Senior Kylee O’Connor and junior Austin Torres both finished sixth at the Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships over the weekend. Their placements earned six points for Oregon Track and Field prior to the Pac-12 Championships this upcoming weekend.

O’Connor saved her best performance for the final round at the Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships on Sunday in Stanford, California. The Eugene native set a personal-best in all three of her javelin throws, finishing at 118 feet, six inches (36.12 meters). Then, she set another lifetime best in the 800-meters. Her time of two minutes, 15.51 seconds was more than three seconds faster than her previous best.

O’Connor made the switch from sprints and hurdles to heptathlon just a few months previously. She finished with 5,271 points, earning three points for the women’s team and placing her No. 10 on Oregon’s all-time list for the heptathlon.

Torres, a junior transfer from Lane Community College, competed in his first-ever decathlon. He had a strong start to the first day of competition, he set a personal-best of 52.97 seconds in the 400-meters and was in third after five events. With two events left on Sunday, he was in second place. However, the javelin throw was his demise; he dropped for spots after fouling three times.

“Great start for the Ducks,” head coach Robert Johnson told GoDucks.com. “Anytime we can go to a championship setting and put points on the board for the team, that’s always a plus.”

Alissa Brooks-Johnson (5,977 points) of Washington State clinched her third straight Pac-12 heptathlon title. On the men’s side, Stanford’s Harrison Williams (7,925 points) won the decathlon.

This Saturday, the men’s and women’s teams will compete at Sanford for the Pac-12 Championship. The Men of Oregon have won 12 straight titles, and the Ducks are hoping to earn a 10th consecutive conference team title.

Follow August Howell on Twitter @howell_august

The post Kylee O’Connor, Austin Torres both place sixth at Pac-12 Multi-Event Championships appeared first on Emerald Media.

Ways for Colorado State students to celebrate graduation with their families

Spoiler Warning for the Season 4, Episode 4 of “Fear the Walking Dead,” as well as all previous episodes of the series. Spoilers from “The Walking Dead” will also be discussed. 

Jenna Elfman as Naomi and Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark. (Photo credit: Richard Foreman Jr./AMC)

The apocalypse is complicated…really complicated. The latest episode of “Fear the Walking Dead” plays with time to tell the story prior to the fall of the Dell Diamond Stadium. Moral questions are raised and the history of the series is referred back to as the characters mark the course for their future. The multiple timelines make the story a bit confusing, but also adds layers and allows for the plot twists to pack some serious punch. How did our survivors end up so down and dirty, and WHERE IS MADISON?

This isn’t an easy episode to recap due to the constant flashing between timelines, so bear with me this week. In the “NOW” timeline, the combined groups travel together in the SWAT truck. Strand, Alicia and Luciana sit on one side while Althea sits on the other with Nick’s corpse laying in the middle; each person looks like they have been hit by a truck, clearly struggling with the loss of Nick. Footage taken by Althea earlier in the day shows Luciana putting a knife in Nick’s head to prevent him from reanimating as Alicia dispatches turned-Ennis. Strand decides that now is the time for him and his family to open up and tell Althea the story of how they ended up here. Luciana states that a single day changed their course and ruined everything for them; this plays into the common theme that decisions in this world carry a lot of weight to them and that every action can drastically change the future. This episode plays out as Strand, Alicia and Luciana explain their decisions on this particular day, all of which contributed to the death of Nick. Just a side note, the updated title card for Season 4 changes each episode and showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss have confirmed that by the end of the season, a full story will be told through these cards; this episode features a shot of the desert glitching out, a nod to Althea’s camera.

