IN THISISSUE

05

ONE FOR THE BOOKS06

08 WE ARE NOT DONE YET

10 LONG DISTANCE ATHLETESGO A LONG DISTANCE

Director of URECJoe Carter, carterjr@appstate.edu Director of Club SportsErin Sanders, sandersec1@appstate.edu

Activities CoordinatorChelsea Watson, watsoncg@appstate.edu

Publicity ProgrammerAlyssa Gribble, gribblead@appstate.edu

Executive OfficersPhilicia Gibson, gibsonpn@appstate.eduIan McNeill, mcneillim@appstate.eduKatherine Uva, uvakr@appstate.edu

A WEEKEND AT EASTERNSWOMENS ULTIMATE

WOMENS VOLLEYBALL

WOMENS BASKETBALL

TRIATHLON TEAM

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Publicity ProgrammerAlyssa Gribble, gribblead@appstate.edu

Executive OfficersPhilicia Gibson, gibsonpn@appstate.eduIan McNeill, mcneillim@appstate.eduKatherine Uva, uvakr@appstate.edu

For more information on any of the club teams, visit the website:clubsports.appstate.edu

email us at: clubsports@appstate.edu

or call us at the Student Recreation Center(828) 262 2100

The March 27thEdition of the Club

Sports IllustratedDesigned by Alyssa Gribble

APP STATE DRESSAGE:A LOOK BACK

EXECUTIVE’S CORNER

12 RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY

14 DIVISIONAL QUALIFYINGTOURNAMENTFENCING TEAM

MENS ULTIMATE

EQUESTRIAN TEAM

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WRITTEN BY:

CORRIE MALONE,

SECRETARY

he clouds were heavy

with rain; the ground

muddy and slick from

cleats cutting across; the

game tied; the time out. It is the last

game on Sunday, the winners will take

third place at Easterns, the losers will

take home only the mud on their shirts.

Both teams want the win, both teams

will fight hard for it. Team Asheville

pulls the disk to Nonads, ready on the

line. The great Maggie Simmons picks

up the disk as the rest of the teams

falls into the vertical stack. Captain

Kenyon Hall makes a hard cut for the

disk, receiving it ten yards closer to the

in-zone. The pressure is on, put on by

the mighty Asheville team with a strong

defense. Unintimidated Meredith and

Sarah-Cabot take turns working the

disk up the field, with handler Rachel

providing a soaring flick back to Maggie.

Five feet from the in zone and the ladies

are on fire! A quick cut from the side,

slashing to the back right corner, and

the game is over. Victory in the hands of

the entire Nonad team!

And there you have it, Third place

achieved at the sanctioned tournament

known as Easterns. With only two subs

the entire weekend and a long drive

home, the Nonads reflect upon the

final winnings. Not soon to forget, that

ultimately it isn’t the score that matters

but the personal victories each lady

made as she pushed herself to best of

her ability.

WOMENS ULTIMATE

ULTIMATELY IT ISN’T THE SCORE THAT

MATTERS BUT THE PERSONAL

VICTORIES

“

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T

WOMENS VOLLEYBALL

This past season has

been one for the books. With

two dedicated teams, Women’s

Club Volleyball has overcome

adversity to pump out a successful season!

The most recent tournament took place

at Virginia Tech where the National team

traveled to compete with teams from all

around the east coast. President Priya Ford

recalls a tough match against Pennsylvania

State University that went point-for-point.

“Our girls worked hard and we fought for

every point!” Priya says, “Although we split

the match I’m really proud that we could

keep up with such a tough team!” That tough

match didn’t stop the Appalachian State

Club Volleyball team from placing first in

the entire tournament though. “I really think

we deserved first! I’m so glad we earned it,

our team needed to know we could do it!”

recalls Vice President Jamie Lee Misencik.

Next up for the National team is the National

Tournament taking place in Kansas City,

Missouri on April 9th through the 11th. Our

other team will be cheering them on from the

mountain and hoping the team can keep the

first place momentum going! From all of us at

Club Sports and Club Volleyball, we wish our

team good luck!

