Semis Calling - Amy Nicole Photography

SPORTS
Editor: Matthew McGovern
Assistant editor: Wes Shaw
[email protected]
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www.breezejmu.org
ON THE WEB: A recap of tonight’s
CIT quarterfinal action at Old Dominion

Thursday, March 26, 2009
11
Not Just ‘Water Boys’
A student athletic
trainer’s job goes far
beyond the sidelines
By AMY GWALTNEY
The Breeze
If there was ever a season that JMU men’s
basketball program needed Meghan Starliper, this was the one.
Starliper, a senior athletic trainer, dealt
with a laundry list of injuries despite a resurgent season by the Dukes.
Senior Abdulai Jalloh suffered a shoulder injury early in the season, sidelining him
for the remainder. Senior Juwann James, diagnosed with a heart condition and a hand
injury, has missed 12 games throughout the
season.
Freshman Devon Moore sat out the first
George Mason game with headaches after
a hard hit to the floor at practice and later
suffered sprained ligaments in his wrist at
Hofstra. Freshman Andrey Semenov’s and
senior Kyle Swanston’s dizzy spells were also
a part of the team’s ongoing misfortune.
And for every injury, Starliper was there
to help.
March is National Athletic Training
Month, and while most fans show concern
as the star of the game falls to the field, they
rarely know the story behind the athletic
trainer rushing to the athlete’s side.
About 24 to 30 students apply each year
for 12 to 18 spots in the Athletic Training
Program at JMU. These students perform
three times better than the national average
on the Board of Certification exam, according to Tom Kuster, JMU assistant athletics
director for sports medicine.
“Our first-time attempt pass rate tends to
be around 80 to 90 percent,” said Connie Peterson, athletic training faculty member.
Different from a physical or personal
trainer, an athletic trainer must earn a bachelor’s degree in athletic training and pass the
AMY GWALTNEY/The Breeze
JMU student athletic trainer Meghan Starliper examines senior forward Juwann James’ bruised hand at practice Tuesday.
Starliper has been working with the men’s basketball team for the entirety of its season as part of her JMU curriculum.
Board of Certification exam for athletic
trainers.
“The biggest difference is that athletic
trainers are able to evaluate the injury and
give an assessment and also rehabilitate
that injury, where personal or physical
trainers can only do a strength and conditioning program,” said Jo Gundrum, senior
athletic trainer.
“My favorite part is just being able to
help an athlete go from their lowest point,
basically, to their highest point, and being
able to get them back into play,” Starliper
said.
After an avulsion fracture her freshman year in high school, Starliper spent six
weeks in the athletic training room, leading
to her interest in the profession. As a senior,
she has worked with different groups, such
as the Harrisonburg High School football
team, but this season was her first with the
JMU men’s basketball team.
“To be honest, when I first heard that
I was gonna be working with basketball, I
>> Men’s Basketball
Semis Calling
By MATTHEW McGOVERN
The Breeze
More than the amount of 3-pointers he took
Wednesday night at Liberty, JMU senior forward
Kyle Swanston was surprised by the number of open
looks he got.
Swanston went
9-of-20 in an 88-65
SEASON SERIES
win over the Flames
JMU vs. ODU
in the quarterfinals
Jan. 7: 70-62 JMU at ODU
of the CollegeInsider.com TournaJMU Leading Scorers:
Juwann James, 23 pts
ment, stepping up
Julius Wells, 13 pts
in the absence of seODU Leading Scorers:
nior forward Juwann
Gerald Lee, 20 pts
James. James severely
Darius James, 14 pts
bruised his thumb
Jan. 28: 80-74 ODU at JMU
against Mount Saint
Mary’s last week, and
JMU Leading Scorers:
Andrey Semenov, 16 pts
is a game-time deciKyle Swanston, 14 pts
sion for tonight’s CIT
ODU Leading Scorers:
semifinal contest at
Gerald Lee, 23 pts
Old Dominion.
Ben Finney, 19 pts
Un f o r t u n a t e l y
for the Dukes, they
don’t expect the same level of ease from long distance
against the Monarchs.
“The other night, against Liberty, [Swanston] had
a career night, and we needed that kind of offensive
explosion from him,” JMU coach Matt Brady said.
“I certainly think going forward it’s gonna be a little
more difficult against Old Dominion for us. … To
think that we’re gonna be able to get any of those kind
of points; that’s not likely gonna happen.”
Said Swanston: “I knew in the first half that I took
a lot of 3s, but I thought that they would face-guard
me in the second half, but I got a lot of looks. You
know, I even think I might have passed a couple up.”
JMU (21-14) meets ODU in Norfolk, after the
Monarchs (23-10) defeated Belmont 70-62 in their
quarterfinal game. With the level of familiarity both
teams have with each other, Swanston isn’t likely to
CIT Semifinals
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Norfolk, Va.
be given the same leeway he was at Liberty.
Brady expects extended pressure to prevent Swanston’s sharpshooting, and if
James doesn’t play, that will only
contribute to the lack of breathing room on the perimeter. But
according to Brady, that isn’t reason
to be discouraged.
“We’re prepared to play without
him; we’ve played two games in a row
here without him, and our approach is
gonna be the same,” Brady said. “Whoever’s
out there on the court’s gonna help us win the
game.”
One of the players making the largest impact
lately is junior guard Pierre Curtis, who went for
18 points and seven assists at Liberty. His aggressive approach has paid off, as he has scored in
double digits in seven of his last nine games.
After playing two relatively unfamiliar opponents in Mount Saint Mary’s and Liberty, Curtis
acknowledged that stepping into a game against a
conference opponent is different.
