Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Corpus Christi's Warren added to S.A. fight card featuring Ayala Jr.

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Saturday, August 14, 1999

Corpus Christi's Warren added to S.A. fight card featuring Ayala Jr.

From staff and correspondent reports

Corpus Christi's Harold Warren has been added to next Friday's fight card in San Antonio featuring the return of Tony Ayala Jr.
   Warren, 40-11, will face Troy Crain of Pensacola, Fla., in an 8-round lightweight fight.
   Ayala, 22-0 with 22 knockouts, is coming off a 17-year stint in a New Jersey prison for a rape conviction. He is scheduled to make his return against Oklahoma City's Manuel Esparza (19-4-1, 5 KOs) in the main event. The middleweight bout is scheduled for 10 rounds.
   Also on the card are Corpus Christi welterweight Robert Elizondo Jr. and "Jesse" James Leija, who has fought in Corpus Christi several times. Elizondo (2-0, 2 KOs) meets Mexican Juan Segovia (0-3-1) in a 4-round junior welterweight fight. Leija (37-4-2, 15 KOs) will fight Verdell Smith (36-28, 14 KOs from Tulsa, Okla). In a 10-round junior welterweight bout.
   Tickets ranging from $15 to $100 are available at Ticketmaster outlets.
   IWA fills basketball coaching vacancies
   Malcolm Smith will be a popular name at Incarnate Word Academy this year.
   IWA athletic director Gator Garcia said Malcolm Smith Sr. and Malcolm "Mackey" Smith Jr. were hired to fill the Angels boys and girls varsity basketball coaching vacancies.
   Smith Sr. - who is also the school's business manager - was promoted from assistant junior varsity basketball coach to replace four-year boys basketball coach Robert Dodd. Dodd is currently an assistant varsity basketball coach and head junior varsity basketball coach at Miller.
   Smith Jr. will take over for girls basketball coach David Hemphill, who led the Lady Angels to four state tournament berths in his six years at the school. Hemphill - who left to coach Bastrop High School - guided IWA to the TAPPS Class 4A state championship game this past season before the Lady Angels were upended, 59-35 to rival Austin St. Michael's in Waco.
   Smith Jr. coached the varsity boys basketball team at Skidmore-Tynan last season and is an IWA alumni. He graduated from IWA in 1989 after playing basketball for the Angels under coach Casper Wenzel who's now at Calallen.
   "The good thing about Mackey is he was under Wenzel and he knows the system real well," Garcia said. "He'll pick up a good program and I think he'll do a fine job."
   A&M-Corpus Christi signs two more pitchers
   The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball program added two more players to its roster with the signing of pitchers Chris Roberts and Tommy Conine, Islander head coach Hector Salinas announced Friday morning.
   Roberts tallied a 4-2 record and a 3.25 ERA his senior season for coach Kevin Koch at Millard North High School in Omaha, Neb. The 6-foot-2 right-hander earned all-metro, all-division and second-team all-state accolades in 1998 as a junior with a 7-2 record.
   "Chris throws in the mid 80s and knows how to pitch," Salinas said. "He has played against good competition and comes from a very strong baseball program. I expect some real good things out of him in the future."
   Roberts, who registered a 6-0 mark for Team Nebraska in the fall, was named to the all-league team for the Perfect Game Fall Super Wood Bat League. He led the league in strikeouts with 35 and tied for second in innings pitched with 25.
   The 6-3 Conine played for coach Woody Champagne at Houston Cy-Fair.
   "Tommy is another one of the young pitchers that we were looking at in our building process," Salinas said. "He is a good looking hard thrower with great potential."
   The Islanders will begin their first season of Division I baseball in February of 2000.
   Javelinas selected No. 1 by CBS Sportsline
   KINGSVILLE - Texas A&M-Kingsville is ranked No. 1 in CBS SportsLine's NCAA Division II preseason football poll, giving the Javelinas their second No. 1 ranking heading into the 1999 season. The team had been top pick in The Sporting News poll released in July.
   Northern Colorado is the No. 2 team in the poll, and defending national champion Northwest Missouri State is ranked third. Central Oklahoma, in the Lone Star Conference north division, is ranked No. 7. West Region foe California-Davis is No. 8.
   Eleven Javelina athletes receive degrees
   KINGSVILLE - Eleven A&M-Kingsville athletes received degrees at the university's summer commencement ceremonies Friday afternoon in the Steinke Physical Education Center.
   The athletes receiving degrees were Oktay Basci, Kingsville, football, bachelor of science in mechanical engineering; Tami Cornelson, Hugoton, Kan., basketball, bachelor of business administration in general business; Keith Cubit, Luling, football, bachelor of science in health and kinesiology; Sheila Dickens, Vernon, volleyball, bachelor of science in education; John Hamilton, Luling, football, bachelor of science in health and kinesiology; Tyrone Marshall, Austin, football, bachelor of arts in sociology and psychology.
   Also Jamie Martinez, Beeville, football, bachelor of science in health and kinesiology; Joel Martinez, Beeville, football, bachelor of science in health and kinesiology; Ishmael Muhammad, Houston, football, bachelor of arts in communications; Francis Opore, Kenya, track and field, bachelor of business administration in computer science, and Ricky Sandate, Orange Grove, baseball, bachelor of science in health and kinesiology.

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