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After about a month of re-covery, Evan Webb, junior business management ma-jor from Houston, is nearly back to normal despite hav-ing contracted West Nile Virus.
Webb first saw symp-
toms of the virus as he was driving back from San An-tonio on Sep. 23.
“I felt my vision close in,” said Webb, “and all of a sud-den I had no idea what was happening. So I pulled over and turned the car off.”
Webb immediately passed out in his vehicle, but luckily his girlfriend Courtney Martin, junior
youth and family ministry major from San Antonio, had been driving back in the vehicle in front of him and was able to pull over and help.
“She was definitely freak-ing out but she did a good job of keeping her compo-sure for the most part,” said Webb. “I’m proud of her.”
Martin proceeded to
take Webb to the nearest hospital in Junction where he underwent tests. He was later transferred to San An-gelo where doctors cycled through possible diagnosis such as a seizure, migraines, an aneurism or tumors.
It wasn’t until a week lat-er after undergoing an MRI and multiple brain scans that Webb was diagnosed
with West Nile Virus.It was the last thing he
expected but he felt re-lieved.
“It’s scary when you wait,” he said. “But it was actually kind of a blessing because it could have been much worse than it was.”
The immunization peri-
After six years of serving to weary students, The Den coffee shop in Barret Hall was rumored to be closing its doors.
But Anthony Williams, chief business services of-ficer, said The Den will stay – for now.
“No concrete decisions have been made,” he said. “We are constantly discuss-ing our dining program and trying to evaluate how to best serve student demands.”
For some regulars, like Mariah English, sophomore communications major from San Antonio, news of The Den’s possible closing was surprising.
“I hadn’t even remotely heard about it,” she said. “I usually get coffee there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when I have class in The Den classroom. I love The Den because I live in Barret Hall, and that is the common place for boys and girls to hang out, and it’s also a cozy little study a area.”
The Den’s future is not
Abilene Christian University
So CloseFootball team
loses late lead in Homecoming game
SportsPage 8vol. 101, no. 18 wednesday, october 24, 2012 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
page 6
The editorial board endorses President Obama for another term
OPINION
NEWS
acuoptimist.com
Watch this week’s Ken Collums Show
VIDEO
INSIDE
Page 4
Abilene Ruff Riders change name to the Bombers
NEWS
Page 3
Students preparing for Weekend Campaign over Fall Break
NEWS
Page 3
While diversity numbers grow, retention of that diversity still lags
NEWS
Dean of students addresses religious diversity of faculty
Page 4
Page 8
University celebrates annual Homecoming event in style
SPORTS
Page 5
Soccer team moves from LSC basement to qualify for postseason
FEATURES
acuoptimist.com
Students getting involved with Vision School mission work
NEWS
acuoptimist.com
Honors College to conduct 90s dance on Nov. 3
NEWS
ONLINE
flickr.com/acuoptimist
Go to our Flickr page for more photos from Homecoming festivities
PHOTOS
gabi powellstudent reporter
Decision not final on demise of The Den
see virus page 4
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Becca Clay is crowned Homecoming Queen 2012 during halftime of the football game against Midwestern State University on Saturday.
david singeropinion page editor
Student recovering from West Nile
food services
local
After Obamacare required employers to cover con-traception and some abortifacients in their health plans, religiously affiliated universities cried foul against this
mandate and claimed the mandate violates religious freedom, said Dr. Allison Garrett, executive vice president of ACU.
As part of Obamacare, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services identified that employers’ health insurance should be required to cover their
employees’ contraception drug costs. The only orga-nizations exempt from this coverage are churches.
Garrett was a witness in February at a congressional hearing that proposed the Obamacare mandate was crossing the line between Church and State. This was while Garrett was still Okla-
homa Christian University’s senior vice president for academic affairs.
“The Catholics have taught for hundreds of years against contracep-tion, so this is a religious liberty issue,” Garrett said. “You religiously don’t be-lieve in contraception, but the government is requiring
you to pay for it.”Garrett said cover-
ing contraception usually wouldn’t be a problem for evangelic or mainstream Protestant organizations. However, the mandate has included abortifa-cient drugs also known as
see exception page 4
marissa jonesmanaging editor
Religious schools fight Obamacarenational
Becca Clay, senior speech pathol-ogy major from Salt Lake City, was crowned Homecoming queen at half-time during the Homecoming game on Saturday.
Clay was one of 10 women nomi-nated to the Homecoming court this year by the ACU student body. Women are nominated based on their involvement on campus. Clay’s involvement on campus includes three years in ResLife, president of Zeta Rho, participating in a steering committee this year for international
students and Lynay.While Clay was honored to receive
the title of queen, she was more ex-cited to get to see her father, Randy Clay who is a missionary serving in Thailand. A group of ACU faculty, staff and members from the surrounding
see queen page 5
katie greenepage 2 editor
Students crown Clay
homecoming
see den page 4
The looming mascot of the State Fair of Texas caught ablaze on Fri-day in Dallas, destroying most of Big Tex, the fair’s icon. The incident oc-curred 57 years after he left the cam-pus of Abilene Christian College.
In the fall of 1955, Gene Cole-man (‘58) and a few of his friends were looking to make their newly chartered social club, Galaxy, well-known on campus.
“We wanted to have a big, im-pressive display, and then some-one said something about bringing Big Tex here,” Coleman said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’”
Coleman and Glen Wiggins flew to Dallas in October to ask to bring Big Tex to ACC’s 50th anniversary Homecoming, which would begin on Nov. 4. They met with the mayor of Dallas, Robert L. Thornton, who “helped get the ball rolling,” Cole-man said.
Big Tex, having just completed his third year in welcoming visitors to the Texas State Fair, was disas-sembled and moved to Abilene. Train cars took his skeleton, while several tractor-trailers transported Big Tex’s head, 70-gallon cowboy hat, hands and size-70 boots to Abilene.
Jack Bridges, the artist who de-signed the enormous icon into a cowboy, and a team came to reas-
Photo courtesy of ACU creative services
Big Tex stands in front of the Hardin Administration Building during Homecoming 1955.
mark smitheditor in chief
One-time visitor burns at State Fairstate
see fire page 4
Organizers plan to rebuild Big Tex57 years after brief stay on campus
24 25 26 27Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
10:00 a.m. ACU Foot-ball at TAMU-Com-merce
2 p.m. ACU Volleyball vs Incarnate Word
All Day - Fall Break (Which means we won’t be publishing an issue of the Optimist)
4:00 p.m ACU Soccer vs Midwestern State
7:00 p.m. ACU Volley-ball vs Incarnate Word
11:30 a.m. Armstrong Backus Information Session hosted
7:30 p.m. Jazz Band/Orchestra Concert at Cullen Auditorium
7:00 p.m. ACU Men’s Basketball at Baylor University
Police Log
66 31@acuoptimist
The Optimist
Wednesday 10.24.12 2
Announcements
Around Abilene
Oct. 24
10 a.m. The Disability Re-sources Inc. Pumpking Patch will be open at 3602 N. Clack St. For more information call 325-677-6815.
Oct. 25
7:30 p.m. A production of “Red” will be in the Down Center Stage Theatre at Hardin-Simmons University. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students.
Oct. 26
6 p.m. First Christian Church will be hosting a fair trade sale in their Activity Center at 1420 North Third Street. This sale will feature items marketed by Ten Thousand Villages, Eternal Threads, A Greater Gift, A Bead for Life and more.
