Coming off of a challenging and hectic past week of matches, the Western Michigan University men’s tennis team (12-5) finally gets to slow down the pace a bit.

With a break of a little over a week between matches, the No. 64 Broncos’ next match is a double-header on Monday, March 15, at the West Hills Athletic Club. The men first take on Chicago State University (0-5) at 1 p.m., and then come back at 6 p.m. to challenge Ferris State University (3-2).

The afternoon match against Chicago State marks the start of the Brown and Gold’s defense of their three consecutive Mid-American Conference championships.

The men then return to West Hills Athletic Club in the evening for their non-conference match against Ferris State.

The Western Michigan University baseball team returned from their spring trip with only two wins, but it was how those two wins came to be that will set the tone for the rest of their season.

The Broncos (2-8) won their first game against the then 7-1 Villanova Wildcats after losing their first six games of the season. WMU’s Ryan McMillan hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Wildcats, who had successfully beaten many of the opponents the Brown and Gold struggled against earlier in the week. The win proved to be huge for WMU.

“It was huge for two reasons,” Bronco head coach Randy Ford said. “We had the heartbreaking loss at Dallas Baptist [University] in the last inning and second, is after six of seven games without a win, you start to get a monkey on your back. You need to get a win so you can relax and play.”

Despite their huge win, the Broncos struggled where they thought they would prevail: their pitching. The Brown and Gold gave up 108 runs in 10 games, 100 of which were earned. The WMU pitching staff was also allowing 14.1 hits per game.

“Pitching, we gave up too many hits, one-and-a-half to two per inning,” Ford said. “We’re throwing strikes but we need to get outs.”

Looking forward to their three game series this weekend against Oral Roberts University, the Broncos have a couple of ideas in mind on how to tweak their pitching strategy.

“We are going to change it up and attack with the fastball and see if they can hit it,” captain Eric Heckaman said.

Defensively, the Broncos were stout, having an errorless streak of four games in the middle of their trip. They will need to continue to play quality defense if they hope to compete with the power of Oral Roberts this weekend.

“We had zero errors in four games,” sophomore Jack Scanlon said. “It helped a lot keeping us in games and it gives our pitchers a sense of security.”

Scanlon finished the week with a .350 batting average, good for second on the team. Scanlon is coming off Tommy John surgery and has been splitting time in the outfield, but has been a huge factor both offensively and defensively for the Broncos.

A pleasant surprise for Western Michigan was how prolific their offense was, averaging 5.9 runs a game and keeping WMU close in many of the games on their spring trip.

McMillan leads all Broncos with his .380 average, two homeruns and eight RBIs in the sixth of seventh spot in the lineup. Many of the younger players were able to contribute both at the top and bottom of the order. Freshman Jimmy Martinez started four games for the Broncos and is hitting .438 with a homerun.

“I think the bottom of our lineup stood up pretty well,” Scanlon said. “We did pretty well getting runners over and getting them in.”

It is clear that the Broncos will come to rely on their younger players, like sophomore Casey Hall, who picked up the Bronco’s second win, throwing seven strong innings allowing one run.

“I think you’re going to find every year you need help from two or three of the youngsters,” Ford said. “When you take freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors and grab three of four impact players from each class, you need help from the freshmen to round it off.”

These young guys and pitching will continue to play a prominent role heading into the weekend to face a quality Oral Roberts team, which has been the third winningest program in the country since 2004. But having success always come back to the same thing: practice.

“The next week or two of practice will be key for the rest of the season,” Heckaman said.

The Western Michigan University gymnastics team will be looking to build their momentum on a second place finish at the Pittsburg Invitational last weekend during competition at the Eastern Michigan Invitational on Saturday.

The Lady Broncos finished second to host Pittsburg University and former coach Terry Karwoski, who left the team to be an assistant at Pittsburg, 194.525 to 191.425. Penn State University took third with a score of 189.625 while George Washington University finished last with 189.475.

The Brown and Gold were once again led by junior Kristine Garbarino who was the teams top finisher in three out of four events and placed fifth overall individually in the tournament with a score of 38.175. Senior Liz Prouty also came up big for the Broncos, finishing sixth overall during the meet with a score of 38.025.

WMU will look to get back on track in the Mid-American Conference and serve a little payback to Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti during EMU’s home meet. The Eagles defeated WMU at University Arena earlier this year during what head coach Dave Kuzara said was a winnable matchup.

Eastern Michigan University then went on to defeat the Brown and Gold by less than a point the following week in Ypsilanti. The Broncos will also square off against Northern Illinois University and Seattle Pacific College during the invitational.

On Tuesday, Carl Edwards was placed on a three-race probation for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski in Sunday’s race at Atlanta.

Early in the race, Edwards crashed off a restart when he tried to cut down the track, hitting Keselowski and spinning out.

Edwards was able to fix his car before the race ended and came out looking for revenge on Keselowski.  With under 50 laps to go in the race, coming down the front-straightaway, Edwards turned into the left rear corner of Keselowski’s car, causing it to flip, airborne, doing a complete 360 degrees in the air before it came crashing to the ground.

