Senior forward Kayla Krueger cheers on her fellow teammates as they play against Washburn last night at White Auditorium. The Lady Hornets came up short by one point, losing 52-53. Yo Han Kim/The Bulletin

The Emporia Hornets put their 18-6 record on the line on senior night at White Auditorium as they hosted the visiting Washburn Ichabods last night. Heather Robben, Kayla Krueger and Dava Logsdon were the three seniors on the squad this season. The Hornets lost by one point, 52-53, on a two-point basket by Washburn with four seconds left on the clock.

The Hornets started off with a three-point field goal by junior Rachel Hanf from the deep corner to get things started. Early on and often, the Hornets went into the post to freshman Merissa Quick as she scored nine of the first 12 points. The defense looked stout as they forced three turnovers in the first seven Washburn possessions.

Emporia kept up the strong offensive attack with a 6-0 run capped off by a bucket from the post by Merissa Quick to stretch the lead at 20-15 with nine minutes left in the half. The half would end with the two teams trading buckets as Merissa Quick would get the final shot, closing the gap to 29-32. Quick ended the half with 12 points and four rebounds while she defended the post with great tenacity.

“We played really tough,” Quick said. “They have a really good post, maybe one of the best in the league. I just wanted to play hard against her.”

Coming out of the half, the Ichabods had an 11-5 run to stretch the lead to 34-43 with 14 minutes left. Junior Jocelyn Cummings scored the first five points for the Hornets to keep the game within striking distance. Washburn then stretched the lead even further to 13 points, 34-47, forcing Emporia to take a timeout.

But the Hornets would not go away quietly. Emporia put together a 7-0 run, to bring the score to 41-47 with 7 minutes left in the game after a Jocelyn Cummings scored two-point bucket, forcing the Ichabods to call their first time out of the half.

“I think we played really good defense,” Robben said. “We got a lot of loose balls and played tough down the stretch.”

True to form, the Hornets bounced right back with an 11-0 run, which included five crucial points by Robben and two free throws to take the lead by Kelsey Balcom, 52-51, with one minute left in the game. The Ichabods scored the final winning basket with 4 seconds left.

“We have competitive kids,” said Jory Collins, head coach. “We communicated really well on defense and switched really well…we held them to 27 percent field goal shooting, and that’s something for us to hang our hat on.”

Next up, the Hornets travel to Hays to take on Fort Hays State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Marcus Hix

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Senior forward and center Troy Pierce fights against several Ichabod defenders for a layup last night at White Auditorium. The Hornets fell to the Bods, 60-68. Yo Han Kim/The Bulletin

The Hornets basketball team hosted the Washburn Ichabods on senior night in the annual Turnpike Tussle at White Auditorium last night but lost, 60-68. Jim Fraley had his number 14 jersey retired. Tola Lawal, Troy Pierce, Antonio DiMaria and Christian Simmons are the seniors on the squad.                  To open the game, junior Chris Sights drained a three-point shot from the corner to jump out to an early lead. Both teams flexed their muscles as neither team could get open looks at the basket. Midway through the half, the score was 11-7, Washburn.

Simmons provided energy to the Hornets lineup as he scored four straight points to help pull within nine, 11-20. He then added two assists to fellow senior Troy Pierce for two straight baskets to narrow the lead 15-20 with four minutes left. The Ichabods followed the 8-0 Emporia run with a 6-0 run of their own. They would continue to stretch the lead, 19-33, to end the half.

“We have a never give up mentality,” Pierce said. “It has to be our mentality for the rest of the season.”

The Hornets came out fired up as senior Antonio DiMario hit a three-pointer to cap a 5-0 run. This closed the gap, 24-33. Lawal tried to pump up the team as he hit a jumper from 15 feet away to pull the game within 11 points, 33-44, with nine minutes left.

“We started getting the ball inside,” Simmons said. “When we get the ball inside, it opens up the outside shooters. We made some shots to make it close.”

