The Optimist Print Edition: 11/11/2009

b. No, it is Islamophobic to even suggest that.

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Optimistthe

acuoptimist.comBREAKING NEWS, VIDEOS, PHOTOS, DISCUSSION AND EXCLUSIVE CONTENTVol. 98, No. 23 1 section, 8 pagesWednesday, November 11, 2009

Forecast InsideRADICAL ISLAMISTShave complicated life for peaceful Muslims and patriotic non-Muslims. How do we preserve both freedom and security?

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Online

Fri Sat Sun

50°74° 54°76° 56°80°

WILDCAT VOLLEYBALL,undefeated at home, ended its 2009 season on a 15-game winning streak, and finished No. 2 in the LSC Tournament.

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Was Hasan’s rampage motivated by religion?

Visit acuoptimist.com to join the discussion.

VIDEO

Flag Football Championships

LOUDandCLEAR

The Season in Photos

a. Yes, the evidence abounds.

c. He was psychologically unstable, period.

Colter HettichEditor in Chief

Students will have another takeout option soon when Pizza Inn opens on North Judge Ely Boulevard.

Bruce Bixby, commercial property owner from Abilene,

leased the land to Pizza Inn because it complements the area’s “mix.”

“These major chains, once they determine they want to be somewhere, they will do everything in their power to get that location,” Bixby said.

He said he plans to remod-el or rebuild the Radford Hills Shopping Center and is “ne-gotiating leases that would give us the green light.”

Bixby said Abilene, un-like the struggling national economy is doing better than fine.

“I have probably 400 ten-ants in West Texas and most of them are having record years,” he said. “Almost all our buildings are full.

Pizza Inn claims Judge Ely locationRESTAURANTS

INTRAMURALS

Adrianna CastanedaContributing Reporter

Waterball has made its way back to ACU campus with a splash.

The intramural office cut the sport from the schedule last year because of injuries and unsportsmanlike con-duct. Waterball returned this year

with more rules to prevent a repeat of past accidents.

Kenli Edwards, director of intramu-ral sports, said dunking and holding is now a penalty. In the past, players were allowed to dunk opponents in possession of the ball and hold them underwater until they released it.

Players are responsible for report-

ing any injuries that are not witnessed, such as a bloody nose or busted lip. Injured players should move to the sidelines where referees can see them. All players sign a waiver releasing the school and the intramural office from liability for injuries.

Alia Barnes, sophomore commu-nication science and disorders major

from San Francisco, Calif., suffered a shoulder injury in a past game against Sigma Theta Chi. Barnes said she was hurt sometime during the first half but continued to play throughout the game.

Waterball is not unfamiliar territory

Intramural waterball returnsJOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

Cody Bowden, sophomore information systems major from Crowley, holds on tight during a match between Trojans and Mabee freshmen on Monday evening.

Christianna LewisContributing Reporter

ACU will honor veter-ans from all over the Big Country, as well as ACU alumni who have served in the armed forces, at its first Veterans Day tribute.

Dr. Royce Money, presi-dent of the university, will conduct the opening cere-monies at 11 a.m. Wednes-day in Moody Coliseum. A 30-minute ceremony will

replace regular Chapel ac-tivities.

There is no other Veter-ans Day tribute in Abilene, said Jim Holmans, execu-tive assistant to the presi-dent, and Dr. Money and a planning committee of faculty and staff mem-bers saw that as an op-portunity for ACU to give back to veterans and the community as a whole.

“It should be a heart-warming service,” Hol-

mans said.The Big Purple band

will perform patriotic music at the ceremony. The band’s narrated ren-dition of Duty, Honor, Country will include ex-cerpts from the speech by the same title Gen. Douglas MacArthur deliv-ered to the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1962.

University plans first Veterans Day ceremony

VETERANS DAY

Brittany BrandContributing Reporter

Victory Records gave the local band, Close Your Eyes, an opportunity to re-cord an album when they signed them Oct. 30.

Brett Callaway, lead gui-tarist for Close Your Eyes, said the band was talk-ing to other labels before Victory called, asking the

Local Christian rock act signs with Chicago label

MUSIC

see WATERBALL page 4

see LABEL page 4see VETERANS page 4Photo courtesy of MYSPACE.COM/CLOSEYOUREYESMUSIC

Close Your Eyes, of Abilene, signed with Victory Records.

