The Sports Journal

• Football: It’s hard to say that this year’s team was anything but disappointing. The year began with thoughts that OSU had a realistic chance to go on the road and beat Georgia (now in the top 5 in the nation), maybe contend for the Big12 South, maybe even go to a BCS bowl. It didn’t work out that way. Sure, the Pokes could’ve been in a three-way tie for the South if they’d beaten OU, which they didn’t, but that possibility was only the result of a weak year for Oklahoma and Texas. The Cowboys lost games they should have won to Texas A&M and Texas, and finished the regular season with the exact record (6-6) as last year. To be fair, they had injury issues, but great teams can overcome that, and sadly, we didn’t. I still think the program is headed in the right direction overall, but this can’t be a banner year for recruiting.
• Men’s Basketball: Well, the team’s off to a 2-3 start, so it’d be easy to pick on them, but I’ll choose not to. Yes, the loss to North Texas was embarrassing, and yes, I was frustrated that the Cowboys weren’t at least more competitive in Maui. But it’s still a young team, and they all at least seem to care. Last year, egos dominated the Pokes, and a promising team fell apart as the year went along. This year should be different. The Cowboys are taking their lumps now, but hopefully they’re learning from their mistakes and will grow as the season goes on. This squad still shows a lot of promise, and while there’s going to be more frustrations along the way, I’m not giving up on them yet.
• Women’s Basketball: Finally, we come to my favorite OSU sports team (I don’t think I could have pictured myself saying that about women’s basketball five years ago, but now I really mean it). This is an incredibly fun team to watch. Andrea Riley is an exciting dynamo at point guard that seemingly cannot be stopped. Maria Cordero and Danielle Green are good scoring threats, Shaunte Smith dominates the glass for rebounds, and Taylor Hardeman is a great 3-point shooter. That’s all before you even get to freshman guard Kristin Hernandez, who showed her potential by scoring 25 points in the first game of the year. The team has already picked up some huge road victories, and they’re looking really impressive. And they’ll need to be impressive, because the Big 12 is tough . It’ll be hard for any team to make it through that conference, but keep in mind that OSU barely lost to Texas A&M in both games last year, and the Aggies won the Big 12. So the Cowgirls are close to being where they need to be, talent-wise. Most importantly, they play great together as a team (certainly better than any other team on campus). My prediction? The Cowgirls head back to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

The following story appeared in the November 15th edition of The O’Colly. Normally, I’d give you a link to the Web site now, but due to an internal feud, the paper’s content is not currently available online. Lucky for you that I’m posting it here.

On an April afternoon in 1901, a crowd of puzzled spectators would look upon something they’d never seen before.

It was the annual Field Day, a day of athletic competition at Oklahoma A&M begun in 1898 that featured running and biking contests. The day was highly anticipated for the student body, but onlookers weren’t prepared for the final event.

A group of Aggie women were playing basketball.

Women had never before participated in Field Day events, yet here they were on an outdoor basketball court of dirt.

Basketball itself was still a novelty, an innovation of Dr. James Naismith less than a decade old. Many of the people in Stillwater that day had never seen the game before.

The crowd’s confusion would turn to enjoyment as it watched the women play. The A&M sophomores beat the juniors by a score of 10-9.

The conclusion by most spectators was that basketball was a woman’s game. Six years would pass before the first men’s team was formed in 1907.

The phenomenon would only grow from that first April afternoon, as the women of OAM started a tradition of female athletics older than statehood itself.

Basketball would become a regular sport, played in the autumn and winter. The women mostly competed against each other or high school girls, and they maintained a solid fan base as they honed their skills at the young game, as reported in a 1902 edition of The College Paper:

“The basket ball game between the college and high school ladies, which was played on October 11, was well attended and much enthusiasm was displayed on both sides.

“The game was characterized by the number of fouls on both sides, but with more practice the teams will have less of this. The playing of the college team was all that could be expected, and we feel sure that before long it will make an excellent showing.”

Sexism still dominated many people’s views of the women’s attempts to legitimize their sport. The women were still judged as much by their domestic skills as their athletic ability, stitching their own uniforms—black dresses with crimson trim.

