said.

ACU’s next game will be against local Division III op-ponent McMurry University on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Although the game will be in town, it will be at McMurry’s stadium.

Rout: ACU remains unbeaten on home fieldContinued from page 8

they have to be good aca-demically,” Hood said. “The majority of our distance runners are good academi-cally. The discipline of be-ing a good student transfers to athletics and being good on the track.”

Leading the women was sophomore Loice Cheboi who placed third. Cheboi received all-American hon-ors for her 2006 season and is the top returning female runner.

“Last year, I was new to cross country, and I just ran,” Cheboi said. “This year, I want to become top 10.”

Hood said ACU’s prepara-tion for 2007 started in the middle of June as the run-ners started a summer train-ing plan to build up mileage.

“When they report for school, ladies should be up to 40 miles per week, and men should be between 50-60 miles per week,” Hood said. “The whole purpose of the summer is to get used to

running lots of mileage. We don’t do speed work or any-thing like that.”

With the first meet of the season complete, Hood said his team can focus on the rest of the season.

“Our first goal of the sea-son is to run well at Okla-homa State, which is the first big competition,” Hood said.

The Oklahoma State meet is Sept. 29, and ACU’s next meet will be the Texas Tech Jackrabbit Open in Lubbock on Sept. 14.

Naimadu: First big test coming soonContinued from page 8

sign-ups. The first flag football games will commence Monday.

Anticipation for the season is already building among so-cial club members.

“I am looking forward to being able to get on the field with fellow club members in the healthy tradition of rivalry against other men’s clubs,” said Matt Gauntt, junior youth and family ministry major from Colleyville and member

of Frater Sodalis.The softball team sign-up

deadline is not until Nov. 1, and the cost will be $150 per team. The first softball games will commence Nov. 5. Typically, the softball intramural season is held in the spring, but this will be the first year to break that tradition.

“Just trying something new,” said Susan Hardcastle, intramural sports administra-tive coordinator.

The waterball tournament

sign-up deadline is Nov. 29; the cost is $100 per team, and the tournament will be held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

Everyone in the ACU com-munity, full-time students, graduate students, alumni and faculty, are permitted to join in on the competitions.

There will be a recreational league for each of the sports, as well as a competitive league. These are designed to allow each participant to tailor their intramural experi-

ence to their own skills, abili-ties and idea of fun.

Hardcastle sees intramurals as an important component to the total college experience.

“With intramurals, you can have fun, fellowship and meet new people,” said Hardcastle. “You can experience it in a fun or athletic way. That’s why we have the rec. league. It’s fun for everybody.”

Changes: Three sports offered in fall

E-mail Johnson at: optimist@acu.edu

momentum shifted when Bron-chos’ defensive back Bran-don Smith intercepted junior quarterback Billy Malone and returned the ball 42 yards be-fore Malone knocked him out of bounds. UCO capitalized on the turnover with a touchdown, which began a 27-point run that proved to be too much to overcome for ACU.

“The biggest thing was turning the football over,” said head coach Chris Thom-sen. “We’ve always prided ourselves on taking care of the ball, and we really didn’t do that well Saturday.”

ACU turned the ball over twice: Malone’s interception and a fumble on a punt return at the end of the first half. Malone was also sacked twice, and UCO held ACU to three third-down

conversions in 14 attempts. ACU attempted a fourth-

quarter comeback after Malone connected with junior wide re-ceiver Johnny Knox for a four-yard touchdown with 5:18 left in the game. But the score was too little too late, as ACU would not get the ball back, and UCO held on for the 27-17 win.

“We’ve got to make a big im-provement this week and come out and play with a passion and

intensity,” Thomsen said. Despite the loss, senior re-

ceiver Jerale Badon broke the ACU career catches record after catching seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. Badon now has 169 total receptions in his career at ACU, which passed former Wildcat Arthur Culp-per who had 166 catches from 1983-86.

Malone completed 17 of his 34 pass attempts for two touch-

downs and 258 yards, and ju-nior running back Bernard Scott picked up 120 yards.

