Petsche stressed the responsibility not only of the university staff, but of each student to improve the quality of the residence halls.

“Keeping the University aware of the conditions is imperative. Reporting the issue to your Resident Assistant will allow the situation to be remedied fairly quickly. A student could submit a work order as well. The most important thing is to tell your Resident Assistant so he or she can work with Facilities and residence life to remedy the situation,” said Petsche.

Petsche and Brown both emphasized that if students have an issue with their living conditions, they must report it to their RA or fill out a work order if they would like to see it fixed. summer months to prepare the buildings for move-in.  However, with over 1,000 rooms on campus to prepare, something may have been missed,” said Brown.

Junior Alyssa Giannirakis explained that when she moved in her room, it was one that was not properly cleaned.

“When I walked in, there was a pile of dust and dirt on the floor that needed picked up and there were empty bottles in the recycling bin,” said Giannirakis.
Brown also commented on the paper towel situation. “The paper towel dispensers in most bathrooms have been replaced with hand dryers,” she said. “The hand dryers are energy efficient and reduce the waste of the paper towels.”
Regardless of the current state of the residence halls, Student Union and Res Life both have plans to improve the living conditions on campus. Student Union plans to exercise their role as the voice of the student body at a meeting with JCU staff members.
“Student Union’s residence life and facilities committee will be setting up a meeting with the respective staff and administrators to discuss [the conditions of the dorms] in the near future. We are always looking for ways to improve the living conditions for students,” said Petsche.
Res Life, as many students know, has been extremely busy arranging new renovations to dorms.
Brown stated that Hamlin recently had a new fire alarm installed as well as an additional common area lounge. The furniture has also been moved around in the rooms of Campion and Hamlin halls.
Petsche stressed the responsibility not only of the University staff, but of each student to improve the quality of the residence halls.
“Keeping the University aware of the conditions is imperative. Reporting the issue to your resident assistant will allow the situation to be remedied fairly quickly. A student could submit a work order as well. The most important thing is to tell your resident assistant so he or she can work with Facilities and Residence Life to remedy the situation,” said Petsche.
Petsche and Brown both emphasized that if students have an issue with their living conditions, they must report it to their RA or fill out a work order if they would like to see it fixed.

“I was concerned because the email seemed more urgent than the warning emails in the past,” said sophomore Julia Blanchard, regarding the email.

Mike Bestul, chief information officer of ITS, said, “The latest series of incidents have been troubling because the scammers have figured out how to closely emulate legitimate John Carroll University correspondence and logos.  However, it is always true that the University and its ITS Department will never ask for your log on information through an email message.”

According to Bestul, when scammers do a “phishing attempt,” they always target a wide audience. This is one reason why they chose to copy JCU’s email system. Another reason is because universities have relatively open and good mail servers with a lot of capacity.

“People should just be smart and make sure that if they’re giving away personal information, unless it’s to a legitimate, credible organization,” said Blanchard.

In response to the hackings, ITS has heightened attentiveness. All JCU faculty and staff have been switched to Gmail accounts. ITS believes this will lessen the likelihood of future attacks because Gmail has a greater ability to prevent spammers.

“Right now, the ITS department is on high alert for more phishing attempts and compromised accounts. We expect this heightened vigilance to continue until all faculty, staff and students are on the Gmail system, which has far more capability to prevent spam exploits than our aging internal system.  We are, and have been, in the process of moving all faculty, staff and other accounts that were still on the old system to Gmail over the past several weeks. This effort was independent of any spam activity and is being done to put all of the JCU community on a single cloud-based email system,” said Bestul.

According to the ITS department, while heightened awareness and a new email system will help stop future hackings, the best way to avoid having your information phished is to not give it away in the first place.

“The advice that ITS has for members of the JCU community to prevent phishing is to never, ever, give away your user account information (name and password) to a request coming through email.  ITS will never ask for that information via email, and if you get an email that asks for that in any way, regardless of how realistic it may appear, you can be assured that it is not coming from the University but instead is a phishing attempt by a scam operation,” said Bestul.

At a forum held last Monday, April 23, Lauren Bowen, associate academic vice president for academic programs and faculty diversity, said, “There’s not going to be one strategy or one solution [to intolerance]. We need to better embed conversations on what it means to be inclusive into the curriculum. We need to create more opportunities for students to share their experiences and to discuss similarities and differences. We need to be more explicit in saying that some students don’t just feel excluded, they feel hatred; and we need to be more proactive about that.”

