friday 2.9.07

sportswww.dennews.com | Page 12

track and field| ERic VEttER

coach, student, athlete all-in-one

» sEE Vetter, PagE 10

Women’s BasketBall | EastERN 79, aUstiN PEaY 61

galligan’s double-double highlights win

John Bailey | the daily eastern neWs graduate assistant coach Eric Vetter balances a cone on his chin. Vetter learned to juggle and helped coach cross country this past fall. Vetter will graduate in May with a master’s in physical education.

matt daniels| OUt Of BOUNds

High school seniors to influence the future of football

triplethreat

scoreboardpanther sports schedule

tRack aNd fiEldtoday at iowa state invite |ames, iowa

tRack aNd fiEldsaturday at iowa state|all day, ames, iowa

WOMEN’s tENNis saturday at chicago state|11:30 a.m. chicago

MEN’s tENNis saturday at chicago state|2 p.m. chicago

MEN’s BaskEtBall saturday vs. tennessee-martin|7:35 p.m. lantz arena

WOMEN’s gOlfsunday at Baja classic|all day, Ensenada, Mexico

MEN’s tENNis sunday at Valparaiso|9 a.m. Valparaiso, ind.

WOMEN’s tENNis sunday at Valparaiso|9 a.m. Valparaiso, ind.

WOMEN’s BaskEtBall sunday vs. tennessee-martin|4:30 p.m. lantz arena

Nick Nasti, Luke Hockaday and Charles James.

These names are not familiar to Eastern football fans.

But they might become prevalent in the next two to three years.

Nasti, a linebacker from Plano, Hockaday, a quarterback from Maroa and James, a defensive back from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., all committed to playing at Eastern on Wednesday.

These three, along with 16 other players Eastern signed, all hope to become the next Lucius

Seymour or the next Tony Romo.The key word there is hope.While all the hoopla in the

media about Wednesday’s football signing day is a tad overrated, it’s still a noteworthy event.

All one has to do is look back at Eastern football signees from 2004 to understand.

Names that were unfamiliar in Charleston then (like Tim Kelly, Jordan Campanella, Norris Smith and Donald Thomas) are now cornerstones of next year’s team.

There are also names like D.J. Walker, Sean McPeak, Josh Moll

and Jordan Gorzny that never materialized into anything as a player.

That is why recruiting high school athletes to come play at college is hit-or-miss.

Eastern quarterbacks coach Jorge Munoz said Wednesday that Hockaday hopes to be a four-year starter at quarterback for the Panthers.

It’s a nice goal for Hockaday to have, but one that’s not going to happen unless all other quarterbacks (Cole Stinson, Kyle Kniss and Bodie Reeder) are

injured.Stinson is next year’s starter

and will play every snap unless he’s hurt or has repeated abysmal performances.

By kevin murphyassociate sports Editor

He pushes himself during the workouts. He travels on the road with the rest of the team. He’s even a student taking classes at Eastern.

Graduate assistant coach Eric Vetter is trying to coach the men’s track and field team to another indoor title. He is also trying to help the women’s squad challenge for their first Ohio Valley Conference title.

The Panthers hope to work toward that goal this week when the squads split and travel to Iowa State and Illinois College this weekend.

And the inspiration from the young graduate assistant is certainly helping out Eastern.

“He’s a crazy man,” joked Tom Akers,

men’s track and field head coach. “Highly enthusiastic, highly intense. In a way it reminds me of the way I thought I was when I was a younger coach. His enthusiasm rubs off onto the athletes.”

Vetter is coaching his first year of track and field at Eastern and also coached with head cross country coach Geoff Masanet this past season.

Masanet said Vetter travels with the cross country team, but primarily helps the mid-distance crew of track during the fall.

Vetter also does a lot of little work that’s helpful including driving, videotaping, cheering or supporting.

“Pretty much anything I’m doing, he’s doing too,” Masanet said.

