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Sports

Monday, November 17, 1997

Depth helps, hurts Eagles swim teams

By JON FULBRIGHT
Sports Editor
PECOS, Nov. 17 -- Pecos Eagles' swimming coach Terri Morse
said depth would be the determining factor in Saturday's
Pecos invitational, and she was right, which was both good
and bad news for the Eagles.

Pecos' girls, who had finished out of the team medal race in
both of their season-opening swim meets, used their depth
Saturday to earn their first title of the year, as they
outscored Abilene High by a 266-194 margin.

However, Pecos' boys, who placed second three weeks earlier
in Abilene, saw Big Spring use their depth to outscore the
Eagles, as the Steers claimed the division title by a
293-226 margin.

"We only had eight guys swimming, and it's hard to do it
when you only have eight," said Morse, who was missing two
swimmers for the Eagles' lone home meet of the season. "Our
depth isn't very good for the boys this year, but they did
an excellent job for the numbers they had.

"Depth won't be as big a factor when district comes around
(at the end of January), and I feel like we'll be on an even
keel for district, so no one should count us out," Morse
said.

The girls, meanwhile, took their division title without the
benefit of a first place finish in any of the individual or
relay events.

Liz Parent placed second to Odessa High's Sarah Floyd in the
200 yard freestyle, going 2:12.61 to Floyd's 2:10.41. Megan
Freeman swam a 28.48 to place second to Andrews' Cameron
Cook (27.08) in the 50 freestyle and was second to OHS'
Crystal Watson in the 100 butterfly, with a 1:11.53 to
Watson's 1:06.53. The Eagles' other second place came from
Dionnie Munoz, was beaten out by Big Spring's Michelle
Tuttle in the 100 freestyle, with a 1:01.84 to Tuttle's
59.29.

Parent also placed third in the 500 freestyle with a 5:55:37
time to 5:48.15 for first-place Adrian Reece of Abilene
Cooper, while Munoz was third in the 50 free with a 28.81
time. The Eagles' other two medals came from the 200 and 400
freestyle relay teams. Freeman, Parent, Sarah Metler and
Munoz were third in the 200 with a 1:54.01 time, while
Parent, Freeman, Randi Key and Munoz were third in the 400,
with a 4:11.27 time.

"The girls really surprised me. I thought they did awesome,"
said Morse. "They cut their times and as a result were able
to win the meet, whereas the boys cut their times, but we
didn't have the depth to pull it off."

Among the other girls results, Key was fourth in the 100
butterfly and sixth in the 100 backstroke; Sarah Flores was
fourth in the 200 individual medley and fifth in the 100
breaststroke; Jamie Corson was fifth in the 200 medley and
sixth in the 500 free; Briar Prewit was seventh in the 200
freestyle and 12th in the 100 free; Kellee Bagley was ninth
in the 200 free and 11th in the 100 free; Jennifer Martinez
was seventh in the 100 free; JoAnn Wein was ninth in the 100
backstroke and 10th in the 100 free; and Charlee Waight was
28th in the 50 free and 27th in the 100 free.

The girls' 200 medley relay team of Corson, Metler, Key and
Martinez placed sixth, as did the `B' 200 freestyle squad of
Bagley, Prewit, Wein and Martinez and the 400 `B' relay team
of Bagley, Martinez, Prewit and Corson.

The boys' 200 medley relay team of Kevin Bates, Al Tillman,
Kenneth Friar and Matt Ivy won their race with a 1:47.81
time, and Ivy, Bates and Friar also won individual gold
medals.

Ivy took the 200 freestyle in 2:04.18 and was ; Friar won
the 500 freestyle in 5:29.74 after placing second to Big
Spring's Stephen Smith by .55 seconds in the 200 medley,
2:13.31 to 2:13.86; and Bates won the 100 freestyle in 52.78
and was second to Big Spring's Slate Broyles (56.69 to
58.20) in the 100 backstroke.

