LC swims to successful start

by Zach Mann

LC has a swimming team? That's the question many students are asking after the Pios won their first conference meet in five years and third in almost a decade. Not to take anything away from the talented and hard working swimmers that grace Lewis & Clark College, but back-to-back last place Conference finishes do not paint a very pretty picture for the squad.

The picture though, is slowly turning into a masterpiece, one lap at a time. At the reins is second year head coach Matt Sellman whose recruiting methods and understanding of the sport are slowly wearing off on his young team. Coming from perennial powerhouse PLU, Sellman knows what it takes to win. "They needed a kick start. They needed someone who cared, someone with energy, and someone to motivate them," said Sellman. "I came in with a lot of energy and excitement to be coaching."

With only three members of the men’s team attending Conference last year, it was virtually impossible for them to even come close to competing. It takes 4 participants to swim in a relay. The women’s team was slightly larger with eight participants. This season, the women’s team boasts 16 swimmers and the men increased slightly to 5.

The women are building on their recent success, a win over Whitman in their first Conference meet of the year. Numbers are finally on their side, as their team seems to get bigger everyday. It may be a work in progress but winning is in store for LC this season and especially seasons to come.

Pieces are finally falling into place to produce a winner in the water. One can look no farther than Sellman, who the team affectionately calls "dad" due to his leadership and the allowance money he hands out during the winter training session, for LC’s recent turnaround.

The first home Conference swim meet will be against PLU, Saturday, Nov. 16th in Zehntbauer Swim Pavilion. The doors open at 12:30 PM for the 1:00 PM start.

Check out the Sports Action

commentary by Chris Ryan

What do Oregon's public schools, businesses, workforce, state parks and salmon all have in common? They all receive lottery profits to help them prepare for the future.

With the conclusion of many of Lewis and Clark’s fall sports, the student athlete once again has the privilege to participate in Sports Action, Oregon’s pro football lottery game you can play for cash. Sports Action is a game unique to Oregon and can be played all over the state, anywhere from taverns to convenience stores. The object of Sports Action is to choose the winners of three or more football games in a given week.

Each week an official program is released. Included in this program are least 8 events, the names of the "Favorite" and "Underdog" and the official point spread for each game.

While adding more games to your parlay, you increase your possible winnings, but decrease your chances of winning. The percentages break down like this: the chances of matching 3 of 3 are 1:8 and for every $1 wagered will have a $5 return. For matching 4 of 4 your chances are 1:16 and for every $1 wagered the return is $10.

For the financially struggling LC students who would rather earn extra beer money by gambling on professional sports rather than get a real job, Sports Action is the ideal answer.

Without further adieu, here are Piolog’s predictions for week 11:

Ryno’s Guaran-damm-tees:
Oakland Raiders over New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts over Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles over Arizona Cardinals

Boly’s Bets:
Green Bay Packers over Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos over Seattle Seahawks, "New Jersey" Jets over Detroit Lions

Koehn’s Keepers:
San Francisco 49ers over San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles over Arizona Cardinals

Note: The only thing the Piolog officially guarantees is that a fool and his money will be separated.

Note: NCAA regulations discourage collegiate athletes from competing in Sports Action.

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