Vetter assists the track team in a variety of

ways whether submitting his weekly “For Vetter or for Worse” newsletter for the team or running with the ‘800-meter’ crew each day.

“They get to see a different side of him,” Masanet said. “He’s in shape and he’s fired up. He wants to show those guys you can do something if you’re older.”

The age difference might affect the 2001 graduate of Wisconsin-Superior, but not much.

“Being a post-college athlete, it’s really difficult to push yourself through those hard workouts,” Vetter said.

Vetter, who does indeed push himself through the hard workouts, has a certain coaching style.

Matt daniels is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at mwdaniels@eiu.edu.

» sEE daniels, PagE 10

By marc correntistaff Reporter

Fighting for their postseason lives, Eastern played one of its best games of the season en route to a 79-61 victory Thursday against Austin Peay.

With the victory and Eastern Kentucky’s loss to Murray State, the Panthers are one game behind Eastern Kentucky for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Rachel Galligan, who only had eight points and four rebounds in Eastern’s 74-62 loss to Austin Peay earlier in the season, bounced back with one of her strongest games of the season.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore had as

many points (eight) and rebounds (seven) in the first half than she did in the first meeting in Charleston. Galligan continued to pound the interior of Austin Peay’s defense in the second half, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Coming into Thursday night’s game in Clarksville, Tenn., the Panthers (8-16, 5-10 OVC) faced a familiar task of trying to shut down post player Kellea Reeves.

The 6-4 junior from Austin Peay (8-16, 7-8) finished with 11 points on three of 10 shooting.

Not only did Eastern control Reeves, but the Panthers also controlled the boards, with a 45-38 advantage.

It was a note of interest for Eastern head coach Brady Sallee

and the Panthers, especially with Austin Peay out-rebounding the Panthers 49-28 in the first meeting.

“I told the team before the game that we have to be tougher than they were,” Sallee said. “When my team is the tougher team, our chances go way up.”

Although Galligan made her usual contribution, it was the play of Marie Baker that was surprising.

Before the victory over Austin

Peay, Baker had played in only 15 games, scoring 16 total points.

However, she was the first player Sallee called off the bench. The 6-2 freshman finished a solid game with six points and four rebounds.

“We needed to change some things up a little bit,” Sallee said. “She’s been playing better in practice. She’s a player that’s big and can finish.”

The Panthers finally grasped control of the game that had a chance of slipping away.

With Eastern holding a 47-42 lead, the Panthers went on a 22-8 run to open up a 69-50 lead.

The run was paced by Galligan and Jessica Huffman, who combined for 15 of 22 points to help the Panthers pull away.

for the full box score of the women’s basketball game in austin peay and the men’s basketball story and box score, see page 9.

Eastern women’s tennis player Madina Mambetova is one of the four foreign players on the women’s tennis team. Mambetova is the only one from Russia while the others hail from canada and india. Mambetova, the chegem, Russia native, plays in america and not the in the former soviet Union.

Joseph stalin (above) led the soviet Union during World War ii and defeated the Nazis. However, stalin’s reign after the “great War” eradicated many people in Russia. Not such a nice guy. Now the former communist bloc country has changed.

Here are three reasons that we are excited about Russia.

1. maria sharapova- sharapova, a 19-year-old from Nyagan, Russia, claimed the 2006 and 2004 U.s. Open championships and the 2004 Wimbledon singles title. You can see her hit the ball with her canon “sure shot” or see her in the 2005 issue of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in america.”

2. hockey - Not to be outplayed by our stars from our northern neighbors, canada, Russia has its share of hockey players as well. Remember the 1980 Winter Olympics when the Usa beat the UssR, for the first time ever, on its way to a gold medal? to experience this classic moment in sports history, go rent disney’s “the Miracle.”

3. natalia Vodianova- Her story is a classic rags-to-riches story. Her life did not start well because she lived through the economic downfall of the soviet Union. she went to modeling school and now she works with calvin klein, gucci and louis Vuitton.

-kevin Murphy