Monday, March 20, 2017 Volume 101 Issue 42
student printz SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
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Alum recovers from hidden addiction JACK HAMMETT
managing editor
Sunlight cradled the world like the arms of a parent, keeping the neighborhood still and hushed. Amid this quiet sits Spice World, a house which many Hattiesburg music lovers recognize as a venue for music, friendship and body positivity. George and George, a pair of yowling felines, stalked across the windblown front yard in search of food. Somewhere in the past, addiction riddled a life with heavy rain. USM psychology graduate Alissa – she prefers to not share her full name – lit a cigarette and perched catlike on the porch in a flower patterned dress. The venue is her every day, her home, her sunlit mornings and afternoons. Alissa is normal. Her life had been different before she lived at Spice World. Not many people around her had seen through her unwavering functionality, beneath which she had hidden her other pained half. In a past life, Alissa was one of many addicts who hid their substance abuse in daylight. She consistently made straightAs and the Dean’s List at Oak Grove High School and Southern Miss. Her work ethic and intelligence are not easily matched: Not every student can graduate with a psychology degree, and fewer can do so while holding a job. According to a Complete College America study, only about 20 percent of students graduate college on time. “When I took my first painkiller . . . I thought I felt love in my heart,” she said. One of Alissa’s colleagues described her as put together. Nothing in her childhood suggested she would later develop a habit. Many addicts, according to Alissa, have harsh childhoods, which she learned from Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings. She said her childhood was loving. “My family was great,” she said. “Everyone was great. We moved to America when I was in third grade, and it was the biggest f•••ing culture shock, because we moved to Alabama. It was the Bible Belt. Everybody went to church. I felt different – not being able to understand anybody because of their southern accent, nobody being able to understand me because of my English accent.” Alone in a new culture, Alissa spent her formative years dealing with anxiety and depression. She said she remembers not feeling okay with
Jack Hammett | Printz Alissa plays fetch with her dog in her backyard at Spice World in March, 2017. herself from an early age and that she was not taught how to cope with mental illness. Growing up under these conditions prevented her from seeing the effects of depression and anxiety on her daily life. Such is the case of the human eye or a camera lens – an object loses focus if it is too close. “It’s hard to see it when you’re in it,” she said. “Especially when you’re a kid. Nobody teaches kids about these things.” It was in middle school when Alissa met Katy. A multitude of factors create a lifestyle. One factor is habit formation, and habits can be transmitted between people, according to sociologists Luigi Berzano and Carlos Genova. Katy and Alissa formed a habit of shoplifting – two pairs of adolescent hands swiping thousands of dollars of merchandise from shopping mall retailers. However, Katy and Alissa understood each other, and their friendship was invaluable. “I thought, ‘This person f•••ing gets
me,’” Alissa said. “She was just as f•••ed up, just as depressed as I was – like hated herself as much as I hated myself. Looking back, I realize how f•••ed up it is for middle schoolers to talk about how they want to kill themselves. But we could relate to each other. . . . It was exciting, it was exhilarating – we would go into a store with a big beach bag, completely empty, and fill it up. We poured it all out onto the bed, looking at it, and felt alive.” The pair’s anxiety and depression worsened over time. They eventually agreed that if one decided to commit suicide, she would call the other so they could do it simultaneously. This agreement would reflect some of her future companionships, for which mutual self-harm became a basis. In high school, everything changed. Alissa’s parents decided to move to Hattiesburg. Her life would begin anew for a fourth time, an existential shift that would further affect the balance of her depression and happier moments. Her social frame was becoming subject to a fragmentation over which she had no control.
Having to leave Katy devastated Alissa. “[Katy] was the one person in my life who completely understood me, whom I could be myself around,” she said. “I remember there were lots of tears. That was the time I started self-harming. I wanted my parents to see what they were doing to me.” The family moved at the end of Alissa’s 9th-grade year. After the summer, she began 10th grade at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg. New Alliances On her first day, Alissa met a young woman named Sandy, who invited her to lunch. Some of Alissa’s time in Alabama, where she had occasionally drunk beer and smoked weed with unsteady friends in rural fields, shaped her alliances at Oak Grove. “When I got to the lunch table, it looked like the school’s drug crowd,” she said. “I thought, ‘Hell yeah,’ because I knew how to drink, I knew how to smoke and these could be my friends. We had something to bond over. It was an easy way to get friends.”
