Volume 21 Issue 15 December 4, 1998 |
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Contents:
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NEWS |
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Charges filed in student's
death A 25-year-old man has been charged in the stabbing of a 19-year-old Metro student, Jennifer Foretich. Paul Huston Tinsley III was charged in district court Nov. 30, for premeditated murder, felony murder, first degree sexual assault, second degree sexual assault and two sentence-enhancing charges for the brutality of the crime, Douglas County Public Information Officer Attila Denes said. Foretich's mother, Percilla Romero, found the body in a downstairs bathroom at 10:30 p.m., Nov. 20. "We found (Tinsley) at Lookout Mountain at around 6 a.m., and he had stab wounds in his chest," Denes said. We thought they were self-inflicted at the time, but we later concluded that he had been stabbed during the struggle with Foretich." He was airlifted to Saint Anthony's Central for treatment of his wounds and arrested for probable cause later that afternoon, Denes said. "Evidence in the autopsy led us to the sexual assault charges," Denes said. Romero said Tinsley and Foretich had lived together in Washington. "Pauly didn't do well in Washington," she said. "He wasn't satisfied, so he came back. Jennifer followed him six months later." Romero said she had always had doubts about Foretich's and Tinsley's relationship. "I'm the one who drove to Seattle to pick her up, not Paul," Romero said. "He had nothing to do with it. That's the kind of guy he was." Romero said she knew the relationship was "high-risk," but she wanted Foretich to exercise choices, "to be her own person." "We tell our kids to make their own decisions, and it's a constant struggle for parents to accept boundaries," Romero said. "Whenever I had worries, I would express them to her." "I told Jennifer she deserved better. She deserved more," Romero said. "When she ended the relationship, she told me that she wanted more, she wanted something better. She was blossoming and growing." The relationship had warning signs early on, but Romero said she never suspected how dangerous Tinsley could be. "I really want people to know that there are signs, clues that they need to be aware of," Romero explained. She said isolation was a warning sign. "In Washington, Jenny was so isolated. Despite her large family, Paul had isolated her from everyone," she said. "If it can happen to Jennifer, it can happen to anyone," Romero said. |
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Stabbing victim remembered as brilliant, strong Metro student Jennifer Foretich was stabbed to death Nov. 20. She was 19. She is survived by people who loved her - classmates, teachers, friends and family. Foretich's parents divorced when she was four. "I read an article about Paul (Tinsley, the man who is charged with her murder), and it said he came from a broken home. Well so did Jennifer. It doesn't make me sympathize with him," said Foretich's mother, Percilla Romero. Her father, Robert Foretich, kept in contact with her throughout her life. Romero said Foretich visited her father in Seattle often. Romero said her daughter was very gifted and open-minded. "She wasn't the type of person to give her opinion, unless you asked for it, then she'd let you know." Metro students who knew Foretich were shocked to hear of her death. "She wasn't all that talkative in class, but she was profound," said Todd DePuy, 26, a Metro English major. "Things like this shouldn't happen." DePuy had British Literature with Foretich and had spent time with her outside of class. "Her mother and father have been robbed of a such a caring soul," DePuy said. "She wasn't just a 19-year-old girl, she was a woman, an old soul," he said. "She was brilliant, strong, confident." DePuy said Foretich had attended classes at Western Washington University on an art scholarship. According to newspaper reports, she returned to Colorado to be closer to Tinsley. "I knew she broke up with her boyfriend about two months ago," DePuy said. "But she wasn't a stereotypical victim. She was cleansed of her relationship with him." Dr. Theresa Crater, one of Fortich's professors, said she was impressed also with Fortich's strength. "I didn't know about her situation, but she wasn't a weak person," Crater said. DePuy said Foretich was firm about her break-up with Tinsley. "We've all been in bad relationships," he said. "There's no shame in that." Crater, also a counselor, said she heard about Foretich's death on the news, but it didn't sink in until later. "We hear so much bad news that we tune it out," she said. Crater's class didn't discuss Foretich's death as a group until they began to read some poetry, and that triggered parallels to Foretich. "The class was shocked, angry and sad," Crater said. "This
generation gets a bad rap for not being involved, Crater described Foretich as bright. "She wasn't just intellectually bright, but spiritually and emotionally,
