SPORTS

April 05, 2021 | The Mercury

Men’s cross-country team wins third consecutive ASC championship

Women’s team misses first place by only one point

SMRITHI UPADHYAYULA

Mercury Staff

UTD men’s cross-country team won their third consecutive ASC championship in early March, while the women’s team took second place.

On March 13, teams from eight universities competed in the race at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas. The UTD men’s team finished 21 points ahead of runner-up LeTourneau University, with four Comets – senior Trent Sakakini, sophomore Graeme Maclean, junior Griffin Davis and graduate student Andres Uriegas - placing in the top 10.

Sakakini is a mechanical engineering senior who ran cross country throughout high school and college. He said that having a shortened semester due to the pandemic and the snowstorm significantly impacted the amount of time the team had to prepare for the conference.

“Usually, we start end of August and are done by mid-November,” Sakakini said. “This season was a lot shorter than we were usually used to. We started in January and we had our conference race by early March.”

The conference was originally scheduled to take place during the snow week. When it was postponed, the team had to adapt quickly and work with the limited information they had.

“We didn’t know what would happen,” Sakakini said. “[The conference] could be tomorrow, it could be a week from now, it could be two weeks from now. But we needed to keep training so that we would be ready for it.”

Throughout their training, the team had to adhere to COVID guidelines such as wearing masks while not running and not running in groups to minimize contact between people. Sakakini said he’s proud of his team for their success despite these challenges.

“Everyone could’ve easily said ‘Oh, I don’t want to go through COVID restrictions and have to worry about training and all that stuff when I could just call it a day and not do it,’ but everyone stuck to it, did what they needed to, and it showed,” Sakakini said. “The commitment from all the guys and everyone being there for each other really helped to motivate our spirits and get us ready for conference, so it was nice to come out with a win.”

The UTD women’s team was only one point behind the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Their top finisher was sophomore Maddie Ellis, who placed fourth, followed by senior Hannah Bennett in seventh. Senior Anna Schaeffer, meanwhile, made the All-ASC second team.

“Maddie’s been focusing a lot of her time on school right now, so we haven’t been working together as much as we normally would, but she went out with that pack and ran smart,” head coach Danielle Kcholi said. “[Bennett and Schaeffer] worked together and had an amazing race.”

Computer science freshman Jocelyn Heck-

DAVE WESTER | COURTESY When the conference was postponed, the team had to adapt quickly and work with the limited information they had.

enkamp said she’s thankful for everything the cross-country team has been able to do this year. Although some runners chose to stay home during the fall, she said that they all returned in the spring and were able to participate in the conference. She was also impressed by how the team pushed through the snowstorm.

“We did experiment with running in the snow,” Heckenkamp said. “Half of our team is from the north, so we’re used to running in the snow all the time, but in Texas, without the salt or the sand, it’s a lot slipperier. It’s physically difficult to run on top of ice.”

Kcholi said the team adapted well to the circumstances, despite it being a rollercoaster of a year. “They are far more resilient than we give them credit for,” Kcholi said. “I cannot believe that we were actually able to race this conference championship, let alone be [there] with everybody present.”

ROSHAN KHICHI | MERCURY STAFF Jacob Perry hit a game-winning triple in the team’s March 2nd game against the Southwestern Pirates.

Comets batter up after delayed season

Baseball team maintains a current winning record of 13-7

ELLIS BLAKE HIDALGO

Mercury Staff

Following several delays, the UTD baseball team’s spring season has begun in full. With a roster composed predominantly of younger players, the Comets have managed to maintain a steady series of wins over their competition.

Scheduled to begin in early February, the Comets’ season was pushed back in light of the freezing temperatures brought on by the polar vortex. Seven games were canceled over a series of ten days; the first game finally took place on Feb. 26.

