03262018

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Over 1,000 people gathered in the HSS Amphitheater in support of violence awareness on Mar. 24, 2018. Chris Salvemini / Contributor

Community members march, rally for gun control John Orona

Contributor Around 1,000 people gathered in the HSS Amphitheater to support gun reform legislation and gun violence awareness Saturday afternoon. The student-led Knoxville March for Our Lives rally was organized in concert with over 800 satellite marches across the nation. On Feb. 14, Nikolas Cruz opened fire on Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, killing 17 and injuring others. The shooting sparked student survivors to organize a march for gun violence on the streets of Washington D.C. which soon spurred similar marches and rallies in cities today. Edward Nelson, junior in sociology and Democrat running for the Tennessee House of Representatives 19th district seat, began the rally by reminding the assembly of past

Volume 135 Issue 19

mass shooting incidents, such as Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Aurora. When Nelson told the demonstrators how “thoughts and prayers” were offered in the aftermath, the crowd reacted with a call and response chant of “not enough” after each of the several events were named. Nelson introduced student speakers from local high schools as well as UT social work graduate student Krystal Gourley and community activist Andre Canty. The speakers outlined their demands for gun show and sale regulation, permit to purchase legislation and the need to vote out any politician taking money from the National Rifle Association. Following the rally at the amphitheater, demonstrators marched to Circle Park where booths were available that allowed participants to register to vote, meet local election candidates and write letters. Lucas Bauery, a senior at Bearden High

School, said although he hasn’t faced gun violence in his community in the same way as some of the other speakers, it was important for him to participate after realizing the need for change. “There’s a lot of people here, and we’re ready to see some change,” Bauery said. “We can be passionate about gun reform, but passion without action dooms us to a constant cycle of being angry, wanting change, and then having change not happen.” Bailey Burroughs, student at Bearden High School and president of the school’s GayStraight Alliance, said gun violence disproportionately affects the LGBTQ community, particularly in respect to suicide. “You can’t claim to support LGBTQ people and still support the way the gun laws are in our country — its not compatible,” Burroughs said. “If you care about our safety you can’t support gun laws that allow people to just walk into a gun show without any registration and

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just pick up a gun. It creates a risk for violence as well as suicides.” West High School senior Zoe BrookshireRisley discussed her own experience with gun violence and how it motivated her to continue organizing for change. “This is the most important issue of my life,” Brookshire-Risley said. “When I was seven, in 2008, a man walked into my church and opened fire. That kind of event is incredibly traumatic.” The 2008 shooting occurred at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike that killed two people and injured seven. “Personally I don’t care how long it takes, I don’t care how much work we have to do, I’m gonna do what I can until this issue is resolved,” Brookshire-Risley said. “This is the perfect time to use our voices. You have the support of your peers and there’s no limit to how loud you can be.”

Monday, March 26, 2018


2

CAMPUSNEWS

The Daily Beacon • Monday, March 26, 2018

THE DAILY BEACON STAFF

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief: Alex Holcomb Managing Editor: Rob Harvey Chief Copy Editor: Olivia Leftwich Engagement Editor: Alec Apostoaei News Editor: Kylie Hubbard Sports Editor: Tyler Wombles Asst. Sports Editor: Damichael Cole Arts & Culture Editor: Neeley Moore Digital Producer: Leann Daniel Asst. Digital Producer: Natasha Roderick Opinons Editor: Jarrod Nelson Photo Editors: Emily Gowder Design Editors: Laurel Cooper, Lauren Mayo Production Artists: Kelly Alley, Grace Atter, Kyla Johnson, Caroline Littel

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION

Advertising Production Manager: Zenobia Armstrong Media Sales Representatives: Mandy Adams, Amy Nelson Advertising Production: Nathaniel Alsbrooks