COLTER HETTICH Editor in Chief

Pizza Inn will stand between CVS Pharmacy and Taco Bueno on North Judge Ely Boulevard.

contact Hettich [email protected]

Announcements

CALENDAR AND EVENTS

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

2CampusDay

Last day to withdraw from a class

11 a.m.Senior Academic Honors Chapel and Reception 7:30 p.m.Ethnos Family: The Culture Show

4 p.m. Carmichael-Walling Lectures 2009: From Jesus to Paul

5:30 p.m.ArtWalk

6:30 p.m.The Case for Origins: A Scientific Evalu-ation of the Theory of Evolution at the Paramount Theatre

12THURSDAY

11 a.m. Leadership Summit Mandatory Meeting

3 p.m. Spring 2010 Registration: Freshmen

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities. Groups may send announcements directly to [email protected].

To ensure an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

AboutThis Page

57Chapel CreditedChapelsto date:

Checkup 14CreditedChapelsremaining:

The Salvation Army needs volunteers to help shop-pers select Angel Tree toys, keep Angel Tree records, label items and receive gifts. Contact Cecilia Barahona at 677-1557 for more informa-tion.

Meals on Wheels needs vol-unteers to deliver hot meals to disabled seniors and adults each week. Volunteers work once a week, Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. -1 p.m. Call Elisabeth Rodgers at 672-5050 for more information.

ArtWalk will take place from 5-8:30 p.m. Oct. 8 in Downtown Abilene. There will be live music, shopping and art exhib-its.

Jazz Night will take place at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Monks Coffee

Shop. The event is free and will feature the ACU Jazz Combo.

The premiere of Mauri-tius will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in The Culp Theatre. Call 674-2787 to purchase tickets. Tickets are also available online

at www.acu.edu/theatre and at the Box Office in the Williams Performing Arts Center, open Monday-Friday from 1-5 p.m.

Skillet’s Awake & Alive tour with Hawk Nelson will take place at 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Abilene

Civic Center. Tickets can be bought in advance for $18.50 or $23 at the door. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tick-ets for $15 each. Tickets can be bought at Beltway Park Church, Lifeway and Mardel Stores, or online at www.iTickets.com.

The Abilene Commu-nity Theatre will perform Inspecting Carol at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5-7 at 801 S. Mockingbird Lane. Tick-ets are $8 for students. Call the box office at 673-6271.

Ethnos Family: The Cul-ture Show will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-14 in Cullen Auditorium. Tickets are $3 and will be available in the Cam-pus Center from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. during the week of the show.

11WEDNESDAY 13 FRIDAY

Volunteer Opportunities

November 11, 2009 Page 3Campus News

Casey OliverContributing Reporter

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abilene is inviting stu-dents to the seventh an-nual College Bowl For Kids’ Sake competition Saturday to raise funds for their program.

The team-bowling event, which will take place at the Abilene Bowling Lanes, will include door prizes, pizza and T-shirts.

Each team will consist

of five members, and members are encouraged to raise $350 to cover the team entry fee, although the fee is not required for participation. Intra-mural points will also be awarded to participants.

Michelle Parrish, cor-porate partnerships co-ordinator for Big Broth-ers Big Sisters of Abilene, said the event was a suc-cess last year.

“We had 22 teams com-pete last year,” she said.

“We were able to raise a lot of funds from them.”

Parrish said there are only six teams signed up to participate, and she hopes to get more teams by Saturday.

“This is one of our most important fundrais-ers,” she said.

Parrish said 100 per-cent of the money raised at the event – the organi-zation’s final fundraiser of the year – supports the matching of college

students with children.Kirby McErlane, ju-

nior family studies ma-jor from Sugar Land, said she appreciates the donations of others.

“It’s wonderful that people we don’t neces-sarily know are willing to financially support us,” McErlane said. “It shows the compassion that our community has for oth-ers who are in need.”

Volunteers and contrib-utors may be donating to

the organization, Parrish said, but the kids’ lives show the real difference.

“The kids are so ap-preciative of the do-nations,” Parrish said. “They hand-write thank you notes, and it’s en-couraging that they un-derstand outside finan-cial support.”

College students may not have the time to be mentors, but they can give back to their local community during this

event, according to the press release.

The event will take place from 1-3 p.m. Sat-urday. Students can visit the event’s Web site at www.westtxbowl.kintera.org for more information or to register a team.

College Bowl supports Big Brothers Big SistersSERVICE

Jill DougherContributing Reporter

Eighty people partici-pated in the first Resi-dence Life disc golf tournament on ACU’s new course Saturday.

Jae Webb, residence director of the sopho-more experience, and Chris Windsor, resi-dence director of the freshman experience, said it was time for peo-ple to reap the benefits of a disc golf course.

“We’re hoping it will be the first of many ResLife tournaments,” Webb said.

The communitywide tournament was an 18-hole, two-person scram-ble – in a scramble, part-ners use the better of the two players’ shots – ac-

cording to the Residence Life Web site.

The tournament cost $5 for ACU students and $10 for other partici-pants. The first 40 to sign up received a free T-shirt.

