The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 15

The Advertiser 5B Friday. Dec. 30. 2005 www.theadvertiier.com WHAT WAS NEWS IN RAGIN' A ATHLETICS Cajuns blazed new trails this year Closing out 2005 I Wednesday: A ioo the top stones It ISU athletes in 2005 Thursday: A look at the top stones area prep sports 2005 Today A look at the top stones UL athletics in 2005 Saturday: The Adwtser staff ranks the Top 5 sports stones AcarJana tor 2005 Dan McDonald dmcdi maid ncadwrt tser com Bruce Bnm bbrwn-i ttvathwrtLwrmm Like everything else on the Gulf (Vast, the University of Louisiana's 2005 athletic year was dominated by two mimes Katrma and Rita The twin sisters of hum cane destruction unleashed thf ir wrath more to the east and west of Acad tana, but the resid ual effects were felt by th' Ragin Cajun programs for the last five months and are still UL's football team misled pra th time and had its season finale barked up one wk as port of a four team date swap Knur weeks later its Cajun Field rwme hosted the rektrated New I Nelson Schexnayder helped lead the Cajuns to un precedent ed growth and achievement dur ing 12 years as the school's ath let ic director but he resigned on luly 26 The former Cajun wide n-reiver and member of the last bowl team at the school took over as acting A in iwti and During his time at the helm. Stefm litief to coach soffbalL Freshman Tyrell Fenroy dtdn waste any time making an impact on the program by becoming ULs first 1.000-yard rushing running back ever.

1( ajun football allies with late winning streak foi Sun Belt rrown 4Robei Lee has ajun men's basketball team back in A A again Aaveiue' We ptok Ac3vertiser file pnotc Anna Petrakova finished her stellar career at Louisiana with a bang by Onene Greene, shown here skying to a layup during the Sun Belt finals leading the Cai.un women to the Sun Belt Western division crown. wjn over Denver, played a key role in leading UL to an NCAA berth. area talent, and stressed class-work as much as he did dedica tion on the field. Faulkinberry was dismissed with one game remaining in a winless 1973 campaign, then remained in Lafayette, chiefly managing drug treatment programs. An enthusiastic gourmet cook.

Faulkinberry also helped former Cajun Jake Delhomme develop into an NFL quarterback who led the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl after the 2003 season. 10 Tennis success ends in controversy in NCAA regional play 2 Women's basketball team sho winning Sun Belt West crown But the Cajuns did that and mor- in coach KeJley Hall's third year at the helm, equaling the school record for victories with 22, finishing 22-9, posting a perfect 130 record at home, win ning the Sun Bell Western Division and reaching the championship finals of the Sun Belt Tournament The season's peak was the final regular season weekend, when the Cajuns beat Arkansas-Little Rock 5tN7 to clinch a tie for the West and then edged Arkansas State tW4 to take the West outright and finish 130 at home Hall was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year after UL was the only league school with 2(i victories in the regular season. The leader of the resurgence was senior Petrakova, the Player of the Year in the Sun Belt as a junior who repeated as an all -conference honoree and was on the All Tournament Team at the Sun Belt Tournament 3 Nelson Schexnayder resigns post as athletic-director after 12 years falling i ige ind he in a tl-57 win over Middle Ten pouring in 30 points in the 8869 title game triumph over Denver Wade was named the tournament MVP then turned professional after the season concluded Orien Greene also entered the pro ranks and made the Boston Celtics roster 5 Men's basketball team endures allegations by recruit, AA questions On the court, the Ragin' Cajun basketball team enjoyed a championship campaign Off the court was another matter. UL was visited by the NCAA April after former recruit Berry Jordan leveled charges against the school. In June.

Jordan said he received money and other benefits including housing from Lee's coaching staff and that his college transcript listed CL classes that he did not attend. NCAA assistant director of enforcement Dan Matheson conducted a series of inter views with members of the UL program, and follow-up interviews were pushed back by the arrival of Katrina and Rita. Final resolution of the inquiry is still pending, and the Cajun program continues com pet ing in its 2(105-2008 season dition excellence with a 5110 season during which they slugged 81 home runs and scored 342 runs en route to another NCAA Tournament invitation. On the way, UL claimed its fifth straight Sun Belt title. Once in the NCAA, UL hit four home runs in a 7-5 defeat of Oregon before losing 6-3 to regional host Oklahoma and 3-1 to Oregon.

