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Opinion

Opinion

March 3, 2009

For a little more than 10 months out of the year, the UC Davis student body views ASUCD as practically invisible.

Granted, when a student needs a way to get to campus they’ll hitch a ride with Unitrans, or if they’re desperate for a bite to eat they may stop in at the Coho. However, even the most loyal patrons to these units will tell you that when it comes down to the daily grind of student government, they simply don’t give a damn.

In my opinion, this is the optimal state of being for ASUCD; a sort of homeostasis based solely on apathy. It grants elected officials the freedom to conduct their shenanigans and squabbling without having to worry about the threat of being taken seriously, while at the same time allowing students to go about their business unaffected by such antics. Not to mention it presents potential candidates with the shining opportunity to champion the cliché cause of “closing the gap” between the Association and apathetic students.

Unfortunately, every so often this Zen-like peace is disrupted by rumblings that find their way down from the MU’s third floor, ASUCD’s designated playpen, and enter into the daily lives of students. Suddenly, you can’t walk across the quad without being harassed by parasitic canvassers who somehow feel marginalized by the Association. In an instant, the general attitude toward student government goes from “no one cares“, to “everyone should care.“

In the four years I’ve spent observing the circus of an institution that is ASUCD, I’ve learned to attribute such a rapid shift in perception to something I like to call ASUCD’s, “Piñata Appeal.“

Everyone knows that the only thing a piñata is good for is being on the business end of a severe beating, and at certain points in the year, present time included, it appears that the same thing can be said about ASUCD.

Before you begin arming yourselves with assortment of blunt objects and start heading up to the third floor, allow me to explain myself.

The only time students care about ASUCD is when it’s surrounded by controversy. Last year, the spring budget hearings perked some normally indifferent ears and this year the same can be said about this bogus election complaint.

The minute things start getting nasty students are quick to condemn any and all aspects of student government. Members of the community who are normally uninformed about the workings of the Association suddenly lash out and take a few swings at the establishment. To their surprise, they’re showered in the praise of their peers for bringing attention to such grave injustices and spend the next couple days high on their own sense of importance.

Trust me, I’ve been able to sustain a rather healthy ego just by poking fun at the Association every chance they give me.

If you still don’t recognize the presence of these bandwagon beatings, simply follow the newspaper this week. I guarantee that the amount of coverage and criticism regarding the Association will dwarf previous weeks, and might even include a few more conspiracy theories about L.E.A.D. joining forces with the Illuminati to keep TGIF from passing.

What’s really interesting about this peculiar trend in behavior is how the campus’s fair-weather crusaders for justice only criticizing the Association for as long as it keeps spewing back candy. In a matter or weeks, or possibly even days, the novelty of wailing on ASUCD will fade away and students and newspaper writers alike will go back to simply not caring about the frequently absurd behavior typical of our student leaders.

The thing that people need to understand is that there’s enough material out there to keep this piñata party going year round. Granted, ASUCD isn’t the most significant or interesting thing to follow, but every now and then it presents the student body with a real gem that can keep us swinging for at least a little bit longer than is necessary.

Please don’t interpret JAMES NOONAN’s use of the word “piñata” as somehow racially offensive. Normally he wouldn’t be worried, but after last week’s senate fiasco, who knows … Any interpretations not including bigotry can be sent to jjnoonan@ucdavis.edu.

Otherwise, they’ll kill you

Opinion

Opinion

March 3, 2009

Sometimes I’m amazed at the number of lies we tell throughout our daily lives. I’m talking about big lies (“I really need this class to be a P/NP class because I have Chlamydia and that really impedes my ability to study about nutrition“), white lies (“I’m sure the only reason why he’s not calling is because he’s so busy thinking about calling!”) and even small lies you tell yourself while crying at night (“I will find someone who loves me, I will. I’m not going to die alone, not like last time“).

These days, our words hold little to no value and lying has become second nature. Take for instance when someone is talking about a news item they heard the other day and you, without even thinking, reply, “Oh yeah I heard about that, but remind me again?” when in fact you have no idea what he’s talking about. You only said you knew because you don’t want to look like some out-of-touch idiot who doesn’t know what’s going on in the world. So if you want to lie more, here are some more opportunities.

I know everybody says don’t do it, but stretching the truth on your resume is very common. The way I see it, people are probably lying about how great the job is too.

Every internship/job I’ve interviewed for always talks about how great their program is: How competitive it is, how you’ll experience so much, how it uses cutting-edge technology, how they’re ahead of everybody, how you’re not going to do bitch work, how impressive it’ll look in the future, etc.

Then about the third day after your training, you start to realize that the job actually sucks, that it’s pretty loaded with bitch work, and that anyone can do it. You feel like you’ve been gypped, but then again, so have they.

Because although they thought they were hiring someone fluent in three languages, who types 500 WPM and has a 3.78 GPA, they’re not. Instead, they got tricked into hiring you. You, whose only foreign word you know is “burrito,” who types with two fingers (one on each hand), and who really does have a 3.78 if you add 2.78 to your current GPA. Congratulations, both you and your job are actually pretty lame.

Shameful as it may be to admit this, your family is also a prime source to lie to. Other than the fact that I’ve been writing this column for three years, my parents also don’t know that I haven’t applied to law school yet and actually never plan to (woops!) They also don’t know that I’m not their real daughter, but a daughter of the legendary Hohenzollern royal family, who was sent to kill the La family’s real daughter and pose as one of their own in hopes to finally discover where they’ve kept their family treasure, which is rumored to total a whopping 10,000 Russian rubles! (or about 278.52 U.S. dollars … but still, it’s been totally worth it).

