The Daily Egyptian

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Sweetheart serenade: Phi Mu Alpha performs for newly engaged couple

Jared Treece | @bisalo Kazz White (right), a member of Phi Mu Alpha, hugs his fiancé, Ben Wingerter (left) after the members of Phi Mu Alpha finish their serenade on Saturday, Feb. 15. “I just wanted [the proposal] to happen the next time I saw him and it just happened to be [after] Valentine’s Day,” White said.

Keaton Yates and Rana Schenke Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, SIU’s music fraternity, has performed at hospitals, nursing homes and Saluki Stadium, but on Saturday evening, the brothers gathered to serenade a special couple: fellow Sinfonian Kazzarian Ravine White and his fiancé, Ben Wingerter.

White proposed to Wingerter earlier in the afternoon at Garden of the Gods, which neither White nor Wingerter had not visited previously.

“We’ve always wanted to go to the Garden of the Gods and it was really pretty,” White said.

Members of Phi Mu Alpha se White said his idea for the proposal was inspired by a dream.

“I actually had kind of a scary dream of an ex coming to me with a poster board of pictures of the past and the present and the future of me and him and I was really scared,” White said. “Ben was driving by my house because he comes over after work; he saved me from that.”

White said the poster board in the dream inspired him to do the proposal with a poster board.

“It was a bunch of pictures of us and then I colored in rainbow ‘marry me,’” White said. “On the back it had — we take awful kissing pictures, so I cut them all out into hearts and put in rainbow ‘he said yes.’”

White said he recruited friends to help him with the proposal. He gave them the poster board, as well as a handmade cover made of rose-printed fabric with faux

flowers glued on in the shape of a heart.

“My friends went and laid out the fabric and had the poster underneath the fabric,” White said. “I had the one friend on top of the rock formation videoing it and the other friend kind of close taking reaction pictures.”

White said he had Wingerter close his eyes as they approached, and when they got to the heart formation, he had him open his eyes.

“It was amazing,” Wingerter said.

“He cried a little bit,” White said.

White and Wingerter are both St. Louis natives and met in high school, where they were in the same physics class.

“We’ve always known of each other going through the same school district, but we had a group of mutual friends that were all hanging out together and we got introduced officially through them,” White said.

Wingerter said they have been together since July 2018.

“Three months after officially starting our relationship, we got promise rings, and they were just like $10 promise rings,” White said. “It helped keep us together and go through some stuff and then I got him [the engagement ring].”

White said he wasn’t sure what the center stone of the ring is, but it has six smaller diamonds split on either side and an inscription inside the band.

“Our promise rings have the ‘Love Ben’ and ‘Love Kazz,’” White said. “So on the inside of [the engagement ring,] on the band, it says ‘Love Kazzarian.’”

Please see SWEETHEARTS | 6

VOL. 103, ISSUE 22

Project Human X brings collaborative art and culture to Carbondale Bethany Rentfro | @BethanyRentfro

Project Human X is a collaborative art gallery and multicultural community center in Carbondale that allows community members to participate in the creation of the artwork.

Project Human X was started by Marquez Scoggin and his friend Joshua Bowens as a way to bring people together in the community.

Cree Sahidah Glanz, Scoggin's wife, attended one of the art parties Scoggin and Bowens hosted and later became involved with the project after she did a collaborative art trip to Madagascar centered around environmental education.

Scoggin said their mission statement is to cultivate cultural collaboration and it is a great way to connect and meet new people.

“All human beings, regardless of race, color, creed, whatever, has the ability to become creative,” Bowens said. “Something like [Project Human X] I think is beautiful and allows for everyone to feel wanted. It values everything and everyone equally the same.”

Glanz said the goal of this collaborative art gallery is to bring people together from different backgrounds who share a common interest.

“Our motive is to bring different kinds of people together,” Glanz said. “We use art as a medium to do so because we believe everybody has creativity inside of them.”

Glanz and Scoggin said they came up with this idea because they used to host art parties in their apartment and people in the Carbondale community would come over and paint.