In the “BEFORE” timeline, Luciana observes the Vulture camp as it continues to grow; she notes that “a couple of weeks” had passed since their initial arrival at the Diamond. At the dining hall, the effects of the food shortage are already beginning to set in as the survivors have turned to blending cattle feed into their pancakes to make it last longer. Still, there is optimism in the air as Strand cracks jokes and Alicia notes that things can always get better, seemingly trying to make Naomi feel more comfortable. Madison arrives with plans to send out supply runners to search locations that might not have been looted yet. This is incredibly wise as plenty of unusual places can sometimes hold the best supplies; Glenn Rhee’s line in “The Walking Dead” of “there’s nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden” is the perfect explanation of this. As the characters find themselves deeper and deeper in the apocalypse, scavenging becomes trickier as the most obvious places such as grocery stores, pharmacies and ordinary homes have been long picked clean. This episode places a heavy focus on three separate teams as they head out in search of whatever they can find, learning more about their run partner and also themselves.

Sebastian Sozzi as Cole, Colman Domingo as Victor Strand. (Photo Credit: Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC)

The first team up is Strand and Cole, who head to a greenhouse in search of any plants or seeds that they can bring back to the Diamond. Cole once again tries to connect with Strand, revealing that he once attended Texas A&M University and “smoked” quite a few plants. Strand isn’t one to reveal much in the way of personal information and Cole questions if this is because he is afraid of him. Viewers have been following Strand’s journey for years now and know exactly what type of person he is, whereas Cole is still getting to know him. The apprehension Strand shows could be related back to the death of Thomas Abigail in Season 2, which left Strand heartbroken and hesitant to get close to others. A small cluster of Infected covered in strange prickles attack Cole and Strand, leading to a tense fight sequence that ends in Strand rescuing his potential love interest. It’s important to note that some of these prickles penetrate Cole’s skin; is it possible that he will turn from this, much like the “infected” weapons that Negan and the Saviors introduced in Season 8 of “The Walking Dead?” While traveling back, Cole holds onto his shoulder where the prickles entered his body, possibly foreshadowing his demise. However, this element in the shared universe doesn’t exactly have the best track record as far as continuity is concerned, so this could honestly be nothing at all.

While driving back with a small collection of plants, Strand tells Cole the real reason they haven’t been on runs together. The attraction between the two is palpable, but Strand concedes that he is hesitant to get closer to Cole because of the dark things he did in his past. The betrayal at the Gonzalez Dam is one of Strand’s greatest regrets and Strand reveals a small piece of the Dam’s rubble to Cole, explaining that it serves as a reminder for him to never return to that version of himself. Strand brings Cole to an abandoned car lot and proves that while he may have changed, Victor Strand is still Victor Strand. He had prepared a bug-out vehicle with supplies for himself in the event that the Diamond falls. Cole is shocked and disgusted by this revelation and calls Strand out for even thinking about abandoning the rest of the group. Strand makes it perfectly clear that this is just the type of person that he is and that self-preservation is his primary objective. Even though he may care about Madison and the others, Strand will always put himself first.

Kim Dickens as Madison Clark, Frank Dillane as Nick Clark, Danay Garcia as Luciana. (Photo Credit: Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC)

Nick and Luciana team up to check out a local library, not to search for food…but rather to search for books. Luciana questions Nick’s priorities and wonders why books are needed to which Nick explains that people need a reason to stay at the Diamond other than their primal human needs. Luciana is able to deduce that Nick brought them to the library because of Charlie, who Nick wants to get back on their side. Luciana notes the parallels between herself and Charlie, citing her time at La Colonia and her unwavering dedication to Alejandro’s warped world view that ultimately led to her people dying. Nick and Luciana come across an Infected that seems to have been chained up when he was still living. This is a haunting sight to Luciana, who fears that she will end up like that. She predicts that the Diamond is on the same path as that of La Colonia and states that they should leave before the community falls. She finds an atlas and comes up with an idea of selecting a random page and leading the residents of the Diamond to whichever location is on the page. This would effectively allow them to have a fresh start away from the Vultures and the incoming famine.