Bowen facilitated an open discussion with students and faculty about diversity at JCU. Attendees shared stories and talked about methods of inclusion they have seen work and not work. They also brought up suggestions on how to make the campus more accepting. According to the president of the African American Alliance, junior Curtis Walker, this forum was a sequel to a forum the school had earlier in the year.

“It was following up from a forum we had in the fall that was sparked by various incidents that happened on campus. We had some chalking and posters going up that were acts of intolerance that we felt had been ignored. Those events sparked the first forum, and this forum was to follow up to that one and to make sure that everyone was still on board,” said Walker.

Walker and Bowen are both heavily involved in “Stop Bias.” Walker is the student representative on the Diversity Steering Committee, and Bowen is a member of the bias reporting team, as well as chair of the committee. The campaign was created to give students and faculty an opportunity to report acts of intolerance and have something done about them.

“The campaign was created by the diversity committee to challenge us all to stop bias when we see it and to be more welcoming and inclusive. We used the word bias to include those acts that are unintentional that we all commit and those that are very much intentional,” said Bowen.

In addition to student involvement, there is also a diversity task force made up of faculty members. According to Director of Human Resources Bud Stuppy, the task force has really tried to speak out for the JCU community.

“The diversity task force has helped create a direction for the University. [President,] the Rev. Robert Niehoff, S.J. came too, and said he really wanted us to create something actionable. From the task force has come a steering committee that has helped guide the recommendations of the University. It has all really created an effort to train people to be aware of diversity and inclusion and what it means to be a part of the community at John Carroll,” Stuppy said.

While efforts to make the University more accepting have been made, more work needs to be done, according to members of these groups and forums.

“The University needs to host more events and have things that indirectly address diversity and inclusion. [These include] events where students can unite, have fun and let conversation flow naturally, and [issues of diversity] will come up,” said Walker.

Last summer and fall, the University worked with the University Heights and Shaker Heights city councils. They both unanimously approved ordinances to rename North Park Boulevard to “John Carroll Boulevard” along the section of the street that is in front of the shopping center, up to the Carroll Gate entrance to campus.

Dora Pruce, the University’s director of government and community relations, said, “We were happy to work with the cities and accomplish the street name decision during our 125th year. This change will help facilitate visitors and prospective students to locate the campus and enhance the feel of entering our campus community from the mainentrance.” Pruce also said that on the week of April 16, the entire campus community will be receiving an email that provides information on the new address, maps and directions. Even though the new street name does mean John Carroll will be getting a new address, Carrie Huszczo, supervisor of the JCU Mail Center, does not think that people will have any issues getting their mail sent to the correct place. She said people have been writing the wrong address for years and the packages still get sent to the right place.

“We do not foresee any problems. A lot of times people just write John Carroll without the full address and it still gets sent to us. Sometimes they don’t even write the correct city. As long as they have the correct zip code, it will get sent to the correct post office and get to us,” said Huszczo.

According to Pruce, the University plans to get new stationary and business cards to include the new street name change, and provide information to students and parents about this over the summer.
The feedback has been nothing but positive from the campus community.

“It’s very prestigious for John Carroll to have its own boulevard. I think it looks good for the university and will draw more students in,” said Huszco.

There will be a formal ceremony on June 15 to celebrate JCU’s official address change from 20700 North Park Blvd. to 1 John Carroll Blvd. Ben and Jerry’s will also be hosting an ice cream social for the occasion, which will begin at 3 p.m.

The ceremony will be a kick-off to Reunion Weekend, which will be held on campus on June 17.

When “The Hunger Games” is made out to be a love story and nothing more, so much of the plot is taken away. Yes, the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale is part of the story, but only part of it. The main focus of the story is the games themselves – a blood-thirsty, fight- to-the-death, kill-or-be-killed sequence of events controlled by The Capitol. This film is action-packed, fast-moving and some may argue that it makes points about America’s media consumption.

“Twilight” is a love story. Feelings for the book and films aside that’s what it is. The focal point of all of the “Twilight” books/films is the ever-present relationship drama between Bella, Edward and Jacob. It makes sense that one would turn this film into romantic tale between three people, where viewers choose sides, because it in fact is.

I’m not saying that a guy can’t or shouldn’t see “Twilight,” but “Twilight’s” fan base is overwhelmingly female. That is because of the films focus on love and emotion. “Twilight” doesn’t have same amount of tension and thrill that “The Hunger Games” has. If people only recognize the two good-looking male leads in “The Hunger Games,” everyone will equate it to “Twilight.” In which case, there won’t be many male viewers in the audience.