But the one group I find almost everybody lying to is the opposite gender. Boys lie to girls to impress them and vice versa. I remember I once told a boy that I could skateboard. He just asked me one day and I miraculously came to the conclusion that indeed I could, “a little bit, you know, small flips and stuff.” And by “flips” I meant me flipping over and scraping the ground with my face because I never stepped foot on a board before.

Because my parents wouldn’t buy me one, I couldn’t secretly learn. So whenever he wanted to see me skateboard and offered his own to use, I’d have a panic attack and tell another lie like I’m not wearing the right shoes, my knees ache in cold weather or I just got out of leg surgery and the only reason why I don’t have a cast on is because it was a “touch up” sort of surgery. When he finally pressured me to the point that I couldn’t back out, I tried it, ate the floor (as predicted), and lied flat on the asphalt while the guy beat me with his skateboard.

These days, the lies aren’t so drastic. Now it’s like the girl you have a crush on tells you something along the lines of, “Oh I love Depeche Mode, do you know them?” and you say “Oh, of course.” Then she goes on naming all these songs that you don’t know, while you try to remember that one fucking song you’ve heard from them (“I Just Can’t Get Enough” is the one you’re thinking about by the way). This then prompts you to go home, download and listen to every DM song ever (which at this point you realize you don’t even like this sort of music), all so you can come back the next week and say, “Remember when we were talking about Depeche Mode, can we talk about them again?” and the girl replies, “Oh, I’ve only listened to like, one of their albums. Sorry.“

Did LYNN LA ever tell you the time she studied abroad in Ireland, spent that one other summer building homes in Sri Lanka and has the other half of this golden locket you’ve been searching for? If not, e-mail her at ldla@ucdavis.edu, and she’ll tell you all about it.

The Sterling Compass

Opinion

Opinion

March 3, 2009

The complaint filed last week against the recent ASUCD election’s results has left much of the student body confused and demoralized. The complaint came in lieu of hard line L.E.A.D supporters‘ and non-L.E.A.D rabble rousers‘ claims that technical failures compromised the election’s outcome. They say Joe Chatham and Chris Dietrich are not their president and vice president because the said failures violated the ASUCD Constitution’s Bill of Rights #6 by disenfranchising the student body.

But don’t let their passionate charade fool you; the complaint does not stem from their selfless desire to safeguard democracy, but from their refusal to accept defeat.

The ASUCD Constitution’s Bill of Rights #6 states: “You have the right to a fair vote in all ASUCD elections without any form of disenfranchisement.” Well, unless you are one of the aforementioned individuals, in which case it reads: “You have the right to a fair vote for L.E.A.D in all ASUCD elections without any form of disenfran-not-voting for L.E.A.D.“

But who can blame them? L.E.A.D has held the presidency since 2005 and is so pervasive on campus that when I was a freshman I mistook it for actually being the student government. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to condemn L.E.A.D for its political success and I know many members of L.E.A.D do not support the current complaints; however, many of L.E.A.D’s hard-line supporters have come to believe that for L.E.A.D, being elected to office is not a privilege, but a right.

This brings us to ASUCD elections technical malfunction #1: On the second day of voting Creative Media found a glitch on the voting website allowing anyone to watch the real-time progress of the election; however, this was caused by an upgrade error and not by a hacker with a vendetta against L.E.A.D.

One can only imagine how startled L.E.A.D executive candidates Lula Ahmed-Falol and Rebecca Schwartz were when they saw Chatham and Dietrich were ahead by nearly 300 votes. This gave anyone who was behind the chance to redouble their campaigning.

The second and more controversial problem occurred later that day with ASUCD elections technical malfunction #2: Students were unable to log on to the elections web site to vote between 6:30 and 10:00 p.m. Again, this was not caused by an anti-L.E.A.D hacker, but a malfunction with the Campus Data Center’s load balancing equipment. In other words, a bug in the system prevented students from logging in with their Kerberos username and password to vote for three-and-a-half hours.

Those contesting the election results say the downtime prevented many students from voting and thus students were “disenfranchised;” the polls were open for 48 hours and they were as consecutive as they could have possibly been. Even without the extra 3.5 hours, students had 44.5 hours to vote, more than enough time to find the 30 seconds it takes to cast a ballot. Given that the Elections Committee extended voting an extra 3.5 hours on Friday to make up for the time the web site wasn’t working, this does not constitute “disenfranchisement.“

Critics claim this extension was not publicized well enough; however, it was posted on the elections web site and anyone who visited the site was well-aware of the extension.

The angry rabble attending last week’s Senate meeting claiming to have been denied their “fair vote” was determined to rescue democracy from the tyranny of … democracy. They spat on ASUCD leaders‘ calls for unity, spread rumors of racism and did their best to make the incoming senators ashamed to be part of the election.

Ahmed-Falol and Schwartz would do well to encourage their supporters to cease their damaging tirade; it is destroying L.E.A.D’s credibility, quashing student body morale and castrating ASUCD’s ability to function.

MIKE HOWER hates when people use selfless excuses to justify selfish aims. Contact him at mahower@ucdavis.edu.

Students advised to avoid Mexico spring break trips

City News

City Editor

March 3, 2009

In late winter, when rain and finals are real sources of stress for students, a week in Mexico may seem like the perfect salve. But after increased drug and gang violence there led the State Department to issue a travel warning for Mexico, the idea may not seem so attractive.

More than 100,000 high school and college students travel to Mexican resort areas during spring break each year, according to the U.S. State Department. The majority of the violence is occurring in Mexican border towns such as Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez, and tourists are generally not being targeted, yet the State Department stresses the need to exercise extreme caution in all areas.

