HELP!! We Like Sportz, and We Don’t Care Who Knows!

Posted on 01. Apr, 2010 by Erika Kim in Sports

This article was never meant to make it into the paper! My editor has no idea that it slipped past him. I know you guys have been getting annoyed by the lack of sports articles in the actual printed version of the paper, and trust me, so have I. Despite the fact that I know nothing about sports, I’ve been trying to the articles to you since the beginning of the school year.

I’ve tried everything from working with the design editor to slip it in after the paper was given the final ok before printing to walking into the copy center with the articles copied to a USB drive, hidden in a magazine while wearing a trench coat, giant sunglasses, and handkerchief around my hair to hide my identity. Unfortunately, he has taken every precaution in anticipation of such an incident, so none of these attempts have worked. In fact, I can’t even begin to explain how I managed to get this one past him. All I can say is it involved rubber bands, illegal immigrants from Romania, and balloon animals.

Every time I’ve been caught, I’ve suffered the consequences. Obviously the editor hasn’t fired me because that would arouse too much suspicion, but he has pressured me to quit my job by threatening to jujitsu me to death and making severe cuts to my salary. Not only that, but he has encouraged the rest of the staff to make racial slurs and misogynistic comments towards me.

This is a cry for help! I’m trying to gather an army of supporters to overthrow the current editor. I’m taking a might equals right approach to this mutiny, and that will require the support of the most physically fit group of people on campus, who, conveniently enough, tend to be the ones who would read the sports articles. Win-win situation!

Sports articles are what the student body wants, so if I became the editor, I would print articles about point values and something that involves goals and round things that get kicked, hit and/or thrown… maybe something about running… and broomsticks. Ohhh wait, I’m mixing soccer, basketball, and quidditch together. Well, I won’t be writing the articles, but promise to hire people who know how to write about sports.

If you’re a student who supports this cause, go ahead and meet me outside of the C2 office in the Campus Center on April 1^st at 5:00 P.M., and we will make a stand that will never be forgotten; the kind that will be rewarded with cake and a dance party!

So Peter, by the time you read this, it will be too late. An army of rebel supporters will soon be rallying to my side, and you know what that means? A group of super fit, probably super hot people will be overthrowing you soon! And your Omni-assistant editor will be leading the rebellion! On the other hand, if I fail to gather this army of support, you will probably fire me and I will lose my job, and that would really suck. But I understand that some causes are worth the risks and there are some sacrifices that are necessary.

Colleen Ueichi! For obvious reasons, I’ve had to keep this project secret, but now that everyone knows this won’t be an issue: If you want to be partners in leading this revolution, contact me at secretsportseditor.c2puc@ioftenwonderwhyoutlooklivehassomanyissues.com to collaborate on getting sports articles in print. Vive la resistance!

Just the Beginning: Loss Another Stepping-Stone for Young Pioneers

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Colleen Ueichi in Campus, Sports

As the last ticks of the second half wore down on PUC’s 90-63 loss to Cal State University-Maritime, the fans had to remind themselves that for many of the Pioneers, it’s still the first half. Of their careers, that is. The PUC women’s basketball team is stacked with underclassmen, whose sparks of promise were showcased both throughout the season and in their match against the Keelhaulers.

Freshman guard Gabby Alvero showed some of those sparks. The Pioneers jumped to a 13-0 lead in the first half, eight of those points coming from Alvero, who would finish the game with 10 points. Using screens on offense and tight defense, PUC held the lead and worked Cal Maritime the whole first half. But the Keelhaulers did damage on the perimeter, finally going ahead 28-27 with five minutes to go before halftime.

Cal Maritime spent the last twenty minutes building on their 41-31 halftime lead, bursting out of the locker room with a 15-2 run, the same numbers PUC had dealt them in the first half. The dismal period was marked by several questionable foul calls against the Pioneers, and relentless shooting from all over by the Keelhaulers. PUC switched from their zone defense to man, but the top two scorers in the California Pacific Conference proved too much. Junior guard Alexsis Brown recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and senior guard Lauren Westbrook, who was a ridiculous 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, ended up with 28 points. Cal Maritime shot nearly 50% from the field, compared to PUC’s still respectable 38.9%. The Pioneers also had season highs in three-point percentage with 60% and free-throw percentage with 75%.

“[We could have improved] executing on offense,” said sophomore guard Carla Bartlett. “We never got into our sets, so we had a lot of turnovers.”

