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(04/11/07 4:00am)
Focusing on fitness, the IU club rugby team’s new coach looks to make his players keep up a stellar season on the pitch.\n“We try and do a lot of fitness work,” head coach Matt Vogler said. “Rugby requires a lot of running, tackling (and) hitting that will take a lot out of you, especially if you are not in shape.”\nSince Vogler has taken over, he said, he has tried to introduce more physical drills that emulate game situations. A lot of the players get to practice early and scrimmage until their coach arrives and the practice begins. \n“(Vogler) has a tough job to do,” said Harry O’Donnell, a senior student on exchange from Australia. “He has to teach the sport while trying to train an A-grade team.”\nAfter sprinting and practicing passes, the team runs what it calls the “four corner drills.” The drills involve four athletes running at each other from four lines. Before colliding they – hopefully – pass or hand off the ball to the runner directly in front.\nAfter the pick and post drills, the team starts its hitting drills. The six-on-six drill is where they practice trying to advance the ball by plowing through the defense much like football, only play is constant and the players are not wearing pads.\n“Well, back home we always say that gridiron players are a bit girly for wearing pads,” O’Donnell said about the physicality of the sport.\nThe club members like that the practices are physical because it’s the nature of the sport.\n“I think the practices prepare us really well for games,” junior Nick Walker said. “In a game you will be sprinting, jogging and getting hit, and games are 80 minutes, so you have to be physically prepared.”\nThe team is a very close-knit one, which, Vogler said, is bound to happen: The team meets three times a week for almost three hours at a time, a lot of the players are in fraternities together and some even played together in high school.\n“The camaraderie of the team is the best part about this sport,” Walker said. “That’s what I love about it.”\nUnder coach Vogler, the team has a 4-1 record this season and is preparing for the next game April 19 against Ball State. The winning record comes as no surprise to the team as it is consistently one of the best three teams in the Midwest. \n“It’s a good sport. It’s growing,” O’Donnell said. “They have a good core group of guys. ... They’re a pretty good team compared to the rest of the teams they face in the Midwest.”
(04/05/07 4:00am)
All of those in Assembly Hall on Wednesday for the taping of CNBC’s business information show, “Mad Money” with Jim Cramer, were treated to a very candid side of the exuberant host.\nBetween every segment, Cramer was personable with the audience of over a thousand. He constantly updated them on what segments were coming up, while dishing out financial advice and making jokes.\nDuring one of those breaks a student in the audience yelled out, “You are a Hoosier today, Jimmy!”\nTo which Cramer said, “You bet I am!”\nCramer had a segment in his show where he opened up questions to the audience in what he calls the “lightning round.” The round gave students time to get on national television and ask Cramer about different stocks and whether they should buy, hold or sell those stocks. \nWhen the cameras stopped rolling, Cramer did not. Even while his producer gave him instructions for the next segment, audience members were yelling out stock names. Cramer would then interrupt his producer to throw out advice about those stocks.\nCramer would also stop between segments to talk up his guest for the show, Mark Cuban. Cuban is an IU alumnus and owner of the Dallas Mavericks.\n“He is a great guy,” Cramer said. “The moment I knew I was going to IU, I e-mailed him and asked him to be a guest on my show. Two minutes later he got back to me asking where and when.”\nWhile on set, Cuban seemingly stole the show. After running out onto the court, he grabbed a basketball and drained a 10-foot jumper, causing the crowd to roar. \nCuban and Cramer combined to answer questions from students and give advice, even though that advice was sometimes conflicting.\n“I got to get people in, because if they don’t start now they will be catching up,” Cramer said on air about students starting to invest in the stock market. “You got to get in early so you have a lifetime to invest.”\nCuban’s advice was contrasting. Cramer wanted students to think about investing in the stock market, while Cuban thought students should be more worried about investing in something else.\n“Invest in yourself,” Cuban said on air. “What is more valuable to you than sweat equity?”\nCuban assured the students that now is the time for students to experiment with what they want to do for their careers.\n“Right now you have nothing to lose,” Cuban said on air. “You don’t have to have all of the answers when you graduate. What are they going to do, move you from the Forest Quad to the McNutt Quad? Find what you want to do and work your butt off at it.”\nThough constantly loud and applauding, students did calm down enough to listen to what these very successful men were saying.\n“I thought (Cuban) gave good advice about using the education you get here,” senior finance and real estate major Suzy Guediguian said. \nCramer knew that IU would enjoy having Cuban on set.\n“I think he is a hero – particularly on a show like mine,” Cramer said in an interview Tuesday, “because he is an example that you too can make it big.”
