NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PA I DPERMIT NO. 32St. JOSEPH, MO

Vol 94 | Issue 15 griffonnews.com February 9, 2012

Red signs, T-shirts, mas-sages, cookies, candies and pictures: these could all contribute to the world’s best Valentine’s day. What more could anyone ask for then to be pampered with a massage, eat free candies and cookies, get their pic-tures taken and get a free lovey-dovey sign for the big red day. On Tuesday, Feb. 14, all students will have to opportunity to receive these gifts and others at the 2nd annual “Heart Your Union” event hosted by Student Af-fairs.

Student Affairs is using “Heart Your Union” as a way to familiarize students with campus organiza-tions and the numerous programs that Student Af-fairs prepares for students every year. Student Affairs Administrative Coordina-tor Kathy Kelly, who came up with the original idea of “Heart Your Union” day last year and helped plan

this year’s event, felt that the day was a way for stu-dents to get acclimated with student affairs, SGA, WAC and student organizations all in one day.

“Last year, I wanted to find a way to showcase what we have in the union plus what student affairs has to offer,” Kelly said. “So I came up with Heart Your Union. We decided to show-case all of student affairs and all of the clubs and or-ganizations that wanted to sign up. We had several fun things to do. We had give-aways at all of the tables.”

The event also admin-

istered AIDS tests, giving away free T-shirts to ev-ery student that signed up for the test. Kelly and the Student Affairs team then thought of the “no glove, no love” slogan, which quickly caught on with the campus.

“Those (shirts) went wild,” Kelly said. “It was a great turnout. We had over 300 students come through.”

This year, Student Affairs plans to top the event with more student attendance and more student organiza-tions participating. In order to do this, they advertised more with heart signs all throughout campus and paper heart-shaped chan-deliers dangling from the ceiling in Blum Union. So far 20 organizations within the campus and the com-munity have signed up to participate.

Western’s Theater & Cin-ema department has jumped to a new century with high-tech cameras and profes-sional equipment -- the same equipment that pro-fessional filmmakers have. This equipment includes 15 new high-definition camer-as, new lighting equipment, new audio equipment, a crane, a dolly track and a Steadicam.

“We’re not behind the times anymore,” senior Cin-ema student Mallory Edson said.

To acquire this technology,

however, cinema students had to make up the mon-ey through their personal student fees. When asked if they were OK with the raised fees for Theatre stu-dents in exchange for new equipment to work with, cinema student Jeremy Ed-wards felt the trade-off was well worth it.

“New equipment films on a higher level set you apart, which is still worth it in the long run,” Edwards said.

Professor of Theater Dal-las Henry said the new equipment will be paid off in three years, and then the department will get an up-grade.

SGA President Alison Norris declares one major goal loud and clear: take care of the students.

SGA President Alison Norris is fully aware of the University’s recent budget cuts. Her acknowledgment of the fact may be the reason she seemed to be very dedi-cated in her duty to help students out on campus as much as possible.

“I think my motto and my goal is for us to improve things that affect students on an everyday basis, in-stead of maybe doing pro-grams and things like that that maybe don’t affect stu-dents as much,” Norris said.

Norris focused on this goal when she went through the process of filling the four vacant positions that were open on the SGA Council. Lauren Dillon, who filled the position of WAC Vice Presi-dent, joined WAC because she wanted to be a part of the major event planning that takes place on campus.

According to Dillon, it is important for her to host the spring concert. She and other WAC leaders plan on making the event one of the biggest, sold-out occasions that the university has ever held.

Although a performer has not been named yet, it is im-portant that the concert has the biggest student turn out as possible.

“We haven’t announced anybody yet, but I will like to see that we have the big-gest, well-attended concert as far as ticket sales and stu-dents coming,” Dillon said.

In her recently-filled posi-

tion as WAC vice president, Dillon expects to always have something for stu-dents to get involved in. She wishes to have an event for students every week to at-tend so students can have something to do on campus. Dillon is a public relations major and hopes that the position as WAC vice presi-dent gives her good experi-ence for her major later on in life.

Overpriced food, lack of weekend selection in the cafeteria, and a proper diet seem to be the concern of students.

Senior Sebastian Smith is concerned by many issues with campus dining. He believes that the food court should provide nutritional facts and when asked for the facts, they weren’t available. Smith said he gave his email to both Burger Studio and Caliente, and was told that they would look it up and send it to him.

“Students don’t know what they are putting in their body or how many cal-ories they are taking in. That kind of knowledge is impor-tant to any student with con-cerns.” Smith said.

Jim Maidez, director of dining services, said that the cafeteria offers a variety of foods for students to choose from. The concern that he believes is that students chose not to pick healthy choices from the cafeteria, or food court.

“What I hear most of-

ten from students is that the foods sucks, but tell me what makes the food suck, because I know it doesn’t.” Maidez said.

“I eat in the dining room every day, and I see the food we put out there. I can tell you that there are healthy options out there, if students are willing to go out look-ing for it. I see it being done every day by students, and myself.” Maidez said.

Dietary facts aren’t the only concerns that students have. Sophomore Brittany Klever believes that buy-ing food off campus may be cheaper.

“The other day I bought a chicken sandwich from Wendy’s for a dollar, when one at the food court was over five dollars.” Klever said.

Bridget Janssen, RHA President, said that West-ern dining has made a lot of changes, but there is still room for improvement.

Eboni Lacey | News Editorelacey@missouriwestern.edu

Natalie Spivey | Staff Writernspivey@missouriwestern.edu

SEE CAMERASPAGE 2

Albert Shelby | Staff Writerashelby1@missouriwestern.edu

Matt Hunt | Asst. News Editormhunt8@missouriwestern.edu

Speedyʼs On Riverside

4.49

6.89

1.99

2.79

1.96

6.59

2.27

3.19

1.49 1.49.99

2.39

3.19 3.09

3.99 3.99 3.99

2.99

4.89

5.39

3.39

4.193.69

*Speedyʼs does not carry Frosted Flakes, Roberts Skim Milk, Pizza Rolls, or Bagel Bites ** All products compared were of same size and brand

Price Comparisons On and Off Campus

**

*

HyVee On Campus

Union hosts V-Day bash SGA strives to improve student experience

Theatre & Cinema produces professional products with new equipment

Students criticize campus dining

LOVE#JustSayin

NO GLOVE

SEE DINING PAGE 2

SEE HEARTPAGE 2

SEE SGAPAGE 2

Lauren DillonWAC Vice President

Taylor Kram Director of Finance

Christian Allison (left) and Rachel Cox learn about the new video production equip-ment in Kelly Wittenberg’s Intro to Video class.