CONTACTS To report a news item, please e-mail editor.news@utdailybeacon.com or call 865-974-2348 To submit a press release, please e-mail pressreleases@utdailybeacon.com To place an ad, please e-mail beaconads@utk.edu or call 865-974-5206 To place a classified ad, please e-mail orderad@utdailybeacon.com or call 865-974-4931 Advertising: (865) 974-5206 beaconads@utk.edu Editor-in-Chief: (865) 974-3226 editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com Main Newsroom: (865) 974-3226 editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com LETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor must be exclusive to The Daily Beacon and cannot have been submitted to or published by other media. Letters should not exceed 400 words and can be edited or shortened for space. Letters can also be edited for grammar and typographical errors, and Letters that contain excessive grammatical errors can be rejected for this reason. Anonymous Letters will not be published. Authors should include their full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address for verification purposes. Letters submitted without this information will not be published. The preferred method to submit a Letter to the Editor is to email the Editor-in-Chief at editorinchief@ utdailybeacon.com . CORRECTIONS POLICY: It is the Daily Beacon’s policy to quickly correct any factual errors and clarify any potentially misleading information. Errors brought to our attention by readers or staff members will be corrected and printed on page two of our publication. To report an error please send as much information as possible about where and when the error occurred to managingeditor@utdailybeacon.com, or call our newsroom at (865) 974-5206. The Daily Beacon is published by students at The University of Tennessee on Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters. The offices are located at 1340 Circle Park Drive, 11 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0314. The newspaper is free on campus and is available via mail subscription for $200/year or $100/semester. It is also available online at: www.utdailybeacon.com

The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmentally responsible manner.

Defect to temporarily shut down residence hall Libby Dayhuff

Staff Writer Twin buildings Orange and White Hall will be separated for the 2018-2019 academic school year. Opened in August 2016 as part of the West Campus Redevelopment Project, a defect in the exterior brick veneer of White Hall will temporarily close down the new building starting in August. Katherine Saxon, a public relations specialist with the university, said UT has started an investigation into the nature of the defects and whether they are present in design or installation. A better understanding of the defect will help determine how best to address the issue. “The university is now investigating what needs to be done to repair them,” Saxon said. “We won’t know the cost until we get the findings of the investigation and know the scope of the repair work.” Vincent Carilli, vice chancellor for student life, said the decision to repair the defects was reached by a team of professionals employed by the university, the project architect and the construction firm. The Messer Construction Company has been contracted to repair the dorm. The firm is known for the construction of other campus buildings such as Strong Hall and the John Tickle Engineering Building. Saxon said the renovations will require the

complete closing of the dorm for the next academic year but the defects do not present a danger to students currently living in the residence dorm. “We’ve decided to close the building during the repairs because it will allow the work to be done more efficiently,” Saxon said. “There are no safety issues for students living in White Hall is a student dormitory located on the west side of the residence hall. campus. Moses York / The Daily Beacon Students currently in there can continue to stay in there until the pleted that the building will look and feel as it does currently,” Carilli said. “I anticipate that end of this spring semester.” Carilli said students who would have lived in the building site will have substantial scaffolding White Hall will have the opportunity to live in surrounding it during the work.” Fixing the defect is expected to last the Reese Hall next year. majority of the academic year and White Hall is Reese Hall, which is currently closed for the 2017-2018 academic year, will be reopened projected to reopen Summer 2019. In addition to Orange and White Hall, two to accommodate approximately 500 students. Students will be assigned to other residence halls more residence halls, along with a new dining facility, are included in the redevelopment in addition to Reese Hall. Carilli said he believes White Hall will still project that will be village-styled, studentlook the same as it does now after the repairs are community focused living. The West Campus Redevelopment Project is expected to finish by made to the exterior. “I am hopeful that when the work is com- 2020.

Education, outreach help Title IX in 2017 Sami Shope

Contributor An increase in Title IX violations reported in 2017 was caused by better outreach and education, according to Title IX coordinator Ashley Blamey. The annual Title IX report details sexual misconduct, relationship violence, stalking, and retaliation violations and was sent to students, staff and faculty in an email on Monday. Compared to 2016, 102 more Title IX violations were reported to various UT offices which Blamey said can be seen through more campus initiative and awareness. Mandatory reporter training has helped faculty and staff understand how to properly handle a report if a student confides in them. Ninety-seven percent of the reports in 2017 started when a student confided in a faculty or staff member. “I think we are getting that information more thoroughly than ever in our history because our faculty and staff have more information on how to best help students,” Blamey said. Blamey also said the increase in reports reflect changes on campus regarding Title IX over the

