A&M-K's defensive end Romig battling form of cancer - George Vondracek, Corpus Christi Caller Times
There are many who believe the true quest for Texas A&M-Kingsville’s fourth-ranked football team begins next weekend in the second round of the NCAA Division II Super Regional Four playoffs.
A very real fight already has begun for Javelinas sophomore defensive end Matt Romig.
While the 10-1 Javelinas enjoy a bye week in preparation for an encounter with either Northwest Missouri State or Missouri Western in the second round, the 21-year-old Romig is beginning his battle against a form of leukemia.
“They’re trying to figure out what it is. Their thinking is that he has cancer of some sort,” Javelinas coach Bo Atterberry said. “They’re just trying to figure out what it is.”
Doctors at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston now have a better handle on Romig’s condition. The talented 6-foot-4, 235-pounder underwent his first round of chemotherapy Thursday.
The Romig family has established a blog — www.caringbridge.org/visit/mattromig — where family, friends and fans can log on and keep abreast of the player’s condition. According to the initial posting, Romig is suffering from a form of leukemia called Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm (BPDCN). Doctors tell the family it is a rare form of the disease, which affects the body’s production of white blood cells. Physicians told the family that fewer than 50 patients have been treated for it at M.D. Anderson, and that fewer than 200 cases have been reported worldwide.
“Matt is in a fight of his life. He has a positive outlook,” the Romig family blog reads. “He feels strongly that he is going to win. And we do, too.”
Romig came to Kingsville from his hometown of Bells, a town of some 1,300 people located 70 miles northeast of Dallas and a strong stone’s throw from the Red River. That seven-plus hour trek to South Texas will be nothing like the journey he is about to embark. And Romig is ready for it.
Baptiste thrives on field after chucking big city for Kingsville - George Vondracek, Corpus Christi Caller Times
As senior Tressor Baptiste says, football is football regardless of where it is played. You run, you block, you tackle.
So when Hofstra University put the kibosh on its football program last December, the New York native was interested in three things in his search for the place he would transfer: playing for a winning program, getting out of the cold and being exposed to a new experience.
Texas A&M-Kingsville fit Baptiste’s three-fold criteria. To this point, the marriage between the two has worked out nicely.
The fourth-ranked and 10-1 Javelinas are in the midst of their third consecutive winning season and back-to-back NCAA Division II playoff appearances, awaiting either Northwest Missouri State or Missouri Western in the second round of the playoffs. South Texas’ searing summers and mild falls and winters certainly melt the bone-chilling potential on Long Island this time of year. And Kingsville’s small-town demeanor is diametrically opposite of life in the Big Apple.
So how well has Baptiste’s contributions been working with the coupling?
“It’s been pretty obvious, hasn’t it?” fourth-year A&M-Kingsville coach Bo Atterberry asked with a wry smile.
It has. Baptiste has provided an extra charge for the Javelinas defense, which enters the postseason with the nation’s fourth-best defense, top-ranked rushing defense and seventh-best scoring defense. For his efforts in that vein, the Trinidad-born Baptiste was elected as the Lone Star Conference South Division’s Linebacker of the Year on Wednesday.
“I thank God every day because I look at it as a second chance and an opportunity to play,” the 6-foot, 240-pound Baptiste said. “I knew that I had one year left and I knew it was going to be hard for me to get a scholarship for one year. The opportunity presented itself in Kingsville. I just thank God. It’s an opportunity.”
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ACU survives five-set thriller - ACU Sports Information
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – It wasn't easy, but the ACU Wildcats survived a five-set thriller Thursday afternoon, eliminating Truman State (Mo.) 3-2 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Central Region Volleyball Tournament at the Multipurpose Building on the Central Missouri campus.
ACU advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to play MIAA Champion, Washburn Friday evening. Tipoff for tomorrow's second round match-up is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Lady Buffs Fall in First Round to Emporia State, 3-1 - WT Sports Information
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The #5-seeded West Texas A&M Lady Buffs volleyball season came to an end on Thursday, falling to #4-seeded Emporia State 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 21-25, 24-26) in the first round of the 2010 NCAA South Central Regional Tournament at Central Missouri’s Multipurpose Building.
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Winning translates well for ACU XC runner Belledant - Joey Richards, Abilene Reporter News
The idea of a conference or regional meet gets lost in translation somewhere to Anais Belledant, who a year ago was running in her homeland of France.
The Abilene Christian senior from Lyon, France, really didn’t get the idea of running at the Lone Star Conference cross country meet. After all, it didn’t have any bearing on who went to the regional meet. So what was the point? All Belledant knew was to run — and run her best. Hey, she’s the LSC champion in the women’s event, and now she’s aiming for a berth at nationals at the Division II South Central Region Cross Country Championships in Warrensburg, Mo., Saturday.
Still, these titles — conference and regionals — really don’t mean much to the former member of the French national team.
“It’s strange, because everybody is speaking about conference and regionals,” Belledant said. “But for me, it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t understand what is conference. People say conference is important, regionals is important. So I integrate that. If an American won, she would feel better than me.”
And that’s because an American would understand the meaning of an LSC or regional title. But not Belledant. She just runs because her coach, Chris Woods, tells her to run.
“That’s what I love about her,” said Woods, ACU’s first-year cross country coach. “I think our sport gets suffocated when people get caught up in, ‘Oh, we’ve got to run exactly 6K or 8K.’ The reason I like Anais as an athlete is because I can say, ‘Anais, I want you to race these girls around the campus one time.’ She won’t ask, ‘Well, how far is it?’ She’ll race them, no matter how far the distance is.”
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ASU BASKETBALL: Rambelles roll past Dustdevils in debut - Nathan Wright, San Angelo Standard Times
If Thursday night’s season opener for the Angelo State University women’s basketball team against Texas A&M-International was a test, the Rambelles passed with flying colors.
ASU outshot, outrebounded and outplayed the Dustdevils to open the season with a 92-63 victory at the Junell Center.
All 10 Rambelles scored, with the team’s lone senior, Camille Perkins, and one of the team’s freshmen, Giselle Aguirre, leading the way with 14 and 15 points each respectively.
“I didn’t think it would look like our first game of the year and I expected all 10 people to contribute,” ASU head coach Sally Brooks said. “My biggest challenge so far this year was (Wednesday) when I finally had to decide on five starters. I would have been perfectly happy putting any of those 10 in the starting lineup.
“The great thing about basketball is that they all get to play anyway.”
ASU BASKETBALL: Rams not content to simply reach postseason - Nathan Wright, San Angelo Standard Times
The Angelo State University men’s basketball team is ready to take the next step.
The Rams have qualified for the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament each of the past three seasons and played in the regional tournament two years ago.
A postseason victory, however, has eluded the team.
ASU lost in the first round of the LSC tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and bowed out of the NCAA tournament in 2009 with a loss in the opening round of the South Central Regional tournament.
The Rams, who open the 2010-11 season tonight against Newman at the Tarleton State tournament, are looking to turn the regular-season success they have had over the past three seasons into postseason success at the conference, regional and national levels.
“It has really been frustrating losing in the first round the last few years,” senior guard Trey Mays said. “If you go back and look at the games we lost, it comes down to a few technicals or mental errors.
“I think this year’s team can avoid that and progress to the next round and even beyond that.”
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