The season marked the final campaign for record-setting All-Ameriran pitcher Brooke Mitchell, who was 28-7 with a 0.92 KRA and 342 strikeouts in 213 innings pitched. Mitchell left as the school career leader in games pitched, games started, victories, shutouts, innings pitched, strikeouts and strikeouts per innings pitched. She also posted 10 no-hitters. 9Winningest football coach Russ Faulkinberry dies after being honored Russ Faulkinberry was the one who came up with the term "Ragin' Cajuns" to describe his undersized but feisty football teams at USL in the 1960s. He was also at the helm for 66 victories from 1961-73.

still more than any other football coaching in UL history. His former players held a special gathering for Faulkinberry on Aug. 13 on campus. Shortly thereafter. Faulkmber-ry's health began to fail and he died on Nov.

16 at age 77. He built championship teams at UL, relying mainly on 7 Ton) Robichaux brings ajun baseball team back to NCAA Regional The Cajun baseball squad made a return to NCAA Tournament play for the first time sine-' 2002 and their 10th such trip since 1388. but a regional that included College World Series txiund Tulane and a solid Alabama team proved too much to overcome. UL finished at 48-19, its best record since the 2000 College World Series team, and a short-handed pitching staff allowed onl) 2-1 hits and eight earned runs in three NCAA games. But a UL offense that hit during the regular season and .342 in Sun Belt play was slowed in the tournament and Alabama took a pair of 5-4 and 4-3 wins to oust the Cajuns from the double-elimination meet Senior Austin Faught was named the Sun Belt's Pitcher of the Year and earned second-team All-America honors.

He was one of 14 seniors on IT's 25-man postseason roster, with that experience helping UL to a No. 13 national ranking in the final regular-season NCBWA poll. 8 Softball team rolls to title in Sun Belt, back in NCAA Regionals Excellence is a way of life for Ragin' Cajun softball. the five-time defending champion of the Sun Belt Conference and a four-time participant in the Women's College World Series. The 2005 Cajuns upheld a tra with the NCAA questions Mill unresolved UL President Ray Authement scud the University found no evidence to support Jordan's major allegations, and that he has urged Matheson to complete his inquiries as soon as possible 6 New Orleans How 1 moved to Lafayette's Cajun Field due to storm Katnna's visit to New Orleans put the Sun Belt's guar anteed postseason football berth in jeopardy but New Orleans Bowl officials acted quickly and in early October announced that the opener of the nation bowl season would be played at Lafayette's Cajun Field.

With the Superdome not available, the Dec 20 game was shifted two hours west to give Lafayette its first-ever Division 1 postseason game With it came all of the surrounding activities and ESPN's national television exposure, which spotlighted both the sights and sounds of Aradiana and reminded view ers of the devastation in the Crescent City. Southern Mississippi took a 31 19 victory over Sun Belt representative Arkansas State, and 18,338 turned out on a cold night well below the crowds for previous New Orleans Bowls, but about what game organizers expected. Cajun Field also was a tern porary home for Tulane and McNeese State, each of whom played games there after storm damage to their home stadiums UL's 42nd-ranked men's tennis team made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. but that appearance was wrought with controversy and disappointment. The Cajuns were assessed two oddly timed code violations by unnamed chair umpires in two tight third sets, momentum changes that turned a 2-2 match with Tulane into a 4-2 loss in the opening round of the NCAA event in Baton Rouge.

"They took it out of the kids' said a bitterly disappointed UL coach Justin McGrath. hose 12-8 team took three wins over NCAA automat ic teams during the year and eliminated six-time Sun Belt champion South Alabama in the league tournament semifinals. UL finished second in the Sun Belt meet, falling to Middle Tennessee 4-3 in the finals..