past year including the opening of the Office of Title IX in August, which provides reporting options, support and assistance. “In my mind, the annual report is our story of the last year as a campus and a community, and I think that’s what we owe the campus” Blamey said. “Our goal is typically to use this report as an education tool for this campus to explain our perspective and our model so people understand it and can hold us accountable.” Faculty and staff misconduct reports were included in the report for the first time. Blamey said the inclusion is another effort from the office to give the community a clearer picture of campus. Students, employees and third parties reported 26 violations against faculty and staff in 2017. Sexual misconduct, which includes sexual assault, harassment and exploitation, was reported 182 times. Other Title IX violations were reported significantly less. Sixty-six people reported stalking, 48 reported relationship violence and one reported retaliation. Abby McGee, a sophomore studying advertising, said the number of sexual misconducts on campus caught her attention. “It definitely opens your eyes a little. I mean, you never think something like that is going

to happen to you,” McGee said. “After seeing the report, you realize it could easily happen to anyone and that’s scary.” Going forward, the Title IX Office plans to use their new model to better serve the community. “In the report, I talked about our new model, which I’m really excited about,” Blamey said. “It includes policy, prevention, support and interim measures, investigation and resolution, and the patterns and trends.” The Office of Title IX will also continue to push the responsibility of the individual with the Active Bystander campaign, which promotes students to act when they see another in distress. The Center for Health Education and Wellness (CHEW) also collaborates with the Office of Title IX to host other events. Sexual Awareness Month will start on Monday, April 3, with the annual Hike the Hill in Heels at 12:30 p.m. in the HSS amphitheater. CHEW and Title IX will collaborate to host other events throughout the month. Blamey said student involvement is the key to understanding Title IX violations and moving forward as a campus. “The more you shed light on something, the better you are able to understand it,” Blamey said.


CAMPUSNEWS

Monday, March 26, 2018 • The Daily Beacon

3

Monthly event gives opportunity to relax, mingle Natalia Capella Staff Writer

Students treated themselves at the last Vol Night Long of the semester Friday evening. Vol Night Long (VNL) is hosted and organized by the Campus Events Board (CEB) and looks to connect students across campus through a fun, diverse evening. Starting at 9 p.m. inside of the HPER building, students enjoyed free Italian food, danced to Zumba, received free spa treatments and other fun activities. Activities such as large, outdoor board games and a bouncy house were provided. Freshman studying neuroscience Alex Ralston taught 30-minute Zumba classes for the VNL event. Ralston also teaches Zumba and dance classes at the TREC. “I was doing Zumba back home in Nashville. I feel like for me, Zumba is totally a stress reliever,” Ralston said. “Dance is just personally a way to let off that stress so I hope it is kind of the same for other people.” Campus Spa, a mobile spa that sets up spa treatments for students on campus, provided paraffin hand treatments, foot, calf, and thigh massages, back and shoulder massages, oxy-

gen therapy, and a chair massage. The oxygen therapy is enhanced with essential oils as an aromatherapy treatment as well. “I have been a therapist now for 18 years and (have) been with Campus Spa for 13 years,” Jennifer Sloan said. “A client gave me the idea, and it started out very small with one chair, and continued to grow and expand so we added to it.” Sloan said the most enjoyable part of her work with students is providing students with an experience they have lightly never had before. “They come here they have high expectations, and what we hear the most students say is that this is what they remember the most,” Sloan said. “For me it is so rewarding to watch (students) experience it and walk away with a smile and when they come back they are so excited to see us.” Alex Prasad, junior studying food science, attended the VNL poker night at the beginning of the semester and said he decided to attend this VNL when he heard what activities would be provided. “I would like to see more events like this because I like the food,” Prasad said. “It is fun to get everyone together and bring the community together as well.”

Activities such as large board games like chess and Connect Four were available at Vol Night Long on Mar. 23, 2018 in the TREC. Tori Bruno-Arimura / The Daily Beacon Junior studying biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology Gorav Gupta said VNL as an event is important to the UT community. “It is free and open to the public so a lot

of people show up and I like the themes that they do as well,” Gupta said. “Since they are ending with a relaxation type of theme it is really nice because a lot of people are stressed out right now.”