too," Crater said. "She wasn't talkative, The funeral for Foretich was Nov. 29. DePuy attended and said it was beautiful. He read three of Foretich's favorite poems at the funeral, two by Elizabeth Barrette Browning and one by Naomi Shihab Nye. "Her mother is a Chicana and has a large family," DePuy said. "There were lots of people there, lots of family for her mother to lean on. "She loved literature," he said. Her father said there were 220 people at the memorial service. "Some of her friends from kindergarten were there," Foretich said. "My daughter wasn't the type to take risks. She was very level headed and didn't get into harm's way," according to Foretich. DePuy said he was glad to see the support at the funeral, but often felt that community closeness on campus was too low. "People walk around here and avoid each other's eyes," he said. "They won't talk to strangers. It's really frustrating to see these horrific acts of violence in our world; look at Matthew Shepard. I'm shocked at the world, there's so much suffering, and people just ignore it." DePuy and Crater said they felt people need to increase their awareness of others and become more involved with their communities. "People can make a difference," Crater said. "I'm going to volunteer some time at a woman's shelter or something," DePuy said. DePuy is also spearheading a benefit dinner for Fortich's family. "The benefit will help her family with funeral costs and help fund the scholarship set up in her name," he said. The benefit dinner will be 5 - 7 p.m. Dec. 6, at the G.I. Forum 158 S. Federal Blvd. Tickets are $10. Send donations to Norwest Bank P.O. Box 5768 Denver, CO 80217-5768, account number 2835135648. |
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Colleges clash with TABOR Metro students might have to face enrollment caps and tuition increases in the near future. The Taxpayers' Bill of Rights spending limits will butt heads with colleges and universities if enrollment continues to increase over the next few years, college presidents told the Colorado Legislature's Joint Budget Committee Nov. 30. "If it's not taken care of by fall 2000, we might have to close the door to 200 students," said Geri Reinardy, spokeswoman for the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. The TABOR amendment limits the amount of revenue state agencies can bring in and therefore, also limits their spending. These limits are based on population growth and inflation. If enrollment growth exceeds population growth, colleges and universities
will be forced to turn students away "If we can't take their money, we can't teach them," Reinardy said. Metro's fall 1998 enrollment rates are down by 1.5 percent, while enrollment is up 1.7 percent state-wide this year. Reinardy said the commission, along with college presidents, are looking for flexibility to continue to enroll students. "We're not trying to cry wolf, we're looking for alternatives," she said. Alternatives include higher education being exempted from TABOR, amending higher education's spending limits in TABOR to be more flexible or making higher education governing boards' an enterprise. So far, the JBC has agreed to study this issue. An enterprise is a government-owned business, which receives less than 10 percent of its revenue from the state budget. The state lottery is an example of an enterprise. Ed Bowditch, a budget analyst for the JBC, said TABOR helps keep tuition rates low by limiting revenue and spending of the state's budget. Half of higher education's money comes from the state budget and the other half comes from tuition. Bowditch said the legislature has been able to appropriate enough money from the state general fund to keep tuition 2 percent lower than inflation rates for four years straight. This "buydown" strategy has kept tuition at 1.3 percent, as opposed to inflation's 3.3 percent, Bowditch said. "If the governing board became an enterprise, then TABOR wouldn't be artificially holding down tuition," he said. Heidi Van Huysen, executive director of the Colorado Student Association, said exempting out of TABOR isn't an option this year, but there has to be some sort of change. The CSA is an advocacy group for college students at different levels of higher education decision making. "One thing as an institution we'll push for is affordable education," Van Huysen said. She also said that a buydown might not be necessary this year because the inflation rate is low. |
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Construction begins for arts building The stage is set for Auraria's first new academic building in 10 years. Groundbreaking for the campus' $38- million Academic and Performing Arts Center was held Dec. 1. "It's been a long time' a coming," said Metro President Sheila Kaplan. "The building will be the absolute showplace for the campus." "We're just bursting at the seams," said Marilyn Hetzel, director for Metro's theater department. "It is something we've been working on for a long time. It will be a tremendous resource for not only the campus, but for the city of Denver as well." Approximately 200 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony, where architects presented a "tour" of the site using fireworks set around Lot G to mark where different parts of the building will be. The building, which will be the second largest on campus, will house a 550-seat concert hall, a 350-seat theater, a recital hall, classrooms, offices and production studios. "It's important to us because our performing arts people are now going to be able to conduct the programs on campus," said Dean Wolf, Auraria's executive vice president for Administration. "We have in excess of 200 musical programs and a dozen theatrical productions, which for the most part occur off-campus in any location that can be found. The only facilities we have on campus today are two converted classrooms. "This is the largest campus in Colorado, yet many local high schools have better facilities," Wolf said. "We want the building to be interactive with the environment,"