Althea tries to give the trio a break from sharing their stories, but Alicia seems dead set on providing an account of what happened even after losing her brother hours ago. She opens up about her own supply run with Naomi to Whirlin Wavez, an abandoned water park. Both Alicia and Naomi bond over the fact that they previously visited similar water parks and had fond memories of delicious churros. The two venture into the park and discover that it was once a community of survivors that was overrun at some point. Naomi spots the top of a water slide complex that seems to be the spot where the final stand of the community took place. Alicia notes that they will need to climb up the slides to reach the point, but a collection of water-logged Infected stand in their way in the connected pool. In some truly manufactured drama, Alicia and Naomi enter the pool and try to climb up the slippery slide without killing the Infected beforehand. This leads to an “intense” few seconds as they scramble to pull each other out of danger, but we know that Alicia definitely survives considering she appears in the present timeline. This move is quite amateur and is a case where the writers make two hardened and intelligent characters rather dumb for a moment to stir up tension; both Alicia and Naomi would know better than to put themselves in such immediate danger after spending roughly two years surviving in an apocalypse.

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark and Jenna Elfman as Naomi. (Photo credit: Richard Foreman Jr./AMC)

After climbing up a slide, Alicia and Naomi eventually reach the top of the platform. They discover a machine gun and some other supplies, but two Infected come out of hiding and attack. Naomi is pushed down a slide with one Infected while Alicia fights off the other, holding onto the flash suppressor of the gun; Alicia accidentally pulls the suppressor off and falls down the slide into a circular “toilet bowl” exit that is teething with Infected, along with Naomi. The two struggle to fight off the Infected, but ultimately manage to regain their footing on the slippery surface and avoid dropping into the pool. Alicia uses her badass new weapon of the flash suppressor for the first time, which is later seen in the present timeline. After climbing back up to the top, Alicia and Naomi discover a stash of medical supplies and pack them up to take back; however, Naomi has different plans and slips away while Alicia is scanning the horizon for other locations to scavenge. Using the vehicle she found, Naomi tries to make a run for it, but it runs out of gas and Alicia catches up to her. There’s a sense of understanding in Alicia as she explains that she also tried to run away, but later realized she didn’t need to be alone, referring to the events following “This Land is Your Land.” Naomi states that she doesn’t want to try to make it work “again,” hinting that she may have been part of a failed community at some point. Naomi warns Alicia that the Stadium won’t last, citing her experience as an ER nurse giving her the ability to predict who will live and die.

The downfall of the Diamond is heavily foreshadowed in Madison’s storyline this episode. She is called over to speak with Mel in the parking lot while he grills hot dogs. Life is going rather well for the Vultures and they have plenty of food and supplies to sustain themselves. Mel tells Madison the story of where he and his brother Ennis were before the Vultures.; they were part of a small settlement with their family and a few others. Some nearby wildfires were cause for worry, but Mel convinced the community that they would be fine if they stayed. The wildfires eventually spread and burned down the settlement, leaving only Mel and Ennis alive as they were forced to listen to the death screams of their friends and family. Madison offers the Vultures a place in the Diamond, stating that “we could all make a go of it in there if we work together,” but that just isn’t how Mel rolls. A theme of this episode is the decisions each character must make in whether to stay at the Diamond or leave. The interviews with Althea reveal that the fatal mistake was that they all decided to remain at the community. Madison is overjoyed when she sees Strand return with a load of supplies, showcasing the fact that he isn’t giving up on his friends just yet. Nick’s optimism shines through as he and Luciana present the location “up north” from the atlas that they could visit once and collect seeds to be planted at the Diamond, allowing them to have a fresh start without leaving. There’s even more optimism as Naomi returns with Alicia and the two tell Madison that they plan on setting up an infirmary.

Flash-forward to the present time when all seems lost.

“We should have talked my mom into leaving.”

“I should have followed my gut. I should have kept that car a secret.”

“We should have flipped to another page. We should have found some place else to go.”

“We wanted to believe.”

“We wanted to stay.”

“I wanted to be a better person.”

“That’s why my brother is dead.”

“That’s why Nick is dead.”

“That’s why my friend is dead.”

“We could have stopped it all.”

