January 25, 2013
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY RECREATION A Division of Student Development
For more information on any of the club teams,visit the website:
Table of Contents
clubsports.appstate.edu
Alpine Ski Team............................page 4
or email us at: clubsports@appstate.edu
Equestrian....................................page 8
or contact any of the people below.
Student Recreation Center (828)262-2100
W. Basketball...............................page 8 W. Volleyball................................page 9 Cycling.........................................page 9
Director of UREC: Joe Carter carterjr@appstate.edu
Fencing......................................page 10
Director of Club Sports: Erin Carpenter carpenterec@appstate.edu
Snowboarding............................page 12
Publicity Programmer: Madison Frink frinkml@appstate.edu
Upcoming Events........................page 16
Executive Officers: Emily Ayotte ayotteee@appstate.edu Hannah Roberts robertshj@appstate.edu Morgan Page pagemd@appstate.edu
Triathlon....................................page 11 Executive’s Corner......................page 15
Check out the Club Sports homepage for upcoming events clubsports.appstate.edu
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On the Cover... Collage of AppState’s Winter Club Sports events.
Featured this Issue... Alpine Ski Team Snowboard Team
What is Ski Racing? Ski racing is an interesting sport. Most people have a general idea of the rules to basketball, soccer, baseball, and even hockey and lacrosse. However, skiing is not quite as common of an expertise. In the USCSA conference, better known as the Dirty South, we race both slalom and giant slalom. Slalom consists of weaving in and out of gates, crossblocking or "smashing plastic", and quick turns. Giant Slalom is much like slalom, except the gates are further apart causing each turn to be wider.
"It's not just a team, it's a family. We go out and hurl ourselves down mountains because we are bored and like to go fast." -Tanner Gretechen, Senior
Photos submitted by Alpine Ski
Racing in the Dirty South We all love skiing in the Dirty South because of the mud on the slopes, the enthusiasm of each racer, the common love for skiing, and the relaxed and friendly environment. The teams that make up our conference consist of UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, NC State, University of Virginia, James Madison, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee, UNC Charlotte, and East Carolina. Typically the racers that make up each team did not grow up racing before college. This causes each racer to be more relaxed. In some cases, racing is more about the competition against yourself rather than other people. Each team supports each other and grows close during each race. And of course, we all love this conference because of the boombox at the top of the race course. Prior to lining up, everyone gathers around to sing and dance standing in the start gate. And before shredding down the course, you have all eyes on you hoping you do your very best with a tunnel of poles to go through as emotional support. As Dixon Styres put it perfectly, "It's not about being the best out there it's more about having fun that brings the fun back to skiing." The Dirty South would not be complete without the lack of snow, gapers, and friendly competition. The Dirty South has become home.
Team Updates Shredweek was the official kickoff to the 2013 USCSA race season! The majority of the Appalachian State Ski Team came back to Boone around January 3rd in preparation for our first few races. Since the dorms were not yet open, everyone lived out of each other's apartments for a week. Our schedule consisted of waking up early, heading out to the hill, skiing all day, dinner, ski movies, and repeat. It was a great way to get all of the new members involved and bond together as a team. As Senior Tanner Grech put it, "It's not just a team, it's a family. We go out and hurl ourselves down mountains because we are bored and like to go fast." Our first two races were held at Beech Mountain. January 5th - Giant Slalom and January 6th - Slalom. The ASU Men and Women team's swept the conference. The women came away with first place in both events and the men were awarded first in giant slalom and second in slalom. The next weekend, January 12th and 13th, the USCSA conference was scheduled to have the next two races at Wintergreen. However, due to the exceptionally warm temperatures this year and days of rain, the snow on the mountain has been scare and the race was cancelled.