4

ARTS&CULTURE

The Daily Beacon • Monday, March 26, 2018

Godspeed You! Black Emperor bring orchestral chaos to Big Ears William Wells

Contributor It takes a lot of dedication to a band to recognize one of their songs from its first note. To instantly register a 12-minute piece by a band that creates nothing but instrumental songs takes a strong devotion. Yet when Godspeed You! Black Emperor opened their set with a single room-shaking drone that lasted well over a minute, the audience’s applause showed such dedication. Thursday marked the first day of Knoxville’s 2018 Big Ears Festival, the city’s annual multigenre multi-medium art celebration. Despite the incredible array of performers and events on Thursday, it quickly became clear what the night’s highlight would be. No matter where I went–sitting in Awaken Coffee Shop for a live poetry reading, waiting in line to see Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial ‘M’ For Murder,” walking down Gay Street dodging street performers and panhandlers–people were talking about Godspeed’s show at the Mill & Mine. Before the show had even started I received a notification from the Big Ears app: “CAPACITY ALERT: Godspeed You! Black Emperor at The Mill & Mine is at capacity. The show is one in, one out.” Outside, the line had stretched so far down the sidewalk that it had to snake around the corner of the building out of sight. I was thankful to have arrived early and staked my claim. As the drone from “Dead Flag Blues” slowly morphed into the beginnings of “Mladic,” the packed venue seemed to be encompassed by a narcotizing haze of dissonant chords and amplifier feedback. One by one, the band’s members took to the stage. Behind Godspeed, an enormous screen projected surreal images to accompany each song. Sometimes beautiful and sometimes nightmarish, these projections lent a sense of setting to the songs being performed. For over 10 minutes we watched the same loop of a fighter plane, bathed in black smoke, plummet towards the earth, briefly interspersed with videos of fights and political protests. We watched as the band played a quasi-soundtrack to grainy, sepia-tinged footage of landscapes passing from a car window. There’s a good chance Godspeed You! Black Emperor is unlike any band you’ve heard before. As the lengthy name might suggest, the postrock nonet is a fan of maximalism. To some, a band with three guitarists, two bassists, two drummers, a violinist/pianist and a saxophonist may seem like a bit much. But once you’ve become immersed in the sounds they create, everything makes a lot more sense. Godspeed’s songs stretch on indefinitely, often through multiple movements and crescen-

dos that build so slowly that, by the time they’ve climaxed, you don’t remember how you could have possibly reached such thunderous orchestration from a few echoing drones. One of the most incredible abilities of Godspeed is that, despite having no vocalist, they are able to imbue their songs with profound emotion. With no lyrics to guide the listener, it is solely up to the musicians to convey messages and feelings, and the result is a liminal theater of subjectivity where each audience member posits their own experiences into the songs to create a wholly unique interpretation. For Godspeed, there are no gimmicks or

“ One of the most

incredible abilities of Godspeed is that, despite having no vocalist, they able to imbue their songs with profound emotion.

flashy showmanship, only the music itself. Over half of the band plays sitting down and facing slightly away from the audience, and all the performers are cloaked in near total darkness. The band’s leader, Efrim Menuck, is not at the front of the stage bantering with the crowd or posing for photos. He is humbly seated and nestled towards the back of the stage between several amplifiers. When the band’s saxophonist entered the stage, it was with his back to the audience. The only words spoken by the band the entire night were a quick “thank you” from Menuck after an applause break. The final song performed was “Blaise Bailey Finnegan III” which features a field recording of an unnamed individual being interviewed. As the lo-fi sample played over guitar feedback and brief violin squeals, the audience remained in total silence, perfectly still and wide-eyed. The show ended with the band manipulating their instruments so that, even after they had laid their guitars down and left, a massive wall of sound continued to permeate the building. Slowly, the images on the screen began to fade to static, and the chaotic sounds came to an abrupt halt. I left the Mill & Mine in a daze, my ears still ringing.