In the winter of 1904, the basketball team played Kingfisher in Oklahoma A&M’s first female sports game against another college, but the preview in the Stillwater Democrat read:

“The college basketball team will pull hair with the Kingfisher team at this place next Wednesday. Everybody should turn out and see the girls scratch.”

The women had more to deal with than sexism. The early basketball games were often played outdoors, including the game against Kingfisher, which was set at the College Athletics Grounds on a chilly November afternoon.

But the Aggie women won in spite of it all, triumphing 18-4 and founding a winning tradition.

Decades later, what these women started would grow exponentially.

In 1972, Congress would pass Title IX legislation, prohibiting gender discrimination at any educational institution receiving federal funding. For the first time, universities had to include women’s sports teams.

At Oklahoma State, many female sports teams were started around this time, including golf, tennis, field hockey, gymnastics and track teams.

The forerunner to them all, however, was women’s basketball. Long before legislation compelled that everyone be allowed the opportunity to compete, a small group of women set out to show their own athletic talent.

Their efforts on a court of dirt more than 100 years ago sparked a legacy of determination that lives on and grows stronger everyday.

Coming off its biggest win of the season, the Oklahoma State equestrian team will have another big challenge Saturday as the Cowgirls host Texas A&M at 11 a.m. at Animal Science Arena in the final home show of the semester.

Texas A&M is the Cowgirls’ biggest rival, and junior Charlotte Collingsworth said the team is looking forward to the competition.

“We’re all really excited about this,” Collingsworth said “There’s always a big rivalry against Texas A&M, and with the way the team’s going now, this is going to be a good chance to show off how much we’ve learned.

Senior Samantha Davidson said there’s a Bedlam-like atmosphere whenever the two teams face off.

“I guess because both teams have been such a powerhouse within equestrian, it’s just a really big rivalry,” Davidson said. “They’re always very good and have a lot of great riders; they’ve just always been one of the toughest competitors we’ll show against.”

There will be much at stake when the conference foes face off Saturday, as both teams will look to remain undefeated. Texas A&M (5-0) is coming a victory over SMU, and OSU (3-0) dominated defending national champions South Carolina 16-3 two weeks ago.

Associate head coach Suzanne Flag said the Cowgirls will try to approach the show like any other in order to stay in touch with what they need to do to win.

“We try to keep it more as a business as usual type of thing, because I think it’s easy to get distracted by the rivalry,” Flag said. “It is a great rivalry that Texas A&M and us have, but we’re trying to stay focused on what their job is out there.”

Davidson said the beating South Carolina has given OSU an attitude boost going into A&M.

“It gives us a lot of confidence and kind of pushes us to keep the streak alive,” she said. “On the same note, A&M looks at us being undefeated now and that we did beat the defending national champions, so they are definitely going to be more prepared.”

But though the Cowgirls have had a lot of success so far, they’re not letting it go to their heads.

“We’re undefeated to this point, and not only are we undefeated, but we’ve been winning by some fairly large margins,” Flag said. “It’s been a confidence boost, but it’s not giving them overconfidence; they’re still here working hard everyday to continue to get better, even with that success.”

The past two weeks, the Cowgirls have focused on preparing for the different things the horses may throw at them, riding as many of the horses as they can and learning each one’s quirks and responses.

The onset of colder weather also poses a unique challenge for riders.

“When it’s colder, [the horses] are more excited,” Davidson said. “We just have to warm them up a little longer just to get some of the edge off of them.

“Also, it’s really cold for us. We just layer on the coats, then when it’s our turn to show, take them off and show for that couple of minutes, then layer back up.”

So far, the Cowgirls have overcome whatever challenges have come their way, riding through strong winds and swirling dirt against Baylor and putting up with some difficult horses against South Carolina.

Now, they’ll face the challenge of a rival just as hungry to win as they are, but they remain confident in their ability.

“We just really need to bring our ‘A’ game and show the best that we can, because the Aggies definitely will,” Davidson said. “So we just have to prove that we truly are the better team. These are our horses, this is our home, so we just have to make that known, and hopefully it will come out like South Carolina.”

And if they ride to the best of that ability, the Cowgirls know they can come out with another big victory.