Submitted Photo

Make a romantic dinner for 2 for $20.

See page 7

Softball and baseball both kick off their seasons this month.

See pages 4 and 5 for preseason coverage.

Columnist Gary Weidemann beveilves that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, including diversity.

See page 6

NEWS February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 2

If your organization would like to announce an event, e-mail the information to

stories@thegriffonnews.com

Thursday, Feb. 9• 6p.m.,GriffonArtsAlliance

StudentShowopening• 7p.m.,WarandPeaceFilm

Series,“IntheNameoftheFather”

Saturday, Feb. 11• JazzFest,allday

Sunday Feb. 12• 2p.m.,Valentine’sChamber

Concert,featuringAnthonyGlise,guitar;RicoMcNeela,violin;JamesKew,cello

Tuesday Feb. 14• 11a.m.,HeartYourUnion• 7p.m.,“WildOceans”

PlanetariumShow

1. Stealing 10:49 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 4, Baker Center2. Trespass 3:43 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 4, Downs Drive3. Throwing articles from Buildings 10:27 p.m., Friday, Jan. 27, Leaverton Hall4. Purchase of alcohol by minor 10:27 p.m., Friday, Jan. 27, Leaverton Hall

“The prices probably should change in the cafete-ria depending on the amount of food that is being served,” Janssen said. “I think the food court does not have un-reasonable prices, that is just

something we have to deal with as college students.”

Maidez wants students who have concerns over campus dining to come speak with him. He wants to try to keep stations open that meet the demand of the stu-dents. The last thing that he wants to do is put food out that they are just going to throw away.

“We haven’t had any com-plaints so far, however if students are wanting us to make wholesale changes to the menu, the answer is no,” Maidez said. “But, if there is a recipe that students would like us to try, well then let us know, we are more than will-ing to try.”

Beshears Hall

Juda Hall

Commons

Leaverton Hall

Griffon Hall

Scanlon Hall

Vaselakos Hall

Missouri Dept. of Conservation

Griffon Spring Sports Complex

Blum Union

Fulkerson Center

Leah Spratt Hall

Hearnes Center

Remington Hall

Murphy Hall

Eder HallPopplewell Hall

Spratt Stadium

Baker Family Fitness Center

Griffon Indoor Sports Complex

Looney Comlex

Wilson Hall

Potter Hall

Logan Hall

Downs Drive

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

CAMPUS INFORMATION

CAMPUS CRIME REPORTS

NEWSNOTES

Students now have a reel or a professional portfo-lio of their work to show to prospective employers. Some schools would have students become an intern to get experience before a job. The current Theatre & Cinema program is big on applied learning. Having a professional resume helps the graduates get a job right away.

In addition to the new technology upgrade, the de-partment has also upgraded their renting policies as well. Before the upgrade, the stu-dents would have to physi-cally write down the items they needed reserved for use. Now, thanks to the new software, items are reserved through computers. Cinema students said that having equipment past your time frame isn’t just bad for you, if someone else needed it the next morning and the cam-era was not there for their use they would be behind on a shoot.

With a first come, first served policy and different levels of rating for which class you are in at the time and what you need reserved, the new policy is more user friendly and provides more cameras for more students then the previous one.

Department of Theatre and Cinema put together a proposal spring of 2011. When the board of Admin-istration passed the proposal it opened new doors for the department.

According to Henry, MWSU is now on par with other film schools. Some film

schools don’t have the stu-dents pick up a camera until possibly their third year of classes.

Henry was very excited for the new equipment cage, which is located in the Hearnes building right un-derneath the library.

With roughly 12 new courses offered, the theater department is now growing due to the new technology given. Don’t worry film stu-dents, the equipment cam-eras are insured and when students go on a shoot they are insured too.

1

3 & 4

Vartabedian testified about

proposed budget

President Dr. Robert A. Vartabedian told state law-makers about the potential impact on the university of further cuts in state appro-priations.

“We have approximately 30 position openings, and unless the proposed re-duction is significantly de-creased, we may be able to fill only a very small number of those vacancies,’’ Vartabe-dian said. ‘’We have already eliminated numerous posi-tions across campus, and our use of adjunct faculty, al-ready up 25 percent over the last three years, will continue to grow. With the cuts we’ve already absorbed, several programs and services that directly support our students and our community may be dramatically impacted by the governor’s recommend-ed budget.’’

‘’Despite continued cuts in state appropriations, Mis-souri Western has held its tuition and fees well below the state average,’’ Dr. Vart-abedian said. Western’s aver-age tuition is the third lowest among public universities in the state.

Dr. Jonathan Yordy to replace NicosonDr. Jonathan Yordy will

be the next vice president for university advancement at Missouri Western State University. Dr. Yordy will replace Dan Nicoson, who is retiring June 30 after eight years at Western.

‘’I am very happy that Dr. Yordy will be a part of the senior administrative team at Missouri Western,’’ said Dr. Robert A. Vartabedian, Western’s president. ‘’His more than two decades of ex-perience in higher education should serve him well in this very important position.’’

Dr. Yordy will oversee ad-vancement activities of the university, including devel-opment, alumni services, public relations and mar-keting, and campus print-ing and design services. He will serve as a member of the president’s cabinet and as executive director of the MWSU Foundation.

.

DINING: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

SGA: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

CAMERAS: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

“Here in the CSE is where all the campus advertising takes place,” Justin Edwards, center for student engage-ment program assistant, said. “We knew well of our resources up front. I think people rely too much on just flyers in the past. We are going through some other angles to keep people inter-ested and actually see what is happening.”

Edward feels that the V-day themed event will allow students to use the resources that the student affairs team has to offer.

“Any time an organiza-tion needs advertising either digitally or on paper, we do it here in the CSE,” Edwards said. “Also, SGA deals with all the funding for student organizations. If you need help to send students across

the country for an educa-tional event, SGA will help fund it. Our campus is very diverse. We want students to know what resources we have here. There are a lot of well-kept secrets in the sec-ond floor of Blum.”

“Heart Your Union” will be located upstairs in Blum Union. The event starts at 11 a.m. and will last until 3 p.m. 1,000 free condoms will be given out and Rock Band and Just Dance rooms will be provided.

Student Rodney Roberts, who plans to attend the event this year, feels that the message of safe sex is a smart message for every student at Western.

“I think testing yourself is socially responsible,” Rob-erts said. “Educating your-self about the safer forms of intercourse rather then bash people who engage in it is smart on all levels.”

