Sports

March 25-April 8, 2015

Page 8

Baseball loses, enacts vengeance

Up-and-down Gorloks go 3-1 in weekend double-headers
By Sam Clancy
Managing Editor

Entering the weekend of

March 21, the Webster University
baseball team had not lost a regular season St. Louis Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (SLIAC)
game since 2013. But that streak
would not last to the end of Saturday.
Webster won their first game
on Saturday against conference
foe Iowa Wesleyan, 4-1 in seven
innings. The NCAA allows the
first game of a doubleheader to be
ended after seven innings.
The Gorlok offense was
powered by first baseman Kyle
Uhrich, who picked up two
home runs and four RBIs. On
the mound, pitching ace C. J. Lee
started the game and led the team
by allowing just one run over 5
2/3 innings. He also picked up his
second win of the season.
The Gorloks took to the field
in the second game with freshman Josh Fleming on the mound.
Webster lost the game and
wasted a solid pitching performance, something Head Coach
Bill Kurich said has been the main
problem this season.
With the team earned run
average that weve got right now,
its almost sickening that were
only 10-5, Kurich said. You let
good pitching like that go to waste
five times,thats tough to swallow.
The Gorloks fell behind in
the third after two errors allowed
the first run of the game to score.
Chayancze Stirbis of Iowa Wesleyan reached second base on a
Baseball Page 7

DERRICK VARNER / The Journal

Designated-hitter Blake Thomas hits a pop-up against Iowa Wesleyan on Saturday March 21 at GCS Ballpark. Thomas knocked in seven RBIs in Websters double-header on Sunday.

Tennis teams take early conference leads

By Kevin Smith

Contributing Writer

JORDAN PALMER/ The Journal

Freshman Monica Behrle has won seven matches in a row in the second spot.

The Webster University

womens tennis team improved to
7-4 on the season, with a 6-3 victory over University of St. Francis. It was the third straight win
for the Gorloks since their loss to
Dickinson College on March 10.
Webster continues a bounceback season following a disappointing 5-11 record in 2014. The
Gorloks set a school record in
2013 with 13 straight wins to go
14-2 on the season. Head coach
Martha Davis-Goldstein said she
is very happy with our record.
Freshman Monica Behrle
added to her impressive rookie
campaign with an 8-4 win in doubles (one set match) and 6-3, 6-1
(two set match) win in singles.
Behrle is now 13-1 on the season in singles. Her only loss was
to Andrea Fandino of DivisionII Maryville University. She said
there is still room for improvement, though. She especially
wants to improve her communication in doubles matches.
Im not a big talker so I have
to learn to communicate more,
say get it or got it,Behrle said.
Behrle has played with four
different teammates for doubles
and has posted an 8-5 doubles

. . . each match is getting better and better.

There is always room for improvement, but
overall its a good start.
Carlton Poindexter

Webster Tennis Player

record.
Davis-Goldstein said Behrle
helps her teammates on the court.
Not only does Monica excel on the court personally, she is
very supportive of her teammates
and continually pushes them to
improve.
Davis-Goldstein said she
hopes the team becomes more
consistent in singles and more active in doubles.
Originally from Atlanta, Behrle came to Webster thanks to
family connections. Her mother
used to live in St. Louis, and Behrle loved the area once she looked
into attending Webster.
Behrle has won seven straight
matches playing at the number
two spot for the Gorloks. With
13 wins so far this season, she is
just five wins away from tying the
Webster single-season win record
held by current senior Marissa
Lewis. Lewis went 18-3 in 2012.
Webster is the only team in
the St. Louis Intercollegiate Ath-

letic Conference (SLIAC) with a

winning record and is tied with
Fontbonne University atop the
standings with a 1-0 conference
record.
The womens tennis team is
next in action March 25 at the
Webster Groves Tennis Center.

He often skateboards around

Websters campus, flying down
Edgar Road.

cussing the proper techniques

and training that would help his
development as a track athlete,
Leo Wilson said. Haile has the
natural ability to run fast.
Haile said his dad had him
train wearing a backpack full of
weights. He said the workout
would make him feel lighter
and faster when he took the
backpack off.
Anything my dad tells me,
Im going to do it. Im fortunate
to have that man in my life,
Haile said.

