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Farmers Market partners with local hospital

City News

City Editor

February 24, 2010

Fresh food leads to good health and “a healthy heart is a happy heart.”

For 2010, the Davis Farmers Market is partnering with Sutter Davis Hospital to teach Davis how fresh produce is the healthy choice.

On Feb. 20, Davis Farmers Market and Sutter Davis Hospital kicked off their partnership in Central Park on Third and C Streets in downtown Davis. The event ran from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., focusing on February as American Heart Month.

“Nutrition and health go hand in hand,” said Courtney Wilson, marketing coordinator for Sutter Davis Hospital. “I hope that the community will gain more awareness that nutrition and farm fresh produce help you live a healthy life and maintain your health.”

At the kick-off event, Sutter Davis Hospital and Sutter West Medical Group performed free health screenings to market patrons. Staff was available to measure body composition, blood pressure and conduct glucose testing. To promote their fitness goals, Sutter Davis Hospital supplied health information and free jump ropes to attendees.

“To be able to meet and greet health professionals, I think people will react very well to that,” said Randii MacNear, executive director of the Davis Farmers Market. “The good news is that a lot of times it’s really pretty simple. You eat more fruits and vegetables in your diet, and it’s good for you. This isn’t disputed anymore. I love getting to convince people that it’s the right thing to do.”

In an effort to make their partnership a success, Sutter Davis Hospital and Davis Farmers Market are investigating more ideas on how to collaborate.

One idea is to implement goods from the market into Sutter’s hospital events and their cafeteria menus. Additionally, Davis Farmers Market may offer gift baskets with their local farm products in the hospital gift shop and provide samples in the hospital cafeteria. Both groups are also considering starting a small farmers market at Sutter and working to support one another’s classes and events.

Also visiting the Saturday market was the UC Davis Student Nutrition Association who has been working to promote healthy nutrition and exercise on campus and in the community for over 50 years. The Nutrition Association served samples and recipes of heart-healthy soups and provided advice on low-sodium alternatives.

“I feel that the partnership between Sutter Davis Hospital and the Davis Farmers Market is an excellent way to mesh both the ‘practical’ and ‘proactive’ components of health,” said senior microbiology major and Nutrition Association Coordinator Martin Bernardino. “If medicine is seen as the final intervention in ensuring one’s well-being, then practicing healthy dietary habits daily is key to sustaining health and preventing disease.”

The community could expect to see some of these new ideas come to fruition with events occurring by the end of spring, but the hospital and the market are still in the planning process, Wilson said.

“You just can’t ever stop looking for places to connect with people on a health level and with that message,” MacNear said. “And of course working with a health institution, like Sutter, is just so perfect because what they are doing is actually a liaison between fruits and vegetables and the patient.”

SAMANTHA BOSIO can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

Cost-effective LED lights replace select streetlights

City News

City Editor

February 24, 2010

In collaboration with PG&E, the city of Davis municipality will begin swapping out regular high-pressure sodium (HPS) “yellow” streetlights with those powered by energy efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The “Streetlight Conversion Pilot Project” received unanimous support at the Davis City Council meeting last week.

“[It’s a] pilot project to install LED lights on a small scale at selected locations throughout the city,” said city manager Bill Emlen at the meeting.

A total of 327 existing streetlights, or 10 percent of Davis’ streetlights, will be replaced. The city’s federal stimulus funds will pay for the program’s cost of $191,525.

UC Davis professor Dr. Michael Siminovitch who serves as director of the Davis-based California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) gave a presentation to the council on the benefits of LED technology. He explained LED lights outclass the current HPS technology that dominates Davis streetlights.

“The LED is growing in popularity because it is becoming more efficient and lower-cost and eventually will be a predominant light source in the lighting of our homes and buildings,” Siminovitch said in an e-mail interview.

Standard HPS streetlights last five years before requiring replacement. The new LED streetlights are expected to last approximately 20 years, drastically reducing the labor costs associated with streetlight replacement, said city engineer Bob Clarke at the meeting.

Clarke said Davisites had already been exposed to LED streetlights; several have been installed on Eighth Street.

“I think the main thing that staff wants to do is … gauge how our community responds to the changed lighting,” he said.

LED technology saves vast amounts of energy when paired with motion sensors, ensuring energy does not go to waste when a lit room experiences a period of vacancy. To illustrate the great effect to which motion sensing could be used, Siminovitch showed his audience a nighttime photograph of a multi-tiered UC Davis parking lot drenched in white light.

“This is a typical kind of thing that we see,” he said, referring to the image of the parking lot. “[There were] six cars in this structure at midnight – there’s no reason that we’re lit this brightly.”

Siminovitch and his team of graduate students at the CLTC applied motion-sensing LED technology to the UC Davis campus. Parking lots at the Mondavi Center have all been retrofitted with LED lighting, leading to energy savings of about 60 percent.