“We didn’t charge anybody, it was free,” Glanz said. “We wanted people to have a place to express themselves.”

The couple said they eventually decided to expand their space to accommodate more people within the community and Project Human X was born.

Scoggin said he believes the way society views and talks about race today is very divisive and Project Human X is a way to come together and celebrate creativity.

“Being human is the one characteristic that we can all agree upon,” Scoggin said. “Being human is how we find common ground to be able to collaborate together here.”

Scoggin said the way things are done at Project Human X is different from most art galleries because the walls are lined with blank and painted canvases people have previously made.

“We don’t tell people what to create,” Scoggin said. “We allow them to express themselves freely on the canvas.”

Project Human X does community projects on Sunday as a way to build relationships and connect with people in the community. They have meditation, Family Creativity Day, game night and other opportunities for people to get to know each other.

Please see PROJECT HUMAN X | 3

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Wednesday, Feburary 12, 2020

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Fly into the future: Celebrating diversity in aviation

About Us

The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 43 weeks per year, with an average weekly circulation of 12,000. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday.

Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale and Carterville communities.

The Daily Egyptian can be found daily at www.dailyegyptian.com for the most up to date news.

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The Daily Egyptian, the student-run news organization of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.

Publishing Information The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and functions as a laboratory for the School of Journalism in exchange for the room and utilities in the Communications Building. The Daily Egyptian is a nonprofit organization that survives primarily off of its advertising revenue. Offices are in the Communications Building, Room 1259, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill., 62901.

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Submissions should be sent to editor@dailyegyptian.com.

Bethany Rentfro| @BethanyRentfro

Historically, aviation has been a male-dominated field but SIU’s aviation program is trying to change that.

There are RSO’s on campus through the aviation department that target underrepresented groups including the National Gay Pilots Association, Women in Aviation and the Organization of Black Aerospace Pilots.

“No industry should be focused with respect to one gender, one nationality, one ethnicity,” Jose Ruiz, professor of aviation management said. “Diversity allows us to bring new ideas, to integrate different cultures into the industry [...] when we have those different ideas, we tend to improve the industry.”

Ruiz said he believes there are many ways to both encourage and celebrate diversity in aviation.

“I think everyone needs to have an open mind,” Ruiz said. “I think we all have preconceptions. I think we all believe that people fit in molds and that’s not how we have to think. I think we have to recognize people for who they are and what their contributions are.”

One of the initiatives the aviation program has adopted to encourage diversity is recruitment, which involves going to different schools in the area as well as hosting United and American Airlines Career Days.

The aviation program is hosting the first aviation diversity luncheon on February 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the TEC multipurpose room.

There will be guest speakers who have worked in the field of aviation to celebrate and encourage diversity in the field.

There will also be a Q&A session at the luncheon so students will have a chance to interact with the guest speakers.

Dristin Rose, flight instructor and founder of the National Gay Pilots Association said the luncheon was organized by the students and it is a great way to shed some light on underrepresented groups in the field.

Rose said he founded the National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA) in 2017 because he felt there was

Chloe Schobert | @chlo_scho

a huge need for it.

“I noticed that we have students of different backgrounds and I just felt it was needed,” Rose said.

“We have these students here who need role models to get them through this vigorous program that we have.”

Rose said the field of aviation is becoming more diverse and the NGPA is a great way to encourage people of all backgrounds to take an interest in aviation.

“A lot of us were kicked out or disowned by our families,” Rose said. “It’s nice to be a part of a group where people understand that and they also understand your goals in life.”

The aviation program is also working to inspire more women to take an interest in the field of aviation.

“Growing up, I had never seen a female pilot,” Tessa Kerouac, aviation student and member of Women in Aviation, said. “I never thought it was something I would be able to do.”

Kerouac said the Women in Aviation group hosts a girls in aviation day where girls get the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in an airport and do projects with aviation technologies.

There is another student organization called the Association of Women in Aircraft Mechanics that focuses more on aircraft technology.