HEART: CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Maidez responds to complaints

Jeremiah Jago (right) checks out at the food court. The brown bag contains his order from Burger Studio, one of the three restaurant options in Blum.

Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Blum has been decorated since Monday, over a week in ad-vance.

Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Students in Kelly Wittenberg’s Intro to Video get acquainted with the new equipment. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

New execs share goals

Free condoms distributed

“I’m gaining great career experience from doing this,” Dillon said. “I hope it will definitely look good on my resume.”

In addition to improving student programs, events and activities, SGA also plans to enhance campus communication. Brittney Edwards filled the Director of Communication position. One of the main things that is expected from Edwards is to spread the news around campus about the events that SGA is hosting.

“Their expectation of me is to just get the word out and to inform students and the community about upcoming events and things that we are doing with WAC and SGA,” Dillon said.

Edwards’ expectations are to have a good year with SGA and to accomplish the

goals that will make SGA and WAC run smoothly. She believes that the position that she holds fits her perfectly.

“I really wanted to get in-volved with SGA because it is working with students, as well as executive members and other faculty members,” Edwards said. “If I want to get involved in this school, I think that this is the most im-portant organization to get involved with for sure.”

The last two positions that were filled were the Director of Finance and the WAC Vice Chair. Taylor Kram is taking over for finance and Aleyna Asher is the new vice chair for WAC. Alison Norris feels that everyone has adapted quickly and is ready to get started.

“The senators are really happy with the work that they are doing so far,” Norris said. “So you could say they kind of fit in right with their job, and their doing good work.

Check-out process eases production

ADS February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 3

CLOTHES CLOSETThe Career Development Center

Students and Alumni are invited to visit the new Career Development Center Clothes Closet starting Monday, February 13, 2012.

The Clothes Closet serves Students and Alumni who are preparing for an upcom-ing interview or new job and are in need of work-appropriate attire.

There is no fee to participate, but an ap-pointment must be made in advance.

Eder 202, office EMust call for appointment816-271-4205

Location:Career Development Center

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SPORTS February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 4 SPORTSPage 5

February 9, 2012

The Griffon News

Expectations are at an all-time high for Missouri Western baseball after be-ing picked to finish third in the MIAA preseason coaches poll.

“It’s a compliment from the league,” coach Buzz Verdasco said. “The league is tough regard-less of where you start out. I think the little bit of experience that we have coming back, in addition to some new guys are go-ing to make for a little better of a season.”

The Griffons finished last season with a record of 26-25 and went 24-19 in MIAA conference play. The Griffons are return-ing three starting pitchers and some key relief. Matt Bergin went 10-6 last season with a team-low 2.54 earned run average. Oliver Kadey

went 4-5 after appearing in 13 games with 10 starts accumulating a 5.58 ERA and Nick Jarudo went 7-3 with a 5.94 ERA. Tyler Riddle had a 4.31 ERA in 19 relief appearances. All four players are return-ing this season.“We are excited about

the experience coming back, but you have to per-form,” Verdasco said. “We have some guys who have been through it, and that sometimes helps.”

On offense, Western will have to make up for the loss of power hitter Isaac Rome, who led the team with nine home runs and was tied for the lead in runs batted in with 42.

“I feel like we lost a big power stick, but this year I feel like we are g o -ing to h a v e

more consistent power throughout the whole lineup,” Spencer Shockley said.

Shockley is the return-ing team-leader in home runs with five and RBIs with 42. He’s also the re-turning team-leader in av-erage, hitting at .319 last season.

Outfielders Shawn Egge and Bubba Dotson, both JUCO transfers, are play-ers that are expected to add power to the lineup.

According to Verdasco, the strength of the team is its overall balance on both sides of the ball.

“I think our offense is going to balance with some returning pitching that will be a little bit ex-perienced,” Verdasco said.

“Hopefully the run pro-duction will allow

our pitching staff to pitch more freely

and aggres-sively than

in the past. K n o w -

ing that we could poten-tially score more runs than we did last year is going to boost their confidence as a staff.”

The team returns Hon-orable Mention All-MIAA catcher Tony Loeffler, who is confident that his senior season will be a good one.

“I think this team can be one of the best teams that Western has ever had and I’ve ever played on, so the expectations are really high,” Loeffler said. “We talk about how we ex-pect to be good a lot. We try and stay humble, go out there with the right mental-i t y

a n d play as hard as we can.”

We s t e r n b a s e b a l l

s t a r t s

its season at North Ala-bama, who went 37-14 last season with a NCAA Regional appearance. Its first home appearance is at 2 p.m. on Feb. 24 against Nebraska-Kearney.

Expectations high for baseball seasonKyle Inman | Asst. Sports Editorkinman@missouriwestern.edu

From his high school in Millbrae, Calif., to a junior college, to Division I school New Mexico State to Mis-souri Western, star catcher Tony Loeffler has come a long way to reach where he is to-day.

After a stand-out high school career which got him a seat in his high school’s Hall of Fame, Loeffler kick-started his collegiate career by at-tending Skyline College. It was from this junior college that Western’s head coach Buzz Verduzco began to re-cruit him.

“I just really liked how the coach recruited me,” Loeffler said. “I stayed in contact with him, and when things didn’t work out at New Mexico State I talked to him again and ended up coming here.”

Although Loeffler chose to play Division I, coach Ver-duzco’s recruiting ability ul-timately panned out to Loef-fler transferring here. Most people would assume that it would be tough switching from three different collegiate baseball programs.

“It’s different, some things are easier, but other things can be difficult going from school-to-school,” Loeffler said. “The main thing for this school was that it really felt like home. The guys are great, the coaches are great and everyone is real easy to get along with.”

Loeffler brings a wide vari-ety of playing experience, and is one of nine seniors on this year’s roster. As one of the team leaders, Loeffler tries to leave everything on the field by playing his hardest. This is one of the big things he wants to leave behind for the

younger players to grasp and pass on themselves.

Last season, Loeffler re-ceived an honorable mention as All-MIAA catcher. This season, Loeffler could very well be the best catcher in the MIAA. Loeffler is not one to dwell on personal accom-plishments, but rather focus more on what the team can accomplish. His best memo-

ries are even that of the team truly coming together.

His favorite baseball mem-ory was last season against Fort Hays State in the con-ference tournament. Western was trailing Fort Hays 2-4 go-ing into the ninth inning and pulled together by scoring in three runs to win 5-4.

