Softball coach Van Wyk inks five key recruitsfor the 2005 season
By Michael Klitzing, Sports Editor
When the San Diego State men’s basketball team originally agreedto compete in the Maui Invitational Tournament, event organizersundoubtedly saw it as a chance to showcase one of collegebasketball’s up-and-coming players – Evan Burns. Instead, what theygot may have been a showcase of one of college basketball’sup-and-coming teams.
SDSU beat Chaminade 75-67 Wednesday in Lahaina, Hawaii to claimthird place in the prestigious eight-team regular-season tourney,ahead of major-conference notables Ohio State and Villanova. TheAztecs (3-1) won two-of-three games in Maui, losing only to eventualchampion Dayton 76-71 on Tuesday.
After guards Brandon Heath and Wesley Stokes lit up the scoreboardin Monday’s opening-round upset of the Buckeyes, senior forwardAerick Sanders carried SDSU the rest of the way.
Sanders was named to the all-tournament team after a pair ofdouble-doubles. He tallied a career-high 21 points and 18 reboundsagainst the Dayton Flyers. Against the Chaminade Silverswords, hecontributed 14 points and 16 boards.
Guard Tommy Johnson contributed 15 points in just 29 minutes inthe loss to Dayton.
After a cold shooting performance against the Flyers, Stokes(3-for-16) also helped lead the way in the consolation game withChaminade and led the Aztecs with 19 points. Forward Chris Walton,meanwhile, chipped in 12.
Dayton took the Maui Invitational title with an 82-72 victory overHawaii, Wednesday. SDSU’s two wins were the best in a regular seasontournament since 1987 when it picked up two wins in six games at theKactus Klassic in Tempe, Ariz.
Building for the future
When SDSU head softball coach Kathy Van Wyk calls a recruitingclass the “best ever,” one should take note – she has certainly hadher share of talented players in her eight seasons on Montezuma Mesa.
But that is exactly what Van Wyk has tabbed the five newcomersthat will take the field with the Aztecs come spring 2005.
Three of the future players hail from Arizona. Catcher/thirdbaseman Megan McDonald (Glendale), shortstop/third baseman ChrissieMarkham (Glendale) and outfielder/infielder Dani Sidoti (Tucson) allpossess impressive high school accolades.
Sidoti, in fact, was selected in August to try out for the UnitedStates Junior Women’s National Team.
The remaining two are a pair of teammates from Burlingame High inNorthern California, Kristen Carranza and Allison Smith.
The Aztecs’ 2004 season begins Feb. 3 against Point Loma Nazarene.
Spartan tendencies
When the San Diego State men’s soccer team lost to San Jose Statein the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports FederationTournament earlier this month, the Spartans evidently left thinkinghighly of the Aztec program.
Assistant men’s soccer coach Dave Siracusa was hired last week tolead the San Jose State women’s soccer program. Siracusa spent threeyears under Aztec head coach Lev Kirshner, also working as arecruiter and fund-raiser.