“The Hunger Games” appeals to many different demographics. It’s the story of a young girl who volunteers herself into a set of games to save her sister. In these games, she and 24 other children will fight to the death until only one remains. This movie is not a chick flick. It has action and mild violence for the guys, and suspense and obviously some romance for the girls. When it’s made out to be a sappy love story, not only will most guys run at the sound of its name, people will think it’s just a carbon copy of every other love story. Recognizing “The Hunger Games” only for its romance robs it of it’s uniqueness and limits the audience members it can appeal to.

I encourage everyone to go see “The Hunger Games,” but don’t belittle a great story by only focusing on the romantic aspects. Don’t take away the uniqueness of the plot by turning it into “which boy do you like better.” Let’s face it, no guy will want to see a touchy feely film about a dramatic love triangle, and if they do, they won’t admit it. Go see “The Hunger Games” for the action, the suspense, and the drama, not to support “team Peeta” or “team Gale.”

“Making the watch list is truly humbling. There are thousands of collegiate sportscasters across the country, and I’m truly honored to be recognized as someone who is excelling at it,” said Gulick.

Both Gulick and Armbruster are involved in broadcasting at JCU. Armbruster started broadcasting this year at the Homecoming football game against Otterbein on WJCU-FM. He has since announced multiple football and basketball games. Gulick started broadcasting his junior year at St. Ignatius High School, where he began a broadcasting club. At JCU, he has broadcasted football, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball games through WJCU-FM and the sports information department. He has served as both play-by-play and color commentator for seven SportsTime Ohio broadcasts of JCU football and basketball games.

“Both are extremely dedicated to making the broadcasts here at John Carroll whether they be SportsTime Ohio, WJCU-FM or jcusports.com webcasts the best they can be. They are diligent in their preparation, and are meticulous in their attention to detail. They are also their harshest critics, which drive them to improve every time out,” said Chris Wenzler, the assistant athletic director for communications and the sports information director.

Wenzler has been both Armbruster’s and Gulick’s employer in the sport’s information office. He’s worked with Gulick for six semesters and Armbruster for two.

According to the Sportscaster Talent Agency of America’s website, the watch list is comprised of student sportscasters, who earned top 20 or honorable mention in recognition in the last year’s rankings. However, John Carroll is the only school with multiple representatives.

“I was proud of them to earn the recognition. I also think it was validation of the work everyone has done within the communication department, at WJCU and in sports information. It has been a collective effort, and we have made great strides in recent years to upgrade our entire operation when it comes to sports broadcasting. For Dale, Brendan and everyone who has been associated with sports broadcasting at John Carroll, this is tremendous ‘advertisement’ of this collaborative endeavor,” said Wenzler.

Gulick and Armbruster are very appreciative of Wenzler’s guidance and the opportunity to broadcast at JCU.

“I’m so proud to be part of John Carroll University. It’s great to see this University being recognized on a national level among other major Division I universities. Dale is an excellent broadcaster in the making, and I look forward to working with him for another year,” said Gulick.

Armbruster said, “The best advice I’ve ever received is that the only thing that keeps broadcasters from being great is laziness. Listening to and critiquing each other’s tapes makes future broadcasts that much better.”

While, for now, both are focused on earning their degrees at JCU, Armbruster and Gulick are both hoping to pursue careers in sportscasting after college.

“My dream is to be a play by play broadcaster for a professional team, but I know that it’ll be a long road to that goal. I’m willing to start wherever I have to as long as I’m behind the mic somewhere,” said Armbruster.

Gulick shared this sentiment.

“While [I’m] only a junior, I know I have to focus on the marketing degree I’m pursuing, but come Christmas time this year, I will be applying to independent league and short-season minor league teams for play-by-play and media relations positions. My ultimate goal is to become a play-by-play announcer for a Major League Baseball team,” he said.

The Nantz Award winner will be announced May 4.

“The condition of the tennis courts are poor to say the least. They are in the condition that they are [in], because they are not kept up from year to year. To fix the courts they would have to repave the courts because they are beyond repair of just simple fixes now,” said junior Ryan Mullaney, a member of the John Carroll varsity men’s tennis team.

The Cleveland winters have taken a toll on the courts. They are full of cracks and have poor drainage. Also, trees are planted too close to the courts causing the walls that surround the court to lean in and leaves to cover the courts.

“We have two incredible coaches, top-notch players and a record that speaks for itself. I do not believe these courts are a positive representation of our men and women’s team. These courts are an embarrassment to us, and should be for the entire University,” said junior Melissa Dillon, a member of the JCU women’s tennis team.

The conditions of the tennis courts are not by any means new. According to JCU senior Michael Hulseman, they have not been in playable condition during his entire time at JCU.