Deonna Shake, in-structor in exercise sci-ence and health, raised more than $18,000 to build the course. She said she is excited to see how the course bridges the gap between ACU and the public.

“Our vision was to let the course work for the community,” Shake said.

According to the Web site, the tourna-ment had three divi-sions: mixed, women’s and men’s.

“The winds on Satur-day created less-than-

ideal conditions for a disc golf tournament, but it did make for some interesting and funny shots,” Shake said. “I hope we continue to have a good following with future tournaments on our new course.”

ResLife glides through disc golf tournament

RESIDENCE LIFE

TOURNAMENT WINNERS

Men’s championship division:n The Destroyers, Brad Ivy and Santos MontoyaMen’s recreational division:n Team Boss, Bryson Shake and Brady WelchMixed division:n The Rogers, Alan and Francis RogersWomen’s division:n The Basket Cases, Deonna Shake and Tammy Powell

It’s wonderful that people we don’t necessarily know are willing to support us. It shows the compassion that our community has for others who are in need.KIRBY MCERLANEJunior family studies major from Sugar Land

HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer

Walker Nikolaus, sophomore engineering physics major from Ramstein, Germany, practices disc golf on the course behind Smith-Adams Residence Hall.

contact Oliver [email protected]

contact Dougher [email protected]

November 11, 2009From FrontPage 4

for Barnes, who played water polo throughout high school. Before tear-ing her ACL in the spring of her senior year, she planned to play for Stan-ford University. Barnes said playing waterball is much easier than water polo, because all players have to do is place the ball on the other side of the pool.

“The difference be-tween waterball and wa-ter polo is the sheer fact that people are bred for water polo and people are trained for water-ball,” Barnes said.

Hilary Standish, se-nior psychology major from Austin, plays wa-terball on the Alpha Kai Omega team and said she fell in love with the sport after watching just one game. Standish said she wished the sport was year-round because it builds community and gets everyone “amped” every year.

Every team plays the sport a little different-ly. Waterball is an eye opening experience for spectators when they see normally courteous people act in such a vio-lent manner.

Mark Daughdrill, ju-nior psychology major from Cypress, plays in the intramural league on a team he formed with friends. Daughdrill said

the difference between a women’s game and a men’s game is the great-er ferocity of the women, while the men do not seem to care afterward.

“Some girls, we didn’t know they had the fight in them to keep play-ing,” Standish said.

Aly Cain, sophomore political science major from Houston, attends a waterball game at least once a week and enjoys cheering on her friends in the water. Cain said the games are intense for the spectators, as well as the athletes.

“If more students knew about waterball coming back to campus this year, there would be more involved outside of social club teams,” Standish said.

She said waterball is an exciting game that keeps the crowd stand-ing in anticipatio. Al-though it is a rough sport, Standish said there are rarely hard feelings out-side the game.

“What happens in the pool, stays in the pool,” Standish said.

tary Academy at West Point in 1962.

The Armed Forces Medley will be a chance for veterans attending the ceremony to stand and be recognized. Special trib-ute will be given to those soldiers who died in Af-ghanistan and Iraq, as well as ACU alumni who lost their lives in service.

Opening Day Cer-emonies traditionally included patriotic ele-ments, such as the reci-tation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The plan-

ning committee devel-oped the Veterans Day tribute after Money made the decision to spread those observanc-es among other days of remembrance.

Because Memorial Day is not observed during the school year, the committee chose Veterans Day to recog-nize men and women who have served in the military, said Dr. Gary McCaleb, vice president of the university.

Though the Veter-ans Day tribute has not been declared an annual event, it has the poten-

tial to become one, Mc-Caleb said.

Ron Hadfield said it is important to set aside a time to honor veterans, and he was excited to be part of the planning process.

“I was asked, but I would have volunteered anyway,” said Hadfield, as-sistant vice president for university communication.

Hadfield said a great deal of his appreciation for veterans grew from his relationship with Dr. John C. Stevens, ACU’s chancellor emeritus and eighth president. The former president,

now deceased, served in WWII.

“He loved his coun-try,” Hadfield said. “I was inspired by his sto-ries and respected his contribution.”

Hadfield said vet-erans can too often be taken for granted, and this is a chance for ACU to honor what they have done and continue to do to secure freedom.

band to play a show in Chicago. Soon after the show, Close Your Eyes and Victory started ne-gotiating a contract. In the end, the contract with Victory seemed the most solid, Calla-way said, and the band decided to sign with them.

Callaway, who has been playing guitar since seventh grade, said he always has as-pired to sign with a re-cord label. He has been a part of this project, though, for only about four years.