“That was the best ‘team’ feeling I’ve ever had in my

life,” Loeffler said.The 2012 season will start

for the Griffons on Feb. 18, at North Alabama, a school transitioning into a D-I pro-gram. This is a tough team that beat Western last year a total of 26-4. They already started off this season strong with a big win against Ken-tucky State 24-4.

“They’re a good team,”

Loeffler said. “We just have to go in there with confidence and play as hard as we can, and I think we can come out with a couple wins in that se-ries.”

We will get to see the Grif-fons play in their home open-er when they take on Nebras-ka-Kearney Feb. 24.

Loeffler enters senior year with confidenceChristian Mengel | Asst. Features Editorcmengel@missouriwestern.edu

Missouri Western soft-ball doesn’t believe in pre-season rankings. The team just wants to play.

After experiencing the aftermath of a high-fore-cast, coach Jennifer Bagley didn’t necessarily care for what people thought about

this year’s squad. How-ever, after winning its

first regular season MIAA Champi-

onship, she does think

this team can do

m o r e than just

duplicate an excep-

tional 2011 cam-paign.

“What felt good about that season was

the hunger that team had to make right,” Bagley said. “They were motivated themselves to just say, ‘This is not going to happen again.’ I was really proud of the way our team last year responded.”

Western received eight first-place votes in the coaches preseason poll. Be-sides the conference, West-ern is placed in the top-25 nationally (23) in NFCA’s preseason pool.

It’s not the first time this team has been projected to place high.

The 2011 season came just one year after a frustrating 2010 year. Two years ago, Western looked like an NCAA national champion. With St. Joseph being the tournament host, Western was picked eighth in the preseason polls.

The Griffons didn’t meet that expectation; they didn’t come close. Western finished .500, and it was one of only two seasons since 2005 that Western did not make the playoffs.

With that in mind, the softball team isn’t looking ahead to anything. The core believes that as long as they play every game with solid pitching and good offense, the Griffons can win the conference.

“I’m very excited to see how are team is. It’s a new year so hopefully we can start it off well,” said Jack-ie Bishop, returning pitch-er who was Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Conference in 2011.

Coming in as a fresh-man, many teams didn’t expect much out of Bish-op. However, the 5-foot-8 sophomore won 25 games in 31 starts and had 224 strikeouts.

It’s reasons like that which make Bagley think twice about expectations and predictions.

“I never know how were going to be,” Bagley said. “I always see, as a coach, the things that you need to do better. You see the holes that you do have. And I al-ways give credit to other teams in our conference because you don’t really know what they’re going to be putting on the field in February either.”

Western returns 10 of its 17 players. After losing home run sluggers Brittany Douglas and Toni Dance, the Griffons are left with a hole to fill.

Bagley recruited Ken-dall Sorensen, an out-fielder from Sacra-mento City College, to help with the hitting. Western also returns catcher Keri Lorbert, a junior who placed their on the team with 11 homers.

Along with Lorbert, Maegan Roemmich returns to the team as a junior. Ro-emmich tied second on the team with 33 runs scored.

Adding to the list of re-turning players are seniors Blair Stalder and Leah Steele. Stalder hit 11 dou-bles and Steele started all 55 games in 2011 -- both currently occupy the sec-ond and first base, respec-tively.

“I feel good about our returning players,” Bagley said. “We have a handful of girls that I feel like will get their home runs too. We’ll have probably five girls that will get five home runs or more.”

Western was second in the league last year in earned runs averaged. The only team that topped the Griffons was Nebraska-Omaha, who has since moved past the MIAA and into Division I. With UNO

leaving, one player pre-ferred to stay in the MIAA.

Sarah Elliot looks to step in and provide solid de-fense for the Griffons. El-liott chose to leave UNO when the option presented itself and said both of her sisters are expected to at-tend Western in the future, part of her reason to play here.

The junior shortstop stole 10 bases for her previous squad.

“I wanted to stay close to home,” said Elliott, who is from Platte City. “Everyone clicks here. Everyone’s a team.”

The Griffons also received help from a solid freshman class, according to Bagley.

Breanna Fleschner, from St. Charles, Mo., is expected to start in the outfield.

“We have to handle the ball in the circle,” Bagley said. “If we can pitch well, we can forgive a lot of other things. Last year our home runs covered up a lot of stuff. This year I feel like how we handle the ball de-fensively is going to cover up what may not be able to produce well offensively.”

The Griffons kick off their 2012 season this week-end in Arkadelphia, Ark., where they are scheduled to play six games. They play their first home game March 6 against Quincy.

Softball places 23rd nationallyThomas Huitt-JohnsonSports Editorthuittjohnson@missouriwestern.edu

After dominating the MIAA as a freshman last season, the last thing pitch-er Jackie Bishop is con-cerned about is slipping into a sophomore slump. In fact, she’s never even heard of such a thing.

“Is there really one?” Bishop said. “I’d like to think there wasn’t. I’ve never heard of one; hope-fully that doesn’t happen.”

Bishop accumulated a 26-5 record as a freshman with a 1.22 earned run aver-age and struck out 224 bat-ters, holding teams to a .198 batting average. She was named MIAA player of the week three times, MIAA Freshman of the Year and was named First Team All-MIAA after the season. She threw two no hitters, in-cluding one in the first ever game played at the Spring Sports Complex. Coach Jen Bagley expects her super-sophomore to build on the great start to her Missouri Western career.

“I need Jackie to do at the very minimum what she did last year,” Bagley said. “It’s difficult being a fresh-

man and coming back for your sophomore year as a pitcher because now every-body in our conference has a scouting report on what she throws. Everybody is trying to figure out how to pick her lock.”

Bishop’s strongest pitch-es are her rise ball and curve ball, but she has been focusing on adding pitches to her repertoire to make sure that she isn’t predict-able to hitters that she saw last season. She knows that she won’t surprise anyone this season.

“Since everyone faced me last year, I’m going to have to mix my pitches up bet-ter and throw some extra pitches, throw lower since I threw a lot of high stuff last year,” Bishop said. “Just a better pitch selection.”

The Griffons lost senior starting pitcher Jonnelle Belger off last season’s team. Belger played a big role in showing Bishop the ropes and countering her on the mound.

“She is probably one of the best mentors a person could have coming into

their freshman year,” Bish-op said. “She really is one of my best friends; she was a great pitcher and a great leader. She helped me out a lot.”

Despite the loss of Bel-ger, Bagley expects the ad-ditions of junior college transfers Emily Moe and Annalee Rubio to help take the pressure off of Bishop.