Oct. 27
1 p.m. Abilene businesses and nonprofit organizations will provide treats at Boo at the Zoo at the Abilene Zoo. Tickets are $2.50 in advance and will be $3 at the door.
Students interested in joining The Wild-cat Reign can sign up at thewildcatreign.com. The Wildcat Reign aims to provide students the ability to facilitate Wildcat pride on campus and serves as a linking point between students and Wildcat ath-letic events.
The ACU Roller Hockey Club Team is accepting new members who are inter-ested in playing roller hockey. For more information on the team, you can post on the ACU Wildcat Hockey Facebook page or email [email protected].
ACU Swing Cats is hosting lessons for be-ginner and intermediate levels of swing dancing Thursday nights in SWRC Studio B. Intermediate lessons are at 8 p.m. and Be-ginners are at 9 p.m. Social dancing begins at 9:30 p.m.
Leadership Summit will be having an in-terest meeting Oct. 30 and Nov. 16 from 11 a.m.-11:50 a.m. in COBA 201. Chapel credit will be provided.
Elevator Pitch registration is now open. Early registration is until Oct. 31 and costs $10. Late registration is until Nov 6 and costs $20.
The Montevideo Study Abroad interest meeting will be Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in FSB 157. Free pizza will be provided. RSVP at [email protected].
Weekend Campaigns will be going to Dallas to work with CitySquare homeless ministries. Interested students can email [email protected].
Virtuous Sisterhood will be presenting S.W.A.G. Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in Hart Audito-rium. Advice will be given on financial aid, interviewing and college career advance-ment.
Connections Café is now a student run organization. They are serving breakfast burritos from La Popular and coffee from Mission Lazarus.
Darbie Angel, founder of CRU Dinnerware, will be speaking Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. in Hunter Welcome Center in the LYNAY room for the Entrepreneur Speaker Series. April Antho-ny, founder of Encompass Home Health, will be speaking Nov. 13 at 11:45 a.m. in the Hunter Welcome Center.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
The Center for International Education is looking for conversation partners for international students to practice English, conversations and cultural learning. Partners meet for one hour each week at a time and place determined by the partners. For more informa-tion contact Laura McGregor at 325-674-2821 or [email protected].
St. John’s Episcopal School is seeking volunteers to paint metal playground equipment anytime Monday-Friday after 3 p.m. and Saturday anytime. For more information contact Rebecca McMillon at 325-695-8870 or [email protected].
Center for Contemporary Arts needs a gallery assistant to greet patrons, answer phones and answer basic ques-tions about the Center and its programs. This oppotrunity is open Tuesday-Friday. The Center for Contemporary Arts is located at 220 Cypress Street. For more infor-mation contact Jessica Dulle at 325-677-8389 or visit: http://www.center-arts.com/.
Rescue the Animals is seeking volunteers to take pic-tures and videos in preparation for the launching of their new website as well as maintenance of the site after the launch. This opportunity is open Monday, Tues-day, Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Kathy Walker at 325-677-7722 or [email protected].
The National Center For Children’s Illustrated Literature is looking for volunteers to greet patrons, assist with art activities, sell books and make visitors feel welcome. Help is also needed for special events like Artwalk and exhibit openings. The NCCIL is located at 102 Cedar St. For more information on times and dates contact Debby Lillick at 325-673-4586 or visit: http://www.nccil.org/index.htm.
The Christian Ministries of Abilene: Food Pantry is searching for volunteers to greet and interview neigh-bors, do computer entries, shop with neighbors, take groceries to vehicles, bag, stock and pick up orders on Mondays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m.-2:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. The Food Pantry is located at 701 Walnut St. For more information contact Becky Almanza at 325-673-1234 or [email protected].
The Christian Service Center is seeking volunteers to help assist with filling requests for items such as clothing, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. from the donation center, sort and organize donations and occasionally pick-up donated items. Volunteers are needed every weekday and the first Saturday of each month between 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. For more information contact Roberta Brown at 325-673-7561 or at [email protected]. For more information on the program visit http://www.uccabilene.org/ministries/csc.htm.
The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volunteers to help sort and stock food and other items any week-day Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The Food Bank is located at 5505 N. 1st St. For more information contact Janice Serrault at 325-695-6311 or [email protected] on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Monday-Friday between 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Train-ing is provided. For more information contact Samantha Barker at 352-672-5050 or visit http://mealsonwheelsp-lus.com.
The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs including sorting and pricing items in the thrift store, helping in the kitchen and/or doing yard work. Times are flexible. Volunteers are needed throughout the week Monday-Saturday. The Salvation Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is seeking volunteers to help in their baby room by interfacing with clients, hanging clothing, cleaning, and packaging on Wednesdays from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information contact Peggy Valen-tine at 325-829-3425. House of Faith is seeking volunteers to participate in the after school Backyard Bible Club on Tuesdays, Wednes-days and/or Thursdays for elementary children or with the Thursday Xodus program for middle school children. For different club locations, contact Denise Davidson at 325-370-3642.
The International Rescue Committee is seeking volunteers to work with refugees who recently moved to the U.S., teaching English, helping with homework and mentoring. Contact Susanna Lubango to make an appointment at 325-675-5643.
University Place is seeking volunteers to help with the resident birthday party for residents the third Wednesday of each month at 2:30 p.m. For more information con-tact Linda Tijerina at 325-676-9946.
Breakfast on Beech Street is seeking volunteers to help set up, prepare and serve breakfast to homeless/lower income folks any Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 5:30 a.m. or Tuesday at 5 a.m. B.O.B.S is lo-cated at First Christian Church on 3rd St. and Beech St. Service times must be scheduled in advance. To serve on Mondays contact Jody Depriest at 325-669-3312 or [email protected]. To serve on Tuesdays contact Allen Daugherty at 325-660-6949 or [email protected]. To serve on Wednesdays contact Jane Harvey at 325-695-0092 or [email protected]. To serve on Thursdays contact Margaret Beasley at 325-692-4149 or [email protected]. To serve on Fridays contact Rachel Brown at [email protected].
The Abilene Zoo is looking for volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and painting any weekday at any time between noon and 4 p.m. The Zoo is located at 2070 Zoo Ln. Contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487 for more information.
Eternal Threads is seeking volunteers to help with pack-ing and organizing shipments, labeling products, errands and cleaning any weekday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information contact Pam Early at 325-672-6000 or [email protected].
Christian Homes & Family Services is seeking volun-teers to do minor landscaping such as raking, trimming bushes, minor apartment repairs and general upkeep Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more informa-tion contact Shaylee Honey at 325-677-2205 or [email protected].
The Abilene Public Zoo is seeking volunteers to help clean/feed animals, assist zookeepers and assist with educational classes any weekday any time between 12 p.m.-4 p.m. For more information contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487.
Hill Resources is seeking volunteers to encourage and entertain mentally delayed individuals Monday through Friday any time between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more infor-mation contact Michelle Espinoza at 325-673-3346 or [email protected].
The Oaks at Radford Hills is seeking volunteers to par-ticipate in activities, go on outings and provide social stimulation for residents any day at any time. For more information contact Michelle White or Sonia Serrato at 325-672-3236.
Rescue the Animals is seeking volunteers to work at the adoption center doing a variety of tasks including clean-ing, socializing and grooming the animals Monday - Sat-urday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or [email protected].
