The Saluki men’s golf team opened its 1998 spring season with an impressive fifth-place finish at the Pepsi/Southwest Missouri State Challenge in Springfield, Mo., Tuesday.

SIUC fired rounds of 306, 326 and 318 for a three-round total of 950. In the process, the Salukis finished ahead of six other Missouri Valley Conference schools:Northern Iowa (952), Illinois State (956), SMSU (960), Bradley (1,004), Creighton (1,006) and Evansville (1012).

Sophomore Garrett Steigman paced the Salukis with a 234 and a 10th-place finish overall, followed closely by senior teammate John Raski III at 239 and 30th overall.

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Arkansas State captured the team title with a 920 after beating Iowa State (920) on the first hole of a playoff. Drake (928) finished third, while Oral Roberts (941) wrapped up fourth.

Football team names two new assistants

The SIUC football team announced the hiring of two new assistants Tuesday to replace departed coaches Cap Boso and Ron Lambert.

Frank Ambrose and Joseph Tumpkin join coach Jan Quarless’ staff and will assume their new duties immediately. Ambrose will take over the offensive line while Tumpkin will work with linebackers.

Ambrose comes to SIUC after working with the offensive line at the University of Miami-Ohio. A native of Oxford, Ohio, Ambrose lettered at Indiana University. Tumpkin, a former football co-captain at Michigan Tech University, coached the tight ends at Western Michigan University last season.

Ambrose and Tumpkin replace Boso and Lambert, who left to take over at other programs. Boso, who spent three years at SIUC, joined Western Kentucky’s offensive staff while Lambert was hired as a defensive assistant at Eastern Illinois University after one year at SIUC.

We feel very fortunate to be able to attract two fine young coaches like Ambrose and Tumpkin to our staff, Quarless said. Both Frank and Joe are highly motivated individuals with excellent work ethics. They both are very knowledgeable young coaches with superb credentials.

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Saluki swimmers earn academic honors

The SIUC men’s swimming team earned Academic All-America Swimming Team honors for the Fall 1997 semester from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Tuesday.

The Salukis ranked 21st in the nation in grade point average with a 2.91 GPA last fall. SIUC was the lone Missouri Valley Conference squad to earn the honor, while Fairfield University and Georgetown University tied for top honors with a 3.25 mark.

To qualify, the GPA of all athletes on the eligibility list must average 2.80 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

This is equally important as winning meets or sending athletes to the NCAA Championships, Saluki men’s head coach Rick Walker said. We are here to help enhance the students’ academic goals, and while my job is athletic in nature, my primary purpose is academics. That’s what this institution is all about, and I’m proud of our student-athletes.

Reese bumbles, Reds stumble in opener, 10-2

The Cincinnati Reds had not started a season this poorly in 36 years. And no shortstop has ever started a season worse than Pokey Reese.

Reese tied a opening-day record for shortstops with four errors, helping the San Diego Padres and newcomer Kevin Brown roll to a 10-2 victory Tuesday.

Reese put the Padres ahead to stay by committing four errors in the first three innings, tying the record for gaffes by a shortstop in a season opener, set by the Chicago Cubs’ Lou Stringer in his major league debut on April 15, 1941.

Reese, filling in while Barry Larkin recovers from neck surgery, committed the four errors on his first three chances of the season. Two of the errors came on one play.

The capacity crowd of 54,578 booed each misplay and had little to celebrate on an opening day that had already lost a lot of its luster. The Reds traded Dave Burba, their scheduled starter, to the Indians for a minor leaguer less than 24 hours before the first pitch.

Reese’s flubs set the tone. He threw into the Reds’ dugout while trying to complete a double play for an error in the first, but the Reds got out of it without allowing a run.

He committed three in rapid succession in the third, setting up three runs. Starter Mike Remlinger let in the final run with a wild pitch.