“I think she feels more pressure. I don’t feel like we need to put more pres-sure on her because she is surrounded by two other strong pitchers,” Bagley said. “I hope she feels some comfort in that and doesn’t feel like the needs to be the one. We don’t need her to be the one, we need her to be Jackie, and we will make sure we do our job on the other side of the ball and score enough runs. “

Bishop’s team goals for the season are for the team to win the MIAA confer-ence and make regionals.

“For myself, I just want to stay positive out on the field and help my team get as many wins as we can get,” Bishop said.

Bishop faces pressure to beat sophomore slumpKyle Inman | Asst. Sports Editorkinman@missouriwestern.edu

Logsdon, a versatile player, throws to first during practice on Monday. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Catcher, Tony Loeffler, puts on his mask before taking infeild with his teammates on Monday. Loeffler is a team player with a great attitude towards the game of baseball. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Dylon Koch takes batting prac-

tice during the first practice of the year for the Griffon baseball

team. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Bishop throws the heat dur-ing practice on Monday. After being named Freshman of the year last season, she focuses on not being a sterotypical sophomore fearing the slump. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

OPINIONS February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 6

The Griffon News is written and published by students of Missouri Western State University during the fall and spring semesters. The first copy of each issue is free; addi-tional copies are 50 cents. Content of this paper is developed independently of the facul-ty and administration, or other campus organizations or offices. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas, information and advertising to The Griffon News office, Eder 221, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, Mo. 64507, or by phoning (816) 271-4412 (advertising and news room). You may also e-mail thegriffonnews@gmail.com. Copy and advertising must be received by noon Friday, the week prior to publication.

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Managing EditorDesign Editor

Graphics EditorAssistant Graphics Editor

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Opinions EditorFeatures Editor

Assistant Features EditorAd Manager

Faculty Advisor

Dave HonEditor-in-Chief

Caitlin CressAndy InmanBrooke CarterNat LarsenEboni LaceyMatt HuntJason Brown Thomas Huitt-Johnson Kyle Inman Nathan PickmanEllis Cross Blair StalderChristian MengelKyler PenlandKen Rosenauer

The Griffon News Staff

This is Missouri Western at its spirit.

For the second time this year, Western has made national news. This time, Kevin Hart, an offensive lineman who lied four years ago about being signed to a Division I school, will now play at Western.

This isn’t an underdog story. This is a Western story. Sure, Hart made some mis-takes and he has had to live with them, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get a chance. It is commendable that Western athletics has decided to give him that chance.

This isn’t important because he’s a good lineman. It isn’t important because now we stand a better chance of beating Northwest Missouri State again. It isn’t important because we don’t think he’s going to make the same mistake again. It isn’t even important because again, Western coming place.

Amid budget cuts, tuition freezes and depleting state appropriations, Western

Cassie Parsleysophomore

“I think you pay for your parking spot because it’s cheaper to go to

McDonalds, but you lose your spot.”

“A guy can’t complain if he’s hungry right?”

Scott Daysophomore

Laci Shoemakersophomore

“I think it tastes okay; it’s pretty good. I eat the

bagels and stuff.”

CAMPUS VOICEWhat do you think about the campus food at Western?

Read WallNon-degree-seeking

student

“If you can’t afford to eat it, it doesn’t matter how good

it is.”

Nichole Wallacejunior

“It’s overpriced as all university food is.”

Check out the full responses at

GriffonNews.com

Every generation of Americans must confront a critical question: what holds our nation together? The melting-pot concept is one of our defining features and an integral part of our his-tory. It provides a common identity and a shared story that unites our diverse soci-ety. E pluribus unum: out of many, one. While our nation still falters, after 235 years of turbulence we are closer than ever to achieving equal-ity among all Americans.

Multiculturalism positive-ly contributes to this strug-gle by promoting diversity, tolerance, and fairness, as well as providing a valuable perspective through which to view social issues and establish needed reforms. It has helped our society begin to heal the horrendous self-

Gary Weidemanngweidemann@missouriwestern.edu

Matt Huntmhunt8@missouriwestern.edu

Editorial:still welcomes anyone. Low GPA? They’ll work with you. Struggle with your home-work? Free tutors. Having a hard time finding a job? Experienced professionals in career services.

This entire place, with its 10 academic buildings and countless invaluable staff and faculty, are here to help you.

Western is such a won-derful place that Hart, who was once so set on playing D1, chose Western instead of a D1 school. Maybe it’s the fact that he’ll play two seasons here instead of one at Appalachian State. Hopefully, it was because Western knows the value of second chances.

Second chances are price-less because they open the door you once thought was shut. The story you hear from a majority of students on campus is that they came to Western to better their lives. Well, that door may be closed for good.

Sadly, there is a future

where Western doesn’t exist, one in which budgets cuts have made the idea of Western a laughable mock-ery. A place where you can learn for under $10,000 a semester is not in that future. Let’s face it, without Western, a lot of students here wouldn’t be attending school. They wouldn’t be bettering themselves.

I’m sure there are other schools in the nation that service the same type of students, but the idea that knowledge and education is an exclusive product is an antiquated ideal. Western lets students make their lives what they want—or at least get a start at doing so.

So, welcome, Kevin Hart. Say hello to your fellow classmates, because they have been there at one point. While our mistakes may not have been broadcast on ESPN, you’re one of us: a student trying to erase his past and write his future.

inflicted wounds of slavery and racism. We should not forget, however, that too much of a good thing can be harmful, and diversity is no exception.

One new trend in ana-lyzing American society is offered by diversity extrem-ists, who view America as a nation of opposing clans. They deride our individual-ity in favor of ethnic groups. Some think the purpose of studying history is minority social therapy and even sug-gest that requiring standard English be spoken in class is “racist.” This cult of diversity rejects our national identity as one people, instead classi-fying all Americans into cat-egories based on racial and ethnic criteria. These crite-ria, the diversity extremists say, define our nation and

ourselves. America is not made of united individuals but of separate ethnic blocs; personal identity is not derived from our experienc-es as Americans but solely through experiences of race and ethnicity.

If this fad, which has already saturated our educa-tion system, were to become accepted dogma, America would decline into a self-loathing, loosely knit con-federation of tribal antago-nists. That is how diversity extremists already see our nation. Their view, how-ever, contradicts the reality of what has held America together throughout its exis-tence. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, were the citi-zens of America inspired by ethnic categories to con-front the threats of imperi-

alism and fascism? When the Twin Towers fell, did we stand under banners of race to mourn those we lost and determine our response to terror? No. We transcended racial, ethnic, religious, gen-der, political, and class labels to unite as one people and face our challenges.