“We have never had a home match on those courts in my four years here. It’s a problem if we want to get anyone out to our home matches for support because they are never actually at our home courts. Honestly, I was told as a senior in high school that new courts were in the works and I have yet to hear anything other than speculation. So I am doubtful that we will see anything done about it for some time,” said Hulseman.

According to John Carroll Athletic Director Laurie Massa, the University is aware of the conditions of the court, but it may take some time to remedy the situation. The University has to deal with some issues of cost and scheduling before it can start repairs on the courts.

“There are no immediate plans, but we are looking into options related to repairs. Timing for repairs is somewhat related to budget priorities, and also related to larger campus facility planning,” said Massa.

For now, the fate of the tennis courts is undecided, but JCU students remain hopeful that repairs will be made.

Students are always saying that they wish the sporting events at John Carroll drew in as much of a fan base as they do at bigger schools. This makes sense because sporting events can make the University money, create a community bond and make the overall experience of college more enjoyable. With all this being said, I have a question myself: if so many people wish sports were a bigger deal, why do so few people attend them?

It’s true that John Carroll is a Division III school so our student body is much smaller than that of a Division I or II school. But we still have great teams to come out and support.

The football team finished .500, the men’s basketball team is currently 14-4, men’s soccer finished 12-8, women’s soccer finished 14-8, hockey is currently 15-9 and softball finished 26-14. Not only did very few people attend any of these team’s games, even fewer knew when the games were. Great teams deserve great fans. What better incentive is there to watching your school play than knowing that you’ll be watching a winning team? Yes we go to a small school, but the level of attention that sports get is decided by us, the student body.

Attending sporting events not only benefits the students in the stands, but also the athletes playing. As a former high school athlete I know I always played better when I knew someone I cared about was watching. Even if you’re not a sports fan, if all your friends were attending a basketball or hockey game, you would probably go too. This would open up doors to meeting new people and making more friends.

If students came out to support John Carroll, this would increase school spirit and make students prouder to be a Blue Streak.

In addition to good times and new friends, the money that you pay to get into games will go to the University. That means better facilities, more on-campus events, more of all kinds of things that increase your well being at John Carroll.

So next time you’re watching a Division I basketball or football game, and you think to yourself “I wish John Carroll sporting events were like that,” make it happen. Find out when the games are and spread the word, bring friends, make T-shirts, get the student section rowdy. If you’re on a sports team, make yourself known, tell people when the games are and get them hyped about them.

So we’ll never have the same fan base as Notre Dame, who cares? Make sports a big deal at John Carroll by changing things up. If a few people lead, others will follow.

This is clearly something that a large part of John Carroll’s student body wants, because I know I’m not the only one that hears people complain about sports not being a big enough deal here. Sporting events can really enhance the social experience of college and benefit everyone involved. If you want sports to be a big deal at Carroll make them a big deal.

Go Blue Streaks!

Searching for their second win of the season against the host Warriors, the extra determination from the Blue Streaks’ players was evident. Despite allowing an early goal in only the seventh minute of action, the Blue Streaks persevered and battled back.

Junior Wycliffe Odhiambo notched his first goal of the game in the 21st minute to tie the game at one goal apiece. Minutes later, Odhiambo struck again as he scored his second goal of the first half, allowing the Blue Streaks to go into halftime with a 2-1 lead over the Warriors.

In the second half of play, sophomore Nathan Sharbaugh tacked on another goal for the Blue Streaks, giving the visiting team a 3-1 lead, a lead which they would hold on to until the end of regulation.

“We know our record does not reflect our team’s talent and capabilities and we all were just tired of losing. It’s not a good feeling,” said Sharabugh. “We came into this game with a chip on our shoulder. We weren’t going to accept losing another game.”

With the win, the Blue Streaks improve their overall record on the season to 2-4. This was a much needed win for JCU, as their schedule does not get any easier in the coming weeks with five consecutive road games.

“Going into any game you have to believe that you can win or its not worth playing the game,” said senior goalkeeper Carl Contrascier. “When we went down 1-0, the mindset stayed the same for us, which is play our game and this team can’t hang with us for 90 minutes.”

Clearly that mindset worked as the Blue Streaks responded to the early deficit they faced.

Perhaps the biggest goal of the game came from Sharbaugh, whose 81st minute goal all but shut the door on the Rochester College Warriors.

“This win felt amazing. We were all so happy,” said Sharbaugh. “Things haven’t been going our way for most of the season, and it’s just really nice getting another win. We are hoping this win really propels us forward.”