Shane Raymond, the band’s vocalist, and

Callaway met while at-tending Hardin-Sim-mons University. They both were wearing band T-shirts, which sparked a conversation. The two realized they had simi-lar interests in music and started Close Your Eyes, Callaway said.

Close Your Eyes is a five-man group: Ray-mond on vocals; Calla-way and Andrew Rodri-guez on guitar; Sonny Vega on bass; and David Fidler on drums.

Callaway said the group plays hardcore music, but contrary to the stereotype, they don’t scream all the time. He said their style is from a movement that came out of the punk

scene in the ’80s. They consider themselves a Christian band and try to maintain a positive message.

According to the Web site, the band’s mission statement “is to give hope to the hopeless, give bread to the hungry, give love to the unloved and give life to those who feel there is nothing left.”

Zak Zeinert, a mem-ber of another Abilene band, Swing the Lead, has had a few opportu-nities to play with Close Your Eyes.

“They are awesome guys,” said Zeinert, se-nior photojournalism major from Houston. “They put a lot of effort into what they do.”

Close Your Eyes will start recording Monday, and the release date for the band’s new album – Callaway said Hands and Feet is the poten-tial title – is Mar. 16, according to Victory’s Web site. Callaway also said the band plans to tour after recording wraps up.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/closeyoureyesmusic.

Veterans: Day honors soldiersVETERANS DAY

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

contact Lewis [email protected]

contact Brand [email protected]

contact Castaneda [email protected]

Waterball: Fanfavorite is back

INTRAMURALS

Continued from page 1

Label: Album due early 2010MUSIC

FocusNovember 11, 2009 Page 5

ABOVE: Red-shirt freshman quarterback Mitchell Gale passes the ball to a fellow Wildcat in the game against Angelo State on Oct. 10. He threw for 218 yards and one touchdown and completed 18 out of 24 passes. The Wildcats blew past the No. 23-ranked Rams 38-14 in San Angelo. The win improved ACU to 7-0 on the season.

ABOVE RIGHT: Nick Jones pushes through the Texas A&M-Commerce defense. The Wildcats beat the Lions 20-14 in overtime Sept. 12, in spite of the rain. With the win at the Cotton Bowl, the Wildcats improved to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the LSC.

RIGHT: Running back Daryl Richardson shrugs off a Tarleton State de-fender while running the ball downfield in the game Oct 24. ACU fell for the second time in as many weeks, this time at the hands of the Texans with a final score of 13-6.

ChasingtheirChancePlayoff shot caps tumultuous season

Daryl Richardson leaps over a Southeastern Oklahoma State University player to complete a play. The Wildcats stomped SE Oklahoma in a 33-14 victory in Shotwell Sta-dium Sept. 19 – the Wildcats’ third game of the season. ACU improved to 4-0 with the win, while the Savage Storm fell to 2-2.

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer

HEATHER LEIPHART Chief Photographer

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

OpinionPage 6 November 11, 2009

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters

containing personal attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892 Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: [email protected]

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Editorial and Management Board

Colter HettichEditor in Chief

Sondra RodriguezManaging Editor

Laura AcuffFeatures Editor

Linda BaileyOpinion Page Editor

Jozie SandsChief Photographer

Brandon TrippSports Media Director

Tanner KnauthSports Editor

Chelsea HackneyCopy Editor

Liz SpanoArts Editor

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Multimedia Desk(325) 674-2463

Kenneth PybusFaculty Adviser

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Optimistthe

By Jordan BlakeyAtaraxia

She saw them coming, but told herself the fear was an irrational one. As she and her husband stepped into the SUV, the two black men rushed the vehicle, pulling hand-guns from their pockets, and stole the vehicle. Later that night, her hus-band tried to calm her, but to no avail.

“… And it’s my fault, because I knew it was going to happen,” she screamed. “But if a white person sees two black men walking toward her and she turns and walks the other way, she’s a racist, right? Well, I got scared, and I didn’t say anything, and 10 sec-onds later, I had a gun in my face.”

This scene from the 2004 film Crash illus-

trates a cultural tension that surfaced most re-cently in reactions to the Fort Hood shooting. This tension can easily stifle discussion in an environ-ment where political cor-rectness is in vogue.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, licensed psychia-trist, was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood on Thursday when he went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 and wounding at least 30, according to www.cnn.com. On Friday, President Barack Obama cautioned the nation against “jumping to con-clusions.” Caution, how-ever, should not preempt honest questioning.

Government agencies and military leaders have only begun to piece to-

gether a profile of Hasan, and even a thorough profile might not con-clusively reveal a motive. But Hasan, according to widespread reports, was vocal about his allegiance to the Muslim faith and strongly opposed U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If Islam continues to grow in popularity and influence, not just in the U.S. but across the world, non-Muslim Americans will face the difficult task of protecting themselves from extremists like Hasan, while upholding the right of all citizens to impartial freedom.

