Thursday 04/19/18

Trustees,

YOU’RE DONE. EDITORIAL - PAGE 2 T HU R S DAY, A P R IL 19, 2 018

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Opinion

Rachel Fradette Editor-in-Chief editorinchief@statenews.com

EDITORIAL:

Trustees, you’re done.

You are no longer the leaders of MSU, it is time you make room for those who should be.

BY THE STATE NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD FEEDBACK@STATENEWS.COM

Nothing has changed since Lou Anna K. Simon resigned from her position as MSU president nearly four months ago.

Despite the pleas from survivors, students and community members, MSU’s leadership has consistently resisted change.

And the MSU community is still in a state of limbo, half in the shadow of a severe sexual assault and sexual abuse culture crisis and half in a desire to return to a version of MSU that doesn’t exist anymore.

Trustees George Perles, Dan Kelly, Melanie Foster, Dianne Byrum, Joel Ferguson, Mitch Lyons, Brian Breslin and Brian Mosallam, you’re done.

The State News Editorial Board — among several other voices echoing in your ears — is call-

ing for every single one of you to resign, effective immediately.

Atmosphere and attitude reflect leadership.

None of you know where to take this university or how to properly use your authority and power as trustees. It’s arrogant of you to think you can.

For a group who has heard so much from protesters and survivors, the basics of sexual assault cases and empathizing with survivors are lost on you. Look no further than the whistleblowing cases in recent memory and the fierce protection and loyalty to the MSU brand.

You hold on to a supposed former glory, even though the reality is the “old MSU” was severely flawed.

The greatest example of how your leadership is lacking is right outside your window: the students you are tasked with protecting don’t trust

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say what you feel is wrong with this university. We watched that at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting — a meeting that really belonged to the people.

It doesn’t take an ounce of strength to shut everyone out and continue to ignore what’s happening the way you have for months.

You will leave. You will move on. The only question still on the table is: Where do we go from here?

MSU will need people to lead the way. And especially, lead the movement.

In order for our university to be reinvented, we need to clean house. Then, we will need new leaders. We will need people to run for trustee positions, people who will acknowledge MSU’s wrongdoings and the changes that are happening every single day. We will need leaders who care, who will make changes based on what the community wants, and needs, to see.

Students want a place on the board. While a “The State News Editorial Board — among specific position for students cannot be created several other voices echoing in your ears until the Michigan Con— is calling for every single one of you to stitution is amended, students can still run for a resign, effective immediately.” seat on the board, and they should.

The State News Editorial Board But Trustees, you need to resign first. The longer We are at the point where it’s time you all step you keep up this fight, the more you hold back down and let people who know how to be lead- MSU from what it needs to become. So grow up, and get out. ers have the chance to do so.

You can’t bury the bad news in ribbon-cutThe State News Editorial Board is made up of tings, new grants or by pretending like it’s every- the Editor-in-Chief Rachel Fradette, Managing one else who chooses to live in it, not you. The Editor McKenna Ross, Campus Editor Madison university is overrun with problems from the O’Connor, City Editor Souichi Terada, Features ground up, and no amount of “positive” news Editor Sasha Zidar, Sports Editor Jonathan LeBwill bury them. If that’s the strategy, then you’re lanc, Inclusion Representative Maxwell Evans, more out of touch than we thought.

Staff Representative Marie Weidmayer and Copy It takes courage to stand before all of you and Chief Casey Holland.

you. And because you refuse to hear them, every week they stand outside the Hannah Administration Building with signs and filter into your boardroom with calls for you to resign. Any trust you previously had with the students of MSU has been annihilated, and the university can’t rebuild what’s been lost. We need a clean slate.

The idea of having you choose our next president after you chose John Engler as interim president is simply terrifying. You all represent what needs to be left behind in this troubling MSU era — and you haven’t realized that.

Engler, you have your own set of problems. You have antagonized survivors and tend to escalate situations rather than resolve them.