The CAC Department is seeking volunteers to partici-pate in Special Olympics, by helping mentally/physically challenged people play games and sports Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. For more infomation contact Angel Seca at 325-690-5235.
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/ccsl/ministry-service/volunteer-opportunities/
Chapel checkup
The Office of Multicultural Enrichment has been mak-ing efforts to increase diver-sity around campus, while also pushing for a higher rate of retention among mi-nority students.
Byron Martin, director of multicultural enrichment and support, said OME pushes for a higher rate of retention to increase the feeling of having a diverse culture on the ACU campus. He said retention is not just based on financial reasons and grades. It is also based on students having a sense of belonging.
Dr. Jeanene Reese, asso-ciate professor and associ-ate chair of the department of Bible, Missions and Min-
istry, said she thinks main-taining the retention rate is a big part of the mission of OME.
“I think that office does a really good job of trying to give students a place to go, a place to be, organizations that it supports, that kind of thing,” Reese said.
Five student groups are under the direction of OME: Black Students Associa-tion, Hispanos Unidos and Virtuous Sisterhood, along with performance groups SHADES and Sanctify. Mar-tin said these groups add to the feeling of culture and belonging.
He said another way OME helps retention and diversity is by helping students adapt to college processes.
“Not just here, but across the nation, a lot of students of color are first generation
college students,” he said. “So sometimes the process-es of college are sometimes a little difficult to navigate, and so we do a strong piece in helping students navigate those processes.”
He said OME also helps out in the area of recruiting. Using contacts around the state and around the nation, Martin said more minority students can be recruited to come to ACU.
“Every now and then we’ll help out by making a recruiting trip somewhere with an admissions recruit-er, or helping make some of those connections, develop-ing some of those pipelines into more diverse commu-nities that are already repre-sented,” Martin said.
Martin said diversity has increased and the increase is apparent in this semes-
ter’s incoming class. The freshman class this semes-ter is the most ethnically diverse class in ACU history.
Martin said one of the reasons OME felt the need to increase diversity was be-cause they want ACU to re-flect what the church should be. He also said there was a need to increase diver-sity because students would benefit from the education-al value of interacting with students from other cultures and points of view.
He said when students have the opportunity to in-teract with students from other cultures it enriches their perspective and their ability to “see the world and change it.”
wednesday 10.24.123 campus news
Scripps leader to make visit to JMC department
A renowned news indus-try leader is visiting ACU to speak on servant jour-nalism on Thursday.
Mizell Stewart III’s re-sume stretches across 13 different markets, includ-ing coverage of the con-troversial 2000 presiden-tial election. He was also on a Pulitzer Prize win-ning staff for reporting on Hurricane Katrina.
Stewart is now the vice president of content for the newspaper group E.W. Scripps Company, the company that owns and operates the Abilene Reporter-News.
“Mizell is great to work with because he under-stands how to get the work done,” Reporter-News editor Doug Williamson said. “He has worked with a lot of markets larger than the Reporter-News, so his contacts in the in-dustry are great.”
Stewart will speak to classes in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication before speaking in an open con-versation at 11 a.m. in the JMC Network News Lab
about ser-vant jour-nalism. All students in attenda nce will receive c h a p e l credit.
“ M i z e l l d e f i n i t e l y brings a believer’s per-spective to the industry,” Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the JMC department, said. “I think it is really good for students to see people who are doing ex-cellent work and impor-tant work well, and at the same time personify the same type of ethical stan-dards and values that we would want our students to live out in there profes-sional lives.”
Students from all across campus are wel-come to attend the con-versation, during which Stewart will discuss how being a journalist and a servant go hand in hand.
“He is supportive and a good, honest person,” Williamson said. “I think the students will like him.”
Melany coxonline managing editor
contact cox [email protected]
OME pushing for diversity
Matt Sloansports reporter
contact sloan [email protected]
Weekend Campaigns plan three trips
Weekend Campaigns have scheduled three trips to help students connect with their community.
The trips include a trip to work with CitySquare, a multi-faceted, non-profit organization in Dallas on Oct. 25-27.
Another trip is planned for Nov. 16-18 for a drive-in Thanksgiving dinner in Oklahoma City.
The final Campaign of the semester is scheduled for Nov. 30–Dec. 2, which will be in Abilene.
“I like that we can just take a weekend to go and serve others no mat-ter where they are,” Elisa Wyrick, sophmore English major from The Woodlands said. “Whether they are here in Abilene or in Texas or Oklahoma. I just feel like I’m doing something good
with my weekend.”Wyrick recently went
on a Weekend Campaign to Brookwood Community Home, a community home for disabled adults, in Katy.
During the campaign to the home, the group put to-gether a Disney-themed tal-ent show for the adults.
Wyrick said that the group that was involved in the campaign was a really close group of students and they formed great relation-ships.
“If service is something hard for you to do because you don’t think it can be fun, try a weekend cam-paign,” Wyrick said.
David Reynolds, one of the Weekend Campaign leaders, described the cam-paigns as “a really good community group that also does service, so you get the best of both worlds.”
“There is no commit-ment, so you can come to the Chapels or not, you can
come to one campaign or three; you can decide how many,” Reynolds, a senior math major from Round Rock said.
During a campaign, all students are responsible for is their own meals. Travel is provided.
The group also holds a small group Chapel every Thursday in the Biblical Studies Building in room 249.
The Chapel includes worship, a devotional, and information about any up-coming campaigns.
Each of the four leaders plans one trip per semester, or about one trip a month.
To get more information about upcoming trips, e-mail [email protected] to receive up-dates or to sign up for any campaigns.
missions
Brittany WilliamsStaff photographer
contact Williams [email protected]
Ag department offers dance lessons
The Agricultural and Envi-ronmental Science club is teaching dance classes on Saturdays and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. The goal of the lessons is to generate inter-est in the barn dance put on by the Ag club in November. The entire ACU campus is invited to participate in this fundraiser for the Ag club.
Kathleen Henderson, vice president of the Ag club is excited about bringing in new students.
“In order to get more people to come we de-cided to do these dance lessons,”said Henderson, senior environmental sci-ence range and wildlife management major from Rockport.
The lessons are focused on all forms of country western-style dancing.
“We want a place that is friendly and open for people who want to learn,” said Jamie Elswood, senior criminal justice major from San Antonio and member of the Ag club.
If turnouts at the lessons get too large, there are plans to have a different group meet each day, or add an-other meeting to the nor-mal meetings on Saturdays and Mondays.
The Ag club has attempt-ed to offer country western dance lessons in the past, but ran into obstacles with the old ACU dance policy.
“We couldn’t ever get it going because the ACU policy was a no-dance, ‘make room for Jesus’ kind of thing,” said Ian Merri-man, senior criminal justice major from Hickory Creek and member of the Ag club. Now that the dance policy has been changed, the Ag club is free to give these les-
sons on campus.The Ag club also meets
most Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Oplin Com-munity Center. This allows members to practice their moves in another public, but friendly environment.
“Oplin is a good place to learn anyway,” said Els-wood.
Every skill level is wel-come to join in the lessons.
“On average we have one or two people who have never danced at all at every lesson,” said Merriman.