“Mexican and foreign bystanders have been injured or killed in violent attacks in cities across the country” and “in recent years dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped across Mexico,” a statement on the State Department’s website said.

Mexico’s drug cartels are waging a brutal fight among themselves for smuggling routes, carrying out massacres and dumping beheaded bodies in the streets. More than 6,000 people were killed in drug violence in Mexico last year, according to news reports.

U.S. universities are issuing their own warnings to students. As reported by the Associated Press, the University of Arizona in Tucson has urged its 37,000 students not to travel to Mexico, while many other universities said they would call students‘ attention to the State Department travel advisory.

Despite the bloodshed, the number of foreign tourists visiting Mexico rose to 23 million in 2008, up 5.9 percent from the year before. Patrick Evans, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for STA Travel, said its travel agents have been issuing their own advisory to students.

“Most are not going to the danger areas along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Evans said. “We tell them to follow the same precautions that they would if they were traveling to any place, whether it’s Europe or South America.“

For those students seeking to travel to the hot spots, his advice is a little stronger, though he stops short of suggesting not to travel to Mexico at all.

“We are giving the same safety information and brochures as normal, as well as giving them advice on alternatives places in Mexico to consider traveling to,” Evans said.

Some students are taking the travel decisions into their own hands. Sophomore David Mebane, president of UC Davis fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, says he and his friends have planned to go elsewhere.

“We had been talking about going to Mexico for spring break, and we were going to rent a cabin for several days,” Mebane said. “Then after hearing the news, we decided to go with different plans.“

According to the State Department, the situation in border towns is of particular concern. Mexican authorities report that more than 1,800 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since January 2008. The city of 1.6 million people experienced over 17,000 car thefts and 1,650 carjackings in 2008.

More detailed information on the situation in Mexico is available online at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_970.html.

TOM MORRIS can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

Marijuana Legalization Proposed at California State Assembly

City News

City Editor

March 3, 2009

California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, announced legislation on Feb. 23 that would make California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education act, also known as AB 390, would make it legal for anyone over the age of 21 to grow, buy, possess and sell marijuana. AB 390 would levy a tax of $50 per ounce of marijuana, which would help to stabilize the California budget by raising about $1 billion annually in tax revenue, according to Ammiano. California lawmakers voted to close the state’s $42 billion budget deficit on Feb. 20.

The marijuana industry in California brings in an estimated $14 billion each year, making it easily the most profitable crop in the state, more than both grapes and vegetables combined.

California is no stranger to marijuana legislation, being the first state to legalize medicinal use of marijuana in 1996. This is the first bill that has ever been introduced to legalize marijuana, however.

John Lovell, legislative counsel for the California Narcotics Officers’ Association, doesn’t see legalizing marijuana as realistic.

“This is one of those bills that get a lot of press,” said Lovell. “But at the end of the day, we don’t think it’s going to pass.”

Lovell said the $50 tax on marijuana will be ineffective because legal taxable marijuana will not be competitive with the illegal trade. AB 390 does not address this issue.

“If you’re going to buy coffee at Starbucks,” he said, “and all of the sudden there’s a $50 surcharge, and another place doesn’t have that charge, guess where you’ll buy your coffee?”

Lovell also claims that AB 390 would affect the chances California would have in attaining federal business grants, which call for a drug-free working environment. With marijuana legalized, a drug-free environment cannot be feasibly enforced, he said.

According to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), California is already reaping the benefits of medicinal marijuana.

“If cannabis was made legal proper, the state would see tens of millions a day in new tax revenue,” said St. Pierre in an e-mail interview. “The only thing stopping the taxing and legally controlling of one of the state’s most valuable cash crops is political leadership.”

Legalizing marijuana would allow law enforcement to focus on harder drugs such as methamphetamine, St. Pierre said. AB 390 would also allow for the cultivation of hemp for industrial and manufacturing purposes.

Ammiano is in only his third month as a state assemblyman. Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith, professor emeritus of political science at UC Davis, said he sees the bill as a way for Ammiano to get attention.

“Mr. Ammiano was looking for an opportunity to make a statement,” he said in an e-mail interview. “And a simple Google search shows that he attracted a great deal of attention.”

Lovell remains unconvinced of the benefits of marijuana legalization.

“The last thing we need in our community is another mind-altering substance,” he said.

RONNY SMITH can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

CAPS information could appear on syllabi

Campus News

Campus Editor

March 3, 2009

Starting spring quarter, students may see new information on syllabi that could provide them with excusable absences for mental health reasons.

Outgoing ASUCD Vice President Molly Fluet has been working with the Health and Education Program (HEP) to encourage professors of all departments to add Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) information on syllabi in order to raise mental health awareness. Fluet hopes that with more awareness, professors will start to accept notes from CAPS as excusable absences.

“We have discussed that students with issues of mental health that have anxiety attacks and have become overwhelmed sometimes need to go to emergency CAPS services,” Fluet said. “Professors on campus have been known to not accept that as an excuse.”

Professor of political science Scott Gartner, has been an exception to this generalization. He has been handing out CAPS pamphlets to students in all his classes for the past six years.

“Since I provide a challenging class academically that is stressful, I felt a responsibility to students in reaction to that stress,” Gartner said. “As a professor I see myself as a point of contact for students and university resources and to make students [more] aware of those resources.”

Professor Gartner already accepts notes from CAPS as an excusable absence, much like a medical note from a doctor.

Jana Mowrer, student wellness coordinator at Cowell Student Health Center, has been working with HEP to start giving presentations to all campus departments and faculty members in the spring.

“Not only do we want to educate the students on campus but we also want to educate the faculty members,” she said.

