SportsPage 5 Sept. 13, 2007

By Anthony CookSports editor Some sort of congratulations hasto be sent out to 15,000 or so stu-dents who attend the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz. They rep-resent oneof the coolest, andmostdisgusting and bizarre, mascots onany level of competition. They aretheBananaSlugs. You canfind someprettyuniquemascots ifyousearchhardenough.The Banana Slugs really onlyscratch the surface. High schoolsacrossAmericaofferupsuchnamesas:theHotDogs(yum),theGallop-ing Ghosts (scary), the Artichokes(yuck),andeventheOrphans(that’sjustsad).AllofthesenamesserveasapartofAmericanCultureandpro-videafewgoodchuckles. However,youdon’thave to looklong and hard to find some goodnames.TheKansasCollegiateAth-letic Conference is home to somefascinatingones. Sofascinating,thatIfeltcompelledtorankthem.BelowismylistofbestmascotsintheKCAC. 10.TheTaborBlue Jays -Whenyou share a namesake and initialswith theTorontoBlue Jays it can’tmeananythingbutbadfortune.Thisreally hurts Tabor in this list andleavesthemattheverybottomrung.That, and it just doesn’t sound allthatgoodtobehonest. 9.OttawaUniversityBraves-Ba-sicallyOttawa fallsunder the samefate,theysharetheirnamewithan-other major league baseball team,but at least they share them with atraditionally competitive one, thatbeingtheAtlantaBraves. 8. Friends University Falcons -WheretobeginwiththeFriendsFal-cons?Forone,theyhavealliterationwiththeschoolnameandthemascot,if nothing else that earns browniepoints.However,whodoyouthinkof when I mention the Falcons?That’s right the Atlanta Falcons, afranchisethatisinturmoilatthemo-ment because of a quarterback andsome dogs. Friends places 8th outof 10 on my list, but the real loserisheadcoachMontyLewis.OneofthesedaysLewisisgoingtotryre-cruitingahigh-schoolerwithinsanewheelsandthelastnameVick,oratleast one that starts with V, whomhe won’t want to sign because thekarmaofitall. 7. UniversityofSaintMarySpires-IhadtobrushuponmyWebster’slingoforthisone.Cometofindout,a spire is the conical or sphericalstructure at the top of a building.Now I respect the distinctivenessofthename,butit’sjusttoooddtohaveamascotthatdoublesupasthe

topofachurch. 6. Sterling College Warriors -Sterling is the last of the KCACmascots shared with a professionalteam. They share their name withthe Golden State Warriors of theNBA. I could have ranked them10th based on the fact that GoldenStateisusuallyhorribleandthusnota good team to be associated with,butIchosetoputthem6thbecauseGoldenStateissohorriblethattheyaren’tthatwellknown. 5. Kansas Wesleyan UniversityCoyotes-KWcracksthetopfivebe-causetheyutilizeanamethatlargelygoesunused.Thebrethrennameofthe coyotes, the wolfs, is seen onalmost all levels of sports, but thecoyotesisanamethat is justas in-timidatingandmuchmorefresh. 4.BethanySwedes-Wegofromtalking about intimidation with thecoyotes to talkingabout thehistoryoftheSwedishBaptistChurch.TheSwedes isn’t exactly a mascot that

strikes fear into an op-ponent, but it is firmlyrootedinhistory. 3. McPhersonCol-legeBulldogs-McPher-son’smascotnamelooks

barely passable on paper. Abouteveryconferenceoneither thehighschoolorcollegelevelhasaBulldogmascot to call its own. McPhersondrawsthenumberthreespotbecauseofonefact-theirhighschoolteamhasthenameBullpups.Agenuinelybrilliantplan, thisgivesMcPhersonHigh School students a reason tostay inMcPhersonfor theircollegedays, so they can graduate from apuptoadog. 2.BethelThreshers - Itmightbethefarmboyinmecomingout,butitwasano-brainertoputtheThresh-ersinthetoptwo.TheThreshersarenamed after the threshing stone, aharvesting device by early settlers.The college has chosen to incorpo-ratethethreshingstoneintoitscol-legesymbol.TheThreshersmascotsuggests tradition, uniqueness, andsoundsdownrightintimidating. 1. Southwestern College Mound-builder -Was there really ever anydoubt who would hold the numberonespot?Firstly,Iprefernottogetlynched for being a backstabber inthe school newspaper, so I almostfeltobligatedtoputtheMoundbuild-erinthetopspot.Honestlythough,itwouldn’thavematteredbecausetheMoundbuilderdeservestobeinthispositionanyways.Atrulyexclusivemascot, theMoundbuilder instills asenseofprideandachievementintothoseofuswhoareluckyenoughtobecalledone. Anthony Cook is a junior major-ing in communication. You may e-mail him at anthony.cook@sckans.edu.

Off the field competition

By DeLeon FreemanStaff reporter

The Lady Builders soccer teamhastwogamesthisweek.TheyplayMid America Christian Universityat home today, and are at CentralChristianCollegeonSept.15. Thewomenwere3-1onTuesdaywhen they played Bacone College.The results of the game were notavailableatpresstime. Theteamstartedtheirseasonwithtremendousathleticism. Tina Harkness, junior defender,said, “We’re playing well. We’recoming together quick, butwe canalways do better.” Their first winwason the roadSept. 1overMan-hattan Christian 2-1. The womenalso won a home game over Okla-

homaWesleyan4-2onSept.4. JoeWood,headcoach,said,“Theladiesplayedhard.Theyhustledandtheyworkedasateam.”Woodsaidiftheteambecomesmoreconsistent,theskyisthelimittohowgoodtheycanbe. TheLadyBuildershadanunfortu-nate4-0losstoHendrixCollegeonSept.6.Theydidn’tletthelossgettothem.TheyralliedtogetherandbeatCentralBaptistCollege2-0onSept.8. Eva Sanders, junior defender,said,“We’velearnedfromthiswin.It taught us to work harder and tocontinuetoworktogether.” DeLeon Freeman is a sophomore majoring in communication. You may e-mail him at Deleon.freeman@sckans.edu.