Kerouac said she believes there is a shortage of women in the industry.

“I think like 6% of pilots nationally are female, which is incredibly low,” Kerouac said.

Kerouac said she believes the clubs and student organizations are a great way to encourage diversity in a field where it is much needed.

“I think the most important thing is making sure that industries are talking about what their female employees need, what their minority employees need,” Kerouac said. “I think it’s really important that those conversations are being had.”

Bethany Rentfro can be reached via email at brentfro@dailyegyptian.com.

Wednesday, Feburary 12, 2020

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A tale of two couples: Southern Illinois sweethearts share their love stories Jacob Lorenz | @jtlorenz6

Whether you are 17 or 70, southern Illinois is a hub of love.

Two southern Illinois couples shared their love stories with the Daily Egyptian.

Katherine Shew, a senior studying photography and Raymond Smothers, a senior studying computer science, got engaged two years ago and have been high school sweethearts since their senior year at Benton.

Shew said they met through a mutual friend’s birthday party. She said when Raymond walked through the door it was over from there.

Shew and Smothers said they knew each other in high school but didn’t talk, even though her best friend was his cousin.

“His cousin years ago said ‘you should meet my cousin, Raymond, I think you’d like him.’

And I said no, because he played football, and I don’t date football players,” Shew said.

What got her to laugh and kicked off their

relationship was a joke he made about his cousin at that party, Smothers said.

“I don’t remember [the joke] but I do remember it was grape soda that she almost spit out,” Smothers said.

Shew and Smothers said they got engaged a year earlier than planned.

Shew’s last living grandparent has Alzheimer’s, so Raymond decided to propose earlier than expected so Shew could tell her grandmother and she would remember.

Smothers said he was planning on waiting until fall, Shew favorite season, but decided to spring the question on their anniversary.

When Smothers initially asked Shew to marry him, she said no. Smothers said she was saying “no” like you would if you were surprised.

“Knowing her personality I was totally prepared for that, so I said, ‘is that your final answer?’’’ Smothers said.

Shew and Smothers plan to get married in the fall of 2021.

Skipping a couple generations but with a similar beginning is Diana Andrews, 78, and Daryl Meier, 79. They are both residents of Murphysboro and have been married for seven years.

Andrews and Meier are both widowers and were introduced through a mutual friend, just like Shew and Smothers.

Meier said they both like to dance and met on a dance floor because of their mutual friend, a musician.

They each have their own home, Andrews in Carbondale and Meier in Murphysboro, but the couple lives together.

“Her house is more convenient for our dayto-day activities,” Meier said.

Andrews and Meier are both retired and regularly attend The Ridge Church in Carbondale, where they also got married.

They both attended SIU for their education.

Andrews was a procedures and systems planner at SIU for 20 years and Meier is a blacksmith.

In the early 1990s Meier met the President of the United States and presented him with a knife he made.

“Literally I was in the right place at the right time once in my lifetime, well, three times for my two wives,” Meier said.

Meier said the governor of Illinois at the time, Jim Thompson, saw an article about Meier at the Du Quoin state fair. He said Gov. Thompson liked to have Illinois craftsmen make things for his delegates.

When the governor asked Meier what kind of project he would like to do, Meier asked if he could make something and present it to President George H. W. Bush.

Thompson agreed and local blacksmith Daryl Meier made a knife celebrating President Bush’s inauguration.

to an environmental education cause and are on a mission to “Make Earth Great Again.”

“We create and sell ‘Make Earth Great Again’ hats here at Project Human X and the action that we are taking to make Earth great again is planting trees,” Scoggin said.

Scoggin said they are currently working with an organization whose goal is to plant one trillion trees on Mother Earth as a way to reverse climate change.

Bowens said he thinks the climate change

mission is incredible and that people must collaborate and connect with each other to achieve it.

“It’s the only way for us to get some answers to some of these unsolved challenges,” Bowens said. “We want everyone to be treated fairly and I think that we do a really awesome job striving for that goal.”