“Obviously, it’s gonna be a tough game — you
facing somebody for the third time in a season,” Curtis said. “But to me, it’s just ‘Take it like we would
have faced them in the CAA tournament.’ … We just
gotta be a little bit more patient on offense, and obviously we know we gotta rebound a lot more, ’cause
we’re playing ODU.”
One of the reasons for that is Monarchs forward
Gerald Lee, a first-team All-CAA selection, who
stands 6-foot-10. Lee averages 15.5 points per game
and 5.7 rebounds, and has the ability to hit the 15foot jumper as well as score inside.
If JMU is successful in containing Lee, it has a
chance to notch its 22nd win — a mark that would set
this team apart from all but one JMU squad. Madison is currently in a tie for the second-most wins in
program history, behind only the 1982 team that went
24-6.
Tuesday is typically the day JMU has
“Charlie Wholestaff ” on the mound, as
JMU coach Spanky McFarland said in the
preseason.
And with plenty of pitchers to share the
blame, JMU baseball dropped its fourth
straight game to Radford on Tuesday in
Harrisonburg.
Sophomore James Weiner took the loss
as the Dukes were pummeled 14-3. Weiner
was one of six pitchers to throw for Madison
on the day, giving up four runs — one earned
— and four hits in one and 1/3 innings.
In the absence of a true fifth starter,
Madison’s 12th-year coach opts to string
together five or six pitchers for one or two
innings a piece on some weekday games,
thus saving his top-of-the-rotation starters
for weekend and conference series.
JMU has lost four straight to Radford,
but three of those losses have come on
weekdays, when the Dukes do not typically
have their best arms on the mound.
“I think part of it’s the pitching match ups,”
McFarland said of his team’s losing streak to
the Highlanders. “It seems like we can normally beat them when we throw a power arm.”
JMU’s weekend rotation of sophomores
Turner Phelps and Alex Valadja and freshman Evan Scott has combined to go 8-3
this season, giving up just 47 earned runs
in 88 and 2/3 innings. The young group has
well exceeded preseason expectations after
>> Lacrosse
UVA Out
of Reach
The Breeze
James Madison’s slide continued in lacrosse
Tuesday night, and there wasn’t much doubt it
would from the start.
No. 9 Virginia overpowered Madison 18-9,
handing the Dukes their third loss in a row, as
JMU fell to 4-4 this season.
The defending Atlantic Coast Conference
champions scored early and often, jumping out
to a 5-0 lead in the first 15 minutes. The Cavaliers
showed some fatigue, however, as JMU drew to
within 6-3 at halftime. The Dukes made it 6-4 on
freshman Monica Zabel’s free position goal, but
Virginia’s All-American Blair Weymouth ended
Madison’s run with her third goal of the game.
The momentum temporarily stayed with the
Dukes however, as sophomore Mary Kate Lomady scored back-to-back goals to make it 7-6.
But Virginia’s other All-American, senior Ash-
“We pulled it
within one. It’s
a heartbreaker.
CATHY KUSHNER/
Sports Media Relations
Junior guard Pierre
Curtis has had his
greatest success at
the end of this season,
stepping up in Juwann
James’ absence.
‘Charlie Wholestaff’ Falls to Radford
The Breeze
See TRAINERS, page 13
By DAN LOBDELL
>> Baseball
By WES SHAW
was really hesitant because being a female
in an all-male sport I learned I had to stick
up for myself… [but] it’s been really fun,
they’ve been good to me,” Starliper said.
Every day before practice, Meghan
Starliper tapes the players’ ankles, fills the
10-gallon coolers with Powerade and gathers the water bottles for the team. For an
away game, she packs the travel bag and for
home games, she comes in six hours before
a 7 p.m. game to set up.
JMU lost two of its top three starters from
last year to injury this offseason. And while
JMU’s defense has held its own, it’s offense
has been cause for concern recently.
Other than its 11-run sixth inning in Saturday’s win over Northeastern, the Dukes have
only scored four runs in their last three games.
“I think the whole team’s cooled off,”
McFarland said. “Not so much hits as runs,
we just haven’t been able to spring a lot of
hits together in the same inning.
Junior center fielder Alex Foltz had his first
homerun of the year. Sophomore first baseman Trevor Knight was 3-for-4 with an RBI.
JMU will play next this weekend in a
three-game conference series at Towson.
JMU defeated Towson in the CAA Championship final last year.
— MARY KATE LOMADY
”
JMU sophomore midfielder
ley McCulloch, brought the momentum back to
the Cavs for the rest of the game. Her goal with
17:02 left sparked an 11-3 run that put the game
out of reach.
Virginia’s offense looked sharp early, scoring four goals in its first five shots. After its fifth
goal, junior Kim Griffin scored Madison’s first
goal of the game. Griffin had missed on a pointblank shot just moments before and also had to
sit out three minutes for a yellow card early on.
The Dukes, normally strong in the draw control, lost 20-9 and allowed Virginia several easy
goals on fast-break opportunities. JMU was able
to win several draws during its run at the end of
the first and beginning of the second half.
“We let them capitalize right off the draw,
and that’s what we tried to take away from them
in the first half,” Coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe
said. “We just weren’t able to maintain it in the
second half.”
Lomady and senior captain Jaime Dardine
led Madison with 3 points each. Each had two
goals and an assist on the night.
Freshman goalkeeper Alex Menghetti saved
11 of the 29 shots she faced against the Cavaliers’ relentless attack. The 18 goals is the most
the Dukes have allowed all season.
“I mean it’s hard just because of the fact that
we knew that we were in it,” Lomady said. “I mean
we pulled it within one. It’s a heartbreaker.”