The Blue Streaks will play next on Saturday, Sept. 24 against the currently fourth ranked Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops in Delaware, Ohio as the JCU men’s soccer team finishes up their lengthy mid-season road trip.

JCU’s first victory of the weekend was against Oberlin College, where they won the match in convincing fashion, sweeping the match three sets to none.

Junior Sarah Slagle had eight kills and one ace in the opening match and senior Kerry Fox had seven kills and one ace as well.  Juniors Melanie Rodriguez and Emily Bendzak combined for 23 digs in the match, registering 15 and eight digs, respectively.

“The key to our success this weekend and in recent matches is how well we play together as a team and pick each other up,” said Slagle.

“Even though we have had some injuries and obstacles, we worked through them. We have had girls really step up in positions they have never played before and make a difference.”

The Blue Streaks’ next victory was a little more difficult to obtain, as they had to play all five games against Westminster College before winning the match in the fifth and final set.

“Westminster was our most challenging match because we went all five sets and we had to battle all the way through, but we fought back and were able to win the set,” said coach Cally Plummer. “This shows me that our team has a never-give-up mentality.”

After sweeping the competition, the Blue Streaks split their two matches the following day. The team started the day by defeating Franciscan University in four sets before losing to Bluffton University in four sets later that day.

A highlight of the weekend for JCU was Slagle being named to the All-Tournament Team after recording 42 kills in four matches and adding big contributions to the Blue Streaks’ successful weekend.

“It really is a great honor to be named All-Tournament Team. With every game we play, it’s a goal of mine to be a dominant hitter on the court and for my team to trust me to put the ball away,” said Slagle. “ I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaches. If I didn’t have the solid defense behind me or the girls helping me to see the court, I could never have done that well.”

The Blue Streaks’ next three matches will be played on the road. This weekend the team will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. as they finish up the out of conference schedule. The team will begin the weekend facing off against Westminster College again on Friday, Sept. 16 before playing Carnegie Mellon University and Adrian College on Saturday, Sept. 17.

The Blue Streaks walked away with two heart-breaking losses at the hands of Susquehanna University and Lebanon Valley College.

In their first game of the season on Friday, Sept. 2 against Susquehanna, JCU produced 27 shots while only surrendering six to the Crusaders.While they were few and far between, Susquehanna’s shots were productive, as they scored on their first attempt 11 minutes into the game.

The Crusaders held their lead until the 61st minute when junior Kristen Profeta found senior Eleanor Sovacool to score for JCU, tying the game at a score of 1-1. The Blue Streaks played tough defense throughout the game, but a penalty on JCU in the 88th minute would prove to be fatal.

Susquehanna struck yet again, scoring on a penalty kick that would end up putting victory out of reach for JCU in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

The Blue Streaks game on Saturday against Lebanon Valley had a different beginning, but unfortunately the same ultimate ending.

At the 30-minute mark, Lebanon Valley took the lead with a goal, making the score 1-0. The Dutchmen held onto the slim lead until the final minutes of the game. It was not until then that JCU senior Colleen Harmon got a hold of a loose ball and blasted it into the top of the net to tie the game and eventually force overtime.

However the stars were just not aligned for the Blue Streaks as the Dutchmen would go on to score again 5:15 into overtime give themselves a 2-1 lead which they held onto for the rest of overtime.

The Blue Streaks record now stands at 0-2 after two hard-fought, high-intensity matches this past weekend.

“The team was pretty bitter about that call considering it cost us the game. I think the team did the best on winning the 50/50 balls and connecting passes,” said Sovacool, referring to the penalty kick Susquehanna scored late in the game. “I think they only thing we really need to improve on is our communication on the field and having more accurate shots on goal.”

The Blue Streaks continue their season this weekend with back-to-back home games against Olivet College and Grove City College.

The Blue Streaks’ efforts fell just short against the Student Princes, as JCU suffered a narrow 2-0 defeat in game one and an 11-2 loss in game two after being down 3-2 in the seventh inning.

Being swept by Heidelberg is a tough pill to swallow, but the Blue Streaks proved to have a short memory as they came out gunning for two wins against Baldwin-Wallace, and they accomplished their goal. The pair of victories over the Yellow Jackets not only improves JCU’s record, but also team morale.

“It’s only natural to become frustrated over the course of a losing streak,” said junior Tom Hickey. “The important thing is to not let it get to you and pick yourself back up so you’re ready to play the next day. These wins were definitely something we needed, but the pressure is still there. We have to come ready to play every game.”

