Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Thursday, April 25, 2024 — Houston, TX

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Rice Football 2010: Returning junior free safety Travis Bradshaw defines what it takes to find success on the gridiron: hard work

(09/03/10 12:00am)

Travis Bradshaw understands adversity and what it takes to overcome the steep odds stacked against Rice on the gridiron. As a former walk-on, the junior free safety worked his way out of serving as only a scout team footnote and into the Owls' starting 11 on defense by the end of the 2008 season. While his individual perseverance has yielded spectacular personal statistics, such as leading the NCAA in unassisted tackles per game last season, Bradshaw realizes that he now needs to help his unit - the secondary - climb out of the abyss that they found themselves in at the end of last year. The Owls' last line of defense surrendered 28 touchdowns through the air, along with 273.4 passing yards per game, while nabbing only six interceptions, placing them near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision.


Men's Cross Country 2010: Squad continues running down the dream of C-USA crown and regional glory; returns five of top seven runners

(09/03/10 12:00am)

While the opening scene of the immortal Chariots of Fire may conjure up notions of long-distance running being a relaxing and carefree hobby, the men's cross country team knows all too well the trials and perseverance required to complete a grueling course, much like the muddy one that Rice faced last Halloween at the Conference USA Championship. With its third-place finish still lingering in their minds, Rice is ready to compete yet again for conference and regional glory. The Owls boast a significant part of their squad still intact, although Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) is quick to point out the losses the Owls have incurred to graduation in Simon Bucknell (Martel '10) and to expiration of eligibility in senior Scott Zivick. Bucknell finished first for the Owls in all four of his races last year, while Zivick was a consistent scorer for the Owls in nearly every meet, finishing 18th overall at the C-USA Championship last season.


Commentary: Keep the lock on this Tiger's cage for now

(08/27/10 12:00am)

To the casual golf fan, Tiger Woods might as well have been ensconced in his Mississippi rehabilitation clinic the entire summer, instead of attempting to recover his golf game. Save for an incredible performance in the third round of the U.S. Open, golf 's most familiar face was nowhere to be found in 2010. After Phil Mickelson won The Masters Tournament, the next three majors produced relatively unknown victors: the U.S. Open champion was a Northern Irishman (although not young phenom Rory McIlroy) named Graeme McDowell, the Claret Jug was hoisted by South African Louis Oosthuizen, adding to his country's World Cup hosting glory in the process, and finally in the PGA Championship, Martin Kaymer became only the second German to win a major in golf. To put it simply, the leader of the links has failed miserably in his comeback from the marital troubles that became public in November 2009.


Men dazzle in first meet at newly renamed Holloway field and Ley Track

(05/17/10 12:00am)

With the advent of the J. Fred Duckett/Rice Twilight meet April 24, the men's track team will no longer call the Rice Track Stadium home, with Head Coach Jon Warren presiding over the renaming of the facility as the Holloway Field and Ley Track. The Owls responded to the christening enthusiastically, with rising senior Ugo Nduaguba accomplishing his best mark of the season in the triple jump, finishing first with a jump of 15.57 meters. For his efforts, Nduaguba was named Conference USA Athlete of the Week, earning the honor for the second time during this outdoor season. Freshman Alec Hsu furthered his role within the pole vaulting corps, taking first place with a vault of 5.16 meters.


Rain takes first place in Michael Johnson Classic

(04/23/10 12:00am)

As the men's outdoor track team attempted to compete in Waco last Saturday at the Michael Johnson Classic, it was clear that "outdoor" was the operative word for the outcome of the meet, as rain fell intermittently throughout the day, eventually causing the meet to be suspended with the final heats of the 400-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash, 5,000-meter run and 1,600-meter relay still to be run. While the conditions prevented Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) from gleaning too much from the meet's results, he was still pleased with several performances, including freshman Donte Moore's sixth-place finish in the 400-meter dash, clocking in at a Rice season-best of 47.87 seconds. "He ran great in the 400, and his run in the 4 by 100 looked really good," Warren said. "Overall, the handoffs were clean in the relay and the group ran well."