The only reason we’re not calling for your job is because the trustees are the ones who hold the strings. You have an expiration date, and while we don’t agree with your brash leadership style, we know it won’t last much longer.

ccc@rha.msu.edu THURSDAY, APRI L 1 9, 2 01 8

517-355-8285

Republican, Democrat and Libertarian parties must hold their conventions on or before Sept. 7.

Minor parties must hold theirs on or before Aug. 7.

The no party affiliation deadline is at 4 p.m. on July 19 and candidates must submit a petition with a minimum of 30,000 signatures.

Write-in candidates must file on or before 4 p.m. on Oct. 26.

SOURCE: MICHIGAN.GOV

Contents

McKenna Ross Managing editor feedback@statenews.com

ONLINE AT STATENEWS.COM

Spartans face off against Broncos in baseball

VIDEO: The State ASMSU elects News interviews its 2018-2019 The Plastic Bears president

See how MSU faired against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo Wednesday night.

The East Lansing and Flint-based indie band released its first album earlier this year.

MSU Broad Art Lab to open off campus

BY RENEE PRVULOV

The General Assembly elected the student government’s top position Wednesday night.

RPRVULOV@STATENEWS.COM

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum is set to expand beyond its walls by opening the MSU Broad Art Lab. There will be different events held in the art lab, giving people an opportunity to make dif“If I’m ever having a stressful day or

BY T H E N U M B E R S ferent types of art and participate in activities. stressful time — if I just look at him and The new art lab will engage the community by offering hands-on activities and opportunities he looks back at me and we have that for students. The art lab will be located at 565 moment, it’s like it makes everything E. Grand River Ave. worth it.”

The grand opening weekend will be from May Students who received help and advice 19-20 alongside the East Lansing Art Festival.

Brittany Slater through ASMSU Student Legal Services The art lab will hold pieces of the MSU Broad Interdisciplinary studies in social science senior 7,500-piece collection, as well as feature a stuSee page 6 and single mother dio where the public will have a place to make See pages 4-5 art. There will be lectures and film series at this new location as well.

The work displayed in the gallery will be less contemporary and more historical, Deputy Director of the Broad Art Museum Bill Matt said. The Go green and recycle this newspaper please! art lab will be free to students and the communiThanks a bunch! ty. It’ll be a place where art is valued, Matt said.

The lab will be a place for experimentation

710

Engineering freshman Kyle McCann smiles during the Spartans vs. Zombies game on April 16. Spartans vs. Zombies is a week long campus wide game of tag where students arm themselves with foam dart blasters, cleans socks and bandannas to avoid being tagged by zombies. PHOTO: SYLVIA JARRUS

Dream it

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and a testing ground for trying several different things from technology to lighting, Matt said. He said they will experiment with different kinds of art and different approaches.

The art lab will potentially collaborate with MSU Arts and Cultural Management program — a graduate studies program that provides students with skills for jobs in arts and cultural organizations.

“We hope to have graduate assistants that are excited to work in an immersive environment, managing the art lab,” Matt said. “We are working with the College of Arts and Letters now to try to implement this for the fall of 2018.”

If they collaborate, graduates will run certain portions of the art lab, Arts and Cultural Management Interim Director Kirk Domer said.

There are two different tracks in this program: management and museum studies. Graduates in this program participate in internships, and this would provide a different venue and another opportunity for them to practice their craft before they graduate, Domer said.

“It provides another opportunity for programming and community engagement for the regular community to be a part of it,” Domer said.

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‘I FIND PEACE IN HIM’ AS GRADUATION NEARS, MSU STUDENT REFLECTS ON LIFE AS A SINGLE PARENT STORY AND PHOTOS BY NIC ANTAYA

B

rittany Slater wakes up at 7 a.m. every day to drive 30 minutes, taking her son Logan to school before her 10:20 a.m. class at MSU. Then, she’s on campus for slightly more than six hours to attend class, rest and study before picking Logan up by 6 p.m. and taking care of him at home. By 9:30 p.m., she puts Logan to bed, then cleans up and prepares for the next day.