Southern states like Mississippi have the most painkiller prescriptions per person, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. Alissa found her niche with the group, hanging out with them after school and hosting gatherings at her house when her parents left town. She cleaned in the mornings after, scrubbing away the remnants of the weekend’s simulated happiness. Alissa grew acquainted with painkillers in her Oak Grove days. This discovery would follow her into college. “It was like, ‘This is my favorite feeling in the world, this makes me feel alive, this makes me feel like I love myself,’” she said. “I was in a couple of abusive relationships that were centered around taking pills together. I didn’t realize how much I was being taken advantage of. I had a job, so I had money and could spend it all on drugs. I can never do painkillers again, because I loved them so much. . . . I thought these pills were making me feel love.” continued on | pg 4
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INTRODUCTION MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
MEET THE STAFF SPRING 2017 Daisy Stutts
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OPINIONS Opinions expressed in The Student Printz are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Student Printz, its publication manager, USM, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning or the USM Board of Student Publications.
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NEWS MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
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Laurel art forger cons local museums TICHINA WILSON
printz reporter
Mark Landis, an American painter, has been recognized for his many contributions to American museums, but he is best known for his forged pieces. For nearly 30 years, Landis tricked dozens of museums into accepting replicas into their collection. His stunts have made numerous headlines across the world. However, he never actually committed a crime, because he “donated” his forgeries. He fooled more than 40 art museums with this tactic. Mark Landis and his artwork was the subject of the documentary “Art and Craft,” which can now be found on Netflix. Landis has donated to several places including The University of Southern Mississippi’s McCain Library and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel to which he made his first donation. Landis’ mother was a volunteer for the museum, but some believe she had no clue what her son was doing. “We never had the interaction of the two of them together,” said Lauren Rogers Museum registrar Tommie Rodgers. “She was here as a volunteer. We were piecing the parts together to learn who [Mark Landis] was and more about his background. I guess one or two times really fueled his fire, gave him the confidence to think, ‘Well, I can keep doing this, I can keep fooling people.’ He had a very good con.” It was even said that Landis would use the museum to meet his clients. “He was trying to build this relationship and credibility through us to reach these other museums,” Rodgers said. “He would take them to lunch, come back to the museum for a tour, and if one of us happened to be walking through the galleries while they were visiting, he might introduce us, and then he would shoo us away quickly so we wouldn’t interfere with his scheme.” Most museums have protocol they follow when accepting artwork and collecting priorities. However, they are not authenticators, appraisers or conservators. Rodgers said Landis taught everyone a valuable lesson. “I think what he did in a good way was remind museum staff members to be leery of anything that comes in your door, always do your research and your homework before you accept something,” Rodgers said. Many thought Landis craved the attention, including Rodgers. Ironically, Landis agrees. “Mark Landis craves artistic expression and finds strength in the validation he receives from it,” states Landis’ website. McCain Library Curator Ellen Ruffin said the library had no idea when he was about to donate. “He would appear out of nowhere,” she said. “We never knew if he was
Courtesy Photo | coming.” Ruffin said her first encounter with Landis was when he brought an “original” Charles Shultz to McCain. “His way was to bring us the
catalogue image from the auction that it had might been on bid for,” Ruffin said. “The artwork looked identical to the catalogue description and to what it was.”
Despite his forgeries, Ruffin believes Landis was not harmful. “Mark was not a dangerous person, he was more of an injured soul,” Ruffin said.
All of Landis’ works donated to the McCain Library were in honor of his father and mother. Landis himself could not be reached for comment.