Tillman was third and Ivy fourth in the 100 butterfly, with
1:0362 and 1:0637 times, while Broyles won with a 58.45
effort. Tillman also placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke,
while teammate Grant Holland was fourth in that race. The
Eagles' other medals came from Friar, Ivy, Holland and
Bates, who were second behind the Steers in the 400
freestyle, 3:35.47 to 3:39.41; and from diver Scott Pounds,
who was third on Friday evening in the 1 meter event.

Pounds was also 16th in the 50 freestyle, and Holland placed
sixth in the 100 free. Among the other boys, Timothy
Harrison was eighth in the 500 freestyle; Vincent Breuls and
Craig Wein were 17th and 18th in the 100 breaststroke and in
the relays, Pounds, Harrison, Holland and Tillman were
seventh in the 200 freestyle and the 400 `B' squad of
Pounds, Breuls, Wein and Harrison placed 10th.

Temperatures were in the mid-60s when that event started,
but had dropped nearly 30 degrees by the time it was over.
The snow and sleet overnight resulted in Midland High and
Midland Lee canceling out on Saturday, while the start of
the swimming finals were delayed over three hours to allow
Abilene High, Abilene Cooper and Big Spring time to make the
trip down Interstate 20 to Pecos.

Odessa High wound up third on the girls' side with 188
points, six ahead of Abilene Cooper. Big Spring was next
with 171 points, followed by Monahans (143 points); Andrews
(63), Lubbock High (59), Fort Stockton (43), Midland High
(34, all in diving); Lubbock Monterey (4) and Seminole (2).

Abilene High won third in the boys division with 195 points.
They were followed by Fort Stockton (143), Odessa High
(141), Abilene Cooper (112), Andrews (84), Lubbock High
(73), Monahans (72), Seminole (24), Lubbock Monterey (17)
and Midland Lee (5).

The Eagles will face most of those teams again this upcoming
weekend, at the Sandhills Invitational in Monahans. It will
be the first of two there trips this season for the Eagles,
who'll go back in late January for District 4 competition.

Pecos girls warm up late at scrimmage

PECOS, Nov. 17 -- The Pecos Eagles girls basketball teams
had better results in their second time around against the
Odessa Permian Panthers on Saturday, in the final preseason
scrimmage for both teams.

Icy roads kept Lovington from participating in the
scrimmage, so the Eagles and Panthers went at each other in
extended games, and coach Brian Williams said after being
outscored by Permian 26-13 in their first 20-minute series,
the Eagles were edged by the Panthers, 37-32, in a 45-minute
scrimmage game.

"We played the whole first game without a time-out, and in
the second game we played straight through until there was
about five minutes left," Williams said. "We only went with
our seven girls while Permian was throwing in girls left and
right." The Panthers have 12 players on their varsity roster.

"I told them that's a good sign for us, because if we can go
60 minutes non-stop and play with them, just think about in
a game, where you get time outs, halftime and you stop for
free throws," which weren't attempted on Saturday, Williams
said.

He added that his lone junior, Shea Lara, "really stepped
her game up," and said the Eagles had success in their first
attempt at running the press this season. "One time, we
stole the ball about six or seven times in a row," he said.
"No our girls know what to do and what they can do on the
press."

The junior varsity and freshman teams also scrimmaged
Permian on Saturday. The JV started off badly, as they were
blanked by Permian, 16-0 in their first scrimmage period,
then were outscored 18-11 in the second series, while the
ninth graders lost to Permian's sophomores by 12-4 and 18-5
scores.

"The freshman played pretty good. They just missed a lot of
shots," Williams said. "The JV looked like they were a
little afraid of the Permian name at first, but then they
came back and played good."

The Eagles will go back to Odessa for their regular season
opener on Tuesday, when they take on Odessa High in JV and
varsity games. Williams said the Eagles' home opener against
Stanton will be moved from Friday night to Saturday, to
avoid a conflict with the Buffaloes' Class 2A area round
football playoff game.