The Ag club is hoping to have fun while generat-ing awareness for the barn dance coming in Novem-ber. Interested students can attend either the Saturday lesson in Studio B of the rec center, or the Monday les-son in Studio A.
student life
Katie greenepage 2 editor
contact Greene [email protected]
Deanna romero Staff Photographer
The Fox and the Hounds, made up of Andrew Tate, sophomore biology major from Abilene, Logan Pringle and Jes-salyn Massingil, perform a song at JamFest on Friday night.
Stewart
alumni
retention
Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson met with the Students’ As-sociation on Wednesday to respond to the congress members’ questions about student life.
Thompson, vice presi-dent for Student Life and dean of students, spoke about the religious and eth-nic diversity of the campus, both of which increased this year. Thirty percent of the freshmen class is of an ethnic minority, the most diverse class in the university’s his-tory.
All faculty members are required to be members of the Church of Christ, but an increased variety of religious
affiliations has encouraged the administration to con-sider changing this policy. While the issue has been dis-cussed several times before, nothing definitive has been decided.
Thompson said the move to Division-I athletics will not affect ACU’s commitment to creating a Christian learning environment. Thompson challenged students to hold the administration account-able to Christian principles.
“Whatever you do, your first job is to disciple,” said Thompson. “Your first job is to speak into the lives of these young men and wom-en, student athletes and show Christ.”
The university is expected to gradually increase in size, but Thompson said ACU’s
position as a smaller school is an important feature in its attractiveness to prospective students. To accommodate larger numbers, the admin-istration has considered ren-ovations and expansions to Gardner. Additionally, Uni-versity Park’s rates will be re-duced next year and will also incorporate utilities.
Thompson also ad-dressed the absence of Russ Kirby, the former director of student multicultural en-richment. Kirby resigned for personal reasons and is currently living in the Dallas area with his family.
Byron Martin, interim director of student multicul-tural enrichment, addressed SA’s concerns about different student organizations’ fund-raising activities. Black Stu-
dents Association, Hispanos Unidos, Virtuous Sisterhood, SHADES and Sanctify fall under the Office of Multicul-tural Enrichment.
Earlier this semester, Hispanos Unidos was con-cerned about the lack of funding for their traditional culture event, Entra a la Plaza. Congress addressed the Hispanos Unidos’ lack of fundraisers, but the Office of Multicultural Enrichment provided enough funding to allow Entra a la Plaza to oc-cur. OME has a specific bud-get to support their student organizations’ major events, such as the Black History Production.
Martin said he did not want students to feel the need to fundraise in order to share their culture with
the Abilene community, but encouraged fundraising for smaller activities.
“These are things that the entire community looks for-ward to seeing, so we don’t want to let those go by the wayside,” said Martin. “We don’t want to have a year where we don’t have those events.”
Conference fund requests ended this week. Lambda Pi Eta was granted $200 for the National Communica-tion Association Conference and Alpha Psi Omega was granted $1,000 for the South-eastern Theatre Conference. With leftover funds, congress awarded the Society of Phys-ics Students an additional $165 for the Sigma Pi Sigma Quadrennial Congress, bringing their total to $1,035.
SA meetings are open to all students. Meetings are conducted on Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m. in the Onstead-
Packer Biblical Studies Build-ing room 114.
being singled out from other dining locations, said Williams.
“There have been con-versations about which
campus dining services are most viable for stu-dents, not just The Den,” he said. “But all these things have only been brought up in conversa-tion.”
Like many students, Mariah English finds The Den a valuable asset to the dining areas offered to students.
“The Den may not have a line out the door, but I see customers in there often and is a good little study place to have some coffee and a quiet atmosphere,” she said. “I personally think The Den is a fantastic addition to campus. “
With winter around the corner, campus cof-fee spots, like The Den, become a place for stu-dents’ social gatherings or studying sanctuaries. And for now, it looks like students can enjoy their pumpkin lattes a little longer.
Wednesday 10.24.12 4News
Abilene Ruff Riders rebrand as Bombers
The Abilene Ruff Riders held a contest to rebrand their organization over the summer. Now known as the Abilene Bombers, the or-ganization hopes to get the Abilene community more involved with the team.
The Abilene Ruff Rider homepage released a state-ment from spokesman Scott Anderson that entailed why
the switch was being made.The statement said, “The
history of the Ruff Rid-ers actually began in Katy, Texas in 2007 and later moved to Abilene in 2009. The team has continued to use the same name carried over from Katy for 4 years now, which was a name it came to town with, not a name Abilene and the com-munity created. Our plan is for Abilene, our fans and the community to have the opportunity to be involved
in the name and look of the Franchise. Simply put, we want to give Abilene the op-portunity to make this team its own.”
The contest involved creating new ideas for team names, colors and mascots. The winner, Buddy Miller received four VIP season tickets, t-shirts and other accessories. The Bombers colors are now “shock wave green”, navy and white and the helmet has a logo of a plane lifting off a runway
in the shape of an A for Abilene.
Carl Kieke, a reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News, wrote that head coach Joe Brannen said, “We want something Abilene can call their own, with the Dyess Air Force Base connection, we figured this would be a great name to relate this to the community.”
Abilene community members seem to be tak-ing the change well. David Pillen, recent ACU graduate
from Sugar Land, is in favor of rebranding the team.
“The new brand can help them become more open to family and com-munity members,” Pillen said. “Reaching out to the air force is a great way to get the community to their events.”
Pillen had some ideas of his own to get the commu-nity even more involved.
“I’ve only been to one game this past summer and it was a pretty cool experi-
ence,” Pillen said. “But I think if they were to reno-vate the Expo Center at all or even build a new arena they’d be more likely to get involvement from Abilene and be able to put on a bet-ter show.”
More information about the Abilene Bombers can be found at their homepage: www.bombers.biz.
local
John Martinstudent reporter
contact the optimist [email protected]
Dean of students discusses religious futurestudents’ association
Josh Garciastaff reporter
contact garcia [email protected]
Fire: Big Tex destroyed by flames, will be rebuilt semble Big Tex. They set him up just in time for the Homecoming weekend.
“It gave Galaxy and the school good publicity,” Coleman said. “It created a lot of attention for us and made the national news.”
Michelle Coleman Ham-mond, Gene’s niece, said the
story of Big Tex’s trip to ACC has become “family lore”.
The enormous statue stood 52 feet tall, higher than all of the nearby build-ings, on the southwest cor-ner of campus.
Coleman said the Gal-axy charter class was able to raise enough money for the gigantic statue’s trans-portation.
“We received dona-tions in Dallas, and lots of discounts,” Coleman said. “The trucks charged us a minimum amount, and the trains didn’t charge us. They saw this was going to be a good thing that would take place.”
It was Big Tex’s last trip outside of the State Fair.
According to a State
Fair news release, smoke began billowing from Big Tex’s neck at about 10 a.m. on Friday, during the fi-nal weekend of this year’s State Fair. The fire con-sumed the entire statue and by the time firefight-ers put out the flames, only Big Tex’s skeleton and hands remained. Investi-gators believe an electrical
short in his right cowboy boot ignited the flame.
However, the Dallas community is banding to-gether to return Big Tex to his former glory. Michael Rawlings, mayor of Dal-las, said in a tweet, “We will rebuild Big Tex big-ger and better for the 21st Century.”
Errol McKoy, the presi-
dent of the State Fair, said Big Tex will be ready for the fair next year.