said Peter Lucking, one of the building's architects. Completion of the building is scheduled for July 2000. |
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Auraria spends $55,000 on soil clean up Auraria officials broke out the golden shovels Dec. 1 as lovers of the arts stood by with sparklers ablaze at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Academic and Performing Arts Center. The soil has a few problems though. Last spring, Auraria discovered some "plumes" of earth beneath Lot G are contaminated with oil and gasoline, John Loveshin director of Design and Construction said. "It's enough, that over time it will probably migrate toward the ground water," Loveshin said. Lot G, the future home of the Center, was once home to a small gas station, a Hungarian Flour mill, a highway department maintenance station and a school that was affiliated with St. Cajetan's Center, Loveshin said. The Auraria Higher Education Center first learned about the contamination when workers walked the site with a metal detector. They found two 1,000-gallon tanks buried where the gas station once stood, Loveshin said. The tanks, which contained some liquid, have since been removed and disposed of, but the soil around the area also must be replaced, said Loveshin. He estimated that 200-400 cubic yards of dirt will have to be removed. Ray Allen, Auraria's manager of environmental health, said the tanks' contents were solidified and sent to a monitored landfill. "I'm very conscientious in making sure things are done safely on campus," Allen said. Since the discovery, Auraria has spent $30,000 testing soil samples from Lot G for contamination. Soil studies are routinely conducted before construction projects begin. These studies turned up "another plume of something" on the east side of the lot, Loveshin said. Auraria is waiting for the Colorado Department of Health to decide whether or not Auraria must clean up that area as well, said Loveshin. "We don't know where it came from," Loveshin said in reference to the second area. "Our consultant is telling us they don't think there is anything here to stop us from building on the site." Loveshin said the St. Cajetan's school was near the second site, and the contamination in that area could be heating oil used at the school. But Loveshin said that was just a guess. "By the time we are through, we probably will have spent $30,000 testing," Loveshin said. "And we may spend $25,000 cleaning it up." Auraria has not contracted with any company to do the cleanup, but Loveshin said he is hoping the job can be completed before the end of the year. |
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Tax dollars support Metro's
'water rights' Metro has spent more than $4,000 on Deep Rock bottled water over the past two years, and a portion of those bills was paid with tax dollars. Various departments and offices throughout the Auraria campus contract with Deep Rock water, but many pay for the service privately by collecting money from those who drink the water. The college paid $859.99 to Deep Rock Water Co. from its institutional operating funds. This figure was confirmed in a memo dated Sept. 30, from Metro's accounting office to Carrie Schafer, director of college communications. The college paid $1,937.88 out of what was called the auxiliary/Self-Maintaining Funds, the college said in its memo dated Sept. 30. This category of funds is not a part of tax dollars, Schafer said. Deep Rock received $1,285.65 from what the college called restricted grants and contract funds, according to the accounting memo. According to Schafer, these funds are from grants or contracts given to a specific person or department from state or federal agencies to conduct a specific program, research or project, and are not funds paid from the college's generating operating budget. Metro has six accounts with Deep Rock Water Company. Those accounts were confirmed by customer service representative Dawn Phillips. Phillips confirmed water is delivered on campus to Central Classrooms 102, Student Intervention Services/ESL Services; Room 211G in the English Department, and 313, Office of Student Services. The Metropolitan office also buys Deep Rock water. - Lita Martinez contributed to this story. |
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African Americans celebrate common values Greater unity among black Americans is the only way to overcome past and present injustices, a visiting lecturer told Auraria students at a gathering to celebrate the holiday Kwanzaa Dec. 2. The lunch meeting of about 35 students highlighted the seven "guiding principles" of Kwanzaa, including unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. These values are a roadmap to success for all people, said the first speaker, who calls himself Brother Jeff. Brother Jeff said many blacks have become complacent with the relative success they've enjoyed in the post-civil rights era. "There seems to be no sense of urgency among us as a people," he said. "Our responsibility is to move our people forward, and ultimately humanity." Brother Jeff invited the participants to his weekly open poetry reading, Saturdays at 8 p.m. at Brother Jeff's Cultural Center and Café, 2836 Welton. Call (303) 297-0823. Attendees included representatives from Sisters in Support of Change, Association of Black Students and Black Men on Campus, all of the University of Colorado at Denver. From Metro, Professor Obidike Kamau offered several poems, including one on reparations from whites to blacks called, "I want my money." |