Staff reporter Jacob Lorenz can be reached at jlorenz@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @jtlorenz6.

Project H1uman x continued from

Rana Schenke | rschenke@dailyegyptian.com Elyse Hickey, a senior studying zoology from Peoria, paints an art piece early Sunday morning at Project Human X’s paint party.

The project had two art shows in the Carbondale community in the past month, one at Longbranch Cafe with over 100 pieces of art given away for free.

“Project Human X is about reconnecting the Carbondale community,” Scoggin said.

“That is what we are really focused on doing.”

One experience Project Human X offers is Family Creativity Day which allows families to come together on a Sunday night and create art.

“We invite families into our space, we give them paint materials and they create together,” Glanz said. “The kids really love it.

They get really creative [...] the parents and the kids learn how to appreciate each others’ imaginations.”

Scoggin said Carbondale needs a place like Project Human X because it serves as an alternative to the bar scene.

“There’s always conversations happening,” Scoggin said. “We hear that people feel like when they go to the bar there’s a lot of standing around and looking at people and there is an uncomfortableness not knowing who to talk to or people not wanting to talk to you.”

Scoggin, Glanz and Bowens are dedicated

Staff Reporter Bethany Rentfro can be reached at brentfro@dailyegyptian.com.

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Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

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Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

Carbondale creators celebrate the art of love at 24th ‘Love at the Glove’ exhibit Keaton Yates | @keatsians

Community members filed into the old glove factory on Valentine’s Day and were greeted by walls covered in vulvas, dildos and other exhibits meant to convey the meaning of love.

The show featured art of all mediums including photography, ceramics, paintings, film, performance, metal art and interactive pieces.

Chase Turner, a 19-year-old SIU student and surrealist, displayed a piece titled “Woman Sexuality” where a woman’s body was painted in watercolor with flowers blooming over the breasts and groin. A transgender pride flag was visible in the background.

“In this piece I did very round hips and thicker thighs which is not seen in media pieces depicting beautiful women,” Turner said. “Even rounder, fuller women can be sexually active and can explore their bodies in the ways they want to.”

The transgender flag was incorporated into the piece to include trans women and to show that women should be able to explore their bodies without fear, Turner said.

“For us both [Turner and his partner] being transgender is a part of our lives, its not really something that inhibits our sex life in any way,” he said. “It doesn’t inhibit our way of being intimate with each other.

It opens up different views of what sex is.”

Luca Caruzat and George Mendez have been married for 33 years and try to come to the show every year.

“Love is what sustains the world,” Carauzat said.

Love, to Mendez, is a special

relationship that comes from someone’s core and connects to others.

Art is seen as a necessity for the couple because it shows people the depth of the human experience, Mendez said.

Lana and Jeremy Crawford, another couple along with their baby, went to the exhibit as viewers but also submitted work.

They have been together for 20 years, but married for four.

Love to the Crawfords is understanding, compassion, support, and laughter, they said. They have been celebrating love and creating art for Love at the Glove for two or three years.

“Art is creative problem solving,” Jeremy Crawford said. “It’s finding interesting ways to make people look at objects in a different manner.”

One of the artists at the exhibit, Kennedy Joseph, said love is one of the most powerful entities in the world. It led her to create her film titled “love (or something like it).”

In her film, Joseph focused the camera closely on people she interviewed as she asked them about love.

Joseph said she is still trying to figure out what love means to her, and it is what led her to making her film.

“Talking about love and how uncomfortable, gross, and awkward it can be is important in society,” Joseph said. “We are in a very dark time and love is the essence of what we have.”

Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached at kyates@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @keatsians.

Everett Gariepy | @EverettGariepy A hanging metal sculpture greets guests at the Love at the Glove Valentines day art show in SIU’s glove factory.

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Sweethearts 1 continued from

Members of Phi Mu Alpha serenade Ben Wingerter, the fiancé of member Kazz White (far left) on Saturday at Altgeld Courtyard at SIU.

White said despite the proposal, the couple doesn’t plan to get married soon.

