Chris Boyce - Varsity Sports

It's tournament time for the Appalachian State University men's basketball team, and although it's not March Madness, it sure comes close.

On Thursday, March 1, the Southern Conference (SoCon) will host its annual championship tournament in Greenville, S.C. at the Bi-Lo Center and will run until March 4.

At stake is a bid to college basketball's NCAA Tournament, one of the sporting world's most exciting and anticipated events.

This year's tournament has a fair share of favorites such as the Northern Division's East Tennessee State University, boasting a league-best 13-3 SoCon record or perennial powerhouse College of Charleston, who hopes to once again reach Sunday's championship game.

As always though, the tournament is wide open, which is what makes it so exciting.

The Appalachian State Mountaineers enter Thursday night's showdown with Furman University as defending champs, although this year's squad is just a skeleton of last year's tournament champs.

"Until somebody else wins it, we're the defending champs," said Appalachian State head coach Houston Fancher.

"Some of the guys playing for us now like Josh (Shehan), Jon (Butler) and Buddy (Davis) sat there and watched the team win the championship last year. They remember that, and I'm sure when they walk back in the Bi-Lo Center things will pop back in their heads."

This year's team, unlike last year's, enters the tournament in the midst of a four-game losing streak and most recently, a 24-point loss to lowly Furman.

"We've encountered some difficulties late and it's not necessarily that we've played bad. We didn't play very well against VMI. Wofford played really well and the Furman and UNCG games could've gone as easily our way as it did theirs," said Fancher.

"I don't think it's insurmountable that we can bounce back and have a good showing at the tournament."

But to have a good showing at the tournament will require an improvement at the guard position where shooting percentages have suffered lately.

"Our post game is definitely our strength. In order for us to really go to our post, our guards really have to open it up for us," said Francher.

"Matt (Jones) and Noah (Brown) both didn't shoot the ball very well at VMI and both haven't been scoring as well lately as they have in the past. ... I know they're both disappointed with how we shot the ball at VMI, but I wouldn't think twice about them coming out and making some big shots for us Thursday night," he said.

Appalachian's opponent Thursday night is a familiar one. The two teams met Feb. 12 and the Paladins left Boone with a 70-63 victory, a game in which the Mountaineers blew a large lead and came just short of winning at the end.

To come up with a win over the Paladins and have any success in the tournament the Mountaineers will need tireless defense and will have to put a stop on the SoCon's second leading scorer, Karim Souchu, who is averaging 18.8 points per contest.

In addition, Appalachian State must shoot the ball with better accuracy and finish close games.

"I think we need to defend over the course of 40 minutes and work on stopping (Karim) Souchu. I think we need to shoot the ball better from the perimeter as well as win the rebounding war," said Fancher.

"In the Furman game we had our opportunities to win and our guys know that. It hasn't been that long so it's still fresh in their mind. They know that we can beat this team."

Fancher is excited about this year's SoCon Tournament from the perspective of the competition as well as the feeling that this year's Mountaineer squad still has something to prove.

"It's something that you build towards all year," said Fancher. "Right now it would be easy for me to lay my head down and say we've tanked it, but I don't think we have.

I don't think this team's done yet. I think we still have a statement to make, and hopefully we'll start on Thursday making it."

James Nix - Clubs and Intramural Sports

The Appalachian State University Swim Club has had an incredible year thus far, evidenced by its domination of its competition.

The club's most recent meet was at Radford University (RU) in Virginia two weeks ago. This was the most important meet of the season for the ASU swimmers because it is the only time they swim against varsity teams.

Varsity and club teams from universities such as Georgia Tech University (Ga. Tech), Agnes Scott College (also in Atlanta), Greensboro College and Virginia's Randolph-Macon College competed at this event.

Most of these teams are in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

"A ton of varsity teams, especially from the girls' program, gave us compliments and were amazed by our program," said club president Mike Pruett.

The events featured at the RU meet included 100- and 200-yard races in freestyle swimming, the backstroke, breaststroke and the butterfly stroke, as well as 50- and 500-yard races in freestyle. Swimmers took part in 200 and 400 individual medley (IM) races also.

The ASU women's team finished second over all in this three-day event, and the men finished third.

"I think that for a club team which has no practice requirements, is run by students and is funded primarily by students, to have the girls' team come in second speaks very highly for the organization," said club vice president Cristen Shoulders.

