News for February 22, 2004

Save Our Sports at Bracket Buster!    Students wearing Save our Sports T-shirts got national television exposure at Saturday's basketball game at Reed Fieldhouse against Charleston. This game set an attendance record at Reed Fieldhouse (5,000+).  [George Dales remembers times when some of the indoor meets actually attracted 8,000 people.] A group of about ten students with white shirts with the letters Save Our Sports holding  Bring Back Track banners were picked up on ESPN2 and nationally covered. In addition, a men's soccer player, who was honored along with his teammates at halftime for winning the Mid-American Conference Championships, held up a Save Our Sports t-shirt which resulted in a group of about 200 chanting "Save Our Sports."

Save Our Sports at WMU/Ohio State Hockey game!   The banners were also held high at the WMU/Ohio State Hockey game.  Following the collegiate synchronized skaters exhibition performance at intermission the banners were raised with a spontaneous cheer of "Save Our Sports." This cheer lasted for about thirty seconds and was probably chanted by 150 plus students throughout the student section. It was actually initiated away from the Senior Synchronized Skating team.

News for February 20, 2004

Revamped Organization Announced!  The Bring Back Track committee has appointed Peter Livingstone-McNelis to be its Leader.  Peter was the original founder of this effort.  He has spent untold hours researching the issues, making contacts, and energizing committees.  Peter is passionate about the sport, a former Kalamazoo College athlete, coach, and educator.   He will be dedicating a considerable amount of his time to making sure all BringBackTrack activities are aligned.  Without Peter the effort to reinstate these sports would consist of a bunch of disorganized, isolated, disgruntled T&F lovers.  Thanks Peter!  The committee chairs are:

Please contact Peter at 269 345 9069 or any of the Chairs if you can spend some of your time on this effort.

Shirts and Hats still available!!  The Spirit Shoppe is still selling embroidered 'Save Our Sports' hats at cost.  You can pick one of these up at their store on Howard Street for $6.  You can also purchase souvenir 'Save Our Sports' T-shirts at Gazelle Sports for $9!

News for February 19, 2004

Article at RUNOHIO.com !!  Some excellent links to other related stories are also at this link!!

News for February 15, 2004

Sport Supporters dominate Open Student Forum!   The athletes showed up for the Open Forum in the Bernhard Center on February 10 and asked the hard questions.  The Kalamazoo Gazette Headline read, "Students Grill WMU President."  In response to the first question on the sports cuts, Bailey told students that she would only answer the question on sports once.   But despite that attempt to squash the open discussion, the questions related to sports came up again and again.  Channel 3 also provided coverage.

Sync Skaters win Bronco challenge Cup!  The Synchronized Skating Team won the Bronco cup against 9 teams including last years NCAA champs, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Aaron Nasers runs third fastest 800 in the country this weekend! Sophomore transfer Aaron Nasers tied the Nebraska school record and ran the third-fastest time in the country this season with his mark of 1:48.37 in the 800-meter run Friday night in the Prairie Wolf Invitational at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track. Nasers transferred to NU from Western Michigan this season and took no time to record the fastest time in NU history.  [more...]

Men at Adidas Classic!!   Congratulations for performances at this weekend's Adidas Classic.  Some of the top finishes were: Kris Seats 1st in the 800M, Jason Evelyn 3rd in the Long Junp, Darius Johnson finished 4th and 6th in the 200M and 60M. [Results...]

Women at EMU Classic!! Many excellent performances!  [more...]

News for February 8, 2004

Trot for Track!  Channels 3,   8, and 17 as well as the Kalamazoo Gazette covered the 3 hour runs on February 5 to support the reinstatement of XC/T&F and Sync Skating.  Channel 17 featured the Bring Back Track Rally on campus giving lower billing to Bailey's address.  Channel 8 (Melissa Dunbar) led off with our group and kept alternating between Bailey and our group.   She  ended with Brendan Weaver (WMU Running Club President) saying he is confident track will be back.  Lastly, Tammy Mills (Freelance writer for Kalamazoo Gazette) wrote a great article featuring the trots and rally.  Channel 3 braved the cold for more than half-hour covering our event.  Thanks to all of the local media for giving our cause such great coverage!!

Open Mic with Bailey on February 10!  President Bailey will  open mic forum for the students at 7:30 p.m. at the Bernhard Center.  This event is open to the public.

Debunking the Myth That Athletics Success Favorably Influences Alumni Giving!  Do winning programs and bowl appearances lead to increased giving to the General Fund? [More...]

News for February 5, 2004

Trot for Track Today!  Join the run/walk today (Feb. 5) from 4-7 at Gazelle Sports.  More below.

MAC Conference Championship Moved!  WMU Track & Field athletes will no longer have the opportunity to display the results of their hard work on their home turf.  We have heard that the ADs of the MAC have agreed to move the Conference Meet from WMU to Miami!  More soon.

Support Synchonized Skating!   Saturday at 6:30 p.m. the Synchronized Skaters will be performing for one of the last times at home.  Support them at the Bronco Challenge Cup!  See them at Lawson Arena.  This year they are ranked 6th in the nation and have won against last year's National Champions! Bronco Sync Skating Website

More disturbing News!  We have heard that in this time of belt tightening, one of the remaining sports has been approved to add 10 scholarship positions. Hmmm....that's 10 x $14,000 = $140,000.

Thanks to the Spirit Shoppe for embroidering 'Save Our Sports' hats at cost.  You can pick one of these up on the 5th at Gazelle Sports (Kalamazoo Mall) or at the Spirit Shoppe on Howard Street for $6.  You can also purchase 'Save Our Sports' T-shirts at Gazelle for $9!

News for February 1, 2004

Equity in Athletics Disclosure Data for 2002-2003 for all MAC Schools!  Click here for table!  The data shows that WMU athletics 1) will have the fewest men's sports 2) will have the largest athletic budget 3) will have the most inefficient program (largest expense per athlete) 4) will have the fewest total athletes (except for Akron) and 5) will worsen its ratio of female to male athletes!!

The Local Running Club supports Bring Back Track!  An editorial from the Officers of the Kalamazoo Area Runners appeared in the Gazette on January 30. Click here!