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FEATURE MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
continued from | pg 4
Alum recovers from hidden addiction Alissa’s circle of friends began to dwindle as they used harder drugs and engaged in illegal activity for money. Some friends, according to her, robbed houses. Her habits even leaked into the softer corners of her life – she often went to her school’s darkroom, a silent country of red light and relief, to use cocaine. Eventually, Alissa and her friends tried liquefying and injecting painkillers for a more potent high. “When I started shooting up was when everything fell apart,” she said. “And there wasn’t much left to fall apart in my life. I would shoot up at school, I would shoot up with toilet water and I got back with an abusive boyfriend.” Eventually, she used painkillers to feel normal. They became her preserver, keeping her afloat in life’s ocean of stressors and anxiety. She no longer experienced intoxication. One day, Alissa attempted to reach out to a teacher, explaining that she struggled outside the classroom. Unfortunately, her teacher reacted dismissively. She stopped trying to get help afterward. Strange Days A lightning strike occurs when electrical charges from clouds and the ground interact and meet somewhere in the middle. The lightning begins at the cloud, cutting down toward a ground object’s positive charge, until the object sends its own bolt slicing toward heaven – God’s own uppercut punch. The two halves of Alissa’s persona finally touched, meeting halfway between her family life and her social life. When this happened, her world was
hit by a storm. At work, Alissa took frequent trips to the restroom to use pain killers and pass the time. It was ritual, a communion with the self. When her coworkers caught on, they told her boss, who confronted her. In the middle of a work day, her boss took her for a drive. The pair exchanged words on life and its struggles in the car. Alissa even told her new chauffeur about the painkillers. When the drive ended in a park, Alissa’s boss made her call her older brother and tell him everything. Alissa said her brother was devastated. He immediately made plans to come home and help. “This was no choice of my own,” she said. “It was my boss’s choice. Because of that reason, that wasn’t my last time to use drugs. I wasn’t ready to quit. I was forced into it. But my brother and I made a plan, and I had to tell my parents.” She told them – after seeing her friends and using again. Her brother made her feel as comfortable as possible as she experienced withdrawals at home. He provided her with blankets, and together they watched movies. The Southern Miss fall semester soon started. “My parents kept me on lockdown for an entire month [that summer],” she said. “I wasn’t allowed to go out, and I wasn’t allowed to see my friends. So in my head, I still hated myself, I still thought my life was sh••, but I didn’t have drugs to cope with it. I wanted to believe I wasn’t going back to drugs, but I knew I would.”
She was right. Alissa said her freshman year was the worst year of her life. One day that year, Alissa took a hard look at herself in the mirror. She was disappearing, she said, and looked like “an alien.” At roughly 90 pounds, she saw that her addiction was visible. Track marks punctuated her arms, and bags hung under her eyes. “That year I felt like I didn’t matter,” Alissa said. “I wanted help but didn’t know how to get help. So I just kept living my lifestyle.” Drugs, she said, were expensive. The money she stole failed to cover the cost. At this point, Alissa resorted to sex work. “My main drug dealer was on house arrest at the time [for sex work charges],” she said. “It got to the point where it was like, ‘Maybe this is a good idea. I don’t care about myself. I don’t care about my body. I’m just going to do it.’ That was the absolute worst time of my life.” According to a Widener University study, 10 percent of college students know other students who use sex work to support themselves. Alissa said sex workers are not identifiable by appearance and are regular people. She made the dean’s list that year and still went to work despite all of this. “I was strung out all the time, sleeping with these people for money and shooting up in every bathroom I went to,” she said. “And nobody even knew.” Toward the end of her freshman year, Alissa decided she wanted to quit using. She said she could not see a future for herself, that the lifestyle she lived was too dangerous to continue. She had grown tired of shooting up to feel normal. Her