Online only: Men's track continues to improve at UTEP Invitational

(04/16/10 12:00am)

The venue may have changed, but the success in multiple personal and team bests remained the same for the men's track and field team last weekend. The team's three-part westward journey across the Lone Star State concluded last Saturday at the University of Texas-El Paso Invitational where the Owls competed against the likes of UTEP, the University of New Mexico, the University of Juárez and the University of Nebraska.Rice started off the day with a sweep of the medal podium in the shot put: Sophomore Alex Zinchenko captured his first career victory with a throw of 51' 7", followed by juniors Will Meyers and Clay Baker, with marks of 51' 4" and 50' 10", respectively. Meyers had a team-best toss for the 2010 season of 156' 9.5" in the hammer throw to earn fourth place, while Baker threw a personal best of 151' 9" meters. Baker also captured the bronze medal in the discus with a mark of 156' 7" meters.


Track blows past competition at Victor Lopez, Texas Relays

(04/09/10 12:00am)

While students relaxed over spring recess, the men's track team was rising to the occasion against one of the nation's finest collection of athletes in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays held in Austin on March 31-April 3. Senior pole vaulter Jason Colwick began his outdoor season with a vault just one centimeter short of his personal best, winning the meet championship for a third-straight year with a 18' 6" mark. His performance ranks as the third highest in the world this year, with 2008 Olympic pole-vault gold medalist Steve Hooker owning the top vault of 2010.


Adam earns Shirley Crowe Decathlon title

(03/26/10 12:00am)

Beer Bike was not the only sporting event that fell victim to last weekend's torrential downpours. Last Saturday's events at the Texas Southern Relays were canceled due to inclement weather, leaving many of the members of the men's track team still searching for their first chance at outdoor track-and-field action of the season. Despite this misfortune, the Owls still competed in the first day of events Friday and put up strong marks in the shot put, hammer throw and 400-meter hurdles.


Vaulter Colwick soars to second at nationals

(03/19/10 12:00am)

The night of March 12 in Fayetteville, Ark., was unfortunately the second leg in a tale of two cities for senior pole vaulter Jason Colwick. After being bested by Scott Roth of the University of Washington at the Reno Pole Vault Summit at the end of January, Colwick was once again topped by the owner of the highest vault by an American in 2010, this time at the NCAA National Indoor Championships. Colwick's top vault going into the meet was 5.67 meters, while Roth's was 5.72 meters, making Roth the clear favorite. Despite having five competitors in the field who had all previously cleared above 5.48 meters (18 feet), Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) felt confident Roth and Colwick would be alone in their pursuit for first place.


Greenspan selected as athletics director

(03/19/10 12:00am)

The Athletics Department, in conjunction with the Athletic Director Search Committee, formally announced Rick Greenspan as Rice's new athletics director last Friday. Greenspan replaces former Athletics Director Chris Del Conte, who left Rice Oct. 21 and now fills the same post at Texas Christian University. Since Del Conte's departure, Interim Athletics Director David Sayler has guided the department.


Commentary: Olympian bad boy Bode Miller deserves respect

(03/12/10 12:00am)

From the moment an athlete is chosen to represent his or her country in the Olympics, the one image that continues to burn as bright and long as the Olympic flame in the mind of each of these athletes is the vision of standing atop the podium, adorned with a gold medal and blinking back tears as his or her national anthem resonates throughout the air.Too bad Bode Miller doesn't really care about Olympic medals. Or what you think about him. Which is exactly why he is the best example of what a true athlete should be.


Cougars outrun Owls to take C-USA Indoor title

(03/12/10 12:00am)

From the moment the doors to the Yeoman Fieldhouse opened for the Conference USA Indoor Championships Feb. 26, the identity of the Houston school which would take home the gold was never a mystery. Unfortunately for Rice, that school was none other than the University of Houston, which collected an impressive 183.5 points on its way to its fourth-consecutive C-USA Indoor title. The Owls racked up 92 points, good enough for fourth place, something Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) was not displeased with.


Men's track competes alongside conference foes

(02/19/10 12:00am)

It wasn't quite "The Twilight Zone," but it sure was close. Last Saturday, the men's track team took to the track at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas, knowing that for one cold February afternoon, it would call the University of Houston and the University of Texas-El Paso teammates. The Texas A&M Challenge pitted three teams each from the Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and Conference USA in a battle to see which conference reigned supreme. Unfortunately for Rice and the rest of C-USA, the meet proved no challenge for the Big 12 - composed of the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University - as it combined for 309.5 points to blow away the SEC (143.5) and C-USA (116).