Against B-W, the Blue Streaks started game one, down by a score of 2-1 after two innings, but the Blue Streaks rallied in the third and left the Yellow Jackets scoreless. JCU scored a combined 10 runs in the third and fourth innings to make the score 11-2.

B-W battled back, but fell short only scoring two runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth to make for a Blue Streak victory with a final score of 11-5 in favor of JCU.

JCU’s starting pitcher, freshman Bobby Peltz, improved to a 3-2 record after pitching four and one-third innings and allowed only three earned runs. Sophomore Vincent Trivisonno allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning, and sophomore Robbie Belluschi closed the door on B-W, allowing no runs for the Yellow Jackets.

Senior first baseman Chris Larry went three for three at the plate, scoring and driving in two runs each. Hickey and sophomore second baseman Zach Moss had identical feats, with each going two for four with two runs and two RBIs. Senior shortstop Johnny Hastings and senior third baseman Brian Benander combined to score four runs for the Blue Streaks as well.

In game two of the doubleheader with B-W, JCU led by two runs in the third, but the Yellow Jackets cut that lead in half by scoring in the fourth inning. JCU answered by scoring four runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to make for a 10-7 victory.

Again, JCU won behind the arm of a freshman starting pitcher, as Jimmy Spagna picked up his second win of the season after pitching five and two-third innings and allowing four runs. Sophomore Patrick O’Brien allowed two runs in two innings, then Belluschi bridged the gap to freshman pitcher Doug Finley, who recorded his second career save.

The top of the Blue Streaks’ batting order, which includes freshman Dan Potter, Benander, Hickey and Hastings combined to finish the day 10 for 17 with eight RBIs and seven runs scored.

“I would say the two biggest things were focus and energy from the team as a whole. Everyone was focused at every pitch and knew exactly what they had to do toget the job done,” said Moss.

With the sweep of Baldwin-Wallace, the Blue Streaks improve their record to 9-12 overall and 3-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. B-W drops to 10-12 on the season, including a 1-5 record against conference opponents.

The Streaks had four comebacks that allowed them to rally to victory. The first one came in doubles play from junior Allison Mora and senior Deanna Bouchahine who battled deficits of 6-3, 7-4, and ended up winning 9-7.

JCU’s other victories came in singles play from senior Athena Pappis who won her match in straight sets. Bouchahine and Mora battled in singles, the same way they had in doubles, to achieve come back victories for the Blue Streaks. JCU’s last point came from junior Cassie Simmelink, who was down 3-1 at one point, but battled back to win her match.

“I like the pressure and once I was the last one playing, with my team really getting behind me and cheering, it kept me determined to keep playing strong and win,” said Simmelink. JCU’s record improves to 3-9 overall and 1-1 in the OAC, while Otterbein’s falls to 7-6 overall and 0-1 in league.

Women’s track and field

The JCU women’s track and field team finished third out of five teams at the OAC Gold Meet held at the University of Mount Union.

The Streaks finished first in the 4×400 relay in a time of 4:14.52. The relay team consisted of sophomore Maureen Creighton, freshman Nicki Bohrer and Gab Kreuz and sophomore Maribeth Keppler.

“We did a great job of supporting each other and encouraging each other to finish our races strong. We do a great job of pushing each other to do our best,” said Creighton.

Bohrer also finished second in the 800 meter with a time of 2:27.55, while teammates junior Andrea Brown and freshman Alyssa Singer finished fourth and fifth with times of 2:31.38 and 2:32.33, respectively.

In the 1500 meter, Bohrer added to her excellent performance by finishing third with a time of 5:06.04. Creighton and Kreuz also scored points for the Streaks in the 400 and the 200 meter. Creighton finished third in the 400 meter with a time of 1:00.32 and fourth in the 200 meter with a time of 27.77, while Kreuz finished fourth in the 400 meter with a time of 1:01.83 and third in the 200 meter with a time of 27.72.

Other strong finishes came from freshman Anna Busta who came in third in the 5000 meter with a time of 18:33.23 and junior Cassandra Figueroa who finished third in the triple jump with 31-11 1/2.

Baldwin-Wallace came in first place with 189 points, Mount Union in second with 180, JCU in third with 73, Marietta fourth with 64, and Muskingum fifth with 56.

Men’s track and field

The JCU’s men’s track and field team finished fourth at the OAC Gold Meet at Mount Union this past weekend. The Blue Streaks also had an impressive four first place finishes.

The first came from junior Jake Smith who won the 1500 meter race, by over three seconds, with a time of 4:09.03.

Seniors Denny Love and David Hickey both came in first in their hurdle races. Love finished the 110 meter hurdles with the only sub 16 second time with a 15.81 finish.