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WRITTEN BY:

CORBIN BRUTON,

SECRETARY

T

7

“

”

CLUB VOLLEYBALL

HAS OVERCOME ADVERSITY TO PUMP OUT A SUCCESSFUL

SEASON

ven though the school year is

coming to a close, the Women’s

Club Basketball team has a lot

more fight in them. They have a

home tournament at the Student Recreation

Center coming up in a couple of weeks and

will play teams around the southeast. The

season will come to a close when they will

go to nationals at North Carolina State mid

April. The girl’s are getting anxious for this

tournament, so they are doing everything to

prepare. The team has had some changes in

the last week. Practice times have changed,

which conflicts with some of the players’

schedules. Also, some of the team members

are unable to play because of injuries. This

puts a strain on the team because with fewer

players it is more difficult to practice at full

speed when only a fraction of the team is

there. But this is team is able to recuperate

from anything. They have seen adversity all

season and they will continue to overcome it.

Because it is an indoor sport, the players

are not able to enjoy the beautiful spring

weather that Boone has to offer. To make

things interesting the girls are going to start

conditioning outside up and down stadium

drive in order to have the best possible

experience at practice. The girls are also

participating in hiking and any outdoor events

to get closer as a team and enjoy the beauty

Boone has to offer. As said in other articles,

this is a very tight knit team that enjoys

spending time together. This may include

hanging out on the weekends or going to

the gym and pushing each other outside of

practice. They are excited to finish this very

successful season strong. They are not done

fighting and not done showing their skills.

“

”

THE TEAM HAS A LOT MORE

FIGHT IN THEM

WOMENS BASKETBALL

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E

If you see the girls compete during the home

tournament coming up, go in and cheer them

on. They will not disappoint! The coaches and

players are very proud of how far this team

has gone, but they know that there are more

obstacles ahead.

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WRITTEN BY:

ALYSSA HORAN,

SECRETARY

TRIATHLON TEAM

have addressed in recent articles

how this is the off season and

we are just now stretching

out and started training after

winter. It really didn’t get warm until

after spring break, so we are just now

starting to get into biking and running

again. Over winter, some of our members

were participating in winter sports, such

as skiing and snowboarding. Two of our

members, Tom Nolan and myself (Riley

Parr) decided to just go ahead and drive 24

hours to Colorado. We brought a crew of 7

individuals to partake in the epic journey.

It was quite the time.

We left right after classes on the Friday

before spring break. Buzzing with

excitement like 6 year old boys when

spiderman shows up to a birthday party,

we packed up the car and started to

hightail it west. We shifted in a clockwise

pattern so that everyone ended up driving

about 6 hours in my car of 4 individuals.

The old Subaru huffed and puffed all the

way there, from the icy roads of Kentucky,

through the downtown streets of St. Louis,

and through the night, only stopping for

gas and yummy foods at gas stations

that made foul odors come out of our

bottoms. The sunrise in Kansas was

pretty fantastic and inspiring, but that was

the highlight of that state. That stuff is

flat. Very flat and boring. Once we got to

Colorado, excitement was fleeting, because

Eastern Colorado is about the same as

Kansas. After a few hours and mountains

in sight, we were instastoked again. A

night was spent in Denver, and then off to

ski Arapahoe Basin, CO. The altitude hit us

pretty hard (especially for poor Stewart)

but we still shredded up some serious

gnar. We did this for 3 days with decent

snow conditions, skiing everything open

including a hike-to chute (pictured). We

then skied Loveland CO, a favorite of ours

with free cat skiing. Wooza! The views were

stellar, with mountains much more rocky

and jagged than here in the Appalachians.

With out connections, we were able to ski

Breckenridge for a reasonable price, and

were not as impressed as we thought we

would be. It was a super big mountain,

but it seemed quite touristy and was very

expensive to eat ($13 burger). That night

we were still pretty exhausted from the 5

days of skiing we had done, but we decided

YOLO and went to UC Boulder for the night

to hang out with one of Tom’s friends from

high school. It was fun and we behaved

ourselves. The last day we skied, Friday, it

snowed 7 inches at Loveland. The feeling

of skiing that soft, dry powder snow was

absolute bliss. It bellowed over our bodies

and we swished through it, and we looked

back out our tracks in awe of the epicness

we had been through. For some of the

crew, it was their first day in real powder.

They learned quickly (especially Tom, for

10

I

he is so athletic, despite his skinny skis)

and soon, we were all hootin and hollarin

all the way to the bottom of the lift. No one

was there that day, so we got lap after lap of

fluffy white stuff in our faces. Sadly, we had

to leave from that old, semi-sacred parking

lot with our ski socks still on. We then

drove all the way back to Boone, nonstop,

with much less excitement. Getting back

was a happy/sad moment. Happy, because

we didn’t have to be in a cramped Forester

for any longer, and sad because we were

no longer in CO. I had a great time, with

memories to last a life time, and I would

do it again in a heart beat. Heck, maybe I’ll

do a triathlon out in Boulder. Or just skip

it and go ski again. Keeping tearing it up

out there, y’all.