Keselowski was visibly shaken up from the wreck but was able to walk away from it under his own power.

“To come back and just intentionally wreck someone, that’s not cool,” Keselowski told reporters after the race.  “I mean, it could have killed someone in the grandstand, and I know that it’s a little ironic [that] it’s got me saying that, but at least I didn’t do it intentionally when it happened.”

Keselowski was referring to the crash that happened last year between him and Edwards at Talladega.  On the last lap of the race, with Edwards leading, Keselowski made a move to the inside of Edwards coming down the front stretch.  Edwards tried to come down and close the passing lane but Keselowski was already there, causing Edwards to spin out and eventually flip into the retaining fence in front of the grandstands, sending debris into the crowd.

I don’t think that it was Edward’s intention to flip Keselowski over, but no one can predict what kind of a result it is going to have.

At the beginning of this season, NASCAR officials told drivers that they were going to be much more lenient on drivers, allowing them to take disputes into their own hands on the race track.

What started out as an idea to make NASCAR more exciting for fans, just turned into something that could possibly put fans in more danger.

There is a thin line between driving aggressively and driving to dangerously.  Edwards crossed that line on Sunday.

He intentionally came back on the track, after being over 150 laps down, in order to try and get revenge on Keselowski.  How can NASCAR allow drivers to do this?  When is the bar going to be pushed too far?

Unfortunately for the drivers, and in this case the fans also, it usually happens when someone gets hurt or killed.  I only hope that NASCAR does something before this happens.

What do malnutrition, Tuberculosis, HIV and early death have in common?

The poor cannot seem to escape them.

On Tuesday, WMU held a presentation “Partners in Health: Accompaniment in Action”, in which Donna Barry argued that lack of money leads to higher illness rates.

“You cannot disconnect socio-economic issues from disease spread,” Barry said.

Donna Barry is a nurse practitioner and the Advocacy and Policy Director of Partners in Health (PIH).  PIH is an organization dedicated to bringing health care to the poor in developing countries.

Their mission is to bring supplies, facilities, and staff in order to nurse the sick back to health, but also to teach and educate residents to do the same.

“We can’t solve these problems cheaply, but we know how to solve them,” Barry said.

She described the situation of people in developing countries as a “vicious cycle”.  If they get an infection, but never get proper health care, then their body will be more susceptible to the next illness until their immune system is rundown.

“There are incredible obstacles people have to overcome to get good health care,” Barry said.

One of these obstacles included walking miles and miles through the mountains and crossing flooded rivers while pregnant in order to give birth at the clinic.

Barry said although PIH is helping, they haven’t made any real progress.  HIV, malnutrition and the amount of neonatal deaths have not changed.

“We need better technology,” Barry said.  “Without it, we will make barely any dents.”

In fact, Barry said in 1974, 500 million people were starving.  Today, 1 billion people are going hungry.

“Not only in almost 35 years did we not eradicate hunger; we’ve doubled it- clearly we aren’t doing a good job.”

She also said the risk of a woman dying in child birth in Sweden is 1 in 30,000.  But the risk of this happening in Afghanistan is 1 in 6.

“While we know health care can’t solve all the problems, it’s a piece of the puzzle.”

Barry said PIH tries to work with the residents of these countries in order to not just give them health care, but weave it into their system of life.

She said things will continue to be bad once they leave if they don’t address the socio-economic factor too and try to change the way health care is distributed.

“Luxury for most people isn’t about cars and banquets; it’s about access to clean water and food.”

Senior Irene Cooper will head down to Fayetteville, Ark. to represent Western Michigan University at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, March 12-13.

Cooper will be the only Bronco to go to the NCAA Indoor Championships this year. With only one Bronco going, Western Michigan has a smaller chance of being among the top 30 teams, but WMU has done it before so the team is optimistic.

“If Irene makes first place, we will get ten points and we could make it in the top 30 schools with just that,” said head coach Kelly Lycan.

Cooper will be competing in the 20-pound weight throw, which is the indoor equivalent to the hammer throw.

“Irene has a good shot at being one of the top eight,” Lycan said.

Western Michigan’s 4×400-meter relay team came very close to qualifying after hitting a season best time of 3:39.53 to make a provisional qualifying mark.  Ashley Hunault ran the lead leg for the Lady Broncos with a 56.9 split, and from there, 400-meter MAC champion Victoria Chatman finished with a 53.6 split for her best time of the season.

Iris Campbell took the third leg and ran a personal best of the season with a time of 54.8 seconds to keep the Brown and Gold in the lead.  Leya Munwam finished running the anchor leg with a split of 53.9 seconds.

Hunault also came close to qualifying for the championships in the long jump.

Jennifer Roberts was two seconds away from qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:36.10.  Roberts’ time was not only her personal best, but the third fastest time in WMU history, placing her behind former All-Americans Kayla Skelly and Caroline Mullen.

The WMU track and field team will head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for the Alabama Relays on Friday, March 26.

The weather is warming up and the sun is coming out – summer is on its way.  But with thoughts of summer comes panic.

It’s time to scramble to get that “perfect” beach body you’ve been dreaming about.

