Missouri Western groups together just after sweeping the double header against Washburn University to enjoy being the schools first MIAA regular season champions.

The Griffons are the MIAA baseball regular season champions for the first time in history, and improve their record to 34-7.

After sweeping the double header against Washburn University in the last regular season home game, and after the ice cold Gatorade shower, coach Buzz Verduzco told his players they get a steak dinner after this one.

“I’m so proud of you guys,” Verduzco said. “I want you to enjoy every bit of it because you guys deserve it.”

Game one was controlled by Western’s pitcher, Jerad Hawkins, as he only allowed one run on three hits in a complete game to get his sixth win on the season.

“It feels great,” Hawkins said. “We’ve worked hard and accomplished it with our work ethic. There’s no more pressure on us this weekend, we’re just going to keep playing hard and win as many games as we can.”

Hawkins told the coach after pitching Sunday that he was ready for this one.
Game two was where the batting really got back to what they often do. Western run-ruled yet another team and did it with incredible energy. First baseman, Spencer Shockley, ended it with a blasted home run over left field.

“It definitely feels good,” Shockley said. “It feels good to be a part of a great team this year and it’s a huge boost of confidence. It’s really something special to be a part of.”

Shockley’s game winning and MIAA clinching home run was his second homer of the day. He finished the double header with four runs, four hits and four RBI’s.

Seven different Griffons contributed runs in the second win.

Third baseman, Grant Fink, batted a run in on a triple and a double and his hitting a .411 average on the season. Second baseman, Kyle Simpson also had two RBI’s, and scored two runs of his own.

Western pitcher, Mark Spreckels, recorded the win in game two. Spreckels went five innings allowing five hits and one run. Kyle Kelly and Mason Queen finished the last three innings giving up no hits and no runs. Kelly recorded four strikeouts in his two innings.

With a team batting average of .363, the Griffons have the second highest team average in division II. Short Stop, Michael Schulze, is leading the high hitting by batting .436, and has the eleventh highest individual average in the country. The Griffons also have the second most home runs in the country.

The Griffons’ hitting has been nothing short of amazing this season, and Lincoln found that out first hand Easter weekend. In three games, Western cranked out nine homeruns, 53 hits and 42 runs.

It was just another testament to a great season. The series sweep of Lincoln brought the Griffons’ record to 24-4 overall and 19-1 in the MIAA. After the end of the 17-game win streak, Western was quick to start up another one, as they have won their last six.

Freshman pitcher Kyle Kelly doesn’t pay much attention to the streak part of winning, compared to the focus it takes to get wins against any opponent.

“We maintain focus out of necessity,” Kelly said. “Every team can be dangerous if not taken seriously. We want more for one another, so we stay focused for the guy next to us. During a win streak, we don’t really notice the ‘streak.’ We focus on winning for where we want to be at the end of the year.”

Kelly pitched four innings against Lincoln, allowing four runs and seven hits while recording his second win on the season.

Despite the great start to the season, coach Buzz Verduzco believes the biggest challenges are coming up in the next few weekends.

“Our next month that we have is going to be really tough,” Verduzco said. “It’s going to be Pittsburg State, Lindenwood, Central Missouri and of course Missouri Southern. So those weekends we’re going to start facing everybody’s best, the top portion of the league and we’re going to see what we’re really made of now.”

Three of those teams are ranked in the top four of the MIAA, behind only Missouri Western. Those are the next four weekend series for the Griffons. The last one, against Missouri Southern, will be the last series of the regular season.

In fact, Central Missouri is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation in the same poll that Missouri Western is ranked No. 12 in, according to College Baseball Lineup.

Verduzco has no problem awarding some of this season’s success to Cobb, a player who does most of his work behind the curtain.

“Harrison Cobb is a fifth year senior and we’re going to miss him when he graduates,” Verduzco said. “We’ll take [batting practice] at the beginning of the day, and Harrison Cobb is the first guy to grab a bucket of balls and throw to everybody else. He’s not worried about himself taking batting practice; he’s worried about everybody else getting as much of whatever they need for us to win.”

Both baseball and softball have shown they have what it takes to win the MIAA, and maybe more.

Baseball has been the scariest team in the league pretty much all season. The (27-5) Griffons are a pitcher’s nightmare. They have been leading for much of the season in almost every statistical batting category.

They have knocked in 275 runs, the most by any team this season, which is 48 more runs than the Central Missouri, the team in second. They have the most hits, 382 total, which is 72 more than the team in second, Fort Hays State. They’ve cranked out 40 home runs. Northeastern State is the closest to that mark with 32, and only four teams behind them have hit over 20. Every other team has hit home runs in the teens or even fewer.

If you just took the home runs from Western’s hitters Grant Fink and Bubba Dotson, they would have 22. That would be enough to be ranked No. 6 in the MIAA.

They are also leading the MIAA in the most doubles, RBIs, slugging percentages and batting averages. Their batting average as a team is an amazing .391. Most hard hitting teams and players also seem to get paired up with the most strikeouts. Western has chosen not to follow those guidelines. Despite being the hardest hitting team, they are currently tied for the second fewest strikeouts as a team.

It’s not just the batting that is getting it done. Give just as much credit to the pitching and the defense.

The pitching has the lowest ERA in the MIAA at 3.74. All other teams are four and above. They have given up 195 hits this season, and are the only team to have given up fewer than 200.

They are clearly the team to beat in the MIAA.

Softball hasn’t gotten off to the best start they could have had, but it’s nothing they can’t move on from. Despite letting a few winning chances slip away, this team still has what it takes to beat anybody.

Currently with a record of 26-10, they are No. 4 in the MIAA.

They aren’t leading in every category, but they are among the top in batting.

Home runs are the trending thing for Western this year. They have 37 home runs of their own, more than any other team. They’ve stolen 48 bases, the second in the conference, and amazingly have only been caught stealing twice, the fewest by any team. They are sitting in the top five in the MIAA in batting average, runs, hits, triples and slugging percentages.

The pitching has the second lowest ERA at 2.23 and is tied for second for the most wins. Every other pitching category is among the top five.

Fort Hays State and Central Missouri are the toughest opponents in softball this year. They both have only lost one game in the MIAA. Western has to prove they can handle those teams if they plan on winning the conference.

They have yet to beat either of them. Western lost to Central Missouri 1-2 and 0-2. They hung with the nationally ranked No. 18 Fort Hays State for 12 innings to lose it 1-2. They got blown out of the water in the second game 3-11.

Both softball and baseball are in the top of the conference and have a chance to go far in the post season. Both being lead by arguably the greatest pitchers in Western’s history at their sport, Jackie Bishop in softball and Brandon Simmons in baseball. If these teams can live up to their expectations, this could easily be the most well-rounded, winning time of the year for the Griffons’ athletic program, and possibly one of the best spring sports seasons in Western’s history.

Western coach, Buzz Verduzco, was happy with the hitting Saturday, but disappointed the Griffons couldn’t get anything going against Pittsburg State’s top guy, Matt Stalcup.

“Heading into Sunday we knew we were going to face their best guy and probably one of the best guys in the league, and he was every bit of that,” Verduzco said. “He really did a great job against us; he threw his fast ball hard, his breaking ball was tight and we couldn’t quite get anything mustered.”

Stalcup pitched seven innings, had nine strikeouts and gave up just four hits against the top hitting team in the MIAA for his fourth win of the season.

It was almost as if Western hit themselves out of rhythm after the way they were connecting Saturday. The Griffons knocked in a thundering 10 homeruns on Saturday, six coming in the first game and four in the second.

Western third-baseman, Grant Fink, contributed to those homers, bringing his total on the season to 12; the most by anyone in the MIAA.

“I’m just trying to give my team the best chance to win,” Fink said. “We can’t think ahead, and as hitters we need to take it one pitch at a time and have a plan at the plate. We are a dangerous hitting team that has a lot of weapons and consistency, so just being in the now will keep us where we need to be.”

Pitching continued to be great in the series. Brandon Simmons picked up his seventh win on the season in the first game Saturday. Pitching was also strong in the second game as the freshman pitcher, Kyle Kelly carried four strong, scoreless innings on five strikeouts to help Banks Born get his fourth win on the season.

Verduzco is especially glad to have Kelly available now, after he red-shirted his first year.

“When you’re a red-shirt player, you wait and it seems like that year is forever before you get a chance to play,” Verduzco said. “He’s a very humble kid, he’s a competitor, got a good fastball and he can get in on people, and he learns too. He’s always trying to learn the game and he doesn’t think he knows it all, and he’s always trying to get better every time he goes out. You can see it in his performances.”

Kelly says he loves his role on the team this year coming from the bull pen because he feels it is the ultimate team first type of role, but hopes to one day be a starter.

“Obviously everyone likes to start and I’d be happy if I got the chance in future seasons,” Kelly said. “It would mean I would have learned more about pitching rather than throwing.”

The Griffons hitting has been nothing short of amazing this season, and Lincoln found that out first hand Easter weekend. In three games Western cranked out nine home-runs, 53 hits and 42 runs.

Western’s coach, Buzz Verduzco was proud of how his players performed under quick schedule changes due to weather.

“Heading into Lincoln, we kind of knew we were going to be dodging some weather in Jefferson City,” Verduzco said. “I felt that even though we traveled and played the same day, I thought we got off the bus and were really ready to play.”

It was just another testament to a great season. The series sweep of Lincoln brought the Griffons record to 24-4 overall and 19-1 in the MIAA. After the end of their 17 game win streak, Western has been quick to start up another one, as they have won their last six.

Freshman pitcher, Kyle Kelly doesn’t pay much attention to the streak part of winning, compared to the focus it takes to get wins against any opponent.

“We maintain focus out of necessity,” Kelly said. “Every team can be dangerous if not taken seriously. We want more for one another, so we stay focused for the guy next to us. During a win streak we don’t really notice the ‘streak,’ we focus on winning for where we want to be at the end of the year.”

Kelly pitched four innings against Lincoln, allowing four runs and seven hits while recording his second win on the season.

Despite the great start to the season, coach Buzz Verduzco believes the biggest challenges are coming up in the next few weekends.

“Our next month that we have is going to be really tough,” Verduzco said. “It’s going to be Pittsburg State, Lindenwood, Central Missouri and of course Missouri Southern. So those weekends we’re going to start facing everybody’s best, the top portion of the league and we’re going to see what we’re really made of now.”

Three of those four teams are ranked in the top four of the MIAA, behind only Missouri Western. In fact, Central Missouri is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation in the same poll that Missouri Western is ranked No. 12, College Baseball Lineup.

Those four teams are the next four weekend series for the Griffons.The last one being Missouri Southern, will be the last series of the regular season.

Senior guard Alicia Bell first developed a hunger-driven work ethic when she started playing basketball in fourth grade, in order to impress her father.

“I didn’t have a close relationship with my dad growing up,” Bell said. “I thought it would be something to get him to really notice me, and have something for us to share.”

Bell isn’t the first athlete in her family to play at Western. She followed the path of her two uncles who both played basketball. Her aunt was even on the volleyball team. Bell was considered the team baby when she was always hanging around the team in the locker room and around campus while her aunt was playing. It wasn’t long after that, when her uncle taught her how to do a crossover. That crossover ended up being what propelled her basketball career.

“I was picked up for an AAU team, which is the most competitive basketball for girls,” Bell said. “I would go away on tournaments literally every weekend. I would go to places like Florida, Louisiana, Texas and other places. Once I went to those tournaments and saw how well I stood against the competition around the country, I really started taking basketball seriously.”

When it was time to play at the collegiate level, she decided to venture away from her home town of St. Joseph, Mo. and attend Northwest Missouri State University. Although she liked the whole situation there, it would be an injury that would make her transfer to Missouri Western.

“After tearing my ACL at Northwest and not getting to play, I just went through something that athletes go through when they get hurt,” Bell said. “I just felt lost and wanted to be home. I went to Northwest to play basketball and I wasn’t playing because of my season-ending injury.”

Tearing her right ACL at Northwest was her second season ending injury, after tearing her left ACL just two seasons before. Those two injuries combined didn’t compare to the pain she had when she gave birth to her daughter, Kamiyah.

Returning home may have been the only thing that could have made being an athlete, student and mother at the same time possible. With what Bell had to go through, she was forced to take off three years of basketball, which is enough to make most people quit.

Senior teammate Kallie Schoonover believes it’s Bell’s heart and intense work ethic that is incomparable to others and inspires her team to sacrifice everything they have on the court in order to succeed.

“She definitely sets the tone for everyone and is a difference maker,” Schoonover said. “She leads by example and sometimes it’s like, ‘Wow, she has been through so much and still plays with that much heart.’ Everyone should play that hard. She plays with more heart than any teammate could ever find or ask for.”

Schoonover isn’t the only one who sees what a special person Alicia Bell is. Western’s coach Rob Edmisson believes that athletes with that much heart are irreplaceable.

“She’s just such a hard working, dependable person,” Edmisson said. “She’s all about her team, and not about individual accolades. She’s had so much adversity in her collegiate career with raising a child, going to school full-time, playing basketball and injuries. It’s just a testament to her toughness and her character.”

After a long, tough collegiate career, Bell finally found what fighting through all the pain would mean for her future.

“I have been a basketball player since fourth grade. That’s what I identified with, that’s who I was and I know it’s what people think about when they think of me,” Bell said. “Now I am a mother. I’ll put my shoes up and use all that I have in me to be the best mom I can be for my daughter. That’s my number one priority. I love basketball and it will always be a part of my life and it made me who I am today. The last six years have been a struggle, but I know after going through everything it has prepared me to be Kamiyah’s mom.”

Western’s one loss to Central Oklahoma came Friday evening and is the only conference loss it has had in their 15 MIAA games so far this season. The Griffons have been playing outstanding all season both offensively and defensively, and have shown every team they’ve faced thus far why they are sitting at the top of the MIAA.

Westerns coach, Buzz Verduzco, has moved on from the win streak talk and is now looking on the bright side of entering into the middle of the regular season.

“The streak is over, so I can say that now,” Verduzco said. “We’ve kind of gotten past that now but it was a great run. Now as far as how we talk to the team and what that means is, we try to get them to be a little bit more consistent minded during the middle part of the season.”

Top pitcher Brandon Simmons saw that loss as a reminder for how bad losing feels, and motivated the team to not want to feel like that again.

“This weekend was a good test for us,” Simmons said. “[Central Oklahoma] was a very competitive team and they gave us kind of a reality check. Their pitching was outstanding and really shutdown our hitters, who have been on fire. I think this past weekend really put the nasty taste of losing back into our mouth and no one enjoyed it.”

Hitting for the Griffons has been off the charts so far in the first half of their season. Westerns hitting numbers are greater than their opponents in every statistical batting category. Runs have been the biggest standout number, having a total of 221 runs scored, averaging out to the team scoring 9.6 runs per game, which is almost twice as many as their opponents 114 runs, at 4.9 runs per game. Western has scored 10 or more runs in 12 games.

Simmons believes that teams that have such dominant hitting are capable of taking the pressure off of their pitchers.

“Having a lineup such as this one it really makes the game so much easier,” Simmons said. “It makes you not afraid to go out and throw strikes and if you give up a run or two, then our team will come up a get them back. It really makes pitching a whole lot easier in general.”

The key to their hitting seems to be coming from their power. The Griffon big bats have already hit 30 homeruns. With seven players hitting over .400, and five players slugging over .600, it’s hard not to get rack up the runs.

Westerns own Michael Schulze, Kyle Simpson and Bubba Dotson are three of the top four hit leaders in the MIAA.

Schulze and Dotson have been the MIAA hitters of the week these last two weeks. Schulze feels that the good hitting between players motivates everyone to elevate their game.

“We are all just very confident and focused,” Schulze said. “Friendly competition is definitely there between all of us. Once one guy hits everyone wants to hit, so it’s actually a good thing. Offense in baseball is contageous so we all definitely feed off each other at the plate. In the end, we all have the same goal and that is to win.”

Although the 17 game win streak ended, another streak still continues. Schulze is currently on a 16 game hit streak. Ever since the first game cancellation, he has recorded at least one hit in every game.

Baseball is not only his oldest passion, but it is one of his first memories. Ever since his grandfather started tossing him wiffleballs to hit when he was 2-years-old, it was all he wanted to do. Simmons knew at a very young age that he wanted to be a collegiate athlete, and it wasn’t until high school that he knew it would be a possibility.

Lucky for Missouri Western, one graduate may have been the deciding factor as to why Simmons chose to be a Griffon.

“On my visit it was a place that felt like home,” Simmons said. “The players were a joy to be around and made me feel welcome. My assistant coach in high school is an alumni from here and he set the whole thing up. I took my visit and instantly became a Griffon.”

The three time First Team All State pitcher fit in quickly at the college level. He led the team in wins with six in his first season pitching as a Griffon. Despite a slight sophomore slump, Simmons still managed to get six wins and become an All MIAA Honorable mention for his second year in a row.

It wasn’t until his Junior season that Western found out how dynamic of a pitcher they really had.
Simmons busted out with 12 wins, the most ever by a pitcher in a single season at Western. His 12-win season was not only enough to lead the MIAA, it was enough to lead the nation in wins.

Western’s coach Buzz Verduzco really sees the positive for the team as a whole with Simmons as the lead pitcher.

“He’s the ace of our staff,” Verduzco said. “Since he got here as a freshman four years ago we could tell at the very beginning he was going to be special, because he really controls the game for us.”

The ace pitcher is coming off his biggest season, and is with a team that has what it takes to push Western farther than they have ever been before.

Simmons has always had one pre-season goal, to be better than the previous year. Despite his record breaking Junior season, his drive to be the best and obtain his goal is still in his sights.

“This year will be no exception,” Simmons said. “I’ve been in this league for four years and have a pretty good idea on how teams will approach the game, and I do my best to disrupt that.”

Coach Verduzco also notices where Simmons pitching game carries over into his leadership qualities.

“The thing that he does for us too is really help out the young pitchers and teach them how to pitch,” Verduzco said.

One young pitcher in particular, Kyle Kelly who was a redshirt freshman last season, sees how Simmons makes players around him better.

“Brandon is a great leader,” Kelly said. “He is a lead by example player and our guys feed off him. He is very detailed in his routine and it shows in his success.”

Simmons success has made him the stand out pitcher he is today. He hopes to not only have individual success, but have team success in his last collegiate season.

“Our expectations are to finish top in our league and eventually win a world series,” Simmons said. “This team has the tools that are needed to win it all.”

