WINNING WAYS
ASU taps Dennis Erickson to lead football team in 2007

HAPPY FEET
Individual, team successes cap cross-country season

Louie Quintana, Arizona State University’s cross-country coach, doesn’t mince words when he describes Aaron Aguayo.

“He’s clearly officially stamped himself as the best distance runner ever at Arizona State,” Quintana said. The results from the NCAA Cross Country Championships, run in Terra Haute, Ind., in mid-November, make it hard to argue the point.

Aguayo finished ninth – the best finish ever by a member of the men’s team. By virtue of his finish, Aguayo also became just the second male Sun Devil to earn All-America honors twice.

“He ran fantastic,” Quintana said. “Getting in the top 10 of the national meet is no easy task.”

Despite Quintana’s finish, he was the only qualifier; the men’s team didn’t advance to the NCAA Championship meet.

“I can’t put into words how disappointed I was,” Quintana said.

But the women’s team did qualify, and finished 13th, led by sophomore Jenna Kingma (60th) and freshman Ali Kielty (68th). Note their youth; it gives Quintana optimism for the future.

“It’s pretty spectacular,” Quintana said, noting that the team’s top six runners return next season. “This team is going to continue to grow ... Things look pretty good.”

The success – it’s the women’s ninth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, the sixth-longest streak in the country – is especially remarkable since most of the team members weren’t highly recruited.

“We have a lot of people on our team, I wouldn’t even say they’re diamonds in the rough,” he said. “I’d just say they were overlooked in the national recruiting.”

Yet Quintana is able to help them maximize their talent.

“Part of it is me believing they can do these things,” he said. “I have a lot of belief in our training and I have a lot of belief in them.

“Every day it’s just a belief that we can be great."

-- By Bill Goodykoontz, a Chandler-based freelance writer.

PASSION, DESIRE, TALENT
Senior forward predicts banner year for women's basketball team

In July, forward Emily Westerberg plans to have her degree in elementary education, get married to her fiancée, former Sun Devil lineman Grayling Love, and begin enjoying a new life. But before that bright future arrives she plans to have a spectacular final season with the women’s basketball team, one she hopes will last well into March.

“The team is capable of a national championship. We have passion, desire and talent. We are capable of anything that we set our minds to,” says Westerberg.

But Westerberg, whose stellar career at ASU includes being named to back-to-back All-PAC-10 teams, maintains a healthy outlook on such goals. She believes that attitude and effort count for much more than winning.
Regardless of the outcome of the season, she’ll feel satisfied if she gives “110 percent.”

She said, “I want to enjoy the season and be proud of the effort I give in my last year. I want to be a great teammate, a great player. I want the school to be proud of me, and my teammates to be proud of me.”

Based on her time so far at ASU, she doesn’t have anything to worry about. Aside from her remarkable numbers — she is on track in her senior season to score well over 1000 points for her career — Westerberg enjoys a unique reputation. She is known off the court for her kindness and generosity and on the court for her intense and aggressive approach to the game. Even her opponents respect her tenacity, never regarding her fierceness as dirty or cheap.

Westerberg credits the success of this approach, as well as her strength and discipline, to her faith.

“I am grateful and blessed to have talent,” she says. “I want to be a light to those around me.”

Evidently she has been, as last season the team named her practice player of the year.

“Working hard, encouraging teammates, [maintaining] a reputation of doing things right: you model those things in practice. You can say that you want to be in a national championship, but you have to do these things and not just talk about them,” she said.

-- By Michael Green, a Tempe-based freelance writer.

WATER WORLD
Swimmer finds discipline, attitude keep her afloat

In the middle of her junior year Caitlin Andrews is already one of the greatest swimmers in ASU history. Among other achievements, she holds school records in the 100 (yard) freestyle, the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. She also ranks second in school history in the 50 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.

As if that wasn’t enough, the All American from San Antonio also holds a 4.19 GPA, which last year was the highest GPA of any swimmer in the nation.

“I didn’t even know about that until somebody told me,” she says.
This is typical of Andrews, who is relaxed about her accomplishments and seems to take things in stride. Most refreshing, she doesn’t find the routine of meets and practice a grind. She says that her parents never forced her to practice and she still takes a lot of joy in swimming.

“I love it,” she says. “I love practice. I love working hard through those painful sets. It’s one of the things I [looked forward to] when I came to college. [I thought] everyone will be here because they love swimming and it will be so exciting.”

Though she does concede that at 5:30 in the morning, “everyone would much rather be in bed,” she doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the time limitations of being a student athlete. The rigid schedule actually helps her maintain discipline.