Jack Hammett | Printz life preserver, it seemed, was deflating. On her own, Alissa decided to stop. She experienced withdrawals again. This time, though, it was her decision, and she was alone. “When I was having the withdrawals, I would think to myself, ‘I am going to remember every single part of me that hurts, every bad feeling I’m having right now, because this is going to be the last time I do it,’” Alissa said. “‘I’m going to make myself feel it.’” Opioid withdrawal symptoms include nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, blurry vision, rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure, according to American Addiction Centers. Furthermore, recovery can be the most dangerous stage of addiction, as the body’s tolerance for a substance is lowered but cravings remain the same. This increases the risk of relapse, overdose and death. And with Love, It Ended Alissa survived. She said she wanted to work on loving herself and repair her relationship with her body. After the withdrawals ended, life became better. She stopped using painkillers and reconnected with an old boyfriend. It seemed the life that had fragmented before her was coming back together. But as personal struggles often play out, the good and the bad came in waves. Alissa and her boyfriend formed a new kind of communion, one crafted of cigarettes and cheap beer. “I would have a $20 bill, and we would go get a case of Keystone and a pack of Marlboro 27s,” she said. “After a month and a half of drinking every single night with him, I thought, ‘F•••. I thought I fixed my life, and here I am doing the same sh••.’ I was still having to drink every night to feel like my life was okay.” Alissa read musician Anthony Kiedis’s autobiography after hearing her boyfriend express interest in it. “All of my friends make fun of me now, but I read it, and he’s an addict, been through recovery and all that,” she said. “In the book, he talked about going to NA and going to meetings and getting clean.” Alissa decided to go to NA. She found
meetings in town and said that at that time, they were what she needed. She even went to the yearly NA convention. According to information gathered at the convention by na.org, the average time for NA members to stay clean is about 11 years. Of the NA members asked, 53 percent said the first meeting is the most important step to recovering. It seemed for the first time that Alissa interacted with people who could relate to her lived experience. And for the first time, she said, she could feel like a normal person. Alissa became personally involved with her NA program by helping with meetings and talking with newcomers. She conducted meetings, led discussions and cleaned the coffee cups. She said her time at NA was positive, as she could discuss her feelings without being judged. She said her first couple of months without drugs or alcohol were the “weirdest.” “It was the first time since I was in 9th grade that I wasn’t smoking or drinking alcohol,” Alissa said. “I had to learn how to interact with people without being f•••ed up, had to learn how to do my day-to-day sh•• without being on drugs. It taught me how to have friends and be accountable and responsible.” Later, Alissa went with her best friend to Hattiesburg punk band Baghead’s first show. This incidentally became her next step in recovery. “It was a life-changing experience,” she said. “I didn’t know this happened in Hattiesburg. These kids were going crazy. It was terrifying and exciting. I met all my current friends. They were so welcoming.” Alissa said she had found something she really loved and of which she wanted to be a part. She said it felt similar to being in NA and being accepted, only better. At the NA meetings, she realized many of the attendees had ideological differences from herself. At punk shows, however, the people around her expressed ideals similar to hers. It was during this time she learned about feminism and social politics. continued | online
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FEATURE MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
Meet Marie! The Coordinator of the USM Human Library.
with | ashley hopson When Univeristy of Southern Mississippi students experienced the Human Library on Feb. 22, there was one “book” whom no one was able to check out. That book was coordinator Marie Adkinson. When I first saw Marie, she was running from table to table on the day of the Human Library, talking to students as if they had known each other for years. I was able to sit down with Marie two weeks later and discover the mind behind the Human Library event. Upon meeting Marie Adkinson, one is immediately swept into a bubble of energy, passion and, somehow, calmness. Talking to Marie is like reading a book that constantly keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Five minutes in, you’re not only surprised by all that she is telling you but by all you are telling her. Marie began her career at USM in 2009 as an undergrad pursuing a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management. She stayed at USM to earn her Master’s degree and has called the Hattiesburg campus home ever since. She now works as a coordinator at Resident Life, where she founded the Advocacy for Civility, Change, Equality, Safety and Social Justice (ACCESS). After chatting with Marie for five