ARTS&CULTURE

Monday, March 26, 2018 • The Daily Beacon

5

Rova channels Coltrane, dissonance for first Big Ears performance William Wells

Contributor

Before playing a midnight show at the Bijou on Saturday, the Rova Saxophone Quartet performed at the Knoxville Museum of Art as a continued part of the Big Ears Festival Friday afternoon. Jazz, as The Rova Saxophone Quartet performs, is often pigeonholed as an antiquated genre that older generations listened to. As a result, it has become wholly overlooked in modern music, and the concept of what defines jazz has been reduced to convenient oversimplified archetypes. This is why groups like Rova are so important. They not only bear the torch for a music genre in danger of fading to obscurity, but they also continue to push boundaries and defy expectations surrounding jazz. Rova’s show, titled “The ‘Sound in Space’ Project” held at the Knoxville Museum of Art, begins in a fairly unassuming manner. Surrounded by four groups of chairs, four music stands face each other in the center of the museum’s cavernous atrium. Like the performers, the four groups of audience members will all be facing one another. In all, the whole audience and musician set-up is very geometric in how the chairs and stands are placed.

If the layout of the room was no indicator of what was to come, the start of the show certainly did not give anything away either. The quartet began with a song so simple, it seemed as though it was a warmup exercise. The four would play a whole note, rest, play another whole note and repeat. As this process continued, the repetition began to add a new layer to the song’s ambience. Each musician’s importance became apparent as soothing, harmonious chords were sharpened into dissonant abrasiveness, simply through a single musician’s note change. Soon, the song had morphed from predictable repetition into a battle among instruments. Brief lines from one player were squelched into a wall of discord from the other three. Implied indications of melody were buried under squeals and flares. In 2016, Rova, along with a slew of jazz greats, released “Rova Channeling Coltrane,” a tribute to the late jazz-legend John Coltrane and his “Ascension” album. Listening to Rova at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Coltrane’s influence became clear. Imbued with Rova’s sound are nods to Coltrane’s intensely polarizing works on albums like “Ascension” and “Meditations” and to Coltrane’s contemporaries like Pharaoh Sanders. Like their influences, Rova crafts intense and challenging free jazz that leaves the listener

The Rova Saxophone Quartet performed in the Knoxville Museum of Art as part of the Big Ears festival on Mar. 24, 2018. William Wells / Contributor almost disoriented. After they had finished their first track, the members of the quartet left their rigid assembly in the center of the crowd, opting instead to wander around the atrium floor while continuing to play. Aimlessly the members walked, often passing each other or walking some ways before deciding to turn around and return to where they had come from. Just as challenging as the music itself was the group’s decision to not only leave

the center of a room so geometrically focused on them but to opt to play next to, behind and even away from the confused audience. Finally, the group moved into a new, somewhat more coherent formation at the fringes of the audience for their third song and had returned to their starting place by the fourth and final. With a unique performance that left the audience unaware of what was happening but completely hooked, Rova focused on so much more than just the music.


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PUZZLES&GAMES

The Daily Beacon • Monday, March 26, 2018

STR8TS No. 1093

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No. 1093

5

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SPORTS

Monday, March 26, 2018 • The Daily Beacon

7

FOOTBALL

Pruitt “starting to like” Vols team as spring practice continues Tyler Wombles

Sports Editor

Jeremy Pruitt isn’t shy about making known what he likes in his players. During a press conference on Saturday following the Vols’ third spring practice session, Tennessee’s head football coach expressed his admiration for players on his roster that are yearning for improvement. “I’m starting to like this team, being around these guys because I sense a lot of guys who are hungry and maybe have a chip on their shoulder,” Pruitt said. “Not all of them, but maybe enough of them have it and maybe we can make it where it’s contagious.” Pruitt has been on the job for three months and is in the midst of running his first spring practice as a head coach. The Vols practiced in pads for the first time this spring on Saturday, working through dreary weather conditions for the second time in three total practices. Certain storylines continue to stay at the forefront of the Vols’ spring work, including the question mark at the quarterback position. Redshirt sophomore Jarrett Guarantano and true sophomore Will McBride are the two returners that figure to be in the running for the job, with Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst not arriving until the summer. Guarantano saw more action in 2017 than McBride, but both displayed respective strengths and weaknesses. Pruitt, though, has been impressed with what he has seen from the two signal callers so far in spring practice. “I think (Guarantano) and Will (McBride)