Senior Heather Howard drives to the basket looking to score against the Lady Blues. | Tevin Harris Photo Editor

Western has been floating around the middle of the pack in the MIAA for the last few weeks. A combination of recent losses and possible future losses could drop them back, which is something Edmisson doesn’t want to see happen.

“We are trying to stay up in that No. 8 spot so we can play at home for sure,” Edmisson said. “We have all the reason why we need to play well and play hard.”

Western’s hopes were high at the start of the season. They were especially high 10 games in, when they were looking almost unbeatable with a record of 9-1, a record that already surpassed the 7-20 Western team who made the MIAA tournament just the season before. That team had lost 11 of their last 13 regular season games before entering tournament play.

A lot of collegiate teams have trouble finishing strong near the end of their seasons. More times than not, there is a trend of losing away games. It’s always tough to play on the road, but this team is currently 6-5 at away games. Although it isn’t ideal, being above .500 on the road is always a plus.

Another common problem teams can have late in the season is stamina. This likely isn’t the case for Western either. Actually, the Griffons often show stamina as being in their favor, and play it to one of their strengths.

Western has had a high pressured defense all season long, forcing other teams to commit 20 turnovers per game so far this season, combining for 83 more turnovers than the Griffons have, despite turnovers being one of Westerns biggest issues.

Edmisson is still relying on their physical abilites to keep them in a reasonable spot as they head into the MIAA tournament.

“We stressed conditioning in practice on Saturday,” Edmisson said. “We got up and down the floor quite a bit and we told the kids we aren’t playing today but we have to tax our bodies like we were playing because you can lose conditioning at this time of year. We taxed ourselves with running so it felt like we just got done playing a game and they had that appearance.”

There is one specific area that may or may not be related to their playing issues as of late. Something about this second semester could be affecting their mental focus on their season, since there has been a noticeable fluctuation in their record.

Their early 9-1 start to their season was all during their first semester. They had a 3-2 record through Christmas break, and since school started back up they have been just 2-6. Since school started back up, this has been arguably the worst semester of coach Edmisson’s 23 year career.

Edmisson has not given up this many losses in a season since his 2001-02 season at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Ks. where he finished 18-12. Edmisson is currently on his second 3-game losing streak this season, which he is not at all used to. In fact, has not had a single 3-game losing streak in at least 10 years.

It has been a stretched out schedule near the end of the regular season. Edmisson finds it difficult to stay both mentally and physically focused with such distant games. The Griffons have only played one game a week in the month of February. Western is ready to get back into consistent competitive play to hopefully finish the regular season with a few wins.

“I think our kids our excited to go play and get back on the floor,” Edmisson said.  ”We have four games left and we feel like they are all winnable games to give us a chance to finish out on a positive note.”

If Western can hold on to the eight spot and play their first game at home, their next challenge will be continuing on in the tournament in Kansas City, which is Edmisson’s main goal right now.

“There are a lot of positive things for us to look forward to,” Edmisson said.

Football fans remember the national title game between Alabama and LSU. Some hated it and some loved it. The ones that loved it believed they were the best two college teams in the country. The ones that hated it felt like the BCS was biased towards the South Eastern Conference. The SEC was widely known, and still known, as the best football conference in the nation.

Division II is similar, but not the same. It is similar in that, the MIAA is just like the SEC. There are multiple teams in the MIAA that will not make it a game further than the regular season, but could be a conference contender if they were in almost any other conference. Division I has bowl games that determine how a team finishes the season. Division II has a playoff system, and only a certain number of teams can make it in.
The playoffs are separated by regions. There are four regions with 10 teams in each one. Depending on what conference the school is in, determines what region the team is in. The MIAA is the toughest region by far, Super Region 3.

Nine of the 10 teams in Super Region 3 are ranked in the top 25. The worst team in the region is Pittsburg State at 6-2 (last year’s champion). There are only 12 schools ranked in the top 25 in all three other regions combined.

Super Region 3 is a league above the others, while Super Region 2 is a league below.

Super Region 2 has a combined total of 23 losses, which is more than twice the total of Super Region 3. Super Region 2 has just one ranked team. The worst team in Super Region 3 would be competing for the top spot if they were in Super Region 2. That’s fair, right?

As of now, Western, Northwest Missouri State, Emporia and Pittsburg State are the teams who will be representing the MIAA. Washburn is sitting right behind them, waiting for the opportunity to take someone’s spot. Western and Washburn will play this weekend. With a win, the Griffons would probably secure a sport in the playoffs, no matter the outcome of their last game of the season against Northwest; but things could get ugly quick in the MIAA.

Say Western loses to Washburn this weekend and beats Northwest next weekend. Also say that Washburn goes on to beat Emporia next weekend. Pittsburg has two fairly easy games left and will likely win them both.

The MIAA would have five teams tied for first if this happened, all tied with two losses. What would that playoff bracket look like?

It’s embarrassing to know that after so many years, this is the best system that Division II has come up with.

It should be less like the NFL playoffs, and more like the NCAA March Madness bracket. I mean there are already 40 teams in it, so it statistically would seem to hold up better anyway. In the NCAA basketball tournament, teams aren’t confined to the same region just because they are in the same conference. They are broken up so the chance of two teams from the same conference playing for the championship is always possible.

In reality, the best teams are brawling it out in the same region, while other regions are practically full of warm-up games for whoever the top team is. There is no doubt that whoever comes out of Super Region 3 will have had the toughest road.

Depending on how you look at it, the last team standing in Super Region 3 will be either exhausted and beaten up or confident and fired up for having beaten some of the best teams in the country.

Coach Partridge signed 21 student athletes for the upcoming 2013 football season. Among these 21 included two star Quarterbacks with nearly identical stats. These two Quarterbacks will be competing for the4 2014 spot of starting Quarterback.

Skyler Windmiller of Mill Valley High School, Shawnee, Ks. and TJ LaFaver of Warrenton High School, Warrenton, Mo. both announced their intent to play for Western on National Signing Day.

Western’s coach Jerry Partridge made it clear that the two future quarterbacks will both redshirt their first season.

“We will not kill a year on mop-up duty,” Partridge said. “If they are playing next year it’s because of worst case scenario; injury.”

This means after the current quarterback, Travis Partridge, finishes his senior year this season, there will be a quarterback job opening for the following season. By that time the top two candidates, Windmiller and LaFaver will both have four years of playing time to contribute to the team.

“We historically have not had transfer quarterbacks,” Partridge said. “We’ve been able to raise our own and build them. In some cases some of them have had gigantic pedigrees, such as Drew Newhart. Some were considered option quarterbacks that couldn’t throw it and ended up being first team all-conference. So we’ve done a good job at picking kids out and developing them into football players.”

Windmiller and LaFaver are two of 15 offensive players Western had signed on National Signing Day. LaFaver is one of 13 signees from Missouri, and Windmiller is one of three signees from Kansas.
Partridge also made it known that there is no front runner for the position yet. Prior to signing, both Windmiller and LaFaver were aware of Western’s interest in each other. Both of them showed similar value to Western after they finished their high school careers, as well as other schools. Partridge also makes note as to how much self confidence they have in themselves to understand that a similar player will be competing for the same spot that only one can get.

“They were actually trained by the same quarterback instructional guy that Drew Newhart was, so they knew about each other,” Partridge said. “That tells you what kind of character they have and what competitive zeal they have to both say ‘look I’m going to be the guy.”’

It was difficult for recruiters to compare and contrast their physical capabilities because of how similar they are. Their sizes are virtually identical, being within one inch of height and five pounds from each another. Their playing styles are very similar, from their long ball throwing strength to their athletic scrambling abilities.

Although both are very athletic, running speed was the only category stated that one had an advantage over the other. Not only is LaFaver faster than Windmiller and Travis Partridge, he was faster than any defensive back or wide receiver they had at a combine-like event during his visit, according to Partridge.

Windmiller may be slower, but he has the slight advantage when you compare their high school stats. He had 2231 passing yards and 28 passing touchdowns, with 586 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 92 carries his senior season, while LaFaver had 1829 passing yards and 18 touchdowns, with 466 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 91 carries.

There is no quarterback controversy as long as Travis Partridge remains healthy this season, but the following season will have a lot of questions. Those questions will bring answers that will likely decide who will be Western’s future field leader.

The Griffons chances of getting nudged out of making the MIAA tournament would normally be much higher at this point, but due to conference expansion, this year’s tournament will seed 12 teams instead of eight.

A cool thing about the big change in the tournament is the top four seeds will now have the first game off. This means the No. 8 seed and the No. 9 seed will play each other first, and the winner of that will play the No. 1 seed. The No. 7 seed will play the No. 10 seed, and the winner of that will play the No. 2 seed, and so on.

Unfortunately for the women with just four games left, they are currently sitting in eighth place. Meaning they could win out the regular season, and still be in about the same place as they are right now. The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds are arguably the worst two seeds a team could draw. The first reason is because the first game is going to be against a team whose season has been almost identical to your own. There is no clear favorite, and it’s all about who happens to be playing better on that night. The second reason is because the best case scenario is you win your first game, but have to play the top team in the MIAA next.

The (13-7) women have greatly improved from last year when it comes to equilizing where the points come from. Every team knew last season that Jessica Koch’s scoring was the key to Griffon offense. This season’s scoring has started with the double-double machine, Heather Howard, who is averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds a game. Right behind Howard is Lanicia Lawrence and JaQuitta Dever with eight points a piece per game, and Alicia Bell with 7.9 points per game just behind them. Teams have found out that Howard needs to be doubled up if they want to stop her buckets. Good thing about that, Western now has multiple scoring options if they can just find the mismatches.

The truth is the women are sitting pretty golden right now. They’ve had it in them to beat anybody all season. Hopefully they can piece their strengths together at just the right time to be the dark horse of the tournament.

Even more unfortunate for the men, they are currently sitting at No. 12 right now. They have no choice but to win now and keep winning if they don’t want to be one of the three joker teams who can’t make it into a 12 team tournament in a 15 team conference.

Even with a spot in the tournament still being possible, it’s not looking good for what could come ahead. If Western can hang in there and make the tournament, it will most likely be the No. 12 or No. 11 seed due to their tough remaining schedule.

This means they will end up playing the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in their first game, which for them would feel like a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. The No. 5 ranked team as of now has only five losses.

The (8-12) men usually don’t have a problem holding their own with their zone defense. The scoring has been the reason for the losses. Big man Cedric Clinkscales has been the only real consistent scorer, with 13 points a game he has made over half his shot attempts. As a team, Western is shooting 43 percent from the field and 31 percent from the arch.

It’s no surprise the men are last in the MIAA at scoring with just 66.2 points per game. Western doesn’t crack the top 10 in any of the scoring categories. The only category they have handled is the turnover margin. Western has a plus 2.7 turnover margin thanks to their 8 steals a game.

The road is definitely looking bumpy, but it’s doable. Who knows, maybe the midseason announcement of Tom Smith’s retirement will boost the confidence of the team enough to beat the odds.  To do so, they will have to find some consistent perimeter scoring.

A similar story worked out good enough for the Ravens to win the super bowl, why wouldn’t it work for the Griffons?

Jallisa and Sharniece Lewis are twin sisters who are both playing basketball for Western. Sharniece was born just two minutes after Jallisa 21 years ago. They’ve been playing together almost every minute since.

Even though they grew up playing softball, track and had scholarships for soccer, they knew basketball was what they would continue with after high school.

“We have five older brothers who all played basketball,” Jallisa said. “So we just picked it up.”

Unlike most siblings, they were fine playing together when they were kids. In fact, they were always on the same team, going back to when they first started throwing the ball around in seventh grade.

After high school, they both played for State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo. The first and only time they ever played on separate teams was just last season, when Sharniece decided to attend Highland Community College.

“I just wanted to get a new feel of somewhere new,” Sharniece said.

They both learned a lot about their own game while being apart from each other. Most importantly, they realized that ultimately, being together made them better players.

“It was really different,” Jallisa said. “Because when we played together, I always had someone I knew who could relate to me or predict what I could do, or I could predict what she could do. It was different not having someone like that.”

They both realized how they were meant to play together when the current basketball coach at Western, Rob Edmisson, contacted them.

Coach Edmisson first called Jallisa to see if she was interested in a visit.

“I told him I was interested in a visit and then he asked if I knew a girl named Sharniece,” Jallisa said. “I told him, ‘Yes, that’s my twin sister.’ So he recruited us at the same time but we didn’t know it yet.”

Even though they were being recruited at the same time, they weren’t being recruited together, like most people would assume.

“We told them we were recruiting them separately,” Edmisson said. “It wasn’t a package deal. In fact, we’d call the house and talk to one of them, hang up and call back to talk to the other one. We wanted to make sure they both knew and felt they were being recruited individually.”

Sharniece was especially impressed with what the coach had to offer. It was enough for her to change her plans to go a different direction.

“He seemed different, but in a good way,” Sharniece said. “When we first came here we were very interested. At first I was going to sign to a different school in Minnesota and the more I talked to him and our new teammates I felt very comfortable, and I knew I wanted to be a part of this program.”

When combining the sisters, there is a wide range of skills that are covered between the both of them. Jallisa is a post player while Sharniece is a guard. Each of their individual skills makes up for where the other one lacks. They also have played so much together that they can tell when the other one is off their game, often before the coach or other players can tell.

Off the court their interests are still pretty similar. While Jallisa is majoring in psychology and Sharniece is majoring in Physical Education, they both have the same family priorities when they aren’t in school.

“We really enjoy being with our family,” Sharniece said. “Anytime we get a chance to do something with our family, we take it.”

When it comes down to it, that became their biggest comfort when playing for Western. The fact that Coach Edmisson is family oriented and cares greatly about building team chemistry really helped them to dig deep and bring out all their passion to put into their game.

“Our coach always says ‘this is a family’ and I feel like when I’m away from home, this really is my family,” Jallisa said.

Lanicia Lawrence gets out in front of everybody in the Griffons win over the Gorillas. Photo by Tevin Harris

The Griffons closed out Wednesday’s game with a 70-65 win against the Pittsburg State Gorillas, and may have given the team a turn back towards their winning ways.

After lagging just behind the Gorillas virtually all night, the Griffons high pressured defense and physical toughness showed to be too much in the end. Western’s coach Rob Edmisson felt like pulling out a win after those three conference losses is a huge boost for this team’s confidence at this point of the season.

“It’s a big win,” Edmisson said. “It didn’t matter who we were playing. We needed to win and to win against a very quality team is a big thing too.”

Shooting has not been a strength for the Griffons this season, and was especially rough during their three losses where they shot just 34 percent from the floor. It’s no secret that the team has gotten the job done so far this season from their vicious defense, the same defense that forced Pittsburg State into giving up almost twice as many turnovers as the Griffons. They proved within the last few minutes that their defense allows them to hang with the best, and their offense finishing strong on top of that can produce wins.

With about five and a half minutes left in the game, Western’s senior guard, Alicia Bell, pressured Pittsburg State’s point guard into a jump ball and a turnover, which was the first for a series of turnovers that helped the Griffon’s seal the deal.

“I think it kind of got the team going and helped set the tone for what the coach was asking for,” Bell said. “A lot of people think coach is always mad but it’s because of the things you don’t know. We’re supposed to be doing that every single time there is a made basket, and we tend to fall back when we’re tired. I think towards the end we realized it’s our bailout and we have to bring the pressure and do what we know we can do.”

Coach Edmisson has no problem turning towards Bell’s intensity when the team is in need of someone who can lead by example.

“She’s such a tough kid,” Edmisson said. “She makes what I call special plays. We expect college basketball players to make layups and free throws, but those extra special hustle plays that you have to sacrifice your body for when you know it’s going to hurt, that’s the type of player Alicia Bell is. She’s that extra effort player.”

Bell finished the night with 11 points, four assists, and eight rebounds.

One extra effort play in particular was another forced turnover that turned into an and-one for Brittany Griswold with the assist coming from Bell with just a second left on the shot clock and just over a minute left. It was a play that helped separate the Griffons lead right when they needed it most.

Griswold, who had 14 points against the Gorillas, really noticed how the win was going to go to the team who ultimately fought harder for it.

“It was a battle,” Griswold said. “They didn’t roll over and just let us have it. Down to it I think it was a question of who was going to work harder. I think knowing that was just a confidence builder for the team.

Western left Jefferson City after a hard fought game, losing 66-73 against the Lincoln Blue Tigers.

Western struggled shooting from the field throughout the whole game against the Blue Tigers, who lost against Western earlier this season in the Lincoln University Thanksgiving Classic, 65-57. This game’s outcome was different.

You could tell early on that it was going to be a great defensive battle between the two teams. After the Griffons extended their lead to six points, the Blue Tigers went on an 8-0 run in the first half off a few turnovers by the Griffons, to make the score 25-23.

It was only a two point game with the Griffons trailing Lincoln 33-31 at halftime. The Griffons were out rebounded by eight in the first half and they did a good job defending Lincoln’s star player, Freddie Sims. In the first 15 minutes, the Griffons also played well in transition defense against Lincoln’s guards Arriana Walker and Booker, but the second half was a different story.

In the second half, Arriana Walker became the difference in the game and was just two assists away from a triple-double, scoring a game high 27 points, snatching 11 rebounds and adding eight assists. The Griffons weren’t able to stop her. Western’s coach Rob Edmisson noticed the little things that added up in the Griffon’s defeat.

“We put put number 23 (Arriana Walker) to the free throw line 14 times,” Coach Edmisson said.

Walker ended up knocking down 11-14 from the free-throw-line.

The Griffons had a great start to the second half, but just like the Central Missouri game, Western lost in the end due to key errors. After Western’s guard, Alex Saxen, hit back to back three-pointers, Lincoln went on a 9-0 run and gained one of there biggest leads of the game with 10:59 left, 54-47. The Griffons cut Lincoln’s lead to 60-57, but missed opportunities blew the Griffons chance of winning.

“We are finding ways to implode,” Coach Edmisson said.

Including the game against the Blue Tigers, the Griffons brought home three losses from three road games, bringing their record to 12-6 overall and 5-5 in the MIAA. The Griffons won the battle for rebounds 38-32 against Lincoln. Western went 24-64 shooting 37.5 percent and going 5-24 shooting 20.8 percent from the 3-point-line. The free-throw-line is what killed Western, with the Griffons going 13-23 and shooting 56.6 percent from the line. While Lincoln shot 16-21 and was 76.2 percent from the line. This loss was the Griffons third straight loss.

Western guard, Alicia Bell, had a great game scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Coach Edmisson’s regular rotation was a little short with JaQuitta Dever not playing.