minutes, it is easy to see her passion is promoting acceptance and equality. This is seen in her work with ACCESS and, most recently, the Human Library. Arguably, Marie impacts students at USM that she has never met just through her commitment to spread and encourage acceptance on campus, focusing mainly on social justice. Growing up in Pearl, surely the passion within her must have had a catalyst of some sort to ignite the fire. Right? Wrong. “I’ve been very fortunate to just be open-minded,” Adkinson said. “In high school, I had a friend that told everyone she lived with her aunt and mom. Later she told me that that wasn’t actually her aunt and that she had two moms. That was all because she heard me being open-minded with someone else. For me, that was big deal.” One act of acceptance led to another, and another and another. All those acts have put Marie where she is today. Marie’s story is far from over, and if we’re lucky enough, she’ll write a few more chapters here at USM. Oh, and if you thought she didn’t have anything else up her sleeve, she is also a mime, proving that actions really do speak louder than words
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OPINION MONDAY, MARCH 2O, 2017
Mississippi Universities Unfairly Lose Tax Breaks ALYSSA BASS
printz reporter
On March 8, the Mississippi House voted 57 - 56 to deny tax exemptions to public universities that refuse to fly the state flag. The flag, which features the Confederate symbol, has been seen as a sign of racism and hatred in recent years. After the July 2015 Charleston shooting, many hoped that the Mississippi state flag and all others sporting the Confederate symbol would be removed and redesigned. Dylann Roof, the shooter responsible for killing nine people, is known for being a proud white supremacist, posing in photos with the Confederate flag, a handgun and Neo-Nazi symbolism. Roof admitted in his 2,000 word manifesto that he wanted to declare a race war. Just 10 days after the Charleston massacre, Bree Newsome, an African-American activist, performed an act of civil disobedience by climbing up the flag pole outside of the South Carolina State House to take down the Confederate flag. She was helped by friend and fellow white activist James Tyson, which was a strategic choice. In an interview to the Blue Nation Review, Newsome said she planned for a white ally to aid her in the flag’s removal “as a sign that our alliance transcended both racial and gender divides.” “You see, I know my history and my heritage,” Newsome said. “The Confederacy is neither the only legacy of the South nor an admirable one. The Southern heritage I embrace is the legacy of a people unbowed by racial oppression.” Newsome’s act was not only a response to the tragedy in South Carolina, but also a reaction to the Confederacy’s historic and infamous stance of seeing AfricanAmericans as lesser than whites. Roof, clearly encouraged by the Confederacy’s ideology along with the modern-day KKK’s “failure” by doing nothing more than “talking on the Internet,” he felt like he needed to be a hero. In his manifesto he said, “I chose Charleston because it is [the] most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of Blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” Roof ’s actions should have been a wakeup call to the presentday supporters who consider the love of their heritage to be more important than the feelings and acknowledgment of wrongs committed against African-
Courtesy Photo |
Americans. But surprisingly, the deaths of nine innocent, Christians (whose religion I mention because Southerners seem to prefer Christians over any other religious person) was not enough. Many have been quick to defend the Confederacy, saying that the Civil War was never fought over slavery but simply states’ rights. Either way, it is important to realize that the federal government allowed for the states to decide the humanity of African-Americans, and that has caused damaging effects to race relations today. All eight presidents of Mississippi public universities have taken the state flag down due to wanting to send the message of a united front. In October of 2015, president of USM Rodney Bennett decided to remove and replace the state flag with an American flag. “I have chosen to raise American flags on all University of Southern Mississippi flagpoles to remind the university community of what unites us,” Bennett said. “While I love the state of Mississippi, there is passionate disagreement about the current state flag on our campuses and in our communities.” With Bennett’s statement, Roof ’s act of violence and Newsome’s act of resistance in mind, the common thread appears to be division.
The state flag will continue to be a symbol of division until it is redesigned. The fact that lawmakers want universities to endorse a symbol of division with the incentive of tax breaks is nothing but insensitive to the African-American population. Lawmakers should continue to fund public universities and
provide tax breaks because they believe education is important. If all eight public universities in Mississippi have removed their flag, it is because their presidents, like Bennett, believe that our flag is not inclusive and emphasizes the old, white supremacist ideals of Southerners. Until Republicans in the House
as well as the few Confederate flag supporters who set up camp outside of USM on the weekends can stop supporting the losing team of the Civil War, become more empathetic and change the flag to something less controversial like the state bird or flower, we will continue to have this conversation.
