SigEp ASU - Spring Rush 2013

This video was shot using a "GoPro" camera http://gopro.com/
Incredible action shots.

Florida International Sig Eps Hang In There

SigEp captures intramural title in last five minutes
By Joey Cruz / Contributing Writer

Sigma Phi Epsilon had to win the Sports Cup twice.

After advancing to the fraternity intramural soccer championship, SigEp was all but secured the Sports Cup award, which goes to the overall leader in points among fraternities competing.

But coming into the final game, Pi Kappa Alpha regained points by technicality, which opened the field up for a final that not only defined a soccer championship, but a Sports Cup as well.

SigEp waited until the final minutes of the contest to win, by scoring two goals with only five minutes left in the game for a 2-1 victory on April 8 at the intramural fields.

“It was even better the second time because we had enough overall points to clinch it, but due to technicalities it was up for grabs,” said SigEp forward Julian Arango after scoring the game-tying goal. “To come back and score two goals with five minutes left with the cup on the line made the victory sweeter.”

Arango’s goal ignited the crowd with roughly five minutes left, giving SigEp momentum to win the game and setting the stage for a game-winning goal with a minute left by Esteban Nicolini.

Arango believes that a regular season loss to Pike helped them become mentally prepared to win the rematch.

“It always feels good to win a championship,” Arango said. “The loss at the beginning of the season woke us up and showed we weren’t there yet.”

SigEp also captured the volleyball title, while Pi Kappa Phi won the football championship. Pike was also victorious in the basketball and softball brackets. Ultimately, SigEp clinched the Sports Cup this year and probably could have won it last year as well if it had not been canceled due to fighting.

“It was a rush of adrenaline,” Arango said. “And a big sigh of relief toward the organization and our fans.”

Vote Early - Vote Often

No, not in THAT election (though it is important too).

Adam Gartner is a SigEp at IL Nu (Eastern Illinois Univ.) and is in the running for a scholarship. He is among 10 national finalists and the outcome is determined by an online vote. Read the article for particulars and help a brother out.

(Thanks to Chuck Eberly for the information)

Some election thing is happening in two weeks or something, but the real election we should all get behind is for the men's soccer Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

The award is given to a men's soccer player who exhibits success in the classroom, on the pitch and in the community. Also, the player must exhibit good character.

The award is available to all senior soccer players in the country, but it has been trimmed down to 10 finalists, one of whom is Eastern senior defender Adam Gartner.

Gartner, a finance major with 3.64 GPA, is a constant fixture in the community helping coach youth teams and spending some of his spare time at area schools reading to children.

Gartner is also excelling in the classroom. He has been named 2007 National Soccer Coaches Association of America SCAA Second Team Scholar All-American, 2007 NSCAA First Team All-Region Scholar, two-time ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District and two-time First Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete.

On the field, Gartner is one of the Panthers most versatile players as he can play anywhere from the middle of the field to any of the defensive positions.

In 2007, he finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference with nine assists and remains one of the top players for the Panthers this season.

So far this season, he has two goals and two assists. Gartner is up against players from some of this nation's top universities including Harvard, Brown, Notre Dame and the United States Military Academy.

Do you want those Ivy League pretty boys thinking they are better than us? I didn't think so.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, Gartner sits in fifth place with 8 percent of the vote. I challenge you Panther fans to get Gartner to the top. Each computer can account for one vote per day with voting ending Nov. 19.

So I encourage you to get on your computer, get on your neighbor's computer or, golly, find one in the library and type in http://soccer.seniorclassaward.com.

Find Gartner's name, put a check mark next to it and remember to vote early, vote often.

Column: Vote for Gartner - Sports

Inspiration, Diligence, Honor

Yeah, this is another non-fraternity piece, but please read it anyway - because it is a damn good story, it is recent, and it's about a basketball star at my school.

Chris Lofton has beaten the odds his entire life.

Click picture to enlarge with caption

One of the most prolific 3-point shooters in college basketball history, Lofton can still recite all of the things he supposedly wouldn't or couldn't do when he came out of Maysville, Ky., four years ago.

"Too short. Too slow. Not quick enough. Couldn't dribble well enough. Couldn't play defense," Lofton rolls off with his easy smile.

When it came time to pick a college, despite earning the prestigious Mr. Basketball honor in the state of Kentucky, Lofton was spurned by the two basketball powerhouses in that state -- Kentucky and Louisville.

