Sports

Masonettes Enrich Dancer’s College Experience

Sports November 5, 2012 at 12:10 pm Comments are Disabled

After the buzzer sounds, the crowd settles back and the teams head to the locker room, the floor is taken over by energetic dance moves. The Masonettes have been getting the crowd excited the whole game, but halftime is their time to show off all their hard work. One member that knows all about the time spent to try to perfect routines is Lindsey Iandolo, captain of the Masonettes. She is now a senior, but her dedication to the team started even before auditions. “I have been dancing since I was two years old, so being able to continue my dancing career was a major factor in picking a college,” Iandolo said. When she saw Mason’s program, she decided that it was something she would love being a part of. She audition was a grueling 7-hour process, but all the work paid off when she found out that she had made the team. Now began the practices three days a week for the big performances. “At first it was nerve wracking to perform, but now it is a lot of fun to perform and have everyone see the results of our hard work,” Iandolo said. On top of all the […]
Fencing Lunges at Expansion

Sports November 5, 2012 at 12:04 pm Comments are Disabled

Fencing, has become a dying sport in the world today. But that is slowly changing as collegiate fencing programs are sprouting up throughout the nation, forming their own conferences and competing in tournaments. With a new president leading the way, Mason’s fencing team is looking to make its mark on Mason sports, clinch the division and go even further in their quest for success. Since its formation in 2008, the team has managed to maintain the number one seed in their conference this season. With one tournament under their belts, Mason’s fencing team won gold in the individual fencing tournament on Oct. 14 and are looking to defend this title in their upcoming tournament on Nov. 18 at Saint John’s University. “Our conference is a large one with two new additions, including Drexel and Georgetown,” captain Khalfan Javaid said. “There are excellent teams with great coaching and we have to work hard to be the best.” Their number one title has come with a lot of determination and dedication as the team is one of the few in the conference without a coach. “Since we do not have a coach, we have to put more research into the sport and […]
Memories to Last a Lifetime: Field Hockey Season Comes to a Close

Featured, Sports November 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm Comments are Disabled

With her last season playing field hockey as a Patriot at its end, senior Kristin Clark looks back on her three year career with a heavy heart, but with memories that will last a lifetime. She is set to graduate in the spring. “I’m so sad that this is my last year,” said Clark. “It was definitely all worth it, though.” Clark, team captain and president of this club, started playing the sport 10 years ago after noticing how enthralled her older sister was with the game. “Growing up, you always want to be like your older siblings, so naturally I wanted to play field hockey as well,” Clark said. “She’s my biggest influence.” Clark joined the field hockey club her freshman year, and is hoping to continue her career as a player after graduation. This past season, the team’s record was 3-5-1. Many of those losses were tight, close games that could have gone either way. This was a major increase from their last season, in which the team lost almost all their games. Clark attributes this change to the new group of freshmen who were fully committed to the success of the sport and their team. “One game […]
Injuries Derail Soccer Streak

Sports October 31, 2012 at 11:19 am Comments are Disabled

Injuries can make or break a season. Unfortunately for Mason’s men’s soccer team, injuries have plagued them all season, derailed a 6-0 start to the season, and the 20th ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. Starting off the season so well and earning a spot in the rankings is a testament to the hard work put in by the young Mason team. After graduation and the loss of key players from last season’s roster, Mason had 12 freshmen on this year’s team. Coach Greg Andrulis was not terribly concerned about the youth and inexperience of this year’s team. “With 12 freshmen, there was bound to be some growing pains, but with terrific leadership from our captains and seniors, we we able to come together as a group fairly quickly.” Mason’s team could not have written up a better start to this season. After reeling off road wins against two local schools, George Washington University and American University, Mason continued its great start by winning three games in a row of a five-game home stand and besting St. Peter’s, St. Francis, and University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Mason’s 6-0 start to the season was the best record in […]
Diversity at the Crease

Sports October 31, 2012 at 11:17 am Comments are Disabled

The men’s lacrosse club, while not known to most Mason students, is a part of the long standing excellence of Mason athletics. Not only are the athletes exceptional in their abilities, but they also epitomize the diversity for which Mason is so well known. While the program has been around for years, in the past four years, the team has become far more organized, putting together a team of top athletes from many different backgrounds. “We are different from most teams in that we have many transfer students who played at Division I schools,” junior James Ho said. “These are guys who had the opportunity to play Division I lacrosse and I feel this gives us a competitive edge.” In addition to the transfer students who add depth to the team, many of the players are former military members. These players are different from most athletes as they add the discipline and physical conditioning needed for a member of the military. And since the team is looking forward to Nationals, this type of discipline is needed. “We practice in the fall and play a few tournaments and games, but our season starts in the spring, so we up our practices […]
Mason’s Newest Wrestler