The U.S. has declared a war on terror. For-mer President George W. Bush and President Obama have stated the

war is not against Islam but against extremism that promotes acts of terror and destruction.

It is not the fault of peaceful Muslims that violent radicals have killed thousands in the name of Allah. We must resist the impulse to fear an individual simply be-cause he practices Islam. If other signs point to danger or abnormality, take one more objec-tive look at the situation before taking action or making accusations.

Nevertheless, a red flag is a red flag. We cannot func-tion as though extremists will broadcast their deadly intentions before following through on them. Fear of the unknown is powerful, and seemingly arbitrary at-tacks are scary. Authorities

should be free to address security threats without facing accusations of rac-ism or ethnocentrism.

To say Hasan acted vio-lently because of his be-liefs is not an inherently bigoted statement. To say all Muslims will act in the same way because of their religion, is. It is the respon-sibility of every citizen to recognize the difference.

In moments of con-flict, we cannot act as

though violence is never religiously motivated. We should, however, be slow to judge – after all, that’s our religion.

Balancing freedom, security difficultEDITORIAL

Disfellowship causes doctrinal debateCOLUMN

Hacked Off Chelsea Hackney

You know you’re a Church of Christ kid if you’ve been on the wrong end of a disfellow-shipping joke. I like to consider m y s e l f w e l l versed in the doc-t r i n a l heritage of the Church of Christ, but this practice is quite foreign to me.

Growing up, I knew only two things about disfellowshipping: it wasn’t something you wanted to happen to you, and you weren’t supposed to call it ex-communication. After 18 years of church camp and a college education, I’m still a little fuzzy on the details. That is, un-til I spent the past week researching exactly this topic.

For those who are unfamiliar with the practice, it is a way to discipline members who refuse to repent of a sin. It is supported by several New Testament Scriptures, the most common of which is Matthew 18:15-17.

This passage out-lines the “procedure” a Christian should follow if “your brother sins against you.” First, you should go to him alone and tell him of his fault. If he doesn’t listen, take a few people with you. If he blows them off, too, take it to the church. If the whole church can’t convince this guy to cut it out, “treat him as you would a pagan or tax col-lector.” In other words, show him the door.

While that sounds harsh in theory, it is. God is serious about removing yourself from anything that distracts, tempts or separates you from him. Sin being the ulti-mate separation, staying

away from hardened sin-ners would seem like the best choice. Many church leaders also argue disfel-lowshipping causes the excluded member to feel lonely and desire recon-ciliation with the family and with God.

That’s just not true. I think exclusion is go-ing to be written on the epitaphs of churches across the country. Ex-clusion is not a sign of compassion; it is, in fact, a sign of failure. It is the church’s sym-bolic way of washing its hands of “impossible” cases. To disfellowship someone is to give up on them.

I’m a young Christian, and I am not a theo-logian. I can, though, grasp the concept of

a perfect and jeal-ous God. I understand Christianity requires sacrifice and sanctity. I do not subscribe to the anything-goes-because-my-buddy-Jesus-loves-me-no-matter-what kind of faith. But, correct me if I’m wrong, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.

And we’re going to refuse to share a pew with one?

THE ISSUEMaj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a proclaimed Muslim, went on a shooting rampage Thursday, killing 13 and wounding at least 30.

OUR TAKEAs the Muslim faith continues to grow in popularity and influence in the U.S., we should take care to temper fear with objectivity and understanding.

Future focus ruins present

COLUMN

E-Span Lizzy Spano

We are always waiting for the next big thing to happen. Whether it is a subconscious thought process or a rec-ognized f ee l ing , it seems a l m o s t everyone believes his life is on the verge of something.

Some are looking for a new and better job; others are about to graduate and enter into adulthood. Still others are hoping to finally stumble upon true love; trying to have a baby; or waiting for their big break.

People are always bank-ing on the fact their lives are soon going to improve, or they are soon going to achieve the success and happiness they have al-ways been searching for.

Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines, writes in her memoir that she grew up feeling like she lived in a movie, and her mundane life was accept-able as long as she knew the climax was coming and things were going to turn around soon.

We have entertained similar thoughts. Movies and books have presented an unrealistic picture of how life should be, with happy endings and love stories that cannot possi-bly be attained in real life.

Instead of setting our hopes to find a Nicho-las Sparks love story or our godlike vampire boy-friend, we should take stories for what they are:

stories. Appreciate books and movies for their pos-sibility of escape from the real world – don’t substi-tute their expectations for real world values.