Cowboys stay alive with 97-yard drive

By DENNE H. FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
IRVING, Texas, Nov. 17 -- Nothing comes easy to the 1997
Dallas Cowboys.

Rumors of Barry Switzer's dismissal sweep Valley Ranch
daily, the offense isn't very good, the team is banged up
and getting old. Then after dropping four of five games, the
Cowboys are showing they're not done yet.

Troy Aikman's passing and Richie Cunningham's 42-yard field
goal with four seconds left rallied Dallas to a 17-14
victory over the Washington Redskins, keeping the Cowboys
alive in the NFC East race.

``I'm not ready to say this game saved our season,'' Aikman
said. ``What happens from here I don't know. But in January,
we might look back and say that this is the one that got us
jump-started and back on track.''

Dallas (6-5) needed the win to keep pace with the New York
Giants (7-4) and the Redskins (6-5), who had beaten the
Cowboys earlier this season. Dallas has won five consecutive
NFC East titles.

Cunningham's third field goal of came after Aikman had
brought the Cowboys from behind on a 97-yard drive.

``The odds were against us,'' said Aikman, whose longest
drive this year was 81 yards. ``It felt good to take it 97
yards although reality said we couldn't because we hadn't
done it all day. I thought we could do it. The key was not
to panic in that situation.''

Dallas tied it at 14 with 1:55 left on Aikman's 6-yard
touchdown pass to Michael Irvin and a 2-point conversion
pass to Emmitt Smith.

``The touchdown pass and the 2-point conversion were plays
we put in this week,'' Aikman said. ``It was a big victory
no question.''

The big play on the drive came on fourth-and-2 from the 50
when Aikman hit Irvin for 31 yards. On the touchdown pass,
Irvin outwrestled Cris Dishman for the ball in the corner of
the end zone.

``Troy made a pretty good throw and I got the ball away from
Dishman,'' Irvin said. ``Troy made some great plays. To win
this way could bring this team together.''

Offensive lineman Larry Allen said Aikman took command in
the huddle saying ``This is it. We've got to do it. ... 97
yards ... let's go.''

Dishman said Dallas big three -- Aikman, Smith and Irvin --
were the difference.

``Irvin, Emmitt, Troy, they all made big plays,'' Dishman
said. ``They fired their best weapons when we had them
down.''

Then Dallas held and got the ball back at its 47 after a
28-yard punt by Matt Turk.

``I just missed it,'' Turk said. ``It was a big error. It
was the game.''

Aikman hit Anthony Miller on an 8-yard pass on third-and-7
at the Washington 38 to get the Cowboys within field-goal
range.

``I got caught up watching the drive for the touchdown and
realized I might have some work to do,'' Cunningham said.
``I was so happy it went through. I knew had badly the team
needed the win.''

Gus Frerotte connected with Henry Ellard for a 24-yard
touchdown pass with 13:37 to play for a 14-6 lead.

The Redskins finally cracked the NFL's No. 2 ranked defense
with a 67-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-6 lead late in
the third quarter. Terry Allen scored on a 4-yard run after
wide receiver Chris Thomas made his first two catches of the
season to keep the drive going.

Frerotte hit Thomas on key third-down passes twice to work
the ball to the Dallas 4 and set up the Allen touchdown
sweep around right end.

``When you can go 97 yards in the situation they were in in
this league, well, that's hard to do,'' said Frerotte.
``Things looked good when we were up 14-6 but you know the
Cowboys.''

Washington coach Norv Turner said the 97-yard drive bordered
on the unbelievable.

``They have a bunch of guys who know how to win and to go 97
yards, you have to give them credit,'' said Turner, a former
Dallas assistant who is now 4-4 against his old team. ``A
lot of teams get beat in here. The Cowboys have a great
quarterback, a great running back and a great receiver. They
had to make plays. Nothing was given to them.''

Cunningham has hit 30 of 32 field-goal attempts this year
and leads the NFL in scoring.

``I just hope his leg doesn't get tired,'' Smith said.

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