(04/04/07 4:00am)
Of all of the schools that wanted Jim Cramer to visit on his “Back to School Tour,” Cramer said IU was not only an important one, but one with star power.\nCramer, who was on campus Tuesday to tape a segment for the CNBC show “Stop Trading” and will do a live taping of his show “Mad Money” today, will host special guest IU alumnus and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban. Cramer wanted to bring Cuban to campus to add what he called, “star power” to his show.\n“Cuban is one of those guys who is honest in a society where we claim we like honesty, but in truth, we are scared by it,” Cramer said. “Because it is during the season, very close to the playoffs and his team is on a roll, I thought he would say, ‘Jim, catch me in the off-season,’ but it was just the opposite – ‘you’re going here, well you can count on me, where and when?’”\nCramer’s show combines investment tips with guest interviews, viewer calls, loud sound effects and Cramer screaming out his opinions on what stocks to buy, sell or hold. He gears his show for anyone interested in investing, including college students. Cramer said he likes to think of himself as being similar to Stephen Colbert of the “Colbert Report” or Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” only college students come to him for business instead of politics.\nThe “Stop Trading” segment was filmed in front of a crowd of business school students on the west side of Assembly Hall. After filming, Cramer talked with his fans and thanked basketball coach Kelvin Sampson for letting him use Assembly Hall to film “Mad Money” in front of a live audience featuring IU students.\n“There is a lot more history to the hall than any other place we’ve gone to,” Cramer said. “I feel like I’m borrowing a tradition and hopefully I live up to it.”\nTickets for the filming of “Mad Money” are still available to IU students with a student ID. They are free, and check-in begins at 1:30 p.m. in the south lobby entrance of Assembly Hall.\nCramer is at IU as a part of his “Back to School Tour.” IU will be among a short list of prestigious schools that Cramer has visited on his tour, such as Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown.\n“My message to college students is a couple-fold one,” Cramer said. “One, that you too can be like me and make a lot of money. The second part is that there is a greatness to business that you may not realize or recognize.”\nCramer also feels that college students can use his advice on what stocks to move. He feels that students can still be investing even if they don’t have a lot of money.\n“A lot of people spend their money, like I did, on beer,” Cramer said. “Maybe they should spend that money on one share of ‘Bud’ instead. I remember thinking, ‘I just made 25 bucks – I’m calling a woman.’ Now I am buying a share of ‘Yahoo!.’”\nThe show from Assembly Hall will air at 6 p.m. tonight and then again at 11 p.m., both on CNBC.
(04/02/07 4:00am)
The track-and-field squads packed up and moved west to kick off their outdoor season at the 33rd annual Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.\nEven though the last two weeks have been intense training for the Hoosiers, four athletes posted regional qualifying times.\nThe regional invite is an event where athletes try to qualify for nationals. The top five finishers in each event at the regional qualify for nationals. The sixth- and seventh-place finishers are thrown into an “at large” pool from which they can be selected from based on their times.\nSenior Jessica Gall provisionally qualified for the regional invite with a personal best time of 33:54.65 in the 10,000-meter run. Gall was on pace for the school record with six laps left in the run, but ended up second all-time at IU. She finished 16th in the event.\n“She (Gall) has been sick for the last two weeks or so,” women’s interim head coach Judy Wilson said. “So we were not sure what to expect from her, but her time should be good enough for nationals.”\nAlso on the women’s side, senior Courtney Johnson posted a regional qualifying mark. Johnson ran a time of 13.98 seconds in preliminaries for the 100-meter dash. In the finals she posted her qualifying mark of 13.63 seconds. \nThe men’s side also had two qualifiers for the regional meet. Sophomore Jordan Kyle ran a personal best 14:03.83 in the 5,000-meter run, qualifying and finishing second on the day. Freshman Eric Werskey posted a toss of 16.85 meters in the shot put, finishing fifth in the event.\n“To come out qualify for regionals is no small task,” throwers coach Wil Fleming said. “His technique was good, but from all the lifting we have been doing, you can tell he didn’t have as much pop in his throws. But this performance definitely bodes well for Eric’s outdoor season.”\nThe majority of IU throwers were not in California. They had a trip to Purdue in West Lafayette, where they competed unattached to IU in the Purdue Mike Poehlein Invitational. Freshman Faith Sherrill competed in the hammer throw for the first time in her career. Sophomore Paul Fearnow cleared his personal best by six meters.\n“Paul’s throw is great. This is his third year throwing, so we can expect a lot of good things from him,” Fleming said. “The results this weekend are pleasing because we have been lifting hard for the last two weeks. They (the throwers) have been really beat up.”
(04/02/07 4:00am)
Assembly Hall will be enlivened Wednesday, when Jim Cramer and special guest Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and an IU alumnus, will tape the financial investing show “Mad Money” in front of hundreds of IU students as a part of his college tour.\nThe taping marks the culmination of almost a year of planning for the IU Mad Money Club. The Mad Money Club was established last spring to organize the student fans of the show who wanted it to come to IU.\n“Mad Money” airs daily and involves Cramer doling out tips on what stocks to buy and sell.\n“The show makes stocks fun for everyone,” said club treasurer junior Hank Graves. “(Cramer) is so eccentric and, with his energy, makes stocks exciting.”\nAccording to the IU club’s founder, senior Winston Kotzan, the club has 10 core members, but a mailing list of students interested in Cramer includes about 100 more.\n“The club made IU more appealing,” Kotzan said. “I got in contact with the producers of the show, and they wanted something more. So over the summer we made a film pitching IU.”\nThe video, which Kotzan said took the whole summer to produce, is filmed in a style similar to that of the TV show “24,” one of Cramer’s favorites. In the show, there is a message from the dean of the Kelley School of Business, along with different scenes depicting possible filming sites. \nThe scene of Assembly Hall – eventually selected by the show’s producers – had the IU cheerleading squad, the Marching Hundred and a flashback to former men’s basketball coach Bob Knight launching a chair across the court. Cramer often throws chairs on his show. “We also sent in an IU Mad Money Club coffee mug, which appeared on set as a prop,” Kotzan said.\nA month after the mug was shoved in front of the camera, Cramer announced on air that he would be coming to IU. A caller gave a shout-out promoting the IU Mad Money Club, to which Cramer responded by pulling a dollar from his pocket and yelling into the camera.\n“We’re getting Indiana University, you can bet your bottom dollar!” he said. “Which I actually have one here. ... Those guys love this show and I love them!”\nKotzan came up with the idea of having a T-shirt contest in which the winning entry would be worn by every student in attendance. The winning design was a combination of two entries featuring the business school logo and the logo of “Mad Money” with Jim Cramer on the front, and a quote from Cramer on the back saying, “I’m not here just to tell you about stocks. I’m here to teach you to think like Cramer!”\nCramer takes the court at 4 p.m. Wednesday to film “Mad Money” but will also being doing a short segment for another show, “Stop Trading.” The segment will be filmed outside Assembly Hall’s west side and is open to all students with tickets. Tickets were available for free last week.