You can’t watch a ten-der interaction between a mother and newborn with a group of girls without one of them remarking, “I can’t wait to have chil-dren!” Men are expected to be planning for a success-

ful career by the time they graduate from high school and snag a wife before they graduate college.

We should appreciate the place we are in life, instead of constantly an-ticipating what is going to happen next. If we are al-ways waiting and wishing for the next best thing to happen, everything good about the present is going to pass us by.

Instead of wondering how life could be better, think about what is good about life right now. Maybe we don’t have picture-per-fect, movie-perfect, book-perfect lives. The reality is, we never will. We need to realize the next big mo-ment – and whatever else we have been waiting for – is happening right now.

Email the Optimist at:[email protected]

We should appreciate the place we are in life, instead of constantly anticipating what is going to happen next.

contact Hackney [email protected]

Exclusion is not a sign of compassion; it is, in fact, a sign of failure. It is the church’s symbolic way of washing its hands of “impossible” cases.

Spano

Hackney

contact Spano [email protected]

“I had to make an in-game decision with Cleophas,” Bur-roughs said. “We had to stop this to prevent a major injury and minimize future damage.”

To say injuries affected the team would be an understate-ment. Not only did the team lose Tanui during the race, but freshman Colby Delbene was racing through visible pain, as well. ACU also had to run the entire season without star runner Romain Rybicki because of an injury.

“We’re a good team,” Bur-roughs said. “You just can’t lose three of your best run-ners and expect to qualify. We could sustain one injury but not three.”

However, the race was not a complete disappointment for the Wildcats. All-Region

runner Amos Sang won the individual title and will rep-resent the Wildcats as an in-dividual at the 2009 NCAA II National Championship later this month. Sang outstripped the competition, crossing the line more than a full minute ahead of the rest of the pack with a time of 29:53.23.

Unfortunately for ACU, there was a dropoff between Sang and the Wildcats’ sec-ond finisher. Daniel Maina crossed the line in 20th place with a time of 32:24.79.

Missouri Southern won the men’s title with 56 points; Southwest Baptist came in sec-ond with a score of 81 points.

The women’s team ended a frustrating 2009 season with a 19th place team finish. Freshman Chloe Susset was ACU’s top finisher, crossing the line in 34th place with a time of 23:15.66. Missouri Southern captured the team title as expected, with an im-pressive score of 18 points. Second-place Dallas Baptist finished in a distant second with 86 total points.

November 11, 2009 Page 7From Sports

contact Craig [email protected]

Injuries: Wildcat season ends in disappointmentCROSS-COUNTRY

Continued from page 8

HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer

Amos Sang won the individual title at the NCAA regional cross-coun-try meet in Nelson Park on Saturday.

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

Kevin Washington makes a tackle against Midwestern State University on Saturday.

Playoffs: ’Cats and MSU set to battle

FOOTBALL

contact Cantrell [email protected]

they will play the win-ner of the TSU-Kings-ville game. The winner of the ACU-MSU game will travel to Missouri to face the Northwest Mis-souri State Bearcats.

The Wildcats beat the Bearcats 19-14 in Abilene during the opening game, in the Bearcats’ only loss in their 10-1 season.

Saturday’s game will kick off at noon. Tickets can be purchased in ad-vance by calling the MSU ticket office at 940-397-4779. Reserved tickets cost $10. General admis-sion is $5, and tickets are $3 for students.

Continued from page 8 In the fourth quarter, ACU had a chance to complete the comeback, but fell short. The Wildcats again called on Lineberry to kick a long field goal after a long drive stalled. Lineberry nailed a 51-yard field goal to make the score 15-13.

ACU got the ball back at its 30-yard line with 3:31 left in the game, but was stopped on a fourth-and-7 when Gale launched an incomplete pass, closing out the game.

The loss dropped ACU’s overall record to 8-3 and gave Midwestern a share of first place in the Lone Star Conference Championship for the first time in Mid-western’s history.

The Wildcats will return to Wichita Falls for a first-round playoff game Saturday at noon, when they will have a chance to re-deem Saturday’s loss.

“After watching the game film, we were just a couple plays away from putting up more points,” said quarterback Mitchell Gale. “It is encouraging to know we get another chance.”

Short: ’Cats fall to MSU in season finale

FOOTBALL

contact Cantrell [email protected]

Continued from page 8

Lindsey Campbell. “We have worked on improv-ing and perfecting our game for the playoffs.”

The tournament has consequences for the re-gional tournament, as well. The Wildcats are

the seventh seed in the region, and the top eight teams advance.

Inclusion in the LSC

tournament wasn’t the only good news the Wildcats re-ceived this weekend.

ESPN Magazine honored

starting players Shawna Hines and Michelle Bacon on Thursday; each was voted to the academic all-District VI volleyball team with Bacon selected for the second team and Hines, the third.

