The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 66

fic 51fnlabclpfriallnquircr Q(fhii TjijtfH) aif QlHATPtte F8 South Jersey Tuesday, May 20, 1997 1 Soccer star is racing into track spotlight Carchidi Golf EHT wins Group 3 golf title It was the second straight crown for the Eagles, who ended up third in the state. Jay Lee led the way. lay teams. Dixon was offered a full soccer scholarship to West Virginia and Delaware State, but grades kept him from going Division I. Rowan was the lone Division III school to recruit him, and Dixon has responded with 14 goals and 19 assists his first two years.

He planned to go out for track as a freshman, but he injured a disk in his back while doing squats in the weight room. With a clean bill of health this spring, Dixon won the 200 and 400 meters in the New Jersey Athletic Conference championships at the College of New Jersey. He was named MVP of the running events and qualified for the nationals in the 400 with a time of 48.67 seconds. Dixon also won the 400 at the Wid-ener Invitational with a career-best 48.34, and took second in the. 200 at the Kutztown Invitational.

He was third in the 200 at the New Jersey Collegiate Championships at Rider and third in the 400 at the Wake Forest Invitational, finishing behind Division I runners in both races. "Our school record in the 400 is 46.19," Fritz said. "I don't know if he can do it this year or not, but he should run 45 seconds out of the blocks in the very near future. We've had awful weather this spring, and I think with the right conditions his times will drop tremendously. "He's got a lot of desire, and he's set his sights on a national title.

You've got to believe you can do it that's half the battle. Even though he lacks much experience, he's very confident." Dixon's strength is his kick. He has shown a great ability to come from behind in the final 90 meters, but he realizes he has to work on his starts and his form. "Running is a lot about technique," Dixon said. "I'm new at the sport.

I really haven't learned how to run yet. I wish I started earlier because I love it, but I owe a lot to Coach Henry for getting me involved and helping me." Fritz is looking for big things from Dixon at the nationals, and thinks he might surprise a few people. "Nobody's heard about him the national scene, but I think he's going to go deep into the champion- Rowan's Rich Dixon will compete in the 400 meters at the NCAA Division III championships this week. By Rich Fisher INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT As a soccer coach, Rowan's Dan Gilmore has become a pretty good recruiter for track and field. Gilmore landed Rich Dixon from Dover (Del.) High School for his squad, and the sophomore was its most valuable player last fall.

Proving to be a team player for the athletic program, Gilmore also ushered Dixon into Bill Fritz's track program this spring. "Coach Gilmore kept telling me about this guy, and to be honest, I had never even heard of him in high school," Fritz said. "He came on the scene so late, no one in track really knew much about him." They are quickly finding out Dixon is to leave this morning for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he will compete in the 400-meter race at the NCAA Division III championships this week. "It's definitely a surprise," Dixon said. "It's been a lot of fun.

I'm just going out there having fun every day." Dixon has played soccer since he was 6. He was the leading scorer and an all-state pick for three straight' years at Dover, and team MVP his junior and senior years. Dover soccer coach Dwayne Henry, who is now an assistant track coach at Delaware State, was also the high school's track coach. He saw Dixon's speed firsthand every fall and bugged him to keep running every spring. "I never even thought about track," Dixon said.

"I didn't follow it at all. "My senior year, he dragged me out there and I finally agreed to it. I was just doing it to keep in shape for college soccer, but I really liked it. It's an individual sport. It's all on your shoulders.

You control your whole fate, and you have no one to blame but yourself." Dover won fhe Delaware track and field championship during Dixon's senior year, and he finished second in the state in the 400 that season. He also was a member of the state-champion 4x200 and 4x400 re Week in Review For The Inquirer ELLEN DiPIAZZA Rich Dixon was Rowan's soccer MVP last fall. The sophomore began running track in his senior year at Dover (Del.) High School. Fritz, however, thinks that Dixon will have more than just ail-American aspirations before his career is over. Dixon plans to continue with both sports for the remainder of col-lege.

yf.t. "He's got the eye of the tiger that you have to have," Fritz said. "You've got to have that look of a champion, and he definitely does. I can only see him getting better." Whatever goals Dixon accomplishes, Gilmore will get an assist. A bright future for Schoeneweis Scott Schoeneweis, minor-league baseball player, says he and his teammates fly to double-A Texas League games on "the Knuckleball Express." "It's a prop plane, and it throws you around like a knuckleball," Schoeneweis explained yesterday from Midland, Texas.