(03/30/07 4:00am)
Mom always said never play ball in the house. The same, one would expect, goes for the javelin. \nWell, someone can tell Mom the indoor season for track and field is over, as this weekend’s Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., marks the beginning of outdoor meets.\nA new event added to the outdoor season is the javelin throw. Throwers coach Wil Fleming says the javelin throw, though popular, is a relatively misunderstood event.\n“A lot of people watch the javelin throw and assume that a football player could throw it really far,” Fleming said. “But the mechanics of the throw are different.”\nJavelin throwers begin their throws by sprinting down a runway, holding the javelin behind them, the tip slightly up. The sprinting provides the power to the throw, and holding the javelin back gives the thrower a longer release, allowing the most power to transfer to the javelin. \n“The whole goal of the run is to be in a good position to transfer your speed into the throw,” freshman thrower MacKenzie Cutter said. “At the end of the run, you want to plant your left leg in what is called the block. This will stop your left side and speed up your right.”\nFleming also mentioned “the block” as being very important. He said planting the left leg straight and strong will create a fulcrum for the throw to move over.\n“As I throw, I like to pull down my left arm into me,” sophomore Chris Klakamp said. “The farther you bring down your left, the more you bring your right around.”\nFleming said this motion makes the throwing arm into what looks like a whip. All of the momentum from the run is planted and transferred through the arm to the javelin. \n“The hardest thing to do when you start,” Klakamp said, “is throwing through the point” – that is, not letting the javelin tip come out too high, because then the javelin becomes perpendicular to the ground and fights the wind, he said.\n“Wind can also be a problem, depending on where it is,” Klakamp said. “Obviously a tail wind is great, but you can really get it to go in a head wind, because it keeps the tip from sinking. They make javelins designed for different types of wind.”\nThe javelin throw is just one of many events added to outdoor meets. It is these events that men’s interim head coach Wayne Pate hopes will help his team.\n“The indoor Big Tens are focused primarily on mid-distance,” Pate said. “Outdoors strains out to more events, and since we are a more complete team, it could help us.”\nBoth Pate and women’s interim head coach Judy Wilson said their main goals for the outdoor season were for their teams to improve on their finishes at the indoor Big Ten championships.
(03/19/07 4:00am)
As some IU students were heading home or to the beach for spring break, three IU track and field athletes were kicking off their spring breaks with a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA indoor championships. \nJumpers, junior Kyle Jenkins and senior Kiwan Lawson competed for the men, while freshman pole vaulter Vera Neuenswander competed on the women’s side.\nJenkins finished sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 15.77 meters, just shy of his indoor personal best of 15.86 meters. Sixth place was good enough to earn Jenkins All-American honors.\nThe trip was Jenkins’ first time competing in the indoor championships, but he earned All-American honors at last year’s outdoor championships, finishing fourth with a jump of 16.19 meters.\nLawson leapt his way into 10th place in the long jump with a distance of 7.49 meters. This was Lawson’s second trip to nationals. He placed 15th last year while battling an injury. \n“Kyle made All-American in his first trip to indoors, and Kiwan did better than he did last year,” men’s interim head coach Wayne Pate said. “Both had a few fouls that could have been really strong jumps.”\nJenkins fouled on two of his six jumps, while Lawson fouled on two of his three jumps.\nNeuenswander finished 12th in the pole vault, good enough to make her the highest placing freshman in the field. She cleared 4 meters, short of her personal best, 4.11 meters, set at the Big Ten championships.\n“I was just focusing on doing my best and I am happy with where I finished,” Neuenswander said. “But I definitely have more to work for and look forward to with outdoors coming up.”\nThe indoor championships marked the end of the indoor season, and the beginning of outdoors. The indoor season was a strong one for the both the men and women. \nThe men finished fifth in the Big Ten. The women moved up from ninth place in last year’s competition to finish eighth, while more than doubling the amount of points they earned.\nThe outdoor season will introduce new events to competitions, while changing around the events that are in both indoor and outdoor. Pate and Neuenswander said weather can make a big difference at the events. \n“Wind becomes a large factor – whether head on, from the side or behind, it can really affect a jumper’s approach,” Pate said. “The wind can really play havoc with steps in the approach.”\nThe first meet for both the men and women is March 30 as the teams travel to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
(03/09/07 5:00am)
As the rest of the Hoosier track-and-field team prepares for the outdoor season, three athletes are preparing for one last indoor meet – the NCAA national championships. \nThe three competing on March 9 and 10 in Fayetteville, Ark., are freshman pole vaulter Vera Neuenswander, junior triple jumper Kyle Jenkins and senior long jumper Kiwan Lawson. \nNeuenswander was named the Big Ten freshman of the year after setting a conference record. Her vault of 4.11 meters placed her in second in the Big Ten championships behind sophomore Mallory Peck of Purdue, who cleared the same height but on fewer attempts. Neuenswander is the highest ranked freshman at the pole vault in the nation at No. 13. She said she is excited to be going to nationals so early in her career.\n“It feels good to be going, feels like a lot of hard work has paid off,” Neuenswander said. “My coaches have been telling me that if I keep working hard, things will come together.”\nNeuenswander chose pole vaulting after giving up gymnastics in junior high school because of the easy transition between the two sports. She said the mentality of sprinting at a stationary apparatus in gymnastics really helped her when she started vaulting. \nThis year Neuenswander has been working with assistant coach Jake Wiseman on being more aggressive with take-offs and concentrating on her body position in the air.\n“Vera is a very hard worker and competitor,” Wiseman said. “She works every day and has done a lot of drill work to get where she is.”\nThere will be two IU jumpers competing this weekend on the men’s side.\nJenkins goes into the meet a Big Ten champion in the triple jump and ranks No. 12 in the nation. Lawson also goes into nationals a Big Ten champion in the long jump, ranking No. 7.\n“If both of them set personal bests in the meet, they will be right in the thick of things,” men’s interim head coach Wayne Pate said. “Unlike past years where there has been a real favorite going into these events, this year any one of the 16 athletes could win it. It all comes down to how they are doing that day, and who wants it more.”\nThis will be Jenkins’ first trip to nationals, while Lawson will be making his second consecutive trip.