Finally, by 10:30 p.m., she goes to bed.

After an eight-year journey, which included dropping out of MSU, attending community college, homelessness and becoming a single mother, the interdisciplinary studies in social science senior will walk across the Breslin Center stage to receive her college diploma May 5.

Her 2-year-old son will walk beside her as he dons his own cap and gown, too.

“I find peace in him,” Brittany said. “If I’m ever having a stressful day or stressful time — if I just look at him and he looks back at me

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and we have that moment, it’s like it makes everything worth it. It makes me forget about all of our problems.”

Logan, who Brittany affectionately calls her “munchkin,” has been by Brittany’s side since she returned to MSU in the fall of 2016.

He r ret u r n to MSU wa s f ive yea r s in the making.

FINDING HER PATH AT MSU

Brittany first came to MSU in the fall of 2010.

When her grades began to slip, she transferred to Lansing Community College and attended from 2011-14. There, she met Logan’s father.

Logan was born Dec. 3, 2015. When she and Logan’s father broke up, Brittany moved into her aunt and uncle’s house in Detroit in March 2016. She had no concrete plan about how long she would stay there.

“I had lost hope,” Brittany said. “I was in a really deep depression, I gave up on school. I

FAR LEFT: Interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Brittany Slater thinks while taking her PSY 209 Brain and Behavior exam as her son, Logan Crowell, sleeps on Feb. 28 at Hubbard Hall.

LEFT: Brittany holds up Logan during a game night with friends on April 15 at Slater’s home in 1855 Place. Brittany and her friends have a monthly game night. She said Logan can get jealous of her friends. “Sometimes he’ll actually get on the table and sit in the middle of the game like, ‘No, pay attention to me!’”

was like, ‘Whatever, I’ll work, I’ll figure it out.’”

Brittany quickly found work as a medical assistant; however, she was still struggling to afford basic necessities, including Logan’s daycare.

“At one point, I was using rags and soap to wipe my baby’s butt because I couldn’t afford wipes,” Brittany said. “I called (Logan’s father) and told him I needed wipes and diapers and he told me it sounded like a personal problem.”

She struggled to imagine how the future would look. It might have been fate for Brittany to connect with a family friend, Deodge Hill, soon after she moved back to Detroit.

Hill was a single parent herself who had completed her degree while raising a child.

Moreover, Hill had just started PH1LL Foundation, an organization that provides programs, resources and scholarship opportunities to single parents. Since the PH1LL Foundation was formed in 2015, it has given out $18,000 in scholarships to single parents.

“All summer we went back and forth to Mich-

igan State,” Hill said. “I took her to find housing; I took her another time to help her get daycare going and to actually try to find some resources at Michigan State.”

With the help of Hill, Brittany returned to MSU in the fall of 2016.

With so many responsibilities, Brittany needed to find someone to watch her son.

After issues with his daycare center, she decided to pull him out, and without any other option, brought her son to class.

“I kept my son with me throughout my finals week the fall of 2016,” Brittany said. “He went to every final with me and I took my finals. I was not taking him anywhere. I didn’t trust anybody.”

In the spring 2017 semester, Brittany’s close friend and MSU alumna Janet Carr babysat Logan as Brittany looked for a new child care.

“I already knew that I wanted to support her because she was fulfilling her goals and she was getting to where she needed to go,” Carr said. “She just needed help. That’s what

friends are for.”

Carr first met Brittany in 2010 during their freshman seminar class, and they later became friends after they joined the MSU Gospel Choir.

Her understanding of who Brittany is as a person changed after she became a mother.

“It was a tremendous change, because she definitely grew up,” Carr said. “She matured.

Now she’s more focused, she has an even greater drive than before.”

While Carr helped in the spring of 2017, Slater was able to find sufficient daycare for the fall semester through SonShine Early Childhood Center in Holt, nearly a 30-minute drive away.