WRITTEN BY:

RILEY PARR,

SECRETARY

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his past weekend the

Nomads traveled down to

scenic Statesboro, GA to

compete in Southerns, a

very competitive late season tournament.

Ranked 2nd coming into the tournament,

the team had a lot to prove. Saturday pool

play started out with a warm up game

against North Georgia, who proved to be

no challenge for the Nomads as they rolled

them and got to give everyone on the team

a lot of playing time. This would be the

only cakewalk for the team all weekend

though. The second game was against

Carleton GOP, who beat the Nomads at

this tournament last year. With revenge

on their minds, App came out strong in

the first half with great play by all seniors

and was able to take a couple breaks

from the GOP squad. With a comfortable

halftime lead App took their foot off the

gas and GOP made them pay for it. After

rattling off a few breaks to start the half,

GOP regained a comfortable position right

behind the Nomads, making the score 8-7.

App knew what had to be done, and after

a few stacked defensive lines, the Nomads

were able to recapture their big lead and

coast into the Win 13-8. After this game

the Nomads took their bye and feasted on

some delicious Chick-fil-a, many Nomads

went with the spicy chicken sandwich, a

staple for mid tournament food.

After the bye the Nomads faced off against

Mississippi State, a game that included a

lot of chippy play, and words exchanged on

the sideline, ended up in the Nomads favor.

A squad that rallies around the other teams

dirty plays, App was able to put MSU in the

rear view mirror and coast to a third victory

on the day. The day was not done yet

though, a game against Princeton would

be the final match up and test to see if

App could take the pool. The game started

in App’s favor, as the Nomads scored on

offense, then were able to stop the Ivy

League school on defense and capitalize

on their silly mistakes. Princeton was able

to start a late comeback, but this was

halted by great defense from Caleb Ritchie.

Ritchie was all over the field on Saturday

disrupting the opponent’s offensive flow;

he recorded three bookends on the day, a

team high. Finishing the day 4-0, App was

able to secure the pool but by a scheduling

mishap, had to play the three seed in the

first round of the championship bracket

on Sunday.

Sunday was wet, like really wet, it had

rained all night and was pouring as the

Nomads were warming up. The fields

weren’t taking this too kindly either, what

was grass turned to dirt, and dirt to mud,

causing cutting and playing defense very

hard. The disc was wet, but oh well, when

you gotta play, you gotta play. The Nomads

first game Sunday was against Georgia

College, a tough team who was seeded

3rd at the tournament. The game was

sloppy, with both teams recording bad

T

MENS ULTIMATE

12

THE NOMADS FINISHED THE

WEEKEND WITH A WIN

“

”

turnovers due to the weather, it seemed as if

no clear winner would be found. One side of

the field was like the scene out of a movie,

but a cheap movie that couldn’t afford good

props, there was mud everywhere and players

from both teams were slipping and sliding

in attempts to corral the disc. To the Nomads

demise Georgia College was able to hone in

and top the weather as well as the Nomads,

despite some questionable calls late in the

game. This was the Nomads first loss of

the weekend and would knock them out of

championship competition. With spirits low

the Nomads were ready to bulldoze their next

opponent, a young Florida team who made

the mistake of wearing all white on a muddy

Sunday. The Nomads traded with Florida for

a while then took over and broke them back

to back times in the second half to bolster

a lead. Weather would now make a bigger

play than it did all day, the field director

approached the Nomads in the second half,

signaling that the rain was only getting worse

and the fields were ruined so they were going

to cancel the rest of the tournament after this

game. Knowing this the Nomads came out

strong to finish the game and the weekend

with a win. The season is not over for the boys

from Boone, they travel to Raleigh April 11th

for the first round of the playoffs.

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WRITTEN BY:

RYAN SCHANZ,

SECRETARY

o kick off our Spring Break

this year, ten members of the

Appalachian State Fencing

Club traveled to Raleigh, North

Carolina for our first fencing competition of

the semester! The NC Div I/Div II Divisional

Qualifying tournament was an experience for

veterans and newcomers alike. Three of our

members competed in epée and four in the

foil competition, with the rest along to support

their teammates during the tournament and

enjoy a weekend of fencing.

The bouts proved to be intense and exciting

to watch. All of our competitors showed

dexterity and great sportsmanship towards all

of their opponents. Our members fought hard

and we even had one of our own place in the

rankings - Joshua Danford reached the third

round and walked away with an “E” rating.