This is the most poignant moment within the episode as Strand, Alicia and Luciana come to terms with the loss, pain and suffering they have experienced these past few months, each blaming themselves for their hardships.

Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Garret Dillahunt as John Dorie, Maggie Grace as Althea, Danay García as Luciana Galvez, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark and Colman Domingo as Victor Strand. (Photo credit: Richard Foreman Jr./AMC)

This episode does an excellent job at furthering the characters of Morgan and John as they deal with the events of the day in their own ways. While driving, John opens up to Morgan and reveals that he was a police officer before the apocalypse (parallel to Rick Grimes in “The Walking Dead”?) and that he learned that a single good or bad day cannot make or break someone. John tells Morgan that he wants to find Laura and that he wants the two of them to meet each other. Morgan makes it clear that he will be heading out on his own after they bury Nick, but the narrative says the opposite as he continually becomes closer with these characters as each episode passes. The OG crew directs the truck to a spot in a field where they seem to plan to bury Nick, only this isn’t the case as they instead dig up a cache of weapons. John, Althea and Morgan realize that the trio plan on hunting down the Vultures and getting revenge. Alicia had previously found a map with the supposed meet point for the Vultures, giving them a place to stage an attack. Althea is angry at the fact that she had been lied to, questioning how she can ever trust Alicia’s group again. Before leaving, Alicia, Strand and Luciana bury Nick under a tree. It’s a somber farewell, but it is clear that the trio has one thing on their mind: vengeance. Morgan takes a moment to say goodbye and places a bluebonnet on Nick’s grave. After everything he’s been through, Morgan has to see yet another person torn away from the world.

This episode drops a helluva bombshell on viewers as the true identity of John’s lost lover Laura is revealed. While packing up the weapons cache into the SWAT truck, John spots a familiar looking bag and realizes that it belonged to Laura. The narrative flashes back to the Diamond timeline to show Naomi opening the same bag, which contains the identical revolver that John first mentioned in the Season Premiere. John quickly deduces that Laura is actually Naomi and that she simply gave him a fake name. He questions where she is and what happened to her, but Luciana and Alicia state that she didn’t make it out of the Stadium and is now dead. John doesn’t believe this to be true and breaks down, in shock over this dramatic news. Strand pokes a bit of fun at the situation to which Luciana shushes him, showing that she has some semblance of compassion for John and what he’s going through. Alicia tries to enlist John is joining their revenge force, but he just wants to be alone. Althea states that she will tag along with the trio and return back for John later. Morgan decides to stay behind with John, who is clearly headed down a dark path; this demonstrates the immense change in Morgan in just the four episodes since his crossover as he has gone from wanting to be alone to sticking with someone who has become a friend of his. The next episode looks to provide backstory to the relationship between John and Naomi, showing how the met and eventually split up. The question remains: is Naomi actually dead?

“Buried” is a strong continuation of various arcs of Season 4, specifically in the mystery of the two timelines. There are a lot of unanswered questions and this episode does fill in some blanks, but also opens up a plethora of more questions. The structure and use on non-linear storytelling is a unique way to allow the mystery to slowly unravel while developing the characters. This is the lowest we have ever seen Alicia, Strand and Luciana and Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo and Danay Garía perfectly portray the pain and trauma the characters feel while also highlighting the anger and thirst for revenge. It remains to be seen exactly what happened at the Stadium, but it is clear from the dialogue that whatever happened will haunt the survivors moving forward, especially considering they feel responsible for it. The full story is sure to play out as the season progresses and it already seems as though this year’s Mid-Season Finale will be a drastic climax to the split timelines. Will Madison’s ultimate fate be revealed? Will Alicia’s team get the revenge they desire?

Be sure to tune into “Fear the Walking Dead” next Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC.

The “Middle East” is ever-present in the news. We hear it in mainstream media. Our elected representatives toss the phrase around. Universities even use the phrase when naming their academic departments.

There’s just one question: middle east of what?