This year, Slater has made the drive to SonShine every day before and after class or work.

Carr noted that Slater isn’t just striving to make her own dreams come true. Slater strove to graduate college in order to make a better life for Logan. Carr felt compelled to help her friend with that mission.

“Whatever she needs, I’m her support. She supports me as well,” Carr said “We’re just there for each other. It’s a sisterhood that can’t be broken. It’s definitely one that’s going to last forever, and I’ll always be there for her and Logan, whenever they need me.”

“I have to balance him being able to play and be a kid with me having to be a student.”

Brittany Slater Interdisciplinary studies in social science senior and single mother

LEFT: Brittany chases after Logan during a break in between her classes on Feb. 28 near Beaumont Tower. “I try to balance stuff when I take him to classes with me,” Brittany said.

“I have to balance him being able to play and be a kid with me having to be a student.”

RIGHT: Brittany buttons up Logan’s shirt as he plays with her necklace, which is etched with “#1 Mom,” on April 1 at her home in 1855 Place as they get ready to go to Easter Sunday church service. “I want him to take pride in the way that he looks when he steps out of the house,” she said.

“Church is the one way I use that platform to dress him up.”

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News

Madison O’Connor Campus editor campus@statenews.com

ASMSU publishes spring semester final report, details funding, service use

BY MILA MURRAY MMURRAY@STATENEWS.COM

ACROSS

1 1960s presidential monogram 4 Gremlins and Pacers 8 Lands’ End rival 14 World Cup cry 15 Naked 16 Cross-referencing phrase 17 Potato __: 61-Across dish 19 Items in a 59-Across lit for 61-Across 20 Novelist Ferber 21 Key with four sharps 23 Wife of Jacob 24 Fervor 25 Rebecca of “Risky Business” 27 Relaxed condition 29 “¿__ pasa?”

32 One lacking manners 34 Cowboy boot attachments 36 Pack in cartons 37 Traditional 61-Across surprise, aptly boxed, and spelled with the only four letters of the alphabet that don’t appear elsewhere in this grid 38 Range dividing Europe and Asia

39 “You gotta be kidding” 40 Rx items 41 Coffee server 42 Long-finned tunas 49 Nash priest, not beast 50 Roughly 54 Make __ dash for 57 Expired 58 Contented sounds 59 61-Across centerpiece 61 Two-millennia-old tradition that begins at sunset tonight 63 Football rushing plays 64 Greek love god 65 December 24, e.g.

66 Figured (out) 67 Suffix with ransom 68 Org. with narcs

DOWN

1 Pop icon Jennifer 2 Razor insert 3 Barbara Bush’s twin sister 4 Legal org.

5 Manage somehow 6 Sweet liqueurs 7 Bagel seed 8 Finds out 9 Actor Cariou 10 In a shoddy way 11 She, in Paree 12 On an ocean liner

13 Quick snack 16 Music for a film 18 Hardhearted 22 Actor Voight 26 Take for granted 28 Annie, notably 29 Campus hangout 30 Addresses beginning with “http://” 31 Letter before tee 32 Dutch South African 33 Plow-pulling team 35 Washing machine cycle 36 Mormon sch.

43 University founder Stanford 44 Malaise, with “the” 45 Swiss peak 46 Kidney-shaped nut 47 1998 Masters champ Mark 48 Philadelphia suburb 49 Smells 51 Gathered leaves 52 Trim whiskers 53 Actor Milo 54 Home of Iowa State 55 Diner handout 56 Added stipulations 60 Regret 62 “__ as directed”

The Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, published the ASMSU Office of the President Spring Semester 2018 Report, which provides a detailed overview of the budget, services, new programs and initiatives the organization brought to the university this semester.

Here are the key points from the report:

THE GENERAL FUND

ASMSU’s starting general fund balance was $80,010.90 to allocate to specific initiatives or to put back into the fund, which was the same as the fall.