SPORTS MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017
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USM believes in ‘Omaha or Bust’ mentality JULIUS KIZZEE
sports editor
After the series sweep at Louisiana Tech this past weekend, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles continue to build a strong resume to go to another NCAA Regional. Last year, Southern Miss had hopes of hosting a Regional with a 41 - 20 record and a C-USA championship. Although those goals are the same this year, the Golden Eagles are looking further than just those accolades. “Our goal every time we come out here is to win a game just to get into Omaha,” said junior pitcher Kirk McCarty. “We truly believe that we can do that. We’re not playing just for a conference championship [and] not playing just to be in a Regional. We want to make it to Omaha.” Every team has dreams of making it to the big stage. But the Golden Eagles feel like that dream is attainable after touting a roster full of offensive firepower (8.35 runs per game) and timely pitching. “We have enough talent to do it,” said sophomore closer Nick Sandlin. “We’re just going to have to produce when the first pitch is thrown — from start to finish. Everyone on the team can say that Omaha is definitely the goal this year.” Only eight teams make it each year, and Southern Miss believes it can be one of those select few. Dylan
Burdeaux, who starts at first base for the Golden Eagles, saw his team miss out on Regionals early in his career and make it back to Tallahassee last year. The highest point was last year when his team went to Tallahassee to face South Alabama and Florida State in an NCAA Regional matchup. The lowest points were his freshman and sophomore years, when the team won at least 35 games, but missed out on postseason play. “[All the games] matter,” Burdeaux said. “With this [rating percentage index (RPI)] deal to get into the tournament, every game matters just as much as the next one. Just let the chips fall how they may.” RPI is used to show how strong a team’s schedule is or how strong its “resume” looks to the committee that selects host sites and teams to go to to postseason play. The better the teams Southern Miss plays and defeats, the better its “resume” looks. Through March 17, Southern Miss sat at No. 68 in RPI, but its C-USA foe La. Tech sat at No. 7, so that will be a boost to its hopes. From an inside and outside perspective, every game truly does matter. “We have to take care of business throughout the season,” said Head Coach Scott Berry. “We’ve learned in the past that you have to start fast and finish strong. Even if you start slow and you finish strong, a lot of times, it’s not enough. The focus needs to be
on playing good consistent baseball from start to finish. If we can do that and we can take care of our business in conference, I feel like we’ll be rewarded in the end.” Those rewards do not come without questions. Coming into the season, the hitting was not seen as a problem. Stouting Burdeaux and third baseman Taylor Braley (11 combined home runs on the year) always helps, but combining newly-added talents such as Casey Maack and Bryant Bowen, among others, pushes the needle even further along the offensive scale. “One through nine, we’re pretty solid,” Braley said. “There’s really nobody you can pitch around. We’re solid all the way through.” But Berry said getting runs across the plate was never going to be the true challenge. The process of keeping the same runs from going across will be a task in itself. “The challenge is going to be on the mound,” Berry said. “Three hundred and fifteen innings is a lot of innings that you have to replace. We feel like we have those quality guys. We still have that unknown to us, and we’ll have to figure that out.” Talents such as Cord Cockrell, Jake Winston and Cody Livingston have left the mound, and an abundance of unknown names have replaced them. J.C. Keys, Stevie Powers and Taylor Braley have all stepped up to take the
mantle and McCarty says if they can be efficient, they will win a lot of games. “Give our hitters a chance to win a game,” McCarty said. “If we can limit a team to three or four runs, we’re going to win a lot of games with the lineup we have. I’m getting the chills thinking about it.” It’s not all about the end result, however. Braley believes that the game is about having fun and not just crossing milestones. Last year, Braley missed most of his sophomore campaign after undergoing surgery on his ACL. This year, he is looking forward to going out and playing ball — despite high
expectations. On paper and sporting a 16 - 4 record, Southern Miss has all the tools to not just reach last year’s totals, but to actually get to Omaha and face the best of the best. “I think that this club has a lot of potential,” Berry said. “But, we’ve got to go out and prove it. More importantly, we’ve got to play together and create that chemistry within one another of what our roles are, accept our roles and hold ourselves accountable to that role.” The Golden Eagles will face in-state rival Mississippi State on Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
Hunt Mercier| Printz The Southern Miss Golden Eagles huddle together before they play South Alabama at the NCAA 2016 Division I baseball championship in Tallahassee, Florida on June 3, 2016
Golden Eagles open outdoor season with solid showing ANDREW ABADIE printz reporter The Golden Eagles men’s and women’s track teams began the outdoor season at the Mississippi State Relays. The Golden Eagles’ teams were tested in the outdoor relays, showing promise on the track. On day one, the men’s distance team showed the most improvement based off of the indoor season. In the men’s 800m race, junior Randall Dias ran a 1:57, a second faster than his indoor time this season, to finish fourth overall. In the 1500m run, freshman David Little also finished fourth running a 3:57. On the women’s side, the distance team continued to be the strongest part of the team. Sisters Regen and Devin McGee ran 2:14 and 2:17 to finish first and second overall, respectively. In the 1500m run, Courtney Filliben ran a 4:32, finishing second, Savannah McMillion ran a 4:34 to finish third and Natalya HallDekleva ran a 4:35 to finish in fourth place. The Lady Eagles also finished strong in the 5000m race with four runners finishing in the top eight. Sophomore Victoria Hoppe (17:59) finished fourth, sophomore Chloe Tedder (18:29) finished sixth, freshman Madeleine Bell (18:36) finished seventh and sophomore
Courtesy Photo | Rachel Tedder (18:52) finished eighth. In the men’s 400m race, senior Curtis Walker placed second running a 47.40 and sophomores Lorenzen Burton and Forrest Penton finished seventh and ninth overall, running 49.30 and 49.62, respectively. For the women’s 400m race, freshman Aireana Taylor and junior Brooklyn Polk ran 58.22 and 59.20 to place fourth and fifth, respectively. In the men’s field events, junior Donald Daley threw a 49.91m to finish first overall in the discus throw.