By Cameron SiefkesStaff reporter

In just fourdays thewomenwillbetakingpartintheirfirstgolftour-namentoftheseason,whilethemenhavealittleoveraweektopreparefortheirs. Thewomen’steamwillplayattheRoseCreekGolfClubinOklahomaCityonSept.17and18. Therewillbe15otherteamsattheevent. Twelveof theteamscompetedatlast year’s national championships,including Oklahoma City Univer-sity, the defending NAIA nationalchampions. Since thewomen’s teamhasfiveplayers everyone will get to com-pete. BradSexson,men’sandwomen’sgolf coach, said, “The course is a

link style course and it is tough toscoreon.”Linkstylemeansthatthecourse has no trees and lots of tallgrass. Thewomen’steamincludes:Ken-na Corley, digital arts senior, AmyKellner, business senior, RachaelLocke,businesssenior,BlairKoehn,business junior, and Kaydee John-son,businessfreshman. The team is ready for their firsttournament.Johnsonsaid,“Ifeelex-citedandreadytogoforthetourna-ment.Thereisalittlebitmorepres-sureincollegethantherewasinhighschoolthough.” ThefirsttournamentforthemenisatEagleBendGolfCourseinLaw-renceonSept.24and25.Both themenandwomenwillcompeteinthisKCAC designated tournament. Allteams in the KCAC must compete.Bethany, Bethel, Friends, Kansas

Wesleyan,Ottawa,SterlingandTa-borwillallbeparticipating. Sexson said, “This course is notverytoughandmostofthemenhaveplayedtherebefore.” Onlyfiveplayersfromthemen’steamwillgettogotothetournament,andtheyarequalifyingtotravelandcompete. Jared Paul, business sophomore,said,“Forqualifyingtherearethreeroundsofstrokeplay,whichiscount-ingallofyourshots,andthenwegetseeded from one to nine. Then, westartmatchplayandthetopfivegettogotothetournament.” This means that there are indi-vidualmatchesbetweentwoplayerswheretheygoheadtoheadagainsteach other until there are four menleft with the best records. Then,a fifth man will be chosen by thecoach. The fivewill be decided by

theendofnextweek. Themen’steamincludes,PatFul-ton, business senior, Tyler Lytton,business senior, Levi Moreland,sports management senior, AndrewManley, advertising junior, WestinWeeast, business junior, Jake Bus-kirk, business sophomore, JaredPaul,business sophomore,KennethWright, business sophomore, andMarkBudler,businessfreshman. Paul said, “We are feeling veryconfident. Our team is playing re-allywellandwedon’tknowwhoisgoingtothefirsttournamentyet,butinqualifyingeveryone is real closeto each other, so our team is look-ing forward to playing for the firsttime.” Cameron Siefkes is a sophomore majoring in communications. You may e-mail her at cameron.siefkes@sckans.edu.

Women recoil after defeat

In-team competition determines roster

By Ben SorrellStaff reporter

Despite a 1-3 record, the men’ssoccer team is looking to stay fo-cused for their upcoming games.TheywontheirfirsthomegameFri-day1-0defeatingHendrixCollege.Theylost2-1toCentralBaptistSat-urday. DustinPickett,defense,said,“Welookedreallygoodinthegames.Wejusthadsomeunluckybreaksbut Iwas impressed by how we playedandfought.” Theteamisworkingtogetreadyfor thisweek’sgames.Pickettsaid,“Wehavebeengoing througha lotofdrills and focusingonwhereweshouldbepositionwiseandjustonwhatweneedtodo.” The team is showing improve-ment with each game. Pickett said,“We are coming along nicely. Wejustneedtocommunicatealittlebit

moreandmakesurearepositioningisokayoutonthefield.” Thisweekissuretokeeptheteambusy with three games. Southwest-ern traveled to Oklahoma TuesdaytoplayBaconeCollegescoreswerenotavailableatpresstime.TheyhostMidAmericaChristianThursdayat7p.m.FinallytheytraveltoMcPher-

son to play Central Christian Col-legeSaturdayat3p.m.RobertodosSantos, head men’s soccer coach,said,“Weplay threegamesagainstteams that we played last year attheirplace.Wehadplayershurtandweredowninnumbers.Nowweareatfullstrength.” The players are working hard to

stayfocused.DosSantossaid,“Soc-cer is psychological. Players knowwe are on the right track. We justneed to stop making mistakes be-causetheyarecostingusgames.” Ben Sorrell is a freshmen major-ing in communication. You may e-mail him at ben.sorrell@sckans.edu.

Men’s soccer looks to bounce back this week

Photo by April McCormick/Collegian photographerBlake Morgan,defender, goes up against Central Baptist College player, Drew Hanna, senior defender, in last Saturday’s game. The men lost 2-1.

Photo by April McCormick/Collegian photographerKatie Timmer, forward and midfielder, drives the ball forward as Central Baptist College player Rebecca Elrod, midfielder, tries to steal the ball. The women won 2-0 against Central Baptist in the last two minutes of the game on Sept. 8.

Sports Column

Golf looks to club down competition

• KCAC schools provide for fascinating mascots