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Saturday, May 19, will go down as one of the most thrilling days in Texas A&M sports history, at least during the spring athletic calendar. On that day, and within just a few hours, A&M’s baseball team blew out Oklahoma to advance to a surprising Big 12 Tournament final against Nebraska. In Athens, Ga., the Aggie men’s tennis team had disposed of athletic nemesis LSU in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Elite Eight for the first time. And later that night in College Station, the A&M men’s track and field team ran away with a dazzling victory at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Aggies everywhere were buzzing, basking in the glow of a championship weekend, something that has eluded Aggieland for a few springs now.
Not since the Clemson Super Regional at Olsen Field did the spring feel so right for the maroon and white. Then, just two days later, only the Big 12 title in track and field stood. The Aggie baseball team bowed in the championship game to Nebraska, 7-4, and 24 hours later, the end of a fantastic season came to a screeching halt for the men’s tennis team, as TCU netted a 4-0 victory in the NCAA quarterfinals. From euphoria to the end, it was a bittersweet 48 hours. But for all of the high-fives and heartbreak that beset that weekend in May, the few chaotic hours of competition reminded all of us why college athletics is so entertaining and so meaningful to its fans, particularly those of the maroon and white. In Oklahoma City, an improbable run through the Big 12’s big boys gave the Aggie baseball team a fresh identity heading into 2002. Sure, the Aggies were left one victory short of the postseason, but their near title run reinforced what all coaches always say: It ain’t over ’til... well, you know the rest. It would have been interesting for the suddenly red-hot Aggies to have been placed in a somewhat obscure regional with few big-name teams. Would anyone want to face A&M and its legion of fans in a regional, say, in New Orleans or Houston? This season didn’t end up the way coach Mark Johnson would have liked, but it could have been much worse. It could have ended like last year’s swoon that set the tone for a question-laden offseason. This summer and fall will be a much more pleasant one for the Aggies and their coach, and look for a two-year hiatus from postseason play to end next year. While the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament was under way in rain-plagued Georgia, an impressive contingent of fans from College Station and the Atlanta area made the stay in Athens a most memorable one. Next to NCAA champion Georgia, no school had a larger fan base than the Aggies. Maroon and white fans took over restaurants and sports bars like seniors on ring day at the Dixie Chicken. On that Sunday, an entire sports bar was reserved for Aggie baseball watching. One, just one, Nebraska fan graced our presence, albeit in the final inning. A&M didn’t make it all the way to the championship match like the Aggies had hoped, but A&M the school definitely made an impression on the University of Georgia. And next year when the NCAA Championships are held at the A&M Tennis Center, the A&M community will be treated to one of the most entertaining spectacles not traditionally known on the national sports radar. In the NCAA regional held in College Station before the trip to Athens, the entire Vanderbilt team remarked on how they had one goal in mind for 2002 – to get to College Station one more time. It was another example of college kids getting caught up in the special atmosphere that surrounds Aggie athletics. Then, for veteran track and field coach Ted Nelson, he finally grabbed a conference championship 20 years after his last hoisting of the hardware. Before the home folks this time, the Aggies stunned the Big 12 field, winning by a staggering 39 points over second-place Texas. Bashir Ramzy once again was high-point man for the meet, capping one of the most sensational careers in A&M sports history. A&M’s baseball and track triumphs captivated the Aggie community because of their surprising nature. The men’s tennis team captured interest with their charisma and recent championship history. The question is, can any Aggie teams rekindle the weekend of May 19-20 in the fall or spring semester next athletic year? Well, the A&M soccer team returns perhaps its best team ever under coach G. Guerrieri. Plagued by a rampage of injuries last year, the Aggies are Final Four-deep if healthy players return in August. The Aggie volleyball team returns the engaging Jenna Moscovic for her senior year, and a deep run through the NCAA Tournament looks possible. And in the spring, Aggie baseball and both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will again be Big 12 contenders. The baseball team returns what could be Johnson’s deepest and strong-armed pitching staff since the 1993 season of the Jeff Granger era, and if the end of the 2001 season can spark some better hitting, the Aggies will be staring at a regional bid, perhaps at Olsen Field.
Tim Cass will have the unenviable task of replacing his senior leaders in Shuon Madden, Cody Hubbell and Dumitru Caradima, but no coach on the A&M campus has his program rolling like Cass. Can you imagine the Aggies playing in the round of 16 at their home courts? Talk about a memorable spring weekend. Bobby Kleinecke’s women’s team returns every singles
player down the lineup, and coming off a 20-6 season, seems poised
to make a run at Texas’ stranglehold on conference titles.
At least the Aggies know they can beat the Lady Horns, toppling
UT’s 120-match winning streak in Austin this April. But the end of the athletic year gave fans some hope that there is always next year. And nothing can make a long, hot summer in Aggieland go more quickly than that.
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