“We don’t plan on getting actually married until the summer after senior year, so a long engagement is okay,” White said.

After the proposal, the couple headed to campus for the serenade. White said the serenade was supposed to be a surprise, but Wingerter figured it out while they were on the way.

The fraternity serenaded the couple with three songs, which were “Brown Eyes,” “Brother to Brother” and their classic serenade, “A Serenade to a Girl,” Louis Prado, Phi Mu Alpha president, said.

Prado said White told him about the proposal a couple of weeks beforehand and they began planning.

“It’s always exciting to see two people that are so happy and if we

support that by putting a soundtrack in the background, you can’t beat that,” Prado said.

Prado said he appreciates when the members can perform for each other.

“This is really the good side of Greek life that you don’t hear about, you know, there’s a lot of stereotypes that chapters like ours try to combat,” Prado said. “Things like philanthropy, or doing things like this, or singing on campus.”

Phi Mu Alpha often serenades at hospitals, nursing homes and even to the waiters or waitresses after they go out to dinner.

“We do it all the time,” Prado said. “It’s so much fun, it’s kind of our signature.”

Prado said White is a newer member of the fraternity. White joined in the fall and is Prado’s “little.”

“When a member is rushing and becomes a probationary member in Greek life sometimes they’re called

Jared Treece | @bisalo

‘littles’ and they’ll have ‘bigs’,” Prado said. “It’s like a mentorship process. In ten years if Kazz were to call me up I’d always be there for my little brother, or my brothers.”

Prado said White is an incredible aspiring musician.

“He stepped up to the plate and started running music rehearsals,” Prado said. “It gives me great pride in the future of the chapter knowing that my little is doing great things.”

White is a music major at SIU and said Phi Mu Alpha is very important to him.

“Music is my life,” White said.

“Phi Mu Alpha is one of the greatest things that’s happened to me besides Ben.” Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached by email at kyates@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @keatsians.

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Jared Treece | @bisalo Ben Wingerter looks on as the members of Phi Mu Alpha sing on Saturday at Altgeld Courtyard at SIU. “[Phi Mu Alpha was] awesome enough to do this for us,” Wingerter said.

Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

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Jared Treece | @bisalo

Members of Phi Mu Alpha help serenade mamber Kazz White’s fiancé on Saturday at Altgeld Courtyard at SIU.

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Opinion

Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

Video Game Review: “Legends of Runeterra”

Jacob Lorenz | @jtlorenz6

Riot Games recently expanded its shared universe with the release of “Legends of Runeterra.” An oddly paced, free-to-play card game that stands out from the rest of the digital card games on the market.

“Legends of Runeterra” is a digital, freeto-play card game set in the “League of Legends” video game universe. It uses the same characters and cartoonish art style as the parent game, which makes it stand out from other online card games.

“Legends of Runeterra” incorporates the surface-level mechanics of “League of Legends” into the designo of the cards. Just like in League, Runeterra lets the player pick a hero, but instead of battling in an arena with that hero, the player builds a deck around that hero.

The minions in League are turned into followers in Runeterra that are cards designed to buff a player’s hero or negate the opponents followers. However, destroying the enemy nexus is still the name of the game in both “League of Legends” and “Legends of Runeterra.”

Runeterra stands out as a gem from the plethora of other digital card games by redesigning the flow of the game. A typical card game is played by two people, each player has their turn to do however many actions they possibly can.

Whoever’s turn it is will play actions until

they have exhausted whatever resource it takes to play cards, then it will become the opponent's turn. Actions in card games include a player playing creatures, spells and attacking their opponent.

However in Runeterra the players take their turns at the same time. What does this mean?

At the beginning of each round the first player gets one action, after the first player gets an action then the second player does their one action. The round is over once each player has exhausted all their actions.

This limit of one action per turn changes the flow to a much slower card game, but never feels like a drag.

Runeterra does have some traditional card game mechanics. One being how a player’s cards battle each other.