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Singer celebrates Rosa Parks In honor of Rosa Parks Day, Metro's Political Science Department featured local jazz vocalist Diane Reeves at the Golda Meir House on campus Dec. 1. Rosa Parks is an African American woman who refused to give her seat up to a white man on a segregated bus Dec 1. 1955 in Montgomery, Ala. Her actions initiated a boycott of the bus system organized by Martin Luther King Jr. Unlike many speeches in tribute to Rosa Parks, Reeves focused on her own life rather than the historical event. She shared her story of coming up in the music business and finding a spiritual side to music. Norman Provizer, political science chairman and organizer of the event, said both Reeves and Parks strike him as symbols of dignity. "It seemed like a real personal reaction. A lot of the (musicians) she mentioned were a real inspiration in my life. It was good luck that I showed up today, because I think I found a new artist to appreciate," Metro student Adam Goldstein said. "The thing that happens in jazz music is you find your own sound. There could be four people on a stage singing the same song, and all of them have a different sound. That's jazz," Reeves said. Reeves said she traveled to Africa to learn the rhythms of its native music. She said she was not excited at first because the music seemed very simplistic. She soon found African music would impact her work forever. "The complexity of its music is its simplicity. The music brings about a spiritual awakening because it is the people's music. From that point on, it colored everything I did," Reeves said. Reeves said her 11 compact discs are "more like a diary of my growth as a person." She said one of the most important elements in her records is improvisation. In her album, Art and Survival, she wrote all the song lyrics without a melody, she said. She went into the studio and improvised the rhythm. "I wanted to just read the words from the paper and let it go," Reeves said. |
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Hearing to begin for grad's shooting death A 1993 Metro honors graduate was found shot dead in her home Oct. 21. The former student's husband is a suspect in her death. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 23. Professors and staff in Metro's Anthropology and History departments remember Carol Weiskopf as a knowledgeable, yet soft-spoken student. One of her three children found her in her garage, two days after her death on Oct. 19. Jefferson County Police arrested Weiskopf's husband, William, the same day she was found, after receiving a call from the couple's son, William III. When the younger William confronted his father, who was also in the house, his father said, "I think we need to call the sheriff," police said. The couple's son became concerned when his mother stopped showing up for her volunteer position at the Denver Museum of Natural History, police said. After his arrest, the father told a sheriff's deputy, "You know I killed my wife," police records show. The couple was married 40 years. The father was director of the Colorado School of Mines Foundation and faces potential first-degree murder charges. Carol graduated from Metro with degrees in history and anthropology. She was president of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honors club. |
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COMMENTARY |
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Records - Open wide News: Views: Bit by bit, public officials are weakening citizens' ability to monitor the actions of government. They're meeting in secret, withholding information and wrapping in red tape the parts of government that should be easily accessible. What's the effect? Your freedoms are being chipped away, and you can't know about it until it's too late. Several recent developments:
Regardless of whether or not it's legal, this is just another example of the doors of government slowly being closed to the average person. Why is this a problem? First, because democracy relies on informed citizens to operate properly. The more a government operates in secret, the more difficult it is for its citizens to make intelligent choices as voters. Second, the fact that government officials are trying to keep information secret implies they have something to hide. What could that be? We may never know. |
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My parents made a date with history Dec. 6 is a date that's main claim to fame is it falls the day before the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 1974 stands as the year Nixon was impeached. But it's time to examine, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story (thanks to the Information Please 1998 Almanac for most of the following information).