“I find only having a certain amount of time to get homework done beneficial,” she says.

Beyond her university experience, she looks forward to participating in Olympic trials, though she explains that she feels at a disadvantage because the style of swimming that she is used to—short course yardage—is different than the international/Olympic style of long course meters.

Water factors in her goals outside of swimming as well. She hopes that a biology degree will help her achieve her childhood dream of working at Sea World with the animal trainers.

“There’s a Sea World about two miles from my house in San Antonio,” she says. “Although we don’t have the Shamu.”

-- By Michael Green, a Tempe-based freelance writer.

COACHING OUTSIDE IN
Sendek scores with recruiting victories

Now that the fanfare surrounding the arrival of new coach Herb Sendek has died down and the work of rebuilding men’s basketball is well underway, changes are beginning to show on the court and off.

On the court, Sendek has implemented a new system that stresses a motion offense in which players take on multiple roles.

“The [new] motion offense is wonderful,” says senior forward Serge Angounou. “I love the way it’s so spread out. I get to hit the threes.”

Sophomore forward Jeff Pendergraph, arguably the team’s best player last year, agrees that Sendek has “stirred up a lot of things. It’s quite a different system. Everybody does everything outside/in.”

Pendergraph says that the big difference between former coach Rob Evans and Sendek is that Evans delegated more, while Sendek is more hands on.

“Everything’s been broken up into a science,” says Pendergraph. “Every week he asks us for our schedule and our grades, asks us how we did on that English test, things like that. He knows [our grades] even before our parents.”

The focus on academic achievement is paying off. Under the leadership of Academic Coach Sabrina Thomas, the men's hoops team cumulative GPA is 2.83, its highest in the past six years. The four freshmen combined for a 3.33 GPA and 90 percent of the team had at least a 2.5.

Sendek’s hard work recruiting over the summer is paying dividends as well. The team has signed a handful of highly touted players for 2007-08, including Duke transfer Eric Boateng and prep phenom James Harding. Scout.com has ranked the recruiting class as 15th best in the nation.

"Our staff worked extremely hard and was passionate in its efforts to sign top-notch players in our first fall signing class,” said Sendek.

The new offense, successful recruiting class and community outreach project are all part of Sendek’s comprehensive plan for a new of era of ASU hoops, an era that is now fully under way.

-- By Michael Green, a Tempe-based freelance writer.

BIG MAN, BIG DREAMS
Walk-on lineman Paul Fanaika takes rollercoaster football season in stride

Arizona State University’s 2006 football season was a roller-coaster ride, a combination of encouraging successes and ugly losses, an inconsistency that would be enough to drive anyone crazy.

Not Paul Fanaika, a sophomore offensive lineman.

“That’s all part of mental toughness, learning to fight adversity,” Fanaika said. “It’s nothing new to me, especially being a walk-on.”

Yes, a walk-on. Despite his size – 6 feet 6 inches tall, 355 pounds – Fanaika didn’t get a scholarship offer from the Sun Devils, or anyone else, after graduating from Mills High School in Milbrae, Calif. He’s grown a couple inches since high school and put on weight, but size wasn’t the only reason recruiters didn’t have his phone on speed dial.

“I don’t think we ever had a scout come watch our games,” he said. “Also, I have to admit I wasn’t that great coming out of high school. I was raw, didn’t really have much technique. But the thing that I still have to this day is love of the game. That’s one thing I tell myself I have an edge over many other football players, is my determination.”

Fanaika tried out before the 2004 season, during an open walk-on.

“I laced up my cleats, said a little prayer and told myself, ‘I’m trying my best, and that’s all I can ask of myself,’” he said.

The good attitude paid off. Not only did Fanaika make the team, Coach Dirk Koetter awarded him the Levi Jones Scholarship, quite a leap for a player who could barely do a push-up when he tried out.

“It’s too early to see if he has a future in the NFL,” Koetter told the Los Gatos Daily News. “I wouldn’t rule it out, as much improvement as he has made over the last two years. I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

The whole team could have used Fanaika’s even keel. The season opened with quarterback Sam Keller transferring to Nebraska after losing starting honors to Rudy Campbell; the Sun Devil offense never regained last season’s form. A brutal three-game losing stretch in which ASU lost consecutive games to California, Oregon and the University of Southern California, proved especially costly.

“We weren’t expecting to the season turn out like it has,” Fanaika said of the team’s 7-6 record.

Still, he sounded optimistic.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the tough times,” he said. “I never forget where I came from – never forget where I came from. The goal now is just to be all that I can be.”

--By Bill Goodykoontz, a Chandler-based freelance writer.