At the beginning of each game one player will start with the battle token, it indicates whoever has the token this round gets to attack and a chance to do damage while the other player has to defend. The player with the battle token only gets one chance to attack, so make it count.

So each round players take turns building up their offense or defense to eventually battle with all their forces. After the around is complete the battle token will flip to the other player.

The dynamic of this can be jarring to someone who is a veteran at card games, but it doesn’t take long to get a hang of the play

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style. Speaking of play style there are a myriad of different combinations of decks a player can make just from the release.

Most card games have different categories of cards that have an overall theme to them and are represented by colors. In Runeterra the cards are broken down into different regions each with specific heros.

The regions are lore specific to “League of Legends” which, in my opinion, is neat because it gives context to characters in a different game.

Not all 144 characters from “League of Legends” are in “Legends of Runeterra,” but the game is still recent. As of print deadline the regions in Runeterra are Noxus, Demacia, Freljord, Shadow Isles, Ionia and Piltover & Zaun.

Decks are constructed of 40 cards, no more, no less. Each deck is made of one or two regions, but not more than two. Currently each region has 50 or 60 cards to fully collect.

I found numerous different ways to combine the regions to make effective and fun play styles. Even though the Ionia region is clearly the strongest at the moment. The initial launch of the game was surprisingly well done.

I didn’t experience any kind of bugs or technical issues during my hours of game play.

In my experience I had a very enjoyable time with the game. The combinations of decks I could create was surprising since

I didn’t have to pay a dime for a card. The leveling progression and unlocking of cards left quick and fair.

I never felt forced to spend money on the game and I was able to build decks that were suitable for competitive play. I believe Riot Games took a chance to make a card game so different from others on the market, but it really paid off.

The art style is some of my favorite in any card, even rivaling “Magic: The Gathering” art. There are plenty of cards to collect even for those who don’t want to pay money.

There will always be balancing issues in any kind of competitive game. Hopefully Riot Games will nerf some of the power Ionia has and give other decks a chance to shine at the high level of competitive play.

I came into “Legends of Runeterra” with semi-low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised by all aspects of the game. Hopefully this won’t be lost to the void of countless other digital card games.

Score: 9/10 -- Amazing. At launch Runeterra is already on the same level as other established digital card games like “Hearthstone” and “Gwent.”

Staff reporter Jacob Lorenz can be reached at jlorenz@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @jtlorenz6.

Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

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Sports

Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

Rooting for the home team: Saluki fans have high expectations for Arch Madness

Tamar Mosby | @mosbytamar

The Southern Illinois Men’s Basketball team (15-12, 9-5 MVC)has been on the tear this month during conference play, holding a seven-game win streak that featured the defeat of several Valley contenders.

This streak was the longest active winning streak in the the Missouri Valley Conference, 11th longest active winning streak in the nation, and the longest winning streak the SIU team had seen since its 2006-07 season.

Their play has excited fans and caused the Banterra Center seats to be filled almost every game day. During the team’s Feb. 8 matchup against Missouri State, there were 6,528 fans in attendance the most Southern has seen at a single game in years.

The team’s performance has brought excitement to Saluki athletics and with this, a certain degree of shock as well. Many were surprised to see the the young team, g led by a first-year head coach, succeed to this extent and take down more experienced, veteranheavy teams.

Southern was selected last in this year’s preseason poll, but is currently tied with Bradley University for the third place ranking in the conference standings.

One could assume that these low votes were due to the program being under construction.

With the resignation of former head coach Barry Hinson and the graduation of six seniors, who made up a majority of the team’s key players, newly appointed head coach Mullins had to start almost completely from scratch with this season’s team.

Along with starting over with a virtually new roster, the team has also faced several unforseen injuries including those of senior guard Aaron Cook and freshman forward Sekou Dembele. Both Cook and Dembele will remain sidelined until next season.

The team got off to a rather shaky start, losing their very first conference matchup to Indiana State and leaving much to be desired of their performance.

Despite their rough beginning, Graduate student center Barret Benson said that this recent success has come as no surprise at all to he and his teammates, who were expecting to do well upon entering the season.