"It flutters all over the place." Schoeneweis wasn't complaining. When you've overcome testicular cancer and elbow surgery as Schoeneweis has a little flying discomfort isn't such a big deal. Schoeneweis, a former pitching star at Lenape High and Duke University who was a third-round draft choice of the Anaheim Angels last June, is in his first full season as a professional. So far, so good. In nine starts, Schoeneweis is 4-2 with a misleading 4.58 ERA.

It's misleading because Midland plays in a bandbox of a park. In fact, most Texas League parks are tiny and hitter-friendly. "And the wind seems to be blowing out all the time," Schoeneweis said. "It's definitely a hitter's league," said Midland general manager Monty Hoppel, noting that most of the Texas League pitchers have ERAs over 5.00. Schoeneweis has had good control 48 strikeouts and 17 walks in 59 innings and he is making steady progress.

"I think the Angels' plan is to give him a full year at double A and not rush him," Hoppel said. Most of the top prospects "are at double Close friends Three of them are lefthandod starters who were early selections in recent drafts: Schoeneweis, Jar-rod Washburn and Malt Perisho. The three have become close friends. They don't feel as if they're competing against one another, Schoeneweis said. They feel they all will eventually be members of the big-league team.

"All three of us have the tools and the ability; it's just a matter of honing the skills," Schoeneweis' said. "We talk all the time about how to get hitters out." Schoeneweis, who throws in the range, doesn't have as much velocity as the other lefties, but he has better control. He thrives on location, on setting hitters up, on getting called strikes with his breaking ball. He hopes to be called up by the Angels this year. He is also hopeful of being invited to spring training next year and battling for a spot in Anaheim's rotation.

It could happen. Anaheim's elderly rotation includes 36-year-old Mark Langston and 34-year-old Chuck Finley. Jason Dickson, an impressive 24-year-old rookie righthander, and Allen Watson, a 26-year-old lefthander, are the only Angels starters considered part of the club's future rotation. Making the jump Dickson made the jump from double-A Midland to the Angels, so he is regarded by Anaheim's double-A pitchers as "the benchmark," Schoeneweis said. "Most of the guys they have in their rotation are old, so the future for the Angels is here in Midland," said Schnenewms who wnnt 8-3 with a 3.94 ERA at single-A Lake El-sinore last year.

Schoeneweis, 23, said he was in the best shape of his life. In the offseason, he gained 15 pounds and lifted weights constantly, and he is now a sturdy 6 feet and 180 pounds. The cancer, first detected in 1993, has not returned. Doctors say he is cancer-free. "I get checkups every six months, and I only have one or two left," he said.

"My last checkup was in February, and everything is under control." He said pitching coach Greg Min-ton, a former major-league reliever, had helped him with the physical and mental aspects of the game. "In our league, the numbers ERAs are inflated a little, and you tend to think it's your fault," Schoeneweis said. "He keeps us on an even keel not too high after a win, not too low after a loss. We try to take something positive from each start." With Scott Schoeneweis, the comeback kid, positives are easy to find. By Ken Sugiura INljUIHER CORRESPONDENT MOUNT HOLLY His players said they could have done a little better, but Egg Harbor Township coach Curt Spychalla is plenty happy with how they did.

Yesterday at Burlington Country Club, where the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions and the state championships for Groups 2, 3 and 4 were held, the Eagles claimed their second straight Group 3 title. Egg Harbor Township was the only South Jersey team to win a championship. Mike Hyland of Holy Cross was the low South Jersey player in the individual tournament, shooting 78 to finish in a tie for 10th. Senior Jay Lee led Egg Harbor Township with a 7-over-par 77, tying for the eighth-best score among all players at the tournament. Lee had failed to qualify for the individual Tournament of Champions, but did make it into a three-man nlavoft" for the individual Group 3 title.

