Sports Spotlight. Vignesh Rajagopal

Amopa Sundararajan
carrot iN cure:

Until he started high school,
vignesh BaJagopal was sure that he wanted to
be a soccer player He had been playrng since
he was tenyears old and loved it while in hrgh
school, hrs frrend convrnced hrm to try playrng
basketball one day and hrs Journey wrth
basketball began then and continues today as
he plays for the illrnors Tech Men’s Basketball
team

“The main reason l wanted to go
to college in the US was because l wanted to
continue playing basketball,” sard BaJagopal,
who grew up in a few drfrerent places around
the world before graduatrng from hrgh school
in Mexico Hrs Journey wrth basketball at
illlnols Tech began before he even came to the
school He had been corresponding wrth the
thencoach about the possrbrlrty of Joining the
team was told that there was the likelihood of
a spot for hrm on the team when he got here
Soon after he got here in Fall 2013, he went
through tryouts, made the team and has been
playrng for the school for the past the three
years

Asked what his favorite thing about
playrng basketball at the school is, he easrly
says, “the people,” addrng that hrs teammates,
coaches and other athletics staff have made

pr 19th 2016 | TechNews

the experience what it is Then asked about
a challenge he faces on the team he says
that time management has been a skill that
has challenged hrm With practrces starting
at 5 am and determined never to be late
to practice, BaJagopal has had to learn to
schedule the rest ofhrs academrc and personal
lrfe around hrs lrfe rn athletrcs

Earlier thrs semester, BaJagopal
was awarded the Student Athlete of the Year
award by the United States Collegiate Athletrc
Association (USCAA) He says that hrs initial
reaction was one ofshock and that he “couldn’t
believe rt”

As cocaptain of the team, RaJagopal
not only uses the teams losses to make hrs
own game better, but he also works actively to
encourage his teammates to push themselves
and achieve their full potentral For the past
few years the team has been facrng a lot of
losses but BaJagopal is optimistic that thrs wrll
change in the upcomrngsemesters Askedwhat
he thinks about the current state of student
awareness and support of athletics on campus,
BaJagopal says, “[he thinks] its prcked up thrs
year,” in comparison to his first two years at the
school He adds that the athletes themselves
try to attend sporting events for other teams
on campus to show support but also as an
opportunity to bond with their own teams,
often trying to recruit friends outside athletics

sports@technews t com

to go wrth them He says, involvement could
definitely be a lotbetter, especrally because we
are transitioning into Diii and thats a pretty
big deal,” hoping that incentives like earning
points by going to athletic events and trading
them in for merchandise will help boost
attendance

BaJagopal also talked about ways
that we can cultivate a culture of sports here
at illlnols Tech While he recognized that that
is not a mission that can be accomplrshed in
a short span of time, he notes, “blowing up
athletics as much aswe blow up our academics”
to visiting prospective students may be a good
way to expose them to the sense of school
spirit here before they attend so that they can
help maintain and improve the appreciation
of athletics and our athletes on campus when
they do attend

Lastly, in response to berng asked
in what capacity he sees basketball in hrs lrfe
post college, BaJagopalsays that the skrlls and
drscrplrne he has learned through the sport and
berng on the team are prrceless Being able to
step back, analyze hrs mrstakes and learn from
them efrectrvely is only one ofmanysuch skrlls
that will help him no matter his chosen career
path He ends with a call to fellow students,
saying, “come out to these games with your
friends, it could be fun"

  

Photo courtexyofi/‘rgneth/zjagopal

Illinois Tech Track and Field team competes at Benedictine University

Genevieve Hummel
TECHNEWS WRITER

The illrnors Tech men’s and
women’s Track & Held teams competed at
the Benedictine University Relays this past
weekend The weather was warm and sunny
on both Friday and Saturday and Assrstant
Coach Nick Schnergert predicted that the team
would be settrng many personal records that
day, and he was rrght Almost all of the athletes
on both the men’s and women’s teams broke
their own personal records on their events
A notable athlete from the womens team was

 

Taylor Schaub, who contrnued to rmpress wrth
her hrgh Jump marks, placrng thrrd out of 24
athletes wrth a mark of 155 meters Thrs was
her second best collegrate mark for the hrgh
Jump Schaubalso placed 49th rn the 200 meter
dash wrth a trme of30 17seconds Also notable
was Rebecca Bell, who placed 34th rn the
1500 meter with a time of 5 25 53 Sprinters
Genevieve Hummel and Danrelle Boer each
rmproved their own personal trmes rn both the
100 meter and the 200 meter dashes by at least
a second All the athletes on the women’s team
saw great improvements in their performances
and thrs was an extremely successful meet for

the team

The men’s team also experienced
some recordrsetting moments, as the 4x400
meter team finally broke the school record,
a goal Coach Schnergert had been workrng
toward all season The team consrsted ofDavrd
Polzin, Cole Dammeier, John Xavier, and
Demrs Thomas The team broke the school
record, set in 2008, by over three seconds, wrth
a time OH 29 49 Joseph Yassin had anotherset
ofstrong performances He placed second in
the Javelin wrth ascore of5260 meters, fourth
in the drscus, wrth a score of 4287 meters,
and srxth in the shot put, wrth a score of 13 88

meters in the 400 meter dash, Thomas came
in 14th place wrth a time ofsz 91 seconds and
Polzin came in 25th place with a time of 54 83
seconds Dammeier, with a time of 41481
came in 18th place in the 1500 meter Xavier’s
time of 11 74 seconds got hrm a placement of
32nd in the 100 meter dash Javier Sorribesr
Camargo set three collegrate personal records
wrth ascore ofs 57 meters in the long Jump,
and times of1254 seconds in the 100 meter
dash and 25 23 seconds in the 200 meter
dash All the athletes on the men’s team drd
an exceptional Job at this meet and the team
continues to see improvements every week