The countries that are included in the region have alternated throughout history and continue to change depending on political affairs, and even personal opinions. According to the National Geographic style manual, there is no precise definition that outlines what constitutes the “Middle East.”

Before the term “Middle East” became a normal part of our vocabulary, people referred to the region as the “Near East.” Academics continue to do so when researching the ancient history of the region. For example, UCLA’s department of Near Eastern languages and cultures offers a middle eastern studies major, but UCLA also has a Center for Near Eastern Studies whose mission is to “train undergraduate, graduate, and professional specialists on the Middle East, North Africa and the Islamic world.”

The wide and mixed usage of those two terms has made them historically significant to how academics study the history, cultures and societies of the region. But they fall short of accurately representing the geographic area.

The term “Middle East” is unclear in its definition, and therefore misinforms how students study and view the region. It doesn’t highlight how Southwest Asia and North Africa have contributed to and been influenced by the world. The term “Middle East” also perpetuates the colonialist ideologies that created the term in the first place, reinforcing harmful stereotypes that the region is uncivilized and backward by emphasizing it as a separate geographic area that isn’t well-connected with the nations around it or even the rest of the world.

UCLA should rename the middle eastern studies major and Center for Near Eastern Studies to the Southwest Asian and North African studies and Center for Southwest Asian and North African Studies, respectively. Academia plays a key role in how we understand and engage with Southwest Asia and North Africa, and shifting away from Eurocentric terms like “Middle East” can help the university better represent the geographic significance of these regions.

The terminology currently used to describe Southwest Asia and the North African regions can be traced to European colonialist ideologies. Pouneh Behin, one of the co-founders and leaders of Southwest Asian and North Afrikan in Los Angeles, an advocacy group for local and global SWANA communities, said the term “Middle East” is used to describe the region’s geographic relation to Europe.

“Instead of using … terminology like ‘Southwest Asia,’ (colonialists) used ‘Middle East’ because they were also involved in imperial campaigns,” Behin said.

The term “Middle East” also reflects Orientalist ideologies. Orientalism represents Southwest Asia and North Africa as something “other” than Western countries – radically different, barbaric and backwards.

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Referencing the region in Eurocentric terms like “Middle East” or “Near East” allows it to seem distanced from the world stage, said Michael Cooperson, a professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures.

“It makes it seem as if the region is isolated from everything around it – that it’s different and special,” Cooperson said. “But if you call it Southwest Asia, then you realize it’s part of Asia and it’s connected to other things.”

The confusion between the terms “Near East” and “Middle East” also affects how those regions are studied in politics and history.

It’s difficult to understand what the Middle East and ancient Near East are, especially when the words “Middle East” is used in modern politics while “Near East” is used for ancient scholarship, said Kara Cooney, an associate professor of Egyptian art and architecture.

Katherine Alvarado, a UCLA spokesperson, said in a statement that UCLA has two differently named entities because the Center for Near Eastern Studies is run by the International Institute, while the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures is part of the College of Letters and Science.

But by continuing to use terms like “Middle East” and “Near East,” UCLA is representing the region through an outdated and Eurocentric lens.

Using the term “Southwest Asia and North Africa” would allow students to have a more comprehensive understanding of the region and challenge the Orientalist and postcolonial systems that reinforce the notion of the “barbaric Middle East.” Renaming the departments would establish that the region is a part of Asia, and therefore, the world. Changing how we refer to the region would also aid students from the regions by challenging the harmful stereotypes that exoticize and misappropriate their cultures.

And some academics in the field would welcome this change. Cooney, for example, said she is open to the idea of using the term “Southwest Asia and North Africa,” and thinks it may help to redefine our stereotypical ideas of the region.

Alvarado said the terms “Middle East” and “Near East” are geographic terms. Perhaps this is the justification for why UCLA has yet to change the names of these departments.

But that’s a geography defined by Europe’s perspective, not by those who inhabit or have roots in those regions.

Southwest Asia and North Africa are not as separate from the world as the term “Middle East” has us believe. Academia needs to acknowledge how this region plays an important historical and cultural role, not distance it from the rest of the world.