“We just need to ride how we’ve been riding, and I think we’re going to be fine,” Collingsworth said.

Going into the Texas game, coach Mike Gundy said he thought his offensive line was only playing average, despite having paved the way for the No. 1 rushing offense in the Big 12.

Gundy said the o-line would face a much tougher test that would show just how good the group was when they went up against the Longhorns.

The line proved up to the challenge for the most part, giving the Oklahoma State playmakers enough protection to rack up nearly 600 yards of total offense this past Saturday.

“I thought they played well,” offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said of the linemen. “With the guys they were matched up against, I thought they did a really good job and put us in a position to win the football game.”

The line allowed only one sack, which Fedora said was the result of sophomore quarterback Zac Robinson’s missed assignment, and it was the first time Robinson was sacked since Troy in his first career start.

Yet the results weren’t entirely positive for the o-line. While the line gave Robinson the protection necessary for him to break the OSU single-game passing mark, running the ball was more of a challenge for the Pokes in the second half.

The Cowboys came into the game averaging 256.6 yards per game on the ground, but Texas held them to nearly 100 fewer yards as OSU finished with 164 rushing yards, the team’s lowest total since the season opener against Georgia.

“In the fourth quarter we weren’t effective running the football, and we needed to be in that situation,” Fedora said. “I think we kind of got wore down in a way, but I also think that Texas is good, and they stepped up, and they made the plays in the fourth quarter when they needed to, and we didn’t.”

Despite most of the line having to play nearly the entire game, senior lineman David Koenig said Texas, not fatigue, was the cause of the Pokes’ second half rushing struggles.

“We came out in the second half recharged and ready to go,” Koenig said. “But they made a couple of adjustments with their down linemen. We still did everything we could, but the unblocked guys were coming in and making the tackle.”

The offensive line will face another stiff challenge this Saturday against No. 4 Kansas, who has the No. 2 rushing defense in the Big 12, allowing just 77.7 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry.

The Kansas defensive linemen are smaller than those of Texas or Texas A&M, Gundy said, but they make up for it with speed and rarely make mistakes.

“They’re not as big and physical, but those guys are playing hard,” Gundy said. “We try to get guys out of position all the time, and I don’t see them out of position a whole lot on defense.”

Leading the way for KU is senior defensive tackle James McClinton, who was placed on the watch list for the Lombardi Award, given to the nation’s top defensive lineman.

“In my opinion, he’s probably one of the best players in the Big 12,” Koenig said of McClinton. “He’s impressive: his quickness, his strength, his power and his relentless effort. He’s not going to quit. He’s going to come off [the block], and he’s going to make tackles.”

Fedora agreed that McClinton will pose a significant challenge for the offensive line.

“He’s a handful,” Fedora said. “He’s probably the best inside guy we’ve played up to this point. The lights come on for him and he plays extremely hard.”

Nevertheless, Fedora said he expects a strong outing from his line because of the confidence the Cowboy offense takes into every game.

“Our guys expect to move the ball; they expect to score points,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we face, and it doesn’t matter what the stats are. They know that this defense hasn’t faced us yet. Something is going to give, and hopefully it’s them and not us.”

The Cowgirl basketball team picked up another exhibition victory Tuesday night, beating East Central 101-33 in Gallagher-Iba Arena, but the script wasn’t quite the same in the Cowgirls’ second exhibition game as in the first.

While the Cowgirls had built a 23-point lead barely 10 minutes into their first game, they only led by six halfway through the first period against the Tigers.

“It was kind of disappointing at the beginning of the game,” sophomore guard Andrea Riley said. “We could tell that we were going to start out bad because we weren’t really focused in warm-ups.”

Late in the half, the Cowgirls finally picked up steam as they went on a 19-5 run, keyed by a pair of three-point baskets from freshman guard Kristin Hernandez, and closed the half leading East Central 41-19.

“We were in it for about 15 minutes or so,” East Central coach Kent Franz said. “But then their athleticism, their talent, their depth, their energy, all those things just took their toll on us. It started snowballing, and we couldn’t find a way to stop it.”

Hernandez, who scored just two points against the Oklahoma Flyers on Friday, would finish the game with 23 points to lead all Cowgirls.