    

Photo: by Genevieve Hummel

Liverpool defeats Dortmund in “Istanbul 2005" v2.0

Mele Morris
TECHNEWS WRITER

The Champrons League finale rn
2th rs probably the proudest moment of
any lrvrng Lrverpool fan today it was agarnst
Ac Milan on a beautrful nrght rn istanbul
The Merseyslde club were three goals down
by halftrme and noone gave them a chance
Ac Milan was blessed wrth talents such as
Shevchenko, Crespo, Kafu and Maldlnl looked
45 mrnutes away from a glorrous champrons
league, but rt was the belref and immense
support of the fans that gave Lrverpool the
drrve and they made a glorrous comeback
managing to force the game to penalties and
clrnchrng the cup by a legendary performance
from then goalkeeperDudek

The game last Wednesday was
a season benchmark for the Reds Berng
midrtable rn the league and wrth no hope of
wrnnrng any silverware domestrcally, the only
tournament they have a chance in is the Euro
Cup The draw saw them face possrbly the
strongest team in the tournament, the German
club Borussra Dortmund Lrverpool drd well
to get a 171 draw from the first game away
rn Dortmund The startrng lrneup was farrly
normal wrth Mrgnolet rn goal wrth the back

four of Clyne, Lovren, Sakho and Moreno
in front of the back four the two central
midfielders were James Milner and Emre
Can in front of Milner and Can, the three
attackrng midfielders were Lallana, Flrmlno
and Coutinho with the young prospective
Drvorrck Orrg as the lone strrker The game
started really fast wrth Germanslde Dortmund
pressrng hrgh up, grvrng Lrverpool a hard trme
attackrng, and their pressure pard off well
Just rn the fifth mrnute Shanl Kagawa played
a brrllrant pass to Gonzalo Castro who lofted
the ball up behind Lrverpool defenders leavrng
the inrform strrker Aubameyang one on one
wrth Mrgnolet Although Mrgnolet drd a
fantastrc Job by savrng Aubameyangs attempt,
the ball bounced and fell rn front of Henrrk
Mkhrtaryan who netted the ball (Liverpool 0
, iDortmund, s” Mkhltaryan) Both Milner
and Sakho drd a poor Job, Just watchrng the
attack rather than defendrng the Armenran
midfielder Lrverpool fans” dreams of a
comeback were crushed on 9th mrnute Reus
dribbled past the Lrverpool midfield passrng
a long ground pass to Aubameyang Thrs
trme, the Gabonese strrkerscored comfortably
agarnst the Belgran goalkeeper (Liverpool 0 , z
Dortmund, s” Aubameyang) Thrs meant that
Lrverpool had toscore three goals to qualrfyfor

the semifinal and from a team who conceded
twice in first ten minutes against an extremely
rnform German club Thrs seemed hrghly
unlikely Liverpool started playing much more
offensively with Orig; getting close to scoring
twice in the next ten minutes Liverpool’s
offensive gameplay meant that Dortmund
got more counter attacking chances, coming
very close to capitalizing on them in the next
20 minutes with Adam Lallana missing
the clearest chance of the game, the first half
ended wrth a two goal lead for Dortmund
The Reds came out of the halftrme break
hrghly motivated and two minutes after the
krckoffDrvorrckOrrgrscored asrmple goal by
outpacrng Borussra defenders (Liverpool 1 , z
Dortmund, 48’ Orrgr) Lrverpool”s hopes were
crushed again 10 minutes later by Marco Reus
scorrng yet another “Reusslan” goal (Liverpool
17 3Dortmund, 57’ Reus) Liverpool now had
to score three goals in 30 minutes and with
the way thrngs were going, thrs seemed very
unlikely, The Liverpool Manager, Jurgen Klopp
must have also realized thrs, and to change
the flow ofthe game, he brought on Joe Allen
for Adam Lallana and Danrel Sturrrdge for
Roberto Flrmlno Thrs change pushed Milner
to the wrng,where he plays thebest The frurts
of this change started to bear three minutes

later After a swrft onertwo rrght outsrde the
box wrth Milner, the Brazrlran talent Coutrnho
scored a brrllrant goal, grvrng Liverpool fans
hope agarn (Liverpool 2 , 3 Dortmund,
55’ Coutrnho) After thrs, Liverpool started
pushrng their players forward towards a goal,
which seemed extremely hard wrth Dortmund
dismissing their attempts with ease Liverpool
took several cornerswhrch were allblocked in
the front post and thrs made several fans very
angry at the cornerrtaker, James Milner Thrs
front post corner tactic eventually worked
out wrth Liverpool defender Sakho heading
it in in the 77th minute (Liverpool 3 7 3
Dortmund, 77” Sakho) Thrs was the ultimate
redemption for Sakho, who was at fault for the
first two goals The next 13 minutes were one
ofthe tensest ever in Anfield hrstory Liverpool
started to push all of their players forward
One goal meant that they would qualify for
the semifinal and they had nothrng to lose
The moment all Liverpool fans were waiting
for came in the 91st minute James Milner
crossed it in for the Croatian defender DeJan
Lovren, who headed it in for the corner ofthe
goal, impossible for the German goalkeeper to
save Thrs was what Liverpool fans missed in
the past ten years, and was abrilliant game that
wrll not be forgotten for a long time