Graduation is quickly approaching and I’m freaking out. I’m going to have to say goodbye to a lot of things at Colorado State University. I’m leaving behind late nights finishing projects in the visual arts building, hours “studying” in the Ramskeller, and what felt like days spent cranking out essays in the library. Most importantly […]

Gwen Svekis watched her fly-ball hang in the air and drift toward shallow left field. As she jogged toward first base, it landed in the exact place none of the three Utah defenders could reach it in time.

That summarized how the day went for Svekis and the Ducks on Senior Day. They capitalized on scoring from their seniors to beat and sweep Utah 8-1 for the final regular season game at Jane Sanders Stadium. Megan Kleist, the winning pitcher, went five innings with six hits and six strikeouts.

It was an emotional game for all the players, especially for senior Svekis and Lindvall, who accounted for six of the eight total Oregon runs.

“Lot’s of emotions,” head coach Mike White said. “Fortunately we were able to keep them under wraps and I thought the ladies did a good job.”

Svekis wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to play at home at least one more time. The senior had two hits, including a home run to center field in the third inning.

“It was very cool becuase who knows if I’ll hit another one, so it was good to do it this weekend,” Skevis said.

Early on in the second inning, the Ducks threatened to go up big after loading the bases twice. Lauren Lindvall’s scoring doubled in her first at-bat and gave Oregon a 3-0 lead. Lindvall and Haley Cruse then advanced to second and third base on a wild pitch to Jenna Lilley. When Lilley walked, Utah replaced starter Hailey Hilburn for Katie Donovan, who was able to limit the damage by getting April Utecht to hit into a double play.

The Ducks almost run-ruled Utah in the fifth inning when they scored three runs. Shannon Rhodes, who drew three walks and scored two runs on no hits, was almost picked off at second base in a pickle situation, but scored after Lindvall doubled again for her second RBI of the game. Cruse followed that with a chopper that bounced over the second baseman, allowing Lindvall and Iakopo to score.

Kleist ran into trouble in the fourth inning when Utah had runners on first and third with one out. Ally Dickman launched double into left field, allowing Kelly Martinez to score from third. Utah had runners on second and third with one out, but Kleist struck out the next two consecutive batters to end the inning.

Maggie Balint replaced Kleist in the sixth inning. She had one strikeout and allowed a hit, but it was Lilley’s timely defensive plays from third base that prevented more baserunners for the Utes. The sold-out crowd began chanting the senior’s name in the final inning while she hovered over third base.

“I hear them every time, they’re pretty awesome,” Lilley said. “They make me smile.”

With its regular season home games concluded, Oregon will head to Cal for the final three-game series of the season. With this win, Oregon and UCLA are tied for first in the Pac-12 standings.

Follow August Howell on Twitter @howell_august

The post Senior power pushes Oregon past Utah 8-1 to complete series sweep appeared first on Emerald Media.

It had the makings of a strange night at The Jane.

Going up against Utah, who entered Saturday last in the Pac-12 standings, No. 2 Oregon was held hitless in the first four innings before the Utes took 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

Yet, like the great teams do, the Ducks bounced back. Although Saturday wasn’t a game Oregon needed to win, it was one they wouldn’t let slip away. A late offensive burst pushed the Ducks to a 5-2 victory over Utah to clinch the series win.

“We had trouble hitting the ball, and then all of a sudden we caught fire,” said head coach Mike White. “We fought back well. We made a lot out of nothing.”

The second of a three-game series between the Ducks and Utes were gridlocked for the first half of the game.

In the battle of the Miranda’s in the circle, the Ducks’ Miranda Elish retired the first eight batters she faced.

Utah’s Miranda Viramontes kept up. Last season, the Ducks handed the junior her first loss of the season in a 12-3 Oregon win, in which Viramontes lasted just three innings. On Saturday, though, she didn’t allow a single hit through the first four innings.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Utes had runners on first and second with one out. Following a mound visit, Lilley fielded a ground ball at the hot corner and got the force out at third before firing a missile to first to finish off the double play and help Elish escape the jam, bringing the sellout crowd to its feet.