\n“Last year I hurt myself between Big Tens and the championships, so even though I ranked fifth or sixth, I finished dead last,” Lawson said. “It was nice to go, but it was bittersweet almost, in that I could go and see but not touch. I’m looking forward to being able to compete this year.”\nJenkins tweaked his hamstring earlier in the season, but Pate said the hamstring does not seem to be bothering Jenkins at all. Jenkins and Pate have been working on increasing Jenkins’ speed through his sprints and into his take-offs.\n“We have also been working on running and jumping taller,” Jenkins said. “And that has really helped my jumps.”\nHaving great jumpers is nothing new for IU. \nAarik Wilson won both the triple jump and long jump at the 2005 indoor championships. Wilson has since left school and now competes professionally.\nBoth Jenkins and Lawson attribute the program’s success to Pate, and both said he was the reason they chose to come to IU.\n“He has taught me a lot and he was the main reason I came here,” Jenkins said. “If you look at his resume, he has a lot of All-Americans in both the long and triple jump.”\nPate has coached 45 All-American jumpers, including seven NCAA champions.\n“We come to IU with talent, and then Coach brings even more of that talent out,” Lawson said. “He is like a magic man in that aspect. He saw how far I was jumping and told me I would jump farther. He doesn’t try to be a friend; he is a coach and tells me what to do and how I will benefit from it.”\nPate was reluctant in discussing the tradition of strong jumpers he has created at IU.\n“Call it whatever you want – a legacy, or just dumb luck,” Pate said. “It is just that jumping is my area of expertise, and I seem to be able to attract talented athletes.”
(03/05/07 5:00am)
The men’s and women’s track teams sent select members who were on the cusp of going to nationals to South Bend this weekend as a part of the Alex Wilson Invitational held at Notre Dame. \nThe women sent their distance medley team, another distance runner and two hurdlers, while the men’s team sent its 4-by-400-meter relay team.\nThe women’s distance medley team ran its strongest time of the year at 11:25.16. The time was fast enough to beat the school record of 11:41.99 set in 2002. However, the time was not fast enough to be considered for the NCAA indoor national championships as it places the team 22nd in the nation.\n“It was a really good effort,” women’s interim head coach Judy Wilson said. “We just wanted to see what we could do; we knew we were going to break the school record.”\nThe relay team comprised senior Stacey Clausing and sophomores Caitlin Lauer, Molly Beckwith and Wendi Robinson.\n“I was happy with our time – that was our goal,” Clausing said. “We knew we had to run faster for nationals, so we were happy to break the record.”\nSenior distance runner Lindsay Hattendorf also ran this weekend. She ran a time of 16:50.29, finishing fourth in the women’s 5,000-meter run.\n“Lindsey ran the 3,000- and the 5,000- last weekend at the Big Tens,” Wilson said. “So to turn around and run another 5,000 only five days later was very difficult.”\nSenior Courtney Johnson finished first in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles after posting a personal best of 8.39 seconds in the preliminaries. Johnson’s time ranks fifth all-time at IU. Her teammate senior Lorian Price was second after the preliminaries with a time of 8.46 seconds. Price did not run in the finals.\n“Courtney had a good race, she was just slow in her start,” Wilson said. “She was hurt for part of the year so we are happy with what she has been able to do.”\nThe men’s team sent its 4-by-400-meter relay team, which edged out Purdue’s team in the final event of the Big Ten Indoor championships last weekend, vaulting IU ahead of its rival in the overall standings. The team ran a time of 3:12.82 this weekend, finishing eighth and falling short of their goal to qualify for nationals. \nThe team comprised juniors Doug Dayhoff and Ryan Smith, senior Trey Warfield and sophomore Martin Stephen.\nThis weekend’s invitational marked the end of the indoor season for the two squads. IU will be sending a few athletes to the indoor nationals next weekend, however, and will find out today who those athletes will be. The three athletes that are likely to go are senior Kiwan Lawson, junior Kyle Jenkins and freshman Vera Neuenswander. \nAccording to www.trackshark.com, Lawson ranks No. 7 nationally in the long jump, Jenkins ranks No. 11 in the triple jump, and Neuenswander is the highest ranking freshman pole vaulter in the nation at No. 14.\n“All in all it was a better indoor season than last year, and we are looking forward to the outdoor season,” Wilson said. \nThe outdoor season begins March 30 as the squads travel to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
(03/02/07 5:00am)
After a brilliant performance in the women’s Big Ten championships, freshman pole vaulter Vera Neuenswander was named Big Ten freshman of the year.\nNeuenswander set a Big Ten record with a vault of 4.11 meters. The jump not only set a personal best for Neuenswander, but also broke a school record of 3.91 meters set by Emily Tharp in 2002. Neuenswander attributes her training to her success.\n“It was mostly everything coming together for me at the right time,” Neuenswander said. “And fortunately it just happened to be at the Big Tens.”\nWith her jump, Neuenswander vaulted herself into an 11th national ranking – the highest ranking freshman in the nation. She also provisionally qualified for nationals. \nNeuenswander’s coach Jake Wiseman said the pole vault competition he watched was one of the best he has ever seen, because of Neuenswander’s competitiveness.\n“She’s a competitor, that’s the main thing about Vera,” Wiseman said. “She didn’t know she had broken the school record; she didn’t know she had broken the conference record; she didn’t know she was now the number one freshman in the country; none of this was obvious. She just went out and competed, she forgot about what was happening – she just wanted to win.”\nNeuenswander finished second to Mallory Peck of Purdue at the Big Tens. The two cleared the same height, but Neuenswander had more attempts. In the competition, she vaulted 13 times, which according to Wiseman is astonishing in its own right, and really speaks of her desire to compete.\n“In a normal competition, you would only want to jump somewhere around six or eight times,” Wiseman said.\nWomen’s interim head coach Judy Wilson was very pleased with the spark she got from her freshman.\n“Vera had a rough meet the weekend before and was upset,” Wilson said. “We talked about that, and at this meet she got everything going for us. It’s great for Vera, and great for our program.”\nThe women’s team finished eighth, which is an improvement from last year. On day one, the Hoosiers scored 18 points, one shy of their total for the entire Big Tens last year.\n“We had women qualify for the finals on the second day in every event except for the 60-meter dash,” Wilson said. “Last year, we hardly had anyone run on the second day.”\nFifteen of the 27 athletes that participated for the Hoosiers at the meet were either freshmen or sophomores, Wilson said. \nThe top athletes from both the men’s and women’s sides will be heading up to South Bend this weekend for the Notre Dame qualifiers. The meet will primarily be used for the athletes who will be attending nationals in Fayetteville, Ark. \n“We’re just keeping it to the athletes who provisionally qualified for and who still can put up better times for Arkansas,” Wilson said.