Freshman Robert Watson finished third in the hammer throw, throwing 46.94m. In the women’s discus throw, junior Brashe Wood placed first with a 47.90m throw and sophomore Danisha Jones threw 45.31m to place fifth. Freshman Nadia Moffo placed second in the hammer throw, throwing 55.82m and Wood threw 46.87m to place sixth. In the relays, the men’s 4x200 team ran a 1:25.24 to finish second overall and the women finished first in the 4x200 finished first with a time of
1:37.04. On day two, the Golden Eagles stayed productive with three more event winners. In the men’s short distance, junior Cra’vorkian Carson won the 200m dash with a 21.36, with freshman Kemar Sims running a 11.20 to finish ninth. The women’s short distance had less success than the men’s team. In the women’s 100m dash, freshman Shundoria Hardy finished ninth with a 12.44. In the 200m dash, freshman
Keiyana Gaskin and sophomore Kadaria Thompson placed third and fifth running 24.17 and 24.29, respectively. In the men’s hurdles events, freshman Caleb Park ran a 14.45 to place second overall in the 110m hurdles and freshman Kacey Spinks placed third in the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.21. For the women, senior Modesty Lorick ran a 13.85 to place second in the 110m hurdles. Junior Talia Thompson also placed second in the 400m hurdles running a 1:03.44. In the men’s 4x100 relay the team ran a 41.42 to finish first overall, but the women’s relay team did not finish in the 4x100. However, in the 4x400 relay the Lady Eagles finished third running a 3:48.01 In the women’s high jump, freshman Jamari Drake jumped a 1.70m to place first in her event. In the men’s field events, Watson doubled and competed in the shotput, where he finished sixth overall with a throw 12.75m. In the men’s javelin, senior Emron Gibbs and Thomas Peters threw 66.69m and 62.21m to place fourth and fifth. In women’s, junior Alexis Chiles threw a 17.17m to place second in her competition. The Golden Eagles will be back in action at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. on Mar. 24.
! E L B A AIL V A S M O O R E L G N I S OF R E B UM N D E LIMIT
RESERVE YOUR ROOM ON CAMPUS FALL ’17 – SPRING ’18 at www.usm.edu/housing. for
CURRENT RESIDENTS: STAY ON CAMPUS AGAIN NEXT YEAR, AND WE WILL WAIVE THE PROCESSING FEE! ONLINE SELF-REASSIGNMENT (OPENS/CLOSES AT NOON) *See designated time below.
march 1 – 7 Men and Women (2.8 – 4.0 GPA*)
march 8 – 21 Men and Women (2.0 – 4.0 GPA*)
march 22 – May 12
All students currently in housing *cumulative total GPA
Prior to SelfREAssignment reAssignment
. . . .
Review building information for the 2017-18 academic year online at www.usm.edu/housing and communicate with your preferred roommate regarding the process for roommate pull-in; Review the Housing Contract Lease Agreement (online); Test your SOAR login and password on our website to be sure you can access the RMS portal for self-reassignment; and Remember to use Internet Explorer 10.0 or above and turn off pop-up blockers. (MAC users will need to use Firefox. Safari is not compatible with the application portal.)
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