The upset was a shock to most; ACU was picked to win the Lone Star Conference South Division while UCO was picked to finish fifth in the LSC North.

ACU’s next opponent will be the Division I Football Championship Subdivision team Texas State, an oppo-nent, Thomsen said, won’t be

easy to prepare for. “Our opponent is a great

team,” Thomsen said. “The big-gest thing though is that we continue to improve.”

The NCAA changed the name of the division Texas State plays in from Division I-AA to the FCS in March 2007.

ACU will play Texas State in San Marcos on Saturday.

Upset: Turnovers costly in Wildcats’ first official game Continued from page 8

E-mail Freeman at: optimist@acu.edu

International,” Mock said. “It was the first time I’ve seen my team really come together as a unit.”

The victory was the sec-

ond straight win over a re-gional opponent, the first being against Incarnate Word. ACU is now 2-1 this season in regional play. The Wildcat coaching staff is fairly pleased with the

weekend’s results but ad-mits ACU is still learning.

“I think that we figured out some parts of our game that are going to have to be there for us to really per-form well,” Campbell said.

This Friday, the Wildcats will host the ACU Volleyball Classic in Moody Coliseum. Their first match is slated for 7 p.m. against Pittsburg State.

Wins: Wildcats down two regional opponentsContinued from page 8

E-mail Mathis at: optimist@acu.edu

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Mary Mwangi, left, runs down a hill alongside South Plains runner Gladys Chumba during the ACU Cross Country Classic on Saturday.

brian schmidt CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

ACU forward Denise Morgan dribbles around Mustang defender Tawanna Pierce. Morgan scored soon after and recorded a total of three goals in ACU’s 14-0 rout of College of the Southwest on Sunday.

E-mail Johnson at: djj04a@acu.edu

Continued from page 8

The Wildcat cross country teams posted top times at the ACU Cross Country Classic.

Menn Naimadu, Nicodemus, first place, 19:32.65 n Gasore, Serge, 20:05.72 n Birgen, Philip, 20:33.95

Womenn Karunde, Winrose, 17:28.20 n Cheboi, Loice, 18:01.74 n Mwangi, Mary, 18:30.58

BEaTing ThE ClOCk

E-mail Penfield at: optimist@acu.edu

Optimist

spOrtsWednesdayWednesday, September 5, 2007 Page 8

Wednesday

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU at McMurry, 4 p.m.

Friday

TENNISACU Wal-Mart Open, TBA

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU vs. Missouri Southern, 5 p.m.

VOLLEYBALLACU vs. Pittsburg St. (ACU Volleyball Classic), 7 p.m.

n Home games listed in italics

SCOREBOARd

Standings

Upcoming

Friday

WOMEN’S SOCCERSt. Mary’s 1, ACU 0

VOLLEYBALLACU 3, Incarnate Word 1

Saturday

FOOTBALLCentral Oklahoma 27, ACU 17

VOLLEYBALLTrinity 3, ACU 1ACU 3, Texas A&M International 0

Sunday

WOMEN’S SOCCERACU 14, College of the SW 0

FootballTeam Div. OverallTarleton St.MSU ENMUWTAMUACU

Angelo St.

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

2-01-01-01-00-10-1

TAMU-K 0-0 0-1

VolleyballTeam Div. OverallWTAMUTAMU-KTarleton St.ACUENMU

Angelo St.

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

6-34-24-32-52-71-6

Women’s SoccerTeam Div. OverallAngelo St.MSUACUWTAMUCentral Okla.

East Central

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

2-02-0-13-13-12-1-12-1-2

ENMU 0-0 2-2TAMU-C 0-0 1-1NE St. 0-0 0-1-1TX Woman’s 0-0 1-3SW Okla. 0-0 0-4

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

Scores

Fall sports

FLAG FOOTBALLStarts: Monday, Sept. 10Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Sept. 6Cost: $275 per team

SOFTBALLStarts: Monday, Nov. 5Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Nov. 1Cost: $150 per team

WATERBALLStarts: Friday, Nov. 30Sign-up Deadline: Thursday, Nov. 29Cost: $100 per team

INTRAMURAL ROUNd-Up

See a video on the ACU women’s cross country team’s first meet, the ACU Cross Country Classic.