(03/01/07 5:00am)
!!! formed in the mid-'90s in Sacramento based on the knowledge that they would be playing an all-night house party. More than a decade later, the party is still going strong. Since that fateful night, the band has alternated between club-hopping and label-hopping with each release, starting with GSL, moving to Touch & Go and now finding their rhythm with Warp Records. To answer the question that is on the tip of your tongue, the band's name can be pronounced by using a series of three one-syllable percussive sounds in succession, but "chk, chk, chk" is typically the "name" chosen by most !!! followers.\nMyth Takes, the third full-length release by !!!, contains the driving beats, healthy low-end spindly guitars and well-placed electronic embellishments that made their previous albums so delightful. While their previous works were undeniably fun, Myth Takes is more developed and leads you into walls of wailing synths, dense percussion, catchy hooks and an undeniable groove that flows freely throughout the songs. !!! is developing a prowess for creating multi-layered tunes that provide a good middle ground or starting point for those with a background in rock who are interested in dance music.\nUnlike many dance tunes, the songs aren't menacingly long and !!! manages to mix electronic dance music, disco, funk, punk and hints of other styles and present them with a dose of arrogance added into the mix. However, !!! has never been a band to have overly impressive lyrics. Lyrical content for the band is often crass, rebellious or abstract. However, dance music thrives on veiled lyrics and rock encompasses the defiant mentality that the band presents. Since !!! uses both styles as their framework, the lyrics actually work.\nThe album flows well until the last moments. "Infinifold," the album's closer, is a dark lament that sounds absolutely stunning on its own, but it is completely out of place on the album. It is curious that !!! decided to put the track on the album even though it is contrary to the style of the other nine songs. Though, if the band continued in the direction of that song, the results would surely be well worth a listen.\nDespite the awkward transition to close the album, Myth Takes is another dance in the right direction for !!!. Overall, the album is fun, engaging and full of tunes that will make you want to get on the dance floor. It would be a huge "mythtake" not to give chk, chk, chk a chance, chance, chance.
(02/26/07 5:00am)
The environment inside IU’s Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse had all the ingredients of a high-powered action movie as it hosted the men’s Big Ten indoor championships, complete with gunshots, foot-races and a lot of screaming. \nThe stars of the meet for Indiana were senior long jumper Kiwan Lawson and junior triple jumper Kyle Jenkins. The two combined to give IU 31 of its 72 points.\nWith a leap of 7.73 meters, Lawson earned IU 10 points and became the Big Ten men’s long jump champion on day one of the meet. Fresh off of the podium Lawson ran a personal best 21.39 seconds in the 200-meter dash prelims, easily qualifying for the finals on day two. Lawson would finish third in the finals, giving him another trip to the podium, while earning IU six more points.\n“This is the Big Tens, this is what it all comes down to,” Lawson said, “and it was at home so you really have to get into it and pump yourself up, and create some energy and momentum for your team.”\nMen’s interim head coach Wayne Pate also discussed how being at home was a great motivator for his athletes.\n“The crowd has been great, and I really think that the guys are running stronger since they are in front of their family and friends,” Pate said.\nLawson’s teammate Jenkins was also crowned a Big Ten champion. Jenkins won the triple jump on day two of the meet. He posted a leap of 15.66 meters and earned IU 10 points. Jenkins also finished fourth in the long jump on the first day of the meet, earning IU five more points. \n“It is great to see these two carry on the tradition of jumpers here at IU,” Pate said.\nSophomore Ryan Smith posted a school record and personal best of 1:19.03 in the 600-meter dash on the day one preliminaries. Smith then came back to the field house the next day and broke that record, posting a time of 1:18.99. The previous school record was 1:19.25 set by Ryan Huber in the 2000 Big Ten Championships.\nIf the meet were a movie than it would not have had a happy ending, as despite being in second after day one of the championships, IU ended up fifth. Wisconsin won its seventh Big Ten title in as many years, scoring 120 points. This was primarily because of their dominant distance team, something the IU squad has been lacking in all year. IU’s distance medley was the only event to bring in points on the distance side. The team consisting of junior Brennan Plotner, sophomore Martin Stephen, freshman Milos Mikic and freshman Tyler McCreary finished sixth in the event with a time of 10:08.35.\nPate was happy, however, with how his team performed overall this weekend.\n“As a coach you always want more from your athletes, but I am very pleased with the effort the guys showed me,” Pate said, “especially the guys who scored that weren’t expected to. The whole team seemed to really lay it all down on the line – they didn’t have their best times, but they did what they had to. Now all we need is more of these kinds of athletes.”
