For most Virginia men’s basketball players, summer consists of an endless stream of monotonous workouts. One player, however, had the opportunity recently to break this routine and represent his nation in the 2006 Global Games. Sophomore forward Laurynas Mikalauskas traveled to Southern Methodist University in Dallas last week where he helped lead the Lithuanian squad to a second place finish behind Russia.

“It was fun because we got to compete against other countries and I was able to compare myself with other European players my age,” Mikalauskas said. “It was a good experience for me to help me see where I am right now and where I want to be in a couple of years.”

Mikalauskas played in five games over the course of the week and Lithuania posted a 3-2 record. Both losses were at the hands of a Russian team that dominated the tournament with a 5-0 mark. In Saturday’s championship game, Russia dominated Lithuania 79-58. Mikalauskas scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds in the loss. Earlier in the day, the U.S. team defeated Serbia 81-77 to take home the bronze medal.

“Lithuania has always been one of the top teams but this is the first year that we made the finals,” Mikalauskas said. “Losing to Russia was bad, but at the same time they were really good. They were European champions last year and they had a lot more players on their squad than us. We only had nine.”

Mikalauskas’s best overall performance came in Thursday’s 80-77 victory over Argentina. The native of Palanga posted a double-double — 18 points and 11 rebounds. Two days earlier, Mikalauskas scored 19 points and recorded five rebounds in a 75-58 loss to Russia. Overall, Mikalauskas was generally satisfied with his efforts in Dallas.

“I was trying to see how much improved my shooting was because I’ve been working on that,” Mikalauskas said. “I felt pretty comfortable and I think that my hard work is paying off right now.”

Mikalauskas was also in the stands at the American Airlines Center June 20 when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 to win the 2006 NBA title.

“People in Dallas were really disappointed,” Mikalauskas said. “They were expecting the Mavericks to win the last two in a row at home.”

During his freshman year at Virginia, Mikalauskas showed steady development over the course of the season. He averaged 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds and was an instrumental force in Virginia’s 60-56 opening round win over Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament March 9. That night at the Greensboro Coliseum, Mikalauskas notched his best stats of the season — 11 points and 12 rebounds. He has been working hard this off-season in hopes that he can make nights like that more common. During the season Mikalauskas weighed between 245-247 pounds but now he has added about 15 pounds of muscle to put him in the 260-262 range.

“We’ve been lifting weights and doing a lot of footwork and agility drills,” Mikalauskas said. “We’re doing a lot of shooting and we’re playing basketball everyday so it’s a pretty busy schedule.”

Second-year Law student and member of the Virginia Cycling team Mark Hardman won the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championship last month. The races were held in Lawrence, Kan. May 12-14. Points were assigned in both of the races and the overall winner was crowned the collegiate champion.

On the first day’s road race, Hardman negotiated his way to the front of the pack and led the 84.6 mile — three laps — race by 12 seconds with only 500 meters to go before finishing with an open road behind him. The next day, Hardman secured the National Championship by finishing sixth in the criterium. The criterium in cycling is a high-speed race around a short course. The course in Lawrence was a 1.2 mile, eight-corner loop. With a large number of riders competing, it is easy to imagine how dangerous this race can be.

“The end of a criterium is chaos and a national championship criterium is even more chaotic,” Hardman said. “I am a little guy without the biggest spring, but I knew I could win the overall if I began the sprint with good position.”

The Newport News native was confident going in that he had a chance to at least be competitive.

“There were 10-15 guys in the race with a legitimate chance at winning,” Hardman said. “I knew that my chances were good, although I tried not to put too much pressure on myself to win.”

One should not, however, misunderstand Hardman’s confidence for cockiness. He describes cycling as a sport where at least some degree of arrogance is necessary.

“At a national championship, to have a chance to win you have to have an arrogance that you are the best person on the start line and that puts off a lot of people that aren’t athletes,” Hardman said. “But to win at the highest level you have to have this confidence.”

In addition to this confidence, Hardman also cited the importance of tactics and mind games.

“In running, the fastest runner wins, but in cycling, the mental effort is equally important,” he said.

Hardman credits Donny Autore, now on the faculty at Florida State, with teaching him the tactics of cycling.

“On long training rides, we would discuss every possible scenario that could unfold during a race,” Hardman said. “I really do credit Donny with teaching me how to understand a race as it is unfolding.”