“The kid can really score,” coach Kurt Budke said. “I’m really encouraged by seeing the young lady go for 23 tonight. She’s got a great future here.”

The Cowgirls opened the second half the way they were expected to open the game—in dominating fashion—outscoring the Tigers 34-4 in the first 11 minutes of the period. OSU would outscore East Central 60-14 in the half.

The Cowgirls would break 100 points for the game, despite the team having scored just 22 with seven minutes left in the first half, when Hernandez stole the ball and converted a last-second layup.

“There were when six seconds left when I looked at the clock when I stole it,” Hernandez said. “I usually don’t even hear anything, but I heard it this time—[the crowd] erupted when I hit the layup.”

Budke said he was pleased with the team’s overall effort, especially the Cowgirl’s play in the second half.

“I thought it was little bit better tonight [than Friday],” Budke said. “I thought we did a good job of responding the last five minutes of the first half and carried it over into the second half, as far as intensity, picking up our pressure, picking up our toughness.”

Riley had another strong outing for the Cowgirls, scoring 22 points and picking up six assists and three steals.

The Cowgirls had one player return to the starting lineup from injury Tuesday only to have another sit the game out. Senior guard Danielle Green started the game after missing Friday’s exhibition with an ankle injury. Green scored 12 points in her debut and grabbed seven rebounds.

“Danielle was a little rusty because she hadn’t played in a long time,” Riley said. “To have her back was really fun, ‘cause I missed her Friday. I’ve been playing with her for a year, and she’s one of the most exciting players on the team.”

Senior center Maria Cordero did not play against East Central, however, sitting out the game due to a “coach’s decision,” Budke said. He said Cordero would play Friday.

Junior guard Taylor Hardeman turned 21 years old Tuesday and celebrated her birthday by scoring eight points, including two big three-pointers late in the first half, to go with four rebounds and three assists.

The Cowgirls will kick off their regular season schedule this Friday when they host the Air Force Academy at 6:00 at Gallagher-Iba.

After a trying season, Rodrick Johnson will be back where he belongs Saturday—starting at middle linebacker.

Johnson, a senior, played linebacker in each of his first three seasons at Oklahoma State. He was the team’s third-leading tackler in each of the last two years.

Yet coming into the 2007 season, OSU coaches were faced with a lack of depth at defensive end and a wealth of talent at linebacker. They decided to ask Johnson, the natural choice due to his bigger size, to switch positions.

After starting 10 games at middle linebacker just a year earlier, Johnson was to move to end and become a backup.

He admits he wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

“My first thought was ‘No, I don’t want to do it,’” Johnson said. “But you’ve got to think about the team; you’ve got to put the team ahead of you. That’s where they really needed me at that time.

“Wherever they need me, that’s where they’re going to get me.”

Despite his willingness to make the change, Johnson said he never quite felt at home at defensive end.

“I never actually got comfortable because I never got to play as much as I wanted to play,” he said. “Once you start learning the plays and the techniques, it comes naturally to you, but there’s still that factor that you question if you doing it right. I played it to the best of my ability, and coaches really appreciated my efforts.”

Now, however, things have changed. The wealth the Cowboys had at linebacker was all but obliterated by the end of the Kansas State game.

Sophomore Chris Collins has missed more than a month with a toe injury, and sophomore Patrick Lavine and senior Jeremy Nethon both went down against the Wildcats.

Suddenly, Johnson was need more at linebacker again than defensive end, and last week he made the switch back to his old position.

Defensive coordinator Tim Beckman said that Johnson looked good at linebacker in practice during the bye week.

“He’s doing a good job,” Beckman said. “He’s a guy that’s played the position, and he had a good week of practice last week.”

While Johnson has experience, there have been a few new things for him to learn since returning to his old spot on the field.

“It’s a crunch course for him,” Beckman said. “The big thing for him is terms, learning the terms that are quite a bit different from last year. But it’s football. He’s picked it up extremely fast because he’s played so much.”

Johnson said the extra week of practice helped him to learn the differences since he last played linebacker, and now he’s catching on quickly

“The gaps and stuff are a little bit different, but pretty much, it’s still the same,” he said. “I’m just getting back to being comfortable standing up instead of having my hand down, working off the ends.”

