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News Nuggets, 05.10.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Tulane to resurrect men's track and field program

NEW ORLEANS - An aggressive roster management program and the addition of women's swimming and diving has enabled Tulane to achieve its gender equity goals, allowing the University to restore men's outdoor track and field to its sports line-up for 2004-05, Tulane Director of Athletics Rick Dickson announced last week.

Resurrecting the program will enable Tulane to meet the NCAA's new minimum of 16 sports programs for next year.

In March 2002, Tulane announced that it would drop its men's track and field programs effective for 2002-03 as one part of a three-step gender equity plan. At the time, only 32.5 percent of Tulane student-athletes were female, compared to nearly 51 percent of the student body.

This year, the first for the Green Wave women's swimming and diving program, nearly 54 percent of Tulane's student-athlete population is female, compared to a student body which is 52.6 percent female.

"I'm elated to announce that through the successful execution of the plan put into place two years ago, we have achieved and even surpassed our gender equity goals, enabling us to bring men's outdoor track back onto our campus,. Dickson said. "Dropping the program two years ago was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as an athletic director, and I'm happy that we will bring back the proud tradition of Tulane men's track next year."

In addition to adding women's swimming and diving, Tulane increased its participation numbers in women's track and field and cross country, women's golf , soccer and women's tennis while holding roster numbers for its men's sports steady over the last two seasons.

"Achieving gender equity in our athletics program is a victory for everyone," said Tulane President Dr. Scott Cowen. .Gender equity in sports is a vital part of Tulane's overall strategic plan to increase diversity in all areas of the university. I am very proud of our gender equity progress in athletics because this was specifically earmarked for improvement and we have accomplished what we set out to achieve."

Tulane currently fields a 15-sport program with competition in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, football, volleyball, baseball, women's soccer, women's indoor and outdoor track and field and women's swimming and diving. The men's outdoor track and field team will begin competing next season.

Pirates sail onward towards baseball crown

East Carolina's drive towards its first Conference USA regular season baseball title made some measurable headway over the weekend.

The Pirates (21-3, 41-7) expanded their league lead to four full games, sweeping three games from Saint Louis while Tulane (17-7, 34-15)was losing one of its three-game set with South Florida. The Green Wave slipped into a second place tie with Southern Mississippi (17-7, 36-13), which took all three of its games with Louisville.

ECU went into the weekend leading Tulane by three games.

After the weekend's action, the Pirates, Wave and Golden Eagles became the first three teams to sew up berths in the May 26-29 Conference USA Baseball Tournament.

Houston (15-9, 24-25), which will host the tourney, won three games against Memphis to move into a fourth place tie with Texas Christian (15-9, 29-19), which suffered two losses in three tries against UAB.

The final two weeks of the regular season figure to offer more of a challenge for ECU than what it faced against the cellar-dwelling Billikens. The Pirates will take a Tuesday night excursion to face CAA opponent UNC Wilmington, then host ACC neighbor N.C. State at Kinston's Grainger Stadium the following evening before turning their full attention to a pair of daunting series with upper-echelon C-USA rivals.

ECU will try to satisfy its regular season championship aspirations against TCU (May 14-16 in Kinston) and Southern Miss (May 20-22 in Hattiesburg.)

The complete C-USA standings and weekend scores are listed below.

CONFERENCE USA STANDINGS AND SCOREBOARD

(Includes games played through May 9)

                  CONFERENCE        OVERALL
  TEAM             W  L  T  Pct.    W  L  T  Pct.
# East Carolina   21  3  0 .875    41  7  0 .854
# Southern Miss   17  7  0 .708    36 13  0 .735
# Tulane          17  7  0 .708    34 15  0 .694
  Texas Christian 15  9  0 .625    29 19  0 .604
  Houston         15  9  0 .625    24 25  0 .490
  South Florida   10 13  0 .435    28 20  0 .583
  UAB             10 13  0 .435    24 23  0 .511
  Memphis         10 13  0 .435    22 23  0 .489
  Louisville       9 15  0 .375    22 26  0 .458
  Charlotte        9 15  0 .375    20 26  0 .435
  Cincinnati       5 19  0 .208    12 35  0 .255
  Saint Louis      4 19  0 .174    13 35  0 .271

# — Clinched a berth in the C-USA Tournament.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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