Sports

Tray Blackmon (left): and Antonio Coleman were both named to the SEC preseason All-American second team, as voted by the league's media at this weekend's SEC Media Days in Birmingham. PLAINSMAN ARCHIVES

This year’s Coaches Preseason All-SEC Teams results were released July 21, preceding the 2008 SEC Football Media Days held last week, with the Tigers boasting eight players to the teams.

After Media Days’ voting, Auburn was picked to win the SEC Western Division title, and nine players were named to the 2008 SEC Football Media Days Preseason All-SEC Football Team.

Junior defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks and sophomore punter Ryan Shoemaker are not strangers to being recognized for their efforts on the field, and the players made both All-SEC teams in first-team selections.

“It’s nice and it’s exciting,” Shoemaker said. “It really gets you pumped up and ready to go for the season.”

Shoemaker made second team in the 2007 Associated Press All-SEC football team his freshman year. Marks was named a Playboy Preseason All-American and is on the Nagurski and Outland Trophy watch lists for the coming season.

Senior offensive guard Tyronne Green, sophomore offensive tackle Lee Ziemba, junior running back Ben Tate, junior linebacker Tray Blackmon and junior cornerback Jerraud Powers were named second-team selections for both All-SEC teams. Junior defensive end Antonio Coleman was named to the Media Days All-SEC second-team selections and the Coaches All-SEC third-team selections. Sophomore kicker Wes Byrum was named to the Media Days All-SEC second-team selections.

Just one month lies between now and the beginning of Auburn football ‘08, and it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about a new season.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m always pumped when football finally rolls around, but great things are expected out of the Tigers this year.

At SEC Media Days in Birmingham this past weekend, the league media picked Auburn to win the Western Division with 48 first-place votes, followed by LSU with 21 and Ole Miss with one.

Dennis Pursley, Auburn’s current director of swimming operations, will be making the move across the big pond to lead British swimming to the 2012 Olympics.

“When it was originally talked about, it was a surprise,” said Richard Quick, Auburn’s head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach. “And it was a huge disappointment. He’s really helped our coaching staff and our athletes.”

Franek

The women’s tennis team welcomed a new addition to its coaching staff last month when head coach Tim Gray hired Christine Franek as assistant coach.

“I’m ready to go,” Franek said Monday. “Tim and I are both passionate about the sport, and an upcoming season is always very exciting.”

Franek coached at Wellesley College in Massachusetts for seven seasons prior to coming to the Plains.

During her coaching tenure there, she compiled a 119-38 record and helped the team qualify for the Division III National Championship for the fifth straight year last season.

Franek played college tennis at Brown University from 1988-1992, serving as captain and leading the team to an Ivy League Championship in 1991.

“She was a great player in her own right,” said Gray, who is entering his fourth season at Auburn.

“But I think we make a great team together, in both recruiting and coaching. She’s more than qualified.”

Gray and Franek met about a year ago through various coaching circles. When former assistant coach Ashley Bentley got into medical school at UAB, Gray approached Franek about the position.

Hettinger

Auburn gymnastics recently named former University of Illinois gymnast, Kurt Hettinger, as assistant coach for the upcoming season.

Hettinger comes to Auburn from Kent State where he served as assistant for the past three years.

Before that, he served as the first graduate assistant in two decades.

While at Kent State, Hettinger served as the head bars coach, leading the girl’s team to a 2007 Top 25 national ranking.

He helped lead them to two Mid-American Conference Championships and three consecutive regular season titles. Hettinger also coached gymnast Kristin Peters to a MAC uneven bars title last year.

Hettinger worked with head coach Brice Biggin on tumbling and vault. He also worked with the summer camps and served as a recruiting coordinator.

Previous to his time at Kent State, Hettinger returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to serve as assistant coach, 2003. He coached the men’s team to a fifth place national ranking that season.

Hettinger previously worked for the Champaign County YMCA, where he headed the development of the Class VI and Elite boys programs, as well as the girls, level 8-10.

The homepage: of www.auburnundercover.com shows teasers for many stories covered by the Web site. Tiger fans can access the Web site to read about many events going on with Auburn athletics. Auburn Undercover

A new independent Web site, www.AuburnUndercover.com, launched July 1 and features round-the-clock Auburn athletics news.

Phillip Marshall is the Web site’s senior writer.

“It’s doing very well,” Marshall said. “Much better than most people expected. We still need to improve in some areas, and we will. But it’s only been up for a little while, and it’s been pretty remarkable.”

The site is an ESPN affiliate and is funded by investors.

“I got a call in May asking if I would be interested,” Marshall said. “The more we talked, the more intriguing it became.”

Marshall has been in the newspaper business for nearly 40 years. He has written sports for papers all over the state, in cities like Birmingham, Decatur, Montgomery and most recently in Huntsville, for The Huntsville Times.

Covering Auburn has been in his job description since 1969.

Marshall has two part-time writers that contribute articles to the site – Luke Brietzke and Scott Cameron.

Cameron, an Auburn student, helps Marshall with football recruiting stories.

I have grown up watching NASCAR, and I still enjoy watching the races every Sunday, especially if Dale Jr. is winning. However, I have come to enjoy another form of racing lately, thanks to my boyfriend.

Formula 1 racing is a form of open wheeled auto racing that has been around for more than 60 years. This is more of a worldwide race style, unlike NASCAR, but there are still many F1 fans around the United States.

They used to race in the U.S., but now the closest they race is in Canada.