Next fall, Whitties will lose one more excuse to avoid exercise.   The new rock climbing wall, housed in Sherwood Athletic Center, will open in the fall: just in time to strengthen students and faculty...

Run: 1. Pioneer Park: three-plus miles depending on how many times you run around the park. Run up Boyer, turn left on Division and run until you hit the park. This is a good run for people who do not want to go on a really long run, but just want to enjoy a nice jog. 2. Golf Course Loop: about six miles. Run past Baker Ferguson Fitness Center and Tamarack House toward the track. From the track, follow the road underneath the highway, and then take a right up the hill that takes you to the golf course. You can run around the course in either direction depending on the desired distance.

Already having undergone changes in the first half of this semester, the spring intramural sports season will kick off this week with a few more new tricks up its sleeve. Two sports usually held indoors, basketball and volleyball, have become temporary newcomers to the post-spring break time slot due to the current inaccessibility of Sherwood Center. And alongside the adjustments to the schedule layout, these sports will incorporate some other new flavors to their style of play. Basketball games, following rules slightly different than those ordinarily used for intramurals, will feature three-on-three match-ups played on a half-court setup. Teams will decide matches by best-of-three games series, with each game played to fifteen points. No referees will officiate the games, either, as part of a budget-trimming plan by the Intramural Sports Committee—so players will have to work amongst themselves to resolve any issues that may arise. “It's going to be a different experience," said senior Michael Warren Anderson, chair of the Intramural Sports Committee, who described the new arrangement as similar to “streetball-style pickup." In no way, however, does Anderson feel that it will detract from the competition, believing that it may in fact add an exciting new dynamic to the games. “I'm excited to try it out," said Anderson.

More frisbees than usual were flying around campus over the first weekend in April when over 400 Ultimate Frisbee players from around the region partook in Onionfest —an annual celebration hosted by the Whitman Sweets. “The purpose of Onionfest," said junior Sweets captain Elle Burstein in an e-mail, “is to put together a weekend of great fun with Ultimate for teams that range in skill levels from the national champions to first-time players." Twenty-four teams competed in Onionfest this year. Whitman teams included the “Where's Waldo" themed B team, who finished towards the bottom of the rankings, the all-first-year team called “Do Sumthin' Crazy" that came in 11th overall, and the “All Blacks" that finished in 5th place. Juniors Burstein and Micah Babbitt, participants in the tournament, both played on the “All Blacks" team named after the New Zealand rugby team of the same name. According to “All Blacks" tradition, the frisbee team performed a ‘haka'—a pre-game ritual chant and dance—that, according to Babbitt, is used to “intimidate our opponents."

The baseball team's spring break games displayed success unseen in recent years. The team won two out of the eleven games they played over break. They played three series —weekends which include two nine-inning games each Saturday and two seven-inning games each Sunday—against conference opponents Pacific University, Lewis and Clark and Willamette. “I thought overall we played really well," said head coach Casey Powell. “Our bats picked up a lot, and pitching's getting better too." The team won one game against Pacific, and one against Lewis and Clark. Pete Stadmeyer threw a two-run shutout against Pacific, which resulted in a 10-0 win. “The weekend against Pacific was the best four-game series that we've played," said Powell, reflecting on the team's recent success. Despite the few wins, the team's win-loss record has improved since last year. The team lost 33 games in a row and only won four games total last season. “We have definitely taken a lot of good strides," said junior pitcher Blaine Mercado. “A lot of the games we were losing are close now, which is a lot better than being blown out."

In most sports, college and otherwise, the rules are pretty straightforward. Out of bounds in soccer leads to a throw in; facemask in football leads to a penalty. To rugby fans or occasional rugby goers, however, the rules seem invisible or infrequent. And what are the rules? What is a scrum or a ruck? Why do players get tossed in the air at odd intervals? While rugby appears to be a completely chaotic game, that is not the case, according to sophomore and women's rugby captain Emily Lorente. “There are actually a lot of rules to rugby," said Lorente. “There are a lot of things you can and cannot do. For example, you cannot throw the ball forward, and you can't kick a ball with a part of the body above the knee. And if you are tackled, you must release the ball or a penalty is called." Rugby, according to Lorente, is a unique sport but takes on elements of other popular contact sports.

As the tennis season draws to a close, the men's team eagerly awaits next weekend's match against second place Pacific Lutheran University (PLU). Arguably one of the most heated rivalries in the Northwest conference, PLU has been Whitman's biggest adversary in tennis for nearly 30 years. Both teams are ranked high nationally. “We've met them in the tournament final the last few years," sophomore Etienne Moshevich said. “They are always intense against us, and we like to play against them. In past history, they've won more conferences than we have, so it's nice to take them out." In the conference finals, Whitman lost to PLU two years ago, but won last year. In early February, the tennis team beat PLU 8-1. “I think [our past win] would make the teams more excited to get out and play because we beat them pretty badly the last three times. I know the PLU coaches will be fired up," said head coach Jeff Northam. “However, [our win] really doesn't have much of a bearing. That was one of our first matches of the year, and I think it was too early for them. I expect it will be a much closer match the second time around."

Each week the sports staff will pick one Whitman athlete that performed exceptionally in the previous weekend's games. The distinction will be judged both on the individual's performance and their...

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