A two-RBI double from Abby Robertson, though, put Utah ahead 2-0 in the top of the fifth.

Utah needed a shutout in the bottom half of the inning. Oregon wouldn’t oblige. With two outs and runners on second and third, it was Lilley who delivered with the bat this time, finding a gap in the right side of the infield to drive in a pair of runs and tie the game.

The base knock brought life back to the Ducks after Mia Camuso was thrown out at home plate to keep Oregon scoreless.

“I thought I ran ourselves out of the inning,” said White. “The team was able to pick me up, and that’s what you got to be able to do sometimes.”

Gwen Svekis had been fooled badly by Viramontes changeup in her prior two at-bats. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, Svekis didn’t wait long. The senior swung at the first pitch she saw, muscling a bit of a jam shot that dropped into centerfield to drive in two more runs to give Oregon a 4-2 lead.

The Ducks tacked on one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was enough support for Elish. The sophomore wasn’t her sharpest, allowing seven hits and two earned runs, but was able to go the distance, finishing off the Utes to clinch the win for the Ducks.

“We really feed off of each other as a team,” said Elish. “We just have to go out (on Sunday) and play a really good game for our seniors.”

The post Ducks softball rallies back to top Utah 5-2 appeared first on Emerald Media.

“Rotney the Magnifiscent” is currently blooming in the UNC Charlotte greenhouse. Photo by Chimena Ihebuzor.

Wake up and smell the… Rotney? “Rotney the Magnifiscent,” that is.

Thursday at 5 p.m., the Titan Arum Flower reached full bloom for the first time in 10 years. Thousands are expected to visit McMillan Greenhouse to catch a deadly whiff of Rotney, nicknamed the “corpse flower” for its notorious funk. Titan Arums are also the largest inflorescence in the world, as Rotney is expected to reach an impressive 5-foot-5-inch.

“It’s going to be like a dead raccoon — Not at your feet, but at your face,” said Botanical Gardens Director Dr. Jeff Gillman. “It’s almost six feet, but until you see it, you don’t get it. You can read all the facts, but until you confront that thing in person — when it’s really stinky — you don’t know what it’s like.

“A good comparison is when you’re watching American football on TV; Then if you’ve ever met an NFL linemen in person and said, ‘You know I’ve seen you on TV, but I didn’t realize how huge and big he is.’”

Rotney is only the third Titan Arum flower in the history of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens. Rotney and his twin, Odie, were welcomed to McMillan Greenhouse back in 2008. Odie bloomed in 2015. The shyer Rotney took an extra three years to make a guest appearance.

Christian Hoover, the garden’s marketing manager, has been tracking Rotney closely for some time now.

“We first noticed that Rotney was putting up a bud in early March,” she said. “About mid-March is when we realized that this could be a flower instead of a leaf that’s coming up, and then it’s been growing since then. It went from around 10 inches in the beginning of April to where it is right now which is five-foot-five. This is the mature height of this plant.”

In some cases the odor can travel up to a half mile-away. Thankfully for nearby residence halls, the intense odor only lasts for 12 hours. Still, the bloom will stay open (with a much lighter odor) for only 1-2 days. The plant must reach 10-15 years of age before it blooms for the first time and then blooms every 3-5 years thereafter. The Titan Arum has been labeled an endangered plant from the rainforest island of Sumatra.

“Rotney is actually becoming quite rare in the wild because of deforestation and people poaching these plants,” said Hoover. “So the work that we’re doing here at the botanical gardens in cultivating these plants is very important work to preserve this species.”

McMillan Greenhouse will be open Friday until 7:30 p.m., when the bloom is expected to close. Don’t miss your opportunity to catch “Rotney the Magnifiscent” in action.