“We had planned on winning this league since the first day in June, that was always someone else’s expectation of us,” Benson said of the poll in a Jan. 29 interview. “We’re just going to keep working at that and try to bring home a championship.”

While the team’s youth has caused the potential success of the program this season to be doubted, many fans see this particular aspect as an attribute that makes the team special.

“I think that this team is special because it’s a young team and you can tell that there is a lot of talent,” SIU alumnus Matt Gross said. “As they keep spending more time with Coach Mullins, I think that the team can go far.”

SIU band member Cameron Reed sees the team’s hard work as their best quality and said that he feels this will help the Salukis succeed in the long run.

“I think their hard work and their grit is

Jared Treece | @bisalo Saluki guard Lance Jones drives towards the basket as he handles a Braves defender during Saturday’s home 67-69 loss to Bradley on Feb. 15, 2020 at the Banterra Center.

what’s special about this team,” Reed said.

“Some people are counting them out and just their hard work and determination is what has gotten them through this season.”

SIU is a very hardworking team and this is evident in their defensive efforts as they rank first in the conference and 10th nationally in scoring defensive, only allowing each opponent 61.1 points per game.

The Salukis also currently rank third in the Missouri Valley Conference in the steals category and second in adjusted defensive efficiency after Loyola University Chicago.

While Southern’s young team has found success recently, they have continued to struggle on the road holding a 3-8 travel record. This past week on the road, the Salukis win streak was stifled by the Valparaiso University Crusaders in a 5538 loss on Feb. 12.

After the loss, SIU returned home and took

on the Bradley University Braves on Feb. 15.

The Braves led Southern for the entirety of the first half, until a run gave the Salukis their first lead of the game.

Southern Illinois was unable to keep the lead and dropped its second straight conference matchup of the week. Prior to playing Bradley, the Salukis were ranked second in the conference. After the loss, they now sit in the third place position.

“This season, I feel that they’ve gone over their expectations and as they’ve been doing better, the expectations continue to rise,” Reed said. “So far, in the past few games, they haven’t been meeting those expectations, but for them to be able to come back from such a large deficit [against Bradley] was impressive.”

Despite the team’s lackluster performance in the past two games, Southern fans still have faith that their home team can win the MVC championship.

“I think since the beginning of the season, they’ve been playing better together,” said SIU student Abriana Jones. “With new guys on the team, there is more versatility and that’s why I think that they can win the conference tournament and possibly do well in the NCAA tournament.”

If the Salukis use their upcoming games to improve their second half execution and road play, their chances of bringing a trophy back to Carbondale increase immensely.

In two weeks’ time, fans will have the opportunity to see if these adjustments have been made and if the young team will live up to the expectations set for it on the big stage.

Sports editor Tāmar Mosby can be reached at tmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbytamar.

Wednesday, Feburary 19, 2020

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Recent successes help prepare Saluki swim and dive for conference championships Brooke Buerck | @bbuerck25

With conference championships just around the corner, Saluki swimming and diving teams are hitting their peak right as they need to be.

Across their last two meets, SIU shattered two school records and had three athletes earn weekly conference accolades for their performances.

“It’s great for them to get that recognition,” Saluki head swimming and diving coach Geoff Hanson said. “It gives them good confidence heading into the end-of-the-season meets, and while those individual accolades are great, they’re still all really bought into the team concept and wanting to do it for the team.”

Freshman swimmer Lucia Romero earned the Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Week accolade for her first time on Feb. 4.

The recognition followed her four wins and two shattered records in Southern’s meets against University of Missouri on Jan. 31 and University of Evansville on Feb. 1.

Romero is from Zaragoza, Spain, and joined the Salukis just last month.

“It was very cool because [the seniors and the team] were very welcoming,” Romero said. “The first weeks, I didn’t know what I had to do, where I had to go, and they were [telling me I] had to come here

and explaining everything.”