Hickey won the 400 hurdles with an impressive time of 55.55. Sophomore Bill Zaccardelli also clinched victory, albeit by only a fraction of a second as he ended up finishing with a time of 51.18, while Muskingum’s Alvin Taylor finished with a time of 51.19.

The Streaks also had several second place finishes including freshman Cory Biro in pole vault and sophomore Mike Minjock in long jump. The team of Zaccardelli, Hickey, sophomore John Jackson, and sophomore Anthony Colbert also finished with a time of 3:34.09 to seize the runner up spot in the 4×400 relay.

JCU’s last second place finish came from Smith, sophomore Evan Bellan, freshman Vadim Spasiuk and freshman Chuck Mule in the 4×800 with a time of 8:36.07. Minjock and Bryan Wideman tied for third in triple jump and junior Lou Galliano finished third in shot put.

JCU had several fourth place finishes including sophomore Phil Evankovich in javelin, Hickey in high jump, and Jackson in the 800 meter run.

The final results had Mount Union in first with 169 points, second place for Baldwin-Wallace with 147, third place for Muskingum with 116.5, fourth place for John Carroll with 107, and fifth place for Marietta with 69.5.

Four members of JCU’s men’s swimming and diving team earned their way all the way to the 2011 NCAA Division III National Championships in Knoxville, Tenn.

Juniors Jimmy Ranallo, Brennan Schloendorn, Alex Vereshchagin and freshman Nick Holvey competed in a total of six events at the championships.

Starting things off last Wednesday, Schloendorn set a school record in the 50 Free, finishing with a time of 20.79 seconds to tie him for 17th place out of 47 competitors. Vereshchagin placed 28th in the 50 Free with a time of 20.95 seconds.

“It felt great when we made it to nationals,” said Schloendorn. “I know the other three guys on the relay had been training hard and had hopes of making it here this year. I was ecstatic to be able to be part of the team.”

The team of four finished in 24th place out of 27 quartets in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:37.57.

The following day, they finished 23rd out of 26 teams in the 200 free relay and the 800 free relay with times of 1:25.26 and 6:59.45, respectively.

On the final day of the competition, in the 100 Free, Vereshchagin swam a time of 45.98 seconds for 25th and Schloendorn in 46.09  seconds to tie for 28th place out of 43 participants.

Men’s tennis

Men’s tennis suffered a 9-0 setback to the nationally-ranked Case Western Reserve University Spartans last Saturday at the Cleveland Skating Club.

The Spartans were ranked No. 21 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Top 25 poll, which was released on March 17.

Freshman Matthieu Menard and senior Chad Ruehs both fought hard in singles play, but were denied victory in defeats of 6-1, 7-5 and 6-2, 8-5 respectively.

In doubles play, despite their best efforts, JCU fell short with scores of 8-5 by sophomore Ryan Mullaney and Ruehs who were going up against John Healey and Nicolas Howe, the fourth-ranked doubles team in the region by the ITA.

The Blue Streaks also suffered narrow defeats in doubles play including an 8-4 effort from Menard and sophomore Rico Certo, and 8-5 by junior Michael Hulseman and freshman Hunter Pellegrini.

With the loss, the Blue Streaks’ record on the season drops to 4-6 overall while Case Western Reserve improved their record to 6-6, although their record is deceiving because CWR has played against Division I competition.

Women’s tennis

After a hard-fought competition against Ohio Northern University, JCU’s women’s tennis team fell short in a 5-4 defeat to the Polar Bears.

Victories for the Blue Streaks came in doubles play from  juniors Cassie Simmelink and Maria Ciccolini. Those two also won individually in singles play, where both won in straight sets.

The team’s other point came from senior Athena Pappis who outlasted Christie Gale by a score of 6-2, 2-6 and 6-4.

The Blue Streaks fell to 2-9 overall, while ONU improved to 8-5.

Men’s track and field

JCU’s men’s outdoor track and field team finished strong at the Wheeling Jesuit Invitational, taking ninth place in the 23-team field.

Sophomore Anthony Colbert finished 18th of 48 participants in the 200 meter dash, while sophomore Bill Zaccardelli finished fifth in the 400. They were both members of the 4 x 400 meter relay team along with seniors David Hickey and Denny Love, finishing fourth.

Hickey also finished fourth in the 400 meter hurdles. Senior Bryan Wideman finished fourth in the long jump and fifth in triple jump. Senior Lou Galiano took second in the shot put to add to JCU’s earnings.

