Daily Egyptian Reporter 23

SIUC Sports Club teams kept a busy schedule last weekend, with several teams competing in multiple events in Carbondale and throughout the state.

The SIUC Water Ski team took 10th place in a 20-team tournament at the Du Quoin State Fairground lake last weekend.

The top two teams at the tournament became eligible to compete in the national tournament. Purdue University took first place, while Michigan State University finished second.

SIUC placed sixth in men’s slalom, and the women’s jump team finished seventh. Senior Dawn Metcalf was the 18th overall women’s skier in a pool of 90 skiers.

Senior Jay Mabry finished in the top 10 in the men’s jump competition with a distance of 104 feet. Mabry said he has jumped farther in practices, but he was pleased with his performance.

Everybody has a bad day, Mabry said. Jumping is the kind of thing that you have to put it together all exactly right at the right time.

Mabry said the team performed well overall, but a few mistakes took away some points.

We were hoping to finish in a couple of higher places, Mabry said. We had some bad performances that brought the score down. But we are happy with 10th place, and we are extremely proud of what we did. It was a blast.

The team had hoped to beat the University of Illinois, but SIUC finished about 200 points behind the Illini.

The men’s rugby team won at home 55-21 against Illinois State University Saturday.

After ISU scored a try at the beginning of the game, SIUC came back with a score and dominated the rest of the game.

Club president Marc Bechler said the team had a balanced attack, with five team members scoring in the game.

It was a good team effort, and we came out strong, Bechler said. They scored at the beginning of the game, but right after that we scored and gained the lead. We came out strong with our offense to get this victory.

Bechler said the team did have one injury in the game. Senior Ryan Zastro suffered a concussion and had to be taken to Carbondale Memorial Hospital. Zastro is fine, though, and will be able to play in Saturday’s game at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

The SIUC women’s rugby team has only allowed one try in three games and now has a record of 3-0 after beating Western Illinois University 56-0 Saturday at the Sports Club Playfields.

Not only is the team’s defense shutting down opponents the offense is taking charge of the games.

The team scored 50 points in the first half, and club president Peatt Raftis said she sent in the rookies to play in the second half.

We were dominant in everything, Raftis said. Our back line was much quicker. We ran a lot of plays, and we ran right by them. We also were in better shape than they were.

The team will be competing Saturday in the Heart of America Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. There will be 16 women’s teams and 32 men’s teams.

Raftis said she expects her team to do well in the tournament.

We are hoping to take first place and win that $500 prize, Raftis said. I expect our toughest competition will come from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The team will leave at 3 p.m. Friday, and fans interested in attending the tournament can call Raftis at 536-6677.

The men’s soccer team was 3-0 heading into the Saluki Invitational last weekend at Stehr Field, but the University of Illinois put a stop to the team’s winning streak.

SIUC beat Vincennes, Ind., 5-1 Friday. On Saturday, the club beat Eastern Illinois University 4-0.

But Sunday morning, the team fell to the U of I 2-1, giving the team a record of 5-1 on the season. SIUC finished third in the tournament, while U of I was defeated by the Springfield Soccer Club 3-2 in the championship game Sunday.

Club president Adam Kaiser said the team simply had no substitutions and lost because everyone became fatigued.

We were a much better team, Kaiser said. We just had problems closing. We also had no subs.

The team will play Wabash Valley Saturday at Stehr Field.

The Chaos Footbag Club sponsored its second annual outdoor footbag festival last weekend at the Sam Rinella Playfields.

The tournament was an open competition and had both college and professional competition.

Club president P.T. Lovern and David Piper finished second in doubles competition. Lovern also finished third in singles competition.

Allan Petersen, a four-time men’s overall world champion and seven-time European champion, competed in the tournament. Petersen won the singles competition.

The SIUC Cycling Club had one top-20 finish at a race at the University of Illinois last weekend. Club president Mike Tripp placed 18th in a pool of 97 racers in the B division.

Al Zullo placed 31st, and Courtney Gregory finished 35th.

In the C division, Eric Wiecek placed fourth, while Pat Hertel finished 12th in a field of 68 racers.