Against Mizzou, Romero swam a time of 54.64 in the 100-yard backstroke to break the school record and grab the win, and placed second in the 200-yard medley relay with an SIU record time of 1:42.70.

Romero said after the 100-yard backstroke swim, she didn’t initially know that she had broken the record time.

“I went out of the water and everyone was like, ‘Congratulations, congratulations!’ and I was like ‘What?’” Romero said. “And then [Coach Ivan Sanchez] came and said that [I had] broken one of the records at the school.”

Against Evansville, Romero took first in the 100-back (56.94), 200-medley relay (1:44.39) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:39.52).

The womens’ swimming and diving teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship tournament Feb. 19-22.

Romero said she feels both excited and nervous for the meet, which will take place in Columbia, Missouri.

Senior diver Baobao Ji joined Romero in earning weekly conference accolades, as Ji was named the MVC’s Diver of the Week on Feb. 4.

The senior has now earned the title 10 times in her third season as a Saluki.

“It [felt] good to earn this recognition at our own pool [after] the Senior Day meet,” Ji said.

In the Mizzou meet, Ji took first in the one-meter dive with a score of 294.60, and second in the threemeter dive with 287.33 points.

Ji improved her scores the following day against Evansville, winning the one-meter dive with a score of 300.90 and also winning the three-meter with a score of 321.15.

The senior said she is excited for the MVC Championship meet because it will be her last chance to represent Southern, and she also likes to compete at the pool at Mizzou.

“I think the rest of the seniors are working very hard, and I saw the swimmers [working] very hard and they are putting in a lot of work, so I think we’re going to get the payback for our effort,” Ji said.

Southern’s third athlete who received a conference weekly award following the back-to-back meets was senior swimmer Matt Ciezczak.

After winning his first-ever individual win at SIU with a time of 21.70 in the 50-yard freestyle against Evansville, Ciezczak earned the Mid-American Conference Athlete of the Week recognition.

“That was pretty cool. I had won my first college event that week, and it was really just a cool honor that I’ve seen a lot of my teammates get,” Ciezczak said. “I never really

thought I was going to ever get that, and so when I found out, it was pretty awesome.”

In addition, the senior was part of first place-finishing relay teams in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:32.69 and 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:25.05.

Ciezczak earned the victory and conference accolade following nearly his entire junior year of being unable to train and compete.

“It’s been pretty bittersweet,” Ciezczak said. “Last year was pretty rough [with] not being able to swim pretty much 75% of the season after having surgery on my shoulder.

But this year has just been really amazing with everyone. It’s been great being back to swimming, and swimming fast.”

Hanson said seeing Ciezczak’s progress in particular this season has been fun to watch.

“He’s done a great job leading the guys [as a captain],” Hanson said.

“To get his first-ever dual meet win in his last dual meet here is really exciting, and to get those weekly honors from the MAC [...] just kind of reaffirms that he’s doing all the right things.”

Ciezczak and the mens swimming and diving teams will compete in the MAC Championship tournament Mar. 4-7, which they will be hosting at SIU’s Shea Natatorium.

Southern hasn’t hosted the tournament since 2017, when Ciezczak was a freshman.

“I still look back to that meet as one of the most electrifying meets that I’ve been at,” Ciezczak said. “It’s really nice because I feel really comfortable here. Obviously practicing here every day makes it easy, but the transitions to the finer things in the meet I think are going to go a lot smoother for us.”

Hanson said there are pros and cons to hosting the meet.

“Logistically, it’s a lot easier on the guys. They don’t have to travel and sleep in hotels and eat out,” Hanson said. “[But,] I think when you travel it feels special and it feels like you’re at a championship meet.”

Overall, Hanson said his teams’ performances across the last few meets show that they are ready to compete for conference titles.

“I think [those performances] just showed we can compete with anybody in the conference, and now when we go to these conference championships, it’s not about top individuals, it’s about the whole team doing it consistently for three and a half days,” Hanson said.

Sports reporter Brooke Buerck can be reached at bbuerck@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @bbuerck25.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Page 12

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