These presentations will outline ways that faculty members can integrate stress-reducing exercises and encourage successful study habits for students.

“If professors are more willing to discuss the resources available to students, I think students would take advantage of that more,” Fluet said.

Mowrer and Fluet both emphasize the importance of raising mental health awareness among college students, especially those that may be involved with many activities.

“With these demands such as school, work, family and social life and internships students are now more than ever becoming stressed out leading to physical and emotional illnesses that are not being dealt with,” said Mowrer in an e-mail interview. “This ultimately can lead to a student drifting farther from a healthy and balanced life style.”

Fluet agrees that student stress is an issue many students suffer from in a quarter system and is especially prominent in men who tend not to seek help as much as women.

“In a quarter system, we are so crunched, so stressed and some students just can’t handle it as much as other students, especially men. We find problems with men that they don’t talk about it at all, so their grades may start to suffer,” Fluet said.

Mowrer confirms that men are less likely to seek help for mental issues when needed, according to research done in 2007 at UC Davis.

“With our stigma at UC Davis that we have the highest suicide rate, which isn’t true, I just feel that mental health has always been an issue and students really need to know their resources available to them,” Fluet said.

According to a report done by the UC Board of Regents three years ago, UC Davis does in fact have the highest suicide rate of all UC campuses. However, according to Fluet, UC Davis counted all student suicides whether or not they occurred on campus while other UC schools only counted on campus suicides.

For more information on CAPS go to caps.ucdavis.edu or call their 24-hour consultation line at (530) 752-0871.

ANGELA RUGGIERO can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Women’s tennis wins big at home, knocks off UC San Diego 6-1

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

The Aggies‘ stars came out on Friday afternoon.

Each of the top four starters for the UC Davis women’s tennis team – Randi Schuler, Desiree Stone, Dahra Zamudio and Herzyl Legaspi – earned wins in singles and doubles play en route to a 6-1 victory over UC San Diego.

“We emphasize attitude and effort as our main goals,“ said coach Bill Maze. “I thought they were great, so I was pleased with that.“

The Aggies swept doubles action with 8-4, 6-5 (4), 8-1 victories over the Tritons, earning the first point of the match.

In singles play, the No. 1 through No. 4 singles players for UC Davis won in straight sets.

No. 1 Schuler defeated UCSD’s Natalie Varnay 6-0, 6-2 to improve her overall singles record to 3-5 and 14-16 overall.

At the No. 2 singles slot, Stone, a junior from Hollywood, Calif., took care of business by beating Ina Dan handedly 6-1, 6-2.

The freshman sensation Zamudio cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Anita Athavale, a transfer who competed for UC Davis last season. It was Zamudio’s fourth consecutive win and sixth in her past seven.

No. 4 Legaspi earned the 6-4, 6-2 victory over Valerie Tang to put the Aggies up 5-0. The No. 5 and No. 6 slots were split, giving UC Davis the 6-1 final margin of victory.

The non-conference win improved the Aggies to 3-1 at home and 7-7 overall on the season. As for the Tritons, the loss dropped them to 3-2 overall, ending a three-game road-winning streak.

The Aggies will return to action on Friday, as they host Big West Conference rival Pacific at the Marya Welch Tennis Center at 2 p.m.

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

Women’s lacrosse falls to Stanford, beats Fresno State in first homestand

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

UC Davis welcomed the best and the newest competition the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has to offer to Aggie Stadium last week.

Defending champion No. 16 Stanford came to Davis on Wednesday, followed by the last-place team in the division of first-year programs, Fresno State, on Saturday. The Aggies split the homestand in expected fashion, losing to the Cardinal and easily dispersing of the Bulldogs.

Wednesday – Stanford 20, UC Davis 3

UC Davis could not open Aggie Stadium with a win for the 2009 campaign.

Coming off a double-overtime victory against St. Mary’s, the Aggies couldn’t hang with a higher level of competition on Wednesday, falling to the Cardinal, 20-3.

“I think our team had moments where we did really well,“ said coach Elaine Jones. “Stanford is a good team and we’re just going to keep working hard.”

Christina Corsa scored the only Aggie goal of the first period, as UC Davis went into the half down 14-1.

The Aggies came out fighting in the second period. Molly Lapolla scored her second goal of the half by denying Cardinal keeper Annie Read on the clearance, scooping the ball off the turf and scoring it.

“We kind of hoped it would be a bigger momentum shifter,” Lapolla said.

The Aggies showed they could hang with the Cardinal in the second half. Stanford left its starters in for the duration of the game’s second session despite the big lead, but only outscored UC Davis 6-2 in the period.

“It was a tough game,” Lapolla said. “It’s good to play against these teams because we can learn from them.“

“We have a lot of season ahead of us,” Jones said. “We are working our way up.“

Saturday – UC Davis 15, Fresno State 3

Coming off of a tough loss to Stanford, it was UC Davis‘ turn to score big on Saturday against Fresno State.

While there was noticeably more Bulldog red than Aggie blue at the Stadium, giving Fresno State plenty of bark but little bite to back it up, UC Davis breezed to a 15-3 win.

Unfortunately for those who made the trip from Fresno, they did not see the Bulldogs get their first win. They did, however, get to see the Aggies put their dynamic offense on display. UC Davis jumped on Fresno State quickly, scoring the games first 10 goals and finishing the first half up 11-1.

Seven different players scored for the Aggies. Patrice Clark and Britt Farquharson each had hat tricks, while Christina Corsa, Gina Hoffmire and Lapolla added two goals a piece.

Rachael Martinez and Jacklyn Taylor each found the back of the net once Saturday, as UC Davis had it’s highest scoring game of the season.