The CLTC plans to install LED lighting at other UC campuses through an agreement with the UC Office of the President. For Davis’ streetlight replacement project, however, the organization only provides research and field study data.

They do not feature LED lighting, but many UC Davis dormitories integrate sensor technology. Some students, like first-year Bixby resident Mikaila Snyder, have encountered trouble with the sensors’ insensitivity.

“Unless you’re sitting in the middle in the downstairs lounge, the light turns off every couple minutes,” she said. “[The sensor] only covers a certain area.”

Several councilmembers voiced their support of LED technology before the vote took place. Councilmember Stephen Souza said he had been trying to bring about LED replacements in 2004 and wanted to see all of Davis fitted with them in the future, while Mayor Ruth Asmundson talked about her personal experience with LED lights.

“I’m a fan of LED lightings,” Asmundson said. “I just remodeled my house and everything is LED and sensor and everything.”

YARA ELMJOUIE can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

Activists file lawsuit to restore affirmative action to UCs

City News

City Editor

February 24, 2010

Affirmative action policies began in response to the 1960s and ’70s civil rights movement but remained a point of contention nationally.

Now in California, the Berkeley-based civil rights activist group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) filed a federal lawsuit in order to increase the number of African American, Latino and Native American students at the University of California.

The lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the University of California Board of Regents and University of California President Mark Yudof seeks to reverse Proposition 209.

In 1996 California voters approved the Prop 209 constitutional amendment, which banned government institutions from using race as a consideration to increase the numbers of underrepresented minorities who are employed by the government or attend public universities.

Since then, African American, Native American and Latino admissions have dropped across the UC system. In fall 2009 African American students comprised 4.2 percent of freshman admissions, Latinos 23 percent, and Native Americans only 0.7 percent of total UC admissions. At UC Davis, all three groups combined made up approximately 21 percent of the school’s freshman admissions, according to UC Office of the President admissions records.

Attorneys George Washington and Shanta Driver are the heads of a legal team representing BAMN, while UC Berkeley law school graduate and civil rights attorney Ronald Cruz will also be working with BAMN on the case.

“Proposition 209 has created a regime of de facto segregation in the UC system,” Cruz said. “Faculty and chancellors of the different campuses have spent years devising ways to increase underrepresented minority enrollment without considering race … but none of them have had more than a minor effect on the fundamental trend of resegregation … Racist stigma of intellectual inferiority predates affirmative action and has only gotten worse after its elimination.”

Cruz added that African American enrollment at UC San Diego has dropped to 1 percent.

The movement to amend the California Constitution and ban affirmative action was led by UC Regent Ward Connerly who chaired the 1995 campaign to bring Prop 209 to ballot.

Connerly said it is the affirmative action policies that are actually racist. By using race as a consideration at all, the progress of the civil rights movement toward a color-blind society is threatened, he said.

“Proposition 209 is in essence the same language as the 1964 civil rights act,” Connerly said, referring to the 1964 federal legislation which banned Jim Crow laws.

Connerly is the founder and president of the American Civil Rights Institute, (ACRI), a Sacramento-based organization that has also worked to end affirmative action in other states by introducing similar legislation.

Proposition 209 has been challenged directly in California before. In 1997 the Ninth District Court of Appeals refused to hear the case, leaving proposition Proposition 209 unchallenged until now.

“This is basically the same lawsuit that was filed in 1997. The Ninth Circuit Court, which is very liberal, laughed at [the lawsuit],” he said. “They found that it was impossible that an initiative that guaranteed equality somehow runs amok of the 14th amendment. BAMN is probably one of the biggest enemies of civil rights today. They turn logic on its head. I don’t want to call individuals’ names, but the group is despicable.”

UC Office of the President spokesperson Ricardo Vasquez said the university system will continue to reach out to minority students through a number of student aid programs.

“Though it’s too early in the process for a response about the merits of the suit challenging Proposition 209 we have a general comment: it’s the law,” Vasquez said. “If this opens up another discussion, that’s all well and good, but, as long Proposition 209 is the law, we’re obliged to follow it.”

SAMUEL A. COHEN can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

‘Meatless Mondays’ educate students on vegetarianism

Campus News

Campus Editor

February 24, 2010

In an attempt to get students to think beyond partying and passing classes, UC Davis Dining Services has implemented a program to make students more aware of what they eat.

‘Meatless Monday’ is an idea originally developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health of Baltimore, Md. in 2006. UC Davis Dining Services incorporated the program into their educational plans for the dining commons in 2007 with a focus on personal health.

This past fall quarter the program expanded to include environmental sustainability concerns and how a decrease in meat consumption could affect that.

Dining Services director of nutrition and sustainability Linda Adams clarified a misconception that the program’s title causes many to believe.