Hardman was a former distance runner who only picked up competitive cycling after being inspired by Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France Champion. Hardman, with only two years of competitive cycling under his belt, trains 25-30 hours a week. He spends 20-25 hours a week riding in the Blue Ridge Mountains and on Skyline Drive. The other 5 hours a week he spends weight training in the gym. Hardman, however, claims the best training is the races each weekend that the team competes in during the collegiate season.

“To be a champion, you have to be willing to take your body to the depths of pain,” Hardman said. “There were months in the winter where my body was so fatigued, I didn’t have the energy to type class notes. You are not training hard enough if your body is not on the edge of collapse.”

The 2004 graduate of Virginia Tech has a degree in Finance and plans to graduate from Virginia Law in May of 2007. Hardman plans to race professionally through at least next April.

Along with millions of other Americans, I was recently duped. Under the influence of several expensive marketing campaigns — thank you ABC, ESPN and Nike — I was led to believe that the U.S. national soccer team was capable of achieving something historic in the 2006 World Cup. Despite the fact that I never played organized soccer — I was a baseball player — I decided to emotionally invest myself with the World Cup exploits of the U.S. team. Each game, I sat transfixed in front of the television, wrapped in my U.S. flag, cheering for well-placed through balls and bemoaning phony off-sides calls. I truly thought that Bruce Arena would be able to lead the squad back to the quarterfinals, if not further.

What a fool I was. I had forgotten a basic fact. Soccer is about as American game as samba dancing and chowing down on escargots. Sure, we have excellent college teams — including Virginia — and the MLS features a bevy of talented players, but we are nothing on the international level. We just do not have the talent nor the experience needed to excel on soccer’s grandest stage. Brazilian and British children grow up dreaming of becoming the next Pele or David Beckham while American children dream of becoming the next Michael Jordan, Brett Favre or Cal Ripken. Americans lack the level of passion for soccer that is needed to produce a national team capable of making a run through the World Cup.

The only reason that we reached the quarterfinals in 2002 was that we snuck up on people and caught every break along the way. This year, we suffered a devastating punch early on and never recovered. Jan Koller’s header past Kasey Keller in the fifth minute of the opener against the Czech Republic appeared to utterly shatter four years of U.S. preparation. I have never seen as uninspired soccer as I witnessed during that 3-0 loss to the Czechs. Our supposed offensive playmaker, Landon Donovan, looked like a zombie out there and most of his teammates hardly looked livelier. The Americans might as well have flown home after that game. The passionless loss made it clear that this team did not have the moxie to repeat the success of 2002.

The only reason that the early exit of the U.S. was so disappointing was because of how much hype had been built up about the team leading up to the World Cup. If that hype were deserved, it would have been understandable. But after the lackluster performance of the U.S., it seems more likely that the squad’s potential was over-hyped in order to boost the ratings for ABC and ESPN. That will come back to bite those two stations in the butt in 2010 when Americans will be more cautious about buying into the hype and tuning in.

The most egregious example of this hype was Nike’s commercial featuring clips of the U.S. team with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” playing in the background. I cringed every time that it came on the air. Baseball was my life growing up as a child and to hear that song be used for soccer was quite disconcerting. While I have grown to appreciate soccer in recent years, it will never be on the same level in my mind as baseball, basketball and football. Call me a simple American if you wish. I will wear that badge with honor.

So four years from now in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, don’t get pumped up about the U.S. team’s potential. Just sit back, drink a beer, eat a hot dog and turn on some baseball. It’s the American way.

Brooks works out for NFL scouts
Last Thursday, former Virginia football player Ahmad Brooks worked out for a large group of NFL scouts in Charlottesville. Brooks, a linebacker, would have been a senior this season if he had not been dismissed from the team this past spring for off-the-field incidents. He is currently attempting to raise his stock for the NFL Supplemental Draft, scheduled for July 13.

According to profootballtalk.com, all NFL teams except the Chicago Bears sent a representative to witness the workout. A league source said that Brooks weighed in at 260 pounds and ran 40-yard dash times of 4.68 and 4.72 seconds. Brooks has slimmed down significantly since his weight ballooned last year due to the effects of a knee injury. He started only six games in 2006 during which he recorded 27 tackles. In 2005, he led the Cavaliers with 90 tackles and also notched 6.5 sacks.