ACU will face Kingsville at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Canyon. If the Wildcats

win, they will face the win-ner of the match between Angelo State, third, and Texas Woman’s, sixth. The championship match will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.

We have worked on improving and perfecting our game for the playoffs.LINDSEY CAMPBELLVolleyball Assistant Coach

QUICK FACTS

The Wildcats enter the Lone Star Conference tournament as the second seed.

n West Texas A&M defeated ACU in the 2008 championship game 3-2.n The LSC automatic berth will go to the winner of the eight-team single elimination tournament.

contact Gwin [email protected]

Roll: Momentum carries volleyball team into postseason

You just can’t lose three of your best runners and expect to qualify. SAM BURROUGHSCross-Country Head Coach

VOLLEYBALL

Continued from page 8

SportsPage 8 November 11, 2009

Angelo St. 5-3 6-4

Tarleton St. 7-2 9-2

Standings

THURSDAY

VolleyballACU vs. TAMU-K, 2:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

VolleyballLSC Semifinals

SoccerNCAA Quarterfinals

SATURDAY

FootballACU at Midwestern State, noon

VolleyballLSC Championships

Soccer

HOME GAMES LISTED IN ITALICS

Upcoming

THURSDAY

SoccerACU 1, Midwestern State 2

VolleyballACU 3, TAMU-K 0

SATURDAY

FootballACU 13, Midwestern State 15

VolleyballACU 3, Tarleton State 1

MONDAY

Women’s BasketballACU 47, SMU 74

Scores

FOOTBALLTeam Div.

VOLLEYBALL

TAMU-K

SE Okla.

Central Okla.

7-2

4-4

3-5

WTAMU 5-3

TAMU-C 4-4 4-5

Team Div.

Angelo St.

Central Okla.

10-3

7-6

Cameron 5-8 17-12

WTAMU 13-0 31-3

SE Okla. 6-7 22-14

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div.

Central Okla. 7-3WTAMU 7-2-1 14-2-3

TX Woman’s 6-3-1 8-9-2

TAMU-C 5-5 10-8-1

Angelo St. 4-6 10-9

MSU 6-4 13-5-2

East Central 3-7 6-8-2ENMU 4-6 9-10

NE State 1-8-1 5-11-1

MSU 6-7

TAMU-K 6-7TX Woman’s 6-7 16-16

East Central 5-8 14-21Tarleton St. 4-9 10-21SW Okla. 3-10 6-28ENMU 0-13 6-23

ENMU 2-6 2-7NE State 2-6 2-8

SW Okla. 2-7 2-8East Central 0-8 0-10

n Junior Ijeoma Moronu was named LSC Setter of the Week for the fifth time this season. Moronu is now fourth on the ACU all-time list for assists with 3,471.

Briefs

9-2

5-56-4

3-7

18-13

16-15

17-12

10-24

14-6-2

SW Okla. 4-5-1 7-10-2

Ovrl.

Ovrl.

Ovrl.

ACU 6-2 8-2

ACU 12-1 27-5

ACU 5-3-2 10-7-2

MSU 7-2 9-2

TAMU-C 8-5 24-9

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

FOOTBALL

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

The Mustangs’ 15-point first quarter doomed the Wildcats on Saturday. The 15-13 loss dropped ACU to sixth in the region, which earned them the last playoff spot.

“Our guys came back,” said Head Coach Chris Thomsen. “They fought hard, and I am proud of them.”

Zack Eskridge dominated the first quarter, a perfect 11 out of 11 for the quarter. He led the Mustang offense to two touchdowns and a field goal, al-though the offense missed both extra points, bringing the score to 15-0 after one quarter.

Offensively, the pressure got to Gale, and he struggled to complete 18 of 31 passes for 141 yards, with one touch-down and one interception for the game.

ACU turned things around in the second quarter, using the wind to help them drive down 58 yards and score on a three-yard pass play to tight end Trey Simeone with 3:58 left in the second quarter. Morgan Lineberry added a 56-yard field goal with 1:53 left to make the score 15-10. The Wildcats went into the half trailing by five.

The third quarter was a de-fensive battle as both teams held the other scoreless. ACU’s defense stopped the Mustangs on a short field after Gale threw an interception.

Wildcat comeback falls short

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

Despite a tough loss to Midwest-ern last Saturday, the Wildcats will be going to the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

ACU earned the sixth and final spot and will travel to Wichita Falls for a rematch against the third seeded Mid-western State Mustangs. ACU is hoping to avenge a 15-13 loss in the season finale.

The Wildcats were in danger of missing the playoffs after the loss last week. However, losses by Missouri Western and Central Missouri – who were ranked fifth in sixth and the region, respec-tively – and a strong strength of schedule kept ACU from falling out of the top six teams in the region. Quarterback Mitchell Gale was just glad to make it to the postseason.