Mens Tennis
The Webster University mens
tennis team briefly had a winning
record this weekend, but fell back
to 3-3 after the second match of
the day on March 21. The Gorloks
blanked Illinois College 9-0 Saturday morning, but Judson College
returned the favor that afternoon,
winning 9-0.
The Judson College Eagles
have won their last three matches by a score of 27-0. Two of the
three Webster defeats this year
have been by the score of 0-9. The
Gorloks were shut out in half of
their eight losses in 2014.
Webster has had three meets
cancelled and twice has been shut

out, but lone senior team member Carlton Poindexter still likes
the improvement his team has
shown.
I think our doubles play is a
work in progress, but each match
is getting better and better, Poindexter said. There is always room
for improvement, but overall its a
good start.
Poindexter has had three
doubles partners this season,
compiling a 3-3 record. He is 2-0
when paired with junior Alex
Magrath. In singles, Poindexter
and junior Travis Blair lead the
team with records of 4-2.
An obvious goal for the team
is to win conference, Poindexter
said.
Despite the 3-3 record, Webster is in first place in the SLIAC
standings with a 1-0 conference
record. Greenville, Principia and
Westminster have yet to play a
conference match. Webster beat
Fontbonne 7-2 on March 19.
In order to reach that goal,
our short term goals are to compete and play hard every match,
Poindexter said.
The mens team will play next
on March 24 at Principia College.

Contact the writer:

websterjournal@gmail.com

Freshman track runner makes national impact

By Taylor Overstreet
Contributing Writer

When freshman track runner Haile Wilson crossed the

finish line in the 60-meter(60m)
dash during his first collegiate
meet, he didnt know what time
to expect. He soon came to realize that not only did he place
first out of 48 runners in the
event at the Snow Bird Open
in Jacksonville, Illinois, but his
time of 6.99 seconds was the
14th-best time in the NCAA
Division III so far in the 201415 indoor season.
I never ran the 60m before,
so I didnt know what to expect
or what was even a good time,
Wilson said. I saw the time
after I finished, and I was kind
of surprised, but at the same
time it made me want to work
harder to see if I could improve
the time.
Improve his time he did
two weeks later at the DePauw
Invitational. Wilson broke his
own record in the 60m dash

that he set in the first meet of

the season, set a new DePauw
Invitational record with a time
of 6.96 seconds and finished
first in a field of 51 runners.
Webster Universitys Head
Track and Field Coach Dan
Graber said he loved what he
has seen so far in his young
sprinter Wilson.
Haile is a fierce competitor, and you can see that when
he races, but what is big about
him is that he wont hang his
head over a bad race, Graber
said. He just wants to get better.
Like father, like son
For Wilson, improving his
60m dash time is not the only
thing he has on his mind. Wilson is a first-year graphic design major at Webster University. He aspires to create graphics
for clothing design.
Wilson became interested
in graphic design by watching his dad, Leo Wilson, make
a profession as a graphic de-

signer. Leo Wilson currently

lives in San Francisco, where he
has continued his work. Haile
took a strong interest in it and
had dreams of following in his
fathers career path to become
a clothing graphic designer, as
well.
Haile is a very creative
person. Hes just scratching the
surface of his graphic design
skills, Leo Wilson said.
However, Haile is blazing
his own path, and he is influenced by his own environment.
Wilson has a particular interest
in skateboarding apparel. Haile
has already started two of his
own clothing brands: Origin
Apparel and Cloud Apparel.
My dad taught me the basics, and I just kind of ran with
it and tried to find my own
style, Haile Wilson said. I
chose to focus on skateboarding apparel because in my life
skateboarding changed me for
the better.
For Haile, skateboarding is
not only a hobby, but a lifestyle.

Haile is a fierce
competitor
and you

can see that when he

races, but what is big
about him is that he
wont hang his head
over a bad race.
Dan Graber

Head Track and Field Coach

Before skateboarding, I
wasnt athletic at all. Skateboarding changes you more
than you think, Haile said. It
changed the way I dressed, and
its been for the better.
Leo Wilson never ran track
but had a deep passion for the
sport and instilled that in his
son.
We spent a lot of time dis-

A new track
Webster Track and Field
Team has nearly doubled to 46
members after having only 24
in 2014. Graber believes the
larger roster is only going to
help the team.
There are 30 freshmen on
the roster this season, but the
surprise for Graber is that like
Wilson, the freshman have
been performing at high levels.
One of the freshmen is
sprinter Damon Fowler. Just

like Wilson, Fowler runs the

60m, 100m and 200m. Fowler
says practicing with Wilson is
good for motivation; they both
try to push each other.
Haile is definitely a toptier sprinter, Fowler said. He
pushes me to work harder, and
I always try to give him competition as well.
Haile Wilson finished first
in two of his first four college
track meets.
On March 7, Graber, Wilson and junior runner David
Lambus traveled to Stevens
Point, Wisconsin for qualifying. Wilson finished 11th out
of 33 of the best runners in the
Midwest in the 60m dash, with
a time of 7.08 seconds.
The outdoor track season is
next. Wilson thinks now they
will start seeing even better
times.

Contact the writer:

websterjournal@gmail.com