The Aggies also allowed the fewest goals of any game this season, thanks to aggressive defense from Megan Doyle and Eri Ishikawa.

“It’s always fun to win,” Farquharson said. “It was a team effort. We were working together and we were having fun.“

The Aggies hope to bottle up the good vibrations of victory and take it with them to Berkeley, where they’ll face the California Golden Bears on Sunday.

JOHN HELLER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggies defeat Tigers in home finale

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

The Aggies have dealt with much hardship this season.

Three players have gone down with season-ending injuries, various others have missed games and the team has suffered six losses by four points or less.

UC Davis played its final two home games looking to forget the past with hopes of heading into the Big West Conference Tournament on a high note.

It was not able to do so against Cal State Bakersfield, but the Aggies were able to pull off a convincing win over Pacific, sending lone senior on the squad, Genevieve Costello, off with a farewell present on Senior Night.

Wednesday – Cal State Bakersfield 80, UC Davis 71

For the Aggies, the matchup with the Roadrunners came down to one fundamental aspect of the game: offensive rebounds.

Cal State Bakersfield outrebounded UC Davis on the offensive glass 18-7 and 41-29 overall en route to an 80-71 win.

“Every time they shot it and we got the defensive board, we went down and we scored,” said sophomore Paige Mintun. “But when they got the offensive board, they threw it back and got a three. We weren’t ending our defensive sessions correctly.“

“Tonight we weren’t out-physicaled on the boards,” said coach Sandy Simpson. “We were out-quicked. It is frustrating to have them take a tough shot and then [allow them to] work it around again.“

The Aggies and the Roadrunners played even through the first half of play, as UC Davis found itself within five points at the break.

But a 22-4 run by Cal State Bakersfield in the first 5:14 of the second period of play sparked by 10 points from junior Katie Williams put the Aggies at a deficit that they could not make up.

“The key was the first three minutes of the second half,” Simpson said. “They just took control and put us in a hole after we had battled back by halftime and put ourselves within striking distance.“

Williams finished the contest with a game-high 30 points on 12-for-24 shooting and 12 rebounds.

Costello and Mintun led the Aggies with 15 points apiece. The pair also combined for 11 assists.

Saturday – UC Davis 58, Pacific 39

The story of the game before tipoff was Costello playing her final game at the Pavilion.

By the final buzzer, the story had a happy ending, as a dominating UC Davis defensive effort sent Costello out a winner.

“It means everything,” Costello said. “[My career] has been a long journey with many memories along the way.“

Despite being outrebounded, UC Davis got the boards when they needed to and played tough defense to defeat Pacific for the fourth consecutive time at the Pavilion.

“I thought we were pretty consistent and disciplined with the defensive game plan,” Simpson said. “We didn’t rebound very well in the early part of either half, but the latter part of each half we did a good job on the boards.“

The win was the 205th of Simpson’s career, trying him with former Aggies coach Jorja Hoehn for the most in program history.

The Aggies started off the game hot and took a 30-18 lead into halftime.

The second half brought much of the same, as a stifling defense limited Pacific to 39 points. Tigers‘ leading scorer Amber Simmons was held scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.

“They missed some shots that they would normally make which helped us out,“ Simpson said. “Defensively, we weren’t getting caught out of position too often. I think our communication and our hustle tonight was really excellent. The kids were at quite a pitch for Genevieve’s last home game.“

Costello finished with eight points and three assists in a game-high 36 minutes.

Freshman Kasey Riecks had a game-high 16 points for UC Davis and added five rebounds.

As the Aggies head into their final regular season game before the conference tournament, they are where they want to be defensively but have room to improve as well.

“Offensively, we hit some big shots but the turnovers were too careless,” Simpson said. “We are shooting the ball well so we have to give ourselves opportunities. That and the rebounding is the last piece.“

MAX ROSENBLUM can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Swimming and diving places second at Big West Conference Championships

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

090302_sp_mwswim.c

Notes:

Headline: Swimming and diving places second at Big West Conference Championships

Layercake: Thirteen conference records broken at four-day event

By ANDREA GUTIERREZ

Aggie Sports Writer

The UC Davis swimming and diving team has never looked so strong.

The Aggies made their way into both the school and conference record books this weekend at the Big West Conference Championships.

Both the men and women of UC Davis came home with impressive second-place showings, coming up just a spot shy of UC Santa Barbara.

The four-day event showcased some of the fastest swimmers the Big West has ever seen, as a combined 13 new conference records were set in Long Beach, Calif.

The Aggie women put up a score of 745 points, finishing behind the Gauchos’ score of 880. The women, who were expected to finish third, were pleased with their overall showing.

“The girls performed extremely well,” said coach Barbara Jahn. “They went above expectations, and that was all that I could ask of them.”

The women made an especially strong showing in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Kayleigh Foley finished in third (50.15), and was followed closely by teammates Amanda Holman (51.31), Amber Bonds (51.60) and Emily Medved (52.75).

Junior Heidi Kucera went on to continue her winning streak, taking conference titles in the 100 breaststroke and the 400 IM.

Kucera also went on to claim the second spot in the 200 breast in a school-record time of 2:09.41, besting her former personal best by over four seconds.

With that time Kucera, qualified for the NCAA Championships, becoming the first swimmer in UC Davis history to qualify with an A-cut time.

The 200 breast event shattered the former meet records for both the men and women, as Katy Freeman from UCSB took the top spot, while UC Davis’ Scott Weltz destroyed the record in a winning time of 1:54.91 – a full four seconds faster than the previous record.

Weltz’s win was a new meet, conference and school record, and qualified him with a nationally recognized B-cut time.