Undaunted, Lofton headed south and carved out a record-setting career at Tennessee -- one that helped put the Vols back on the basketball map. The 6-foot-2 guard, who looks about as unassuming on the court as the team equipment manager until you see him shoot the ball, was in many ways the face of the Vols' renaissance in men's hoops. They won a school-record 31 games this past season, vaulted to No. 1 in the polls for the first time in school history and made their second straight Sweet 16 appearance.

It was truly a memorable career, one that Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl guarantees will someday lead to the retiring of Lofton's No. 5 jersey.

But Lofton's greatest conquest came off the court.

He beat cancer.

The three-time All-American, in an exclusive interview with ESPN.com, revealed for the first time publicly that he played his senior season at Tennessee after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from one of his testicles in March 2007.

That's right. He played his senior year for a team that had a #1 ranking - and was a star player - while dealing with the effects of cancer surgery and chemotherapy. And almost no one knew about it.

Amazingly, Lofton went through the entire ordeal -- the surgery, radiation treatments, recovery and excruciating emotional distress -- with very few people knowing.

It's the way he wanted it. An intensely private person, he internalized everything and was hell-bent on nobody being able to make excuses for him.

Chris Lofton considered redshirting his senior season but returned for Tennessee's first No. 1 ranking and an upset of then-No. 1 Memphis.
[...]
It was a very tight circle of people who knew. That circle included Lofton's parents, the Tennessee coaches and medical staff and a handful of others.

The only teammate Lofton told was fellow senior guard Jordan Howell, and that was late in the season. Lofton and Howell roomed together on the road.
[...]
"It's the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, but I know now there's nothing out there I can't overcome," Lofton said. "I wanted to deal with it on my terms because I didn't want it being a distraction for our team. I knew if it came out, everything would change. I didn't want it that way."

Read the whole story at the link - you will be inspired:
ESPN - Tennessee's Lofton quietly faced and beat cancer - Men's College Basketball

Walk-ons are role players for Husker men

How do you get to be on the team? Sometimes you need little push.

Then, there’s Cole Salomon. The Omaha native, who played a season at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Kearney, transferred to Nebraska so he could join a fraternity and hang with his buddies. Have fun. Be a college student.

The catch? Part of his initiation for Sigma Phi Epsilon was this dare: Participate in walk-on tryouts for the basketball team.

“It was very intense,” Salomon said. “It was one of the toughest workouts I’ve ever gone through.”

Later that October night of 2006, Salomon heard back from Nebraska coaches. They wanted him.

Dare? Or moving beyond the "comfort zone"? It would be ironic if his new team obligations caused him to drop the fraternity. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

HuskerExtra.com - Lincoln, Nebraska - Huskerextra - Mens Basketball

Fraternity basketball championship: SigEp, Pike battle

Battle of the Titans in Maine. So close. No Cigar. Damn.

Anyone who spent their Monday night watching a weak NFL match-up missed a true battle of the intramural titans. Pike and SigEp have had a strong hold on top of the all-points standings all semester, with Pike having the upper hand recently due to two floor hockey championships last week.

As the game kicked off, SigEp looked to set the tempo right away, but Pike matched them for an evenly-played first half. Few players could drive the lanes without getting roughed up and the tough style of play led to many free-throw opportunities. The low-scoring half ended with Pike holding a slim 16-14 lead.

Early on in the second half, each team made adjustments. SigEp showed they were ready to pick up the intensity, as they locked down on defense and continued to crash the Pike big guys down low. Pike adjusted to this and began to swing the ball around more, opening up shots and driving the paint.
[...]
Down by eight with just three minutes remaining, SigEp enacted a full-court press to catch Pike off-guard. Their aggressive strategy was rewarded with a few steals and buckets, closing the gap to four. After that Pike was finally able to get into the free-throw bonus. One final three-pointer by Andreasen put the lead back up to seven, securing the victory.

Fraternity basketball championship: SigEp, Pike battle for BC Kent - Maine Sports

Athletes advise new arrivals

The Washington University at St Louis student paper has advice for new students.

Time management: two words that have been thrown at the freshman class so many times that the number would make one's head spin.

In order for this concept to take root, it needs to be combined with familiar experiences. From two seniors come the experiences that relay the importance of time management when it comes to everyone's favorite and most time-demanding pastime-sports.