“Despite the warm temperatures, we have kept a positive moral. We pray for snow, hit the road, and down the slopes we go,� said Trevor Thomas, a junior on the ASU Ski Team. Although the warm weather has hindered some practice times, our team and conference has adapted to what we do have and has made the best of it. After all, we are the Dirty South conference. Our team has been blessed with amazing coaches and support to help us through all conditions on the hill. This past weekend, the Appalachian State Ski Team hosted the USCSA conference at home, Sugar Mountain. Sugar was absolutely slammed due to it being Martin Luther King weekend, but regardless it was still a blast. The ASU Ski Team gathered at the mountain 2 hours before the race to help setup and organize the visiting teams, helped with announcing times, and helped breakdown the course. Overall, it was a successful weekend in many regards. The women's team placed third in slalom and second in giant slalom. The men's team placed third in giant slalom and fifth in slalom. Currently, we are all preparing to leave early Friday afternoon for a weekend filled with giant slalom. Ashley Cutrell, Secretary and Council Represenative
Photo taken by Mike McKellop
Over the break, the Women’s Basketball Team rested up as to be ready for the second half of the year. After a very productive and successful fall season, the team is ready to get back in the gym and make the spring season even better. Practices are set to resume this week and we are planning on seeing a few new faces to add on to the team. Looking ahead into the remainder of the school year we have some of our biggest tournaments coming up such as our regional and national tournaments. The tournaments we have planned to participate in so far for this semester include Georgia Southern, Ohio State, and NC State. We are also hoping to host another home tournament this semester here on campus! We are all very excited and ready to get back out on the court and get to work!
Photo submitted by Carrie Simms
The Equestrian Team is excited to get the new semester underway! We are starting off by sponsoring a blood drive next week with the American Red Cross. It will be in the Blue Ridge Ballroom from 9:00am2:00pm. We are encouraging walk-ins as all of our appointment slots are full. We also are hosting an Intercollegiate Dressage Association show which will be the first one of the season on February 10th. In the meantime we are practicing and getting the horses and the facility ready. We are crossing our fingers for good weather! Katelyn Young, President
Casey Tarwater, Secretary
Photo submitted by Shawn Lautner
Photo submitted by Rebecca Haynes
The Women’s Volleyball Team got its start for the spring semester this week with team placement. The club has a lot coming up this semester. Most importantly, the National team will be heading to Dallas in April for the National tournament. Our other teams will also be playing in several league tournaments. In addition, App is planning to host its annual Madness on the Mountain tournament on March 23rd (and we always appreciate support if anyone wants to come cheer us on at the SRC!). After a week or two of practice, the club will be ready to jump into the first tournaments of the semester. We are all really excited and ready to get started! Beth Dunton, Secretary
While a few members of the Cycling Team ventured to Madison, WI for Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals, the remaining teammates have been riding through the frozen tundra known as Boone, NC to prepare for the upcoming road race season. Competition begins the weekend of February 9th and 10th, as the team will travel to NC State University for a weekend of two different road races. Even with the unpredictable (and often unbearable) winter weather, the team continues to train hard in preparation for the season ahead! Shawn Lautner, Secretary
Photo Submitted by Bennett Hatfield
This week, Fencing Team had its first meeting of the spring semester. After winter break, everyone is back and ready to start fencing again. Last week, Fencing took part in the Club Expo, so we kicked off the season with several new members as well. The end of last season saw the departure of some of our senior members who were graduating, so several members stepped up to take the officer positions that opened up. Our new members are being brought up to speed, taking a crash course in the basics of fencing. The new fencers are a bright bunch who are taking to fencing very well.