“We don’t take meat off the menu,” she said. “It’s simply a public awareness campaign aimed at helping [students] shape their habits for the future by having a higher regard for what they put in their body.”

The program teaches students some of the consequences they face from overconsumption of saturated fats from animal products and processed foods. The new environmental twist also provides some of the math behind the carbon dioxide and water that is saved by eliminating meat from the diet once a week.

Danielle Sales, sustainability manager, acknowledged that there has been mixed reception to the program.

“We just want to get [students] talking and learning more on their own,” she said. “If we can get consumers to connect with their food, then that challenges them to think more critically about food in general, not just meat. You don’t have to be vegetarian to be healthy.”

According to Sales, the program presently offers students the opportunity to pledge to go meatless every Monday. Since last fall, they have received 336 pledges, roughly one-third of their 1,000-student goal.

Sophomore neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Akshaya Ramanujam believes the program is an effective method for promoting vegetarianism as an option. Ramanujam, a strict vegetarian of eight years, lamented what she sees as limited non-meat options on the DC’s menu.

“I think [the program] is a good way to talk about how to be healthy,” she said. “It’d be nice if the DC had [a meatless meal] once a week because I’d feel like there was more of a choice.”

That could be a future development for the program, Sales said.

With UC Santa Cruz already eliminating meat from the menu one day out of the week from one of their dining commons, and with UCLA and UC Santa Barbara considering taking beef off of their menus, it could only be a matter of time until UC Davis follows suit.

“It would be really exciting to see more variety for what I can eat,” said Pooja Mehta, a first-year economics major and lifelong vegetarian. “And it would not only make people aware, but also allow them to participate in supporting the environment and their health.”

KYLE SPORLEDER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Campus Judicial Report

Campus News

Campus Editor

February 24, 2010

Friends don’t let friends cheat

A senior was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for unauthorized collaboration and cheating on an exam. The student had similar incorrect answers that were almost identical to those of a classmate. When the student met with a judicial officer, she stated that she did not look at the final exam of the student next to her nor did she notice anyone looking at her exam, however she did know the person sitting next to her. Later, the other student admitted to copying the referred student’s final exam. No disciplinary action was taken on this student and the case was dismissed.

Study correctly!

A first-year was referred to SJA for unauthorized collaboration during an exam. The student had work and answers on an exam that were incorrect and identical to another student’s. When the student met with a judicial officer, he stated that he neither copied nor collaborated with the other student. He explained that he and the other student did study together and in preparation for the exam they worked out several sample problems. However, both students explained that though they did sit in the same row, there was another student in between the two. They were given the benefit of the doubt; SJA decided not to pursue a formal hearing and resolved the referral with a non-disciplinary action of an administrative notice, which serves as a formal notice to the student of university policies and standards.

Version buster

A senior was referred to SJA for cheating on an exam. The student copied from a student she did not know during a midterm exam. The midterm had two different versions and the answers on the referred student’s exam reflected the answers of the version she did not have. When the student met with a judicial officer, she admitted to copying from the student and agreed to the disciplinary sanction of deferred separation until graduation and 15 hours of community service. A deferred separation means that if the student were found in violation of any university policies or regulations in the future, she would likely be suspended or dismissed from the university.

New double deck Unitrans buses pull in to campus

Campus News

Campus Editor

February 24, 2010

Unitrans has welcomed two new members to its family of buses, and they’re a spitting image of their grandparents – the vintage London double decks.

The new double deck buses are clean diesel and can carry 81 passengers – 25 more than the old buses. The model of the two new double deck buses debuted last month as a loaner bus; however the new models, painted red to match the Unitrans fleet, will arrive on campus in the next two weeks, said Unitrans general manager Geoff Straw.

“They are air conditioned, so we’ll be able to use them during the summer, and have a larger capacity, which permits us to have the same footprint but carry twice as many passengers,” he said. “They will actually save us money.”

Another benefit of the double deck buses is their clean emissions. The buses actually emit fewer pollutants than the natural gas buses, Straw said.

The double deck buses – in addition to six low emissions natural gas buses introduced in June of 2009 – were paid for with a combination of state and federal grants, including a $3,750,000 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality grant to buy six single deck buses and two double deck buses.

For the six clean diesel single deck buses, Unitrans also received a $302,400 Sacramento Emergency Clean Air Transportation grant. Unitrans received a total of $4,052,400 in grant funding to purchase the eight buses. Funds from Unitrans’ reserves and a California Proposition 1B fund also contributed.

The six single deck buses cost a total of $3,153,803. The double deck buses cost approximately $800,000 each.

But the newly replaced double deck buses won’t be completely out of commission, Straw said.

“The community and the operators have a really strong sentimental attachment to them,” he said.

The vintage red double deck buses have been on the campus since 1968 and contain pre-select transmissions. Parts for these engines are extremely rare, and have required extensive maintenance to keep them not only running, but also under the emissions cap. One model, which has been retired to the Unitrans yard, is the last model RTL of its type in the world with its original configurations. Straw said they may sell it to a London Museum.