In an interview with senior Scott Kaufman-Ross, intramural athlete and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Kaufman-Ross gave a new twist on an old theory.

"The more you do, the better [at time management] you get," said Kaufman-Ross. "It's easier to manage a schedule when you have stuff you know to you have to do," he continued.

His theory seemed particularly applicable because students with lots of time seem more prone to waste their time. Kaufman-Ross says the key to successful time management is, "a good amount [of commitments], not too much."

His theory seemed particularly applicable because students with lots of time seem more prone to waste their time. Kaufman-Ross says the key to successful time management is, "a good amount [of commitments], not too much."

Many do not believe intramural sports to be true sports because a lot of teams are very lenient with practice and workouts. Classmate Noah Barboza, though highly involved with intramural sports now, was also a member of the varsity football team for two years. He is also a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, works in the admissions office and is a referee and competitor for a number of intramural sports, including fraternity and co-ed teams.

"I did not have many problems with my schedule," he said.

Athletes advise new arrivals - FP Sports

GW Greeks Raise Money for DC Boys and Girls Club

Campus fraternities do battle for good cause
By Alex Byers
Sports Editor

It’s hard to argue that anything but basketball is the most popular sport on the GW campus. But while it’s the Colonial men’s and women’s basketball teams that usually grab the spotlight on basketball-related activities, GW’s Greek community got to take center stage on the court Wednesday.

The GW chapters of the Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternities tipped off on the third floor of the Lerner Health and Wellness Center Wednesday evening, commencing the first installment of what is to be a yearly tangle known as the “Pike vs. SigEp charity basketball showdown.” Billed as part athletics event and part philanthropic affair, the sometimes-rival fraternities organized the evening to raise money for the Downtown D.C. Boys and Girls Club.

Mike Rossetti, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s vice president of programming and co-organizer of the evening, offered insight into the value of the event.

“Rarely do you see two fraternities getting together, and I think that no matter what the outcome of the game was, what we did here today was come together for charity and show good spirit,” he said.

The showdown brought out a significant number of both Greek and non-Greek students, as both the court level and mezzanine viewing sections were packed and loud in support of at least one of the two teams. And while the noisy and dedicated crowd surely hoped to see some entertaining basketball, fans may have gotten more than they bargained for as the game evolved into an overtime affair.

Sigma Phi Epsilon squeaked out the extra-time victory 51-49 over Pi Kappa Alpha, with each squad showing the crowd some crafty basketball skills at one point or another. While Sigma Phi Epsilon stormed out to a double-digit lead at halftime and continued its dominance through to the end of the third quarter, Pi Kappa Alpha displayed its own perseverance, recovering from an 11-point deficit to even the game to 46 at the end of regulation.

The two teams traded possessions for a majority of the second half, but with Pi Kappa Alpha ahead 49-48 with just a few minutes remaining, Sigma Phi Epsilon scored the game’s three final points to take home victory.

Pi Kappa Alpha President John Galmiche said that support from both male and female Greek students, as well as independents, helped the evening realize its potential and exemplify the true spirit of Greek life.

“The support shown from the Greek community, both sororities and fraternities, is a testament to what Greek life should be,” Galmiche said. “It’s when two groups, that some consider enemies, put their heads together for a great cause.”

GW’s dance and cheer squads also lent their support to the event. The Cheer Team provided on-site cheerleading with makeshift uniforms for Sigma Phi Epsilon, while GW’s “First Ladies” dance team organized a halftime show, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.

Though Rossetti said that the two fraternities have had their differences in the past, he maintained that the ability to work together for a positive cause is a quality that both fraternities possess.

“There are a lot of guys that we like in (Pi Kappa Alpha), and I think they get along with us as well. I think we’ve come to realize that working together, we can achieve a lot,” he said.

Galmiche added while it was Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi Epsilon that put on a show for all to see Wednesday, the well-supported philanthropic event was a demonstration
of the importance of all GW Greek organizations.

Sig Ep Justin Lamber Hitting the Books

Back in the Swing
Justin Lamber was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1997
courtesy of The Collegian
Ryan Byrnes

Over the last 10 years, Justin Lamber has been paid to play the game he loves. He's played baseball everywhere from New York and California to Venezuela and Puerto Rico, been teammates with Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran and been a member of five minor league championship clubs.