Collins and Lavine have both practiced this week, and one or both could rotate in and play Saturday. Still, Johnson is expected to start at middle linebacker, and Beckman said he’d like to see him play at least 35-40 snaps.

Regardless of how much he plays, Johnson said he’s just happy to be back in familiar territory.

“It feels normal there,” Johnson said. “It feels like home.”

The following article appears in the Nov. 1 edition of The O’Colly .

No one on the OSU wrestling team was happy in March when, for the first time in five years, the season ended without a Cowboy championship.

“That was by far the hardest loss I’ve ever taken in my life,” senior Coleman Scott said. “I trained seven months for one thing, and that was to win a title, and I didn’t get it. It burns in me every day.”

Coach John Smith, never satisfied with anything less than being the best, said he’s been more demanding in working out the team to make sure it’s ready this year.

“I’ve trained this team harder than I’ve ever trained any team since school started, no question about it,” Smith said.

His wrestlers have noticed the different intensity level of the workouts.

“I don’t ever remember doing stuff we’re doing, but he’s the master,” junior Brandon Mason said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to prepare us. All we can do is follow along and believe in what he’s telling us to do and preaching to us.”

The Boomer run is at the heart of the Cowboys’ training this fall. Senior Nathan Morgan said the Cowboys take off from Gallagher-Iba Arena, run to Boomer Lake, around the lake and back to the arena.

The run is more than seven miles nonstop, with Cowboy coaches stationed at checkpoints or following along in cars to make sure no one cuts any corners.

“That’s what you need,” Morgan said. “You want to do what you don’t want to do. And afterwards, when you’re done with the run; it feels good to know you did it; you conquered it.

“All this training, all the running, all these drills, I think we’re taking it to a new level this year that we haven’t been to before. A few things just went wrong (last year), but this training now is taking away the chances for those mistakes.”

As hard as the runs and technique drills can be, the wrestlers said they know that all the hard work will pay off.

“(The training) gives us a lot of confidence when we’re out there,” Scott said. “When you know you’re in the best shape you can be in, and you’re best prepared for a match, it means all the world out there on the mat.”

In addition to the physical training, the Cowboys said their workouts have benefited from having several graduated wrestlers also working out at the arena.

Older wrestlers, such as Zack Esposito and Steve Mocco, are allowed to use the Cowboy wrestling room as they train to make the Olympic team, and they also help train current Cowboys.

Smith said six of the seven weight classes are represented in the Olympic hopefuls, so nearly all of his wrestlers get to practice against some of the best in the world, an opportunity that the Cowboys appreciate.

“It’s great wrestling with the older guys,” Morgan said. “Just the techniques that they bring, when you wrestle with one of those guys, you better be mentally focused, or you’re going to get your butt kicked.”

Mason said practicing against wrestlers of that caliber help him gauge where he stands.

“I’m going against them about every other day at least, and that’ll make me better,” he said. “They’re better than anyone I’ll be wrestling this year.”

Although Smith said he is happy with the way his wrestlers have trained and practiced so far, he knows they must keep the intensity up all year to end this season the way they want.

“Early on, everybody’s excited, everybody’s motivated, everybody has goals, but it takes a season of adversity, whatever it may be, that’s thrown your way and maintaining some type of consistency,” Smith said.

“We have a tendency in wrestling to go right to the NCAA Championship in the preseason, but there’s a whole season here, and it’s that season that makes you at the end. You can’t ignore that you’ve got to earn it all through the year.”

The following article will appear in the October 31 edition of The O’Colly .

Coming off the biggest turnaround in the nation last year, the Cowgirl basketball team will see if it has what it takes improve again this season.

The team has the experience, after making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.

It has the guards, with Big 12 Freshman of the Year Andrea Riley and honorable mention All-Big 12 Danielle Green returning to lead the way.

But a big presence inside? Perhaps not on the surface, but the Cowgirls are trying their best to make the most of what they have on the post.

“The mystery again is our post play, what kind of results can we get inside,” coach Kurt Budke said. “I think that’s going to go a long way toward determining how far we go or if we take another step forward this year.”