Western also fell to the Central Missouri Jennies 74-71. This was their toughest lost of the year, going longer than regulation time.

Western started off sluggish, letting the sixteenth ranked Jennies start off the first half with a 12-1 lead. Then the Griffons went on a 9-2 run to cut the Jennings lead 10-14 in the first half.

“In the first five minutes of the game we were really tentative and didn’t really come out and guard with energy,” Coach Edmisson said.

Both teams defenses were going at it with the Griffons defense keeping them in the game. After first half jitters, Western settled down and kept it close as the
Griffons trailed 19-14 with 9:59 left to play in the first half. After several unforced errors by the Griffons, the Jennies went on a run and lead the Griffons 28-19 with 4:07 left in the first half.

After giving up 12 points and scoring just one, the Jennies had control of Western 33-24 at halftime.

Missouri Western had nine turnovers in the first half while the Jennings had five. The Griffons went 8-28 shooting 29 percent from the field and 2-8 shooting, 25 percent from the 3-point-line. The Jennings went 12-30 shooting 40 percent from the field and 3-9 shooting 33 percent from the 3-point-line. Heather Howard and Alex Saxton led the Griffons in first half scoring five points each.

After the first five minutes, the Griffons turned the game around and in the second half they came out rolling. Starting the half 33-24, the Griffons cut the lead to 35-37 at 16:57 seconds.

“That we didn’t change a lot and started doing what we were supposed to do,” Coach Edmisson said.

Then the Griffons flew out to a 15-4 run with KC Clauser making a layup in the 15 minute mark in the second half, giving the Griffons their first lead of the game. With 3:20 seconds left in the half, the Griffons had their biggest lead of the game 62-54, and then the Jennings decided to wake up. With 52 seconds left, the Griffons took a timeout leading 62-59, controlling the entire second half. Then at the 44 second mark, the Griffons led 62-61 after the Jennings pressured the ball to cut into the Griffons lead. The Griffons had a three point lead cut instantly with two possessions leading into a turnover with only 45 seconds left. After the Jennings took the lead at the 34 second mark, Lanicia Lawrence tied the game at 63 with a free-throw. After the Griffons led by eight points with three minutes to go, the Jennies went on a 9-1 run to end regulation forcing overtime.

With a 70-70 tie game after a Heather Howard layup, the Griffons couldn’t capitalize on opportunities. After the Jennies took the lead KC Clouser got fouled and missed her first free-throw and then made the second with 1:49 left, keeping the game close 72-71. With 16 seconds left in overtime a Heather Howard layup went off the rim that would have tied the game, but then the Griffons had to foul and they came up short and lost 74-71.

”Unfortunately the game was about three minutes too long,” Coach Edmisson said.

Heather Howard had a great game with 26 points and 11 rebounds charting another double-double.

“She is a hard matchup for teams,” Coach Edmisson said.

Alex Saxen added 10 points and two rebounds.

Ten-year-old Makayla and 8-year-old Bobbie Joe Tovey are small and embrace their height, but they are anything but small when it comes to being on stage. Bobbie Joe is a part of the orphan ensemble while Makayla will be playing the role of the mischievous orphan Molly.

The actresses are taking after their father when it comes to being entertaining. He is a midget wrestler who appeared in the hit movie “Jackass 3D,” and also has a show called “Half Pint Brawlers.” Although most of his children want to follow in his footsteps and become midget wrestlers, Makayla has decided that wrestling isn’t for her.

“I never fight back,” Makayla said. “I either want to be a singer or a gymnast.”

The love of gymnastics was what first got the girls interested in performing on stage. They’ve participated in annual recitals for dance and acrobatics that have helped prepare them with a good stage presence. Because of their experience with tumbling, they may or may not (hint hint) do a flip or trick in a scene.

Though their interests are similar when it comes to being on stage and performing, their personalities couldn’t be more opposite of each other. Lauryn Roberts, who plays Grace Farrell, is one of the adult actors who is around the two sisters often. She finds their different personalities to be helpful when working on “Annie.”

“Makayla is a diva, but Bobbie Joe is silent but deadly,” Roberts said. “She has a look, and sometimes Makayla gets too out of control, and Bobbie Joe shoots her a look. They kind of even each other out because Makayla can be very over-the-top, which is really funny, but when we have to get work done Bobbie Joe kind of brings her back.”

Andy Tyhurst, who plays multiple roles in “Annie,” believes that it’s the kids who are the stars of this play, and Makayla could be the difference maker who bumps this play up another notch.

“She’s going to be the show stealer,” Tyhurst said. “She’s just so cute and loves attention that audience is just going to fall in love with her, like we all have.”

The girls are both local to St. Joseph and attend Lindbergh Elementary School. Even though this is their first time acting in a play, this likely won’t be their last. Makayla’s favorite part about it so far has been seeing the audience and meeting new friends. Her mind is already set on trying out for roles here at Western in the future.

“I’m going to try,” Makayla said. “I know if I do it now then it will get me a better chance of doing it next time.”

Roberts went on to say “Annie” wouldn’t be the last time we will see Makayla and Bobbie Joe.

Makayla has found some challenges though, but nothing to big for her to handle.

“Trying to remember the lines was iffy in the beginning, but now I got everything down,” Makayla said. “Most of the time it’s pretty easy as long you’re in your spot and you’re not goofing around.”
Makayla insists that neither her nor her sister goof around.

“I’m a sweet angel,” she said. “[Bobbie Joe's] an angel but I’m a sweet angel.”

*To see a video slideshow, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC9sdNqSYhQ&feature=player_embedded

Western senior running back Michael Hill is one of eight finalists for the highest honor in Division II football, the Harlon Hill Trophy, and has earned a chance to impress the pros this upcoming semester.

The Harlon Hill Trophy is given to the best player in D-II. Many consider it to be the Heisman Trophy of this level. Hill’s historic season at Western has been enough to catch the attention of other schools and coaches of all levels around the country. He continued to produce game changing stats week after week all season, earning himself the honor of being mentioned as one of the top athletes.

“Being a finalist means a lot to me just because all of the work that I have put in is presenting itself,” Hill said. “Not only that, but I am representing the entire football team because they are a part of this as well.”

The Harlon Hill Trophy was first awarded in 1986 and has been an annual award ever since. Although there have only been three award recipients who have been drafted, there have been winners of the honor who has been signed as a free agent in the NFL — such as the two-time winner of the award Danny Woodhead out of Chadron State, who currently plays for the New England Patriots.

That will be one possibility for Hill as he moves forward. The NFL is always looking to find talent wherever it can get it. With a team as talented as Western, NFL scouts have been eying what players Western has who could possibly make an impact at the next level.

“Teams have been around practice to check David Bass out and that helps me having a high caliber guy like that around to help me get my foot in the door,” Hill said.

Hill will take part in a pro day sometime this March. He will be dedicating a lot of his time training this winter to make sure his impression this spring will be as good as he can make it.

“These next few months will be a piece of the process to determine if I will get a shot or not in my opinion,” Hill said.

Hill represents Super Region 3 for the Harlon Hill Trophy, alongside the sophomore quarterback Kevin Rodgers out of Henderson State, whom Western beat out of the playoffs. Super Region 1 is represented by junior running back Franklyn Quiteh of Bloomsburg University and junior quarterback Zach Zulli out of Shippensburg University. Representing Super Region 2 is the lone wide receiver of the group, Chris Bowden from Wingate University and senior running back Derrick Washington out of Tuskegee University. Super Region 4 is being represented by senior quarterback Taylor Housewright out of Ashland University and junior quarterback Dustin Vaughan from West Texas A&M. The list of the remaining candidates is according to the official listing of the Harlon Hill Trophy finalists on HarlonHillTrophy.com.

Hill racked up 2,168 rushing yards, 16 rushing touchdowns, 202 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in 14 games this season. Hill has made his mark at Western with 4,969 total rushing yards, 35 rushing touchdowns, 882 receiving yards and nine total receiving touchdowns in 50 games here at Western.

Time will tell if Hill gets a chance to represent the St. Joseph community in the pros.

Heather Howard, former Oklahoma State University player, has one last year of eligibility left. Rob Edmisson, the new women’s basketball coach, has convinced her to play out that year as a Griffon instead of a Cowgirl.

“I came up here and I loved it,” Howard said. “I loved coach Edmisson’s attitude about coaching and life and everything in general. I loved the girls I met here and the girls that were on a visit at the same time I was. It was just the right fit.”

Edmisson saw Howard as a perfect fit for the style of play he wants to bring to Western and believes her abilities are hard to come by at this level.

“She’s 6-3 and runs as well as most guards in this conference,” Edmisson said. “She can step out and shoot, she’s really agile and really athletic. She’s going to be a hard matchup in this conference because of her mobility. She fits into our style of play and we like to be fast and really get up and down the floor.”

Howard was an outstanding student at Oklahoma State. She loaded herself up with enough credits to graduate a year early. Aware of her academics being ahead of schedule, she was ready to be done as an athlete as well. That was until Edmisson contacted her through her coach and convinced her to go on a visit.

“At first I had no interest because I thought I was burned out on basketball and kind of ready to be done,” Howard said. “The more I talked to him, the more I thought about it and prayed about it and I said to myself, ‘I have one year left; if I don’t take this opportunity now, I’ll regret it the rest of my life.’”

Teammate KC Clouser is excited for what Howard brings to the team.

“She creates tons of mismatches on the court due to her height and abilities beyond the arch,” Clouser said, “and putting the ball on the floor and running the floor as a big girl.”

Although there are a lot of changes going on in the women’s basketball program, there is no room for excuses when it comes to a team this competitive.

“We sat down at the beginning of the season and said one of our main goals was to be in the top three teams of the conference,” Howard said.

Howard not only has team goals to seek and accomplish, she also has personal goals as well.

“In the past I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself,” Howard said, “and when I haven’t met my expectations, I’m really hard on myself and that drags me down even more. I’ll still put pressure on myself, but in a way I can let loose and have fun and love the game that I play.”

There will definitely be less pressure on her as a Griffon than there was as a Cowgirl from the crowds’ perspective. Just last season, Howard had played in games that equal the average attendance of Western’s football games. In one game in particular against Iowa State, she played in front of a crowd of over 10,000. Last season the OSU team played in front of crowds that totaled up to be over 116,000 fans.

It’s probably safe to say that she will be fine under pressured situations in front of MIAA crowds.

She definitely will bring much needed experience to a very fresh team. She has done things that not a lot of Division II athletes ever get to experience, such as play in the Big 12 Championship and find playing time during March Madness in the NCAA tournament.

Mr. Moe and M. Taylor entertained over 400 Missouri Western students on campus. 

One room, nerve rattling beats, glowing body paint and white tees were just some of the necessities for almost 400 raging students to experience Living At Maximum Elevation at the annual Blacklight Party.

L.A.M.E was everything opposite of lame during their performance at Missouri Western. They took a crowd that’s a fraction of the size they’re used to, and blew it up into a rave fest that was impossible to avoid getting sucked into. L.A.M.E., the energy filled duo of Clifford “Mr. Moe” Clements and Michael “M. Taylor,” was shocked at the intensity level of Western.

“It was live,” Clements said. “I say Western was probably one of our best crowds as far as interacting with us and not knowing the music. They still got out there and made it live for us to come out here and do it, and that’s what’s up.”

It’s easy for artists with a full schedule to brush off little gigs here and there. For a group like L.A.M.E, every gig of every size is an opportunity to show everybody who they are.

“It was the last stop for the tour of 47 cities,” Clements said. “It was on our way home, so we were like ‘Hey, let’s get it.’”

A lot of students showed up not knowing what to expect, having heard of them before. With a resume full of openings for stars like Wiz Khalifa and Drake, it was enough to get a crowd of curious students to see what they were all about.

Dancing was a for-sure element and was nearly impossible to avoid. If you ever found time to just stand on the dance floor during a song, you’d be reminded you were on the second floor by the shifting floorboards beneath your feet.

Students like sophomore Ceara Boldridge, who enjoys listening to that genre of music, found a new group to add to her like list.

“They were cool and I like their music a lot,” Boldridge said, “They were really upbeat and it makes for fun music to dance to.”

Other students, like freshman Meara Smith, were amazed by their stage presence.

“They were really energetic and it was cool how they brought people up on stage,” Smith said. “They knew what they were doing.”

That energy was constantly exchanging back and forth between L.A.M.E. and the crowd. Taylor could feel the liveliness of the students.

“We’ve been to some big schools and big crowds, and (Western) is definitely top five,” Taylor said.

Students and fans can expect more to come from this duo as they continue to rise up in the music industry. Although they have a busy schedule planned over the next two years (a Canada tour, followed by a spring break tour, a releasing of a new album on Dec. 24 and shooting two major motion pictures in 2013), they still want an opportunity to come back to Western.

“Everybody was out there with their L.A.M.E. T-shirts on out there showing us a lot of love,” Taylor said. “Bring us back man. We’d love to come back.”

The Griffons came out looking strong and confident from the very beginning. The first set was all but easy for the Bulldogs, as they didn’t even gain the lead until the score was 20-19. It was defense that held it together, forcing the Bulldogs to get their points from kills; 20 of the 25 points were from kills.

The second set looked about as good as it could get for the Griffons. For the first time in a long time, there were smiles on the court. They looked more comfortable and relaxed than they have all year. Stephanie Hattey could easily notice the good vibes.

“We need to just play relaxed; we get too uptight and then we don’t play very well,” Hattey said. “We played relaxed tonight and our passing was awesome. I have to give them props for that. Our passing was amazing.”

Hattey finished the night with eight kills, 26 assists and 15 digs. She wasn’t the only one who felt the passing helped. Freshman Jessie Thorup felt that the good passing led to other good things for the Griffons.

“We were playing really well together as a team,” Thorup said, “and passing really well helped us with our offense, and that took them out of system, which helped out our blocking.”

Thorup led the Griffons with 10 kills on the night.

Early on, the Griffons seemed to have passed some of their season-long issues onto the Bulldogs side. There were communication issues for the Bulldogs — communication issues that led to holes in the defense. The Griffons had no problem finding those holes. The Griffons were able to take the second set, showing the No. 15 team in the nation that they weren’t going to walk out with an easy win.

The Griffons looked much more like the team to beat tonight. If someone knew nothing about these two teams, except one was a .500 win team and the other was ranked No. 15 in the nation, they wouldn’t have been able to tell which team was which.

One thing the Bulldogs clearly had on the Griffons was taking advantage of mistakes at the net. There were multiple times that bumps from the Griffons would be just a little long and float over the net. Those felt like give away points to the Bulldogs, as they made a kill out of most of them.

The third set was a similar story for the most part, coming right down to the end. All three of the first sets could have easily been swung either way, as it all depended on who was on a hot streak at the end. Both teams had an equal share of mistakes, and both teams would capitalize well anytime the other team made one.

The forth set was unfortunately a remembrance of old problems for the Griffons. It was the little things that ate away at the scoreboard. Communication problems, inaccurate hits, positioning problems and errors were adding up and frustrating the team. Coach Cory Frederick didn’t know what was happening in the last set.

“For whatever reason I think we looked uptight mentally,” Frederick said. “Truman didn’t do anything different to us when we were getting digs in the fourth game, we were having trouble putting up a good hittable ball if it wasn’t our setter. That’s where we really seemed to struggle.”

Even though the fourth set wasn’t what the Griffons wanted to end on, there were plenty positive things to take away from this game.

“I think the team, for whatever reason, came out and played relaxed,” Frederick said. “Practices have been helping this week so hopefully it will continue on this weekend.”

Convergent media major Thomas Huitt-Johnson is a prominent boxer when he’s not in class. The young fighter has owned his weight class in the Kansas City region and competed at the National Golden Gloves level five years running in Salt Lake City, Denver, Little Rock, Tulsa and Las Vegas.

Huitt-Johnson grew up around the sport of boxing and had his first official fight when he was 9 years old, weighing in at a hefty 53 pounds.

“My older brothers started when they were 10 and 11, and at that time I was like 2 or 3, so I was born into it basically,” Huitt-Johnson said. “My brothers were the ones who actually started. I was just really young to begin with. I was always hanging around the gym as a little toddler.”

Huitt-Johnson has always looked up to his older brothers and their boxing careers, but also looked up to well-known fighters such as Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.

“Floyd Mayweather is really fast and is really laid back; he doesn’t throw a lot of punches,” Huitt-Johnson said. “I really like Floyd’s style the most because he doesn’t ever get hit and that’s like me; I don’t get hit very often. But how he acts out of the ring tarnishes it. I’d say Manny Pacquiao is my favorite because of the way he handles himself outside of the ring, and that’s how I like to be.”

He might put a lot of hard work toward his boxing career, but it definitely isn’t his only passion.

“If I don’t make the 2016 Olympics, I’ll be done with boxing,” Huitt-Johnson said. “I’ll hang around the sport, but I’m not interested in being a professional boxer. That’s why I’m going to school for convergent media. I want to write sports or do radio. I’m not sure if it’ll be for boxing, but I know a lot about it, and basketball and football, also. Writing for a newspaper or any publication would be cool.”

Writing always was his favorite thing to do as a child. He would always take advantage of opportunities that allowed him to write fictional stories. Although he’s grown up, his passion for writing hasn’t changed.

Huitt-Johnson sees himself one day having a career in sports journalism, but he still has awhile before his boxing career is done. To most people an overall record of 52-22 would sound like a seasoned fighter on the verge of hanging up the gloves. When that fighter is only three years out of high school, the young gun hasn’t even hit his physical prime yet.

Huitt-Johnson’s fights aren’t your typical wannabe-Kimbo Slice backyard brawls; each fight takes months to prepare for. Huitt-Johnson’s coach for the past five years, Jason Redmond, believes that he has an advantage over most of the fighters he faces.

“Tommy is a really good kid,” Redmond said. “He fights hard and is smart. He separates himself from the rest because of his knowledge of boxing.”

After falling just short of making the 2012 Olympics by losing to the guy who made team USA for his weight class, he now has all the more reason to train harder than ever before. He’s now on the clock to do whatever it takes to represent America on the international level and has many fights left in front of him.

Huitt-Johnson is continuing to perfect his craft, both as a student and a fighter. He’s as hungry as ever to add more wins to his record and bump his resume up from a national level boxer to an Olympic athlete for team USA.

It’s time for Missouri Western volleyball to take what they’ve learned from their losses this season, and use it to produce some wins. This team is too athletic, too talented and too smart to be a .500 team 24 games into the season. There are eight games remaining. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that the Griffons should win six of them.

