Gabriel Simpson
Staff Reporter

After a less than satisfactory campaign last year, the NIACC women's basketball team is looking to bounce back in the right direction.

Though the record didn't necessarily show it, there were still many positives that came out of last year.

Young players developed their talent and are poised for a breakout season.

One of those young talents emerging this year is sophomore Audrey Allen.

"She came in and hit the ground running," NIACC head coach John Oertel about his 5'9" sophomore guard from Milwaukee.

Allen started the 04-05 season seeing limited action coming off the bench.

However, as the season progressed, Allen took off.

"She provided a spark like no other," Oertel said about Allen's play a year ago.

Last season Allen shot 46% from the field but provided a defensive presence on the court.

"I just do what I can to help the team win," Allen said, displaying the same team-oriented attitude that she brings to the court. Allen is coming off a strong tournament at Ellsworth in which she scored 13 points and added three rebounds and a steal to boot in the 65-58 loss to North Central (MO.) College.

"She had a better game than what the stat sheet shows," teammate Abbee Dickman said about Allen's performance at Iowa Falls.

Allen appears poised for a breakout season and looks to be in great position to help her team accomplish its goal of winning the conference.

Allen and her teammates played at the Mesabi Range Classic in Minnesota on November 11 and 12 and then hosted the Johnson Financial Classic the following weekend.

The next home game for Allen and her teammates is Wednesday, November 30, when they play Rochester at 6 p.m.

Jonathon Braden
Assistant Editor/Sports Editor

Justin Redman-Trotter scored a game-high 31 points in the 2005-06 NIACC season opener and dropped 16 in the team's third game helping them to their first victory. While those numbers appear to be deemed impressive, his family and friends point to two small numbers that appear to tell one what Redman-Trotter represents.

Zero - the number of times he has lost focus of his goal and one - the college division-level that Redman-Trotter dreams of playing at next season.

A Milwaukee native, Redman-Trotter had a slight basketball advantage within his hometown growing up. His father, Kerry Trotter, was a 1982 McDonalds' All-American and played college basketball for Rick Majerus at Marquette University in Milwaukee. "He's really helped me out a lot," Redman-Trotter said.

Father taught son on the court, but the teaching only lasted so long. Redman-Trotter said he can take his father in a game of one-on-one anytime. "We don't even go there now," his father said. But that wasn't always the case.

"He's really good," Redman-Trotter said. "I didn't beat him until high school."

The duo hardly stuck to one-on-one games though, once teacher became student, Trotter recommended they start playing horse, and for good reason.

"Ask him about the horse games," Trotter said. "I win about 98% of those."

But Trotter's gifts to Justin go far beyond the grace of his jump shot or the speed of his crossover. Off the court, Trotter made sure Justin had his focus on academics before he started anything with a basketball.

"Basketball is one thing," Trotter said. "But academics are the long end of things. Basketball's not always going to be there."

"His main focus was for me to do well in school," Redman-Trotter, who gets the Redman in his name from his mother's name, said of his father.

While attending Milwaukee Marquette High School, a private, strong academic school, Redman-Trotter did not disappoint, keeping his focus on academics and basketball, as he has done at NIACC.

However, for Redman-Trotter's best friend since the 8th grade, Ben Bleck-Owens, the sophomore's focus was never a worry or concern.

It is Bleck-Owens, whom Redman-Trotter may have impressed the most with his ability to stay focused on his dream of Division-IA basketball.

Bleck-Owens recalls numerous times in which Redman-Trotter abstained from using drugs or alcohol, knowing it would interfere with what he wanted to do.

No matter the amount of the peer pressure, Bleck-Owens said his best friend would sidestep any temptation, and drive full-steam ahead to his goal of Division-IA basketball.

"He was always a focused kid," Bleck-Owens said. "He would stay so focused on his goal to play college basketball. It was impressive."

And Bleck-Owens attributes part of Redman-Trotter's discipline and focus to the man Redman-Trotter occasionally competes with on the court.