The senior leadership on the team continued to push for energy and hustle. Seniors Lawal and Pierce refused to quit. They crashed the boards and continued to play aggressive defense. The Hornets would pull within six points with two minutes remaining in the game, but that would be as close as they would get to victory.

“Right now we need to work on not spotting teams leads,” said head coach Shawn Vandiver. “I have to do a better job of time management and not letting leads get out of hand.”

Marcus Hix

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Hornet wins Regional Hitter of Week

Emporia State baseball’s Ashton McCoy was named the South Central Regional Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He is the second Hornet to win the award, after Dillon Hazlett won last year.

McCoy hit .385 with seven runs driven in and two stolen bases. In the first game against Nebraska-Kearney, he was two for four with two runs batted in, a double and one run.

In the second game, he was one for four. In the third, he was two for five and drove in five runs, including a two run triple. His two stolen bases tied for the team lead, and his seven RBI is also leading the squad. He also had several strong defensive plays from his shortstop position.

Lady Hornets continue streak in top 25

The Emporia State Lady Hornets dropped two spots in this week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA National Top 25, checking in at #22 this week. This is the 201st poll the Lady Hornets have been in since first appearing in the 1997-98 preseason poll.

ESU has received votes in 218 of the 222 polls since then. The Lady Hornets are one of three MIAA teams in this week’s Top 25 with one more team receiving votes. A total of six teams from the South Central Region are ranked in the top 25, with four more teams receiving votes this week.

Hornet baseball moves to #7 in ABCA Poll

The Emporia State baseball team has moved up one spot in this week’s American Baseball Coaches Association Poll. The Hornets join Central Missouri as the only other MIAA team in the poll as the Mules dropped from #1 to #3 this week.

ESU’s streak of being ranked in the nation’s top 25 is now pushed to 36 straight weeks. The Hornets and Mules are still the top two South Central Region teams coming in ahead of #11 St. Mary’s, #20 Harding and #30 Tarleton State.

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With nice weather on the way, the soccer club hopes to be back on the field soon to prepare for the fall season. Oladipo Olaonipekun, club president and sophomore information systems major, said his goal is to schedule games with other clubs around Kansas.

“Our biggest goal right now is to get games outside of Emporia,” Olaonipekun said. “Right now we are just trying to see how many players we can get for practice. We are trying to find out how good we are and how far we can go.”

The club was created by former president Emad Moqbel but did not receive recognition until late last year, and consequently was not able to schedule games with other soccer clubs. As the former secretary, Olaonipekun inherited the president’s job after representing Soccer Club to the Associated Student Government last year.

“We hope to have our roster and find league games by this fall,” Olaonipekun said. “Last semester we were supposed to play Salina, which is K-State, but they had to cancel. We were hoping to talk to them about getting into their league.”

Practices have been indoors at the Student Recreation Center due to the recent weather, but Olaonipekun said he hopes to move the practices outside soon, if the weather permits. The club practices Tuesdays and Fridays at 4:30 p.m..

“I just play for fun and haven’t been on a team since I played for EHS (Emporia High School),” said Oscar Torres, freshman health promotions major. “I practice out here by myself a few times a week and heard about Soccer Club from one of my friends so I am hoping to join.”

The club has about 12 steady members that come to practice regularly, but Olaonipekun said anyone is invited to practice and the club has had numbers of about 20 show up to play. Olaonipekun said more people attend practice when the weather is better and practice is outside.

“I have been going to practices acting as sort of a liaison for Gonzalo (Bruce), who is the advisor of the club,” said Stene Verhulst, assistant director of International Communication & Recruitment. “It is our job to make sure the club is on the right track. Recently we have been working with the rec center adviser to find a league we fit into. After that it will be all commitment from the players to take time out of their weekends to attend out-of town games.”

After doing a little on campus advertising, Olaonipikun said more domestic students got involved in the club, making up over half of the steady members.

“Everybody is welcome to play,” Olaonipekun said. “We have people of all ethnicities come out and play, and when we scrimmage a lot of the international students that I play with regularly show up.”