(02/23/07 5:00am)
For the men’s track and field team to win the Big Ten indoor championships this weekend, it will need more than talent and a home facility advantage. It will need leadership and motivation. Thankfully the team has been getting these two things in heavy doses all year from not only their coaches, but junior sprinter Doug Dayhoff.\nAt the beginning of the year, men’s head coach Wayne Pate named Dayhoff a captain of the men’s team. Since then, Dayhoff has been setting examples for younger athletes, not only with his feet, but with his work ethic and personality. \nAnd the other athletes are taking notice, sprinter’s coach George Freeman said. \n“Coach Pate elected the captains, but the team would have voted for Doug,” Freeman said. “It’s been a pleasure coaching him. He is very outgoing and responds well in practice and is a good leader.”\nDayhoff also embraces his role as a team leader. \n“It means I need to set a good example for the team (and) really set a high standard for the rest of the guys,” Dayhoff said.\nIU sprinters run what they call “ladders” in practices. This is where they start with a distance and then either increase or decrease the distance with each following run. Coach Freeman’s favorite ladder was called the “telephone number.”\nThe ladder started at 500-meters and after three of those worked, its down to 100-meters. These types of workouts need fellow athlete’s leadership to keep the team happy and working hard.\n“Doug would say, ‘OK, we will run this distance in this time,’ and then run the distance two seconds faster,” senior sprinter and relay partner of Dayhoff’s Trey Warfield said. “So of course the rest of the team sees this and tries to keep up.”\nDayhoff’s intensity in practice carries over into competitions. He has the fastest time on the team in the 400-meter dash at 47.76 seconds, making him fifth fastest in the Big Ten.\nBeing a captain on the team means that Dayhoff has to manage his team’s morale, something Freeman and Warfield agree that Dayhoff is very good at.\n“Doug is a great leader. Before we run races, when we are all warming up and are tense, he’ll come over and crack a joke and get us all to loosen up,” Warfield said.\nDayhoff and the rest of the men’s track and field team are excited about heading into this weekend’s Big Ten championship meet held in Bloomington.\n“This is the best part of the season because we have done all of the prep work, and now we can see it all pay off,” Dayhoff said. “We always have goals heading into meets. Personally, I just want to be on that podium after I run, score points for my team and to be able to see my team win.”\nThe excitement is so high that Pate said he saw some athletes with so much energy they were doing cartwheels, and that he just wanted them to save that energy for the weekend.\nFor many athletes, this weekend could be the culmination of a lot of hard work and training. \n“This is my last indoor Big Tens and all I want to do is get on that podium,” Warfield said, “it is just time to go out there and do what we have been trained to do.”
(02/19/07 5:00am)
Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams look to use success in Friday’s Hoosier Hills invite to boost their confidence heading into next weekend’s Big Ten championships.\n“The team did really good,” assistant coach Jake Wiseman said. “They are definitely improving getting ready for the Big Tens.”\nThe men’s team took four events, including the 200-meter dash where senior Kiwan Lawson finished first with a personal best time of 21.71 seconds, which also clocks in as the team’s best time in the event. Junior Doug Dayhoff was second behind his teammate with a time of 21.87 seconds, while junior Keith Heerdegen rounded out the top five with a time of 22.02 seconds.\nSophomore Jeff Coover also finished first in pole vault with a height of 5.07 meters. Sophomore Blayne Burkholder increased his personal best for the second week in a row, posting a height of 4.92 meters, finishing third.\nCoover is currently second in the Big Ten behind Michigan State’s Mark Langlois, whose best jump this season (5.21 meters) edges out Coover’s best by 1 centimeter. Coover, however, feels that he is more consistent than Langlois.\n“I’m coming along nicely, I hit 5.20, repeated it, and I know I can do it week in and week out,” Coover said. “I know that I’m ready to make my mark on my first attempt, and that’s what it could come down to, number of attempts.”\nThe women’s pole-vaulters also had a strong meet heading into the conference championships. \nFreshman Vera Neuenswander finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 3.50 meters. Freshman Katherine Hopkins set a personal best 3.35 meters.\n“This was a good tune-up week,” Wiseman said. “I’m expecting good things out of the team. They just need to stay calm and do what they need to do.”\nThe women’s side of the track and field team, like the men’s, also had four wins Friday. Freshman Jackie Coleman won the triple jump with a personal best 11.53 meters.\nSeniors Lorian Price and Stacey Clausing finished second and fourth in the 60-meter dash. Price had a time of 7.68 seconds and Clausing had a time of 7.71 seconds.\nSophomore Audrey Smoot won the 600-meter run with a time of 1:34.01, and senior Candace Perry won the long jump, leaping 5.77 meters.\n“We’re excited and ready to go for Big Tens. We’ve got a group of seniors that we expect big things out of and they expect big things out of themselves,” women’s head coach Judy Wilson said in a statement. “We also have an excited and enthusiastic group of underclassmen. We have a lot of potential and need to come out with both guns loaded.”\nThis weekend’s Big Ten championships will split up the men’s and women’s track and field teams. The women travel to Illinois, and the men host in Bloomington.