And this date's only a national holiday in Finland. Figures. Dave Flomberg is a Metro student and a copy editor/columnist for The Metropolitan.His e-mail address is flomberg@mscd.edu. |
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Protesters need more passion I think the biggest problem with these apathetic protests that our good editor protested was a lack of passion. And this apathy is a result of a failing educational system, at least in the K-12 grades. The system induces and even endorses apathy. In the editorial, "In protest of protests," (Nov. 13), the editor basically stated that protesters needed to be informed and keep working toward a goal. But passion and more passion will always carry the issues to the pinnacle of change. It's understandable how difficult it is to get fired up about the issue of more "ethnic history" studies while marching from a campus that already has many ethnic history classes in session, while marching to an office which has concerns that are much more vast. Our educational system and the Democratic Party has sold out the possibility of a better education in order to main teachers' bargaining power, regardless of performance! Maybe if the protesters had just been protesting the sad state of the educational system instead of only one issue they could have induced more spiritedness and gained much more support. Isn't it more free to allow parents to send their children to a school they choose instead of forcing them to pay taxes, even if the school they choose, instead of forcing them to pay taxes in their own district, are substandard? Of course, the "liberals" or rather, Democrats, could not abandon their fellow conspirators in this crime against a good education, the teachers' union, and they lied about Proposition 17 that it would give the rich money. Whereas, the truth was that the proposition stated that money would go to those districts that had substandard performance first and foremost. Rich districts usually exceed standards and the poor districts usually are substandard. The real issue is a better education in every aspect, and that is the issue that will raise passions to the necessary pitch. I think the solution that will please everybody, except teachers' unions, is an education system that allows more freedom. Vouchers or something like Proposition 17 would allow our protesters to send children to schools with all the ethnic history they can handle! The really brave protests are made by those who do not care if they face off with the state police, they raise the hairs on the back of oppressive administrators necks. And those protests are made by people who find themselves compelled to act freely, despite all attempts of indoctrination and spirit of apathy (like in our current public schools) that bombard them. Mark Mattox |
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| Fight the stigma of HIV test
Editor: As I was reading Gino Stone's article in last week's paper about HIV testing (Nov. 20), I noticed that the idea is good, but the reasoning is flawed. First, the question about whether or not to disclose past lovers is an individual decision. Assuming that not disclosing will create an epidemic like the one in Africa is ignorant. Perhaps we can see such a problem with other sexually transmitted diseases, but not with HIV or AIDS. So why haven't more people been tested on campus? Gino answers his own question several times in his article. Lets start with anonymous versus confidential testing. In Colorado, if you test positive, the medical office is required to disclose that information to the state. Forget about insurance companies. You'll have the Health Department calling to try and convince you to notify past sexual contacts. However, with anonymous testing, if the result comes back as positive then you still remain anonymous but receive the same kind of options without the state knowing. Another reason some people choose not to get tested is the cost. The Student Health Center charges $15, whereas the anonymous site is free. Additionally, please don't overlook the idea that not everyone on campus is sexually active. If people have been in a relationship for years, then suddenly get a test, some questions will get raised. Whether or not a person is sure of his or her status, waiting for the results is nerve racking. Gino raises some questions that he felt would have crossed his mind if he had tested positive. Ask anyone who has been tested and they will tell you that the little stuff like who will attend the funeral is trivial. Suddenly a person questions how long there is left to live, where did he or she get the virus, and is life really worth living. There is a stigma attached to HIV, including the testing process. Despite the increase in heterosexual cases, HIV is till associated with the gay community. While Auraria has a larger gay contingent than most schools, it does not account for the thousands who have not been tested. So, we can assume that many people feel that since they are not gay they don't have to worry. If Gino's motive was to get more people to test for HIV, perhaps his energy would be better spent discussing how the disease sees no genders, no colors and no age group. Maybe the focus could have been that it only takes one time to get infected. He could even examine the notion that HIV is spread through drug use as well. There is a much larger educational campaign that must come to fruition before society will really see that everyone needs to get tested. Chuck Dugan |
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| Ringo scratches himself with trees?
