PSU Magazine Spring 2002

Coming soon: the best seats in the house The main gym of the Peter W. Stott Center will be upgraded this ummer as a nearly $1 milli on renovation improves its look and function, and make it a more comfortab le venue fo r Viking fans. The current basketball configura– tion will be changed to an cast-west court with new bleachers on the south side and new chair back seating on the north ide. When the project is com– plete in September, fans will enter the gym in the end zone and sea ting will be more eas ily access ible. The biggest improvement fo r fa ns will be approx i– mately 500 comfo rtable chair seats added on one side. Included in the upgrade will be a new floor, new ba ketball standard , and press tables. The gym will also be more functional fo r telev isi n broad– casts, which have become the norm this past year as Action Sport Cable Network (ASCN) has televised nearly 20 PSU vo lleyba ll, wrestling, and men's and women's basketball games. Facing a competitive football season An exc it ing home schedule and one of the nation' top offen es has the Port– land State footba ll team anticipating a banner 2002 season. The Vikings will battle fo r a Big Sky Confe rence title behind A ll-Big l Sky quar– terback Juston Wood and 3rd team All– American running back Ryan Fuqua. Those two, along with wide rece ivers Jesse Lev in and Anto– nio Jack- son, were part of the nation's fourth best offense last Quarterback Juston Wood will lead the Vikings this coming season. season, and expect to be unstoppable in 2002. The Vikings finished last year at 7-4 and ranked 25th in the ESPN/USA Today I-AA Coache Pell. PGE Park will be ali ve with excite– ment as the Vi kings host Big Sky nemesis Montana on Oct. 26. The game is part of a home schedule that includes Ea tern Washington, Idaho State, SW Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, and North Carolina A&T. ln addition to an outstanding home schedule, P U will play at Univer ity of O regon on Sept. 21. Fans who buy Portland State foo tball season tickets will also have the option of purchas ing game tickets fo r the PSU/Oregon clash. PSU last played at OU in 1994, los ing 58- 16, in the same year the Ducks went to the Rose Bowl. Visit the Web site www.GoViks .com or ca ll the number below to buy sea– son tickets. Get all of the latest sports news at www.GoViks.com. Game stories, statistics, schedules, team information, press releases, and much more are available and updated daily. You can also listen to live broadcasts of football and men's and women's basketball games, or archived broadcasts. Buy season and single game tick– ets online at www.GoViks.com or call 1-888-VIK-TIKS or 503-725-3307 . Anderson named finalist for Hayward award Kiauna Anderson was named one of fi ve finalists for the Bill Hayward Award, honoring O regon's Amateur Athletes of the Yea r. Anderson, who graduated from PSU last pring, was a fo ur– year star on Teri Mar– iani 's softball team. An outfielder, Ander- on led the Vikings in every major offensive category, batting .320 and setting new records fo r doubles in a season and a career. The Hayward Award honor O re– gon's finest athletes and was presented at the O regon Sports Awards, February 24, in the Tiger Woods Auditorium on the Nike Campus. Ander– son was in fine com– pany in the finalist lineup. The Female Athlete of the Year Kiauna Ander- son '01 was a finalist for the coveted Bill Hayward Award. honor went ro Oregon State basketba ll player Fe licia Ragland . Ragland was the Pac- 10 Player of the Year in 2001. PSU athletes who have prev iously won the Hayward Award include vol– leyba ll playe r Leanne Peters (1 993 ), quarterback Neil Lomax (1 979 and 1980) , ba ketball player Freeman Williams (1 978 ), and wrestler Rick Sanders (1 967). Morrows fund team room The Athletics Department was proud to open the new Morrow Athleti c Team Center in the Peter W. Stott Center on February l . The team cen– ter, which was fund ed by Bob and Jane Morrow, was developed from an unused room in the lower level of the fac ility. It prov ides space fo r staff meetings, recruiting, boo ter fun cti ns, as a lounge, and fo r media events. D SPRING 2002 PSU MAGAZI E 29