Now, Lamber, 30, is back as a student at the University of Richmond, living in Thomas Hall and eating his meals at the Heilman Dining Center. His days are packed with classes, and his nights, which often extend into mornings, are spent at the library.

In recent years, Lamber's biggest problem may have been deciding what pitch to throw with a one-two count and runners on the corners. Now, his classes give him plenty of problems, whether it's surviving his Spanish drill sessions or analyzing Nash equilibriums.

"It's been really tough," Lamber said of his transition back into Richmond academics. "I'm so overwhelmed with the workload sometimes; I feel like I'm retraining my brain.

"Lamber, a native of Hackensack, N.J., re-enrolled at Richmond this semester 10 years since leaving the university after his junior year to play minor league baseball. A decade after being a 17th-round draft choice of the Kansas City Royals, Lamber is working on getting the final 23 credits he needs to graduate from a Richmond that he says is much different than the one he left in 1997.

"When you walk around the campus, [Richmond] doesn't seem that different," he said. "But the classes are much harder than I remember them being. There's much faster-paced teaching and learning now.

"The most noticeable difference is the role of technology in the classroom, Lamber said. When he was here in the '90s, students didn't use laptops for school work. Classes now rely heavily on computers, PowerPoint presentations and academic Web sites such as Blackboard.

Lamber said he went through two computers in his first week and a half back just trying to get one that had all the necessary and updated programs.

Lamber also lamented the difference in tuition since his time at Richmond."I think I should be paying the $24,000 I used to," he said.

After being drafted in 1997, Lamber, a left-handed pitcher, spent five years in the Royals' system before being traded to the Seattle Mariners, reaching the Triple-A level on both teams. He also spent time on the minor league teams of the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Indians before finishing his professional baseball career playing for the Long Island Ducks in the independent leagues for a few seasons. In 2005, he decided to stop playing because he said the league was too cut-throat, and he grew tired of the ugly side of professional baseball where too many people are interested in money rather than the love of the game. Lamber still loves baseball - especially his favorite team, the New York Mets and said because he had made friends with many players currently in the major league, he could probably get tickets to any given game because he knows at least a few guys playing.

Lamber has a class load of 16 credits this semester and plans to finish the remaining seven he needs for his interdisciplinary studies degree this summer. During his previous stint at Richmond, he was working on a sports science major, but the school no longer offers it and Lamber said the professors he had for those classes are long gone. He looked into finishing his degree at schools closer to home in New Jersey, but found out that many of his credits wouldn't transfer, and it would take him much longer to finish up at another university.

Lamber has a lot of respect for the Spider baseball program and coaching staff, and wants to help the team any way he can, but said he's so busy with classes to find time to get out to the field. Spider coach Ron Atkins, who coached Lamber from 1995-1997, spoke highly of him as a player and as a person.

"I'm very proud of him," said Atkins, who has been with the program since 1985. "I think it's commendable that he's had the opportunity to play pro ball and he still came back to finish up his degree. I think he's probably in the minority of players that would do that."

Atkins understands Lamber's commitment to his academics and said he realized he's back here as a student, not an athlete or a coach.

"He's got a full load with classes," Atkins said. "He's knows he's always welcome to come help out, but I don't want to put any pressure on him." Classwork has also kept Lamber's social life relatively low-key. He is a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and says the brothers often encourage him to come out to events, endearingly labeling him "gramps."

Lamber, who lives in a single, said going back to living in the dorms after all these years has been an interesting experience. While the noise level at night sometimes gets a little high, he said, he's in no position to complain. "I remember what I was like back then," Lamber said. "I wasn't exactly the quietest guy." The other students in the hall say it's not only fun but also insightful to have a 30-year-old living around them. "Justin provides us with a different perspective on things," said junior Alex Knecht, who lives down the hall from Lamber. Knecht is in the same fraternity as Lamber and says he's been more successful lately pulling him away from his books and getting him out to events.

"He's a great kid," Knecht said before quickly correcting himself. "Well, I guess I can't really call him a kid." After graduating, Lamber wants to work with the NFL, preferably in the New Jersey area. As someone who has been out in the real world, Lamber says Richmond's courses and workload prepare students well for an outside world that is full of challenges.

"A Richmond degree means more than a degree from most other schools," Knecht said. "That's why I'm back here."