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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, February 17, 2000
Bates seeded first for 4A state finals
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 17, 2000 -- Pecos Eagles' senior Kevin Bates will be seeded
first in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle races, going into the Class
4A State Swim Meet in Austin next weekend.
Bates had the fastest time of the 16 state qualifiers in both events,
while Pecos' three boys relay teams were also seeded in the Top 8 going
into the preliminaries on Feb. 25 at the University of Texas Aquatic Center
in Austin. His winning regional time of 21.69 seconds in the 50 free was
.41 seconds ahead of Auston Ayers of Corpus Christi C.E. King, while his
time of 48.27 in the 100 free was .21 ahead of Charlie Bassett of Texarkana,
who had a 48.48 time.
Overall, Eagles' coach Terri Morse said the boys team, which won the
Region I-4A title by 57 points over Andrews, still has a little ways to
go to have a shot at the Class 4A state title. "With the way we are here,
if we didn't move up and everybody else state the same, we'd get fifth
overall. We're right behind Cedar Park, and I think we can get them, but
it depends on how everybody does."
After Bates, the next best seeding for Pecos is the 200 medley relay
team of Bates, Tye Edwards, Jason Lopez and Cortney Freeman are seeded
third with a 1:43.02 time, behind Cedar Park (1:40.62) and Highland Park
(1:41.64). The 200 yard freestyle relay is seeded seventh and the 400 free
relay team is seeded sixth, though Morse said, "I feel like we can cut
six or seven seconds off that, if we do as well as we did at regionals."
Morse said Freeman would replace Randall Reynolds on the 400 relay team,
since he did not qualify for state in either the 50 or 100 freestyles.
Swimmers are allowed to compete in all three relays if they are not in
any individual events. Bates, Edwards and Grant Holland are the other members
of the 400 relay team, while Freeman, Holland, Reynolds and Scott Pounds
make up the 200 freestyle team.
Reynolds is also entered in the 500 freestyle relay, where Morse said
he's seeded 14th while teammate Patrick McChesney is seeded
15th. Edwards is seeded seventh in the 100-yard backstroke and
11th in the 100-yard butterfly, Holland is seeded 13th
in the 200 individual medley and 14th in the 100 breaststroke
and Lopez is seeded 11th in the 100 breaststroke.
The only Pecos girl to earn a state berth, JoAnn Wein, is seeded 15th
in both of her races, the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. However, Morse
said she thought the junior, along with some of the other Eagle swimmers,
would be able to move up at state.
"Some races we had at regionals we didn't have anybody pushing them.
JoAnn wasn't pushed at all, but when we swim against times that are closer
to hers, she should be able to get it down," Morse said.
Bates is the only Region I-4A swimmer seeded first in his event. On
the girls' side, the best seed is Monahans' Candace Teague, who is third
in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100-yard backstroke.
New track lets Eagles resume own meet
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 17, 2000 -- Track workouts are underway for the Pecos Eagles
for the 2000 season, and for the first time in a decade, the Eagles will
have both better facilities to train on, and a home track meet to call
their own this year.
Thanks to the track renovation at Eagle Stadium, Pecos will hold the
West of the Pecos Relays for the first time since 1990, when the inside
lane was so badly damaged at the northeast end of the field cones and to
be placed down to detour the runners around the sunken spot.
Along with the track, the long jump, high jump and pole vault pits also
have been fixed up, and school workers are busy replacing the shot put
ring in time for the West of the Pecos Relays on April 1. It will be the
final meet before District 2-4A competition at San Elizario on April 7-8.
Aside from getting their own meet again, the boys' 2000 schedule also
will not open in Fort Stockton for the first time in decades. The Sandhills
Relays in Monahans will kick off the season on Feb. 26, and the Eagles
will then go to the Mustang Relays in Andrews, the West Texas Relays in
Odessa, the Crane Golden Crane Relays and the San Angelo Relays in March.
Right now, new coach Ron Arnesen said Pecos has 17 out for this season,
with the Eagles strength again appearing to be in the 400-meter dash and
1600 meter relay.
Daniel Terrazas won the 400 meters at district last year, and returns
along with Len Carson and Jason Payne. Arnesen said he would also have
Ricky Plummer, Dules Guerrero, Derek Zubledia and Kevin Bates competing
in the quarter-mile race.