Please, be careful.

The only good way to lose weight and maintain it is to change your lifestyle by eating healthy and working out regularly.

Weight loss does not come easy for most people, which can be frustrating.  After weeks of exhaustion spent in the gym or starving yourself on things like “the lemonade diet” or “the cabbage soup diet,” not seeing results can be heartbreaking.

These are not good ways to go about weight loss.  Focusing only on dieting or only on working out won’t get the results you hoped for.  On top of this, they won’t help you keep that weight off.

Think about it: if you lost weight because you were on a very strict diet, then once you get off that diet, won’t things go back to the way they were?  Unless you want your summer completely void of the occasional hamburgers on the grill, ice cream, chips and sodas, then you can’t depend on those diets alone.

Maybe you shrunk your stomach for now, but in time you may not only gain the weight back that you lost, but add on more.

According to Thedietchannel.com, if you have been on and off diets for years, you are actually tricking your body into thinking you’re just going through a famine.  After a while, it will become more efficient at absorbing calories.

However, let’s say that you do stick with the diet.  According to Mirasol.net, an eating disorder treatment center, 35 percent of “normal dieters” will progress to pathological dieting and about 25 percent of those will go on to have full-syndrome eating disorders.

On the flip side, only working out won’t get you very far either.  In Time magazine’s article “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” from 2009, author John Cloud said it’s true that exercise burns up calories, but that calorie burn causes hunger.

From my own experience, after I go for a 12 mile run, sometimes I like to treat myself to Thai food, followed by a Mocha and once I get home, I would probably eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s AmeriCone Dream.

According to WebMD.com, weight loss is quicker and easier than maintaining weight.

The best way to look and feel great is to start changing your lifestyle to one that is healthier.

You don’t have to go to the gym every day, but you can incorporate exercise into your everyday plans and routines.  Go for a bike ride with friends or walk a little extra distance.

Don’t make your summer miserable by constantly counting calories or exhausting yourself in the gym.  Enjoy yourself and enjoy being healthy.

On Tuesday, March 9, Western Michigan University held its annual Pro Day.

The event allowed the Bronco football program’s draft eligible seniors to show off their skills to NFL scouts, general managers and player personnel directors.

Among the Broncos participating were Austin Pritchard, Brandon West, Andy Dorcely, Justin Braska, Mike Perisee, Glenis Thompson and Tim Hiller.

Boston McCornell, Jamarko Simmons and Schneider Julien, all former student-athletes, also returned to Western Michigan’s campus for the workout session.

Hiller recently performed at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he registered the best distance among quarterbacks in the broad jump with a height of 9 feet, 10 inches and sixth best in the vertical leap (32.5).  Hiller also ran the 40-yard dash in 4.94 seconds and finished with 18 reps on the 225 pound bench press.

The Brown and Gold will begin their spring practice season on March 18.

On Tuesday, the Mid-American Conference named Western Michigan University sophomore Miame Giden honorable mention All-MAC following the conclusion of the 2009-10 women’s basketball season.

This is the second straight season that Giden has earned a post-season award.  At the conclusion of the 2008-2009 season, Giden was named to the MAC All-Freshman team.

For the second year in a row, Giden has led the Lady Broncos in scoring, ending the regular season ranked 10^th in the MAC with 14.4 points per game.  She also ranked second on the team in rebounding with 5.2 rebounds per game and assists, with a total of 41.  Giden also ranked third in steals (43), three-pointers made (27) and free-throw percentage (.738).

Giden was Western Michigan’s top scorer in 14 games and the Brown and Gold’s leading rebounder in eight.  She will enter her junior year for the Lady Broncos just 195 points away from being the 22^nd Bronco to score 1,000 points after finishing this season with a total of 433.

During the 2009-10 season, Giden was also acknowledged with an all-tournament team nod at the James Madison Invitation on Dec. 30, 2009.  In addition, Giden was also named MAC Player of the Week twice.

The Lady Broncos finished the season with an overall record of 9-21 and 4-12 in conference play.

On Monday, the Mid-American Conference announced Western Michigan University senior, David Kool, as the 2010 MAC Player of the Year.

The award was voted on by a panel of 24 MAC News Media Association members.

Kool took the award with a 13-to-24 vote to earn a place as the fourth Bronco to be named MAC Player of the Year.  Previous WMU title holders include Jeff Tyson (1976), Booker James (1987) and Mike Williams (2004).

In the MAC, Kool leads all players with 20.9 points per game in all games, which ranks him 18^th nationally, and 21.9 points per game in conference match-ups.  In 9-of-16 conference contests, Kool scored 22 points or more, including four games of 30 points or more.

Kool is also the career leader in points at WMU with 2,057, after passing former Bronco Manny Newsome’s record of 1,787 points, set in 1964.  He also ranks first in the MAC and 11^th nationally in free throw shooting (.895) and set a school record in made free throws with 187 and is the conference all-time leader in career free throws made with 583.

During the 2009-10 season, Kool also averaged 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, while maintaining a shooting percentage of 44.3 from the field and 35.4 from beyond the three-point range.