“It was very sad to see him go up in flames,” Cole-man said. “But I’m glad he will be able to continue to live on.”
state
contact smith [email protected]
Den: Rumors of coffee shop’s closing falsefood services
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Several representatives did not attend the meeting on Wednesday
Kaitlyn WartonMcDonald Hall rep
Kaitlyn Tuiasosopo Gardner Hall rep
JP FestaBarret Hall rep
Connor Vansteenburg Off-campus rep
JP RalstonCOBA rep
Continued from page 1
Continued from page 1
Virus: Junior likely contracted West Nile in Dallasod for West Nile Virus is approximately one week which means that Webb was most likely bitten by a mos-quito carrying the virus dur-
ing a trip to Dallas to see the Wildcat football team play on Sep. 16.
West Nile Virus is deadly in a very small number of cases and most patients who contract it don’t see
any symptoms. Webb’s case was considered mild by doc-tors and his symptoms were mostly headaches and fa-tigue.
“Staying hydrated and getting sleep is the best I can
do right now,” he said.While most patients can
expect a recovery period of 2-3 months, Webb, who has kept up with classes and continued to play intramu-ral sports, said he feels like
he is almost back to normal.“I feel extremely better
and its visible to other peo-ple how much better I feel,” he said. “I’m blessed that its not going to be as bad as I thought it would be. I’m
lucky I had the sense to pull over because it happened just like that.”
local
contact Smith [email protected]
Continued from page 1
Exception: Lawsuits pose religious liberty questions
“morning-after” pills that sometimes work by pre-venting a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Some Protestants and re-ligious organizations are concerned this is equal to abortion.
“I have personal
qualms with contribut-ing to something I view as tantamount to abor-tion, and I think a lot of people would agree,” Gar-rett said. “The religious argument here is if people should be allowed to fol-low their conscious, and they shouldn’t be required to offer a health plan that
covers things they have religious objections to.”
According to the Huff-ington Post, 32 lawsuits are challenging this mandate from institutions such as Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., Wheaton College, Belmont Abbey College, Colorado Christian University, East Texas Baptist University and
Houston Baptist University.“There has not been a lot
of discussion about wheth-er we will join in a lawsuit at this time, but there should be more clarity once these other lawsuits resolve,” Garrett said.
However, a revision was made that permits organi-zations to apply for a one
year exemption called a “safe harbor” where they do not have to comply with all contraceptive services, spe-cifically abortifacients.
Wendy Jones, director of human resources, said ACU was able to apply for the one-year Safe Harbor. Jones also said ACU is not currently preparing to en-
ter a lawsuit regarding the mandate though they have discussed it.
“Right now we are curi-ous to see how the election and pending lawsuits will play out,” Jones said.
national
contact Jones [email protected]
Continued from page 1
wednesday 10.24.125 featureS
Alumni join with students to celebrate ACU traditions during Homecoming
Lauren Blanford, junior math major from Round Rock, performs with the Big Purple Band during the Homecoming halftime show.
HITTING HOME CURTIS CHRISTIAN STAFF Photographer
Mandy Lambright CHIEf Photographer
community worked together to buy Clay’s father a plane ticket to surprise Clay the Thursday before Homecoming.
Gary McCaleb, vice president of the university, said, “Word spread around and people thought, ‘Woudn’t it be cool if Randy could come back?’”
Clay’s parents used to live in the Abilene area, making this Home-coming event special for both Bec-ca and her father.
Clay took advantage of every second her father was in town, in-cluding while she was standing on the field with him waiting for the announcement of who won.
“I wasn’t really listening to what they were saying because my dad
and I were talking,” Clay said.She said she did not even know
that she won until her dad told her that her name had just been an-nounced.
“Seeing my dad was better than actually winning,” Clay said. “See-ing him so happy and proud of me was awesome.”
Clay does not expect this title to change her influence on campus.
“To have influence you just need to be a person of integrity and be who God’s called you to be,” Clay said.
Clay is grateful of everyone who contributed to getting her dad here to Abilene.
“I have a lot of ACU angels look-ing out for me and taking care of me,” Clay said.
Becca Clay, senior communication science and disorders major from Salt Lake City, Utah, is crowned Homecoming Queen.
Jonathan Bryant, junior management major from San Antonio, performs his own original song with Sunset at Ivry during JamFest.
Members of the Alpha Kai Omega pledge class perform during the Homecoming parade.
Fireworks light up the sky near University
Park during JamFest.
Mandy Lambright CHIEf PhotographerDr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, is joined by his
family in the Homecoming parade.
Mandy Lambright CHIEf Photographer
Mandy Lambright CHIEf Photographer
Mandy Lambright CHIEf Photographer
continued from page 1
Queen: Clay, father reunite
Politics and elections can be overwhelming for everyone, especially college students.
For most of us, this is the first election in which we can vote, meaning we just start-ed paying attention. With debates, political ads and countless issues, it is hard to know where to start.
It is unrealistic to expect to agree with a candidate on every issue, so from a Chris-tian college student’s per-spective, we decided three issues were of particular significance for our demo-graphic in this election: for-eign policy, health care and the national debt.
In regard to foreign poli-cy, our belief is that the gov-ernment’s job is to provide defense for Americans both at home and abroad, to work with allies to protect human rights around the world and to provide help for any coun-tries who explicitly ask for it.
We also believe our military should move away from its history of interven-tion. While gun control, gang violence and drug wars rage on our home soil, our focus often seems to be on other countries prob-lems. Barack Obama has established a timeline that will remove troops from Af-ghanistan by 2014.
(Although in the final presidential debate, we did see Romney realign himself with this same timeline.)
During his years in of-fice, Obama has also helped the Pentagon’s civilian in-telligence staff to grow by 20 percent while cutting spending. Romney’s plat-form has clearly shown his intention to increase the military budget.
In 2001, our military spent $711 billion, nearly
five times as much as Chi-na, which spent the second most, and equal to the next 14 countries combined. A military of this size and at this cost in the state of the economy is absurd.
Before Sept. 11, which could not have been prevent-ed by large numbers of guns and troops, the last time a military battle occurred on American soil was the Civil War. It’s clear that massive military spending is not the answer to our country’s for-eign problems.
Domestically, one of the biggest issues facing Americans in this election is health care. When it comes down to it, Romneycare and Obamacare, as the respec-tive candidates’ plans have come to be known, have many similarities. Ameri-cans can expect a change in health care either way, but where the candidates differ the most regards who will make these changes.
The work Romney has done in Massachusetts does not serve as a nationwide plan, like Obamacare, but instead as an example of what can happen when a state has the power to estab-lish health care laws initially.
We live in one of the larg-est countries in the world in terms of both area and pop-ulation, and it is ignorant to believe there will not be dif-ferences in beliefs through-out regions of America. But when states are given the power to choose, there is a much better chance that a majority of constituents will be happy.
In the past, we’ve seen issues like slavery, drink-ing age and many oth-ers decided on a state-to-state basis. In many
cases, these laws become nationwide over time.
We would like to see the national government pro-vide a basic requirement for health care that states can then tailor for their own population’s needs.
Romney’s plan allows for states to decide the best way to provide healthcare for its people, something that Obamacare wants to make nationwide.
We believe one of the biggest mistakes a voter can make is assuming a president’s policies will af-
fect an economy as vast as our own in only four years. Many economists have hypothesized that at any point in time, our economy is in fact the result of poli-cies established multiple terms in the past.
Four years after Obama’s election, it seems many of those same Americans are ready to assume he has had “enough time” to make a mark on the economy.
