THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604070189
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEVIN DOEPP, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
They're more than teammates. They're friends.
Towson State gymnasts Liane Williams and Erin Shanley became friends six or so years ago when they sweated out the rigors of tumbling, vaulting and dismounts on a club team in Virginia Beach.
The hard work is paying off. Williams, a Towson freshman and a graduate of Bayside High School, recently was named co-Rookie of the Year in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League.
``I was very surprised,'' Williams said. ``I was excited and happy about winning it.''
Williams, whose favorite exercises are the floor routine and the vault, scored a 9.925 on the vault at a meet with James Madison, Rutgers and Temple. Her personal-best floor score, 9.850, came at the Towson State Invitational.
Shanley, a junior co-captain and a Princess Anne High graduate, has had a year of ups and downs. Her biggest disappointment came when she hurt her back in warmups before the Towson State Invitational.
When she landed she knew that something was wrong. Shanley ended up with a hyperextended right knee and a sore, stiff lower back.
``I do a double front, and it is highly difficult,'' Shanley said. ``We have been putting it in and taking it out of my routine. I would get down about it (the injury) sometimes, but my coach tried to get me to look at the good side of it.''
She's gone through rehabilitation and has had some success.
For her best event, the bars, she's scored a 9.85 in a meet against Kentucky, George Washington and Cornell, and a 9.90 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League championships.
The teammates attribute their success to coach Dick Filbert. ``Coach Filbert is very protective of us,'' Shanley said. ``I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't here.''
They also give high marks to the camaraderie of the team. ``We are always rooting for each other,'' Williams said.
Shanley, Williams and the rest of the team are getting ready for the NCAA Southeast Regional meet to be held at the University of Florida on Saturday. They will be one of seven teams vying for the five spots in the NCAA tournament.
``We are peaking right now, and with every meet we just kept getting better and better,'' Williams said.
Shanley agrees with her friend. ``We have a great chance, and we know we are just as good as anyone else.
``We can do it.''
OLD DOMINION REPORT: Senior heavyweight wrestler Nick Hall (Long Island, N.Y., Longwood H.S.), underwent successful surgery on a torn ligament in his neck between the C5 and C6 vertebrae. He injured the neck in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, falling to Justin Hardy. Hall then had to forfeit his next match. He finished fifth and became the 20th All-American in Monarchs history. Hall finished the season at 35-1 and 114-18-3 in his career. . . . The Old Dominion coed sailing team is ranked seventh nationally by ``Sailing World'' magazine. The Lady Monarchs are ranked sixth. . . . The men's golf team has placed 10th or better in all three tournaments this spring. Senior Josh Cupp leads the Monarchs with a stroke average of 74.2. . . . Diego Valor is 10-2 at No. 1 singles for the men's tennis team, and Miguel Rosa is 9-3 at No. 2. Sisters Rachel and Luciana Araujo of the women's team are 9-4 in doubles.
NORFOLK STATE REPORT: The Spartans will host the 1996 Norfolk Invitational Relays Thursday through Saturday. More than 80 athletes are scheduled to attend. The event will be one of the last Olympic-qualifying events before the Atlanta Games, which begin in mid-July. Andre Cason, Virginia Beach native and former record holder in the 60-meter dash, also will be on hand.
ALUMNI REPORT: Jay Fisher (Nansemond-Suffolk Academy), a freshman at Furman, shot a 73 in the final round of the Furman Invitational, helping him to finish sixth at the Rolex Tour event. He finished with a 220; the team finished 12th. . . . Ferrum's Richard Price (Wilson) went 2 for 4 with a home run, double and two RBIs in the Panthers' sweep of Ramapo, 12-2 and 12-2. . . in the pole vault (12 feet) at the Monmouth Invitational. Chris Viola (Western Branch), a freshman on the Michigan wrestling team finished the season at 18-12 and 9-4 in duals. He was one of six Wolverines who qualified for the NCAA championships, but did not place. . . . Carlos Eason (Great Bridge), a junior at Cornell University, was named to the 1996 All-Ivy League wrestling team for the second straight year. . . . Myra Simpson (Kellam), a junior at Mary Washington, won the women's triple jump (36-9 3/4) and the long jump (17-0 1/4), and finished fourth in the hurdles (16.02) at the Battlegrounds Relay. . . . Swimmer Cammie Pickett (Norfolk Academy) of Emory University was one of eight Eagles to be named an All-American. She teamed with three other Eagles for a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.50). . . . Jamie Booth (First Colonial), a Radford freshman, has pitched two shutouts, against Eastern Tennessee State and Appalachian State. He is 2-3 this season. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Erin Shanley is recovering from a back injury.
Liane Williams was named co-Rookie of the Year.
by CNB