Lee, who is bound for James Madison, bogeyed the first hole of sudden death to finish third. "Jay's been doing it for us all year," Spychalla said. Sophomore Casey Klingert was right behind Lee with a 79. Freshman Meredith Henry contributed an 84 and sophomore Jarrod Swei-derk carded an 85 for a total of 325, the third-best team score of the day. Group 2 champ Hopewell Valley and Group 4 champion West Windsor Plainl'ield tied at 321, with Hopewell Valley winning in a playoff.

"We knew we had an outside shot" at the overall title, Spychalla said. "I'm just proud of the kids." Spychalla said Henry and Swei-derk had told him they could have shot better, but Spychalla told them about Lee's brother David. The first time he played in the state tournament, also at Burlington Country Club, he shot a 94. He later went on to win medalist honors while leading the team to the state title. "I couldn't expect any better from them," Spychalla said.

Hyland was one of a number of South Jersey players hoping for more out of themselves. Hyland belongs to Burlington Country Club, which measures 5,902 yards from the white tees. His round took a bad turn on the par-4 eighth, which was the 10th hole of his round in the shotgun-start tournament. He lost his ball in the rough, and had to tee off again. He took a triple-bogey 7.

Being the last tournament of my high school career, I wanted to go out well, but it didn't happen," said Hyland, who will play at North Carolina-Charlotte next year. The next South Jersey individual after Hyland in the Tournament of Champions was Pitman's Dan Rud-ley, who shot a 79 to finish tied for 12th. Willingboro's Dave Hirschhorn shot 80 to place in a tie for 14th in the Tournament of Champions and third in Group 4. After him came Justin Van Hyning of Borden-town, who shot an 81 to tie for 16th. The medalist was Dave Schmutz of Hopewell Valley, who shot a 71." Lenape shot a 338 for third in Group 4 and eighth overall.

Pitman, which lost the Group 1 state title to Montgomery last week, finished ninth with a 339. The results Team scoring: Hopewell Valley 321 (playoff winner), West Windsor Plainfield 321, Egg Harbor Township 325, Rumsom-F-air Haven 329, Bergen Catholic 331, Christian Brothers Academy 331, Union 337, Lenape 338, Pitman 339, North Brunswick 340, Chatham 342, Westwood 344, Nutley 344, Westtield 345, Warren Hills 352, Newark Academy 359, Montclair Academy 360, Montgomery 261, Group 4: West Windsor Plainfield 321, Union 337, Lenape 338, Westtield 345. Group 3: Egg Harbor Township 325, North Brunswick 340, Nutley 344, Warren Hills 352. Group 2: Hopewell Valley 321, Rumson-Fair Haven 329, Chatham 342, Westwood 344. Individuals Dave Schmutz, Hopewell Valley 71 David Kwon, Dumont 75 Corey Bngham, Rumson-Fair Haven 75 Don Yarson, Montgomery 75 Mark Urbanek, West Windsor Plainfield 76 Brian McGowan, St.

JosephVMontvale 76 Mike Mao, West Windsor Plainfield 76 Jesse Goodglass, Northern Valley 77 Dan Lee, North Brunswick ,77 Mike Hyland, Holy Cross 78 Greg O'Connor, Brick Township 78 Other South Jersey finishers 12. Dan Hurilev, Pitman 79 Coed relay is no sweat for Pleasantville Dave Hirschhorn Willingboro golf Hirschhorn, a senior, earned medalist honors last Monday in the South and Central Jersey Group 4 golf championships. Hirschhorn, who picked up the game in earnest as a sophomore, shot a 7-over-par 77. He also helped Willingboro win the Burlington County Open team title on Friday. ship rounds when we get out there," the coach said.

Having reached his first goal of qualifying for nationals, Dixon now hopes to finish in the top eight, which would make him an ail-American, ii "I talked to javelin thrower Ed Colleton, who went to nationals last year," Dixon said. "He said the most pressure is the qualifying round. If you qualify for finals, you're already guaranteed to be all-Amcri-can. The pressure is off then." so consistent." wis" took a trip to Coconut Grove, last week to compete for the Mallory Cup, which goes to the nation's top high school sailing team. And where did the Foxes finish? Don't ask.