Rocky Robinson

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Linda Suskie, an internationally recognized speaker, writer, educator and consultant on a broad variety of higher education assessment topics, speaks on “Understanding & Improving Student Learning.” The Assessment Forum was held last Friday in Webb Lecture Hall. Lingzi Su/The Bulletin

Emporia State faculty gathered in Webb Hall on Friday to better their teaching skills. The Faculty Assessment Forum featured a workshop lecture from author Linda Suskie, as well as a poster contest for faculty and students.

“(It) is an event that takes place every year that affords faculty an opportunity to learn about assessment from experts in the field,” said Anthony Ambrosio, director of the Assessment Teaching Enhancement Center.

Ambrosio said the forum is put together based on faculty input from surveys, as well as information gathered by ESU’s deans and assessment committee, who determine ESU’s need on campus. Then the enhancement center finds a speaker or workshop presenter to come in and address those needs.

Ambrosio said that ESU has had some of the top names in the field visit since the forums started in 2006.

“Faculty have a desire to promote student learning in their classroom and other environments, and it is very necessary to have the tools to do that,” Ambrosio said. “The assessment forum gives them the opportunity to come in and learn about those tools.”

Suskie has been traveling and presenting for 10 years. She said her inspiration for her work goes back to a specific college faculty member. Friday’s workshop, “Understanding and Improving Student Learning,” was about teachers improving their teaching methods through grading.

“(The workshop was) about using all the information that faculty collect when they grade students’ tests, rubrics and projects,” Suskie said, “and using it not only to give grades to students, but also to reflect on what are students really learning well, what are we really proud of, what are some areas that we’d like to see students doing better in and talk about how we might make some improvements in those areas.”

In her presentation Suskie touched on points such as what success is, grading methods and how to reflect on students’ scores.

“We want every student here to get the best possible education. That is what Emporia is all about,” Suskie said. “You’ve got wonderfully dedicated teachers here, wonderfully dedicated faculty. I think we are going to find that a lot of faculty really are already doing this and that they just didn’t realize it.”

After the presentation, faculty and students were given an opportunity to present in a poster contest. Qiang Shi, assistant professor of math, received first place and $1000, Peggy Lane, Nicole Skala and Bill Barnes received second place and $750, and Jerry Liss and Susan Anderson received third place and $500.

“I think these posters reflect the high quality of many ESU academic programs and reflect ESU faculty’s commitment to keep improving student learning,” Shi said. “I am truly honored and humbled to receive an award on one of the two posters I presented. I am glad that the judges and other colleagues recognized my work.”

Shi said that his winning poster presented the results of a 6-year long assessment on the math freshman seminar.Сайт знакомств

Khaili Scarbrough

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Steve Huntsinger, junior health promotion major and a personal trainer at the ESU recreation center, helps his client Kara Wolford, senior administrative assistant for the English department, do stretching exercises. There are nine personal trainers at the Student Recreation Center. Lingzi Su/The Bulletin

For Steely Davenport, senior health promotions major, helping others is the most rewarding thing about being a personal trainer.

“Watching peoples’ lives change is probably the best thing that I’ve witnessed,” Davenport said.

Davenport said she was very physically active in high school, and once she came to college, she began gaining weight during her freshman year. She then started working out more, lost weight and has continually been more active.

“I just wanted to show other people what the journey was like,” Davenport said.

Davenport has been a trainer at the campus recreation center for three years and is currently one its supervisors. She said that one of the many benefits of being a trainer is getting to use the facility so much and being up-to-date on all of the equipment.

“The whole gym atmosphere, I think, is a positive experience,” Davenport said.

Another trainer at the recreation center is Steve Huntsinger, junior health promotions major. Huntsinger said that he has been a personal trainer at the recreation center for a year and currently has six clients, both students and faculty.

“I use a lot of circuit training, interval training,” Huntsinger said. “I just stress that this is a lifestyle. You have to be committed, you have to be consistent.”

Huntsinger said that what he finds most beneficial about being a personal trainer is seeing someone go through the change and being able to help them.