“This is a move towards the future,” Straw said, who operated the vintage buses when he was a student in the 1980s. “The sentimental part wants me to keep these running. But the financial part of me knows that it costs a lot to keep them running.”

– Lauren Steussy

State Auditor to examine UC finances

Campus News

Campus Editor

February 24, 2010

In a unanimous decision, the Joint Legislative Assembly Committee (JLAC) of the California Legislature approved an audit requesting the examination of University of California financial practices.

The decision was finalized in wake of an official request made by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), who brought forth reports highlighting spending discrepancies within the UC system. The financial audit is expected to commence in spring of this year.

“Not even one month can pass without another scandal plaguing our university,” Yee said. “A comprehensive state audit will further uncover the extent of the waste, fraud and abuse within the UC and finally hold university executives accountable.”

Investigations into the university’s finances will evaluate the policies and practices used to allocate public funds, UC practices for non-salary expenditures, and the use of student fees. From the outset of Yee’s request, UC administration stated that the audit will be met with the UC’s full cooperation.

“I think in general the university has an approach that we participate in these things,” said Kelly Ratcliff, UC Davis associate vice chancellor for Budget and Resource Management. “In my mind, if we’re given requests to do things, we do everything we can to respond to those requests. We have a general obligation as a public institution to be accountable, and that’s the way we run our business.”

The audit requested by Senator Yee is not the first administered on the UC system. In 2005, findings from an independent audit carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were released to the public, revealing the compensation arrangements of selected University of California employees. PwC’s audit showed that the regents, as required by regents policies, did not approve certain benefits paid to selected employees.

A subsequent audit in 2006, carried out by the Internal Audit Program of the University, was designed to be complementary to the PwC audit, and confirmed these prior findings.

“If anything, this audit that will be carried out by the Bureau of State Audits will be a good step forward in getting actual transparency,” said a UC Davis librarian that chose to remain anonymous to avoid possible repercussions. “Students and faculty deserve to know how our money is being allocated.”

Audits that do not require legislative approval are conducted routinely on campus through the Internal Audit Services (IAS). As an element of the Office of Ethics, Compliance, and Audit Services of the University of California Regents, the IAS responds to complaints and finance discrepancies within the University.

As of now, according to IAS director Richard Catalano, the larger University of California audit is requesting most of its information from the UC Office of the President, making the role of the IAS division on campus minimal.

“Every year, we develop an audit plan and report to the provost and the senior vice president in Oakland, where it is ultimately approved by the regents,” Catalano said. “We audit everything, we even once had concern about the accountability of our donated body program at the UCD Medical Center.

REBECCA SHRAGGE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Experts debate benefits and detriments of H1B foreign visa

Campus News

Campus Editor

February 24, 2010

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Headline: Experts debate benefits and detriments of H1B foreign visa

Layercake: Guest worker program claims to seek world’s ‘best and brightest’

By KYLE SPORLEDER

Aggie Staff Writer

With American students trending away from math and the sciences, the H1B foreign worker visa program aims to draw international geniuses in these fields to the United States.

Though marketed as a remedy to labor shortages in industries such as engineering and the physical sciences, some argue that the H1B program instead propagates the exploitation of cheap foreign labor by domestic companies.

Norm Matloff, a professor of computer science at UC Davis, is a self-proclaimed opponent of the program, calling for its fundamental reform. Previously a UC Davis professor in both the math and electrical engineering departments, Matloff points to loopholes as the key issue with the H1B program.

“Everyone who has invested interests makes it sound like all [of the foreign workers] are Einsteins,” he said. “But that’s rarely the case. The majority are ordinary people doing ordinary work. And furthermore, they’re getting paid much less than they deserve.”

The reason for this is a phrase used in the program’s primary statute referred to as “prevailing wage.” According to Matloff, this vague concept allows employers to take advantage of foreign skilled workers by granting them a H1B visa to work in a job for which they are overqualified.

Professor Ron Hira of the Rochester Institute of Technology in NY agrees that loopholes are the main issue, but also notes a concern of many American workers about the H1B program as well as other guest worker programs.

“Not only does it exploit foreign workers, but it also undercuts American workers,” he said. “All prevailing wage really is is an unjust minimum wage for skilled workers with college degrees. And all it does is problematically make foreign labor cheaper than domestic labor.”

Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Institute, has written a number of articles examining this issue and claims that a compromise must be met.

“The H1B program can become a bridge to permanent immigration,” he said. “It can be an important way to attract foreign skilled workers and give them a path to citizenship. But it needs to be done in a way that no longer disrupts American job markets. We need to fix this, not end this.”

One avenue of achieving this may be the Durbin/Grassley bill presently in the Senate, Matloff said.