Northwest Missouri State, who is playing stagnant at 11-13, is the next game for Western. Following the Bearcats, the Griffons will face the ass end of the MIAA when they play the winless Missouri Southern Lions, who has a record of 5-48 dating back to the beginning of last season. Truman State and Central Missouri are the next two games and will be the only teams left to play who are guaranteed to have a winning season; the two have just eight combined losses on the season. The last four games are Lindenwood, Quincy, Pittsburg State and Southwest Baptist. All of which are considered average on their best days.

If Western can pull out of the remaining schedule with six wins, five of them being conference, the Griffons could likely make the MIAA tournament. The Griffons are currently a depressing 3-8 in conference play. There are five very beatable conference teams remaining that could end up helping the Griffons turn their season around.

The top six teams in the MIAA pretty much have a locked spot, as long as they don’t screw anything up. The fight for the 11 and eighth seed is where things could really get quirky. Western is currently in 11, but is about three wins away from jumping up to seventh. All the teams occupying that area of the leader board are hugging the .500 line by just a couple games.

The Griffons need to stop playing the youth card to justify an average season. They could really surprise some people if they just play their game, beat the crapper teams they know they can beat and make it to the tournament. The Griffons have proven to play their best when they play in tournaments. Nine of their 12 wins have come from tournament play.

Meredith McCormick and Stephanie Hattey prepare for the next play against Nebraska-Kearney on Oct. 16.

It was hard to find anything positive to take from Missouri Western’s loss against Nebraska-Kearney (25-8, 25-16, 25-18) on Tuesday, Oct. 13.; The Lopers walked into MWSU Fieldhouse ranked fifth in the nation.

Kearney was in complete control for the majority of the night. The Lopers didn’t show any weaknesses in the first set, where they jumped to a quick 9-point run in the beginning and maintained that intensity throughout the set. Defensively, the Lopers held the Griffons to just three total kills and eight points. Coach Cory Frederick saw a lot of things that the Griffons don’t have at this point in the season to compete against teams like Kearney.

“Right now, we’re not ready to play at that level and there’s no question about it,” Frederick said. “I think when we just let go and play, we can hang with teams like that, but we just have to get more experience before we can be ready for that caliber of a team.”

The second set may have looked a little more promising, but unfortunately still wasn’t the ideal game that the Griffons were hoping for. They racked up 10 team kills and doubled their score, but were still nowhere close enough to steal a win. The Lopers’ explosive offense was showing to be too much to handle. Sophomore Meredith McCormick believed that the Griffons didn’t show what the team was really capable of early on.

“We didn’t come out as strong as we can or should of,” McCormick said. “With a team like that, and them being ranked so high and so good, we didn’t have anything to lose, and we definitely did not come out that way.”

The first two sets may have seemed disheartening for the Griffons, but the third set showed a lot more of what the Griffons are capable of. They came out strong, aggressive and really made the Lopers earn the last set. Although it was too little to late, the Griffons were playing better as the game went on; the team added up 10 kills, 19 digs and three blocks in the final set. Jessie Thorup, who had a team high seven kills, saw the spark at the end as a positive for the Griffons, and believes it will help in another tough game they have this week.

“In that third set, we really challenged them and did the things we needed to do,” Thorup said. “I think after seeing how we played against them in that third set, we know how we can play against Washburn. So if we continue to play like that, we’ll do a lot better.”

Melissa Cairns, an outside hitter from New Zealand, attempts to push the ball past the University of Central Missouri’s right side blocker. To date, Cairns has 82 kills and averages 2.1 kills per set.

Freshman Melissa Cairns has played volleyball since she was 13 years old, but never thought she could play in America until just last year.

Cairns is from Tauranga, New Zealand. Through volleyball, she was part of a team who played in a tournament in Tucson, Ariz. It was there that a scout had filmed the games, and that footage found it’s way to Missouri Western’s coach, Cory Frederick.

“There is an agency that we were working with that recommended her,” Frederick said. “They said ‘Hey, she’s a solid player and she’s looking to come to the U.S. and has already traveled a lot,’ so they kind of put us in touch with her and we did everything off of video and their evaluations.”

Cairns opportunities to play volleyball in America relied mostly on emails as the way to communicate.

“I got emails from a lot of different schools,” Cairns said, “but the way Cory wrote to me seemed like he was more down-to-earth than most of the other coaches. So that’s what kind of interested me in the school.”

It wasn’t until after Cairns was already committed to come to Western that Frederick even had an opportunity to meet her. She was playing in the High Performance Championships in Iowa in summer 2012 when Frederick was able to go up and see her play. She was unfortunately still under recruiting terms, meaning Frederick couldn’t really say much more than “hi” to her.

Before ever coming to America, New Zealanders had a negative image of Americans. She was caught off guard when things didn’t meet her expectations.

“I thought that most people would be fat,” Cairns said, “and New Zealand has perceptions of Americans being really blunt and rude. When I got to St. Joseph, everyone was super nice and I didn’t expect that.”

Cairns wasn’t the only person who had misleading perceptions of a foreign country. She was shocked when she met with students here and really found out how little Americans know about New Zealand.

“During Griffon Edge at the beginning of the semester, there was a person from my group who asked if tigers ran around in New Zealand,” Cairns said. “That was one of the stupidest things I’ve heard. Someone else thought that we lived in caves with fire as our only source of light, so that was a bit weird.”

Cairns was also surprised to find out how similar St. Joseph is to her hometown. The population in St. Joseph is a little smaller, and it’s not 10 minutes from the ocean. Other than environmental changes, there were a lot of changes on the court that she had to get used to.

“When she came over in the pre-season, we were practicing six days a week,” Frederick said. “She was really tired and the first four days she was sleeping in her locker in the locker room. We were like ‘Are you okay?’ She said ‘Coach, we only practiced two hours a week in New Zealand, I’ve practiced more in four days than I practiced in a month back home.’”

Although conditioning was a major change that she wasn’t ready for, it doesn’t show on the court. Cairns has been a standout freshman with dynamic kill power. Despite missing a few games due to a torn labrum in her hip, she has totaled up 82 kills on the season thus far. She is now back on the court and fighting through injuries and will go back to New Zealand in December for surgery.

“Because I had so many injuries, coming here seemed stupid — I’d end up hurting myself even more,” Cairns said. “But the opportunity was there, and you can’t pass up coming here to play volleyball and get an education at the same time.”

Sarah Faubel goes for a spike in Saturday’s game against UCO on Oct. 13.

Central Oklahoma — 3

Missouri Western — 2

(25-20, 26-24, 17-25, 18-25, 15-8)

In an effort to avoid being swept by the Central Oklahoma Bronchos, the Griffons had a comeback run, pushing the game to five sets to ultimately take a loss in the end on Oct. 13.

The Griffons hoped to show a spark of life during a disappointing Homecoming week; after a loss earlier in the day for soccer and the football team taking its first loss of the season, the last thing the Griffons wanted was to be swept around the board on Homecoming.

The Bronchos seemed to beat the Griffons mentally more than physically, especially in the first two sets. Although the Griffons looked more athletic, the Bronchos were always in the right place at the right time. There were obvious communication problems on the Griffons side as too many balls hit the floor.

The Griffons have been very inconsistent defensively this season. At times they are defending all over the court; getting blocks, digs and anything to keep the ball in the air. Other times, they seem to be out of place, standing too long and not adapting to what the other team is doing offensively. Unfortunately the first two sets were the worse of the two. The Bronchos had two girls who continued to find openings in the Griffons’ defense and made them pay for it with 38 kills between them.

The team has been changing the lineup around all season, but recently there have been bigger changes more often. Sarah Faubel, who in the past played libero, has been up at the net getting more kills as an outside. She has seen a lot of different positions and seems to handle them all with confidence.

“It just kind of depends on what our team needs every week,” Faubel said. “Sometimes someone will be hurt and I’ll go outside, and sometimes things just aren’t connecting so I’ll go to other spots, but I’m totally OK with going anywhere.”

Faubel had a great night with 11 kills and nine digs.

Freshman power hitter Melissa Cairns has been dynamic at the net all season. Although she is still recovering from a torn labrum in her hip, it hasn’t seemed to affect her game. Lately she has been transitioning more to the outside as well as playing back row — a big change for her that she still is trying to get used to.

“For me, personally, I think it does affect [my focus] because I’m not the most comfortable passer,” Cairns said. “So that carries around with me the whole way but it’s one of those things you just have to get past it.”

Cairns finished with eight kills and seven digs.

With a combination of lineup changes and unexpected injuries, the Griffons are still working to find what works best for the team.

The Griffons have a tough schedule ahead of them as they play the 19-2 Nebraska-Kearney Lopers at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at MWSU Fieldhouse followed by the 21-1 Washburn Lady Blues at 2 p.m. on Oct. 20 in Topeka, Kan.

(Left) Jessica Koch is all-time leading scorer for Missouri Western Women’s Basketball with 1,776 points. (Above) Koch (far left) poses with her team, Haskovo 2012, in Haskovo, Bulgaria.

Jessica Koch, arguably the greatest female athlete to every play for Missouri Western, is going to the pros.

Koch will start her rookie season for Haskovo 2012 in Haskovo, Bulgaria, a team belonging to the Bulgarian National Basketball League.

Making a career out of playing a sport professionally is one of the most difficult things for a person to accomplish in a lifetime. It’s hard enough making it in football or baseball, sports that have huge rosters and big drafts and multiple leagues. Basketball is a little more limited. A typical team will have about 12-15 players, and for the league in Bulgarian NBL there are only seven teams.

Koch was just waiting for an opportunity like this to come up. Her only chance at playing at the next level was in the hands of her agent. After a summer of waiting, she got the call of a lifetime.

“When I got the call that they were interested, it was a very numbing feeling and a million things went through my head,” Koch said. “I still wake up every day and am amazed that I’m doing this for a living. It’s truly a blessing and I’m not sure I’ll ever really grasp it.”

She is one of three Americans on the team, and the only one to come from the Division II level.

After her historic collegiate career, it was only a matter of time before somebody out there realized that they could use her talent.

Koch found her way in the record books in pretty much every major category; with 1,776 total points, she is the all-time leading scorer at Western; she has made more free throws and grabbed more steals than any other player; she is the second all time in three-pointers made, rebounds and assists; and third on the all time list for most blocks.

Despite being the face of the sport at a school for four years, she says it will take time to adjust to the European style of play. Unlike in America where players rely on size and power to be good, European players tend to be much more quick and crafty, Koch said.

Style of play is just one of the changes she will need to adapt to. Obviously communication is important in every sport, and communication can be difficult when there is a language barrier. Bulgarian isn’t exactly a common second language for Americans. Luckily for Koch, she said has some teammates who speak very good English and two fellow Americans to help her out. Unfortunately, the coach is not bilingual. Koch relies on a translator when the coach has something to say. If you know basketball, you know coaches always have something to say.

After playing the same game with the same rules, she will have to learn a set of new ones. Her mentality will have to change when it comes to timeouts. In Bulgaria, only the coach can call them. When a player is trapped, no one can call timeouts.

Koch has been a team leader for everyone she has ever played for. By being smart, tough and dedicated she has always been recognized as the best player on the court. She will be working just as hard as always to continue playing at the professional level.

To keep up with Koch’s experiences in Bulgaria, read her blog “Bulgaria Bound” at www.jessicakoch24.blogspot.com/.

Missouri Western (0)   (25-22, 25-23, 25-21)   (3) Harding University

Missouri Western (3)   (25-19, 17-25, 25-14, 25-18)   (1) Southern Nazarene

Missouri Western (3)   (25-17, 25-10, 27-29, 18-25, 18-16)   (2) Southeastern Oklahoma

Missouri Western (3)   (25-18, 22-25, 14-25, 27-25, 15-9)   (2) East Central

Junior Stephanie Hattey jumped up a spot in the record books after the tournament. After dropping 118 assists in just four games, she now sits in third place of the all-time assists list for Western, passing Jodi Weatherly. She currently has 2,299 assists in her career.

Other good news for the Griffons came in the last game of the tournament when Melissa Cairns found playing time again after being sidelined due to a torn labrum in her hip. She exploded with 16 kills and 24 digs in her first game back.

The last two games both ended in five sets, the first full game of the season for the Griffons. Coach Cory Frederick was surprised to have it pushed that long.

“I looked over at [assistant coach] Marian and asked ‘Have we even played any five game matches this season?’” Frederick said. “So yes, we were a little concerned and didn’t know what to expect because we’ve had some issues with leadership at putting teams away this year. This conference is so tight that we’ll see more of those games as the season goes on.”

Although the Griffons have a 9-3 record in tournament play, they will need to be at their best for the remainder of the regular season if they want to continue their future in the MIAA tournament. Currently, they have a 3-4 record in MIAA play.

Amanda Boender led the team in kills over the weekend with 46 total kills. Not far behind her was freshman Jessie Thorup with 41 and Hattey with 32.

It was a tough day for the Griffons defensively, with 31 points being the most the team has allowed so far this season, and it wasn’t against a worthy team; the RiverHawks have yet to win a game. Just a week before they played the Griffons, the RiverHawks were getting plastered up in Maryville, losing to the Bearcats 66-6; a team whom the Griffons will meet up with in the last game of the regular season.

Michael Hill continued to play like a machine, pounding out another 195 yards to add onto the outstanding numbers he has already put up this season. He is averaging 179 rushing yards a game and is currently sitting at 1,075 yards on the season (the only Division II player over the 1,000 yard mark).

Coach Jerry Partridge knows he has a great running back, but he also believes that Hill’s so called “weakness” isn’t as weak as people think.

“He broke a 70-yard run and outran a safety,” Partridge said. “That’s the one thing people are kind of getting a little worried about, especially at the next level, is his speed. Either their safety is a 4.8 [40-yard dash] guy, or Michael is pretty fast. Because he beat him.”

Reggie Jordan is still virtually unstoppable from getting in the end zone, and found his way in twice against the RiverHawks. He may only have 12 catches on the season, but half of them have been for touchdowns. Jordan and Hill are currently tied at six for the team high of non-throwing touchdowns.

The opponents the Griffons have faced so far have a combined record of 8-28. After the Griffons play the 4-2 Missouri Southern Lions, the remaining four teams will have a combined record of 22-2.

The Griffons looked on top of their game despite the absence of two key freshmen players, Melissa Cairns and Holly Pollock. Cairns recently tore her labrum in her left hip, and is currently day-to-day. Pollock has been suffering from strep throat, a double ear infection and a sinus infection all at the same time, according to coach Cory Frederick. Freshman Jessie Thorup continued to play well, even with her fellow freshmen sitting out.

“I think it helps to know we have a lot of options,” Thorup said. “If someone is not playing well or if someone is hurt, we’ll always have someone to fill those spots.”

Junior Stephanie Hattey continued to be outstanding all around. Hattey finished the week with 26 kills, 73 assists and 45 digs in three matches. She believes after a rough time so far in MIAA play, the team could be turned around and headed in the right direction.

“[Against Truman] we had a pep talk and decided to play the way we’ve been playing in practice,” Hattey said. “Even though we lost, we played like a team and we hustled every ball, we didn’t let any drop. Today we let up a little more, but hopefully we can keep it up and keep it going. I think the more games we play the more we grow, so we’ll get better as the season goes on.”

Frederick sees the change the team has made and sees them learning and gaining more confidence in themselves.

“Rockhurst is 12-2, they’re a good team and there is no doubt about it,” Frederick said. “So far the Rockhurst loss has been a good one for us because it helped us focus on some things that we really need to work on. We made some adjustments and played pretty good against [Truman], but unfortunately couldn’t put that one away in the end, which I think is some of that is still the youth and developing.”

Fortunately for both Frederick and the players, the lineup has changed so many times this season already that when key players are forced out of the game, there is no added pressure on the remaining players, according to Frederick.

The Griffons are currently sitting at 9-7 on the season. They will be getting back into tournament play Oct. 5 in the Washburn Crossover Tournament. So far, the Griffons have a record of 6-2 when it comes to tournament play.

Central Missouri–3       Missouri Western–0
(25-19, 25-23, 25-12)

The Jennies came into MWSU Fieldhouse ranked No. 8 in the nation, and played like they were. The offensive game plan was too much for the Griffons to counter. Throughout the night they utilized the height of their main setter, Julia Bates, to keep the Griffons guessing on if she was going to assist or just slam it down. Bates ended the game with 35 assists and eight kills. Coach Cory Frederick knew what needed to be done to stop it, but the girls just didn’t seem to respond well.

“We just didn’t play very smart,” Frederick said. “To be straight forward honest, we just weren’t prepared for whatever reason to move on those balls. We knew what they were going to do, and we just didn’t look like we were ready to play.”

The Griffons put up a good fight for the first two sets, but looked slow and out of place in the third and final set.

Missouri Western–3     Lindenwood–1
(19-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-14)

The Griffons really gave us a scare early against the Lindenwood Lions. This was a game that was probably considered a must-win for the Griffons, who had lost five of their last seven games coming into this one. The Griffons looked a little rattled still from the night before, but got much better throughout the game.

Junior Stephanie Hattey had another great weekend, racking up a total of 14 kills, 34 assists and 36 digs between the two games.

“We beat Lindenwood by forgetting about the last game against UCM,” Hattey said. “We decided to not pay attention to the score and just play to the best of our abilities, and it worked.”

Sophomore Amanda Boender did not play the night before due to sickness, but provided some explosiveness for the Griffons and finished with nine kills.

“It’s always a different perspective when you don’t play,” Boender said. “You forget how it feels to not get to be out on the court, and you really appreciate being able to play.”

Take football for example. They’ve basically been stepping over opponents. At this point last year they were already at a record of 2-2. This year, although no one wants to say it and jinx it, they have a legitimate shot at staying undefeated for quite some time. Yes, our toughest games will be near the end of the regular season, but it’s not crazy to think we could be going into the toughest game of the year at Pittsburg State being 7-0 on the season. Even though we’ve lost some key players to injury, (one that may or may not have been a cheap ass shot) our depth is as solid as any teams. This is the best Western football has looked in a while. This is no doubt the best time to shine if Western wants to prove something. Two players have already been shining bright. Senior defensive end David Bass will be adding onto Western’s all-time sack record for the rest of the season. After this weekend, senior running back Michael Hill will be doing the same with all-time rushing yards. Don’t forget that the Griffons are ranked No. 7 in the nation at the moment. Pittsburg State has the top spot, Washburn is currently sitting in at No. 9 and Northwest Missouri State is in No. 12. Those three teams happen to be three of our last four games. The MIAA being nicknamed the SEC of Division II is no joke.

