New helmet designed to increase safety of pole vaulters

The movement to increase safety in pole vaulting has received a boost with the introduction of the first helmet designed specifically for the event.

The KDMax helmet features a carbon and e-glass composite shell and an EPP liner to give it stiffness and strength, though it weighs about the same or less than a standard bicycle helmet.

In addition, a related product, called the Soft Box, has been certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international track and field organization. The Soft Box incorporates patented protective and comfort cushioning technology that uses tiny hemispheres -- similar to tennis balls cut in half -- placed on top of each other in a way that can repeatedly absorb large amounts of shock in a small amount of space.

The KDMax helmet and the Soft Box were created with input from the Pennsylvania State University athletics department and Ed Dare, whose son, Kevin, was a sophomore pole vaulter at Penn State who died during the 2002 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.

For more information about the KDMax Pole Vault Helmet, see www.PoleVaultHelmet.com, and for more information on the Soft Box, go to www.gillathletics.com.

NCAA student-athletes to the rescue, literally

Adelphi University women's soccer student-athlete Shannon McEntee has been trained to save. Not only has she been a certified lifeguard for four years, but last month she saved her team by scoring an overtime goal to lift the Panthers to a 1-0 victory.

But McEntee made the save of a lifetime in September while dining in a restaurant with her family when she noticed an elderly woman who was choking. McEntee reacted immediately, stepping on tables to reach the victim. She performed the Heimlich maneuver and dislodged the food.

"I wasn't thinking, I just did it," McEntee said of her first life rescue.

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania cross country student-athlete Genise Green also was recently involved in what likely will be the first of many rescues for her. Green, who had earned a degree in nursing just months earlier, was traveling by plane to a meet in Oregon with the Edinboro's men's and women's squads when a female passenger began having seizures.

Green swang into action along with a doctor, who also was aboard the flight. Together they worked to assist the passenger. Green and the doctor declared a medical emergency and the plane was diverted to New Mexico, where medical units waited to transport the victim to a hospital.

Because of the emergency, the teams missed their connection to Portland, resulting in a 22-hour travel day for the Fighting Scots. But both teams still were able to capture second place in the meet. For her part, Green contributed with an 18th-place finish in the 5K to score points for her team.

Hofstra's quick-fix setter sets success in motion

No matter how her team does in the conference tournament and beyond, Hofstra head women's volleyball coach Fran Kalafer has to feel good about the season.

The Pride not only put together a seven-match win streak during the year, they also snapped Towson University's 21-match
conference win streak. A big part of the team's success is five-foot, two-inch freshman
Shellane Ogoshi.

The opening for Ogoshi, who developed into a two-time conference player of the week and is leading the team in assists and digs, didn't materialize until August, a mere three days before fall camp, when the Pride's starting setter decided to return to her native Argentina.

Kalafer traveled to the USA Junior Olympics in Houston with one spot to fill. It was near the end of the day, on the final court she was planning to survey, when the veteran coach spotted Ogoshi, who had originally planned to attend and play volleyball for NCAA Division II Long Island University-Southampton. But by summer's end, circumstances had shifted. Ogoshi joined Hofstra and has contributed to a season in which she, Kalafer and the rest of the Pride can be proud.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

30 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in November 1974:

• NCAA representatives meet in Chicago with members of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women to discuss the rapidly growing athletics programs for women at colleges and universities across the country. Topics included the stresses growing programs place on budget and facilities, and how even greater growth may be accommodated in the future, as well as how current legal and legislative decisions may affect administration of all collegiate athletics programs. David Swank of the University of Oklahoma calls the session one that "should enhance coordination of programs on each campus, as well as providing better understanding between the two associations."

• Among proposals submitted for the 1975 NCAA Convention are those aimed at tighter recruiting restrictions. One in fact prohibits institutional staff members from contacting a prospect during the junior year.

• University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler says in a Detroit News article that he doesn't even like to talk about football point spreads because it denotes gambling. Schembechler's comments are in reaction to consideration by the state of Michigan of legalized gambling on football games. "I think it's a crime," Schembechler says. "I don't like betting on football games at all."

• University of Rochester senior David Moller wins the individual championship and Mount Union takes the team title at the second annual Division III Men's Cross Country Championships November 9 at Wheaton College (Illinois).