This bipartisan bill would seek to eliminate exploitative practices by employers by redefining “prevailing wage” so that it reflects true market wages and by revamping the H1B program’s enforcement methods.

“If you make it so foreign workers are no longer cheaper than American workers, then they become equal laborers in the eyes of employers,” Matloff said. “Moreover, if you stabilize the fields of math, science and engineering, then you not only combat our country’s internal ‘brain drain,’ but you also better appeal to the ‘best and the brightest’ of the world that you originally sought.”

Chancellor Linda Katehi stressed the importance of maintaining the U.S.’s edge in higher education and tech industries.

“Many of the Ph.D. graduates from American universities in the sciences and engineering are not U.S. citizens,” Katehi said in an e-mail interview. “However, they represent important human capital for the U.S. technology workforce, and increases in the number of H1B visas can help retain these talented individuals [so as] to keep our technology-based economy competitive.”

Nevertheless, some experts believe that trying to address the inefficiencies of the H1B program and other guest worker programs is thinking on too small a scale.

Dean Kevin Johnson of UC Davis’s law school insists that it is essential to think well beyond guest worker programs and instead at the U.S.’s broader immigration laws. Without a concerted effort to bring the laws into synch with the realities of immigration of foreign workers and the demands of the nation’s labor market, Johnson considers a true solution unattainable.

“Tinkering with the H1B program is not going to address the underlying issue with undocumented immigration, which is employers’ demand for labor,” he said. “Right now, many skilled workers can only come here temporarily. We need to reform the immigration and labor certification process so that skilled, moderately-skilled and unskilled workers can immigrate here lawfully and potentially stay here permanently.”

KYLE SPORLEDER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Inside the game with …

Sports

Sports Editor

February 24, 2010

UC Davis is no stranger to success on the wrestling mat.

In 2006, the program saw Derek Moore win a national championship.

The Aggies may be in luck again this year as junior captain Ricky Alcala is looking to repeat Moore’s accomplishments – that is, winning a national title.

The 5-foot-11, 285-pound native of Arvin, Calif. is currently ranked No. 17 in the country in the heavyweight class and is looking to make some noise at the Pacific 10 Conference Tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Pavilion.

Alcala took a break from his preparation this week to sit down with Aggie sports writer Kyle Hyland to talk about his role on the team, his expectations going into this weekend and his hopes for the NCAA Tournament.

How do you prepare for a match?

I practice hard, physically and mentally. You have to have an assertive mindset before you step on the mat. In my head, I go through the moves that I plan on hitting against my opponent. I rely mostly on my coaches to prepare me physically with weights and conditioning. It is also important that I eat well and get plenty of rest.

How do you feel right before you are about to get on the mat?

I feel a little nervous no matter who I’m going to wrestle. If I don’t feel nervous I’m not ready to step onto the mat. I also feel excited and ready to battle. I’m always mentally ready to compete.

What is your role on the team this year?

I’m a captain on the team this year and my role is to lead by example on and off the mat. The coaches and the other wrestlers probably expect more from me than anybody else because I have demonstrated by my actions that I’m a responsible individual. I help fellow teammates with questions they have regarding technique, skill and personal life plus questions pertaining to school like financial aid and homework. So I feel my role goes beyond leading in the wrestling room.

What is different about this year than last year in terms of expectations?

There are definitely more expectations placed on me this year than last year because last year I was still a small fish in a big pond. There were guys on the team that were much older and more experienced than I was. This is my first year being a captain. Also being ranked in the top 20 in the nation all year has placed some added weight on my back in terms of pressure.

Your team was really young this season. Is it difficult being a leader on such a youthful squad?

At times, yes, just because I’m new to the leadership roles. But to be honest, I feel like I have the personality to be a good leader. The guys on the team look up to me. I’m an approachable individual and the guys like me, I think.

Are you excited that UC Davis is hosting the Pac-10 tournament this year?

I am excited, but I would be excited no matter where the Pac-10 tournament was. I think it’s going to be extremely convenient for me and the rest of the team in hosting the Pac-10 tournament. I live right across the street at the Colleges at LaRue [laughs]. Plus, it will be fun to have all the support of friends and family.

What is your overall goal for this year?

My overall goal this year is to become All-American or national champion. If that’s not your goal as a Division I wrestler and athlete then you shouldn’t be competing. That’s my personal opinion. You should dream of being a national champion.

KYLE HYLAND can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Softball Preview

Sports

Sports Editor

February 24, 2010

Teams: UC Davis vs. Santa Clara

Records: Aggies, (6-3); Broncos, (0-6)

Where: La Rue Field

When: Wednesday at 1 p.m., 3 p.m.

Who to watch: Junior infielder Jessica Gonzalez has posted seven hits this season, leading the Aggies with two doubles.

The Cameron Park, Calif. native was one of two Aggies to start all 54 games in the 2009 campaign.