On the Webwww.acuoptimist.com

By Christina JohnsonSportS Writer

The ACU women’s soccer team won its second home game in its inaugural season Sunday. The Wildcats extend-ed their record to 3-1 after dominating the College of the Southwest in a 14-0 game.

ACU controlled the entire game against the New Mexico team, outshooting the Mus-tangs 61-1 with seven Wild-cats scoring at least one goal.

Assistant coach Thomas Pertuit said the win was a chance for the Wildcats to demonstrate their many fac-ets of power.

“Our strength for today was our conditioning,” Per-tuit said. “We’re a better quality team, so we can pos-sess the ball better.”

Head coach Casey Wilson explained that he utilized the game to test how the other team members, who have not had a lot of experi-ence this season, would play under pressure.

“They got their endurance up and got the opportunity to show us what they can do,” Wilson said.

After putting away an as-sist by freshman defender Ashlee Simon, junior mid-fielder Jackie Gentile began the onslaught when she scored the first goal in the opening 29 seconds of the game. Gentile placed the ball in the upper left corner of the net and sent the 250-member crowd roaring with delight.

After that, sophomore midfielder Jordan Reese belt-ed out a shot with the assist from freshman midfielder Courtney Wilson. Reese also picked up an assist of her own after finding freshman midfielder Lyndsey Womack who put away the pass.

Reese later scored again with an assist from sopho-more defender Alyson Thom-as. The scoring continued when Wilson kicked an unas-sisted goal in the center of

the net. And three minutes later, sophomore forward De-nise Morgan shot a goal with an assist from sophomore midfielder Kathy Maxwell.

Morgan scored another goal, unassisted this time in the last half of the first pe-riod. Following behind, Wil-son kicked in another ball with the assist coming from sophomore midfielder Ste-fani Nygren. Finally, Maxwell scored her first goal with an assist from Wilson to end the half 9-0.

ACU didn’t let off as Mor-gan scored for the third time at the beginning of the second half.

Soon after, Womack scored her second goal off an assist by freshman mid-fielder Stefanie Lazcano. Freshman midfielder Katie Miller and Gentile each net-ted an unassisted goal to-wards the conclusion of the game. And freshman mid-fielder Sadie Barton joined the fun by scoring the Wild-cats’ fourteenth and final

goal of the game off an as-sist by Wilson.

Before Sunday’s blowout, ACU lost its third game of the season after losing 1-0 to St. Mary’s University on Friday. The Rattlers are cur-rently ranked second in their division, yet Pertuit said it was the weather that led to the Wildcats’ downfall.

Goals Abound

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Wildcat midfielder/forward Courtney Wilson battles with Mustang defender Tawanna Pierce during the first half of ACU’s 14-0 victory over College of the Southwest at the ACU Soccer Field on Sunday. ACU’s next game will be against McMurry University on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

By Anastasia MathisSportS Writer

The nationally ranked ACU cross country teams began with a starting shot at the ACU Cross Country Classic at Sherrod Park on Saturday.

Five of the men, who are ranked No. 1 in the nation, finished in the top 10 at the meet. The women, ranked No. 12 in the nation, had five run-ners finish in the top 10 also.

Although ACU performed well at the meet, head coach Derek Hood said he was more concerned about how each runner did individually.

“It’s the first pop quiz of the season,” Hood said. “It’s more of a fitness check.”

This fitness check went above and beyond the ex-pectations of senior Nicode-mus Naimadu, a three-time NCAA national champion; Naimadu said he wanted to finish in the top four, but instead he won the meet. The meet was the last one at home for Naimadu.

Naimadu led the defending national champion men’s team with a time of 19:32.65, and next in line was junior Serge

Gasore who finished fourth with a time of 20:05.72. Senior Philip Birgen finished fifth at 20:33.95, junior Julius Nyango was next at sixth with a time of 20:34.58 and freshman Amos Sang finished behind him with a time of 21:15.48.