“If you want it, you just have to keep after it,” Huntsinger said.

Currently the recreation center has seven personal trainers on staff. Mike Wise, director of Recreation Services, said that the center is now looking to hire additional trainers. Students can sign up for a trainer free of charge, and the cost is included in a regular recreation center fee for faculty.

“Going in to the Christmas Break we had eight,” Wise said. “With the volume of people requesting the service, we have a long enough waiting list that we’re looking to hire two or three more.”

Wise said that when the facility first opened in 2000, there was only one personal trainer. As the interest has grown throughout the years, more trainers have been added to the staff.

“There are specific skill sets that we are looking for in personal trainers just to make sure that it’s a safe service offered to the students,” Wise said. “All the personal training staff that we have at this time are all health promotion majors through the university and are all upper classmen.”

Wise said that the department likes to give students the opportunity to gain practical experience, which will help them after they graduate from ESU.

“We kind of view our department as like a learning laboratory for several of the programs offered here on campus,” Wise said.

Davenport said that students who would like to take part in personal training can choose their own trainer by reading their biographies on the bulletin board in the recreation center. Then they need to fill out a request form at the front desk and a trainer will contact them to set up a time.Знакомства

Brooke Schultz

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Bill Villmos, comedian, performs his standup routine at Natasha’s Bar and Grill Friday evening. Villmos, host of the comedy podcast “The Green Room,” was one of two who performed that evening. Julie Thephachan/The Bulletin

On Friday, Natasha’s Bar and Grill, 627 Commercial St., hosted the first of what it hopes will be many upcoming comedy shows.

“It was a really great stand up comedy show,” said Chad Schmidt, attendee and local resident. “Both comedians tonight were hilarious. I haven’t laughed that hard in awhile.”

Bill Vilmos is a nationally touring stand up comedian, radio personality and blogger. Vilmos has been a comedian since 1992, and has been touring nationally since 1995. Critics have described Vilmos’ comedic style as similar to “‘Steven Wright on steroids,’ in which he delivers his satirical view of life to audiences, leaving them gasping for air.”

“I really enjoyed performing here tonight,” Vilmos said. “We had a great audience tonight. There were a few loud mouths up front, but still, a great audience.”

The Friday night comedy show was Vilmos’ first performance at Natasha’s, as well as in Emporia. But on stage, Dan Rock, the other performer for the evening, said he was no stranger to Emporia or Natasha’s. Rock took note of the new remodeling done to the bar and said last time he had performed at Natasha’s, there was a buffet bar right by the stage.

“I feel like tonight’s show went really well,” Rock said. “Natasha’s is probably one of my favorite venues for a comedy show.”

Rock said despite a group of loud audience members directly in front of the stage, the show was a hit. Rock was able to successfully use his comedy to diffuse the situation and quiet the loud patrons during his act.

Vilmos is the creator and host of the popular online radio show The Green Room, also known as Green Room Radio. Vilmos said Green Room Radio gives the listener an inside look at the world and business of stand up comedy and how comedians view the world. The online radio show premiered its first episode on April 22, 2008, and has since produced 388 episodes with 214 different comedians.

Before creating Green Room Radio, Vilmos briefly hosted the show The Hungarian Help Line on the Todd & Tyler show on Z-92 FM in Omaha, Neb. The show featured Vilmos finding humorous solutions to tough problems that people face in every day life.

Vilmos said the content of the episodes’ topics ranged from dealing with children with behavior problems and husbands that watch too much football, to the awkward process of going from “just friends” to a relationship and what to do when a female boss shows interest in her recently-hired male employee.

Both Vilmos and Rock said on stage they were also from the Midwest. Vilmos grew up in Illinois and lived in Chicago until he moved to Colorado in 1986. Vilmos owned a comedy club in Denver from 2004 to 2009. Rock now lives in the Seattle area.

Vilmos and Rock are currently on separate national tours. Natasha’s plans to have more stand up comedy shows in the near future.