Although volleyball has hit a rough patch as of lately, there are plenty of things to be happy about looking towards the future. First off, this team is already better at this point in the season than they were last year. They are currently 7-4, when last year they were 5-6. We lost some important players in the off season, but that didn’t seem to push us backwards any. This team is young, explosive, and when playing confident and smart they look like they could beat anybody. The problem is this team is young. Depending how you look at it, it may not be a problem at all. These young bloods, especially the freshman class, have ridiculous offensive potential. It doesn’t matter who is killing it, because they all can do it. No one wants to play a team that has multiple dynamic kill hitters to choose from. There is no one better to lead this young team of hard hitters than Stephanie Hattey, who is quietly climbing up a record board herself. Still early in her junior season, Hattie is already sitting in fourth place as the all time assist leader at Western and will likely move up before the season is over.

So much for Western soccer being picked in the preseason to finish dead last in the conference. This soccer team is doing nothing but proving people wrong. The girls are only one win away from tying their number of wins for all of last season. Currently sitting at 3-3, they look like they are going to keep on getting better. Like volleyball, there is some talented youth on this team. Combine that youth with the veteran players who are hungry for a winning season and this team could ruin some other teams season hopes. Sophomore Katie Kempf, who has four goals on the season already, has been providing the offensive fire power that has lacked in recent years. Senior goalie Kelly Voigts has been the boss she usually is, with 39 saves on the season and assisting in the Griffons two shutout wins. This team cannot be taken lightly and will continue to play with a huge chip on their shoulder.

Missouri Western volleyball beats Missouri Southern in last weekends match 5-19, 25-15, 25-20

The weekend was split for Griffons as they beat Missouri Southern State (25-19, 25-15, 25-20) on Sept. 14, and fall to Emporia State (28-26, 25-23, 25-20) they day after.

For playing the Lions, who came in to MWSU Fieldhouse with a record of 0-8, they sure didn’t look win less. It was a tight shootout in the beginning, but once the Griffons made adjustments, the game was more controlled.

The 5-4 Emporia Hornets were a much tougher contest, being a little more athletic than the Lions, and much more experienced. The Hornets game play seemed to mirror much of the Griffons’ style. All three sets easily could have gone either way, but the Hornets unfortunately closed out the Griffons late in the sets.

Coach Cory Frederick still sees youth as a major factor in these match-ups.

“I still thinking they are putting way to much pressure on themselves,” Frederick said. “It’s kind of one of those humps to get over with youth and we’ve got to get past that. We’re still working on it, but it’s getting better.”

Adjustments were needed after the loss to Northwest Missouri State on Sept. 11. There was more emphasis put on the player placement in practices leading up to the weekend, according to freshman Melissa Cairns, who finished the two games with a total of 18 kills.

“We worked on our positional play, like where we’re standing,” Cairns said. “Rather than just working on where we should be, we need to be reading the game more to understand where we have to be.”

Aside from the win against the Lions, the biggest thing to be happy about over the weekend was the outstanding athleticism that came from the freshman class. Between Cairns, Holly Pollock and Jessie Thorup, the three young players combined for 44 of the teams 77 kills over the weekend (22 kills both games). Fans can easily look forward to seeing this class get more comfortable and continue to grow in the future.

“We’re a solid freshman class,” Pollock said. “We all work really hard and it shows on the court, and over the next few years we’ll keep improving.”

A great student crowd, whose yells and cheers may or may not have assisted in the Lions surprisingly high of 14 serving errors, backed the team Friday. The crowd was much more thinned out, with 56 less fans the next night against the Hornets. It was obvious to everyone in attendance that there was pressure put on every Lions player as they served.

“We should get them to come back as often as they can,” Frederick said. “They definitely helped us, that’s for sure.”

On the negative side of the weekend, there was a scary moment when senior Lindsey Williams fell to the floor after an explosive jumpserve that resulted in an ace. She did not return after an apparent knee injury during her serve in the second set against Missouri Southern. There are still tests needing to be done before the team can verify if and when a possible return could be.

It’s always hard to tell with those,” Frederick said. “It could be nothing and we could get her back in a week with some rehab. If it’s a minor tear to some cartilage it could be 10 days, but if you get into some ligament damage it could probably end her career.”

The Griffons return to MWSU Fieldhouse to play Central Missouri at 7 p.m. on Sept 21, then Lindenwood at 1 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Torey Lyman serving the ball to Northwest in the home opener on Tuesday Sept. 11.

The Griffons lose their first MIAA contest at home to rival Northwest Missouri State (25-16, 19-25, 21-25, 18-25) Sept. 11.

The Griffons came back to St. Joseph hoping to start off conference play with a win, with a hot record of 6-2, the best start they’ve had since the beginning of the 2006 season where they started off 8-2. That great start took a painful turn in the heated rivalry game.

Coach Cory Frederick saw many things that need to be changed and believes the team learned a lot in this loss.

“The biggest thing was the momentum we had in game one was generated by Northwest missing some serves,” Frederick said. “That was a big thing we were talking about in the locker room, finding some ways to generate that on our side without waiting for the other team to make mistakes. It’s just growing pains with having a young team. We’ll get it figured out.”

The Griffons got off to a great start, and owned the first set without any problems.

The second set was a different story, with the two young gun teams fighting hard and staying just a couple points within each other. The momentum changed when a questionable call mid-set eventually overturned in the Bearcats’ favor, putting them up 12-10. This led to a 4-point run that ultimately was too much ground for the Griffons to make up, losing the second and third set in similar fashion. Northwest quickly jumped out to a huge lead on a crushing 13-3 run in the fourth and final set. The Griffons showed signs of life later on bringing themselves back within five, but showed to be too much for the young squad.

The first set charge was led by team leader Stephanie Hattey who had 4 kills, 10 on the night, and found help from the freshman Jessie Thorup, who also had 4 kills in the first set, with 8 on the night. The freshman showed no fear in her first MIAA battle against a rival at MWSU Fieldhouse.

“I was nervous because it was my first home game, and we had a huge crowd,” Thorup said. “I respond well to nerves most of the time. When I’m nervous I usually put that energy into the game instead of my head.”

Hattey noticed some things that occur often with young teams.

“We’re so close to each other that it’s almost a disadvantage,” Hattey said. “We’re so afraid that we are going to make each other mad from saying the wrong thing, and we need get that mentality out. If that goes away then we’ll be fine.”

Brooke Bartosh helped lead the way for Northwest with a great performance. Bartosh had 21 kills on the night, bringing her total to 107 so far in the Bearcats first 9 games.

Hopefully the team can change their MIAA luck this weekend when they play the winless Missouri Southern on Friday, and Emporia State on Saturday.

Andrews was born deaf.; she has had to learn how to adapt to everyone around her since she was a child. Although she wears hearing aids, she still has to read lips in order to communicate.

“If I don’t have them (hearing aids) in, I basically get nothing,” Andrews said. “When I do have them, in it’s like a rumble, like how you hear thunder, and you can feel it. Like if a door was slammed, I’d feel it and know something happened, but I wouldn’t really know what it was.”

The Deaflympics are separate from the Paralympics, and were created 63 years ago because they do not have a deaf category in the Paralympics. Paralympics are Olympic events that are categorized by game and subcategorized by a person’s physical disability.

Andrews, who wears No. 10 for Western, started out playing soccer at just 5 years old when her uncle was coaching a team. She played for Wichita Northwest High School in Wichita, Kan., and was Honorable Mention All-City as well as a Titan Classic Champion. She was being recruited by multiple schools, one of them being Washburn. The head coach of Washburn knew she was deaf and told her to try out for the Deaflympic team, and she ultimately made the team as the only player representing the Midwest.

The Deaflypics was an even playing field for Andrews. She was on a field full of athletes who have always dealt with the same problems. For their convenience, the referees were given flags instead of whistles. Both coaches and players knew what was needed to communicate with each other, and used a lot of signals. One thing that helped the team chemistry grow was watching U.S .soccer play in London.

“We were actually over in Turkey and sat and watched the U.S. women’s team on TV,” Andrews said. Their first game they were down 0-2 and ended up coming back to win 4-2. We were really pumped up, saying ‘If they can do it, we can do it,’ and no matter what happens we can turn it around and make it positive.”

Andrews ultimately chose Western because of her trust in head coach Chad Edwards, who, as a coach, has had just as much adapting to do as Andrews.

“There is a lot of nonverbal communication that has to happen,” Edwards said. “I’ve never had a deaf player before, so it’s been a learning process for me and how I need to communicate. Right now I’m utilizing the players. I’ll tell one of the players something Sydney needs to know and they’ll go relay that information to her. It’s a work in progress, and we’ll get it figured out as she goes throughout her career. Everyone has really done a good job at helping and figuring out ways to make our communication better.”

Sophomore teammate K.C. Ramsell has seen improvement in communication since Andrews has been here.

“Sometimes she can’t always hear coach in practice,” Ramsell said. “We’ve all definitely gotten used to helping her, and no matter what we are always there for her.”

Andrews’ proudest moment was one that only a few could understand; having a 1-0 lead against Russia and seeing that final flag go up, knowing she and her team won the World Cup. Andrews is now ready to start a new chapter and has brought her talents and experience to St. Joseph.

This season will be critical as to discovering whether or not Edwards has what it takes to push the girls in the right direction toward a winning program.

A big push is especially what they need since the MIAA has Missouri Western sitting dead last in the preseason polls. Although it finished ninth last year, and for the most part has a pretty young squad still with six returning starters, including stud goalkeeper Kelly Voigts, the MIAA still expects 12 teams to finish better. If you look at the glass half-empty, it feels like a slap in the face. If you look at it half-full, the worst case scenario is that they won’t be a disappointment.

“Being picked last in the conference definitely gives motivation knowing the only way we can go is up,” Voigts said. “So if we just stick together, I think we will surprise people in this conference.”

The last meeting Western had with Southwestern Oklahoma ended in a 2-0 win in Edmond, Okla. Voigts recorded 10 saves in the Griffons’ only shutout of the season.

“It was nice getting the shutout,” Voigts said. “Knowing that we’ve done it before gives us confidence that we can do it again, and I know we can do it again, so I’m excited.”

Voigts found help from the freshman, now sophomore, K.C. Ramsell, who scored both goals on three shots.

“That was my first game I ever played in college,” Ramsell said, “so I think I was kind of nervous and didn’t know what to expect. Scoring those two goals really gave me confidence.”

For Western to have scores like that this season, it will need a combined effort from the five senior leaders, five experienced juniors, seven talented sophomores, and the four high potential freshmen that will let us know just how skilled Edwards is in recruiting.

As Voigts made clear, sticking together will be the key to the success level of this season. Starting off the season against a team that was arguably their best game last season is a perfect storm of a season opener when it comes to getting off to a good start. We’ll find out whether or not the Griffons have what it takes to compete in this conference at Spratt Stadium at 7:30 p.m., Friday Aug. 31.

The MIAA preseason polls have Missouri Western sitting in ninth place.

Although it may seem disheartening, we all know that predictions in sports hardly ever pan out exactly how things were expected.

There is a tight grouping of teams that were just a few points off each other in the polls this year. Northwest Missouri was put in seventh with 66 points, and Lindenwood in tenth with 59. Both Western and Fort Hays are sitting right between. Western’s young team is just unpredictable enough to be a sleeper and end up showing a lot of people that they are better than what the MIAA says they are.

With eight sophomores and six freshmen on the team, the MIAA probably considers us in a rebuilding state, but junior Justine Buskirk says otherwise.

“Volleyball is going very well so far,” Buskirk said. “I am excited about the new freshmen we have this year as well as the returners that bring a lot to the table. I think we will surprise many opponents this year.”

Buskirk redshirted last season, but had 155 kills and 56 blocks the season before.

The loss of Tahler Johnston was probably the biggest reason for this season’s low rank. Johnston was clearly the team’s offensive weapon last season when she led the team with 381 total kills. Sadly Johnston isn’t the only one who will be missed this season. Sophomore McCormick is the only returning player who was one of the top five scorers last season. McCormick had 161 kills, along with 29 digs and 42 blocks. The only other player to get over 100 kills last season, sophomore Amanda Boender, finished last season with 116 kills.

The top four players of last season who won’t be returning all combined for 1,113 kills.

That is a devastating dent to the offense of this team. It is a lot of pressure for such a young team, but maybe this is the pressure needed to ensure success in the long run. This large sophomore class now has their hardest year out of the way. They should be less nervous now knowing what to expect this season, which should help their focus as a team moving forward. Senior Lindsey Williams believes that the incoming freshmen won’t have a problem fitting into the system.

“I think the incoming freshmen are a solid addition to the team,” Williams said. “They all want to learn and ask questions to fit into the system right away.”

Team setter and junior Stephanie Hattey has been a huge asset for this team in the past. She was named MIAA freshman of the year and made third team all MIAA last season. If anyone knows what it takes to have a high powered offensive game, it’s Hattey. She averaged 10.2 assists per set last season with 1,214 total out of 119 games played. As a freshman she averaged 5.9 assists per set, a total of 637 out of 107 games.

This team will need players to step up to fill in aggressive offensive roles if they want to see success this season.

The team will start this season in a tournament in South Dakota on Aug. 31, but will soon have their home opener and start conference play against Northwest on Sept. 11.

That’s right. At the end of the semester, she will be heading down to Santiago, the capitol of Chile. Not only will she be living in Chile for the duration of her stay, she will be teaching English as a second language to business professionals in need of a better understanding of English.

Moses is received her degree in music business and songwriting at Middle Tennessee State University. She decided to come to here because her family lived near the area, and Western was the only school around that offered a master’s program that emphasized on teaching English to speakers of other languages.

“Right now I’m doing a project and using my background in music and my expertise in that,” Moses said. “I’m going to create a curriculum and a program that uses music to teach English.”

The top language in Chile is Spanish, but Moses doesn’t know how to speak it. For most people it would be a hard task to communicate with someone while having no common language to use, but she has done it before.

“I’ve already been doing it,” Moses said. “I taught ESL (English as Second Language) for a college in Savannah, Ga., so I’ve had experience and that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s a lot of non-verbal communication in the beginning. But what I’m finding from my research is that before you try to learn another language you should listen to it for a long time and learn the rhythms of their language before you try to speak it. So I’m going to incorporate music.”

None of this opportunity will be done through the school. Moses has done everything herself, from finding the teaching job to finding out where she is going to stay. Absolutely none of her living plans were set up for her, so she felt like she kind of had to take a gamble.

“They said ‘We’ll figure it out when you get here,’” Moses said. “So I thought I should try and do some research to find people through Facebook and social networking, but that didn’t work. So I went on Craigslist and found this girl who lives in Santiago. She speaks really broken English, so we’ve been Skyping and using Google Translate. Now we’ve already become really good friends without even knowing how to speak each other’s languages. She’ll be picking me up at the airport, so I guess I’m pretty trusting.”

Moses is planning on coming back to the states knowing how to speak Spanish, and speak it well. She is hoping that being surrounding by Spanish speakers will be enough influence to get a piece of their culture to bring back.

“Playing in a worship service you can always tell when people are enjoying the music,” Blumer said. “Compliments start trickling in, and of course those people are friends and family who love you. But when I started doing shows outside at bars and stuff, compliments started coming in from people I didn’t really know. I thought ‘well let’s take this to the next level.’”

The next level for Blumer is a promotion tour from radio station to radio station across 12 Midwest states for the duration of this summer. For the moment, he is still in St. Joseph and will be playing at the Buffalo Bar on April 14, which is also the release date of his first big album.

Blumer is a self-taught guitarist who started at the age of just 12, inspired by his musically talented family. Now 25, he hasn’t shown a single sign of slowing down. The ’05 Benton High School graduate did enroll at Missouri Western in the fall of ’05, but realized that school wasn’t his calling. Playing music was his dream and on the road was where he wanted to be.

“Dreams are only dreams if you let them be,” is what his father, Tim Blumer, once told him. Blumer never forgot what his father said, and continues to live day to day by it. He is willing to do what it takes to play on the road for as long as he can.

“My expectations and my goals are similar,” Blumer said. “My number one goal is to have thousands of people singing my words, whether it’s a different artist singing my song or me singing my song.”

Longtime friend and acting manager for Blumer, Tanner Ferguson, sees nothing but success in Blumer’s future.

“Aaron will make it, and people will know his songs,” Ferguson said. “His passion and love for music, combined with his talent is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The guy is driven.”

Each and every one of the songs on his new album was written by him, played by him and sang by him. Blumer started out liking to play the blues, but has since developed into more of a pop/country artist. His sound is most often compared the sound of Keith Urban. Blumer can bring a very connecting energy to his audience, even though he has brought it on a little too much in the past.

“One time we were playing on this dark stage outside, and I said ‘anyone is more than welcome to come up and dance,’ and we had a monitor on the floor, and this real big guy runs up to the stage to dance and trips over the monitor and falls face first into the drum set,” Blumer said. “He didn’t spill his beer though.”

Blumer still doesn’t shy away from opportunities for the crowd to get involved in his music, even if it isn’t their favorite kind.

“If you don’t like country music, give it a shot,” Blumer said. “Because most people after they hear it like it. Every time they show up it turns out they say, ‘Well I hate country music, but I like your stuff.’”

Even if you don’t like country music, give Blumer a try. You can check out his music on his website aaronblumer.com. If you’d like to see him play live at the Buffalo Bar, reserve your spot fast. Ferguson believes that the people who haven’t heard him play, have no idea what they’re in for.

“It will be like the most insane show ever,” Ferguson said. “If you aren’t going around telling everybody how stoked you are for Saturday, you have no fucking idea what we’re capable of.”

“All of the characters in it are definitely characters,” Minx said. “You have plays where people aren’t necessarily characters, they’re just people. In this show, pretty much everyone has a character; there isn’t really a normal person role.”

Director Dallas Henry said Minx has unique descriptions for his characters like “the Jewish man/Billy Crystal/old NBC exec” and “the cowboy/the old hick that just got off of a horse and is really sore.”

Minx is a music education major with an emphasis in vocals who is participating in his fifth play at Missouri Western. Counting high school, Minx has been in over 20 plays, with one of them already being “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Minx originally went into auditions to be the dentist and had no idea that he would be leaving as the dentist — and eight other people. As you’d probably imagine, changing into so many characters from one scene to the next is not easy. Usually to feel more comfortable, Minx walks around as each role talking to people as that character before he goes on stage. Some parts aren’t always as smooth of a transition as Minx would like, such as a scene where he plays multiple characters during a song.

“The fastest changes are the three people in that one song where I have around 20 seconds to change,” Minx said.