Amidst the chaos, fans got a look at another face that will carry the team for the next couple of years: Bartlett. She is currently leading the team in the point-guard essential stats (8.6 ppg, 3.7 apg), wreaked havoc on Cal Maritime’s passing lanes, with four steals in the first five minutes of the second half and six total. Bartlett would also finish with 9 points. Fellow sophomore guard Julie Ford added 10, while sophomore forward Devin Tinny racked up 12, and JoAnn Mauries, also a sophomore forward, got her own double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

Cal Maritime improved to 5-23 overall and 4-8 in the conference, after having to forfeit nine wins, including one to PUC, for inadvertently playing with ineligible players. PUC fell to 5-18 and 2-10. The Cal Pac Tournament, which starts February 24, will be a second chance for both teams, as the winner will advance to the 32-team NAIA Nationals. The No. 6 Pioneers’ first opponent will be in Redding versus No. 3 Simpson University (8-23, 7-5), against whom they are 0-2 on the season.

The end of the regular season warrants a look at next year’s prospects. Of the eleven-player women’s squad, eight are only sophomores (guards Bartlett, Lara Canders, Jalissa Engelage, Ford, and Kay Tangonan; forwards Mauries and Tinny; and center Erin Truex), a group characterized by speed and toughness. Leaders in the five main statistical categories are all sophomores (Bartlett: 8.6 ppg, 3.7 apg; Tinny: 5.14 rpg; Canders: 1.37 spg; Mauries: 0.21 bpg). Alvero adds to the underclassmen mix with a team-high 34.6% shooting on her threes. The upperclassmen have done their part also. Junior forward Vanessa Felder, who hasn’t played since January, was averaging 7.20 ppg and 6.20 rpg up till then. Senior Claudia Balderas, a towering 6-foot center, shot team bests in field goal and free throw percentages (42.1% and 80.0%) among players with a minimum of ten attempts in both categories. The team has notched more wins this season (5) than PUC has had over the last four seasons combined (4), and future records may depend on how the years of playing together will affect the women.

“[The chemistry] is quite balanced,” said Tinny. “Our friendships off the court are similar to our friendships on the court. We try not to bring drama off the court on to it. It’s tight like that.”

Barcenas has high hopes for the next couple of years.

“[Most of them] are going to be in their third year [of playing],” said Barcenas, who shares the bench with assistant coaches Doug Wilson and Jordan Kergan, and team manager Casey Bartlett, Carla’s twin brother. “Plus we have a strong recruiting class for next year. I see us competing for the league championship or actually becoming the league champions.”

Let the second half begin.

Keelhaulers Keelhauled: Pioneer Men Crash CSUM Senior Night

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Colleen Ueichi in Campus, Sports

On a night that was supposed to be all about Cal Maritime’s seniors, the Pioneer men’s basketball team stole the spotlight, hanging on for the win in a 67-64 thriller. PUC junior forward Kenny Penn had 16 points and 8 rebounds, while senior guard Brandon Monty scored 15 points, and junior guard/forward Aren Rennacker had 13 to overcome first-place Cal Maritime’s dunk-happy crew.

Cal Maritime set the stage with a pre-game senior tribute, one of the honorees being NAIA All-American guard Andrew Medeiros, whose 14.4 ppg leads the sharpshooting Keelhaulers. But PUC struck first, with electric senior forward Kameron Barnes’s jumper in the first fifteen seconds of the game. Cal Maritime, which has eight players shooting over 40% from the field, scored ten unanswered points while snatching most of the rebounds, thanks in part to 6’7” junior forward David Prendeble, who had seven boards on the night. The Pioneers settled down, boxed out the taller Keelhaulers, and worked the ball around on offense. Momentum see-sawed. At halftime the scoreboard read 27-25, Cal Maritime.

By then the slowly arriving PUC fans made up a good half of the cramped gym, a crowd that went nuts when Rennacker knocked down a three to start the second half. Cal Maritime responded with a barrage of outside jumpers, while PUC prowled the post, and the 6’6” Penn scored six points in a row. Just to mix things up a bit, senior guard Andrew Webster sank two consecutive threes to give PUC a 43-42 lead with just over ten minutes to go, giving fans flashbacks to his buzzer beater three in PUC’s 71-70 defeat of Bethany University. Medeiros drew some charges, keeping Cal Maritime in the game with his free throws. He then sent the Keelhaulers ahead 64-63 on a lay-up, the last of his 26 points, with one minute left.