Editor, I read with some interest Kyle Ringo's commentary in The Metropolitan in your Nov. 20 issue. Now, if I understand his piece, he complains that Al Gore is wrong about the amount of the earth's forests being destroyed. I checked into this, and indeed, Mr. Ringo is correct. However, Mr. Ringo says: 60 X 60 X 24 X 365 = 31,356,000. This is wrong! He has carried out a reversal! The correct figure is: 31,536,000. However he uses the correct figure to multiply by 360 feet to get 11,352,960,000 feet. This is in fact equal to about 61,085 square miles or around 39,094,200 acres. Now, I went to the school library to ascertain the amount of forests cut per year. The 1998 edition of the Book Encyclopedia listed the amount of rain forests clear cut per year as 50 million acres. They said that in 1940 there were about six million square miles of rain forests in the world. By the 1990s this had shrunk by clear cutting to 4 million square miles. So indeed, Mr. Gore is totally wrong again. He has underestimated the cuttings by about 21.8 percent. This is totally shocking! And at 150 feet wide, the clear cutting since 1940 has reduced our space travel by about 70,400,000 miles. Yes indeedy, the space program will never recover such a mileage loss! As to Mr. Ringo's attraction to these nursery trees on campus, I came up with two suggestions. First, I think he may have been looking for a story. And not liking environmentalists saw the tree situation and went "wow". Or, two, he is attached to these trees. He indeed may scratch himself on the trees. Or since he can't seem to find a place to check out his facts, he may wipe himself on these trees. I mean what is another Peter Boyles type graduate to do when he can't actually read signs to find the men's bathroom? Donald L. Ferry |
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FEATURES |
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Rent, the musical that's
turned the theatrical world upside down, soon stops in Denver. It will not
be forgotten. Silly enough, the first thing people notice about Trey Ellett is his long hair. "A
lot of people talk about the hair. It's seems to me rather silly,"
he said from his Salt Lake City hotel room. His predecessors on Broadway and in touring casts (of which there are many) have all had short, bleach-blond hair. "When I first got cast, I thought: 'I guess I'll have to cut the hair off," said the 28-year-old, "but the director said 'I like it long, and don't change it,' so I didn't." The directors and crew seem
to promote the adage that change is good. "They've always encouraged
us and celebrated the fact that we're all different," says Ellett.
"They embrace it." Ellett, who has been with the company since the beginning of April, said the cast works hard to keep the message true to its meaning. And before there even was a touring cast, producers were being sticklers about who they were picking. Ellett said the audition process was grueling. "I
initially auditioned for the tour sometime in '96. I didn't get it and they
later called me back in - I must have had 10 callbacks. I was to the point
where I didn't want to do the show anymore when I first got it." "I think it's about people in New York City struggling to find their way. A lot of people think it's about drug addiction and AIDS and being poor and homosexuality; what it's about is community and family." And Ellett lives a similar lifestyle. His hometown lifestyle in the Big Apple is virtually the same as it is with the characters in Rent - well, almost. "I don't live in the East Village without electricity, but my friends are all poor actors and artists." This sense of friendship is what Ellett believes has brought upon the tremendous outpouring of youth to Rent. "My favorite part of the night is at the end and looking out and seeing all those teenagers in the crowd. I wasn't going to the theater when I was 14. It's very generational and very universal," he said. "It's brought an entire new generation to the theater. It's exactly like what Hair did." Its success shows. In addition to the constant productions in London and on Broadway, there is an Australian company, a Japanese company and two U.S. touring companies. Ellett said he sees a lot of Mark in himself. "We're very similar people. I've always been the person to be friends with all the theater people and the entire football team and the people on the wrong side of the tracks. I've always been the observer, and that's Mark. He's the mind of the play. He's the narrator ... More importantly, he's the voice of the playwright. He is Jonathan Larson's Mouthpiece." Larson, the show's creator, died just before the show moved to Broadway, just before the play won the Tony Award and just before he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Some critics say the show's success and popularity derive from the awkwardly timed death of the playwright. Ellett disagrees. "Jonathan died, and his death was a tragic, tragic story. Sure the play got a lot of hype because of his death, but that's not what got it the Pulitzer. He wrote a pretty spectacular work of theater." He said his favorite song to sing is "Rent." It is the first song of the show; the piece upon which everything else is built. "Things explode and the energy starts from there and we're all running around and I never get tired of doing that. I love how the song is constructed." Ultimately, Rent is one you'll have to see to truly appreciate. And it's almost sold out, so hurry up. |
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SPORTS |