Leading the way for the Cowgirls inside will be senior center Maria Cordero, who was OSU’s leading scorer early last season, but came down with a viral infection late in the year that slowed her down.

“After she got ill, she never recovered and got back to that level that she was at early in the season,” Budke said. “I think Maria is going to be a key for us this year.

“I think she can easily average double figures like she did at the beginning of last year. She’s a tremendous player.”

Cordero said she’s fully recovered now and back to full strength.

“I feel a whole lot better, and I think it’s shown in practice too,” she said. “I’m been taking care of my body and sleeping more. I feel great now.”

Budke said Cordero lost weight over the summer and is in the best shape of her life, and will have to be in order to play as much as the Cowgirls need her to—possibly more than 30 minutes per game.

Cordero said she’s looking forward to the challenge.

“My thought on the pressure of us not having great post position right now is that I’m going to do a good job, and we’ll be fine,” Cordero said.

After Cordero, the Cowgirls will also look to junior forward Shaunte Smith to play a lot of minutes, another player Budke said slimmed down and improved over the summer.

“She’s a different player than she was last year,” he said. “She’s flying all over the gym.”

Cordero’s main backup will be sophomore center Megan Byford, a transfer from Northern Oklahoma College, already nicknamed “Big Country” after Bryant Reeves, the men’s basketball center who led OSU to a Final Four in 1995.

“She is solid, and she doesn’t move, but she can really score inside,” Budke said. “She’s a tough one; when she’s on the block, you’re going to have to really push her and shove her to get her out of the way. We’re looking for big things from her.”

Cordero also had praise for Byford, and said she thought the two of them would work well together on the court at the same time.

“Megan’s really strong, and a good scorer,” Cordero said. “I can shoot from outside too, so I think that’ll help clear it out for her inside to go to work on the stronger girls.”

Rounding out the interior depth for the Cowgirls is junior forward Shyvon Spears, a transfer Coffeyville Community College who’s expected to get significant playing time, and Alex Richardson, a freshman center from Edmond.

These Cowgirls will all have their work cut out for them, playing in a conference with several tough post players, such as Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and Colorado’s Jackie McFarland.

Cordero said that the Cowgirls know their competition inside will be tough, but that they’re working hard to rise to the challenge.

“You have to be strong at the post position,” Cordero said. “I think that’s a part of our team that we’re trying to get involved more. We just have to show in practice that Coach can trust us, inside and out.”

The following article was in the October 30 edition of The O’Colly .

When Oklahoma State hosts the Texas Longhorns in its biggest game of the season thus far, the defense will face one of its greatest challenges in slowing down junior running back Jamaal Charles.

Charles is averaging 112.4 rushing yards per game, second to only OSU’s Dantrell Savage in the Big 12, and is coming off the biggest game of his career.

Charles ran 33 times for a career-high 290 yards and three touchdowns against Nebraska, including 216 yards in the fourth quarter alone when he single-handedly brought the Longhorns back from a late deficit to win 28-25.

OSU defensive coordinator Tim Beckman, in his first year in the Big 12, has played Texas each of the last two years while at Ohio State and knows how good Charles is.

“He’s a very talented, skilled running back,” Beckman said. “He’s got great speed, and he runs hard. He’s not one of those guys you bring down with just an arm tackle.”

Senior defensive end Nathan Peterson said Charles’ greatest weapon is his speed, which he showcased in an 86-yard touchdown run against Nebraska.

“If you give him an opening, he’ll be gone,” Peterson said. “He’s one of the fastest running backs I’ve ever faced.”

Beckman’s Ohio State defenses were able to contain Charles’ speed the past two years, holding him to a combined 27 carries for 96 yards, or 3.6 yards per carry, although the running back was then sharing time with recently graduated Selvin Young.

Now, Charles is the featured back for the Longhorns, and won national honors for offensive player of the week for his performance against Nebraska.

Despite the end results, Beckman said he felt like the Cornhuskers played good defense most of the game, but noted that he wouldn’t be following their strategy.

Nebraska constantly blitzed the Longhorns, so when Charles broke through the first wave of defenders, he was off to the races.

“To me, defense isn’t blitzing 75-80 percent of the time,” Beckman said. “It’s being able to utilize the pressure, and then showing pressure but not coming with it. In the fourth quarter, just a couple guys out of place cost them some big plays.