(02/16/07 5:01am)
The IU track and field teams have been hurdling past meets all year long and are finally able to see the finish line. They have only one more hurdle before the Big Ten championships, the Hoosier Hills Invite, this weekend.\nThe invite will be hosted by IU Friday afternoon in the Gladstein Fieldhouse, and will serve as a tune-up meet for the Hoosiers' top athletes.\nSenior hurdler and jumper Lorian Price is one of those top athletes. Price is ranked in the top five all time at IU in the long jump and the 60-meter hurdles. So far this season she holds the team's second-best time in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.48 seconds, set last weekend at Arkansas, and the best result in the long jump at 5.98 meters.\n"This will be a week to fine tune things," Price said. "And get everything ready for next weekend."\nIU coach Wayne Pate is having Price run what he calls an "off-event," which means instead of running in her specialty event, the 60-meter hurdles, Price will run in the 60-meter dash.\n"We have some people doing off-events instead of their specialty events," Pate said. "Lorian is running the 60-meter dash because it will help boost her speed."\nPrice said that she really wanted to work on her turnover -- increasing the speed of her strides -- this weekend. \n"This is all a part of peaking," Pate said. \nPeaking has been a common theme with the team since the beginning of the year. The goal for the season was to have all of the athletes perform their strongest in he conference championships.\n"We have been working hard all year," freshman hurdler Chris Sackmann said. "We have recently started to slow down our workouts so we can do the best we can."\nSackmann currently holds the best time for the 60-meter hurdles on the men's side. His personal best, 8.24 seconds, has been going down with almost every meet, now that practices have become less intensive. \n"This definitely has to be the time to peak," Price said. "I'm excited to go into the Big Tens. Things are starting to come together with the anticipation of next weekend and I am starting to peak."\nSackmann added that he is excited for his first Big Ten championships.\n"Last weekend in Arkansas we had a big meeting and the coaches all got us fired up for the meet," Sackmann said. "I can't wait to feel what that is like for the biggest meet of the season."\nThe biggest meet of the season, the conference championships, will be held in Bloomington for the men. Illinois will host the women.\n"We have a lot of athletes who are ranked high, and we know those athletes will be competitive," Pate said. "It's the second tier athletes that are right on the cusp, and need to perform well and take away points from other teams who are expecting to get them. The second line will decide how well we do"
(02/12/07 2:31am)
Three Hoosier track-and-field stars must have decided the weather in March will be better in Arkansas than in Bloomington. \nThe three booked return trips this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships.\nSeniors Kiwan Lawson, Stacey Clausing and Lindsay Hattendorf all provisionally qualified for nationals in March.\nFayetteville, Ark., played host to the three qualifiers and the rest of the men's and women's track-and-field athletes who competed in the Tyson Invitational this weekend.\nIn the men's long jump, Lawson leapt a distance of 7.75 meters, which ties a personal best that is currently fifth best all-time at IU.\nLawson's teammates, junior Kyle Jenkins and sophomore Jeff Coover, could potentially be traveling back to Arkansas, as they provisionally qualified earlier in the year.\nCoover also tied his personal best and provisional qualifying mark of 5.20 meters in the pole vault this weekend.\n"It is encouraging to have several good performances here, since this is the site of NCAAs," men's track-and-field interim head coach Wayne Pate said in a statement. "Kiwan and Jeff both had great marks, and this is the time that we want our athletes to start peaking."\nClausing also qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.90 seconds. She could be competing in two events at nationals since she qualified in the 400-meter dash last weekend.\nHattendorf qualified for nationals in the 5,000-meter run this weekend with a time of 16:39.95. Hattendorf qualified last weekend in the 3,000-meter run at the Indiana Relays in Bloomington.\nThe recent qualifications bring the total number of Hoosiers who could attend nationals to six.\nSophomore Wendi Robinson posted a personal best in the mile, clocking in at 4:53.20. That time was strong enough to place her fifth. \n"Wendi really showed a step in the right direction tonight," women's interim coach Judy Wilson said in a statement. "She ran faster in the second half than she did in the first, and I'm excited because she ran the race that I wanted her to run. I don't think she has showed us everything she has yet."\nFreshman Faith Sherrill threw for a personal best in the shot put with a distance of 14.07 meters. Sherrill now holds the longest throws on the women's squad for both the shot put and the weight throw (16.09 meters).\nJunior long jumper Devin Moore and junior sprinter Doug Dayhoff from the men's team posted personal bests in their respective events as well. Moore jumped a distance of 6.93 meters, finishing 11th behind Jenkins, who came in eighth, and junior Tyler Skelton, who finished in ninth.\nIU will host the Hoosier Hills invite this weekend, and then it's the Big Ten championships Feb. 24, hosted by IU on the men's side and by Illinois on the women's side.
(02/09/07 4:31am)
The young Hoosier track teams are packing up their shoes, speed suits and toothbrushes as they hit the road for the first time this season. \nThe teams are heading to Fayetteville, Ark., the home of this year's NCAA Indoor Championships and this weekend's Tyson Invitational.\nThe Tyson Invite will host the stiffest competition the Hoosiers have seen this year. But it will also provide an opportunity for national's hopefuls, such as seniors Lindsey Hattendorf and Stacey Clausing, to run on the same track they will be running on in early March. \nArkansas' Randal Tyson Track Complex houses one of the steepest banking 200-meter tracks in the NCAA with a bank of 60 degrees.\n"There isn't much you can do to prepare for such a high track," men's coach Wayne Pate said. "It will give our athletes a chance to see the facilities for nationals. It will be the first time there for a lot of our kids."\nThe men's side of the meet boasts athletes from 15 teams in the Trackwire 25 Power Rankings, including the tied-for-19th Hoosiers. Indiana athletes on the women's side will face athletes from 12 of the Trackwire Top 25 teams.\nTwo Hoosiers looking forward to the competition are sophomore mid-distance runners Caitlin Lauer and Molly Beckwith.\n"The competition is better -- best we've seen actually, so I'm really excited for that," Lauer said.\nLauer will be running the 800-meter run and a leg of the 4x400-meter relay this weekend. Beckwith will also be running the 800-meter run, and has been training with Lauer all year. \n"We workout together just the two of us, and really push each other," Beckwith said. "In fact, we weren't able to run together part of this week, so we ran by ourselves and our times were identical, so it is great to have someone running the same times as me -- pushing me."\nThis is Beckwith's first season with the track and field team. She played four years of high-school soccer, received a soccer scholarship at IU and was a standout reserve on the women's soccer team. She played in all but two of the Hoosiers' games her freshman season, and scored two game-winning goals, the first freshman to do so since 2003. Beckwith switched from soccer to track this year due to knee problems she has been battling since her sophomore year in high school.\n"I ran track my freshman year in high school and posted numbers that would have been competing in the Big Ten today, but I chose to play only soccer my sophomore and junior years because I loved it so much," Beckwith said.\nBeckwith ran track again her senior year while finishing her four-year career in soccer, but said she wasn't as fast as she was her freshman year, and is still working her way back to where she once was. \n"Both Molly and Caitlin show us a lot of promise in mid-distance," women's head coach Judy Wilson said. "Both are talented, strong competitors that workout very well together"
(02/06/07 8:01pm)
Though brewing beer is not offered as a major at IU, two former undergrads have gone on to make it their careers.\nBecause of the competition with large manufacturers and their cheaper alternatives, microbreweries might have a disadvantage in such a well-established market. But two Bloomington-based brewpubs have been operating successfully during the last decade. The owners of both the Bloomington Brewing Company and the Upland Brewing Company rely on students, alumni and city residents for business.