Sports October 31, 2012 at 11:15 am Comments are Disabled

Within the past year, Jake Kettler has represented the University of Minnesota and the United States in a high level wrestling camp and competition in Finland, qualified for the Olympic trials and transferred to Mason. While abroad, he wrestled against this year’s silver medalist in Greco Roman wrestling. Greco Roman wrestling is different from regular wrestling in that you do not use your legs for holds or pins. Kettler was in Finland along with wrestlers from Egypt, Russia, Italy and Estonia. “The Russians really are some of the best wrestlers in the world and to have their coach come and teach us for a practice was incredible,” Kettler said. Kettler’s time in Finland was first spent catching up on jet lag, but also in numerous clinics, camps, practicing and competing in tournaments. Kettler explained how the schedule was busy, how fantastic the food was, and how everyone made you feel dumb because they could all speak English. “If an Itallian wanted to talk to a Russian, instead of trying the other’s language, they both just spoke English. It was such a common second language there,” Kettler said. Unbeknownst to him, while Kettler was competing at this tournament, he qualified for […]
Culture Taught Through Dance

Sports October 23, 2012 at 10:56 am Comments are Disabled

Every Thursday at 6:30 p.m., the Aquatic and Fitness Center (AFC) begins filling up with the sound of African drumming. This is not a typical dance class that everyone has experienced: it is Kukuwa. Kukuwa Nuamah has been the African World Dance professor at Mason for the last seven years. She started these classes at George Washington University in an effort to make a difference and open students’ eyes to a wider scope of African culture. The classes at the AFC, as well as the credited class, teach students about Central, Western, Eastern and South African dance. These dances originate from the hundreds of tribes in Africa. Each tribe has different languages, values and religions; these things reflect back in the differences of the dances. Mason provides this dance class along with classes for other traditional dance genres, but this class can help anyone from dance majors to mathematics majors become better dancers. “All types of genres take from African dance. The fundamentals of dance come from Africa,” Nuamah said. Even if people are more concerned with getting a good workout than the dance aspect, Kukuwa is still a great class to take. Unlike other dance classes, Kukuwa uses every […]
Golfer Finds Right Fit at Mason

Featured, Sports October 23, 2012 at 10:53 am Comments are Disabled

Kevin Yerks’ collegiate golf career almost never got off the tee. His drive to Mason took detours in Miami and Harrisonburg. It took a shot-in-the-dark email to Mason’s men’s golf coach Scott King for Yerks, a junior at Mason, to find his collegiate home in Fairfax. Yerks’ post-high school golf career started with a scholarship to Johnson & Wales University in Miami, Florida. After a semester, Yerks realized that the Sunshine State was not a fit for him. He decided to bide his time at a community college just outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia, waiting for an opportunity to play collegiate-level golf again. “For a while, I thought I might not get a chance to play again, as many coaches had already filled their rosters and did not have a spot on their team,” Yerks said. “I was seriously thinking about never playing again.” That’s when King stepped in with an open spot on Mason’s men’s golf team. “I owe a lot to him for getting me here and giving me a chance at playing collegiate golf,” Yerks said. Yerks began playing golf around the age of four with his grandfather in Williamsburg, Va. Yerks quickly fell in love with the […]
Trap and Skeet: Greatness Hiding in Plain Sight

Featured, Sports October 23, 2012 at 10:48 am 2 comments

Despite their national titles, dedicated and diverse members and their unique sport, Mason’s Trap and Skeet Club is still not getting much recognition on campus. Trap and Skeet is a sport where people aim for perfection. The goal is to shoot as many birds or clay discs as possible. There are four rounds with 25 targets and the winner is determined by who hits the most birds. Seniors Sean Renfroe, Michael Campbell and sophomore Renee Murphy are all members of the team that have picked up the sport recently and excelled greatly. All three came to the team as inexperienced shooters. In Murphy’s case, she just began shooting a little over a year ago, but is now the best female on the east coast. The team members attribute this all to their coach Gary Olin and the support from the local shooting community. Olin is only a volunteer coach, but still spends around 100 hours every month with the team. A lot of other teams do not have a coach and are just student-run. Coaching has pushed Mason to the top and is the reason it can proudly call itself the best university on the east coast. “After a while, […]
Behind the Hoop with the Green Machine

Lifestyle, Sports October 23, 2012 at 10:45 am Comments are Disabled

Last week, students got their welcome back to basketball season with a spectacular performance from the Green Machine at Mason Madness. The Green Machine has been exploding in popularity around the region, frequently performing shows around the northern Virginia area at venues such as local high schools and Wolftrap. “I have had so many wonderful opportunities to get involved in Mason’s culture and spread it across the country: Cleveland, Charleston, Richmond, Blacksburg and even Puerto Rico,” senior member Betsy O’Keeffe said. Lots of present members knew before even stepping onto campus that they wanted to play for the pep band. They saw that the group’s energy and excitement made it one of a kind. “I first saw them at an open house and all I could think was, ‘holy shit, I want to be part of that insanity,’” Zach High said. The insanity he speaks of can be seen, heard and felt at every home game in the Patriot Center. The members are clad in their green and gold from head to toe. Doc Nix features his impressive get up and signature cane that he uses to direct the band’s raw power. The bleachers shake to their beats and clatter […]