Ojala to travel with team despite injury, aims for April comeback

(02/19/10 12:00am)

A college baseball pitcher in his senior year often experiences an unfair stigma from his status. To the casual observer, being a senior starter implies that you were either passed over during the previous year's Major League Baseball draft or that you maintain an insignificant role on the pitching staff, willing to resign yourself to another season of sunflower seeds and chewing gum in the bullpen. But for right-handed pitcher Mike Ojala, the fact that he's a senior has few of these connotations. Indeed, the moniker of "senior" belies the immense talent he has exhibited over the three years he has worn a Rice uniform.


Colwick soars to 10th-highest vault of 2010

(02/12/10 12:00am)

After taking a week's hiatus from the annals of pole vault lore, senior Jason Colwick reminded everyone at last weekend's Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational just why he is considered one of the preeminent pole vaulters in the world. Colwick won the event with a mark of 5.67 meters (18' 7.25"), good enough to break his own Rice record. Colwick's vault is also the 10th-highest vault in the world this year.


Men's track gets complete effort at UH Invitational

(02/05/10 12:00am)

While certain individuals have found success this season, the men's track and field team began the season as just that: a collection of individuals with individualized performances and individualized competition. Granted, most track and field events are individual, but injuries and the track's reconstruction have kept the Owls from truly gelling in a team format. No more. The team finally came together Saturday for the Houston Indoor Invitational at the University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse, marking the first time this season a majority of the squad competed at a meet. Boasting both veteran experience and poised freshmen, Rice was able to take much away from this meet, according to Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88).


Colwick vaults to nationals in season's first meet

(01/22/10 12:00am)

If he felt even a twinge of nerves as he prepared to make his first vault attempt of the 2010 season, senior Jason Colwick certainly did not show it. Rice's champion pole vaulter began penning the final chapter in his collegiate career by breaking his own Rice record for the indoor pole vault, which had stood at 5.60 meters, winning the event at the 2010 Leonard Hilton Memorial Saturday at the University of Houston with a vault of 5.62 m. With just one meet under his belt this season, Colwick has already secured a berth in the NCAA Indoor Championship, as his performance was good enough to automatically qualify for the national championship.


Rice Track & Field 2010: Owls hope Colwick's championship effort effort in 2009 translates into team success in 2010, as majority of team returns

(01/15/10 12:00am)

Jason Colwick hasn't let up. The defending national champion in pole vault, the senior, who also ranks fifth in the world in his sport, has kept a healthy training regimen that should make him the odds-on favorite to grab another crown. But Colwick can only do so much when trying to attain his final, furtive goal: a conference championship. Fortunately, according to Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88), Colwick is still doing everything he can to improve on his team's third-place finish in 2009.


Online only: Men's cross country places tenth at Regional to end season

(11/20/09 12:00am)

Twelve points. Mere seconds when speaking in terms of cross country placing. Exactly what separated the 10th-place men's cross country team from Baylor University in seventh place at last week's South Central Regional meet, held at the Cottonwood Creek Country Club in Waco, Texas. The amount keeping Rice from reaching a realistic goal, and the amount that turned the meet from an opportunity to a disappointment. "We were that close to being seventh," Head Coach Jon Warren said. "I thought we could have raced better, considering the good performances we had gotten from seniors Simon Bucknell and Scott Zivick at conference. As a team, we had a higher expectation for the meet."


New Zealander pushes Rice to strong conference finals

(11/06/09 12:00am)

With Kenyans, Brits, Scots, Canadians and a single New Zealander comprising 13 the top 15 runners at Saturday's Conference USA Men's Cross Country Championship, the winner's circle was a lesson in geography. Luckily for the Owls, that lone Kiwi was none other than Rice senior Simon Bucknell, who powered the Owls to a third-place finish at the meet behind the University of Tulsa and the University of Texas-El Paso. Bucknell's seventh-place finish was a personal best, and was shortly followed by redshirt sophomore Michael Trejo and senior Scott Zivick. Finishing out the scoring for Rice were redshirt freshmen Gabe Cuadra and Matt Carey, who finished 20th and 28th, respectively. True freshman Sammy Abuhamra and redshirt freshman James Llamas rounded out the effort for the Owls.