Josh Helton - A Weekend in Evansville

Cross Country

We just returned from the ever-so-exciting city of Evansville, Indiana where we raced the Evansville Invitational. Brisk, cool temperatures were present at race time but so were heavy winds and a daunting, unforgiving cross country course. We basically ran three laps on consistent, rolling hills with about 15-20 sharp turns per lap. This totaled up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) and left me and a few teammates in pain and agony. Matt Miller, a mere mortal and BU's top runner, led the way again with a solid 4th-place overall finish. I had a double take during the race when I looked up and saw Matt 15 meters out in front of the ENTIRE field! He has no fear and keeps all of us inspired

I was in the top-10 . . . for about the first mile. However, my hopes were renewed when I heard teammate Brandon "Man"haney coming up behind me. We have a signature move entitled "The Hand of Fury." In this particular situation, here's how it played out: I extend my left arm backwards, and Brandon desperately lunges forward, grabs it and I swing him up as hard as I can. It gives a physical boost to the person being thrown, and it boosts both of us mentally to know we are there for each other. He continued cruising and eventually I found him about a whole 200-300 meters ahead of me! As we came up on the last half-mile, I kicked on the afterburners and chased him down, managing to beat him by a couple seconds. This healthy rivalry has been going on since our sophomore years of high school, and it continues to get more intense every race. This time I was rewarded for my efforts: they gave the top-25 finishers really high-quality t-shirts, and guess what place yours truly finished? Yep - 25th. Sorry B-Mah.

Three of our top-7 runners didn't compete (Erick Kigen, Marcus Bridger-Wilkinson, and Evan Scruton). Our conference meet is in two weeks time, so we did not want to risk any greater injury to these guys. Kyle Sullinger is coming back strong, though, after a tough past year of medical problems. Sullinger would have been a top-3 runner on our team but has been plagued by illness. He is finally getting back into prime shape, which is really exciting for all of us.

Quote of the trip: Coach asked newcomer Kurtis Gibson about his thoughts on the course. In his cute, British accent, he replied, "Well, it is a bit twisty." You heard it here first!

- Josh Helton

Hannah Miranda - Heading Back Home

Volleyball

This past weekend the volleyball team traveled to New Orleans to play in the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament at Tulane University. It was an exciting trip for all of us because it marked our last non-conference matches. It was especially exciting for me because I was able to go back home. New Orleans is only forty minutes away from my hometown of Covington, Louisiana so I had a unique opportunity to play in familiar settings. The whole team was able to go to my house in between matches on Friday to eat a nice big lunch which consisted of some well known southern dishes; our favorite being corn grits. That was a very fun moment to have the team at my home hanging out with my whole family. It was extra special being able to have my parents, sisters, nieces, and aunts come to our games and create a huge cheering section for us.

One of the most memorable parts about our trip was playing Tulane. It was a unique match for me because one of my former club teammates, Cori Martone, plays for Tulane. It is very weird competing against someone that you yourself used to compete with, but it was a good match to win. We got to catch up a little afterwards, which was a little awkward considering we had just beaten them, but it was really nice at the same time. We ended up winning the tournament and going 3-0 for the weekend. It was a surreal feeling to get to play in front of my teammates from high school and other people that would normally not have to opportunity to see me play again. I am very thankful that I was able to experience that and to win made the whole thing even better.

- Hannah Miranda

Start of the Season

We just finished up our second weekend tournament of the season with a current record of 1-9. It has been a really tough start – we just can’t seem to bring everything together at once. When something is on, like our hitting, our pitching and defense are down. When two things are working at once, we manage to play decent games. But we need to bring all three aspects- hitting, pitching, and defense- together if we want to compete this year. The good thing is, it’s early in the season and we are only improving. The biggest challenge is going to be keeping spirits high and refusing to give up as we struggle to get some wins under our belt. We all know that we as a team have what it takes – we just need to believe it individually and step up everytime we get on the field. Now is the time for us to decide to give up or push harder! Tomorrow we have a home double-header against Alabama A&M for.

Come out and help cheer on the softball team to a couple of wins!

-Sara Bentley, #2 SR infielder

"Fear the Beard"

Our first loss came with heavy price. Of course, it’s upsetting to lose any game, especially on a win streak, but the most painful consequence of our loss yesterday was the loss of our facial hair. Coach Jarvis usually requires us to be clean-shaven during the season, but we were able to convince him to agree to a deal where as long as we keep winning, we don’t have to shave. Our season started on February 19, and entering this weekend, we had yet to lose our first game. As you can imagine, our beards were coming in pretty strong. Our motto this season, created by Tyler Graskewicz, quickly became “Fear the Beard.” There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the key to our winning streak was the facial hair. Unfortunately, our winning streak came to an end in the second game of our double header this past Saturday.

Our season has gotten off to a hot and cold start. Despite playing in brutally cold temperatures, our team has played well together and started off 10-0. We have successfully established a home-field advantage at the vaunted Shelby Bottoms. We were initially disappointed to find out our home games would be at Shelby Park this year instead of Greer Stadium, home of the Nashville Sounds. Shelby has treated us well so far (just ask Derek Hamblen, who had two hits yesterday that bounced completely over the head of the fielder), so we can’t complain. The only negatives include one day where the flag was raised upside down and another where the flag was non-existent.

With spring break this week, we will watch all of our friends leave Nashville to go home or on vacation, while we stay here to play baseball and have the whole campus to ourselves. Our next game is Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 P.M. at Shelby Park against Middle Tennessee State. In my career, we are 0-6 against MTSU but always play them close. Then, we get to head to Jacksonville, Florida for the latter part of Spring Break to begin our conference season against the Dolphins of Jacksonville. Come join us on Tuesday as we start anew playing for our facial hair.

- #5 SR Brendan Frazier, INF