Despite falling to UCSB, the men swam exceptionally well. An early officiating error potentially cost the Aggies the title, as they fell to the Gauchos by a score of 849.5-832.5 – the closest margin of victory in Big West history.

“We did great,” said coach Pete Motekaitis. “Our goal was to be the best team in UC Davis history and we did just that.”

In addition to Weltz’s win, senior Alex Arbios won the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles. He also finished second in the 1,650, good for a school record.

Arbios was followed closely by sophomore Adam Borchard, who claimed second in 15:23.94.

“We did well,” Borchard said. “I’m very proud of our team.”

Junior Danny Donnelly walked away with third-place honors in the 200 butterfly, setting another UC Davis record (1:46.54).

The meet went back and forth all week, and while UCSB took the title, the Aggies left with their heads held high.

“We had a lot of heart,” Motekaitis said. “I wish we would have won, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

ANDREA GUTIERREZ can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.XXX

Banged up UC Davis falls in Santa Barbara

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

Nine days are all that separate the UC Davis men’s basketball team from the Big West Conference Tournament.

For the Aggies to carry momentum into the postseason, they’ll have to take advantage of every one of them.

UC Davis (7-8, 12-17) will look to end its regular season on a positive note before heading to Anaheim when it hosts Cal State Northridge (14-12, 10-4) this Thursday at 7 p.m.

It will be the final home game of seniors Vince Oliver, Kyle Brucculeri, David Carter, Michael Boone and Nathan Clark’s careers.

“It will be a big night to say goodbye to some people that have been so significant to our program and through the transition years,” said coach Gary Stewart. “It will obviously be an emotional time.“

Wednesday – Pacific 72, UC Davis 57

The Aggies tried all night to run against the Tigers.

By the next morning, point guard Mark Payne could hardly walk.

The sophomore suffered a sprained ankle in the first half against his hometown team, and Pacific used its zone defense to take away UC Davis‘ fast break and pack the paint in a 72-57 loss at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

“They ran a 1-2-2 three-quarter zone that is meant to slow us down,” said Payne, who played 34 minutes and led the team with seven assists and six rebounds despite the injury. “Our whole game plan was to run by it. … You got to give them credit. They did exactly what they wanted to do.“

The usually up-tempo Aggies were held scoreless on the fast break. The Tigers also dropped back their 1-2-2 zone to pack the paint, limiting access to the interior.

Seventeen of UC Davis‘ 26 shots in the first half were three-pointers, and the team did not get to the free throw line until the 9:41 mark in the second half.

Pacific coach Bob Thomason said his team’s defensive success against UC Davis was no easy feat.

“I don’t want to play those guys again,” Thomason said. “They’ve got so much offensive firepower.“

The Aggies went 8-of-28 from beyond the arc for the night.

They are 4-15 this season when they attempt 20 or more three-pointers in a game and 8-2 when they attempt 19 or fewer.

“We settled for too many perimeter shots without putting the ball into the interior, either by the pass or the dribble,” said coach Gary Stewart. “When you play as a windshield wiper team on the road, [the game becomes] really, really challenging.“

Pacific’s Chad Troyer hit five of nine three-point attempts to lead all scorers with 19 points. Joe Harden paced UC Davis with 14.

The two teams entered the game in a tie for third place in the Big West, but the loss dropped UC Davis to a tie for fifth.

Saturday – UC Santa Barbara 66, UC Davis 64

Todd Lowenthal covered his face with his hand and winced in pain.

With 2:26 remaining in the first half, the sophomore point guard was forced to leave the game after being poked in the eye.

Already without Mark Payne, the loss of their primary reserve ballhandler proved to be too much for the Aggies to overcome.

UC Davis committed 17 of its season-high 22 turnovers after Lowenthal’s injury, and UCSB would need every one of those extra possessions to escape with a 66-64 win at the Thunderdome.

“We got into a situation with our personnel where we had to play certain people out of their natural positions,” Stewart said of the aftermath of Lowenthal’s eye injury. “As for the [injury’s] severity, we’re not sure yet.“

Harden and Vince Oliver shouldered the majority of the scoring load with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Harden pulled out a game-high nine rebounds, and Oliver led the team with four assists.

For the Gauchos, freshman James Nunnally scored 18 points off the bench, and freshman Jaime Serna added 14. Senior Chris Devine, the two-time defending Big West Player of the Week, was held to 11 points and 4-of-11 shooting.

UCSB has won five of its last six games, and UC Davis has lost three straight.

“I think we’re fine,” Stewart said. “We’re minus some guys. You take Mark and Todd away from us, and that’s significant. We’ll get those guys healthy, get them back, and I still like our team. I still like our chances.“

MICHAEL GEHLKEN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Aggies impress against top-level competition

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

On a night that saw two of the top teams in the nation come to the Pavilion, the Aggies proved that they, too, were a force to be reckoned with.

While No. 29 San Jose State (194.700) and No. 3 Stanford (193.950) took first- and second-place honors, the Aggies (192.700) posted their highest score of the season and left with many things to be proud of.

“We had the No. 3 team in the nation in the gym on Friday,” said senior co-captain Adee Schoffman, “and we only lost to them by about one point. It’s great to see UC Davis athletics compete at that level.”

One of the top performers of the night, as has been the case for the last few weeks, was junior Kendall McCann, who competed in the all-around for her fifth time in a row and the fifth time of her career. Her 38.300 tied her high score from last meet.

“Kendall hit four for four,” said coach John Lavallee. “She’s continuing to have a strong year. I’m very happy with her.”

Coming off a breakthrough night last week, sophomore Stacey Nicolini put forth another solid meet, scoring on vault (9.700), bars (9.725) and beam (9.400). The score on vault was her second highest of the season – only .025 off last week’s – and her score on bars was a career-high.