Steven Edwards

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The Emporia State Wind Ensemble performs Tuesday night in Albert Taylor Hall. The Badger Creek Brass Ensemble, ESU Brass Ensemble and ESU Trumpet Ensemble were special guests for the event. Yiqing Fu/The Bulletin

Several music ensembles with the Badger Creek Brass Ensemble played a premiere performance of Sinfonietta for Brass and Percussion, a piece composed by ESU director of bands Gary Ziek, Tuesday evening.

“I went through a long writer’s block trying to compose this piece,” Ziek said. “Until one day I was at the airport, waiting for my flight, when it first came to me. I immediately wrote down what I had on a sketchbook I had with me and began flushing out each movement after I came back.”

Ziek formed Badger Creek in 2008. He said the ensemble is a select group consisting of some of the finest brass and percussion performers in the state of Kansas, and that the group has faculty members from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Wichita State University and Emporia State, as well as members of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra.

The night began with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Triumphal March from Aida” by Badger Creek and the wind ensemble. Badger Creek next played Sinfonietta for Brass and Percussion, Ziek’s five-movement composition.

“I really enjoyed Dr. Ziek’s composition,” said Eileen Campbell, local resident and attendee. “I liked the use of the mutes for the second movement.”

The Trumpet Ensemble then joined Badger Creek to perform two movements from Henry V, “Touch Her Lips Softly and Part” and “Overture” by William Walton, followed by “Feierlicher Einzug” by Richard Strauss.

“The performances of the pieces from Henry V were a real treat,” said Leslie Hahn, attendee and local resident. “It was nice hearing them play something from one of my favorite movies.”

Following a brief intermission, Badger Creek was joined by the whole Wind Ensemble for performances of “Celebrations” by John Zdechlik, “Concerto for Timpani and Band” by Lee Actor featuring Tracy Freeze, associate professor of music, on timpani, “Song for Lyndsay” by Andrew Boysen and “Synergy Rising” by Ryan Nowlin.

The ESU Department of Music will be presenting a performance by the Emporia Symphony Orchestra in Albert Taylor Hall on March 1.

Steven Edwards

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Cook

The grunting, sweating and machismo cloud my exercise. At 6:30 a.m., I head to the Student Recreation Center in hopes of becoming physically fit. I’ve been doing it since October. I still feel unwelcome. But that’s all changing.

Everyone in a weight room has an agenda. Some seek to look better. Others are there to release stress, and a few go because their health level is life threatening.

The athletic prowess of some of the SRC’s patrons is impressive – men bench pressing twice their body weight, women – in make-up no less – spending hours on an elliptical machine. It’s staggering.

And then there’s me. The pudgy nerd who let himself go for too long. It took getting winded on the Plumb Hall stairs to shake me into action.

In the beginning, my time in the SRC was tempered by glances of disgust and irritation at my inability to lift the requisite weight for a man my age. It was enough to make me question whether I’m a man at all. I stayed calm.

Ultimately, the brow-beaters have forgotten the point of exercise. The SRC is for people like me who are tired of, quite literally, moping about day-to-day. The gym-rats don’t need it as badly as I do.

Some say I should exercise at home. Hogwash. I pay for the SRC with my student fees. It is as much mine as it is any other student or faculty member.

I imagine the day when I lap the runners, out bench press the big men and do it all with the compassion of a formerly fat man. But let’s be realistic. I am no athlete. I barely passed Active Living. It would take many years for me to catch up.

They are not the point. I exercise because I am young and I won’t live forever. I don’t delude myself into believing happiness comes from health. Happiness is a different kind of exercise altogether. I began exercising because the life that I chose demands it.

Our readership should interrogate their personal health. If you are unsatisfied, then find motivation and forget the scenery. For those elitists in the weight room, perhaps you should encourage rather than demonize the unhealthy.

Each morning I work hard for 45 minutes. I am lost inside the moment, blocking out the five different TV’s and the terrible rap music blaring from the aerobics room. This is my routine.

And if girls like the way I look, then that’s just an ancillary benefit.

Matt Cook

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