Injustices like those per-petrated against Japanese Americans during World War II and the hostility toward Muslim citizens in our country today are tragic not because of the victim’s racial or ethnic status but because they are American. It is in our identity as Americans that we find our rights. Acts that violate those rights are deplorable because they disgrace our national ideal by unjustly attacking

one of our own.Multiculturalism is a

beneficial and needed per-spective in our society, but extreme forms threaten our common story of the past, our solidarity in the pres-ent, and our shared aspira-tions for the future. Despite all of its shortcomings (of which there are plenty), our American experiment has produced one of the most successful and just societies in world. Things are not, nor will they ever be, perfect; utopias are the siren songs of lunatics and myth. But we are all in this together, and the sooner we accept it the better for striving as best we can to achieve our ideal and face the challenges that lay ahead.

In this past weekend’s contest for the Republican contest. I believe it will just go to show you that any-thing can happen now until the general election. Newt Gingrich seemed to sur-prise many folks in both the media, and the Republican Party. He was in third or fourth place for the longest time, and after only one debate he becomes the front runner overnight. I bet that President Obama is enjoying watching what’s unfolding in the Republican Party.

The right wing party has been searching for the candidate who can best beat President Obama, but the question still remains.

Which of these four jokers can actually beat Obama in a debate, or the election? In my own honest opinion, I believe none of these candi-dates will beat the President. The President has done so much to improve this coun-try, and like he said on the night he declared victory, “We may not get there in one year or even in one term.” I know people are looking for changes, but come on peo-ple. President Obama inher-ited this mess, and anyone who was coming into the Presidency after George W. Bush was going to look bad. However, this President has done more in one term that

many other presidents.I don’t want to go into full

detail about his accomplish-ments, but he has repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, mak-ing college more affordable for students, ending the War in Iraq, and delivering afford-able Health Care. Those are just some of few things that President Obama has done during his Presidency.

This election will be one to remember. I know that President Obama has a fight ahead of him, and he still has more he wants to do to fix and heal our coun-try. He gives speech, after speech about creating new jobs in America, just to have his plans rejected by

the Republican Majority in the House. So I ask you this question. How do we solve the problems we are fac-ing in America? Well I can tell you it’s not electing a new President who wants to repeal, repeal, and repeal all the progress that we have gained over the last three years.

The candidates on the Republican side such as Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum are never going to make it to the general election. However, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have a long battle to go for the nomination. I just keep laughing because I fully believe that these two men are the worst thing for

the Republican Party to put up against President Obama. We have one man who paved the way for Obama care, you may have heard of it “ROMNEYCARE”, and an old man who every time is criticized by the media has to make a big deal about it. If Romney has to be criticized about creating the way for Obama care, then why can’t you answer questions about your ex-wife Mr. Gingrich?

So all I have to say is this, bring on 2012. President Obama, don’t be ordering the moving truck quite yet, I have a feeling you have another 4 years to heal and change our country for the better.

Past mistakes should be disregarded

Obama deserves second term, GOP field is weak

Diversity extremists tear American ideals apart, destroy individuality

“I chose Division II.”

FEATURES February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 7

THE BEST VALENTINE’S DAY MUNCHIES

can give to their significant other for Valentine’s Day.

“I think (jewelry) says something longstanding, long-lasting,” Thomas said. “You can get something you can wear every day, and it reminds you of that per-son.”

Thomas, whose hus-band bought her en-gagement ring from

Z a l e s ,

a l s o suggests s o m e -thing simple set in the popu-lar white gold, like necklaces or earrings with diamond studs.

“Diamonds you can never, ever, ever go wrong with,” Thomas said.

The word “diamond” may

scare students because the word “cheap” isn’t usually associated with it. However, student and former employ-ee at Zales Robby Malone,

who has bought gifts from the jewelry store in the past, says Zales is the place to go.

“The people at Zales are friendly, it has good custom-er service and they will work with any budget you have,” Malone said.

According to Myers, Zales has all kinds of credit op-tions, will put any item on layaway, and an espe-cially good deal for col-lege students, allow the customer to pay it off in payments. Myers says Za-

les also has good deals and great warranties.

So before heading to the flower shop, Malone sug-gests to think twice.

“Jewelry will last a lot lon-ger than flowers,” Malone said. “Flowers will last two weeks to a month, but jew-elry lasts a lifetime.”

It’s that time of year that lovers relish and singles de-spise.

Valentine’s Day may not be for another week, but the anticipation is forced down students’ throats, along with school work.

That’s exactly the dilemma that students and husband and wife Brittany & Josh Comninellis deal with. Be-ing a student and being in a relationship are two very complicated tasks. They both involve a lot of physical and emotional effort, mak-ing it so difficult to balance the two.

“One thing that helps is starting class at the same time” said Josh, who just married his wife, Brittany, last June.

The married couple agrees that this semester was much easier than the last.

“Half the time, I’d be get-ting to class and she’d still be asleep,” Josh said. But the couple is still determined to find time out their busy schedules to be together. “You have to make it a prior-ity,” Brittany added.

Sophomore Convergent

Media major, Stephanie Dil-ley, deals with very similar struggles.

“It’s pretty frustrating at times,” Dilley said. “My boyfriend and I go to school together and even work to-gether, but I don’t consider that spending time together.”

What the Comninellises and Dilley deal with is very common among several couples at any campus, and not just at Missouri Western. Sustaining a solid academic standing while keeping up a serious relationship is a true balancing act. At this time of year, couples are pressured to do something extravagant and unforgettable for their significant other. But with these strenuous schedules, it’s rather easy for a student to constantly stress over this time of year.

The Comninellises are headed down two complete-ly different career paths. Brit-tany is a senior, majoring in Psychology, while Josh is a junior, majoring in Theatre & Cinema.

“If you’re not in the other person’s field, you still have to care about it,” Brittany re-marked. “For a while, Josh made me be really interested in film, but it just made me

With Valentine’s Day com-ing up, students should be pondering what gifts may be nice for their sig-nificant other. While flow-ers, dinner, cards and teddy bears are sweet, jewelry is the way to go, the diamond store Zales says.

This week, the Zales lo-cated at East Hills Mall is having a Valentine’s Day sale with 25-60 percent off the whole store, as well as an additional 10 percent off the sale price on Saturday and Sunday.

“Typically, diamond heart necklaces are real popular right now, along with en-gagement rings and promise rings,” store manager An-nette Myers said. “We can find something for every-body.”