Henry foresaw the potential that Minx could be for this play.

“Kyle is one of the hardest working student I’ve ever had,” Henry said. ”He comes in with something new every day, takes the notes, works them, works them, works them, and you just look forward to that student every time.”

For Minx, attention to detail proved to be the biggest help in developing so many different characters. With Minx having a lot of prior involvement in vocals, Henry was able to focus less on the singing and more on the little details of acting. After noticing the detail in his own roles, he noticed similar details in Bryn Terfel, an opera singer that he’s always looked up to.

“I’ve seen him in a bunch of different roles,” Minx said. “I never noticed until Dallas started directing me so specifically in acting how much little tiny things can make a character. As I watch more of Bryn, I really see those tiny things that make the character. But you’d never know it and I think that’s what makes a really great actor.”

For the students who don’t know much about “Little Shop of Horrors,” Minx believes it could be even more enjoyable.

“They’re in for a treat,” Minx said. “I watched the movie and it was fun, getting to know the show is fun. But I think its way more fun to come in not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s a very fun, creepy musical that I think is right up the alley for a lot of people our age.”

This was Kristina Bradley’s main reason why people should see “The Vagina Monologues.”

“The Vagina Monologues” are stories of real women with real experiences being passed on from community to community across the world while supporting the V-Day cause. V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and does so through creative events like “The Vagina Monologues,” according to vday.org.

Bradley, aside from being a residence hall director, is the director of this year’s Vagina Monologues. This is her third year participating in the program and her first at Western; her previous two were at the University of Missouri.

“It was a really powerful experience for me when I was an undergrad, and I wanted to bring that [experience] here to Western,” Bradley said.

Year in and year out people’s first impression seems to be laughs at the audition signs. It’s a common thing for people to find humor in the “vagina” part of the title. “The Vagina Monologues” are about as blunt and straight forward as anything, but sure doesn’t stand for anything funny.

Nicole Gardner, a public relations volunteer, understands why the title is what it is.

“No one is going to come or understand if it’s not straight up called what it is,” Gardner said. “They are personal stories from women about everything from rape to loving their own vaginas. It’s what it means to be a woman and the struggles that we go through.”

Just because these monologues are stories of women being told by women, doesn’t mean women are the only audience being targeted. Men can learn just as much, if not more, just by listening to these stories.

“It’s not necessarily a feminist thing, it’s more about women in your life and this is what they go through, and you need to pay attention because it’s important to them,” Gardner said.

Danielle Wagner, one of the “Monologue” performers, finds it important that men attend and hear what is being said.

“It’s good for men to get a perspective from the women and take on a new perspective of feminism,” Wagner said.

This year’s “Monologues” will be performed by approximately 20 individuals who strongly support the messages that each story brings. The monologues are open performances and are free for the audience. They will be collecting donations from willing audience members who would like to help prevent violence against women. It will be held at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 in Kemper Recital Hall.

The importance of SAAC is to enhance the total student-athlete experience by promoting opportunity, protecting student-athlete welfare and fostering a positive student athlete image, according to the NCAA. In 1989, SAAC was formed for student athletes to have leadership opportunities by representing their fellow student athletes.

“With being a student athlete it’s really hard for us to get involved in things outside of our sport and our classes,” SAAC leader Kallie Schoonover said. “It gives us a chance to help out the community and represent the student athletes for our university.”

Like our SGA, where there is a panel of students representing the entire student body, in SAAC there is a panel of student athletes being the voice of all student athletes. Instead of having senate members, there are leaders. Leaders are chosen by coaches selecting nominees, and those nominees are voted on other representatives from SAAC.

“The best part about SAAC is being able to relate to and be a voice for student athletes and getting what they want done,” SAAC leader Harrison Cobb said.

SAAC is an organization whose members are only athletes representing our school. Although it is only for athletes, anyone can help accomplish the goals of the organization.

“We’re making the effort to better in the community,” Cobb said. “We’re always looking for ways to improve the campus and game atmosphere. We appreciate people’s help when we’re trying to do those things.”

One way SAAC fosters a positive student athlete image is by participating in community service programs. Some of the programs they have already done this year are their annual “Night out on the Griffs” and “Griffs Giving Gifts.”

Night out on the Griffs is an evening where young kids in the community come out to play games with Western athletes every finals week of the fall semester. Griffs Giving Gifts is held for both Thanksgiving and Christmas to help out the community during the holidays.

An event still to come will be the third annual dodge ball tournament for canned foods April 4 at 7 p.m. in the old gym in Looney. Any student will be able to participate in the tournament. If you would like to get involved, send an email to mwsusaac@yahoo.com to enter in your team. Even if you don’t wish to participate in the games, canned foods or money donations would still greatly help the cause.

For those of you who have seen the “Paranormal Activity” movies, the style of filming is almost identical. The whole movie was shot for the “home movie” effect. Cameras are set up throughout the entire shuttle, as well as set up all around outside where they landed on the moon. A few handheld cameras were used for point of view shots. To make the movie more realistic, they chose to make the film footage look old and grainy. The movie resembles the footage you see of Richard Nixon when he was in office. I think it would have been a better idea for a drama or a true story astronaut movie, and not a horror.

The part where this movie fails to have the effect that “Paranormal Activity” created is that there are few humans who can relate to this in any way. “Paranormal Activity” scared people because the story was about an average couple in an average house with a video camera. The idea of a home video adds to the realistic feeling the story gives. Because of the amateur home video and average life setting, everyone could easily understand their fear. Creaking doors, sounds from other rooms and little frightening instances have happened to everybody. This was how “Paranormal Activity” was a success.

But how many of us have woken up in the middle of the night because we thought we heard a noise outside our space shuttle while we were parked on the moon? I know I haven’t. How many of us remember how nervous we were on our first space mission? We have no way of becoming emotionally attached to the storyline of “Apollo 18” because none of us know what it’s like to be an astronaut. Not to mention the astronaut lingo used in 1974 isn’t exactly in our everyday vocabulary, so it not only makes the movie unrelatable, but confusing as well. I’m one of those people who jump at everything scary and jarring in horror movies. I never jumped or even felt nervous.

I’m sure a lot of time and effort went into creating cool effects of something unknown scaring the astronauts on the moon. But there could be an army of a million aliens surrounding their shuttle, and it’s still not going to scare me as much as having a door slowly creak open here on earth. I’m not going to the moon anytime soon. Alien horror movies have a tough enough time scaring an audience, but to do it successfully, you need to, at minimum, have it take place on earth so people can halfway relate to it.

Jesse Frazier, a senior Theater & Cinema major, wrote a 10 minute script in his playwriting class that ended up being good enough to be casted, directed and critiqued at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival which was held on the University of Oklahoma campus. Missouri’s region falls with Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; Frazier’s piece was the only one representing Missouri.

“This was my first play ever written,” Frazier said. “I’ve always wanted to, but I just didn’t know how. I had an idea, but how to approach it I didn’t really know. That class really helped me get a grasp on it.”

Frazier’s play is a fictional war story. The most challenging part about writing it was fitting it into the 10 minute time limit. His play was much more of an emotional roller coaster than the others were. Frazier touched on faith and religion, the seriousness of war and family values, while most of the other plays touched on just one issue. This made it harder on Frazier’s play because his had more emotional changes than the others.

Even though his play is just 10 minutes, his next step for this play is to add to the details and turn it into a solid 30 minute piece. Once successful at 30 minutes, Frazier hopes to blow it up into a full two-hour performance play, in hope that the emotional changes will be longer and drawn out instead of having to fit it in such a short period of time.

Dallas Henry, the professor who taught the playwriting course, sees a lot of potential in Frazier and his work.

“Jesse is very creative,” Henry said. “He really thinks outside the box and challenges himself. It goes to show with having a created foreign language and a war, he really pushes his limits.”

All his life, telling stories has been Frazier’s biggest passion. Coming from a large family, and being one of the older brothers, Frazier felt as a kid that it was his responsibility to keep the younger kids entertained. Storytelling and creating roles for the kids to play was how he was able to do it. From then on he knew that telling stories was his calling.

“If I could tell stories for a living, that’s my dream job,” Frazier said. “Rather, it’s doing sitcoms, writing books or whatever. I’ve actually put a little thought into maybe teaching one day, but right now it’s just about getting my work out there and seeing what that can do for me.”

From regionals, only two were chosen to go on to the national level. Although Frazier didn’t reach the national level this year, he still received a ton of great feedback.

“One of the directors from one of the other plays asked me if she could direct my play back in her home town,” Frazier said.

Henry said the scripts written in last semesters playwriting class were passed on to this semester’s directing class. Approximately 15 plays were written last semester, including Frazier’s, and they are currently being handled by 15 directors. They will debut as plays for the first time Thursday, May, 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Western was put in a must-win situation against Central Missouri, while needing both Lincoln and Emporia St. to lose for any chance to get into the MIAA tournament.

The Griffons never fell behind the Mules until the final three minutes, when their turnovers resulted in big points for UCM, putting a cap on the game at 74-68.

“Winners make winning plays and losers make losing plays,” coach Tom Smith said. “That’s probably the story of our year. We just came up empty.”

The Griffons had control of the first half, at one point reaching a 16-point lead. They were able to end the half by holding UCM to only 23 points.

The second half was nothing more and nothing less than a deteriorating lead for the Griffons. The Mules shot 65 percent from the field in the second half, a huge improvement from their first half shooting of only 35 percent. The Mules scoring was led by Dominique Long, who was able to put up the game high 26 points against the Griffons.

The loss was especially hard on senior forward, Lavonte Douglas, who put up great numbers and grabbed his sixth double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds, only missing three shots from the field.

“It just comes down to the same thing every game, can’t close them out,” Douglas said. “We just got to keep fighting, and we’ve been fighting. We never quit.”

Statistics didn’t mean as much to Douglas after knowing the effort still resulted in falling short of what the Griffons needed most.

“I’d rather take two points and two rebounds with a win,” Douglas said.

Another senior who sadly came up just short of his last MIAA tournament opportunity was T.J. Johnson, who was able to get himself 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Johnson was able to see the positives from this team and this season — good things that he’ll be able to carry on after basketball.

“We’re a family, man, through the bad season we’ve been together,” Johnson said. “I’ve got brothers for a lifetime. I know that I can call these guys if I ever need anything, and they’ll be there. It’s not all about basketball. We’re a family and we have to be together.”

The seniors will play their last game as Griffons against Southwest Baptist at 3:30 Saturday, Feb. 25 at MWSU Fieldhouse.

On and off campus, Nick Brothers stands out and voices his opinions. Photo by Jason Brown

That was what one Christmas gift card said referring to Walmart, but the only thing out of the ordinary was the picture of a sweatshop as the background.

This card was given to Dr. Jonathan Euchner, a political science professor at Missouri Western. One of his political science students – Nicholas Brothers – gave him the card as a joke, after teasing his professor for being a “proud Walmart shopper.”

“I just had to give it to him,” Brothers said, “to remind him where those low prices come from.”

Over the years, Euchner has seen Brothers blossom within the department, ever since he first had him in class in the fall of 2009.

“I could tell when I first had him as a student that he followed the news regularly,” Euchner said. “He had a point of view and was curious, and curiosity is the most important thing a student could have.”

This card was just one example of his style and how he has the ability to go to the extreme to voice an opinion, which is something he encourages everyone to do. Apathy and disengagement is what Brothers sees as the biggest issue with America.

“People just believe that someone else will fix it,” Brothers says. “Everybody’s voice and hands and feet are needed.”

Another way Brothers stays active in the political field is involvement. Brothers is a proud and consistent member of the Occupy St. Joseph movement, as well as the Missouri Western Democrats club. He also is supporting the idea of building a generalized political science organization here at Western for anyone interested in politics.

“I believe in the power of the people to non-violently change a situation,” Brothers said. “I’m a big believer of diplomacy, and I’m a big believer in our ability to actually come to understandings.”

Brothers first gained interest in politics the same way he believes most people become interested, by the level of political involvement of their parents. When he was just 10 years old he went door to door with his father, canvassing for Bill Clinton.

Ever since, Brothers has continued and increased his political involvement in any way possible.

Brothers is still considering graduate school. Even though Western doesn’t offer graduate studies for the political science department, he would most likely continue his education somewhere in-state. He one day hopes to work on an international level involving human rights to help others.

Nicholas Brothers five main issues with America:
1. Apathy and disengagement – It magnifies every other problem when people decide to just check out. When people just believe someone else will fix it.
2. Inequality of wealth – The number of prosperous people are shrinking, while the number in poverty is only getting bigger. People are dropping out of the middle class, they aren’t entering.
3. Money in Politics – The vast amount of influence someone can have, just by spending money. The fact that you can virtually buy your way into what is supposed to be a democratic process.
4. Military home and abroad – Whether it’s drone strikes Pakistan and Yemen or riots in Oakland, we’re all too willing to turn to force. We think that since we’re the top power, that it makes it okay for us to control the rules of the game.
5. Institutionalized racism and classism – There are still people out there who put a ridiculous notice on people of color and people of poverty, as if they were totally responsible for every problem. People tend to think that poverty is just about laziness and lack of work ethic. Generational poverty mindset is entrenched by this crushing lack of opportunity.

Yes you can probably name some good things Obama’s done. It was under his term that Osama Bin Laden was killed. It’s good to know it only took a decade. I guess you can tell me he ended the war in Iraq. Sure, if you think making the soldiers fight in Afghanistan instead of Iraq is ending a war.

Everyone criticized Newt Gengrich for being racist after he called Obama the “food stamp president.” Once people checked the facts and realized that there was a 59 percent increase of people on food stamps since Bush’s term ended, those critics kind of shut their mouths. Besides, it wouldn’t be a racist comment even if the facts were false, there are more white people on food stamps than black people. 

Imagine how many people would finally find work if the money spent on food stamps were spent on creating jobs instead. People could actually buy their own food with their own money that they make. Doesn’t that just sound crazy?

At least Obama has paid off some of America’s debt. Oh, wait, no actually he didn’t pay shit off. He’s had a pretty interesting game plan for it though: Spend 4 trillion dollars in three and a half years. He definitely accomplished that. What do we have to show for it? You’d think that spending 4 trillion dollars would make a pretty noticeable impact on something. Let’s just go through a checklist: Create jobs? No. Lower the unemployment rate? No. Bring our military home? No. Decrease home foreclosures? No. Raise the average household income? No. Bailout big ass companies and stop capitalism from working how it’s supposed to? Yes, did it do anything positive for the people? No.

It was Obama himself three years ago who said “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one term president.” I haven’t noticed any improvement since he took office. People need to get it together and look past the good looks and nice speeches. Look at what he’s done and ask yourself if it’s the “change” he promised America.

When you first walk in, it feels like a private showing because of how few of seats there actually are. Once you sit down and lean your head back in your seat, the entire screen fills your peripheral vision. It was surprising to see how nicely set up the planetarium was.

Once the movie actually started, however, disappointment hit.

The first couple minutes is just a trailer for “Wonders of the Universe,” which is another planetarium screening our campus provides. The next five minutes or so is a brief display of “winter star-gazing,” which is a basic screening and lesson on basic constellation systems. It was very interesting, and I walked away from it actually learning some new things.

For the next 45-50 minutes, “Wild Oceans” was showing. Right from the start, the camera is already filming all over the place. It was tough to know which direction was up, what was down and sometimes confusing on what was even being filmed. The screen was too big for the shot and there was no clear focus, confusing viewers with what they should be looking at.

The most difficult part was the low quality of film that it was shot in. Don’t go in there with the idea that you are watching Discovery channel’s “Planet Earth”; in fact, it was far from it.

The whole storyline was about a large movement of sardines, and how predators from all over meet at this one area to feed. The area is near the south tip of Africa. This gave the makers of the film the idea to have the narrator be a man with a heavy African accent. This was good thinking, but very hard for the audience. Most of what he was saying was going through one ear and out the other, just because he was almost impossible to understand.

On top of having the headache from the jittery camera, poor quality and mumbling narrator, the show ended with a roller coaster ride from the planet Mars. Although it was clearly computer animated, it was still clearer than the actual show. If you already have a headache at the start of the roller coaster ride, close your eyes, or else that headache will stay with you all day.

Don’t get the idea that the planetarium isn’t any good. It was actually a shock seeing that good of a set up on our campus. The only bad part was the actual show itself. I’m confident that in the future, the kinks will get worked out and we’ll have some high quality planetarium shows soon.

In the past Bird has mainly been a backstage person.  She graduated Western in December with a degree from the Theatre & Cinema department. As an actress, her previous biggest role was an extra townsperson in “Romeo and Juliet.”

This year, however, Bird will be going in a different direction: center stage.

Bird will be playing her ultimate role as Abby Brewster when “Arsenic and Old Lace” hits the stage in Potter Feb. 16-19. Although she has never played such an important character before, she is confident that this is the one for her.

“I’m just such a big fan,” Bird said. “I wouldn’t audition for any other big role; this is the role of a lifetime for me.”

Bird has been waiting for an opportunity like this since her parents first introduced her to the movie “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the age of 8.

For those who have yet to see “Arsenic and Old Lace,” it is a story about an average man that finds out his aunts like to poison lonely old homeless men. As horrific as it sounds, this story is a comedy. It is living proof that crazy and comedy can go together.

“As crazy as your life may be,” Bird said, “just wait until you walk into the house of the Brewsters.”

Something equally as crazy as the house of the Brewsters, is how fast Bird and Sonrisa Johnston clicked. Johnston is playing the other crazy aunt, Martha Brewster. The two first met on the night of callbacks, and by the end of the night, they practically didn’t need to speak to know what each other was thinking.

“Our minds were thinking exactly the same stuff,” Bird said. “We definitely act like sisters.”

Director Tee Quillin knew right away that Bird and Johnston were right for the job.

“Ali made it clear with her audition that she really, really wanted the role,” Quillin said. “They set the bar really high once they read together.”

Matt Wright, who plays the main character Mortimer Brewster, has known Bird within the Theatre & Cinema department for so long that he was shocked to hear that it was her first big role.

“She has been doing great,” Wright said. “When she said that she hasn’t done this before, I was like, ‘What? Really?’”

The message Bird wants the viewers to get out of the play, whether they are familiar to the story or not, is that no matter what goes on, you can find comedy in anything.

For the past five years he has gone from playing in a band at some small parties to having consistent business as a DJ, a business that continues to show promising growth for the future.

Niemeier jump-started his line of work with DJ equipment that was a gift to him from his parents and has kept it going and growing ever since. He has built it up enough to have two full working systems and an equipment van to travel in.