Their lead was short-lived, as Cal Maritime fouls sent PUC’s top two scorers to the line in that last minute. The versatile Monty (15.11 ppg), made both to bump the Pioneers up 65-64. Despite the fact that it was an away game, fans would have had to look twice to make sure they were in Mayo Hall and not the Covered Wagon. Chants of “P-U-C! P-U-C!” rocked the gym for the last minute, during which the Pioneers played suffocating defense and rebounded the Keelhaulers’ miss, forcing the desperate hosts to foul Barnes with 15.8 on the clock. Barnes (12.52 ppg) easily dropped both of them, giving PUC a much-needed cushion. Cal Maritime missed their last shot, and the final score of 67-64 sent waves of exhilaration through both the players and the fans.

“They really pulled this one off,” said freshman Brita Widmer, nearly hoarse from cheering. “I was nervous but they held it together and made a strong finish.”

“It was excellent!” exclaimed Tony Bell, father of freshman guard/forward Will Bell. “We knew they were going to win, ‘cause that’s how PUC is. People don’t expect much, and that’s when we come up big.”

This kind of enthusiasm in their fans was a huge factor for the players as they shot a season-high 50.8 FG%.

“Our fans made a big difference,” said Penn, who is leading the team in rebounds (7.63 rpg) and is third in scoring (11.47 ppg). “It felt like a home game. We hope to build on [this win] and try to make it to the play-offs.”

For PUC coach Robert Castillo, it was further proof of his belief that his Pioneers are better than their 5-16 overall and 4-8 conference records show.

“We’re wondering where this has been all season,” Castillo said, who patrols the sideline along with assistant coach Chuck Evans. “We always believe we’re better than we play, and we’re happy to take this momentum to the play-offs.”

Castillo’s words ring true. PUC names are sprinkled throughout the Cal Pac leaderboards: Monty fifth in scoring and FG% (42.6), Penn second in rebounds, Barnes first in blocks (1.33 bpg), and Monty fourth in assists (2.78 apg). The veteran-led squad also contains several juniors and underclassmen who could prove vital in following seasons. Rennacker averages 10.62 ppg, many of those coming from his favored three-point range. Sophomore forward Danny Sepulveda is a post presence and has a 54.0 FG%. The lightning-fast Bell and junior guard Manny Gonzales, with his cool head and 42.9% three-point shooting, will step up in Monty and Webster’s absence.

But for now the Pioneers’ focus is on the immediate future. The Cal Pac tournament on February 24 is the next thing up for the No. 5 Pioneers. They will travel to Atherton to face No. 4 Menlo College (9-15, 6-6), a team who has beat them twice this season. Cal Maritime, the top seed (18-12, 9-3), gets a first round bye and will face the winner of PUC-Menlo game. Rematch, anyone?

Get your kicks: Intramurals

Posted on 11. Oct, 2009 by Darin West in Sports

Drive past the football field in late October, and you’re bound to see a row of poorly parked cars lining the asphalt. No college campus would be complete without recreational sports, and PUC is no different. After all it has been said that intramurals and Adventism go together like hockey and Canadianism.

While intramurals may not be an official club, if it were it would easily have the highest membership. Last year, 800 games were played and it is estimated that 50% of students participate. It is easy to see the appeal of intramurals. Students who may not have time for an official PUC team can show up with a group of friends or strangers and play in a relatively stress-free environment. The cost is $5 per person, plus a $20 forfeit deposit per team; however, the deposit is refundable if the team plays every game. Different sports are played each quarter, and students can sign up in the first week, so having a team organized beforehand is a good idea.

A vital part of the intramural strategy is choosing a name that will strike fear into the enemy. A name that says we are more than just a group people who sorta know each other. Buttercups & Mystical Fairies, 2Flags 2Furious and Bro Montana are only a few examples of names that strike fear into their opponents. Attire is another component of the wining intramural team. It’s important that uniforms hide a team’s lack of confidence. Sure, they will likely be covered up by red jerseys, but that’s beside the point.

The sports change every quarter and range from mainstream football to obscure pickleball. Frisbee golf went through a trial period with a course that wound through campus, but it turns out blind corners and frisbees don’t get along so well. While there may be no frisbee golf, there is a series of co-ed sports including volleyball, badminton and ultimate frisbee. The department is always looking for new sports, so if you feel like unleashing your inner curling champ, then suggest it.

Recradio.org offers students information on everything intramurals. Updated frequently, the site includes schedules, pictures and links to the podcast. Hardcore intramural fans will be happy to learn Recradio is expanding to Twitter. Signing up at twitter.com/recradio will give students scores and other information about the day’s games.

It may be too late to get on a flag football team, but there is still plenty of time to organize a team for winter quarter.