have done a good job so far (throwing the ball away),” Pruitt said. “They’ve not forced the ball. We’ve had some protection breakdowns just because it’s a new system and it’s everybody getting tied together. “When it broke down, they didn’t try to do more than what they could do. They got the ball out of their hand and said we’ll play the next play. I think they’re going in the right direction.” Changes coming to Orange and White Game: Pruitt’s changes to Tennessee’s program haven’t yet reached their end. His trail of transition will be making its way into April as well. Pruitt stated on Saturday that he plans to make adjustments to Tennessee’s annual Orange and White Game, which culminates spring practice. “One thing that we want to do, from the coaches to the trainers and managers, and everyone in the entire organization, we want to approach the spring game and actually play a game,” Pruitt said. “We’re going to divide up the squad and play a game. We’ll actually go through the Vol Walk. We want to go through the same routine. “We may even stay in a hotel on Friday night. We don’t want the first time we do it to be when we go to Charlotte.” Former head coach Butch Jones often mixed in positional competitions during his Orange and White Games, including quarterback accuracy contests and the “Circle of Life” drill. Those types of exercises aren’t on Pruitt’s mind, though. His focus rests solely on a truly game-like atmosphere for his team, with hopes that Tennessee’s fans attend and help prepare his

University of Tennessee football players running strip drills on March 20, 2018. Tara Halley / The Daily Beacon last couple practices of spring.” squad for the regular season. Kirkland Jr. suffered a torn meniscus that “My challenge is for our fan base,” Pruitt said. “The first two scrimmages aren’t open, but the sidelined him for the entirety of last season. spring game obviously is. The best way to put His early return would bolster a Tennessee them in an adverse situation is to show up. That linebacker corps that is still being smoothed out presence will create pressure which will prepare with the team’s transition to a 3-4 style defense, which utilizes four linebackers. them for next season.” Pruitt also updated the statuses of sophomore Injury report: Pruitt said on Saturday that junior linebacker running back Tim Jordan and junior linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. has undergone a procedure Daniel Bituli, noting that Jordan is being held on his knee and could possibly return to the field out of practice for the time being due to appendix removal. His timetable for return is “a couple before spring practice ends for the Vols. “He had done really well, progressed and of weeks.” Bituli, meanwhile, is participating in indiworked in the offseason,” Pruitt said. “It was just a minor cleanup there, so he’ll be back and ready vidual activities but not with the entire team to go. He might even finish up and get to go the because of an offseason surgery.

BASEBALL

Vols baseball sweep doubleheader, series against Alabama Blake Von Hagen Staff Writer

Prior to Sunday, the Tennessee baseball team had not swept a conference opponent since 2015. That changed when the Vols took both games of Sunday’s doubleheader with Alabama at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Tennessee won game one, which was the second game of the series, by a score of 2-1 and defeated the Crimson Tide 3-0 in the second of the two seven-inning games. “I’m still kind of elated about the fact that we won the series,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “You throw another win in there; it’s like having two desserts after one meal.” After the Vols won game one of the series on Friday, inclement weather on Saturday forced the teams to play the doubleheader on Sunday.

Despite the day in between games, sloppy play from Friday seemed to carry over. A throwing error from Jay Charleston put Alabama up 1-0 in the fifth, but the Crimson Tide returned the favor in the sixth. Tennessee senior Brodie Leftridge reached on a throwing error and Justin Ammons scored to tie the game. After a Pete Derkay walk, Evan Russell was up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game. On Friday, Russell was walked with the bases loaded to give the Vols a walk-off win in the ninth inning. Russell’s patience paid off again in Sunday’s game, as he was walked to give Tennessee the eventual winning run. “I could tell that guy (Alabama’s pitcher) was pretty nervous because of the way he treated Pete before me,” Russell said. “I just went up there looking for something and he didn’t give me anything, so same results.

“It was almost shocking to me, because I have never been walked with the bases loaded before and it has happened in back-to-back nights.” Sophomore Garrett Stallings picked up the win on the mound for Tennessee. Stallings threw all seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and striking out five. Stallings is now 4-1 as a starter on the season. “I know who I am, I know I give up plenty of hits,” Stalling said. “I just kind of stayed within myself the whole time and for a little bit after the second inning I kind of settled in pretty well and knew I had things going.” In the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, the Vols jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, and that turned out to be the difference. Senior Benito Santiago singled up the middle and advanced to third on an error by the center fielder, driving in Andre Lipcius and Jay Charleston. Russell added a hit and a run to his basesloaded walk from the first game.