“You take bits and pieces from each one of the games that you watch and you formulate how that can help the Cowboys when they play the Longhorns.”

Senior linebacker Rodrick Johnson said the key for the Pokes is to not let Charles get out in open space, where his speed is most effective.

“If you make one mistake, he can punish you for it,” Johnson said. “You just got to contain him and keep him between the tackles. You can’t let him get on the outside and get space. We’re going to bring some heat on him; we’re going to sit back in the zone; we’re going to do a lot of different things to kind of mix it up.”

No matter how well the Cowboys game plan for the running offense, they can’t let up the entire game. Charles’ 216 yards in the fourth quarter were just six yards shy of Corey Dillon’s NCAA record for rushing yards in a quarter.

The Cowboys said they believe their conditioning will help keep them from suffering the same fate as the Cornhuskers.

“We’re fairly confident about our conditioning,” Peterson said. “We do conditioning every day, and we take pride in it. We know we can’t get lazy in the fourth quarter.”

When asked about his concern that the Texas rushing attack could wear his defense down late in the game, Beckman just smiled.

“We’re fighters, and we’re going to fight ’til the end.”

The following article will appear in the October 29 edition of The O’Colly .

The Oklahoma State equestrian team rode all over defending national champion South Carolina for a dominant 16-3 victory Saturday.

The Cowgirls (3-0) also won three of four MVPs, the award given to the outstanding player in each of the four disciplines, while routing South Carolina (1-2).

Coach Larry Sanchez was happy with the way the Cowgirls competed against the team that had defeated them last season.

“They beat us in the semifinal round at nationals, so we definitely were looking to compete against them again,” Sanchez said. “They’re a good team, they’ve got some really good riders, but I’m glad the girls showed me what they’re capable of. The girls rode very smart.”

OSU had to cope with unruly horses not reacting the way the Cowgirls expected, but sophomore Leah Kuehn, who won the MVP in reining, said the experience was good practice for the team.

“The horses did kind of throw us off today,” Kuehn said. “We weren’t really expecting a lot of the things they did, but that’s even better. That prepares us for going on the road and having no idea what those horses do.”

The Cowgirls got off to a quick start, with both the English and Western teams winning four of five matches in the early rounds of horsemanship and equitation over fences.

Senior Samantha Davidson was one of the riders who had to deal with a difficult horse, but made the necessary adjustments to post a score of 76 and capture the horsemanship MVP.

“When horses act up like that, it’s how you ride and adjust to that situation that determines who wins,” she said. “The real rider will be able to get through that challenge that the horse gives you. I think it adds to the competition, makes it a little tougher.”

The Cowgirls kept the intensity up in the afternoon. The Western team won three of five matches with one draw in reining, and the English group swept all five matches in equitation on the flat.

The English team was competing outside for the first time this season but never lost a step, winning nine of 10 matches on the day.

Senior Bailey Mahoney won her match in equitation over fences in the morning, then came back in the afternoon and earned the highest score of the competition for OSU, posting an 81 and winning the MVP in equitation on the flat.

Davidson credited good preparation with the Cowgirls’ impressive victory.

“We knew that going against South Carolina would definitely be a challenge,” Davidson said. “I just think that we were really prepared, and it really showed today in our performance. Each show we’ve gotten a lot stronger. We’re looking to the next competition and what we need to do, how we need to ride our horses, and I think each show we’re definitely progressing.”

The Cowgirls return to action November 10 to take on Big 12 rival Texas A&M at 11:00 at Animal Science Arena in Stillwater.

Kuehn said the big victory over the defending national champions has the team feeling good about the season going forward.

“It gives us more confidence going into A&M, who’ll be really tough to beat,” Kuehn said. “Like coach said, it gauges us and shows how well we’re doing. Our team is totally moving in the right direction. We’re just super pumped about the rest of the season.”

Sanchez also felt good about the way his team looks right now.

“The more we get into our season, the better they’re getting,” Sanchez said. “But what I’m really excited about is that they’re growing closer together as a team.

“When you get that kind of team unity and team harmony, you can reach the goals that you set.”