Sports Notebook

By Natalie Clericuzio     9/18/08 7:00pm

Ike forces change of sporting plans

Women's Cross Country

Ranked 18th nationally in the preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, the cross country team was scheduled to compete last weekend at the Texas A&M Invitational. The meet was postponed due to the storm and will take place this weekend instead. The Rice Invitational, scheduled to occur this Saturday at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium, was canceled because of the team's new plans.Despite the delay of the season's start because of the hurricane, head coach Jim Bevan is not worried about the change in schedule and, in fact, feels the competition at Texas A&M will be even stronger because of it.

"We were able to adjust our training so that the period of time during which the hurricane hit did not affect our training," Bevan said. "Being rescheduled, it allows us to run against better competition than we would have at the Rice Invite. In the big scheme of things, I think we're going to be all right."

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Bevan also said the cancellation of the Rice Invitational will allow for a stronger field at the A&M Invitational, since some of the teams slated for Rice's meet will now be at A&M.

The time off has also allowed freshman Michaela Reynolds, who was battling knee problems, to continue rehabilitation.

Volleyball

Dealing with the same weather problems, the volleyball team lost the opportunity to compete in the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack Invitational this past weekend, eliminating three matches from their schedule. Like Bevan, however, head coach Genny Volpe does not foresee any negative consequences for her team.

"I really don't see any significant effects of it because the team stayed together, and no one was really displaced," Volpe said. "They spent a lot of time together as a team, which was good."

More than anything, Volpe said she thinks her team was disappointed with losing the opportunity to compete and possibly take a win at the Ladyjack Invitational.

The team will continue on with the rest of the schedule as planned and will compete in the BGSU Best Western Invitational this weekend at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Rice will face Hofstra University on Friday at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Owls will play Bowling Green at 11:30 a.m. and Binghamton University at 3:30 p.m.

"Hofstra is typically a very competitive team," Volpe said. "They were in the NCAA tournament a year ago. We look to them to be competitive. Bowling Green is 9-2 and so they're winning. They're playing well right now."

Rice Stadium backup for Reliant

If Reliant Stadium is unable to be repaired before the Texans' first home game against the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 5, the Texans may try to play the game at Rice Stadium.

Even though Texans owner Bob McNair said he believes the damage will be fixed before the Colts game, he is not ruling out Rice's field as an alternative.

"We would have to talk to them at Rice, but certainly it's a large enough stadium that it's a possibility," McNair told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

Rice Stadium can seat 70,000 at full capacity, compared to the 69,500 person capacity of Reliant.

During Hurricane Ike, Reliant lost five large sections of its roof and sustained falling debris on the field, forcing the team to reschedule last weekend's home game against the Baltimore Ravens for Nov. 9.

Rice assistant athletic director Chuck Pool said that as of Wednesday, no final plans had been made for the game to occur at Rice.

"There has been nothing in terms of any firm indication of their plans," Pool said when asked if the Texans had communicated with Rice yet about use of the stadium.

Pool indicated that any arrangements for the Texans to play on campus would occur before the team finished assessing the status of Reliant.

"They're [...] looking at all the options they have, including if their building is ready in time, and we'll have to take it from there," Pool said when asked to indicate the probability of the game's move.

As of Tuesday, engineers surveying Reliant had not found any significant structural problems with the building, the AP reported. Structural problems, as opposed to simple roof damage, would likely require more time-consuming repairs that may not be finished before the Oct. 5 game.

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