Wallace commits to Virginia

According to several news sources, 6’7″ swingman Eric Wallace, of Kernersville, N.C., verbally committed last Wednesday to the men’s basketball program. Virginia beat out a formidable group of competitors for Wallace’s services, including Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Wallace is the second high school player to commit to Virginia’s 2007 recruiting class. He joins Sam Zeglinski, a point guard from Philadelphia.

“They [Virginia coach Dave Leitao and his staff] recruited me for about four months — not very long at all — but they did all the right things,” he told thesabre.com.

This season, Wallace will play for Hargrave Military Academy.

Duncan hired as assistant softball coach

Virginia head softball coach Karen Johns announced Monday that Brandon Duncan has been hired as an assistant coach to replace Iyhia McMichael, who resigned in May.

Duncan has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in English.

Horn invited to play for Russian national team

Erin Horn, a former Virginia softball player, has been invited to play for the Russian national softball team this summer. Horn left for Russia June 18 and will play for three months on the Carrousel Club, which has been Russia’s national team for the past 12 years.Horn was a standout pitcher during her career at Virginia. She holds school records in pitching appearances (145) and saves (9). Her career record was 61-44 with a 2.35 ERA. She also struck out 676 batters and registered 54 complete games, 11 shut-outs and two no-hitters.

– compiled by Barney Breen-Portnoyco

Several days of speculation about Virginia baseball coach Brian O’Connor’s future with the program ended late Wednesday afternoon when the Athletics Department issued a press release that O’Connor had decided to stay in Charlottesville.

“I’m proud to be the head coach at the University of Virginia, and I plan to be the Cavalier coach for many years to come,” O’Connor said in the release. “I came to the University of Virginia to build one of the best baseball programs in the country. When I took the job here three years ago, that was my goal and that will continue to be my focus.”

The speculation was sparked earlier this week when it became known that Notre Dame head coach Paul Mainier was leaving South Bend to take the head coaching job at Louisiana State. O’Connor was an assistant to Mainier for nine years at Notre Dame before taking the Virginia job in 2003 and it looked as if the Irish would likely target O’Connor to be Mainier’s replacement. In Wednesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, O’Connor did not totally discount that possibility.

“[Notre Dame is] a great institution and a place where I spent nine years,” O’Connor told the Times-Dispatch’s Jeff White. “But we have something pretty special going on here [at Virginia]. It should be an interesting next couple of days.”

Rather than wait a couple of days, however, O’Connor decided by Wednesday afternoon to make public his commitment to staying at Virginia.

“I feel very good about the commitment that [Athletic Director] Craig Littlepage, and the rest of our administration has made in the last three years and continues to make in helping our program reach our goal. Their commitment will continue to help develop our program into one of the best in the nation,” O’Connor said.

Athletic Department officials were thrilled to hear the news that O’Connor would not pursue the Notre Dame job. Last October, O’Connor signed a two-year contract extension through July 2009.

“Brian O’Connor and his staff have built an incredible baseball program,” Executive Associate Athletics Director Jon Oliver said in the same press release. “We are extremely proud of the success that he and his staff have brought in developing one of the top programs in the country and producing some of the best student-athletes at the University of Virginia. We look forward to him staying at Virginia for a long time and helping the department achieve its long-term goals.”

O’Connor has accumulated a stellar 132-50 mark at the helm of the Virginia program and the Cavaliers have reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the three seasons since he has been here. He has brought in several of the best recruiting classes in Virginia history and has also pushed for several infrastructure improvements — including video scoreboard that will be in place for the 2007 season — at Davenport Field. O’Connor was named the ACC Coach of the Year in 2004 and was honored as a College Baseball Foundation Coach of the Year for 2006. This past season, the Cavaliers won a school-record 47 games.

With former Virginia baseball star Ryan Zimmerman tearing up the National League for the Washington Nationals in his rookie season, many Virginia baseball fans may forget to keep track of other former Wahoos in the professional pipeline. Two Cavaliers from this year’s squad — outfielder/first baseman Tom Hagan and left-handed pitcher Mike Ballard — were selected earlier this month in the 2006 Major League Draft and have embarked on their professional careers.

Ballard, a Virginia Beach native, was taken in the 14th round (418th overall) by the Texas Rangers. He agreed to terms with the Rangers June 9 and made his professional debut June 20 for the Class-A Spokane Indians of the Northwest League. He has made two starts for the Indians during which he has notched a 0-1 record, with seven innings of work and a 6.43 earned run average.