“Eventually I’d like to move it all down to the beach somewhere,” Niemeier says. “Maybe Florida or something, but until then I’m just going to keep it growing and make it bigger.”

Niemeier ultimately wants to end up producing his own music. Being a Music Technology major inches him closer to his goal every day. His classes have already helped his DJ skills by giving him a better understanding for a wide variety of equipment.

When Niemeier isn’t busy as a DJ, he is doing school work. When he isn’t doing school work, he is fulfilling his responsibilities as the Phi Sigma Kappa president.

Phi-Sig member Alex Ahlschlager sees the multiple lifestyles every day and witnesses just how Niemeier manages to keep up with school, run a business, and be a president of a fraternity.

“He handles the business just like he does school,” Ahlschlager says. “He takes it seriously.”

Ahlschlager has helped DJ in Niemeier’s home town of Marceline, Mo.

Whenever Niemeier is able to find free-time from school and work, he usually spends it making his own music.

If you don’t recognize his name, you may recognize him around campus as “Nick Na$$ty” or his fraternity name “Sasquatch,” according to fraternity member Korey Kelso. You also might recognize his DJ name “Soundninja.”

Niemeier recently was hired as DJ for the Black Light Night in Blum. According to Lauren Dillon, president of the Western Activities Council, WAC always looks for talented students before hiring someone outside of Missouri Western.

“Everyone had nothing but positive things to say about him,” Dillon says.

People can hear the Soundninja in person in Tuck’s Bar, connected to the front of Belt Bowl, on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday nights.

After a stand-out high school career which got him a seat in his high school’s Hall of Fame, Loeffler kick-started his collegiate career by attending Skyline College. It was from this junior college that Western’s head coach Buzz Verduzco began to recruit him.

Catcher, Tony Loeffler, puts on his mask before taking infeild with his teammates on Monday. Loeffler is a team player with a great attitude towards the game of baseball. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Although Loeffler chose to play Division I, coach Verduzco’s recruiting ability ultimately panned out to Loeffler transferring here. Most people would assume that it would be tough switching from three different collegiate baseball programs.

“It’s different, some things are easier, but other things can be difficult going from school-to-school,” Loeffler said. “The main thing for this school was that it really felt like home. The guys are great, the coaches are great and everyone is real easy to get along with.”

Loeffler brings a wide variety of playing experience, and is one of nine seniors on this year’s roster. As one of the team leaders, Loeffler tries to leave everything on the field by playing his hardest. This is one of the big things he wants to leave behind for the younger players to grasp and pass on themselves.

Last season, Loeffler received an honorable mention as All-MIAA catcher. This season, Loeffler could very well be the best catcher in the MIAA. Loeffler is not one to dwell on personal accomplishments, but rather focus more on what the team can accomplish. His best memories are even that of the team truly coming together.

His favorite baseball memory was last season against Fort Hays State in the conference tournament. Western was trailing Fort Hays 2-4 going into the ninth inning and pulled together by scoring in three runs to win 5-4.

“That was the best ‘team’ feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Loeffler said.

The 2012 season will start for the Griffons on Feb. 18, at North Alabama, a school transitioning into a D-I program. This is a tough team that beat Western last year a total of 26-4. They already started off this season strong with a big win against Kentucky State 24-4.

“They’re a good team,” Loeffler said. “We just have to go in there with confidence and play as hard as we can, and I think we can come out with a couple wins in that series.”

We will get to see the Griffons play in their home opener when they take on Nebraska-Kearney Feb. 24.

According to the American Library Association, (ALA) banned books week is an annual event held on the last week of September that celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. The readers and listeners were all brought together with a shared purpose for exercising intellectual rights as students, teachers and readers in general.
Dr. Michael Cadden, a professor of English here at MWSU, started the event by reminding the audience the purpose for their readings. “Freedom is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours,” Cadden said from the Freedom to Read Statement of the ALA.
Our readers this year (in order of appearance) consisted of; Bridget Blevins, anchor and producer of K-Q2 News; Stephanie Hartley, member of the Prairie Lands Writing Project; President of Missouri Western Dr. Robert Vartabedian; Synthia Tunnell, president of the student chapter of the International Reading Association; Jessica McMinn, president of the student chapter of the National Council of Teachers of English; Dr. Steven Greiert, chair of the history department; Dr. Karen Fulton, a professor of English.
The eight readers all chose one book to read from and mention why the book is banned or often challenged. All of the readers had different reasons for choosing their books. Some chose their books by briefly explaining how they related to the story on personal levels; others explained how people could benefit from reading the book they chose.
Some examples of material read, such as “Junie B. Jones” and “Walter the Farting Dog,” are children’s books that are frequently challenged or banned due to language usage. Junie B. Jones is a character that often uses negative words like stupid, dumb or idiot, while the book “Walter the Farting Dog” is disliked by some parents for its frequent usage of the word “fart,” used throughout its short story 24 times.
Some other books read tonight were more serious adult readings, like that of Vartabedian’s presentation on the poem, “The Alphabet of Revolution,” and Dr. Greiert’s reading of “The Jungle.” These were examples of readings that are frequently challenged or banned due to its controversial content during the times they were commonly read, such as political reasoning.
Snacks and drinks were provided for the audience members after the readings. More information and lists of challenged and banned books can be found at www.ala.org

RJ Jackson, who plays a charity solicitor, tries to convince Scrooge, played by Steve Catron, to donate. Bob Crachit, played by Sebastian Smith, looks down at Catron

Read More: No ‘kidding’ around for this young cast | ‘Bah humbug’ : Four different Scrooges to take stage | Cratchit family inspires Christmas Cheer

“This is only my second play that I’ve had an acting role in,” Jeff Jones said. “It is my first kind of major role though, so I’m excited to just get out there, get it done and have a fun time.”

Jones’ first play with an acting role was “Romeo and Juliet.” He will be taking on his biggest role so far as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Another student participating in “A Christmas Carol” whose first play was also a role in “Romeo and Juliet” is Larry Clifton. Clifton has a degree in business and is now taking theater classes. Clifton will be playing the role of Fezziwig, the jolly Christmas party thrower that Ebenezer Scrooge was an apprentice for as a young man.

“People are going to laugh,” Clifton said, “and when they finally see the change in Scrooge, it’s going to be touching. It’s going to be a fun play. Dallas has really done a fantastic job with it.”

Dallas Henry, the director of the play, wanted to convey a different tone to the audience than what is traditional.

“I’ve really made this Christmas Carol funny,” Henry said. “I want the audience to enjoy themselves and not make it so dark.”

Henry has also thrown in a little something else for the audience to enjoy. As of now it can only be labeled as a “surprise” for the viewers.

People interested in seeing the production should visit MWSUtix.com, where you have the possibility of reserving seats of your choice in advance. You will also be able to view a commercial on the site. The performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Potter Hall from Dec. 9-11 and 15-18, with additional 3 p.m. showings on Saturdays and Sundays.

It’s not like Missouri is packing their bags and leaving Columbia, Mo. There is still very much going to be a border war, even if the schools discontinue playing.

Although Missouri is moving to the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Jayhawk fans and Tiger fans will still be neighbors, classmates and coworkers. The hatred between the two will not just disappear. Missouri isn’t backing down from anything. St. Joseph is far far closer to Lawrence than Columbia, and the town is still split. That says a lot about the pride Kansas fans have in their school, like how for one season, all of a sudden Kansas fans were football fans. That is, until Todd Reesing went back home with a clump of Arrowhead Stadium sticking out of his facemask. Then everything was back to normal.

At the thought of Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, Kansas head coach Bill Self made comments mentioning how he would hate to see the historic rivalry end. At the time he made these comments, Missouri was only two games into the basketball season.

Once the 6-0 Tigers passed the 3-2 Jayhawks in the national rankings, Self had swapped beliefs a little bit, at one point saying, “Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri.” Well Mr. Self, didn’t you say once that you received tons of mail, in your first few years as head coach at Kansas, saying that you better not lose to Missouri? Sounds to me like Kansas fans do care. Any Kansas fans who are willing to say they don’t care about playing Missouri are ignorant and selfish.
What happened to coaches being the true supporters of the rivalry? Missouri’s former head coach Norm Stewart being a great example, by filling up at gas stations in Kansas City on the Missouri side when traveling to Lawrence, just so he wouldn’t have to put Missouri’s money into the Kansas economy. Don Fambrough, a former Kansas coach, also showed support of the rivalry by once saying “It’s a g**d*** war, and they started it!”

Kansas fans like saying that they win the rivalry, since Missouri is choosing to “forfeit” by leaving the Big 12. Kansas fans know as well as anybody that they would get their asses out of the Big 12 too, if anybody wanted them. The fact of the matter is that no conference wants a school that only has a basketball program. Football is what ultimately brings in the money. I mean big time winner Turner Gill was contracted for an annual $2 million while Bill Self is making $3 million.

If Kansas had a football program with more talent than an average high school, somebody might be interested in them. Since nobody is, Kansas is going to remain bowing down to the Texas throne in the Big 12.

That is still no reason to put 120 years of rivalry games behind us. It’s not like Kansas called up Missouri back in 1891 and said, ‘we challenge you to a game of football, best out of 121.’ I hope Kansas realizes that if it chooses to not schedule Missouri anymore, it will have to live with Missouri owning the tie breaker.
One thing Kansas fans have right is that it’s not all about football. Kansas lives and dies by the basketball team. The Jayhawks are quick to claim that they own the overall basketball record, just like Missouri does with baseball. But of course they do, how could they not? They only had Dr. James Naismith, the creator of basketball, to jump start their program ahead of everybody else.

Thanks to the now former Missouri coach Mike Anderson for giving the Missouri basketball program a new heartbeat, they are finally competing again. Since the Kansas Jayhawk logo has been the international sign of choking the last couple years in the tournament, Bill Self is actually sounding worried about playing Missouri. Especially after Kansas barely beat Long Beach State in Allan Fieldhouse. I’d be worried about Missouri if I was him too.

If it was up to Kansas fans, they would probably only continue the rivalry ter if every annual game was played in Lawrence. Grow up and realize that a conference change doesn’t solve hate. The power to end this rivalry is in the hands of Kansas right now. Don’t end it just because you are jealous of Missouri for being able to cross the street without having to be on the Texas Longhorns’ leash anymore.

Chance Umstattd takes a break from drinking his beloved Dr. Pepper long enough to smile for the camera.

“It’s everywhere,” Umstattd said. “It’s so easy to get now.”

When it comes to Dr. Pepper, he just can’t turn it down.

Umstattd’s Dr. Pepper addiction all started when his mom told him that he needed to stop drinking so much Diet Coke. It was then that he found and stayed true to his first love, the “doctor.”

If downing the famous 23 flavors 24 times in one day isn’t enough to prove his love for the drink, maybe going to the original Dr. Pepper factory is. Umstattd recently took a trip down to Dublin, Texas. Dublin is the place of birth for the first ever Dr. Pepper.

“It was the greatest day of my life,” Umstattd said. “I went to Texas to visit family, but I couldn’t pass up seeing the history of Dr. Pepper. My priorities in order are family, Dr. Pepper and then school.”

To most people, putting a drink ahead of school would mean that education isn’t very important to them. This isn’t exactly the case for Umstattd. If you didn’t already know about his love for Dr. Pepper, you would guess that school is what he loves the most.

Umstattd is in his senior year, majoring in Theater & Cinema, hoping to one day work for either, or both, the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs. He wants to be a part of their video production team any way he can, through the editing part or the camera work. He credits the Theater & Cinema faculty for helping reveal his love for video work.

“Dallas Henry is like my Mr. Miyagi,” Umstattd said. “I think that when I look back at school some day, I will realize that his teachings were my biggest influence.”

Theater and cinema definitely isn’t the only thing that he gets involved in. Umstattd gets involved any way he can, from WAC to homecoming committee to the Northwest game half time “flash mob.” He goes from playing “Humans vs. Zombies” to grabbing a roll in the upcoming play, “A Christmas Carol.”

Umstattd actually hated the theater part when he first got into the department. He went from hating to respecting to loving theater while in school. Although he has not acted in a play since his “Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” performance when he was in the first grade, Umstattd is excited to try stepping back into the spotlight.

However, at first impressions, Umstattd is very shy. He comes from the small town of Adrian, Mo., where everyone knows each other’s names and stories. Stepping from a class of about 50 kids to a few thousand was terrifying at first. He was able to find a comfortable place in college by sticking to his good nature.

“I love that kid,” friend Sebastian Smith said. “No one has ever had a mean or rude thing to say about him.”

Once he got around to meeting a few people, he never stopped. Even with as many people that have met him from all the activities he has been involved with, haters seem to be nonexistent.

“Chance is a one of a kind,” friend Andrew Setter said. “He is a good friend in the fact that he would go out of his way just to make somebody feel better.”

Although he will be graduating in May, his good nature has spread kindness across campus enough so that his influence on people will still be here years down the road.

'Everything must go' is a drama starring the well-known comedian Will Ferrell.

First off, the story was very well written. The story was original enough that you didn’t know what was going to happen next, and you couldn’t tell how it was going to end. Ferrell plays the role of Nick Halsey, a man who was fired from a very well-paying job and comes home to find out that his wife left him, changed the locks and alarm system, moved all of his stuff to the front lawn and put a hold on his bank accounts. The story is about how he chooses to handle the situation and makes you think the entire time about how he will recover, if at all.

“Everything Must Go” is another one of those movies that is going to make you think about how you would handle the same situation. It will put a little bit of “real world” fear in you. This movie can be very much believable, which is the scariest part. He quickly loses the life that most people wish they had.

This is by far the most serious role that Ferrell has ever played. He is known worldwide for his ability to go to the extreme to be a standout character. He is more memorable for his outrageous character roles than his jokes. Every comedian has jokes, but not every comedian can take a character and make it their own. The role of Halsey was no “Ron Burgundy,” no “Ricky Bobby,” no “Frank the Tank” and no 40-year-old jobless momma’s boy (both “Step Brothers” and “Wedding Crashers”). Halsey was rather dull.

That was the only real problem this movie had — Ferrell cast as serious character. This movie won’t crack your heart like most dramas try to do. It is a depressing story that fails to make you feel depressed. Just looking at Ferrell will bring the comic relief. Some actors, who are great at comedies, are talented enough to play serious roles, such as Will Smith, Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx and Tom Hanks. Ferrell is not on this list.

This movie had a “Punch Drunk Love” vibe, being quiet and slow with a comedian as the dramatic character, but better in almost every category. This movie had a much better story line and was easier to follow. Adam Sandler might have been able to bring more drama to the role, but then again, probably anybody could be taken more seriously than Ferrell.

Sarah Noe, grasping a nerf gun, goes back to back with another Zombie hunter to protect themselves from the infection.

Thanks to the Western Activities Council, HvZ is officially legit at Missouri Western. The game has grown just enough that not a student on campus didn’t notice a few bandana-ed maniacs or Nerfed out versions of Rambo walking around last week.

“The best part was running around in a zombie horde,” Josh Smith said, who was awarded first place in the top zombie category. “It was an awesome feeling chasing the humans with a group of like 20 zombies.”

After HvZ ended at noon on Halloween, the award ceremony was held in Blum Union later that night. Joe Bridgman, one of the moderators for HvZ, announced the summary of the game with the best zombies and winning teams, while Lauren Dillon, vice president of WAC, handed out gift cards. The two teams that were awarded were team “Rush” and “Pink Swag.” Teams were not allowed to have more than five players. According to Bridgman, Over 200 students were registered to play, making our campus the third largest HvZ game in the nation at the time we played.

As Team Rush member Brian Hamilton went up to get his reward, he referenced the movie “Zombieland” saying, “Remember guys, the first rule is cardio.”

Cardio is the first rule in “Zombieland,” but it’s not necessarily the first rule in HvZ. According to the official rules on the HvZ website, the most important rule is: Don’t be a douche bag.

As weird as it may sound, HvZ is a gentleman’s game, meaning the game will be fun if the players respect the game. Because of the “d-bag clause,” moderators were needed in order to keep to the code. The moderators were basically hidden referees to make sure people wouldn’t try to cheat. You could compare it to playing dodgeball as a kid. People who enjoyed playing would have loved someone to watch specifically for people who tried to stay in after they were hit.

“When you sign up, you are committing to play,” Bridgman said. “We want people to be honorable to the rules. Since this was the first official game on this campus, we didn’t really know what rules people would try to break. We gave a general list of rules and watched what happened so we could see what changes we would need to make for next year.”

One of the changes that will be made for next year is official HvZ bandanas. This will make the players more recognizable and prevent confusion with people who wore similar attire to the players.
Another part of the game that might need some changes is the rules for people playing who live off campus. There were approximately 80 humans who were never turned zombie, which was way too many. A large number were players who lived off campus. This wasn’t exactly fair for zombie players who lived on campus and needed to “feed.”

Although this was the first official game on our campus, it showed to be a huge success. The game will be looked over and changes will be made for the better. For more information about this official rules, visit humansvszombies.org, the official HvZ website.

There is little doubt that next year’s game will have more players and in turn be even more intense.

Dr. David Ashley has been teaching for 32 years and for 28 years at Missouri Western. He desires all his students to discover what interests and inspires them.

Ashely sure doesn’t want his students to believe they are doing anything less than their best. Ashley was a typical student once, wandering from class to class with no motivation. Midway through his college career was when it all changed for him. Rabalais was a faculty member at Bowling Green State University, a university Ashley attended. The influence Rabalais had on Ashley was enough to change his life and mindset forever.

“He was my mentor,” Ashley said. “What he was to me is what I want to be to my students.”

Ashley has been teaching for 32 years, 28 of them at Western. His goal as an educator is to push his students to not only take on the responsibilities expected of them, but for students to realize they need to go beyond just showing up to class.

Additional research or activities related to a student’s field of interest is a great way to further education. Ashley, for example, was first interested in the field of biology because of his interests in marine biology and helping world hunger.

Ashley soon became interested in bats and their contributions to the environment, an interest he still continues to work with today.

Ashley held a presentation in Spratt Oct. 26 called “Batty for Bats.” It was an informational presentation, open to the public, about the basics of bats and their importance to the environment.

Students and members of community attended the presentation, including biology health science major Moriah Guldan.

“It was really interesting to hear how beneficial they are to wildlife,” Guldan said. “A lot of people don’t realize how important they are, and they are the people who give them a bad reputation.”

