Sports

Sports

Campus Recreational Center Offers Fitness and Fun This Fall

The Campus Recreation Center of Western Carolina University, which is located beside the University Center, will have plenty to offer students, faculty, and staff this fall semester. The center houses various physical fitness programs including Intramurals, Group Xercise, Personal Training, and Club Sports. New and returning students, along with faculty/staff, […]

Sports

Concepcion Previews 2009 Lady Catamount Volleyball Team

Western Carolina volleyball Head Coach Manuel Concepcion is optimistic for his team’s schedule, which includes matches with 14 non-conference opponents and a full slate of Southern Conference opponents. “The schedule is designed to be a huge challenge for us,” Concepcion said. “We want the team to be ready to play […]

Sports

WCU Begins Sickle-Cell Disease Testing

After the death of Catamount football player Ja’Quayvin Smalls, Western Carolina University has decided to begin testing African-American athletes for the sickle-cell anemia trait. Smalls, a junior defensive back from Mount Pleasant, S.C., died July 8 after collapsing during a sprint workout at a voluntary, off-season practice in Cullowhee. Observers […]

Sports

North Carolina Budget Upholds Athlete Tuition Waiver

North Carolina taxpayers will continue to pick up the tab for granting in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes at a cost of over $10 million a year. In a budget filled this year with tax increases and cuts to classrooms and medical services, some North Carolina lawmakers sought to include curbs […]

Sports

WCU Football Player Collapses At Practice, Later Dies

A Western Carolina University football player’s first practice as a Catamount ended in tragedy. Ja’Quayvin Ja’Quar Smalls, a junior defensive back from Mount Pleasant, S.C., died unexpectedly on Wednesday, July 8 at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva after collapsing during conditioning drills as a part of voluntary off-season workouts. Smalls […]

Sports

Western Carolina to Host ‘Football 101 for Women’

Western Carolina Athletics will hold the second annual “Football 101 for Women” in preparation for the 2009 college football season. Hosted by Cyndi Wagner and Gale Smith, the wives of head football coach Dennis Wagner and WCU Athletic Director Chip Smith, women are invited to join them for a night […]

Sports

Karen Middleton Announces Assistant Women’s Basketball Coaches

Western Carolina’s women’s head basketball coach, Karen Middleton, who has taken over this year after the departure of former head coach Kellie Haprer to N.C. State, recently announced her assistant coaching staff. The Lady Catamounts will jumpstart its season with an all female coaching staff which includes head Coach Karen […]

Sports

WCU Announces 26-member Cheerleading Squad for 2009-10

Western Carolina and head cheerleading coach Kim Cherry-Beck recently announced the 2009-10 Catamount cheer squad. One of the largest squads in recent history, the 26-member squad has representation from four states including 23 from North Carolina and one apiece from Georgia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.  “I have been a […]