UT Men's Cross Country: Trials and Tribulations

Cross Country is by no means a glorious sport or a spectator sport, but hard work and determination are necessary. The Spartan boys wake up daily at 6am to run several miles before the majority of campus presses snooze on their alarms. Each year is a difficult one, but this year has brought a new set of challenges for the UT Men's Cross Country team.

This summer one of the teams top runners, Jeremy Lautzenheiser, lost control of his iconic 'Danger Ranger' and crashed into a ditch. Luckily he suffered from a couple of cuts and a broken wrist. None the less he was out for the season, giving a serious blow to the varsity squad.

Then right before the season started tragedy struck. Senior runner Ryan McCall was murdered in a robbery walking back to his home. Junior runner Joe Ranalli said "It's something that you would never expect. The team will defiantly not be the same without him, but this season is for him and hes truly touched all of us."

"Ryan will not be forgotten," said roommate Kevin Harley, "everything we do this year will be for Ryan, despite everything stacked against us, we have to stay positive and build off of this."

In memory of McCall the teams uniforms have a RM printed on them. Also the home meet was dedicated to him memory.

Despite all the hardships of Lautzenheiser, McCall, and top runner Tony Nicolosi red shirting the team moves forward.

The season began September 4th with a home meet, the UT Early Bird Classic in Brandon, Florida. Due to rain and lightning the meet was delayed and both mens and womens teams ran a 5k (men normally run an 8k). Statistics are not currently available.

On September 18th the Spartans headed to Gainesville to compete in the Mountain Dew Invitational at the University of Florida. The Spartans were led by Spartan senior Chris Catanach who placed 24th followed by a quality performance from a young squad.

The Spartans are looking forward to growing into their potential. With a good group of freshman getting Varsity time the freshman are getting good experience which should help with maturing into a very good team.

The Men head to pre-Nationals in Evansville, Indiana then return to run at the Disney Invite then conference in Lakeland, Florida and host Regionals at their home course in Brandon, Florida.

Senior runner Steve Cain said, "We knew coming in after this summer it was going to be a tough year, but we're growing and making progress, that's all you can ask for. We have to make the best of the situation and I think we're doing alright at that."

Obama And The Youth

On September 8th President Obama gave a speech to thousands of school children across America urging them to stay in school and work hard to succeed, despite what challenges await them.  The speech seems to be a simple pep talk to start off the new school year on the right foot, but Obama has come under fire from many people saying that he is 'brainwashing' or pushing socialist ideas on our country's youth.  During a radio talk show Glenn Beck stated,  "On Tuesday, the president is going to be speaking to classrooms and your children, if they go to school -- K through sixth grade, I believe. You know, hey, get 'em while they're young." Implying that what is a simple speech might be a way for Obama to start recruiting future generations.  A contributing editor from NewsBusters, Mark Finkelstein, compared President Obama to a Communist Chinese leader.  Stating that  his speech is to brainwash the kids to believe in exactly what the President believes in and that this is just one more step to an education system with primarily government motives in mind.

UT Junior Dylan Vigliotti read the speech then the criticism and replied, "This seems a little out there, Obama is merely trying to motivate the kids to have a good school year and telling them everything is possible.  At no point is he pushing 'agenda' or anything.  He is simply motivating."  This seemed to be the feelings of many who I interviewed. 

Local business owner Kevin Kelli stated, "Obviously the republicans are still a little bitter, this is a positive speech and of course they find a negative in it." 

UT sophomore Sarah Chamberlain said, "I understand the connection between Obama and a Mao of sorts, but its a very long reach to state something like that.  Its something positive for the kids in general, a well educated populas is something to strive for, so I'm not sure where the issue is."

Whether the speech was a harmless speech to motivate the youth of America to work harder towards an education or a brainwashing scheme to create a socialistic society, we'll have to wait and see.

Hersh 'MoonWalker" Fried- a Matt Hockenjos joint

Hersh “Moon Walker” Fried

You might catch Hersh Fried (pronounced ‘freed’) jamming out on his guitar in his Straz Hall dorm room, hanging out on the beach, or relaxing around Tampa’s scenic campus. Fried originally hails from Del Ray Beach Florida came to University of Tampa three years ago for the proximity to his hometown and the beautiful weather. He enjoyed his freshman year in the infamous second floor of Stadium Center. In the three years following he says that he has “no complaints” and is “definitely loving life.” Before entering his junior year at University of Tampa he spent three weeks traveling in Israel. In his time at home he worked for a prominent stock trading company. After college Fried would love to attend grad school in Tampa; after grad school Fried hopes to use his future political science major to become a Political Diplomat. A diplomat is far from the astronaut dreams of his childhood, but with whatever is in Fried’s future his charismatic personality and desire to achieve will get him far.