"We don't know," team member Jen Spark said. The team had to take a friend from another team to the airport after the races were finished, before Probably a tie, he says, between his performances in golf and in jazz band. He plays trumpet in the school's award-winning jazz ensemble. Nick Faldo. "He's the man.

He's just By Michael Rosenberg INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT The Dixie relay is an unusual track event in South Jersey. In the race, part of the Dixie Relays at Ocean City, teams must alternate from boy to girl in a 4x400-meter run. It is the only time that members of boys' and girls' squads compete together. Pleasantville won the race Saturday for the fifth year in a row. The the reason for the Greyhounds' success in the unique race is that, for them, it is not unique.

Pleasantville's boys and girls practice together regularly, and the school tries to enter only those weekend meets in which both can compete. Not only that, but the Greyhounds run a coed 4x400 often at practice, with the winners earning the right to opt out of certain drills. Until this year, Barry Staton was the boys' coach at Pleasantville. This season, he switched over to the girls' team, but he still works closely with the boys and their coach, Rick Norris. Does this stup help the Greyhounds in the Dixie relay? "Unquestionably," Staton said.

Pleasantville's exchanges Saturday were smooth. Without the practice, Staton said, the Greyhounds probably would not have won. But the Dixie relay is just one reason that Pleasantville practices running a coed 4x400. Another is motivation. "On one side of the coin, girls have to run harder to keep up with the boys," Staton said.

"And guys, with their little ego thing, are going to try to run harder." Organizers of the inaugural meet in 1988 discounted the importance of the baton exchanges in the Dixie relay. And had it not been discounted, the race in all likelihood would never have slarted in the first place. "We wanted to put some events in where boys and girls could work together," said Paul Le Fever, the the results were tallied. When Friends returned to the site, every body else was gone. Nobody had left a note for the Foxes telling them where they had finished.

And if somebody had, they probably would not have read it. "We know we didn't do as well as we wanted," said Spark, whose team had set a goal of finishing in the top 10. "As a team, we didn't sail our best at all. I think we could have been in the top 10 if we had sailed up to our standards." Instead, the Foxes dropped to 16th. At least, that's the rumor floating around Moorestown.

"Everyone is saying 16th, and I don't know where that came from," Spark said. "I think we did better than that, personally." Why the problem? Well, determining the order of finish in a 20-team regatta is a lot tougher than keeping score in field hockey or even compiling team points in track. Besides that, the Mallory Cup was an especially competitive race, which meant that there were a number of collisions, which inevitably resulted in quite a few protests. "We weren't included, but a lot of the top teams were," Spark said. All things considered, the Foxes would not have minded arguing that they should have been, say, sixth instead of seventh.

But it was just not their weekend. The team does plan to find out where it finished. The Friends coach, Spark's father, Michael, is trying to reach race officials. But the Foxes are in no rush. The official results will tell them only what they know in their hearts: They did not sail as well as they had hoped.

"It has nothing to do with the place," Spark said. "We know we didn't do that well." They're done. The Moorestown High boys' lacrosse team generally is considered to be one of the top 10 in the state. But when the playoffs See REVIEW on F9 "I'm going down to the University of Central Florida. I'll hopefully make the golf team there and somehow become a pro." "I haven't really thought that far ahead." "I've never had anyone improve that much, and I've coached for 25 years.

He'll play on the next level. There's no question in my mind." Joe Garant To nominate someone for athlete of the week, fax information to Ken Sugiura at 779-3221 or call 779-3901 by 10 a.m. Sunday. Ocean City athletic director, who helped found the meet. "We just made one race.

We figured it was an easy enough race that they didn't have to practice a lot mainly because they didn't have to worry about spending a whole lot of time passing the baton and stuff." Clear sailing? Not quite. The Moorestown Friends sailing team 14. Dave Hirschhorn, Willingboro 80 16. Justin Van Hyning, Bordentown 81 31. Neil Bang, Cherry Hill East 84 37.

Chris Lesperance, Pennsville 87 46. Burk Bishop, Shawnee 91 I i.