Zales employee and for-mer Western student Eliza-beth Thomas believes jew-elry is a special present one

You know how the book is always better than the movie? (Well, not “The Note-book.” But that’s the only exception.) “One Day” is a perfect example of this rule. The 2011 film adaptation of David Nicholls’ 2009 New York Times bestselling novel does not live up to readers’ expectations.

“One Day” tells the story of Dexter and Emma, focus-ing on every July 15 in their lives from 1988 through the present. Emma is a strug-gling writer, moving from London to Paris and back again, and Dexter is a strug-gling television host. Their lives intersect and diverge over the years; their strong friendship and the love they have for each other are the only things that hold their lives, and, ultimately, the movie, together.

The novel spends hun-dreds of pages developing the characters’ relationship and personalities, allow-ing the reader to truly be-come attached to Dexter and Emma. The run-time of the movie does not allow the audience to fall in love with them in quite the same way. I watched the film with two

of my roommates. Neither of them had read the book, and our movie-watching experi-ences were very different. When the movie jumped from year to year, there were often ends left hanging and questions left unanswered. I could fill in the blanks be-cause of my knowledge of the book, but they didn’t have any such luck. One roommate said that she was just “going with the flow,” and not focusing on the con-fusion. The incomplete story that the screenplay told left for a disappointing conclu-sion. An ending that hon-estly left me in tears while reading the novel was more confusing than anything else during the film.

Anne Hathaway as Emma was absolutely the shining star of the film. The film-makers try valiantly to make Hathaway look plain and fail miserably. Hathaway as an adult is simply too glam-orous to pull off the Mia Thermopolis-style make-

hate it.”However, Josh said Brit-

tany wanted to help after he stopped pushing her into film.

Unlike the Comninellises, a lot of students try to date within their department to avoid conflicting schedules and interests. Dilley is ma-joring in Convergent Media while her boyfriend is major-ing in Marketing.

“It’s a little weird because we both know so much about something the other has no clue about,” Dilley said. “It’s nice to have sepa-rate interests.”

Yes, being in college can be a struggle. Yes, keeping a stable relationship can be a task of utmost difficulty. So keeping both together is an achievement much desired. We see several relationships fail because of this. A lot of couples don’t get to spend all that time together and they either lose the affection for one another.

However, students, like Josh, can find a way to make it work.

“If you have time at the beginning of the day and the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

under from 2001’s “The Princess Diaries.” While her put-on accent often makes her rather difficult to under-stand, the audience grows to empathize with her character rather quickly.

Hathaway’s Emma is much more likeable than Jim Sturgess’ Dexter. Dexter is just a jerk, and by the time he fixes that character flaw, it’s too late for the audience to grow to like him. Stur-gess is perfectly charming, I suppose, but his character is strange and full of holes. His character development is hurt the most by the chop-py screenwriting. In addi-tion, the filmmakers seemed to be under the impression that graying an actor’s hair will make him appear older. This is definitely not the case. Sturgess looks exactly the same throughout the film, even after twenty years have supposedly passed.

I watched “One Day” on a lazy Saturday night with two girlfriends, which is the only way the movie should be watched. Don’t try and watch it alone; you’ll be bored. And if you really want to follow the story, read the book first. You’ll enjoy the movie more, I promise.

‘One Day’ adaptation leaves audience confused

Chicken Helper: Italian Fettuccine Alfredo,

WALMART TO THE RESCUEDid you catch the procrastination bug and forget to make

dinner reservations for Valentine's Day? Perhaps you want to stay in for the night and do something special,

but you're not sure what to make, or if you'll even have enough money for a dinner.

No need to fret—one quick run to Walmart is all it takes.Here’s what you buy to make an easy, romantic dinner for under $20:

$1.50$5.98$1.36$1.88$4.97

Tyson: 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast,

Great Value: margarine,

Great Value: 16 oz garlic bread,

Andre: Spumante sparkling wine*,

*(If you are under 21, water is always a good choice. It’s healthy and free. You probably need to drink more water anyway.)

Grand total (tax added)$16.95

Full-time students Josh and Brittany Comninellis enjoy a fresh start to their new lives coming into the 8th month of their marriage. Brian Duskey | Staff Writer

Brian Duskey | Staff Writerbduskey@missouriwestern.edu

Caitlin Cress | Managing Editorccress1@missouriwestern.edu

Blair Stalder | Features Editorbstalder@missouriwestern.edu

College couples work through campus woes, love prevails

Zales offers big discounts

Brooke Carter | Graphics Editor

SPORTS February 9, 2012

The Griffon NewsPage 8

Cecil Myers Call Kyle or Tanner Ferguson

at (816) 233-2900

Kevin Hart always wanted to play Division I football.

The Nevada native wanted to so badly that he staged a fake press conference four years ago and falsely stated he was going to California to play for the Bears.

The 6-foot-4 offensively lineman soon met his fate.

He was humiliated on na-tional television, and was called a phony and a liar for his controversial decision. Years later, the otherwise in-telligent lineman has a sec-ond chance.

Hart decided against play-ing Division I Tuesday, as teams fought to the final day to sign the best players avail-able on National Signing Day. Hart, who has played for Feather River Commu-nity College, was one of 16 players that the Griffons inked Tuesday morning. Western football coach Jerry Partridge said that Hart's physical, and will compete for a starting guard position immediately. He signed with Western four years to the day of his hoax.

"We did our due diligence. We talked to their coaches. I asked him some very point-ed questions on the visit," Partridge said. "I talked about everything with him, every little element of it; every little lie of it. He said 'Coach I was stupid. I didn't know how to get off the mer-ry-go-round.'"

Partridge said he under-stood the amount of atten-tion this player will draw. He has already received phone calls from as far away as Reno, Nev. that want to do an interview with him.

However, Partridge said

he forgives Hart for what he did back in 2008, and said Hart is a much more mature man.

"He's a good kid that made a very untruthful mistake back in his youth," Partridge said. "When you do a trans-fer like that, you're hoping they can come in and start, or compete in a hurry."

After Hart held the pre-tend press conference at his high school, coaches, family members and fans met with him to take pictures while he stood wearing a Cal hat. He claimed to have chosen Cal over Oregon that day. Not three hours later did people start to second-guess what occurred.

Hart said he was duped and said he had been lied to by a scout. It took over three days for the truth to come out, and he pointed to pres-sure as the reason he staged the gathering. Now he has a chance to help a team win a National Championship.

According to Tom Friend of espn.com, Hart decided against playing for D1 Ap-palachian State, and opted to play for Western instead. He had an extra year of eligibil-ity if he went D2.