Leading the ASU women swimmers was Jill Hudson, who finished first in the 100 butterfly and third in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Shoulders finished fifth in the 400 IM and eighth in the 800 IM as well as sixth in the 200 backstroke.

Ashley Hawks finished third in the 200 breaststroke, fourth in the 100 breaststroke, and seventh in the 500 freestyle.

Deana Overby, Becka Stuntz and twins Karen and Kimberly Byrd all had top performances as well.

"We had second place last year," said Shoulders. "So this year, we knew we could do it."

For the men, Wes Howarth led the way finishing first in both the 50 and 100 freestyle and fourth in the 100 backstroke. Nathan Fields finished second in the 200 and 400 IM as well as the 200 breaststroke.

Pruit finished third in both the 100 and 200 backstroke and fourth in the butterfly.

Jon Terell and Jeff Fulton both had top performances too.

The RU meet has been the only major meet this year. Last year, the club traveled to Atlanta to swim in a meet hosted by Ga. Tech in the pool used during the 1996 Olympics. The other clubs at this meet included Clemson University, the University of Virginia (UVA), Duke University and the College of William and Mary (W&M).

The women's team dominated this meet.

"We beat every team there except for Duke," said Shoulders. "That was the third week of school, so we hadn't been in the water much."

The Mountaineers traveled to Elon College in early November to swim in their second meet. This meet included the same teams from the Georgia Tech (GT) meet except Duke.

Here ASU took control of the pool and came in first place.

After the Elon meet, the club stayed away from major competition in order to prepare for the RU meet.

ASU will travel to Clemson to compete this weekend. In April, the club will travel back to Atlanta to swim in another GT hosted event.

Currently, the club is trying to plan an event in Boone sometime later this month. Also, meets at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University may be on the horizon.

This year's club is made of freshmen and sophomores primarily, so future success is a good possibility.

However, six of the top swimmers this year, including Shoulders, will graduate in May, and a few others will graduate in December. This should not hurt the club drastically, but it will have an impact on the success of the club next year.

"We have a good bunch of swimmers," said Shoulders. "We are definitely leaving the team in good hands; it is just hard to lose six top swimmers."

Andy Morris - Sports Beat

A great comeback and a tough defeat highlighted the Appalachian State University Indoor Track and Field Team's visit to Johnson City, Tenn. to the Southern Conference Championship Tournament last weekend.

The women's team, underdogs by as much as 20 points to Western Carolina University, came back to win the title by the narrow margin of two points. The men, favored by a few points over Virginia Military Institute, were overcome at the championships, finishing in second place.

"We felt like we had a slimmer chance with the women," said Appalachian's Director of Cross Country and Track and Field John Weaver. "We had a couple of unlucky things happen for the men, and we just didn't quite pull it off."

Despite its loss, Weaver said that the men's team remains positive about the finish and team. "They left the meet with their heads up because they're still a premier program in the Southern Conference,Ó he said. "VMI did not get in on a cake walk; they had to work hard for every point."

The women will now be "marked," according to Weaver. After winning this championship, many other teams will be looking to knock off the defending Southern Conference champions when outdoor season rolls around.

"They've placed themselves in that reigning champion category,Ó said Weaver. "But sports are all about going out and being competitive."

A key factor in the women's title was strong senior leadership from Mary Jayne Harrelson, Kirsten Bowden, Shonte Pinkston, Angela Pryor and Ro Malloy.

Along with the women's title, Weaver was awarded the Women's SoCon Coach of the Year. "The athletes win that award for the coach," he said. "As long as athletes get what they deserve, coaches don't need a reward as long as I can see my kids do well."

"No plaque will give me greater satisfaction than seeing my kids walk around the track with that team championship trophy," said Weaver.

With the SoCon season over, three women from the Mountaineer team are looking forward to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship Tournament on March 9-10 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.

Harrelson has qualified for the mile and the 800 meters, but she plans to only compete in the mile. Pinkston has qualified for the 60-meter dash and Bowden for the triple jump.

According to Weaver, Pinkston and Bowden are somewhat on the bubble to get in and plan to compete in a meet in Gainesville, Fla., before the championships to try to get in for sure.

"These three seniors are our hardest workers and have the greatest attitudes," said Weaver. "There's no better way for them to end their career than at the NCAA Championships."