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A stepping stone short The Metro volleyball team put itself in the exact position it had strived for all year: The championship game of the 1998 NCAA Division II Southwest Regional Tournament with a berth in the Elite Eight national tournament just one win away. For the second straight year, the win never came. The Roadrunners had momentum after knocking off the defending national champion West Texas A&M Lady Buffs in a three game sweep in the semifinals. Metro even had an opponent it knew it could beat: the Regis Rangers. Already this season the Roadrunners upset the Rangers, handing them two of their three defeats on the year. It couldn't have been a better situation, except for the ending. Though saddened by the final outcome, the Roadrunners gave credit where credit was due. "Regis just raised their level of play another whole level from the start," a disappointed head coach Joan McDermott said after Metro ended its season with a 15-8, 15-9, 12-15, 15-9 loss. "They (Regis) just played out of their minds and it was hard to stop them." The Roadrunners finish the season with a 26-11 record and a host of fond memories that include the school's first conference championship and its second straight appearance in the regional final. But Metro will also remember the one match that didn't go its way. "There were so many great things that happened all season," McDermott said in reflection. "I think we worked through a lot of adversity early on with injuries and had a very successful season. Regis is a seasoned club and returned a lot of experience from last year's team. We didn't handle things well the way we normally do." That was apparent from the start as Regis manhandled Metro from the opening serve. The Rangers played almost error-free ball in the first two games. The Roadrunners hung close early in both games but once they got behind, fell apart. "The key was not digging ourselves such a big hole and that's what we did," outside hitter Kelly Hanlon said. "They executed better than we did." That execution ended up falling on the shoulders of Regis senior Shannon Nelson. She had a match high 23 kills and hit .354 - a huge difference from the last three times the teams met. "She was hitting over our blocks and we couldn't stop her," McDermott said. "The other three times we played them, we were controling her. Plus, they played the best defense I've ever seen them play." The win for Regis in the first game was the catalyst according to Ranger head coach Frank Lavrisha. It was the first time all year Regis had won the first game and Lavrisha felt it set the tone of the match. "The key for us was a week ago when we beat them in the conference championship," Lavrisha said. "That got us over the hump. We were able to start off so much better because we weren't on our heels wondering if we can ever beat this team. Once we won game one, instead of being behind the eight ball, with the pressure on us because we're the higher seed, we had the advantage and they had to play better to catch up on us." Metro tried some new tactics to gain advantage. With each team knowing exactly what to expect, the Roadrunners went to someone other than kill leader Hanlon. "The game plan was to get the ball more often to (middle hitter) Chris
Brink, and we did that," said McDermott. |
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Metro avenges regular season loss The Metro volleyball team took one step closer to its first trip to the Elite Eight as it slaughtered the defending NCAA Division II national champion, West Texas A&M, in the first round of the Southwest Regional tournament Nov. 20 at the Regis Fieldhouse. A 15-11, 15-5, 15-11, sweep advanced Metro to the Southwest Regional final for the second year in a row against arch rival Regis University. "We weren't ready for tonight to be our last night," said Metro outside hitter Kelly Hanlon. The Roadrunners, who lost to the Lady Buffs in four games in the West Texas A&M Invitational, were led by Chris Brink and Hanlon with 13 and 12 kills respectively. Audra Littou (19 digs) and Kelly Young (42 assists) helped monopolize the battle as Metro jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the first match. West Texas A&M attempted to regain control as it struggled back to an 11-11 tie, but the Roadrunners shut the door with four points to win the match and set the stage for the night. "We basically self destructed," said Debbie Hedrch, West Texas A&M's head coach. "It was demoralizing to let Metro get the lead. It's an extreme disappointment." Metro breezed through the second match as West Texas A&M fought to survive. The Lady Buffs made a fleeting effort in the third game, keeping pace with Metro until they succumbed to the Roadrunner pressure. Metro's head coach Joan McDermott attributed the win to the team's balanced attack and home court advantage, singling out Young as the key to the Roadrunners success. "We just beat an incredible team," McDermott said. "I thought we could beat them but not this easy. We seemed to play better." Young said she was fired up for the match and the team had something to work for, saying "we seemed to flow better than we usually do." Others called on assistance from superstition. Liane Brink, mother of Chris Brink, was wearing a gray Metro sweater in the hot Regis fieldhouse. She traveled 850 miles from Tracy, Minn., to witness the devastation with her husband Richard. She said she was confident her daughter and the team would win, but a little superstition couldn't hurt. "I was sweating tacks but I wouldn't take it off," Brink said. "I wear this to all the games and I've been lucky so far." |