This year, her .565 on base percentage and five RBI land her at fourth in the Big West Conference in both categories.

Did you know? The Aggies defeated the Broncos 4-1 when the two teams met last season, marking one of Santa Clara’s 49 losses of the year.

In six games this year the Broncos have only managed to put two runs on the board to their opponents’ combined 44.

Preview: After splitting two games last weekend at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament in Los Angeles, the Aggies prepare to take on Santa Clara in a doubleheader at home on Wednesday.

UC Davis faced Santa Clara in the 2009 home opener at La Rue Field almost one year ago today.

In that matchup, then senior Jessica Hancock threw a complete-game victory, striking out 11 batters.

Junior Alex Holmes’ two-RBI single in the sixth inning drove in the go-ahead run. The Aggies scored two more later in the frame for the 4-1 final.

This time, the Broncos will be coming off six straight losses – two to each Fresno State, San Jose State and Pacific.

The Spartans and Tigers shut out the Broncos a combined four times, scoring a total of 11 runs each.

UC Davis will be coming off a loss to No. 4 UCLA, a game that coach Karen Yoder believes to have been a learning experience for her squad.

So far this year, Yoder has said the Aggies have proven to battle and to handle themselves well, win or lose.

She’s expressed optimism for the season, praising the offensive performances of Sarah Axelson, Gonzalez and Elizabeth Santana in particular.

– Grace Sprague

UC Davis successful at Seawolf Splash

Sports

Sports Editor

February 23, 2010

When a team scores 58 goals in four games, they’re going to have a successful weekend.

That’s what UC Davis (6-6) did at the Sonoma State Seawolf Splash tournament over the weekend as 14 Aggies scored a goal.

“We got the opportunity to play a lot of different players this weekend,” coach Jamey Wright said. “We have a deep team and it showed.”

Wright believes the high scores were partly due to the shorter, non-regulation pool used by Sonoma State.

“With a smaller pool players can get up and down the pool faster, leading to more shots on goal,” Wright said. “This can either be good or bad, and it helped us this weekend.”

Junior Rachelle Smith led all Aggies with seven goals for the weekend.

Saturday – No. 15 UC Davis 16, Cal Lutheran 9

The Aggies started off the weekend on a good note, defeating one of the top Division III teams in the nation.

Sophomore Ariel Feeney led all of UC Davis with four goals, good for her first career hat trick. Senior Dana Nelson and freshman Carly Ternasky each earned hat tricks as well.

The Aggies opened up the game hot and entered half time with a 12-4 lead. With the early lead, Wright made sure a lot of players got some minutes.

“We were able to sub a lot,” Wright said. “We got to make sure a lot of freshmen got some playing time.”

Saturday – UC Davis 20, Sonoma State 7

Throughout the season, Wright has been waiting for his team to play the complete game.

He got his wish in Saturday’s nightcap against the host Seawolves.

“We played a complete game against Sonoma,” Wright said. “We controlled the ball well and played great defense.”

UC Davis outscored the Seawolves in every quarter, netting eight in the first quarter.

Smith and freshman Jessica Dunn both had career games, scoring six and four goals respectively. The Aggies had a total of 10 players toss up a goal.

Sunday – UC Davis 18, No. 19 Cal State East Bay 11

When looking at the final score, one wouldn’t expect the coach to describe this game as ugly.

That’s exactly how Wright described his team’s win over the Pioneers.

“It was an ugly game all around,” Wright said. “There were a lot of penalties and turnovers.”

Despite Smith breaking her nose in the game, the Aggies pulled out the hard fought win. Eleven Aggies netted a goal with Smith’s replacement, junior Michelle Hook, scoring four. Sophomore Kaylee Miller tossed up a hat trick to add to UC Davis’ total.

Sunday – No. 4 UCLA 8, UC Davis 3

Rarely does a team’s best game come in a losing effort. But according to Wright, that’s what happened.

“It was one of our most complete offensive games of the season,” Wright said. “We were very judicious with our shots and didn’t force anything.”

Wright was encouraged by how his team played against the reigning national champion.

“UCLA is one of the best teams in the nation, and we played very well against them,” he said. “It was tactically our best game of the season.”

The Aggies were unable to overcome a 3-0 Bruin first quarter lead, despite a strong second half.

Hook, sophomore Alicia Began and freshman Kathryn Bailey each tossed one through the pipes to lead UC Davis.

The Aggies head to Irvine next weekend to compete in the highly competitive UC Irvine Invitational.

JASON ALPERT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggies handle Tritons

Sports

Sports Editor

February 23, 2010

The Aggies have been preparing for Big West Conference opponents all year. Often times, though, winning is the ultimate form of preparation.

UC Davis saw that firsthand in their recent 7-0 drubbing of UC San Diego on Sunday. After dismantling the Tritons (3-1) and handing them their first loss of the season, the Aggies (2-4) showed that conference play has come at the right time.