The Griffons bring back 17 starters, which include All-Americans in David Bass

and Michael Hill. They also have reliable starters in Tar-rell Downing, Ben Pister, Ben Jackson and Shane Simpson. The Griffons return all five of their starters on offensive line, so perhaps Hart won't see the field so quickly.

Although Hart is the talk of the class, the 2012 signees boast talent that inlclude 10 defensive players.

Perhaps the most talented player is linebacker Jorge Belcher. The Kansas City native recorded 429 tack-les -- a school record -- and was first-team All-State. Par-tridge would like to redshirt every freshman player, just as he did in 2011. However, if any player on this list sees playing time this season, it could be Belcher.

Another player that fans will soon notice is defensive end Darrian Bass. The St. Louis native is the brother of David, and was heavily re-cruited by the MIAA.

"One of our rivals, I'm not going to say which one, did a home visit," Partridge said. "And that big fellow (David) sat in the room with him as they did that home visit. That really helped our cause, I think."

Local kids that signed on were a pair of Blakes, both from Savannah High School.

Linebacker Blake Burson didn't jump at the opportu-nity to play football as many would think, he considered joining the military. But he signed on to be a Griffon af-ter weighing out the options. The other player is Blake Deal, a 6'1, 180-pound wide receiver that has great hands according to Partridge.

In the secondary, the Griffons have Donovan Mathis from Springfield, Mo. Mathis attended the same high school as top wide-out Dorial Green-Beckham, who was the nation's No. 1 receiv-er according to espn.com and rivals.com.

Outside of the recruiting class, Western announced its 2012 football sched-ule, almost. The schedule is not complete, but the Griffons meet Central Mis-souri at Spratt Stadium to be-gin the season. They also host Nebraska-Kearney, Central Okla., Missouri Southern and Washburn. They have five road games, which includes a trip up north to Maryville to take on Northwest Missouri State, and also the 2011 National Champions -- Pittsburg State.

Soccer adds five players

Football wasn't the only sport to officially sign players. Soccer added five players, and still have work to do according to coach Chad Edwards.

"I have very high expec-tations going forward," Ed-wards said. "I want to attract players that can come in and start right-away. Those are the players I'm looking for, and I think with this class that's what we accomplished as well."

The second-year coach said

he went right to work back in August, when he took the job as the head coach for Soc-cer, and grabbed some talent. Among the five include a top defender in Micheala Rouse, who adds on to the athlet-ic pipeline Western has in Kearney, Mo. Western had trouble scoring goals this past season, and forward Brittany Wagner from Kansas City might help solve the Griffons problems.

She could immediate-ly start and adds another scoring threat opposite of soon-to-be sophomore K.C. Ramsell. St. Joseph na-tive Margot Bergeron has signed on to play. She re-cently spent time at Iowa Central Community College but has transferred and is currently working out with the team and attending class-es at Western.

To round out the list, West-ern nabbed Drew Mantlo and Sydney Andrews, both midfielders.

"[Brittany] is a goal scorer; I'm very excited about her," Edwards said. "She's a hard worker. I know when she came and played with us over the fall, some of the girls were like 'who in the heck is this girl?' 'Cause she was working her tail off when she was here."

Andrews will try out for the United States National Deaf team in the coming weeks. Edwards said Andrews is not completely deaf, but the opportunity is great for her and a neat chance.

Kelly Voigts returns at goalkeeper, but as a se-nior. Edwards said he anticipates on sign-ing a few more players, and one should be a keeper.

Men prepare for game against Northwest, hope for vengeance

The Griffon men will trav-el to Maryville on Saturday to avenge an 11-point-loss against the Bearcats on Jan. 4 and increase their chances at making the MIAA tourna-ment.

Northwest sits at 17-3 overall and 11-3 in MIAA conference play while Western has dropped 13 of its last 15 games and has a re-cord of 7-14 overall and 2-13 in conference play.

Western will have to stop the pair of Northwest guards that hurt them the first time around. DeShaun Cooper scored 21 points and dished out five assists, while Kyle Haake went for 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

Although both guards for the Bearcats went off for 20 points, Northwest still only managed to score 64. Western lost the game because they couldn’t pro-duce enough offense, even though their defense was solid.

For the Griffons, James Harris scores 13 points per game, while Lavonte Douglas scores 12.4, and T.J. Johnson adds 12. All three players were held in s ingle-digit scoring during the first contest. Coach Tom Smith will need more from his big three on Saturday. Harris is coming off of a career-high 28 points at Southern Missouri.

The Griffons are fight-ing for a spot in the MIAA tournament. Only the top eight teams out of 11 in the conference get a spot in the tournament in Kansas City, Mo. Lincoln is 3-11, Truman

Thomas Huitt-Johnson | Sports Editorthuittjohnson@missouriwestern.edu

Kyle Inman | Asst. Sports Editorkinman@missouriwestern.edu

Coach Partridge speaks about his 16 new recruits including the well-known Kevin Hart. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

Recruiting class highlighted by lineman’s past Women face Northwest afterprevious win

Missouri Western women take on Northwest Missouri State for the second time this season Saturday, Feb. 11.

The Griffons defeated the Bearcats 62-51 in the first meeting between the two ri-vals.

Western’s defense did a superb job of shutting down the Bearcats’ offense, forcing starter Abby Henry to just 1-for-6 from the field for four points.

Brittany Griswold is out with a foot injury, and is walking in a boot. She is ex-pected to return this season, but not for another week. This game is different for a couple more reasons -- both that favor the Griffons.

These two squads met on Jan. 4, and both teams were searching for their first MIAA win. Western (4-11) has since pulled out four wins and six losses. North-west (2-12) won two games after losing to Western. But the Bearcats haven’t won since a Jan. 14 matchup with Southwest Baptist.

Northwest averages just over 60 points per game, five points less than the Griffons. This game comes down to scoring. Koch is on a mission to become the Griffons’ all-time leader in points scored, and she is less than 100 points away.

However, Western can pick up its fifth victory and place them right at eight in the conference, which is the last seed eligible to go to Kansas City, Mo., by taking advan-tage of the Bearcats average talent on the court,

Thomas Huitt-Johnson | Sports Editorthuittjohnson@missouriwestern.edu

Johnson drives toward the basket past a Northwest defender on Jan. 4 in Looney Complex. The Griffons fell to the North-west Bearcats 53-64. Jason Brown | Photo Editor

is 4-11, and Emporia State is 4-10. The last team in will be decided on the court as West-

ern still has Lincoln and Tru-man on the schedule.

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