Spending cuts alone will not make even a small dent on our $16 trillion debt. The government also needs
to increase its revenue by spreading the tax burden equally on all classes and closing loopholes for the upperclass. Through this, and a focus on job creation, we will hopefully begin to see the economy flourish-ing again.
While we also agree with Gary Johnson, the libertar-ian candidate, on all three of these issues, he has plans to diminish government to an extreme extent.
However, it is important to realize that a third party brings another platform to
voters and we wish we had an opportunity to hear him debate and present his per-spective alongside the two dominant parties.
After establishing our stances on each of these is-sues and comparing them to each candidate’s plat-forms, we believe Barack Obama is the candidate most deserving of our vote on Election Day.
EVAN’s marks evan marks
6WEDNESDAY 10.24.12Opinion
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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 let-ters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing
personal attacks, obscen-ity, 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 27892Abilene, TX 79609
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editorial and management board
editorial and Letter Policy
This guest column was sub-mitted by Stewart McGregor, president of the College Re-publicans.
Are you and your family bet-ter off than you were four years ago? If the answer is no, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a great, common-sense plan to get America on the path to success and sus-tainability.
Currently, your share of the national debts equals approximately $51,000. Poli-ticians on both sides of the aisle have contributed to this travesty. However, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are serious about reigning in the debt problem in Washing-
ton, D.C., along with jump-starting job creation to curb the stagnant 7.8 percent na-tional unemployment rate and create 12 million jobs.
Romney spent over twenty years in the private sector where he specialized in reviving corporations that were on the verge of financial ruin. In addition to experience in the private sector, Romney was the Governor of Massachusetts. During that time, Romney worked effectively with a state legislature that was 87 percent Democrat. As gov-ernor, he tackled the unem-ployment rate in Massachu-setts and brought it down to just 4.7 percent. On a per-
sonal note, Governor Rom-ney gave nearly 30 percent of his income to charitable organizations in 2011.
Romney’s running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan, is a great complement to Rom-ney’s impressive resume. As a seven-term congressman, Ryan fought for smarter, more efficient government. Currently, Ryan serves as the Chairman of the House Bud-get Committee – he’s a num-bers guy who understands public budgeting. The two of them together create a pow-erhouse that is ready to tack-le the nation’s largest public policy problems.
Romney and Ryan have a 5-point plan they will imple-
ment on day one of taking office. The first step in their plan is to achieve energy independence by 2020 by opening up America’s mar-ket for all kinds of energy cre-ation which will help drive down gasoline prices and create thousands of jobs. Second, they plan to expand trade to help businesses and workers and to regulate countries that do not play by fair trade rules. Third, they want to provide better higher education and public education along with skills training to make the Ameri-can workforce more com-petitive with the rest of the world. Fourth, Romney and Ryan want to create a better
business climate by cutting the size of the government, decreasing the deficit and reducing the national debt. Finally, they plan to support small businesses by reform-ing the tax code and cutting red tape to create more jobs.
When it comes to health care, Romney and Ryan be-lieve in creating free market solutions that help Ameri-cans get access to the health care they deserve. On his first day in office, Romney plans to issue an executive order to repeal the expen-sive Obamacare mandate. He will work to replace it with a policy that is more cost-effective and efficient, yet provides affordable qual-
ity health care to Americans. He wants to strengthen our foreign policy and target ter-ror cell groups. A Romney/Ryan administration will also work to protect the lives of the unborn.
Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan have a great vision for this nation. This vision is attainable, but can only be attained through people like you. I hope you will join me and millions of other Americans in voting for a Romney/Ryan administration, so that their vision can become reality.
This guest column was sub-mitted by Elizabeth Koepke, president of the College Dem-ocrats.
I believe an individual de-serves the freedom to live by the convictions of his or her own conscience, and that his or her freedom only ends when he or she infringes on the rights of another person, causing harm or the restric-tion of life, liberty or the
pursuit of happiness. The U.S. government has a duty to protect these rights and prevent infringement, and should never impose a law that infringes on these con-ditions of freedom.
This is one of the core val-ues of the Democratic Party.
I also believe in aiding my neighbor, by giving him food or medicine because Jesus taught me to do this. I do not consider whether or not my
neighbor “deserves” my aid; I simply seek to know if he or she needs it and how he or she can access it. I don’t mind paying a little more in taxes if it means my neigh-bor is taken care of. More than 46.2 million Americans are in poverty. This means children are hungry, adults cannot afford simple, but life-saving medicines, and people my age cannot afford higher education.
It is common sense that the hungry and sick make less productive students and workers. Have you ever not eaten for two days and been sick and tried to go to work or ace a test? It is next to impos-sible; the human body does have its limits. I would like to believe that the Church could take care of every-one, but that is not a reality in this country. Because of this, the Democratic Party
views it as the responsibility of the greater community to aid the hungry and sick, the poor and the uneducated.
I believe in the power of diplomacy in international relations. Military force is a necessary evil that should only be used in the most ex-treme of circumstances, af-ter all diplomatic measures have been exhausted and according to international law military force is the
only plausible course of ac-tion. The Democratic Party believes in this approach as one of its core values.
I believe in electing lead-ers who believe in these core values, like President Obama and Senator candidate Paul Sadler. I believe in the Dem-ocratic Party.
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GUEST column
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Editorial
Endorsement: Obama for a second term
Why I believe in the values of the Democratic Party
Romney/Ryan offer best vision for nation
hashtagACU
@KatKessler9@Zak_Kaiser @claygreenwalt @Rybs3@NovaMcVey @abbygracedodson
11:42 p.m. Oct. 216:34 p.m. Oct. 22
11:32 a.m. Oct. 23
10:52 a.m. Oct. 234:55 p.m. Oct. 22
8:06 p.m. Oct. 21
If one of my friends buys the new Taylor Swift album tomorrow, it will be the last day of our friendship.
Taylor swift sounds like she lives for drama. I think that’s the only reason girls like her
Yo @taylorswift13. I’m really happy for you—Imma let you finish, but Speak Now was one of your best albums of all time. OF ALL TIME.
Test postponed again. The teacher must know I need all the time I can get to listen to TSwift’s new album #Red
Is there anyway to block all tweets regard-ing Taylor Swift or her new album?
I really wish all the sib-lings would stop tweet-ing about Taylor Swift’s new album... I’m a girl, from Nashville, and I’m not THAT excited
wednesday 10.24.127 sports
ACU’s offense exploded for 31 points in a close loss to MSU last week, and it looks like any offensive line problems are in the past for the Widlcats. Wide receiver Taylor Gabriel had two touchdowns, and quarterback Mitchell Gale had
The Wildcats safeties combined for 25 tackles last week, and the defense looked strong against a potent MSU squad. The Wildcat D could have a coming out party against the Lions this week, with enough talent to give the Lions fits.
his best game of the year. For Commerce, the quarter-back situtaion is not good, but they do have some talent-ed players at skill positions. Wide out Tevin Godfrey has caught four touchdowns on the year, and the sophomore will be looking to find the end zone again at home on Saturday. But ACU’s offense will be the class of this game, and the ‘Cats should be scoring early and often, on the ground and through the air.
Senior Danny Mason is by far the best player for Commerce, accounting for 78 tackles, 9.5 of which are behind the line of scrimmage. Mason will be f ly-ing to the football, and should be able to get double digit tackles again on Saturday, especially since the ‘Cats will probably be running the ball a lot with a lead. Also watch for ACU defensive end Rob Boyd, who has been active on the line the past few games.