People often picture bats as blood sucking mammals, even though vampire bats are only found in parts of South America. No one really knows how the story of Dracula ended up in Transylvania, since there are no vampire bats there. People also think of rabies when they think of bats. Although bats are carriers of rabies, raccoons are the real kings of rabies. Raccoons and skunks both are higher on the list of carriers than bats, according to Ashley’s presentation.

Ashley has been a strong supporter of applied learning throughout his teaching career. For years he has taken trips to do studies on multiple subjects, most often involving cave exploring. Some of his biggest contributions to biology have involved bringing awareness of newly listed endangered animals and studying environmental changes when certain animals are taken out of the picture. An example would be a study on “white-nose syndrome,” a deadly disease that is rapidly spreading within the bat community.

Ashley will say that he feels his biggest contribution to the field of biology is being an educator. His biggest goal in his career is to successfully train students who are pursuing careers in field of science.

“I push all my students to make them do their best,” Ashley said. “I want my students to find out what interests them, work their hardest for it, and it will be fulfilling.”

We have hit an era now where scary is being pushed out and funny is being sucked in. If it wasn’t for the continuing outpour of monster movies such as “Zombieland” and the “Twilight” saga, zombies and vampires might have disappeared from Halloween. This is just like how no one has dressed like a mummy since the Disney movie “Under Wraps” came out in 1997.

Thanks to the public’s obsession with the media, we now have choices for Halloween costumes that we never had before. Dress up as any celebrity who has done stupid things, is very cocky or is hated by a lot of people, and you will automatically get great reviews on your costume. Any one of those three characteristics will be good enough, but the more of those characteristics you have, the better. If you don’t watch TV or care about the media, that’s fine. Google around for some of the dumbest, cockiest, most hated people in America, and they surprisingly match up with some of the best Halloween costume ideas. Go figure.

“Jersey Shore” characters are probably some of the first people you think of. If there is a store in America that sells Halloween costumes without “Jersey Shore” choices, they probably are facing bankruptcy right about now. Try finding a more affordable, easier, and more talked about costume than “Jersey Shore” characters. Spike or “poof” your hair up with either a ton of gel or hairspray, spray yourself orange, dress like a tool or prostitute, and you might grab yourself a nice “costume of the night” award.

If “Jersey Shore” just isn’t your thing, there are plenty other celebrities just asking for this kind of attention. Charlie Sheen has proven that with a “#winning” attitude, anyone can become America’s most popular Halloween costume. That’s right, the former star of “Two and a Half Men” is the most requested and sold costume so far this year, according to ABC.

“I haven’t really seen anyone buy Charlie Sheen stuff yet,” Edward Franklin said, a Missouri Western student who works at the South End Halloween Spirit store in St. Joseph. “A lot of people try his stuff on though, or at least look at it. The ‘Where’s Waldo’ costume gets a lot of looks too; it’s one of our newer costumes.”

Recently crowned 2011 Homecoming king Weston Baker may be one of those customers looking at the “Where’s Waldo” costume.

“I was thinking about being Waldo,” Baker said. “He’s a pretty cool dude.”
Not too far behind Charlie and “Waldo” sit costumes of stars such as Lady Gaga, Katie Perry and the luscious hair of the soon-to-be victim of puberty Justin Bieber. The wigs and masks of celebs like these are going to be taking over this year’s Halloween.

Of course there will be a handful of more controversial individuals than your average celebrity. Not so much the title of celebrity, but more accurately labeled as “notorious people.” Now that O.J. Simpson is no longer free, Casey Anthony is arguably the most believed guilty person who is innocent. According to CBS, she is the most hated person in America, and for that she gets her own Halloween mask. No joke, Casey Anthony masks are neck-and-neck with Charlie Sheen’s. Even if the mask isn’t for you, it’s still one of the easiest and cheapest costumes you can do. You don’t need a mask to dress like America’s worst mother. Go to a thrift store and find an old pinkish blouse, wear your hair in a ponytail, and use your own creativity from there. For example, write on a piece of cardboard “parenting tips needed” and wear it around your neck. This costume will get plenty of negative feedback, but if your plan is to have a strong impression with your look on Halloween, good or bad, you definitely won’t be the only person in America trying this one out.

Western cheerleaders Ashley Stegall, Kerri Jewell and Jake Cunning join in on Extreme Griffon Takeover in Potter Hall Theater. They moved props and curtains out to be organized and then replaced back in storage.

In the past, homecoming has become too repetitive: same events after same events every year. Motivation becomes lost in students when things become too routine. This year’s involvement is definitely moving this school in the right direction when it comes to school spirit and pride.

“Most high schools get really involved in homecoming,” Taylor Kram, student homecoming director, said. “Most students come into college thinking that its homecoming will end up being a high school homecoming on steroids, and they never end up getting that feeling. This year’s the year where it’s finally happening: a homecoming on steroids.”

This is Taylor Kram’s third year as homecoming director, and this is the first year she has seen real major changes in one year’s homecoming from the last. This freshmen class will be getting a homecoming that previous freshmen classes never had a chance to see or participate in.

“I was a freshman last year, and homecoming felt like it never really happened,” Michelle Stevenson, a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee leader, said. “The only thing I knew about was the football game, but this year people are doing a lot better at communicating when events are.”

Kathy Kelly is the new adviser for homecoming this year, and, according to director of community service Lacie Thompson, Kelly has wanted to turn homecoming around, starting with the theme. Thompson has been on the homecoming committee for two years now, and she said this year is going to be totally different.

“We’ve never done anything like this,” Thompson said. “It’s nice because it’s a lot different from what we normally do. All the events are completely brand new, and it’s just a new atmosphere overall.”

This year there will be a record breaking participation number with 31 student organizations involved, which is a big step from the average of 17. Not only are there more organizations involved, but the rules for students not in organizations are out. Every event is now open to everyone, whether or not they are in an organization or not.

For the first time there will also be things going on that were not based on organizations participation.

Throughout the week, there will also be gift card prizes given away to random students at random times, according to Kram. The only qualification to receive a gift card is to wear “Griffon Gear.” As long as you have on Missouri Western apparel, you have a chance to have a gift card randomly given to you.

The Extreme Griff Takeover took place Tuesday, Oct. 18 when students gathered in Potter Theater to help clean up various areas of the stage. Around 175 students from Greek Life organizations to athletics to even the Law Enforcement Academy were working together to tidy up the stage. Thompson was pleased with the turnout as well as the teamwork between the organizations.

“It’s definitely nice to see everybody working together,” Thompson said. “There is a lot of unity. I think it creates a tighter bond with everybody.”

Although the Extreme Griff Takeover already took place, the entire community will still be able to see nationally known comedian Josh Blue perform on Thursday. Josh Blue was a “Last Comic Standing” winner, and has had his own episode with “Comedy Central Presents: Josh Blue.” Blue will be performing in Looney Complex following the “Last Griffon Standing” event that starts at 6:00 p.m. Oct. 20.

Overall, Thompson believes this year will just be one of many good homecomings for years to come.

“It’s definitely a lot better this year, and it’s going to help us grow — each year is just going to get better and better.”

The Missouri Western ROTC program specially trains men and women to become an elite class of military officers.

Missouri Western has had a Reserve Officer Training Core (ROTC) since 1971. A training program couldn’t last 40 years if it wasn’t legit. The ROTC is a leadership development program that specifically trains men and women into becoming an elite class of military officers. When a student who has completed the program joins the Army, they automatically start out as a Second Lieutenant. Those who enlist without the training of ROTC start out as privates, and would have to work their way up over time for an officer’s position. For Western student Noland Stark, the leadership role is definitely something he wants to take on.
“Naturally I am a little nervous at the thought of being deployed, but the nervousness doesn’t compare to the excitement for the opportunity to serve my country and lead others who want to do the same,” Stark said. “I’m confident because I know that if I do get deployed, I’ll have a great set of skills that the Army prepared me with.”
Stark has known since high school that the military was the path he wanted to go down, even though the thought of being a leader in the military was nothing new to him. After all his parents met in ROTC, and two of his older brothers completed the program before him.
Not everyone in ROTC had it all planned out before they came to college though. Not Patrick Klein anyway, who didn’t know it was what he wanted to do until after he enrolled for classes at University of Missouri, Kansas City. Klein got information on ROTC and joined after he found out the financial benefits it would produce and the career options it would offer.
Financial benefits from the ROTC could add up to paid tuition, additional scholarships and allowances for books. People who join ROTC in the midst of their college years can receive numerous scholarships and grants to pay for additional schooling and existing student loans.
“I’m a criminal justice major, and being in ROTC has opened so many doors for me,” Klein said. “It’s going to help put me through law school, because my ultimate goal is to become a lawyer.”
Another way ROTC helps individuals career-wise is its correlation with specialty schools. Most people in the ROTC program want a slot in attending one of the offered specialty schools. The different schools students try to get into are Airborne, Air Assault, Cadet Troup Leader Training and Cadet Culture Language Program. CTLT consists of shadowing and observing different officers throughout the country, while CULP is an internship-like program that sends you to a foreign country.
Rosy Padialla participated in the three-week airborne program. The program taught her everything she needed to know in order to jump safely. She went from learning how to jump and land on the ground, to jumping and landing from towers, to jumping and landing from planes.
“ROTC is really a life-changing experience,” Padialla said. “I never knew when I first enrolled in college that I would be jumping out of planes before I graduated. I’m doing things that I never thought I could do.”
The ROTC program has produced highly-qualified individuals for leadership positions for the last 40 years and is continuing to do so. Anyone interested in more information on the program can visit www.missouriwestern.edu/rotc or visit the ROTC office on the first level of Wilson Hall.

Cast members rehearse in full costume, preparing for the Thursday opening of “Romeo and Juliet” on the Potter Hall mainstage.

The Theatre & Cinema department is showing no signs of slowing down the roll they have been on since summer. Not only are they moving forward in the renovations and advancements going on in Potter Hall, but their creativity is moving them right into a spotlight Missouri Western has never seen on stage before.
“Romeo and Juliet” will now be closer to us than ever before, as its setting is moved from Europe to right here in 1861 Missouri. An idea since last semester in the mind of Tee Quillin, director of “Romeo and Juliet,” became a reality.
“This is an outreach to the city of St. Joseph,” Quillin said. “There will be things put into the setting of this play that really existed here, while being relatable to what people still live with everyday.” The living history of St. Joseph will come alive on Oct. 6 on the Potter Hall mainstage. “Romeo and Juliet” will be put into a new perspective for us all.
People that have never seen “Romeo and Juliet” before, or Shakespeare at all, will have a great opportunity to really see a performance of one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written.
“We fail if the audience doesn’t understand what’s going on,” Jeremy Edwards, senior playing Romeo’s cousin Benvolio, said. “If we do our job, people will walk away with a new appreciation for Shakespeare.”
People involved in this production want the audience to see and understand the connection they have with “Romeo and Juliet” and how it relates to their own lives.
“The themes in this play are universal,” Sarah Noe, the actress playing Lady Capulet, said. “There are great life comparisons, and I want the audience to feel the roller coaster of emotions that are happening.”
The cast of “Romeo and Juliet” know about things that can really get to your emotions. With only weeks to prepare, Shakespeare’s advanced dialogue sure wasn’t the easiest thing to pick up, along with rehearsing blocking without the use of the theater stage.
Everyone’s hard work and time consuming efforts put into this play will be shown from Oct. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m. and October 9 at 3:00 p.m. in the Potter Hall Theater. The first 25 students with student I.D. will get in free. Tickets can be purchased for $6 online at mwsutix.com, where you can also see a YouTube preview of the play.

Guturist and Vocalist Rob Frommel is a Missouri Native whose first CD release, “A Thousand Times,” combines 16 years of fine-tuning and reworking. Frommel currently plays locally with his bands Bitterspoon and Complete Strangers.

Never judge a musician by how they look. I took one quick glance at the front and back of Rob Frommel’s new and first CD, “A Thousand Times,” and thought I had him figured out.
With the picture of Rob Frommel on the back (a spitting image of the well known country singer Travis Tritt) and the dirt image on the front, I would have bet my life that this guy was another country singer. I learned quickly that not everyone with a scraggly beard, Bo Bice hair and a flannel shirt sings country.
The first time I listened to this CD all the way through, I couldn’t recall a single catchy sound. My view completely flip-flopped when I finished listening to the CD the second time through.
Frommel is your average modern mellow-rock style singer. The CD starts out with a Tommy Emmanuel sort of vibe on the guitar. Emmanuel is arguably one of the most talented acoustic guitarists alive right now, so when I heard this CD start, it didn’t quite fill me up with the jaw-dropping guitar work that I expected.
The songs jump around and change from purely acoustic to soft electric. It even throws in a small taste of a saxophone. A handful of the songs had instrumentals that made me expect Jack Johnson to slide in with some smooth lyrics.
Since the CD kind of psyched me out of hearing what I expected to hear, it didn’t do anything for me. After researching a little biography on Frommel and listening through again, I had a completely different view.
I applaud Frommel on “A Thousand Times” because it was put together with 16 years worth of songwriting work. Every song had more feeling the second time through once I knew this. He waited until each individual song sounded exactly how he wanted it to sound.
Yes, he could have sung someone else’s lyrics with an auto-tuned voice and a new single every three weeks, but he didn’t. He chose to head down the path that leads musicians to the title of an artist, instead of the label of just another singer. Although Frommel is fairly average musically, I would recommend listening to him over any average singer with a pimped out microphone.
I have yet to hear a lyric from any of the songs that explains why he chose the title “A Thousand Times.” I could come up with a pretty good guess saying he probably wrote, played, edited and revised every song about “a thousand times” over the years before officially putting them together on a CD.
It’s not one of those albums where you say in the middle of a conversation “hold on, I love this song!” If that is what you are looking for, your next favorite is not likely going to be from this CD. If you listen to music because of what it is, how it’s made, and the effort you know that was put into it, “A Thousand Times” is definitely worth listening to.

Only weeks away from their 20-year anniversary on campus, Alpha Phi Alpha is still making a strong impact within the community. APA is a historically black fraternity who definitely emphasize the business aspect of what they do.

“When it comes to community service leaders in the city, they know us by our first name,” Vice President of APA Jamal Ahmed said. “We take care of business and work hard to be the best at everything we do.”

This has been proven true in the past with multiple nominations and wins for numerous community service related awards such as the Most Outstanding Fraternity Award and the Glenn Marion Service Award, which is awarded to the organization that goes above and beyond the typical terms of providing community service.

“We separate ourselves through deeds, scholarships and services,” Ahmed said. “We set the bar as high as we can, because we don’t shoot for the minimum.”

APA is a fraternity that truly challenges themselves in what they can do for their community. They also have a lot of fun events coming up on Oct. 21-22, for everybody to participate in when they will be celebrating the 20-year mark as a Western fraternity.

Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta is a historically black sorority that has been at Western since April 20, 1996. It are a public service organization who is all about giving back to the community. Not only do they look to help out on campus, they do what they can to help out the community of St. Joseph as well. DST maintains focus on what is important to them by keeping to the “five point thrust.” The five point thrust is a system of five topics that they strive to improve within themselves and the community. The five consists of educational development, economic development, international awareness, political awareness and physical and mental health. One of the ways DST reaches out to help students is by their Confidont Program.

“Our Confidont Program mostly reaches out to freshmen women,” DST President Jessica Criss said. “Like how Griffon Edge prepares you for school and your classes, the Confidont Program takes it a step further and helps you overcome any obstacles with great lifelong lessons.”

Criss, a senior communications and public relations major, encourages freshmen to do research on the organization and see if they have similar priorities with DST.

“We’re not just about stepping and strolling at parties,” Criss said. “We want people to see how much we do for the community and realize how important it is to us.”

Phi Beta Sigma

Promoting brotherhood, scholarship and service, the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity has been present on campus since Mar. 1, 2000. “Culture for service, service for humanity,” is the motto the organization lives by, according to the Vice President Niyaa Daniels. Brotherhood, scholarship and service are exactly what they emphasize most in their organization. PBS continues to participate in numerous community service programs like their three national programs: Bigger Better Business, Education and Social Action.

“We believe in putting education first,” PBS President Arion Duncan said. “Education is needed for life, and so PBS is an organization that lets you be who you are, while helping you grow academically.”

Phi Beta Sigma would like to tell interested freshmen not to allow fraternities to persuade them to join, but for them to research different fraternities first and see what fraternity will benefit them the most.

“We let people be who they want to be, and we don’t judge anybody,” Daniels said.

PBS will be having a social event on Sept. 23 and 24 where people can come out and have a good time. They will have a lot of fun events going on, including one of their favorites: stepping and strolling.

According to americankenpo.com, this style of  martial arts is characterized by quick, ceaseless movement, designed to overpower the opponent. American Kenpo is derived from Japanese and Hawaiian roots.
Elliot realized that American Kenpo was her true passion in life when she started out by taking classes in Cameron, Mo. It was there that she realized American Kenpo would change her life. Not only did it show her how to overcome self confidence issues, it also was through Kenpo that she would meet her future husband Braden. Braden, a third degree black belt, and Elliot, a third degree brown belt, will be the co-owners of the academy together.
“Our academy is definitely focused on self-defense,” Elliot said. “Not only does it give you the ability to defend yourself, it also gives you the confidence to do everyday tasks, such as speaking in public or going to a job interview.” 

Elliot is definitely someone who is aware of the possible anxiety issues that come out with public speaking and audiences. She is a Theater and Cinema major in her junior year here at Missouri Western. She plans on becoming a high school theater teacher when she gets her degree. Education and American Kenpo are what she always wants to be a part of. Elliot has always looked up to the creator of American Kenpo Ed Parker, and she lives her life by Parker’s saying “condition and guts take over where knowledge and skill end.”

Condition and guts are exactly what American Kenpo gives you, and has given Elliot. This was proven when Elliot broke her wrist the day before her first  tournament. She decided to deny getting a cast on it in order to stay qualified to compete. Not only did she compete with no cast on a day old broken wrist, she took first place in her division. “Scholar and Warrior Kenpo Academy” was named “Scholar and Warrior” to emphasize exactly what is important to them.

“You can’t just train your mind, you can’t just train your body,” Elliot said. “You have to train both.”

The academy already has approximately 15-20 people ready to start Kenpo classes and are inviting more to join. Elliot and Braden are eager for newcomers into Kenpo to at least give it a try. For the people who have never tried American Kenpo before, the academy is having their first two classes to be free of charge. You can find more information about the academy at www.swKenpoacademy.com or by calling (816)-689-3669. Carol and Gene are ready to welcome anyone interested into their new facility at 709 Edmond St., right next to the Missouri Theater.