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Too big for Pan-to-handle Considered by most coaches in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to be the tallest team in the conference, Metro's men's basketball team towered over Oklahoma Panhandle State Nov. 20 enroute to a 77-59 win at the Auraria Events Center. "It was a good win," said Metro guard John Bynum. "We could have played a lot better, though." Led by Jody Hollins with 16 points and 13 rebounds, DeMarcos Anzures with six steals and 16 points, and Lee Barlow with 12 points, Metro won its third game in four tries. Anzures also became the school's all-time three-point shooter with 121, passing the old record of 119 set by Gene Edwards from 1988-90. Although Metro won, head coach Mike Dunlap didn't agree that it was a good
win. That was due to the fact that the coach of Panhandle State was new
and the size of the Roadrunners overwhelmed the Oklahoma players, not the
team's ability. "They (Panhandle State) don't have any big people," said Linninea Armstrong, a metro sophomore at the game. "Metro played powerball and won the game." Dunlap said Metro played "pretty scrappy" and showed signs of "good basketball at moments." But it has a long way to go according to Dunlap. He said the team knows what they need to work on. "We had 20 turnovers," Dunlap said. "In order for us to play quality ball, we need to bring it down to at least 12, and we're not shooting well from the free throw line. I have high expectations for the team, I know we can play a lot better." The Roadrunners will begin RMAC play Dec. 4 on the road. Their first game will be against Nebraska-Kearney, a team that was picked second in the coaches' preseason poll behind Metro. There will be little time to rest as Metro will face Fort Hays State the next night, a team that has lost only one game in the past six years at home. "It's never an advantage to start at those two places," Dunlap said. "They never seem to lose at home." |
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Paperwork glitch fouls Hopkins Imthiaz Hopkins, a junior forward for Metro's women's basketball team, has been spending most of her time trying to become eligible to play this season. Although Hopkins was declared eligible to play at the beginning of the semester, she has been benched for the last two games and will remain ineligible to play until she has been released from her former school, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "CCA (Community College of Aurora) was supposed to transfer my records to both (Metro and UCCS) schools' but they didn't," Hopkins said. "It's a total paperwork glitch," said Brian Crookham, Metro Athletics department's compliance coordinator. NCAA rules require players to have a minimum of 48 credits prior to transferring from one college to another. Hopkins had 47 credits at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, one credit short of the minimum required to transfer, and six credits at the Community College of Aurora, Crookham said. Since UCCS didn't receive the transcripts from CCA, they haven't released her to play at Metro. Documents from the community college show that the college sent her transcripts to Metro Aug. 19 and Nov. 19. The only documents sent to UCCS were on Nov. 19. Hopkins questioned Rita Borganah, transcript clerk at the community college, as to why transcripts were not sent on Aug. 19, when she originally requested the documents to be sent to both Metro and UCCS. "Our documents only show a request for files to be sent to UCCS on Nov. 19, nothing in August," Borganah said. "If the request was lost, the money our office collects would be over by two dollars, and we would notice that," she added. Although the team, the coach and the compliance coordinator all say they are confident Hopkins will be eligible to play, her presence on the team is missed. "Right now all we have is five guards and 2 posts," said Timmi-Jo Miller, a starting center for the Roadrunners. "We need more posts. If we had more people that could play, you could run the floor like you want to, not play a high school game." Metro has been playing with only seven players the past two games. |
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Short-handed Roadrunners begin conference play He asked for it, and now he's got it. "I said when I came here I wanted a challenge, and now I have one," Metro women's basketball coach Mike Power said. "This is why you coach." Power and the Metro women's basketball team begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Dec. 4 as they travel to face Nebraska-Kearney, the top ranked team in the RMAC coaches' preseason poll, and Fort Hays State Dec. 5. Power has had more than one challenge to overcome this season. Not only is he getting used to a new team but an injured team at that. The weekend of Nov. 27-28, Metro competed in the Nebraska-Kearney Classic and suited up only seven of its 12 team members. Even with the depleted team, Metro captured its first two wins of the season. "We'll have to play a lot better than we played that weekend to beat Kearney," Power said. Metro has had little sympathy from opposing teams this season. Two of its first four games have been against ranked teams and one game was against a team that will be going to Division I next year. Power has also had to control his coaching style, a philosophy that likes to run and gun. With such a small team, he's had to adjust his coaching style for the first time in four years. "There are limits as to what we like to do and want to do," he said. The slow down game that Metro has been forced to follow is nothing new. Its the kind of game they were used to under former coach Daryl Smith. "It makes you prepare for every game," Power said. "But the team is more comfortable with this style." The Roadrunners had two players, Timmi-Jo Miller and Sarah Coleman, named to the All-Tournament team in the Nebraska-Kearney Classic. |
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