During a four-year career at Virginia, Ballard posted a 19-8 record. In 2005, Ballard was drafted in the 47th round by the Minnesota Twins but decided to return to Virginia. This past season, he went 9-3 with a 4.09 ERA. He made most of his 16 starts in the Sunday afternoon slot. Ballard missed the 2004 season due to injury and forfeited one remaining year of eligibility when he signed with the Rangers.

“I think Mike Ballard is going to have success,” O’Connor said. “I don’t it’s going to happen right away but I think he can get into professional baseball and pitch right away with his fastball. He can pitch inside very well, and with wood bats, that’s going to help him. We all know he also has a good change-up and breaking ball so I think he’ll go in there and have some success and after a year or two, when he moves up a level or two, it’ll be determined whether he has a shot or not. It’ll be a slow process for him.”

Hagan, a Roanoke native, was one of Virginia’s most productive offensive catalysts in 2006. His .357 batting average was the second-best on the team to Brandon Guyer’s .380. Hagan also drove in 41 RBIs and stole 19 bases.

He was drafted in the 39th round (1,160 overall) by the Pittsburgh Pirates and signed with the organization June 9. According to baseballamerica.com, Hagan has played in three games for the Gulf Coast League Pirates and has posted a .143 average — one hit in seven at-bats — and walked five times. He has also scored two runs and driven in one.

“Tom Hagan is truly one of the great stories I’ve had in my coaching career,” Virginia baseball coach Brian O’Connor said. “He came here to play two sports — he was the starting punter for two years before he stepped away from the football program — and he had injuries in every year that he played baseball here. But finally, in his last year, he put it all together and had a terrific year for us, helping to lead us offensively. Then he gets an opportunity to go out and play professionally in the Pirates organization. That’s what it’s all about. I’m happy for him and I hope he goes onto play for 15 years. But no matter what, he’s represented our program the right way and we’re real proud of him.”

Other draftees of note to Virginia were Ryan Kalish and Neal Davis — two members of O’Connor’s incoming recruiting class. Kalish, a center fielder and pitcher from Shrewsbury, NJ., was selected in the ninth round by the Boston Red Sox. Davis, a left-handed pitcher from Baltimore, was chosen in the 39th round by the Baltimore Orioles. It will be a long summer for O’Connor while he awaits the decisions of those two players as to whether they will turn pro or not. Players who go to college must stay in school for three years before they are again eligible to be drafted.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared a state of emergency yesterday, ordering state agencies to take all necessary measures to help in the recovery from the flooding and mud slides resulting from recent heavy rains.

Charlottesville Fire Marshall Steve Walton related a specific incident of a tree falling on a house on Rugby Ave. after the tree uprooted from soil oversaturated with rain.

“[The tree] basically buckled the front of the house”. Walton said, saying that the house was subsequently deemed unsafe for inhabitants.

Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner added that no one was injured or trapped inside when the tree fell onto the house.

The city of Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County received a lesser degree of flooding then adjacent areas according to Werner.

“There were places to the south of us that got a lot more rain, and to the north of us a lot of counties got hit much harder and still have flooding issues,” he said. “For the most part, we were unscathed through the brunt of the storm.”

Except for localized flooding at some of the intersections that traditionally flood, the Charlottesville Fire Department did not receive very many calls, Werner said.

Bob Bradley, Operations Chief of Albemarle County Fire and Rescue, agreed, saying the storms and resulting floods did not cause any severe damage or loss of life in Albemarle County.

“We’ve been pretty lucky,” he said.

Flooding caused the most problems in the towns of Scottsville and Keene, where roads leading to Charlottesville where periodically rendered impassable due to flooding, Bradley said.

Bradley provided the example of a Scottsville ambulance which was damaged by high water while responding to a call.

According to Bradley, there where greater numbers of calls for assistance to the Albemarle County Fire and Rescue squad as a result of the storms, the majority of which consisted of downed power lines, fires caused by lightning, automatic fire alarms set off by power surges, as well as tree limbsand even entire trees falling on houses.

Bradley explained that damage done to property during storms by falling limbs and trees can be avoided by trimming back tree branches that hang over houses and driveways.

Bradley also said traffic accidents are much more frequent during storms, and recommends that drivers slow down, wear seat belts, and avoid engaging in activities that can distract one’s attention from driving, such as talking on a cell phone.

In recognition of the success of the University’s College Guide program, which aims at increasing college applications and enrollment of Virginia high school students, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has recognized the program with a $470,000 grant. The Foundation invited 175 universities to apply for eight grants to support similar programs at their respective institutions.