“It’s always a great feeling to win all of your matches,” coach Bill Maze said. “It was perfect preparation.”

The Aggies played near flawless tennis, which was highlighted with a sweep by the still developing doubles teams. Herzyl Legaspi and Desiree Stone played at No. 1 and beat their opponents 8-6. Lauren Curry and Ellie Edles had to go into extra points to notch the Aggies’ second doubles win, 9-7.

Noelle Eades and Dahra Zamudio, meanwhile put one of the more impressive doubles performances on Sunday with an 8-1 victory.

“We feel the team has chemistry,” Maze said. “They know each other and Noelle is good at closing on the net.”

This victory marked the fifth time in as many years that the Aggies have defeated the Tritons in convincing fashion. Maze said that while the Aggies’ competitiveness has kept them in most matches this year, his team’s natural abilities were the deciding factor in the team win.

“I think we have more talent than UCSD,” Maze said. “They are a team with a lot of heart, but we matched that.”

This was the first sweep for singles play this season and a feat that came before the most crucial stretch of UC Davis’ schedule.

The most competitive match came from in No. 3 between Legaspi and Cindy Dao. Legaspi struggled in the second set, but held it together to win a close match, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.

“[Legaspi’s] opponent was very tough,” Maze said. “[Dao] was a great competitor but [Legaspi] hung in there and toughed it out.”

Desiree finally took the proverbial monkey off her back when she earned a win over Taskeen Bains by a score of 6-4, 7-5.

The North Hollywood, Calif. native has seen stiff competition all year, but it was only a matter of time before she broke through her losing streak.

Sidney Brady, who claimed her team-leading fourth singles win of the year, has already won four times more than her output from last season’s singles play.

“[The coaches] are very pleased with Sidney” Maze said. “We always felt like she had a potential. It’s nice to see she’s blossomed.”

Curry, the only freshman on the Aggies team, claimed her third singles win against Valerie Tang, 6-3,6-1.

Curry remains second on the team in singles wins as she has continued her steady improvement throughout the season.

The Aggies hope this win will provide enough momentum heading into conference play beginning Saturday against UC San Barbara.

Maze said the Gauchos have given the Aggies numerous problems in the past, but having already competed with the teams like Stanford and Arizona State should help to offset this.

MARCOS RODRIGUEZ can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Conference champs!

Sports

Sports Editor

February 23, 2010

Last season, both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams came up short at the Big West Conference championships, placing second to UC Santa Barbara.

This season, the Aggies took first in both spots and left the Gauchos in their wake.

The men scored a cumulative 958.5 points and the women posted 864 over the four-day league championships. These titles are the first for either squad. The 958.5 points amassed by the men are the most ever scored in the five-team Big West format.

“We improved a lot from last year,” said men’s coach Pete Motekaitis. “It was our first win and we amassed the largest amount of points ever by a team.”

From the onset, the women took charge. Ashley Chandler, Morgan Lee, Kayleigh Foley ,and Jen Cadmus set a school record with a time of 1:41.33 in the 200 medley relay on Wednesday. The women would end Wednesday in third place.

On the second day of competition, Bugbee won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:52.29 while Chandler, Lee, Foley and Hermann placed first in the 400 medley relay at 3:42.52. Thursday ended with the Aggies second to the Gauchos by 89 points.

Even with the Aggies’ quality performances over the first two days of the tournament, they weren’t finished putting up great races.

“We had an amazing swim the second day,” said women’s coach Barbara Jahn. “The next day, [we] came back and swam even faster. I told the team, ‘Whatever you’re doing is working. Keep doing it and don’t change anything.'”

The Aggies took Jahn’s advice to heart.

On Friday, Chandler won the 100 backstroke and Hermann placed first in the 200 freestyle, finishing at 1:48.89. UC Davis found itself trailing UCSB by 47 but would overtake the Gauchos on Saturday thanks to Jennifer Meyer’s victory in one-meter diving. The win gave the Aggies a cushion they needed to prevent a late surge by the Gauchos.

“I don’t think I’ve experienced that type of momentum in a meet,” Jahn said. “It was incredible. It was just lifetime best after lifetime best and I couldn’t be prouder. Their hard work and dedication brought home the title.”

The men’s path to their championship started with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Jimmy Fong, Scott Weltz, Daniel Donnelly, and Russ Underwood combined to break a school record in 1:29.47. The previous mark was 1:30.63.

In the 800 freestyle relay, Alex Daneke , Jordan Lager , BJ Scoggan , and Weltz won with a time of 6:33.55. The men would lead by nine points on the first day and never relinquish it.

“We led from wire to wire,” said Motekaitis. “We were just consistently good. That’s not an easy thing to do over seven sessions.”

