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SPORTS


Aug. 7, 1996

Eagles begin preseason football workouts

By JON FULBRIGHT

Staff Writer

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PECOS, Aug. 7 - The numbers were up this morning, as practice got
underway for the Pecos Eagles' varsity football team at Eagle Stadium,
though new head coach Mike Belew is hoping to see more players turn out
in the next couple of days.
A total of 40 varsity players were at this morning's workout, which ran
from about 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. "We had 48 on the board," Belew said,
referring to the off-season depth chart for the varsity. "We knew we
were going to lose some, but two or three who aren't here told us they
still had job-related things to do.
"We're still going to shoot for between 45 and 48 players. That would
be a good number," the Eagles' coach added.
Compared to recent years, the turnout on the opening day of workouts is
considerably better for Pecos. The Eagles have been averaging between 27
and 30 varsity players on the opening day for many years, and two
seasons ago only 54 players on the varsity, JV and freshman squads
combined were out for the opening day of practice.
Along with being the initial workout of the 1996 season, this was also
Belew's first preseason practice as a varsity head coach, after coming
over from Pasadena Dobie this past April. Most of the Eagles' other
coaches are also making their Pecos debuts, though many have either
coached with or played for Belew in the past, at Pasadena and Odessa
Permian, where he served 12 years as an assistant coach under John
Wilkins, Gary Gaines and Tam Hollingshead, a span that included three
state championship teams.
The system used at Permian is pretty much what the 1996 Eagles will be
working with, and Belew and his staff got in about six weeks of practice
with the current group of players during the spring semester, as they
look to improve on the 2-8 and 3-7 marks the past two years.
"We just kind of touched on it in the spring, and they retained some of
it," he said after this morning's workout. "We're just starting out with
the basics and working from there."
The morning/afternoon two-a-day system used the past several years by
the Eagles remained in effect, a players left the field at about 9:30
a.m. for some rest, before returning for their second session later this
morning.
The schedule will change once teacher in-service gets underway next
week, and with the start of school on Aug. 19. The Eagles' first
preseason scrimmage will be later that week, at home on Aug. 23 against
the Crane Golden Cranes.
Pecos has another scrimmage a week later at Midland Greenwood, then open
play on Sept. 6 at Lamesa against the Golden Tornadoes. Their 1996 home
opener is Sept. 13 against the Alpine Bucks.

Prescott 6th at national track finals

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PECOS, Aug. 7 - Going from West Texas to the Gulf Coast is tough on a
lot of athletes during the hot months of the year.
Pecos summer track runner Charles Prescott was one of the latest to feel
the heat last week, at the National Junior Olympics finals.
The 9-year-old competed in the Bantam Division of the national finals at
Houston, Pecos track coach Mike Ferrell said, and led all competitors
through two of the three events in the triathalon. But Prescott became
sick before the running of the 400 meter dash, and slipped to sixth
overall in the final standings.
Ferrell wasn't able to make it to the State Junior Olympic finals in
Arlington last month, but the schedule was much better this time around.
The national finals happened to coincide with the Texas High School
Football Coaches Association's annual clinic, which most of the Pecos
Eagles' coaches attended.
Prescott competed last Wednesday in the 9-10 year old division in
Houston, Ferrell said. "He was out there all day, so that was pretty
tough on a 9-year-old."
The triathalon was made up on three events - the shot put, high jump and
400 meter run, and Ferrell said Prescott got through the first two
events with no problems.
"Coach (Tino) Acosta worked with him, and he was easily able to throw
his best of the year, a little over 24 feet," the Eagles' track coach
said. "He ended up in fourth place after that event, but in the high
jump Charles did better than anybody. He went 4-foot-8 and was in first
place going into the 400."
But Ferrell said the afternoon heat and humidity in Houston was a little
bit too much for his young runner. "He got the stomach flu before he
even ran the 400. ... He still competed, but he didn't get any points.
but he was still so far ahead after the first two events he was able to
get sixth in the nation.
"Charles was on pace for a national record in the Bantam Division. He
had 650 points after two events, and the next closest competitor was 100
points behind," Ferrell said. "Even though he didn't win, I couldn't be
more proud of him."

Baseball's labor talks set to get nasty again

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NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (AP) - With baseball's labor talks heating up, the
negotiations appear headed to another bitter court fight.

Little progress was made when talks resumed Tuesday after breaking for
more than a week while union head Donald Fehr went to the Olympics. The
owners' ruling executive council is scheduled to meet today in
Milwaukee, and management negotiator Randy Levine is to brief his bosses
on what could be an ugly month for baseball's already-battered image.

According to several management sources who spoke on the condition they
not be identified, owners will make a final offer next week if there is
no progress toward a deal. About a week after that, they would ask U.S.
District Judge Sonia Sotomayor to lift the injunction keeping the
expired labor agreement in force, the first step toward declaring an
impasse and unilaterally imposing work rules.

``Any attempt to shut off negotiations can't make things better,'' Fehr
said. ``If they choose to go back to court and publicly re-air all our
disputes, I have a hard time believing that's positive.''

Sotomayor's injunction, issued March 31, 1995, caused players to end
their strike after 232 days.

Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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