Offense DefenseACUPICK:
ACU (4-4) at A&M Commerce (1-6)Game Preview
ACUPICK:
home crowd and answer the bell on Saturday af-ternoon, but the Wildcats have way too much tal-ent to run away with this game. Coach Collums always has his guys ready to play, and this Satur-day should not be any different for the Wildcats. ACU should be able to beat the Lions by a sizable margin on Saturday.
Intangibles ACUPICK:
The Wilcdats are sitting at 4-4, and would like nothing more than to get above .500 with a win over the week-end. The ‘Cats also have a chance to get back to .500 in conference. Commerce will want to play well in front of their
After losing two games back-to-back against West Texas A&M and Midwestern State, the ‘Cats are desperate for a win and will show up on Saturday ready to play. Commerce has won only one game this season, and the odds are not in their favor against a more talented and hun-gry squad of Wildcats.
ACU lost a heartbreaker at Homecoming last week. The Wildcats should not have to worry about a let-down though. The team is playing a much less tal-ented Commerce squad who has only managed one win this season. The ‘Cats are better at literally every position and this one should be over by halftime.
No team should ever be overlooked. With the exception of A&M Com-merce. I expect to see lots of playing time from the two’s, three’s and why not some four’s? ACU needs a good win and it wouldn’t hurt for some battered players to catch a breath.
The Wildcats are looking to rebound after a disapoint-ing last second loss in front of the Homecoming cowd last week. Commerce will provide a well needed win for ACU. With only one win on the season, they should prove to be no test as the ‘Cats should have no prob-lem putting up points. The ‘Cats will get back over .500 after Saturday’s win.
Pick: ACU 56-17 Pick: ACU 56-14 Pick: ACU 42-10 Pick: ACU 45-21
Natalie Goin Edward Isaacs Taylor Langston
The Wildcats have a ton of talent, and the Lions could be the victim of poor timing. ACU will come out looking to prove a point on Satur-day, and the game could get away from the Li-ons before halftime. The Wildcats are going to win big, and score a ton on the road this weekend.
Pick: ACU 52-14
Matthew Sloan Daniel Zepeda
Ken Collums show continues this Saturday
The Ken Collums Show will air at 10:30 a.m. this Sat-urday on KTXS. The show runs every Saturday during the football season at 10:30 a.m.
Wildcats continue to struggle on the road
The Wildcats ended their four-match win-ning streak in the Lone Star Conference over the weekend. The team lost on the road to both An-gelo State University and Tarleton State University.
The ‘Cats were defeat-ed on Friday by No. 9 ASU in three sets (25-18, 25-13, 25-21). Saturday, ACU was bested by the TexAnns in four sets (25-13, 25-20, 22-25, and 25-22).
“The losses this week-end were completely dif-ferent than the losses against Angelo and Tar-leton a couple of weeks ago,” head coach Kellen Mock said. “We played good matches. The only mental slip was game two against Angelo.”
“We fought really hard the whole way through both matches,” she said.
The two losses dropped the Wildcats to 9-14 on the season and 5-8 against the LSC. The road has not been kind to the team as they are only 4-10 [away from Moody Coliseum.]
The Rambelles (19-3) re-mained in first place in the conference after the win.
Despite the losses, Mock still says there is a
good chance the squad will make it to the confer-ence tournament at the end of the season.
“We do have to win quite a few more matches to clinch a spot,” she said. “But based on the stand-
ing, we’re facing the lower end of the conference in our upcoming matches.”
ACU recorded nine blocks in the ASU match. However, they could not do much with their at-tack, hitting just .066.
On the other side, Angelo State had eight blocks and hit at a .211 clip.
“Angelo came out and played great defense against us,” Mock said.
“We had to work re-ally hard to find places to
score,” freshman Sarah Siemens said. “The of-fense was out of its com-fort zone and we had more errors than in the previous matches.”
Freshman Jennie Lo-erch led the team with 11 kills but also committed seven errors. Senior Kal-ynne Allen had a season-best five assists.
Siemens had 23 assists out of the ‘Cats 28 kills. Li-bero Madison Hoover and setter Caley Johnson both led the team in digs with 10 apiece.
The Wildcats hit .162 as a team versus Tarleton State. Loerch smacked 18 kills while sophomore Sara Oxford recorded 11.
“Jennie has really hit fire lately,” Mock said. “She is so consistent and the girls love playing with her because she’s so positive.”
Freshman Corrie Reed-er and Allen each had nine kills and also com-bined for 3.5 of the team’s six blocks.
TSU had a .263 hitting percentage due in part to four players who smashed 10 or more kills.
Siemens was active on the court with 47 as-sists and 10 digs. Hoover had 19 digs while junior Madelyn Robinett served three aces.
“Every match we play, I get more confident and comfortable with my hit-ters,” Siemens said. “I have more of a gut feeling on who to set. I’m starting to understand how every-thing works.”
The ‘Cats are back on the court in Moody this week to start a three-match homestand.
The team battles Texas A&M University-Kingsville Friday at 7 p.m. and Uni-versity of the Incarnate Word Saturday at 2 p.m.
volleyball
edward isaacssports editor
contact isaacs [email protected]
curtis christian Staff Photographer
Rachel Riley and Kalynne Allen jump up to block an opponent in Moody Coliseum.
Clinch: Team earns playoff bid after winturnover and booted an-other goal in from about 20 yards back, making the score 2-0.
Coppedge leads the team with five goals this season followed by Car-penter with four.
The Wildcats’ goals were unanswered until the second half, when Brionna Minde scored on a corner kick, making the score 2-1.
The Lions had a few more opportunities to score, but senior goal-keeper Arielle Moncure had three more saves in the addition to her defense clearing a few shots. Rog-ers finished with seven.
“It has come down to focusing on the little things and putting to ac-tion the repition of what we do in practice as far as finishing opportunities
in front of the goal and stretching the other teams out to work the ball up the field,” Wilson said.
Commerce out-shot ACU 11-7 in the second half, 16-15 in the match.
In order to secure a spot in the LSC post-season tournament, the ‘Cats needed another win against Texas Women’s who was tied with ACU in fifth place. On Sunday, the Wildcats not only crushed TWU 4-0, but won their third game in a row to clench the final tourna-ment spot.
“A lot of hard work over the past few weeks finally paid off, and we’re coming together as a strong team that truly believes in each other,” said sophomore midfielder Megan Turner. “A national championship is now in reach.”
Junior midfielder Jacey
Ferrera scored both her first and second goals of the season Sunday at Wildcat Soccer pitch, first in the 16th and then later in the 89th minute.
Senior forward Krysta Grimm scored her fourth goal of the season in the 34th minute, and Turner scored her second goal of the year in the 83rd min-ute. Turner’s goal came on a corner kick by senior de-fender Lexi Stirling, which Turner headed in the goal.
“Lexi served up a per-fect ball and I just jumped as high as I could to head the ball into the goal,” Turner said. “It just felt natural.”
The Pioneers never challenged the ‘Cats, even though they outshot ACU 4-3 in the first half. Be-cause of their poor shoot-ing, Moncure finished the game with only one save.
It was Moncure’s fifth shutout of the season.