Thursday, Weltz won the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:45.55 while Adam Borchard finished second in the 500 freestyle. Diver Paul Navo led a UC Davis sweep as he placed first in the one-meter event.

Friday was much of the same as Weltz won the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 47.17. Scoggan took second in the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:54.58.

The final day saw the men pull away as Weltz won his third individual event – the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:56.14. Daniel Donnelly would take second in the 200 butterfly at 1:47.75, narrowly outtouched by UCSB’s Tim Freeman.

“We were consistent,” Motekaitis said. “It was a total team effort from top to bottom. These guys really went for it and all of their hard work absolutely paid off.

“The divers did an amazing job. I’m thrilled and I’m just so proud of this team. Every challenge has been met with flying colors.”

MATT WANG can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggies fight tight meet with Titans

Sports

Sports Editor

February 23, 2010

Coach John Lavallee’s gymnasts are to be ready to go at all times.

He says that injuries create such an unpredictable environment that an individual never knows when she’ll be needed at the last minute.

That is why the Aggies rely on their depth and individual abilities to fill in for injured teammates.

This served them well all season including Sunday’s dual at Cal State Fullerton.

Senior Tanya Ho was given a lighter load due to an injury. So Kendall McCann stepped up to compete in the all-around for just the third time in the 2010 campaign.

Despite a 192.975-192.700 loss to the Titans, McCann’s 9.800 score on balance beam helped the Aggies to their high road score of the season.

“While we didn’t post the score we were hoping for, it was a solid road performance for us,” Lavallee said. “There were really a lot of positive things.”

McCann led a 1-2-3 sweep on beam and boosted her all-around score to 38.575. This landed her at second in all-around behind Fullerton’s Alaina Baker (38.925) who won both vault and floor exercise.

“McCann had another great day,” Lavallee said. “She’s done an excellent job performing consistently for us.”

Marcy Miller and Katie Yamamura weren’t far behind McCann on beam with scores of 9.775 and 9.750, respectively.

Lavallee said the balance beam was one of the most impressive aspects of Sunday’s meet.

“On beam in the last event, we were down by four tenths and we came back to within two-tenths,” Lavallee said. “That was a huge step for us in terms of being mentally strong.”

Miller and Yamamura were strong in the all-around as well, filling the third and fourth spots in that order.

Among other top Aggies was Erika Van Dyke who scored 9.800 points on floor exercise and took second place behind Baker.

Michele Hurlock and Michelle Bobonski tied for third on vault with 9.725 points.

Lida Gehlen posted 9.800 on uneven parallel bars and tied Baker for second place in that rotation.

Lavallee has high hopes for the remainder of the season based on his team’s performance at Fullerton.

“If we count a 192.700 as our lowest Regional Qualifying Score, it’ll still be higher than any other RQS score that we’ve had,” Lavallee said. “It really says a lot about the program stepping up a level.”

UC Davis is in action again Friday when it travels to San Jose, Calif. to face Sacramento State and San Jose State at 7 p.m.

GRACE SPRAGUE can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Baseball Preview

Sports

Sports Editor

February 23, 2010

Headline: Baseball Preview

Teams: UC Davis at California

Records: Aggies, 2-1; Golden Bears, 3-0

Where: Evans Diamond – Berkeley, Calif.

When: Today at 1:30 p.m.

Who to watch: David Popkins has come out of nowhere.

After recording just two hits in 18 at-bats a season ago, the sophomore who hails from San Diego, Calif. started at designated hitter twice in the opening series against Utah. In those two games he went 4-6 with a homerun and three RBI.

Did you know? Pac-10 Conference member Cal, opened its season last weekend against Southern Utah.

The Golden Bears outscored the Thunderbirds 46-0 during the three-game series.

Preview: The Aggies have their work cut out for them in today’s game against the Golden Bears.

While Cal is not picked to finish atop the Pac-10 conference, the team has talent, especially at the plate.

“Traditionally they’re really offensively minded,” said coach Rex Peters, “so they’ll swing the bats pretty well, especially in their park. It will be a good test for our pitching staff.”

That pitching staff was lights-out against Utah allowing just five earned runs in three games over the weekend.

“All of our guys did a pretty good job commanding the strike zone,” Peters said. “That’s something we struggled with last year but our experience from last season paid off now. I’m happy with the way we’re pitching.”

The pitching performances were highlighted by a complete game from sophomore Dayne Quist as he struck out seven and walked just one while allowing only two hits.

“I always think that they’re not going to be able to hit me,” Quist said. “Winning the first game and doing my best to help the team win is all I wanted to do.”

In order to continue that success and defeat an opponent as talented as the Golden Bears, the Aggies will need to again rely on pitching, defense and opportunistic offense.

“Cal is a good Pac-10 opponent,” Peters said. “We just have to throw strikes, play defense and hopefully get some timely hits. It will be a good test for us.”

– Mark Ling

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