“We think of it as a gateway plant,” said Gillman. “It’s something that can introduce the average Joe into plants because it’s a really cool attraction. So please come to visit Rotney but when you do be sure to check out our other plants too. We have 10 acres of gardens here, 5,000 square feet under glass.

“We just want people to come and enjoy plants, the crazy diversity in the plant kingdom and appreciate all that these things do for us.”

A live stream is available on the Gardens’ website.

Cal rugby pinned on ropes, receives 60-5 knockout punch from Life in championship

Maddie Khamnei/Staff

Update 5/5/2018: This article has been updated to include quotes from Cal rugby head coach Jack Clark.

The saying stands, “It’s not about how you start; it’s about how you finish.” But in the championship game Saturday, Cal rugby’s start to the match ultimately wrote its story for the rest of the contest, and the story didn’t have a happy ending. The Bears fell, 60-5, to Life University in the national title game, unable to break the the Running Eagles’ undefeated season.

“We were second best from, really, the opening whistle, almost,” said head coach Jack Clark. “We had couple of good moments, but for the most part, you know, we weren’t really in the game.”

It has been a common theme this postseason that Cal has done a poor job of starting things off early in its games. After giving up the first try of the match in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, the Bears also gave up the lead early against Life in the championship.

True to their relentless style of play, however, the Bears always find a way to retaliate after giving up a lead — as if an alarm goes off signaling them to kick things up.

After a lineout, Cal secured a swatted ball, and junior fullback Troy Lockyear went off to the races. After a couple of risky passes, Life’s defense stopped the attack 2 meters away from the try zone.

Fifth year No. 8 Thomas Robles finally punched the ball in for the Bears, and a missed conversion kept Cal trailing, 7-5.

Things seemed to be looking up as Cal played hard defense and looked for defensive breaks at the other end. But a turnover by the Bears led to a long possession for the Running Eagles that ended with a penalty kick. Cal then found itself trailing, 10-5, and it was all downhill from there for the Bears.

Turnovers once again kept Cal from finding its rhythm, and a lot of opportunities were missed with lost lineouts, which is something the Bears have executed very well this season up until now.

After freshman fullback/center Seth Purdey broke out at the end of the half, giving the Cal faithful some hope, he threw the ball out of bounds with a bad pass, summarizing the Bears’ first 40 minutes of play.

Cal being pinned against the ropes is an unusual sight, as the team has blown out many opponents it has faced this season, but at the half, the Running Eagles had punched in 24 unanswered points, with a score of 29-5.

“I think we were outplayed across the board; there is no doubt our backs struggled,” Clark said. “We just — we weren’t as good.”

It seemed as though halftime was exactly what the Bears needed, as they pressured the Running Eagles for the first five minutes of the second half, eyeing a comeback.

Another lost lineout for Cal, however, quickly turned the the tables around back in Life’s favor as the Running Eagles’ fast break blew a near-knockout punch with a try close to the Cal bench, bringing the score to 34-5.

“I thought our plan was pretty good around lineouts,” Clark said. “I don’t think they surprised us much; they just executed well — there isn’t any one aspect of the play that went our way.”

The Bears put up a commendable fight the rest of the way, but they simply could not catch a break.

Every time Cal broke off some tackles and started running with open space in front, the Bears stopped themselves with a bad pass or a turnover of some kind. The rest of the match was mostly played on Cal’s end of the field, as good defensive plays were hindered with disappointing offensive mistakes.

“You know, I’m sure it’s a multifaceted answer; I mean, obviously, if I knew the answer, I would have fixed it,” Clark said. “I think it had to do with our youth as a team and maybe just our mentality — and finally, I guess we’d have to say coaching, you know, just wasn’t able to fix the problem.”

The Running Eagles ended the game with a couple more tries, approaching their season average of 60-plus points, to get their third national championship and first-ever win against the Bears, 60-5.

The 15s season may have not ended how the Bears wished it would, but their dominant season and excellent performances all year should not be downplayed.

Can Sariöz covers rugby. Contact him at csarioz@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @can_sarioz

The Daily Californian

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