Forty-two percent of the general fund, $42,204, was allocated and the ending balance was $37,806.90.

The final total reflects the total monetary amount of bills passed through the General Assembly this spring.

ASMSU SERVICES

In the spring of 2018, the organization provided 1,248 iClickers to students.

The number of graphic calculators checked out this semester totaled 110, and $7,000 was allocated for the expansion of the program.

ASMSU also gave $27,150 in loans to students through its ASMSU Loan Program and printed 5,826 pages through its Print/Copy Service.

Along with those services, 7,000 blue books were given out this semester, excluding finals week.

Additionally, 710 students received help and advice through Student Legal Services, and 43 cases were opened through the Student Rights Advocates. Of these cases, 15 received hearings.

Lastly, 5,200 Red Cedar Log yearbooks were distributed out of the 7,000 printed.

SAFE RIDE PROGRAM

During Student Election Week, students voted to pass a referendum that will collect $3 instead of $2 for the Safe Ride tax in order to expand operating times and improve service, which passed.

According to the Project TIME survey, which measured

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In the spring semester of 2018, ASMSU allocated $5,000 toward a Sexual Assault Fund, $5,000 toward sponsoring the MSU Safe Place fundraiser and $7,000 toward a roundtable event for students to discuss sexual assault prevention efforts in the wake of the ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar crisis.

ELECT HER PROGRAM

On Feb. 17, for the first time ever, ASMSU brought the Elect Her program to campus, following a bill that allocated $2,000 for the event.

The program aims to encourage young women to get involved with campus leadership and student government.

Thirty women attended the event, and according to some of the newly-elected female representatives, Elect Her was what inspired them to run for a position in ASMSU.

INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION

For the first time in many sessions, ASMSU had a full General Assembly this semester.

Four representatives from the colleges of Business, Veterinary Medicine and Social Sciences were appointed for a round that lasted from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15.

STUDENT ALLOCATIONS

The Student Allocations Board funded 37 Registered Student Organizations, or RSOs, allocating $135,314 for these groups, programs and student activities.

Six startup groups were approved for $1,800 grants and $127,180 went toward the funding of 12 activity department events and projects put on by the CORES and COPS groups.

SPRING 2018 SERVICES

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www. sudoku.org.uk

12/13/17

SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION INITIATIVES

ASMSU

Level: 1

student satisfaction with ASMSU services, around 81 percent of students who utilized Safe Ride were satisfied and 10 percent were not.

As of this semester, Safe Ride has given 3,400 rides to more than 4,900 passengers, and most rides are completed from 10 p.m. to midnight with wait times ranging from 15 minutes to an hour.

Loaned 1,248 iClickers to students

110 graphic calculators were checked out

Gave $27,150 in loans through the Loan Program

Printed 5,826 pages through Print/Copy Service

Gave out 7,000 blue books (excluding finals week)

5,200 Red Cedar Log yearbooks distributed

43 cases opened through Student Rights Advocates, 15 received hearings 6

T H E STAT E NE WS

710 students helped and advised through Student Legal Services T H U RS DAY, A PR IL 1 9, 2 01 8

News

Souichi Terada CIty editor city@statenews.com

Family, friends remember student who died unexpectedly in March every day together, either in class or doing mundane things.

Nikki worked overnight shifts and Anderson has clinical insomnia, so their schedules lined up well MSU was Nikki Touchinski’s favorite place.

“She was just happy here in a way I’ve never seen at night, Anderson said.

“I think the most profound thing, the thing that anyone be happy here before,” biomedical laboratory science junior Parker Anderson said. “I’m I miss the most, that was a reoccurring thing that glad that of all places for her to go, it was here, was a memory is we would just walk for hours,” because I don’t think she really would’ve want- Anderson said. “It would be 1 or 2 in the morning, ed it to be anywhere else at this point in her life.” we’d walk from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., just talking. Go Nikki, a biomedical laboratory science junior, died to my room, be like, ‘Oh, we have class at 8 a.m.’ unexpectedly at age 21 in Mayo Hall on March 17. We’d laugh and walk to South where our class Anderson said Nikki often viewed her university was, get breakfast.