“We knew going into this game that it was criti-cal that we win in order to make the playoffs,” Turner said. “Our perfor-mance as a team was the best we’ve seen all season and it showed in the score. There was an overwhelm-ing excitement amongst all of us when we reached our fourth point knowing we were about to secure a playoff position.”
The Wildcats return to action on Friday, when they host Midwestern State at 4 p.m. in their fi-nal regular season game at Wildcat Soccer Pitch here in Abilene.
“The ladies will be head-ing into their fifth consecu-tive post-season tourna-ment, and in the past two years have been in the championship game,” Wil-
son said. “We need to con-tinue to focus on the pro-cess of staying sharp and playing our game. It starts with Friday’s game against Midwestern to keep taking
the steps needed to playing even better soccer.”
soccer
contact goin [email protected]
from page 8
sarah siemenssetter
acu volleyball
Every match we play, I get more confident and comfortable with my hitters.”“
Football will travel to Commerce on Saturday to take on Texas A&M-Commerce at 2:00 p.m.
Soccer hosts Midwestern State on Friday in their final regular season game at 4 p.m. at Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
The volleyball team will finish the last of their home games of the season this weekend. They play Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday at 7:00 p.m., and Incarnate Word on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.
The men’s basketball team will travel to Waco on Thursday to play Baylor University in an exhibition game. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m.
The baseball team will begin their best-of-five intrasquad Purple/Black World Series on Thursday at 4:05 at Crutcher Scott Field.
volleyball
standings
briefings
ex- factor
Upcoming
The ACU baseball team will begin the annual fall intrasquad Purple/Black World Series on Thursday at 4:05 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field. The series consists of five games over the next week, and ends on Nov. 1.
Freshman cross country runner Xavier King made the all-conference team this weekend at the Lone Star Conference Championships. King finished in 12th place overall in the 8-kilometer race in 25 minutes and 59 seconds, his best time since the season opener at McMurry. (25:52:39) The ACU men’s team finished seventh out of nine.
football
TeamWTAMUMSUASUTAMU-KTSUACUENMUUIWCommerce
Div.6-05-13-23-33-32-41-41-41-4
Ovrl.7-16-14-44-43-44-42-52-61-6
Five former ACU ath-letes were inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame on Fri-day: Jackie (Bucher) Washington (women’s basketball), Paul Goad (football, baseball, track & field), Bill Steen (men’s golf), Greg Stirman (football), and Dub Winkles. Winkles was a long-time sup-porter of ACU athletics and worked on cam-pus for 20 years.
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soccer
TeamWTAMUUIWASUMSUACUTWUENMUCommerce
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MSU sneaks past ‘CatsThe Wildcats and Mus-tangs provided the fire-works for ACU’s Home-coming this weekend. But, the ‘Cats came up just short, losing 35-31.
The Wildcat offensive line set the tone early, pushing Midwestern State all the way down the field, resulting in a touchdown catch by receiver Taylor Ga-briel and an early 7-0 lead.
“I just wanted to fight for my team and my coach,” Gabriel said. “I know we needed a big win, we are such a good team, so it just hurts to
see us go through this right now, I did not want to have any ifs, ands or I-should-haves.”
From there, ACU and MSU got into another classic shootout, with more than 900 yards and 66 points.
Gabriel finished the game with 116 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Mitchell Gale threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Gale was only sacked twice, and had a clean pocket for most of the game.
The Midwestern State offense ran well through-out the game, with run-ning back Keidrick Jack-son rushing for 197 yards
and quarterback Brandon Kelsey passing for 141 yards to go along with his four touchdowns.
Despite the big rush-ing statistics, the ACU de-fense had several stand-outs with double-digit tackles. Safeties L.B. Sug-gs and Angel Lopez com-bined for 25 tackles and each player also account-ed for a tackle behind the
line of scrimmage.“The quarterback
couldn’t really throw the ball as much, they just ran on us,” Lopez said. “We played phenomenal, it just seemed like we took a step back in the second half. There were a couple of third downs we should have stopped them from converting, but we just have to take another step next week.”
The Wildcats were coming off of their first shutout in a decade, but the offense hung 31 points on a talented de-fense that had been giv-ing up twenty points per game this season.
“We are hungry and
we are still fighters,” Ga-briel said. “We changed it up a little bit on the line, so they helped us out. We were able to run, and that opened up the pass.”
Charcandrick West ran for 66 yards and a touch-down, but did not appear in the game the entire sec-ond half because of an un-specified injury.
The Wildcats will look to get back to their win-ning ways next week, when they hit the road to take on Texas A&M Commerce.
football
matthew sloansports reporter
contact sloan [email protected]
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Junior wide receiver Taylor Gabriel makes a leaping grab against Midwestern State University on Homecoming. The Wildcats lost to the Mustangs 35-31. Gabriel had 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
taylor gabrielWide receiveracu football
I just wanted to fight for my team and my coach.”“
Renner wins first collegiate tourney
The third-ranked ACU golf team dominated in its first and second day of com-petition at the Bruce Wil-liams Memorial tourna-ment in San Antonio.
The Wildcats started off on fire, shooting 7-under-par as a team (569) and finished with an absurd 33-stroke (13-under-par 581) victory.
Sophomore Corbin Renner and senior Alex Carpenter led the way for Abilene.
Renner shot 12-under-par (204), good enough to earn him first place. It was his first tournament win as a collegiate golfer.
Carpenter also had a strong outing, posting a 4-under-par (212) for sec-ond place. Junior Trey Sul-livan also shot well with a 3-under-par (213) score.
Carpenter began the
second day four shots behind Renner at 4-un-der-140, but he could not make up any ground.
The win was the Wild-cats second of this sea-son and first since the season-opening game win at Abilene’s Charles Coody West Texas Inter-collegiate.
The defending Lone Star Conference cham-pion Cameron University Aggies and University of the Incarnate Word tied
for second place. Tourna-ment host St. Mary’s Uni-versity placed third.
In a tournament of twelve teams and sixty-eight players, four of the five Wildcats placed in the top 35 spots.
Senior Ian Evans shot 13-over-par (229) to earn a tie for 35th place, while senior Morgan Johnson finished in a tie for eigh-teenth with a score of 8-over-par (224).
The Bruce Williams
Memorial marked the end of the fall season for the ‘Cats.
The squad finished in the top six of all their tournaments. The team will return to the courses in late February to start its 2013 spring season where they open up at the Quintero Invitational in Peoria, Ariz.
golf
daniel zepedasports reporter
ACU clinches final post-season spot
The women’s soccer team clinched the 6th and fi-nal spot in the Lone Star Conference post-season tournament this weekend with a 2-1 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce, and a 4-0 win over Texas Women’s at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
“We are proud of the ladies for fighting back and earning a spot in the tournament,” head coach Casey Wilson said. “When things do not work out the first time you get a chance to start over at the LSC tournament.”
Junior forward Andrea
Carpenter struck early in Friday’s game against Commerce, scoring her fourth goal of the season just within the third min-ute of the match when Lions goalkeeper Tracey Rogers couldn’t get a hand on the ball.
Within only a few min-utes, senior midfielder Julie Coppedge forced a
soccer
natalie goinassistant sports editor
see clinch page 7
paige otway Staff Photographer
Junior midfielder Ashley Craig takes the ball down the field at the Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
contact zepeda [email protected]
casey wilsonhead coachacu soccer
We are proud of the ladies for fighting back
and earning a spot in the tournament.”“
wednesday 10.24.12 8sports