“I believe one thing we need to work on as a team is the will to compete, the drive to beat someone who might be ahead of you,” said Hickey. “With some more experience, I have no doubt we will give the Ohio Athletic Conference a run for their money.”

Women’s track and field

JCU’s women’s outdoor track and field team finished in 20th place out of 23 teams this past weekend at the Wheeling Jesuit Invitational.

Standouts for the Blue Streaks included sophomore Maureen Creighton who finished 26th out of 52 participants in the 100 meter dash, and also finished 11th out of 46 runners in the 200 meter dash.

Other outstanding performances came from sophomore Maribeth Keppler who finished 18th in the 400 meter dash. In the 800 meter run, freshman Gab Kreuz finished 14th, junior Andrea Brown finished 19th, freshman Taylor Whisler finished 20th and freshman Anna Busta finished 21st out of 59 runners.

Busta and Whisler also did well in the 1500 meter run, placing 17th and 26th, respectively.

“We did have one outstanding performance in particular from sophomore Katherine Spillman who came close to breaking 19:00 in the 5K and who also led her heat from the very start to the finish of the race,” said junior Andrea Brown.

Spillman finished in 13th place in a field of 32 in the 5K race. She came close to breaking the 19-minute mark, but just barely missed it with a time of 19:08.81.

Women’s golf

The women’s golf team got their spring season underway with a sixth place finish in the nine-team University of Mount Union Invitational, held at Tannenhauf Golf Club in Alliance, Ohio.

The Yellow Jackets from Baldwin-Wallace College won the two-day event with a score of 679, while Ohio Athletic Conference foes Otterbein University and the host Purple Raiders also finished ahead of JCU.

Sophomore Jackie Leuby was the top golfer for JCU, placing 15th.

The Blue Streaks ended the first half down 43-34 but started the second half with strong defense and hot shooting. With 11:44 left on the clock, senior Lee Jennings, a first team All-OAC selection, knocked down a three-pointer to give the Blue Streaks a 58-57 lead.

JCU increased their lead when freshman Hilary Liwosz connected on a pair of free throws to give JCU a four point lead. However, the top-seeded Purple Raiders answered by going on an 11-0 run to reclaim the lead at 74-67 with 6:14 remaining in the game.

Showing the resilience that got them to this point, the Blue Streaks responded with a 9-2 run of their own, capped off by a jumper from freshman Missy Spahar, that tied the game at 76 with four minutes remaining.

Ultimately, the Purple Raiders were just too much. They went on a 16-8 run in the final four minutes to escape with a 92-84 win. Mount Union improved to 25-3 overall and earned the OAC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. JCU ended the season with a 16-12 record.

Jennings led all scorers with 39 points on 14 of 24 shooting from the field. Strong performances were turned in by Spahar who had 20 points and junior Emilee Ritchie who chipped in 19.

“I think after the initial sadness that we all felt after losing, we realized that the only emotion we could feel is pride,” said junior Emily Day. “I don’t think anyone was expecting us to be the team facing Mount Union in that final game. We were proud of ourselves for proving everyone else wrong and showing that determination and hard work can get you far.”

While the season ended on a bitter note, it was a season filled with many accomplishments.

This year’s team was the first since 1994 to make to the semifinals of the conference tournament. After earning the seventh seed, the Blue Streaks had to get past second-seeded Baldwin-Wallace College to reach the semifinals.

JCU then won a thriller, 71-70, over third-seeded Ohio Northern University in the semifinal round. The Blue Streaks faced an eight-point deficit with five minutes left to play but used back-to-back three-pointers from freshman Allie Lustig and Ritchie to tie the game.

With 51 seconds left, Jennings made two free throws to give the Blue Streaks a 71-70 victory and an appearance in the conference title game.

The Blue Streaks will lose Jennings and her classmate Katie Knox to graduation.

Knox, a post who started 26 games in her final season, was quick to praise Jennings, her teammate of four years.

“The whole team really came together in the final stretch of the season and played inspired in our three playoff games, but I don’t think anyone wanted the title more than Lee. She has been such an amazing teammate over the past four years that I wanted to do whatever I could to help her hang the program’s first banner in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center,” said Knox.

While saying goodbye is hard, the Blue Streaks are in good hands for the 2011-12 season. JCU will return three starters from this year’s team in Lustig, Ritchie and Spahar.

“I think now that we have gotten a taste of what a championship run feels like, we have even more of a desire to win the whole thing next year,” said Day. “We will have some huge shoes to fill with Lee Jennings and Katie Knox leaving, but the freshman were really impressive this year and it will be great to have them returning next year as more experienced players.”