“I was very determined after my failed sac bunt situation … we needed at least one insurance run,” Russell said. “Justin Ammons did a great job of putting the ball in play and hitting the ball to right field, and I just did my job to score the run.” Junior Will Neely started the final game of the series on the mound for Tennessee. Neely pitched all seven innings, giving up zero runs and just five hits, while walking two and striking out four. Vitello said both Stallings and Neely were impressive on the mound. “Bend don’t break…those guys were courageous throughout seven innings and what they did for us to set us up for a good week coming up is even just as valuable as the two wins we got today,” Vitello said. Tennessee will travel to Western Carolina to play a midweek game with the Catamounts at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.


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SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Monday, March 26, 2018

SWIMMING & DIVING

Zeng wins second national platform title at NCAA Championships Quinton Douglas Contributor

It was the perfect ending to a successful campaign for Colin Zeng and the Tennessee swimming and diving team. Redshirt junior Zeng took home gold in the platform event for the second time in his collegiate career Saturday in Minneapolis as the 2018 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships came to a close. After dominating in the Zone B Regionals, Zeng carried over a strong performance to the national meet. This time around, though, it wasn’t a walk in the park. In the last two rounds of the event, Zeng became locked in a tense battle with freshman Texas standout Jordan Windle, as the two put on a show for the crowd in attendance. “It was nerve-wracking, I’ll tell you that, but it was really fun to be a part of,” diving coach Dave Parrington said. “I felt pretty confident that it was going to come down to three or four guys, Colin being one of them. Certainly (Windle) being another. It was back and forth, each putting the pres-

sure on another.” Zeng finished with a total of 466.35 points, edging out Windle (460.45) by a narrow margin of 5.90 points. The next closest competitor finished 25 points behind, respectively. Zeng showed resilience and determination in his quest for his second platform championship, which Parrington took notice of. “I was a little anxious waiting (for Windle’s last dive), but I knew if he hit the dive, he deserved to win,” Zeng said “It felt different winning than the first time. I never gave up. I felt tired most of the days. My first day to my last day, I never gave up.” Zeng became the first diver in Tennessee history to capture gold in the men’s platform diving event. His prior championship came while he was attending Ohio State University. “The final diving event of NCAA has an incredible atmosphere,” Parrington said. “There was a close team race going on. Texas, Jordan’s team, was in the team championship battle. We were in a battle for top 10. There was a lot of pressure on the guys to start with for their teams. Then

there’s the honor of being NCAA champion. That brings a lot of heat. “The top two guys and some others tonight, were in the finals of all three events. There was some fatigue in there. It’s a credit to those two guys that they were able to stand up and persevere and compete like they did. Both of them hit key dives and both showed a little fatigue. Colin was having trouble ripping his entries. His arms were pretty waxed, but he persevered and came up big.” Zeng also had impressive showings in the 3-meter and 1-meter diving events, earning second and fourth place. He claimed another spot in the Tennessee record books on the 3-meter springboard posting a score of 495.15. Zeng’s efforts earned him CSCAA Diver of the Meet. “This week he showed his consistency and his competitive spirit to step up on all three boards and finish in the top four in each event,” Parrington said. “He got a little better with each event. It was pretty cool to get a men’s platform champion in this building where my first Tennessee diver won his first title.” This event was bittersweet as it marked the conclusion of five Vols’ careers. Liam

Stone, Peter John Stevens, Sam McHugh, Ryan Coetzee, and Austin Hirstein all saw their collegiate careers come to an end. Juniors Joey Reilman and Kyle DeCoursey and sophomore Alec Connolly also competed for the Vols and will be looking to build on this year’s success for next year’s squad. Tennessee finished the meet as the 11thbest team with a total of 123 points, an improvement over last year’s 20th-place finish. Head coach Matt Kredich was pleased with the Vols’ efforts. “Starting exactly one year ago, these guys decided that 20th was not enough,” Kredich said. “They really took their work and their mindset to a new level. This meet really exemplified that mindset. We fought and scrapped for every point. There weren’t many instances when the points came in bunches. We never stopped fighting. I’m really proud of our diving program. “Colin (Zeng) and Liam (Stone) were outstanding. I’m really proud of our senior class. We had a huge contribution from our seniors. They really wanted to leave a legacy. I’m really impressed where they have brought us. We have some juniors, sophomores and freshmen ready to take the mantle and move us up.”


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