During their collegiate de-but, freshmen Winrose Ka-runde and Lindsay Putman’s in-dividual performances placed the two recruits in the Top 10. Karunde placed second, and Putman placed tenth.

“When looking at freshman recruits, I have found that

Seven score in 14-0 rout of Mustangs

By Daniel JohnsonSportS editor

They may have been un-ranked and in the midst of a coaching scandal, but the Uni-versity of Central Oklahoma upset the nationally ranked ACU football team in its sea-son opener Saturday.

ACU lost 27-17 to UCO after the Bronchos took ad-vantage of a handful of ACU mistakes and penalties. UCO, whose former head coach Chuck Langston was suspend-ed for breaking NCAA recruit-ing rules, is now 1-0 while the Wildcats drop to 0-1.

“I was as surprised as ev-eryone else,” said senior line-backer Cody Stutts.

ACU had a 10-0 lead in the second quarter until the

Wildcats upset in season opener

By Blake PenfieldSportS Writer

ACU’s intramural program is beginning again this fall with some familiar sports but a few changes.

Flag football, softball, which is usually a spring sport, and a waterball tournament, which used to be a complete season, will all be offered by the intra-mural department this fall.

Flag football is fast ap-proaching and will be the first intramural sport of the sea-son. Thursday is the deadline for team sign-ups, and the cost is $275 per team. Each team should consist of seven players, and teams will not be allowed to play with fewer than five players on the field. In addition to club and dorm teams, other non-group affili-ated teams are encouraged to sign up. The first flag football

Intramural changes coming to campus

By Michael FreemanASSiStAnt SportS editor

The Wildcats picked up their first two wins of the sea-son this past weekend at the Alamo City Invitational in San Antonio. The ACU volleyball team improved its record to 2-5 as the Wildcats went 2-1 during their road trip.

“On the road, it’s always harder,” assistant head coach Lindsey Campbell

said. “You have to mentally be more prepared.”

The Wildcats came out pre-pared in their first match Fri-day against Incarnate Word. ACU overcame losing the first game to the Incarnate Word Cardinals and took the match by the score of 27-30, 30-25, 30-15, 30-27. Outside hitters Abbie Lowry and Erin Curry led the Wildcats with 13 and

12 kills respectively. Sopho-more setter Ericka Dickinson contributed with 34 assists. The victory ended a four-game losing streak and gave the Wildcats their first win of the season.

On Saturday, ACU took on Trinity University, who is ranked No. 7 in the Division III national polls. Trinity pow-ered through the match with a 30-15, 21-30, 30-18, 30-21 victory. Sophomore middle

blocker Michelle Bacon racked up 14 kills in the loss. After the match, head coach Kellen Mock likened the Trinity Ti-gers to the Division II No. 15 team, West Texas A&M.

“Trinity is very similar to West Texas A&M on a slight-ly lower scale,” Mock said. “They’re not quite as good but have a very similar style of volleyball. They just kept pick-ing balls up and putting them back on our side of the net.”

Later in the day, ACU re-bounded to sweep regional opponent Texas A&M Inter-national. Bacon and Curry led ACU with 13 kills each as the Wildcats won 30-19, 30-28, 30-16. Freshman setter Ijeoma Moronu dished out a game-high 41 assists.

“We played some of the best volleyball we’ve played all year against Texas A&M

Volleyball team claims first wins in San Antonio

Soccer

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

ACU runners Nicodemus Naimadu, Philip Birgen, Serge Gasore, Julius Nyango and Amos Sang stick together in the early stages of the ACU Cross Country Classic on Saturday.

Naimadu finishes first in final home meetCross Country

Volleyball

ACU outshot the College of the Southwest 61-1, and seven Wildcats scored at least one goal on Sunday.

n Denise Morgan, three goals

n Jordan Reese, two goals

n Courtney Wilson, two goals

n Lyndsey Womack, two goals

n Jackie Gentile, two goals

n Sadie Barton, one goal

n Kathy Maxwell, one goal

n Katie Miller, one goal

SCORING FRENzY

See NAIMAdU page 7

See CHANGES page 7

See ROUT page 7

See WINS page 7

See UpSET page 7