“It was just our thing. Now I have to ride bikes in a positive light.

“Every time I would say there were a lot, a lot of everywhere because it’s just not the same feeling. problems here, she would go, ‘Yeah, but there are It’s like I don’t go on late night walks anymore and a lot of people that can make solutions,’” Ander- it’s like, that was it, it was our thing.”

Nikki developed holes in the soles of her shoes son said. “I was like, ‘Damn, you’re right.’ That because most days she would log 40,000 to 50,000 was truly how she saw things.”

Nikki attended various camps on campus when steps on her Fitbit, Anderson said.

If she had not walked as many steps as she wantshe was younger, and she fell in love with MSU, ed that day, she would walk up and down the stairs her mother Carole Touchinski said.

“She was just one of those people that bleed in her building, Anderson said.

“Whenever her mom would go down to visit her, green. She was such a Spartan it was incredible,” Touchinski said. “She loved MSU. She loved her which was probably every few months, her mom academic program and her professors. She want- would have to bring her or buy her new shoes ed to go on and get her master’s and doctorate because Nikki legitimately walked holes in the degree at MSU, of course. She was in the right bottom of her shoes,” Claffey said.

Another thing Nikki loved was peppermint place, she loved it there.”

During Nikki’s time at MSU, she became heavi- mocha, Anderson said.

“The one thing she was obsessed with more than ly involved in PRISM, the LGBTQ caucus in South I think anything else in the world was pepperNeighborhood.

Originally, Nikki attended a meeting to support mint mochas. Anytime we were near a place that a friend, and because sushi was being served. Her served one, she had to stop and get one, no matfriend was running for president and during the ter what we were doing,” Anderson said. “I don’t meeting, no one ran for vice president, so Nikki know why it was those specifically, because I love mint flavored things, but she loved them to the jokingly ran and won, Anderson said.

“She just fell in love with it and just kept doing point where it was almost too much.”

Nikki grew up in Marquette, Michigan, and made it,” Anderson said.

Nikki loved PRISM’s mission and connecting with her first donation to the United Way of Marquette County at 5 years old. She then spent the rest of people to form friendships, Carole said.

“She just wanted to make sure young people who her life helping others, Carole said.

“She received three different presidential serare gay have the opportunity to be safe and be heard and be able to socialize and connect and vice awards from Barack Obama for the time she spent providing community service and was reccreate life long relationships,” Carole said.

People often thought Nikki and her friend from ognized by the State of Michigan from Represenhigh school, McKinleigh Claffey, were dating, Claf- tative Steve Lindberg for her community service as well,” Carole said. “She was a great fundraisfey said with a laugh.

“Basically, our entire friendship everyone er for nonprofit organizations, too.”

Nikki also held a black belt in the martial art of assumed we were dating because Nikki talked Soo Bahk Do. She competed in national tournaabout me a lot,” Claffey said. ments until she left for college, Carole said.

“The one thing she was obsessed with more than I think One year, they went anything else in the world was peppermint mochas. to a national competition in New Jersey Anytime we were near a place that served one, she had to and Nikki was at the stop and get one, no matter what we were doing.” age when boys and girls sparred with Parker Anderson each other. As she Nikki Touchinski’s friend walked toward the ring, the boys she Claffey said Nikki was her best friend. They talk- was about to compete against were smiling like they thought “this is going to be easy.” Nikki then ed or texted every day.

“The last text was her telling me I shouldn’t defeated all of the boys and got first place, Carbecome a hobo because it’s too cold in the U.P. ole said.

Nikki is survived by her mother, father Michael to become a hobo,” Claffey said. “If that doesn’t perfectly describe our relationship, I don’t know and younger brother Rick.