“Stacey hit three strong events,” Lavallee said, “Her performances have really been picking up the last part of the season.”

Though these athletes had great notes as individuals, Lavallee stresses the importance of the team.

“To have a good team performance takes a lot of people,” Lavallee said. “Obviously we jumped up four-tenths, which is a very good sign. We were very solid on all four events.”

A clear indication of the all-around, strong performance was the fact that the Aggies didn’t have to count a fall for the first time all season. As each fall is a .500 deduction, that has a big impact on the overall scoring.

“This is a huge deal because it shows that we aren’t dragged down by little mistakes,” Schoffman said. “We were definitely expecting to get a season high and improve our season average.”

Schoffman herself had a solid performance, scoring on vault (9.550) and floor (9.650). Though not season-highs, they aided in the strong scores on both events for the Aggies.

“I was able to stay on my feet on vault and floor for the eighth week in a row, which is a big accomplishment for me, even though I hoped to score a little higher,” Schoffman said. “Vault and floor should be expected to be consistent. Floor is our top scoring event this year, and I think we should expect a jump in the vault score as well.”

Other top performers for the Aggies include sophomore Michele Hurlock on beam (9.750), junior Lida Gehlan on bars (9.800), senior co-captain Andi Dolinsky on floor (9.800) and junior Tanya Ho, who scored a 38.025 on all-around – including a 9.825 on bars.

“I was very pleased with our performance on Friday night,” Schoffman said. “We had great energy and kept it up throughout the entire night. We had some really high level teams with us, and it was great how close the competition ended up. I think we showed some teams how strong we are capable of being.”

ALEX WOLF-ROOT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Gimme stability

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

Vince Oliver called it very, very important.

Mark Payne said whoever finds it will win the Big West Conference.

Phrase it however you like, the message remains the same: stability is the key, and finding it before the Big West Tournament could mean the difference between earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament and watching March Madness from home.

“We need to build a little momentum,” Oliver said. “We’ve just got to be mentally ready to play. We need to play smarter basketball.“

For UC Davis, hopefully smarter basketball means more consistent basketball.

The Aggies had traded wins and losses in seven consecutive Big West contests prior to Saturday’s 66-64 defeat at UC Santa Barbara, which came on the heels of a 72-57 loss to Pacific on Wednesday.

“Right now, anybody can beat anybody on any given night,” Payne said. “Each game could potentially mean two, three seeds in the conference tournament. Every game is real, real big.“

The importance of seeding in the eight-team Big West Tournament is something that can’t be understated.

The conference’s top two teams receive a pair of byes in the four-round tournament, advancing automatically to the semifinals. The No. 3 and 4 seeds each get one bye, assuring quarterfinal positioning.

UC Davis‘ recent road losses lower its record to 7-8 in league play, dropping it from third place and a look at a first-round bye into a three-way tie for fifth.

The Aggies have one more chance to jockey for tournament seeding, as they’ll host Cal State Northridge (13-12, 9-4) on Thursday at 7 p.m. to close out the regular season.

They’d be well served to use their contest with the Matadors as a chance to work on making in-game adjustments, which has been an issue for UC Davis as of late.

Take Wednesday’s contest against Pacific as an example. The Aggies held the host Tigers‘ offense in check in the first half, limiting them to a pedestrian 36.7 percent field goal rate.

Things made a change for the worst in the second session.

Pacific took the intermission as a chance to tweak its game plan on the offensive end. The adjustments worked, as the Tigers were lights out from the floor in the second, hitting 68.4 percent of their attempts after the break.

Meanwhile, UC Davis was having offensive struggles of its own in the opening session, but couldn’t turn things around like Pacific did, finishing the game at a 36.8 percent field goal clip.

“They ran a 1-2-2, three-quarters-court zone that’s meant to slow us down,” Payne said. “Our whole game plan was just to try to run by it.“

The Tigers knew that’s what the Aggies – arguably the best fast-break team in the conference – would try to do. Pacific took that aspect of UC Davis‘ game away, preventing the Aggies from netting a single fast-break bucket.

“We talked about how we wanted to counter [their defense], it just wasn’t working,” Oliver said of making in-game adjustments. “We wanted to get the ball inside, but they really packed it in and forced us to shoot. Because we weren’t making shots, they were then able to keep packing it in.“

“They wanted to penetrate, they wanted to put the ball on the floor – they tried that a lot,” said Pacific coach Bob Thomason. “I thought we did a good job jamming them early. By the time they were running their zone offense, they didn’t have as much time as normal.“

UC Davis needed to adjust. Pacific needed to adjust. Both were adjusting to the way the other adjusted as the game progressed.

So why was it that Pacific’s adjustments always put the Tigers one step ahead of the Aggies?

“Those are great secrets that we’re going to keep,” Thomason said with a smile.

In-game adjustments. If the Aggies can’t make them, they’ll have a hard time winning a Big West title.

If they can – which they have the ability to do – it could spell March Madness for UC Davis.

ADAM LOBERSTEIN will be at the Pavilion on Thursday to bid farewell to Oliver and the rest of a senior class that sacrificed years of postseason eligibility to turn UC Davis into a Division I institution. You should, too. He can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Bench comes through in walk-off win over No. 11 Pepperdine

Sports

Sports Editor

March 2, 2009

If Grant Hirneise’s first game-winning hit wasn’t enough to turn around the UC Davis baseball team, perhaps his second one will be.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound first baseman hit a walk-off single in the ninth inning on Saturday to upset No. 11 Pepperdine, 4-3.