The cold weather was responsible for baseball teams across the country facing cancellations, with neighboring teams like the Howard Payne University Yellowjackets and the Southwestern University Pirates having a similarly delayed start to their season. The season’s delayed start only extended the Comets’ nearly year-long hiatus, as their 2020 season was ended only weeks in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their time off the field ended with a bang against the HPU Yellowjackets, as the Comets won 27-8. The Comets have maintained their momen-

April 05, 2021| The Mercury Sports

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG | PHOTO EDITOR

Benny “lubey” Lube in competition.

Comets place first in Rocket League qualifying tournament

Team will have to beat UNT, LSU to qualify for nationals

BEN NGUYEN

Opinion Editor

UTD just started play in the CRL Spring League after placing first in the Spring League Qualifying tournament.

After finishing top eight in the Fall National Championships for CRL, UTD’s Rocket League team is going into their second semester with a major win and substantial growth in team cohesion. Shortly after winning the qualifier, they’ve gone 2-3 in league play thus far, including close losses to UNT and LSU. Despite a rough start, mechanical engineering junior and player Dalton “Dalton” Cadieu is confident in the team’s ability to rebound.

“It’s just the beginning of the season. We can bounce back. When we started one and two, I think last season ended nine and six. And we’re capable of doing it again,” Dalton said. “I just think we have to get in the mindset of the competitive season again and get situated.”

After being underestimated in their initial season and placing fourth in the West, Dalton said that he’s happy with how the team has progressed. Since their entry into CRL play, UTD’s team has evolved a pass-heavy play style, separate from a solo carry

SEE ROCKET LEAGUE, PAGE 16

Comets seize a regional win for Super Smash Bros

Smash team heads to CSL Nationals as reigning champions

BEN NGUYEN

Opinion Editor

The Smash team took top seed in the national qualifying regional after a loser’s final versus UT Arlington and a grand final win against UT Austin.

The Comets cinched the regional win after being sent down to the loser’s bracket by UT Austin, forcing them to fight a loser’s final against the second seed team UT Arlington. The Comets said they expected to play against UT Arlington in the grand finals, but a surprise burst from UT Austin had sent both teams down to the loser’s bracket to duke it out. ATEC senior and student head coach Chaynen “Sun” Casas said that the Longhorns played amazingly in their initial face-off.

“For the first time in a long time, they played out of their minds,” Sun said. “They caught us off guard and it still went down to the wire.”

In the loser’s finals, the game started with UTD’s “graffetti” dropping all three stocks to UTA’s “Army,” which computer science junior Gabriel “Kazma” Hernandez said was due to them believing UTA would start a different player first. This ultimately led to a favorable matchup for UTA. However, computer science sophomore Sean “Fox” Fox would bring his Terry into play next, which Kazma said started to propel their momentum in the game.

“At first, I’m not going to lie, it didn’t look super great,” Kazma said. “But Fox really brought it back, taking two from Army without dropping one, then taking three from their next player, sleepyhead, and then taking one from kurry, and giving us such a really big lead. Big plays for Fox, much appreciated.”

Kazma then went on to sweep up most of the rest of UTA, along with ATEC junior Garrett “dezly” Olaes tagging in for the final finish. The grand finals turned out to be a much cleaner win for UTD in the rematch against the Longhorns, with Kazma saying that they won fairly convincingly. For Fox, the CSL qualifier was a wake-up call for the team.

“When you get used to stomping people, you can kind of just not put in as much effort as sometimes you should,” Fox said. “The CSL qualifier finals was kind of the waking up being like ‘Hey, even though we’re doing this good, we still need to put our full effort in and claim the win.’”

Winning the regional also guaranteed that UTD would be attending CSL Nationals, which they won in the inaugural season. Because COVID canceled last year’s CSL season, UTD will be headed to the online version of CSL Nationals as the reigning champions, and Sun says they’re ready to repeat.

“We’ve established we’re the new number one school, and people who weren’t trying against us before – who didn’t take us seriously – have to because we have that title. And that’s just going to make everything harder for us, which we welcome with open arms,” Sun said. “Try to beat us. And we’ll still prove to you that it wasn’t a fluke, and we’re just better than you.”

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG | PHOTO EDITOR Smash player “Fox” turned the loser’s final around for the Comets.