Friday, September 25, 2009

Conover’s Column: A new year for athletics

By Alex Conover
Sports Editor

A new academic year brings a new round of Cardinal athletics to campus. Although Saint Mary’s University sports were admittedly sub-par last year, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in 2009-2010 if you’re a Cardinal fan:

- After starting up to nine freshmen two years ago, the men’s soccer team finally has some seniority; this year’s roster has ten juniors and seniors, and there are no freshmen in the starting lineup. The women’s soccer team returns plenty of upperclassmen as well, most notably potent goal-scorer junior Amy Sibik and goalkeeper senior Mariana Sanchez.
- The most successful athletics team from last year, women’s volleyball, is returning nearly their entire starting lineup. The squad earned a MIAC playoff berth with its sixth-place finish in 2008.
- The men’s and women’s track and field programs will benefit from their first full year of track usage as both a recruiting tool and a facility upgrade.
- The men’s basketball team will continue to rise with the help of juniors Will Wright and Lukas Holland. As sophomores, the duo finished third and fourth overall in MIAC scoring, respectively. Second-year coach Todd Landrum will also benefit from his first full recruiting effort.
- Swimmer John Fox returns for his senior year as SMU’s first national championship qualifier. He also set five school records in last season’s MIAC championships.

The MIAC is a conference dictated by upperclassmen. Besides the teams named above, plenty of other Cardinal athletic squads return a good number of juniors and seniors. Here’s to finally starting the winning trend on campus!

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