It was Hirneise’s second deciding hit of the week after driving home the go-ahead run in the eleventh that past Sunday against No. 12 UCLA.

“As a fifth-year senior, you look forward to those opportunities, and you’ve got to make the best of them,” Hirneise said. “[I’ve] been coming up big lately, and hopefully that turns this team around in the right direction.“

The win salvaged the series for the Aggies and improved their record to 2-5. The Waves fell to 5-2.

UC Davis is scheduled to host Cal State Bakersfield and defending national champion Fresno State at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The dates and times of the games are subject to change with rain forecasted all week.

Friday – Pepperdine 7, UC Davis 2

Scott Heylman’s bat woke up.

It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the team follows suit.

Heylman had three hits on Friday while his teammates combined for just one, and Pepperdine got all the offense it would need in a four-run fourth inning to cruise to a 7-2 win at Dobbins Stadium.

Nathan Newman and Cole Cooke’s four-hitter lowered the Aggies‘ season batting average below the Mendoza line to .183.

“It’s still early,” Heylman said. “A lot of our hitters, and not just me, are starting to see the ball better, hitting it hard. It’s starting to come around.“

Saturday – Game 1: Pepperdine 10, UC Davis 0 (7)

The plan all along was to play an abridged seven-inning game.

By the time the seventh came and went, the Aggies couldn’t help from feeling just a little bit relieved.

Pepperdine took advantage of UC Davis‘ struggles on the mound by scoring in five straight innings, and Scott Alexander threw a three-hit shutout in a 10-0 Waves win.

The Aggies issued 11 walks and allowed 10 hits in the shortened game.

“You never want to get ‘mercy ruled‘ or whatever you call it,” said coach Rex Peters, “but in a way it was ‘get it over with, and let’s forget about it and move on.‘”

The two teams had to fit in two days of baseball on Saturday so to avoid the storm that hit Davis the next day. With no lights at Dobbins Stadium, there was only so much daylight to play under.

Tim Busbin had two of UC Davis‘ three hits in the game, including a double in the fifth. A junior transfer out of the College of San Mateo and formerly of Loyola Marymount, Busbin has served as both a hitter and relief pitcher for the Aggies this season.

“I think he needs to help us as a pitcher number one because that’s where we need the most help,” Peters said. “But if he continues to have quality bats, he’ll find his way in the lineup and get more. That’s the reason we started him in the second game.“

Saturday – Game 2: UC Davis 4, Pepperdine 3

Rex Peters gave one instruction to Ryan Scoma, Corbin Cutshaw and Grant Hirneise in the eighth inning: Get ready.

Right-handed closer Nick Gaudi had entered the game for Pepperdine, and Peters wanted his top two left-handed hitters on the bench and his fastest runner to break him.

Scoma and Hirneise began preparing themselves to pinch hit. Cutshaw started warming up his legs.

The next inning, the trio was called upon, and they definitely delivered.

Scoma hit a one-out single, Cutshaw stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball as his pinch runner and Hirneise scored him on a two-out single to lift UC Davis to a 4-3 walk-off win over No. 11 Pepperdine.

“You just try to improve your percentages,” Peters said of the substitutions, “but it’s no guarantee that you’ll win. Scoma gave us a good at-bat and got on base. Cutshaw’s a good guy to pinch run there because he’s a stolen base threat and gets in scoring position. Then Grant comes up and gives us the base hit to win it.“

Hirneise’s game-winner came on a 2-2 fastball that he sent down the left field line.

“Coach told me to get my bat loose in the eighth inning, and I’m sitting there, waiting for a chance, visualizing,” Hirneise said. “I got the pitch I wanted and just went with it.“

Starter Tom Briner and relievers Dayne Quist, Tyler Bremer and Adam Bennett combined to allow a season-low two walks.

Daniel Sepin went 2-for-2 in the game with two RBI and a run.

MICHAEL GEHLKEN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Daily Calendar

Features

Features Editor

March 2, 2009

TODAY

Autism Awareness Association fundraiser

11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Yolo Berry Yogurt, 316 C St.

Stop by anytime today with a flyer and 20% of Yolo Berry’s proceeds will go toward the AAA’s community outreach efforts.

Care-to-Cure fundraiser

6 to 9 p.m.

Woodstock’s Pizza, 219 G St.

Go to this fundraiser for Care-to-Cure, which benefits St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

TUESDAY

Coping with economic turmoil

4:10 to 5:30 p.m.

DeCarli Room, MU

Dr. Dorje Jennettee will help to facilitate this meeting to help students cope with their personal experiences in the global financial crisis.

Student Nutrition Association meeting

6:10 to 7 p.m.

106 Olson

Go join this club for their last meeting of the quarter! Learn about events and community service updates and enjoy some free food!

Nnenna Freelon Quintet

8 p.m.

Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center

Grammy Award nominee Nnenna Freelon sings jazz standards and her own compositions, backed by a five-piece band. Tickets cost between $20 and $40.

WEDNESDAY

Guitar Blues

8 p.m.

Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center

Go to this blues celebration featuring Jorma Kaukonen (a founding member of Jefferson Airplane), Grammy nominee Robben Ford and Austin City Limits star Ruthie Foster. Tickets range between $12.50 and $45.

THURSDAY

Project HEAL

6:15 p.m.

226 Wellman

This club works with the SPCA and Yolo County Animal Shelter to provide volunteer opportunities for students. All are welcome to attend.

SUNDAY

Lara Downes Family Concert

1 and 3 p.m.

Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center

Pianist Lara Downes presents a whimsical program entitled Barbar and Other Elephants, recommended for ages five and up.

To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie.org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing, and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.

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