"We've been working hard, and we've had morning practices to accommodate
the kids who are doing more than one sport," Arensen said. Terrazas was
one of the team members to just get out from basketball, while Bates and
Craig Wein will be in swimming until after the season-opening Sandhills
Relays.
"I think we have more people in the 400 than in any other event," Arnesen
said. "With Daniel coming back and with Len that translates into a good
mile relay team."
Carson was hurt at last year's district track meet while competing in
the pole vault, and couldn't run in the mile relay. But Terrazas and Payne
were members of the team that still managed to earn a regional berth.
Arensen said most of the same runners would be tried out in the 200-meter
dash, along with Will Armstrong and Ricky Martinez, while they would look
at Guerrero, Carson, Armstrong and Wein in the 100 meters. In the longer
races, Nolan Blount and Robert Natividad would run in the 1600 meters,
and Plummer and Genaro Mendoza would be in the 800 meters.
Right now, Arnesen said the Eagles don't have anyone in the 110-meter
high hurdles, and are trying out Carson, Peter Juarez and Payne in the
300 intermediate hurdles.
Carson also earned a regional berth in the pole vault before injuring
himself last year. He and Armstrong will compete there this season, while
the Eagles' other sprinters will be in the high jump, long jump and triple
jump events.
In the shot put and discus, Arensen said the Eagles have Jae Ewing and
Micah Huffman competing right now.
Pecos' overall numbers are a little down this season, but Arensen is
hoping that will only be a one-year decline.
"We're trying to build a program. Hopefully from this year on the kids
will catch on to what we're doing and we'll be able to build on that,"
Arnesen said. "To my mind the hardest part is the first year, getting used
to your ways. The kids have struggled a bit, but they're coming around."
Bulls trade Kukoc in three-team deal
DEERFIELD, Ill., Feb. 17, 2000 (AP) - As long as Toni Kukoc was still in
a Bulls uniform, Chicago fans could fool themselves, pretending the championship
days really weren't that long ago.
Sorry, folks. It took two slow, torturous years to die, but the Bulls
dynasty is officially over.
Kukoc, the last key player from Chicago's second three-peat, was shipped
to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday in a three-team deal that gives
the Bulls another No. 1 pick.
"This is a very hard day for me," general manager Jerry Krause said,
fighting back tears. "But my job here is to rebuild this franchise to the
point where it was. We think we've taken some major steps today to do that."
The deal also sent Larry Hughes and Billy Owens from Philadelphia to
Golden State, and John Starks from the Warriors to the Bulls. The 76ers
shipped Bruce Bowen to Chicago.
While Kukoc, 31, was Krause's favorite player, the trade was hardly
a surprise. Chicago's grand plan in the post-Michael Jordan era is to stock
up on draft picks and get as far under the salary cap as possible to lure
some big-time free agents this summer.
Krause had already sold off the Bulls' other valuable pieces, working
out sign-and-trade deals for Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr and Luc Longley
last season. By trading Kukoc and his $4 million-plus salary now - and
picking up the free-agent-to-be Starks - the Bulls get a draft pick and
avoid the pressure of having to re-sign Kukoc this summer when he becomes
a free agent.
The Bulls now have three No. 1 picks this year, though the latest comes
with strings attached. If Washington's pick, which Golden State had left
over from the Chris Webber deal, is in the top three, the Bulls have to
wait for an unprotected No. 1 pick in 2001.
"The most important thing for us is the future," Krause said. "We have
committed to rebuilding this team. We've committed to looking at every
avenue to rebuilding this team.
"We're now in a situation where we can unequivocally, without moving
another person, without doing another thing, be in a position to sign two
$9 million players next summer."
The Bulls also gave Kukoc the chance to win another championship - something
he certainly wouldn't have done in Chicago. A potent scorer, he'll complement
NBA scoring leader Allen Iverson and make the 76ers a more serious threat
in the East.
Kukoc, who missed 24 games earlier in the season with lingering back
spasms, is averaging 18 points and 5.4 rebounds in 24 games this season.
He knows how to play the big games, too, something the 76ers hope comes
in handy at the end of the year. He was a member of the Bulls' last three
championship teams and has played in 75 playoff games.
Kukoc, 31, was expected to arrive in Philadelphia today and play Friday
night against Cleveland.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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