When we weren’t on the strip or preparing

for a match our members were there giving

each other advice and providing plenty of

support to those that were in the fray. At the

tournament we also had the opportunity to

meet other fencers, learn training techniques,

and discuss plans for hosting tournaments

with a coach from NC State.

Participating in this tournament helped our

members further their skills by going up

against other fencers with different techniques

and styles. Through this amazing experience

the fencing team’s members have grown as

fencers and friends.

After returning from the tournament, the team

has been busy preparing for several other

tournaments coming up in April. The fencing

club is also excited to be hosting our first

competition at the Quinn center this semester

and hope everyone comes out to help support

our members.

FENCING TEAM

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WRITTEN BY:

KARA RAPP,

MEMBER

T

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As we approach our final regular show

weekend of the year and I myself approach

gradation, I can’t help but reflect on the

last three years of my life I have spent

on the Dressage Team. I joined the team

as a former hunt seat rider with no

prior dressage experience, but something

about the harmony between a dressage

rider and her horse pulled me toward

the discipline. My first Intercollegiate

Dressage Association (IDA) horse show

was like nothing I had ever experienced.

In intercollegiate shows, riders draw the

horses they will be competing on out of

a pool of the hosting school’s horses, get

acquainted with their horse during a brief

warm-up, and then enter the arena to ride

their dressage test. You can never get

bored with intercollegiate riding. Even a

seasoned IDA rider is always at the mercy

of the draw.

EQUESTRIAN TEAM

WRITTEN BY:

MADDY MASON,

DRESSAGE TEAM CAPTAIN

I filled the Dressage Team Captain position

at a time when several veteran members

of our small team had just graduated, so

the beginning of the 2014-2015 season

involved a lot of shameless soliciting of

new riders on my part. By some miracle,

we had a full team of amazing riders by

the first show of the season to represent

App State in our region. In November,

we hosted a successful IDA show at our

home facility thanks to the hard work of

the rest of the Equestrian Team. (Special

shout out to Haley McCune, show chair

extraordinaire.) In February, we drove

to Bristol, VA, in the snow and sub-

zero temperatures to make it to a show,

because none of us were willing to give

up as long as the car was on the road and

moving in the right direction. One of our

First Level riders, Kristen Gore, who is also

graduating this May, is currently placed

second in the region. She will be going

to IDA Nationals this year at Otterbein

University, Ohio, if she can secure her

spot at this weekend’s show at Virginia

Tech. Another one of our riders, Marisa

Bumgardner, is third in the region at Intro

Level and may also be going to Nationals

if she can conquer this weekend’s show.

Graduation is always a bittersweet time,

and knowing I will be riding in my last

intercollegiate show this weekend makes

it even more so. I have been very fortunate

to be part of such a close-knit, kickbutt

team, and being Dressage Captain this

season was an unforgettable experience.

I am so proud of my team and I know they

will continue to be awesome next season

and for many seasons after that.

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Club Sports Council had an unexpected last minute change this week, but we ended up making the most of it and still having a very productive meeting. We were supposed to have an activity club propose to be a Club Sport during our meeting, but they ended up having some difficulties on their side causing them to withdraw their proposal. Although we were all looking forward to the proposal, we took that time and reallocated it elsewhere.

At the end of each school year, the Club Sports Program generally has some extra funds left over, whether it be from teams not accepting their full allocation, having to withhold funds from teams, etc. So we take that money and reallocate it back out to teams based on certain

criteria. This year we decided to reallocate the money based on attendance at Council. Coming to Council every meeting is extremely important for the development of our program, so we try reward teams that take it seriously. The teams had an opportunity to vote on whether or not they thought that criteria was fair, and then the teams that were eligible had an opportunity to accept or deny their share of the funds. The next thing we voted on had to do with the Budget Proposal. Katherine has been working on it all semester and needed Council to allow her to spend a certain amount of money in order to print the actual proposals. She broke down what she would be spending money on and Council voted to approve the funds.

Towards the end of Council, Kyle Craft-Kulkin and Chelsea Watson went over the criteria for voting in a new Club Sport once again. Deciding whether or not to let a club be a Club Sport is a huge decision and it is important that all of the Representatives are on the same page.

Overall, it was a great meeting! Some of the team’s seasons have started winding down and some of them are still right in the thick of things. It is always great to hear the accomplishments that each team is having and to hear how well they are representing Appalachian.

WRITTEN BY PHILICIA GIBSON, CLUB SPORTS EXECUTIVE

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