The brainchild of Center for Undergrauate Excellence director Nicole Hurd, the College Guide program began in December, 2005, when it first received funding from the Cooke Foundation. Since then, the program boasts great success. In many of the counties it targeted, the number of high school students applying to and enrolling in college increased.

“The guide at Halifax County took students to VCU for a day trip, and we saw the number of applicants there double this year,” Hurd said. “We had a student who was a guide in Southwest Virginia who saw the college-going rate go from 60 percent to 85 percent this year. U.Va hadn’t had an application from that high school in about twenty years, and got three this year.”

College Guide Paulin Cheatham, who worked in Washington County, also saw improvement in the school district where he worked.

“The number of students enrolling between the historical average and this year’s senior class was an over thirty-percent increase,” Cheatham said, citing students’ particular interest in vocational and technical schools.

According to Hurd, by sending University graduates to various districts of Virginia to work with guidance counselors, the program simply aims at exposing high school students to the many options for higher education available to them, both in and out of Virginia.

“The program is aimed at getting Virginia high school students to college, whether they go in Virginia or California,” Hurd said.

Hurd selected guides with differing backgrounds and majors in an effort to best exemplify the diversity at the University, she said. Coming from both rural and urban areas, the guides, four of whom are first-generation college students themselves, “really show the best of U.Va,” Hurd said.

“Some people might think of U.Va as a community that is somewhat homogenous, but the guides dispel this myth,” she added.

The program has not been exclusively

successful for students — guides have benefited also; in fact, nine of the fourteen guides have decided to participate in the program for a second year.

According to Cheatham, who signed on for another year of service with the program, his experience inspired him to become actively involved in the school environment he worked in, and dedicate more of his time to the field of education.

“I got involved elsewise in the school — I coached track, and had night-time programs where parents could ask questions,” Cheatham said. “I would like to stay in education. The longer I work with this program the more I see a need to better promote access and attainment of a college degree. I’d like to stick with it.”

Hurd said the she plans on tracking students’ matriculation at universities, specifically their retention rates, as the program continues to develop.

The Black Cat, a store which specializes in custom made T-shirts, skateboards and skating gear, will open on the Corner this Saturday.

The store’s owner, Andy Foster, who says he has been planning the store since last August, said his store fits into “a niche in Charlottesville that needed to be filled.” He says he hopes the store will appeal to both University students and young Charlottesville residents.

While Foster says he is convinced that “skateboarders have been clamoring” for his store, employees working in neighboring businesses said they don’t see many skateboarders in the area.

“I never see any [skateboarders] walking or riding around here and I’m in here five days a week,” said Troy Jenkins, an employee at Arch’s Frozen Yogurt.

However, according to Foster, the store’s presence might be enough to spark interest in skateboarding. Foster said he noticed that people have been taking an interest in the new store front.

“People will stick their heads in and tell me how glad they are to see a store here,” said Foster. He said he hopes that the store’s opening may encourage people to use skateboarding as a means of getting around grounds.

“Longboarding is popular at other schools,” said Foster referring to a type of elongated skate board commonly used for riding greater distances. “I hope it will catch on here.”

College fourth-year Miles King, who is an employee at the neighboring restaurant Pita Pit, said he has noticed that in the area around the Black Cat there had been “more [skateboarders] than usual in the past two weeks.”

Foster said if the store does well he hopes to increase his inventory to include more items.

Alumnus donates $6 million to University for creation of scholarships
Mortimer Y. Sutherland, Jr., a University alumnus, donated $6 million to the University financial services program, and to the nursing school.

According to Sutherland’s will, the money is to be used to provide need-based aid for University students from Albemarle County.

“We project [the $6 million] will generate $180,000 per year in income,” said Yavonne Hubbard, director of student financial services.

Of the 382 University students from Albemarle County 165 demonstrate financial need, according to Hubbard

“What we hope to do is to use [the income from Sutherland's gift] to replace loans,” Hubbard said. “AccessUVA has as one of its primary tenets to decrease the amount of borrowing students at U.Va do. We hope we will see more of these gifts so that we can continue to reduce debt.”

Hubbard compared the size and scope of this donation to the Bayly-Tiffany estate gift from the 1930s, which today is able to fully fund the tuition of students attending the University from the Eastern Shore.

– compiled by Maria Tchijov