"If his dad didn't like what he was doing, he (Redman-Trotter) would come home," Bleck-Owens said. "It was almost like, Ômy dad's word is final say.' He never talked back or anything."

It appears that Redman-Trotter has remained strongly disciplined and talented, according to his head coach.

"He's a complete player. Some nights he'll lead us in points, and then he'll be right up there in assists and rebounds for us," NIACC head coach Bryan Martin said. "There aren't too many players in the country that can do all three things like that."

And if you ask his family, friends and coaches what's behind his amazing talents; they'll probably respond with a one simple, definitive answer.

A focus so rare, it could be worthy of a D-IA scholarship.

"He's a very talented player," Martin said. "I think he has a chance to play for a D-IA mid-major next season."

Two NIACC cross country runners have achieved United States Citizen All-American status based on their performances at the 2005 NJCAA Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kansas.

The awards are sponsored by the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association.

Jimmy Lanik of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, finished 24th in a time of 26:51 over the 8K course, placing him 18th among U.S. citizens.

Elly Meyer of Fremont, Nebraska finished 27th in a time of 19:58 over the 5 kilometers. She also placed 18th among U.S. citizens.

Both Lanik and Meyer had previously achieved first-team All-Region XI status, with Meyer winning the Region XI championship meet. The NIACC men's team finished 11th overall at the NJCAA Championships, while the women's squad finished 20th.

Audrey Allen
Staff Reporter

It's appears to be the right time for NIACC to get a new Trojan logo, NIACC athletic director Ryan McGuire has decided.

"Since I arrived here in 2001, NIACC has had the same NIACC Trojan logo," McGuire said.

For a long time NIACC athletics had different Trojan heads on their athletic gear.

"We just want a consistent Trojan head for all NIACC athletics," McGuire said.

McGuire said NIACC plans on having a contest to see if students can submit their graphic ideas on what the Trojan logo should look like.

If this contest would happen, there may be a prize for the student who submits the best logo.

"Whenever the logo will be put out, it will be displayed over the school in the most appropriate areas," McGuire said.

McGuire said NIACC plans to start using the new Trojan logo next year.

Johnathon Braden
Sports Editor

The headline on the November 14, 2005, issue of Forbes magazine screamed "ATTACK OF THE BLOGS," across the headline.

With the number of people hosting a blog, or a Web log, in the U.S. doubling over the last six months from 10 million to 20 million, according to Forbes, it's no wonder why Americans feel under attack by these Web journals.

It's also no wonder, why nationwide, blogs are getting as much attention as smokers are at NIACC. People use them to report sports, politics, you name it, they're covered in blogs. Cripes, even a cat allegedly has a blog, (www.bloggingcat.com).

So where do NIACC athletics fit into this blogosphere talk?

Right on the NIACC athletics home page (www.niacc.edu/athletics) on the left-hand side column, snugged in right below the link for Trojan Alumni.

Look down a smidge and you'll find perhaps NIACC's most exclusive and most athletic group, the NIACC bloggers or listed as the Coach's Corner and Student-Athlete Journals.

Every two weeks, you can read about what head men's coach Bryan Martin is saying about his team. Every two weeks, sophomore student-athlete/blogger Abbee Dickman writes for the women's team and freshman student-athlete/blogger Ryan Sones writes for the men's team.

"It's a new idea, kind of gives a unique perspective," NIACC athletic director Ryan McGuire said about why the blogs were started. "Fans get an inside view, and recruits get to know what it's like here," he said.

McGuire added that some other schools have done it, so they decided to give it a try.

And after basketball season, the NIACC blogger group hopefully will have some company. McGuire said that the current blogs will serve as a test run for all of NIACC's other sports.

Yet nationwide, the blurbs on the cover of Forbes read "they destroy brands and wreck lives. Is there any way to fight back?"

Fight back, how? By reading and enjoying the blogs.

Sounds like a perfect plan of attack to me.