(02/05/07 5:11am)
This weekend's Indiana Relays marked the fourth consecutive meet held in the Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse, and the meet provided a chance for the young Hoosier track and field teams to get a taste of what the Big Ten championships will be like.\nThe relays were set up like the Big Ten championships. In the first day of the meet athletes compete to qualify and go on to the finals the next day. The other meets held in Bloomington this year were setup to have numerous heats for an event and the best times or distances would win. \n"This meet was made similar to the Big Ten championships so it would get our athletes an idea of what to expect," men's head coach Wayne Pate said. "Some of our runners did well, some got tired from the first day, and qualifying will be much harder when we get to the Big Ten championships."\nHoosiers on both the men's and women's side posted personal bests this weekend. Senior Kiwan Lawson finished third in the long jump with a distance of 7.30 meters and finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 21.97 seconds.\nSophomore sprinter Wil Glover finished fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.96 seconds, and his teammate junior Jacob Moylan finished seventh with a time of 6.98 seconds.\nJunior Kyle Jenkins was nursing a hamstring injury, so instead of participating in the triple jump, Pate placed Kyle in the long jump where he posted a season-best 7.12 meters in finishing fifth. \n"Kyle should be 100 percent next weekend at Arkansas and will compete in the triple jump," Pate said.\nThe women track and field athletes turned in a very impressive meet. \nSeniors Courtney Johnson and Lindsay Hattendorf put up provisional qualifying times for the NCAA National championships in March.\nJohnson put up a time of 8.42 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, barely edging out the provisional qualifying time of 8.43 seconds.\nHattendorf had a personal best in the 3000-meter run, finishing third, and provisionally qualifying for nationals with a time of 9:32.32. Senior Jessica Gall ran unattached to IU to save her eligibility for the outdoor season and finished second with a time of 9:29.69. Women's head coach Judy Wilson said Gall will run in the USA indoor meet. \n"It is always helpful running with Jess," Hattendorf said. "We both know how to push each other and work together."\nFreshman Vera Neuenswander posted a career-best 3.77 meters in the pole vault, placing her fourth in the competition, but moving her into second all-time for women's pole vault at IU. \n"We have a great mix of experienced upper classmen and talented freshmen who are looking to be competitive at the big ten in three weeks," Wilson said. \nHattendorf echoed similar sentiments to that of her coach.\n"This team is amazing. I have never felt this kind of chemistry with the track team. It is pretty awesome. Everyone keeps working hard and that's what we need to do"
(02/02/07 4:53am)
The Harry Gladstein Field House will play host to a fourth consecutive meet this weekend, as IU track-and-field athletes gear up for stiff competition in the Indiana Relays before they travel to Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational. \nTwo Hoosiers who are looking for competition are Vera Neuenswander and Jeff Coover. The pair anchors the women's and men's IU pole vaulting squad, respectively. \n"The two should almost be brother and sister," pole vaulting coach Jake Wiseman said. "I can't overemphasize how hard they work."\nNeuenswander is a freshman from Jefferson City, Mo. While in high school, she was a state champion in pole vault in 2003, 2005 and 2006. She holds the third-best all-time record for women's pole vault at IU, with a jump of 3.75 \nmeters. \nNeuenswander said she decided to come to IU after many visits to the campus. \n"The coaches here care, and it is a great atmosphere," she said.\nCoover, a sophomore, also talked about the campus when discussing why he came all the way from La Jolla, Calif. \n"I also have a brother on the team, Paul, and he has been a big role model to me, and was an important factor in my decision," Coover said.\nBut it has been Coover who has been a role model for the pole vaulting squad. Last week he set a career best while posting a NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5.20 meters, meaning he could be going to the NCAA National Championships.\n"It's not very likely that my mark will get me to nationals, because they only choose the 10 or 11 best pole vaulters in the nation," Coover said. "But it is awesome to have my name in the running and be considered."\nNot only was Coover's jump a career best, but he said it was his first time over 17 feet and that it felt good to finally clear that mark.\nThese meets are what the track and field teams as a whole have been preparing for with the Big Ten championships only a month away. \n"This is the time when we need to start to peak," Wiseman said.\nIn practice the pole vaulters help each other out and cheer each other on knowing that they will be coming up against some stiff competition, including the teams not just in the Big Ten, but also those that will be at the Indiana Relays this weekend. \n"They make each other better in day-to-day practice," Wiseman said. "It has been fun coaching this team. They are young and they really bring the best out of you"