Meanwhile, our returning members are getting back into the swing of things and are training as if they hadn't even taken a break. There's no time to waste either. The first weekend of March holds Divisionals, the annual gathering of fencers from all over North Carolina. At Divisionals, we compete to qualify for Nationals. Even before we get to Divisionals, Fencing Club is planning another home tournament of our own. Fencing Club has a lot of exciting events scheduled in the coming months, and we're eagerly anticipating all of it! Bennett Hatfield, Treasurer
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Introducing Our Newly Inducted AppState Club Sports Team:
Tr i a t h l o n Speedos, spandex, sweat. The brand new Triathlon Team is really excited to join the Club Sport family at Appalachian! In the fall of 2011, a few students had a dream of creating a place for other indecisive athletes to come together and share their passions. During the very first practices, most of the participants used their rusty old mountain bikes and the team was lucky to have 3 people attend. The students of Appalachian were not even aware of the birth of this movement to bring swimming, biking, and running together. After becoming accepted as a student organization, the club was starting to see a bit more support and even earned the title of Best New Student Organization. Now, the team even has an official Facebook page and special cotton t-shirts. Last year, some members of the team were successful in races across North Carolina. Everyone brought home an award from the Mountain Madness Duathlon, a little known race tucked into the unknown town of Franklin, NC. Some members earned coveted prizes of blankets at the Cool Breeze Sprint Triathlon and bobble-heads at the Belews Lake International Triathlon. The team hopes to carry over the momentum from the previous season into the spring. As a Club Sport, the team has high hopes for the upcoming season! Uniforms, bumper stickers, and team dinners are some immediate goals. The team is also hoping to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Anna Gannett, President
Photo submitted by Anna Gannett
With this last week of cold weather it finally feels like the Snowboard season has arrived. The competition season got off to an unusual but welcome early start this year with competitions kicking off the first week of January. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams started the season off strong bringing home first place finishes. The women were lead by Liz Gaston bringing 2nd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday, and by Taylor Bridges taking 1st on Saturday 2nd on Sunday. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst with the entire southern Appalachians getting an unprecedented amount of rain the following week. This forced the cancelation of our second event of the season. Thankfully, the weather took a turn for the better just in time for us to host our first event at Sugar Mountain, over Martin Luther King weekend. Our team along with the ASU Ski team assisted Sugar staff in hosting two days of ski racing and one day of snowboard racing. The Women’s team continued their winning ways with another dominating performance led again by Liz Gaston in first and three other girls in the top five spots. The Men’s team did not have as good of a day; things got off to rough start with Cameron Herder back flipping on his first run resulting in a broken arm, which later required emergency surgery (Don’t worry he is all good and healing now!). cont. on next page
All Snowboard photos submitted by Kim Ellison and Taylor Bridges
Even though Taylor Bridges again led the way taking 1st, the course was rough and took out many of the competitors; thankfully, none as badly as Cameron. We have our first away race at Bryce Resort this coming weekend we are excited to get back on our boards and continue what has started off as a great season!
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Taylor Bridges and Kim Ellison, Officers
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Executive’s Corner
a word from our executives...
Welcome Back! The Executive Officers have been busy since before classes started! Here is a brief synopsis of what has been going on!
Second Week of Classes:
Council had its first meeting of the semester! Eric Barnes presented spoke on behalf the S.G.A. Senate Bill and answered Executive Conference: January 8 – 10 questions from the Council. Committees were able to meet briefly and make a general plan Executives were able to update of what they would like to accomplish this the Club Sports Council Constitution for semester: the Council to review & vote on in April; develop a Frequently Asked Questions Fundraising: Possibly 5K Collaboration list for the CS Website; Discuss and sign with SGA, APPS, ACT & others up for our Major Spring Program Events: Marketing & Advertising: Finalizing Elections, Symposium, Budgetary Committee T-Shirt Items & Organizing a CS Logo Proposal & Banquet; amongst a few other Contest administrative items. Service: Looking into doing a coat drive at the end of winter Unity: Organizing a CS Dodgeball First Week of Classes: Tournament & Helping plan the annual CS Symposium Executives began communicating with Budget Point: Reviewing National teams about important upcoming items Championship Reimbursement including Final Competition Roster being Allocation Criteria due on February 13 and meeting with new officers of teams. Emily was able to meet Club Sports was able to participate in with all of Triathlon and conduct a group Club Sports night with Athletics thanks to officer conference for the newest member Madi Frink, Publicity Programmer and her of the CS family! Executives also contacted S.G.A. (Student Government Association) to awesome prizes. Madi is also organizing the inquire about research and invite Eric Barnes, Annual Club Sports Photo Competition – to S.G.A. Vice President to speak on the Senate take place this semester. Bill which restructures the Senate and affects Most of our teams are in season and we are the Club Sports seat. looking forward to the Spring Semester!
Good luck Everyone! Club Sports Office
January 25, 2013
We are all really excited and ready to get started! -Women’s Volleyball
Photo submitted by Rebecca Haynes
Upcoming Events January 26, 2013 Alpine Ski Race @ Bryce Mountain, VA Snowboard Race @ Bryce Mountain, VA W. Ultimate Tournament @ Clemson January 27, 2013 Alpine Ski Race @ Bryce Mountain, VA Snowboard Race @ Bryce Mountain, VA February 6, 2013 Club Sports Council, 5pm, SRC Room 202 February 8, 2013 Next Club Sports Illustrated