Sports Notebook

By Natalie Clericuzio     8/28/08 7:00pm

Rice represented well in Beijing

At the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics Sunday night, the United States medal count stood at 110: 36 gold, 38 silver and 36 bronze. While no Rice graduates won medals at these games, two former Rice athletes competed.

Funmi Jimoh (Jones '06) placed twelfth last Friday in the finals of the women's long jump with a leap of 6.29 yards. Jimoh, 24, was the third-youngest women's track and field competitor for the United States. Rice women's track and field coach Jim Bevan accompanied Jimoh to Beijing, as he has been coaching her since she left Rice.

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"I thought she represented herself, city, school and country very well," Bevan said. "She made it to the finals as a Rice graduate for the first time in history. The experts did not predict her to do that well. She is one of 12 out of six billion people is one way to look at it."

In the finals, Bevan said Jimoh was a little intimidated by the crowd in her first jump. Unfortunately, even though she had an excellent second jump, it was called foul. The foul jump appeared to throw her off, and the third jump was not long enough to advance her in the competition. If the second jump had not been foul, the distance would have placed her within the top six.

Alongside Jimoh Ginny Farmer (Baker '98) swam in the 50-m freestyle for American Samoa after a decade-long respite from the sport. Farmer earned a spot on the American Samoa Olympic team because of her efforts in building the swimming program in American Samoa. In her time at Rice, Farmer competed in two NCAA tournaments for the Owls, and she still holds several school records. The 50-m freestyle was Farmer's worst event in college, yet she still beat 30 out of 92 Olympic swimmers with a time of 28.82 seconds.

These Rice athletes were not the only Owl representatives in Beijing. Jo Ling Kent (Baker '06) reported on the games for ABC News. She is also one of Rice's alumni coordinators.

- Natalie Clericuzio

Alabama QB transfers to Rice

Just days before today's season opener for the football team, another quarterback entered the fray. Nick Fanuzzi, a back-up quarterback at the University of Alabama, decided to leave the Crimson Tide this weekend in favor of head coach David Bailiff and the Owls. Fanuzzi is a former high school standout at Churchill High School in San Antonio. Alabama head coach Nick Saban commented on Fanuzzi's departure in his Monday press conference.

"We certainly hate to see him leave the program because every characteristic, every value we try to instill in the program he certainly represents," Saban said. "[He is a] great team player."

Fanuzzi, who was rated as the fifth-best quarterback in the country out of high school, was on the Rice campus Wednesday.

"[Fanuzzi] is enrolled in the school, [which is] not official until he attends class [Thursday]," assistant athletic director Chuck Pool said Wednesday. "He was here at practice today and he talked to a couple people."

The team also said on Wednesday they would not put out an official press release until after Fanuzzi attended classes Thursday.

Coach Bailiff introduced Fanuzzi to the team at Wednesday's practice. Fanuzzi did not dress for practice, but observed from the sidelines. A fifth-string quarterback at Alabama, Rice presents Fanuzzi with more chances for playing time. Last season Fanuzzi played one game as a freshman last season for the Crimson Tide before redshirting. After following an NCAA rule requiring him to sit out the 2008 season after transferring, Fanuzzi will have three years of eligibility for the Owls.

- Natalie Clericuzio

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