Her cause of death is still unknown, but the medwhat will.”

The small, simple details are what Anderson said ical examiner believes it was a catastrophic medical event, Touchinski said. he misses the most about Nikki.

“Their work can last up to 90 more days, so we’re “It’s hard because I don’t think I ever met anyone that was like her, and I think that’s a sentence kind of waiting,” Carole said. “She kind of went that is super cliché to begin with, but she’s a very to sleep and didn’t wake up. We’re hoping her last quiet and introspective person,” Anderson said. moments were peaceful.”

A GoFundMe was created in Nikki’s honor with “She was one of those people where she seemed super shy until you got to know her, and the sec- all the money raised to be split between the Upper ond she decided she liked you, she was an open Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter and the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum. book about everything.”

This school year, Nikki and Anderson spent READ MORE AT STATENEWS.COM

BY MARIE WEIDMAYER

MWEIDMAYER@STATENEWS.COM

Former MSU student Nikki Touchinski (middle) poses for a picture while she worked at MSU Bakers. Touchinski died unexpectedly on March 17. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLE TOUCHINSKI

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STATE N E WS .CO M

7

Sports

Jonathan LeBlanc Sports editor sports@statenews.com

Three southside Chicago baseball players continue friendship, competition at MSU

BY KARA KEATING KKEATING@STATENEWS.COM

Junior third baseman Marty Bechina, sophomore center fielder Danny Gleaves and freshman shortstop Ryan King joined each other on the Spartan baseball team after facing each other during their high school careers.

Gleaves said Bechina is one of the primary reasons why he chose to come to MSU to continue his baseball career.

During Bechina’s last season at St. Rita in the Southside Catholic high school league, Gleaves always gave a saying before every game — which still continues into college.

“It’s a dream come true,” Gleaves said. “Our playoffs his senior year before every game, we told each other that it wasn’t going to be our last game together, and then we ended up having a last game together in high school. And then I told him I was coming here and I guess it became true.”

Gleaves and Bechina played together for three years for the St. Rita Mustangs on the football and baseball teams.

Their last game before their Spartan career ended at a loss to Mount Carmel High School in the Class 4A Sectional Final.

Bechina had no idea his fellow Mustang signed as a Spartan.

“It was awesome hearing that he was coming here,” Bechina said. “I actually had no idea. I heard it from someone else at first, so hearing him come here was cool because we were pretty close there and played football and baseball together.”

King played against both his current teammates during his freshman and sophomore years as a Brother Rice Crusader.

He chose MSU after his dad brought him to a baseball camp, which he had to wake up at six in the morning for, which he admitted he was not too happy about.

The Munster, Illinois, native drove more than 30 minutes to Chicago Catholic High School to play on its baseball team because of the competitiveness between the leagues and surprises around every corner.

“All those teams in the Catholic league are kind of equal,” King said. “Anyone can win at any time, so that’s another reason why I went to Rice, because the competition is so good and I came here and it really prepared me for it.”

A St. Rita and Chicago Brother Rice rivalry is nothing compared to the Yankees vs. Red Sox, but it is strong when it comes to the surrounding area.

One word comes to mind when Gleaves defines the rivalry.

“One-sided,” Gleaves said with a smile. “We’re

Sophomore center fielder Danny Gleaves celebrates with his team after scoring the go ahead run on a passed ball during a game against Nebraska on April 8. The Spartans defeated the Cornhuskers, 5-3. PHOTO: C.J. WEISS

better than them.”

King argued the Crusaders are better, but still gave credit to the Mustangs on being a strong team to beat in their recent Summer State victory last season.

The last time Gleaves and King faced off against each other, Brother Rice came out with a 4-3 win

in the 4A Class Semifinal.

“At our regional, it probably rained for two days straight, and they put probably every single bag of turf that you could possibly buy on that field and we played that game,” King said.

“It was a blast and we won, so sorry, Danny.”

READ MORE AT STATENEWS.COM

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