“It is encouraging to know that we made it to the next sea-son,” Gale said. “We see this as a new five-game season. We take into account that the past 11 games do not mean anything. We also know that everyone else starts over, too, at 0-0.”

Texas A&M-Kingsville won its final game and moved up to the fourth seed. They will face Tarleton State, which lost last week to West Texas A&M but fell to only fifth in the rankings. Central Washington earned the top seed in the region as the only undefeated team enter-ing the playoffs, and Nov. 21,

MIDWESTERN REMATCH

JOZIE SANDS Chief Photographer

Above: Edmund Gates walks to the sideline as Midwestern players celebrate their victory. Below: Mitchell Gale carries the ball in a loss against Midwestern.

HEATHER LEIPHART Staff Photographer

Daniel Maina runs in the 2009 NCAA Regional cross-country meet at Nelson Park on Saturday.

Jeff CraigSports Reporter

An unpredictable season came to a disappointing end for the cross-coun-try teams at the NCAA Regional meet.

The men’s team, fresh from a dominat-ing performance at the Lone Star Conference Championships on Oct. 24, seemed poised to finish in the top three at the regional race. A top three finish would have earned the Wild-cats a spot in the na-tional championship.

However, a season filled with injuries fi-nally caught up to ACU. The team finished in ninth place after losing all-Region runner Cleo-phas Tanui to patellar tendonitis, also known as jumper’s knee.

“The race started off well,” said Head Cross-Country Coach Sam Bur-roughs. “Amos [Sang] dominated the first part of the race, and Cleo-phas was right up there with him. The second lap, Cleophas lost a lot of ground. You could physically see distress in his face.”

Burroughs began to notice Tanui’s struggle’s in the second lap of the three-lap race. Bur-roughs said he could tell something was wrong with Tanui when he be-gan to hobble on his knee. As the pack began to pass Tanui, Burroughs was forced to make a tough call and pull one of his best runners out of the race, all but end-ing ACU’s title chase.

Injuries plague Wildcat runners

CROSS-COUNTRY

Austin GwinAssistant Sports Editor

Win every home game: check. Make the play-offs: big check.

The Wildcats finished their home record 16-0 and earned the second seed in the Lone Star Con-ference tournament with two victories last week.

“It’s great to have those two goals under our belt,” said Head Coach Kellen Mock. “The girls are on such a roll right now. Be-ing undefeated at home and in the conference

tourney means we have had a successful season.”

The first seed in the LSC tournament is usu-ally the host, and West Texas A&M – the team that handed the Wild-cats their only confer-ence loss of the season – will fill the role this year. The Wildcats will face the seventh-seeded Tex-as A&M-Kingsville Javeli-nas in the first game of the tournament.

ACU’s first-round matchup with Kingsville on Thursday should be different than their

match against them Nov. 3. Kingsville was without its starting outside hit-ter in ACU’s 3-0 victory against the Javelinas.

“They may be a little dif-ferent squad than what we saw, but we are prepared,” Mock said. “They will be fighting to stay alive against us, and we are ready.”

The Wildcats have won 15 matches in a row, last losing to Central Mis-souri on October 2.

“Going out with so many wins at the end

Wildcats roll into LSC tournament as No. 2 seed

VOLLEYBALL

Sam BarteeSports Reporter

The Wildcats ended their regular season with a 2-1 overtime loss to Midwestern State in the quarterfinal round of the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament in Canyon on Thursday. ACU learned Monday its record will not be good enough for an at-large bid for the NCAA Divi-sion II South Central Re-gion Tournament.

Midwestern striker Kari Bristow scored her second goal in the 94th minute to

eliminate ACU from the conference tournament and drop them to 10-7-2 on the season. Most nota-bly, the loss to the fourth-seeded Mustangs ended ACU’s chances of earn-ing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats, facing strong winds, were able to get only two shots off, compared to the Mus-tangs’ eight in the first half. Early in the second half, the Wildcats used two consecutive corner kicks to fire shots at freshman Mallory Whit-worth. In the 54th min-

ute, Lyndsey Womack scored the game’s first goal. However, MSU used a 12-6 shot advantage and Bristow’s two goals to defeat the Wildcats.

Central Oklahoma won the LSC Champion-ship in a 4-2 shootout over West Texas A&M Sunday. The two teams went to a shootout af-ter playing to a 1-1 tie through the regulation and overtime periods.

Season ends in overtime lossSOCCER

see INJURIES page 7

see ROLL page 7

Wildcats advance to playoffs

see SHORT page 7see PLAYOFFS page 7

contact Bartee [email protected]