By PETE IACOBELLI, Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Catrina Moore had marched so many drills with the Citadel's Corps of Cadets and endured so many questions over her choice to attend the formerly all-male school that this triumph, even if it belonged to someone else, felt like hers, too.
Moore, who competed on the Bulldogs' track team from 1999 to 2003, was elated to watch Stephanie McNeill win a Southern Conference title in the discus last spring - the first woman to win a SoCon title since The Citadel began fielding female athletes in 1997.
"It was an awesome experience," said Moore, who held the school's shot put record until surpassed by McNeill. "We're actually competitive with some of the Southern Conference teams when people thought we were, 'Oh, no, they're just a little pushover, high school team.'"
A decade after The Citadel opened its gates to women, that perception is changing, although slowly, according to athletes, administrators and coaches at the state-supported military college.
The percentage of female cadets competing has hovered near 60 percent - well in compliance of Title IX regulations - for most of the past six seasons. However, issues such as the school's military duties, women's locker rooms and lopping off long hair has kept the school from attracting more championship athletes.
"Nobody wants to look like a 5-year-old boy," said Emily Hill, a sophomore on the volleyball team.
Other athletes see success in changing attitudes. "There are still some here who'll say, 'I'm good for The Citadel.' Yeah, but are you good to win at conference," said Megan Jenkins, a sophomore who runs 800 and 1,500 meters.
Since 1997 when Mandy Garcia became the school's first scholarship athlete, the Bulldogs' program has grown.
Garcia attracted national attention competing in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. Athletic director Les Robinson remembers when he was AD at North Carolina State and welcomed schools, including The Citadel, to a track meet there.
Robinson, who had coached basketball at The Citadel, searched out Garcia and told her what an inspiration she was.
Garcia, whose married name is Mandy Patrick, is in the U.S. Air Force flying C-17 transport missions into Iraq.
She didn't think of herself as a pioneer. She came from a military family, and when the offer came from Citadel track coach Jody Huddleston came, she jumped at the chance.
When Garcia arrived on campus, the memories were still fresh of Shannon Faulkner's attempt to join the corps and the television coverage of cadets celebrating her failure.
Garcia found solace in her coach and her male teammates. Huddleston was a father figure while the other runners warmed up with her and kept alongside her during training. "That was one of the best things, knowing that others cared," she said.
Garcia had to change in a room by herself. "There were times she felt alone; that was natural," Huddleston said.
The next season, 1998-99, there were 24 athletes competing with the addition of the school's first team sport: volleyball.
The Citadel finished a $900,000 addition to McAlister Field House in 2002 and provided women's coaching offices and locker rooms.
As facilities grew, so did the number of women competing. In 2002-03 and 2003-04, the school had 75 female athletes in seven sports.
Robinson and senior women's administrator Kelly Simpson agree there's more to be done. The school has a waiver from the Southern Conference, which requires members to field women's basketball teams. That sport is on the drawing board but not close to being added, administrators say.
Less than a fifth of the school's annual athletic budget of between $7 million and $8 million goes to women's sports. Simpson says her coaches are provided resources to succeed. They may not get the maximum scholarships the NCAA allows their sport, but "it's right below that," she said.
"We haven't taken any giant steps, but we're getting there," Robinson said.
The Citadel brought in new coaches in the past four months for women's soccer and volleyball. Both hires are designed to raise the competitiveness on the field.
Soccer coach Bob Winch hopes to increase the team's numbers from the 16 he'll likely field this fall, to as many as 24 in the coming years. He also wants to change the attitude to get them from "playing not to lose, to playing to win."
Volleyball also is down on athletes; coach Carolyn Geiger has just nine players. "That makes it hard to scrimmage six on six," she said.
Both the newcomers say it's most important for them to quickly discover which high school athletes will look at the Citadel as a challenge instead of a burden.
Garcia recalls too often friends asking her why "with so many other things out there, she'd choose torture and pain. That's always the challenge."
A coach could lose a recruit to something as silly as cutting long locks, said McNeill, now a senior. "It takes a different type," she said. "If a girl says, 'What about my hair?' then she's probably not cut out for things here."
When Garcia joined the school, the assimilation was very much in question. Four women were admitted to the school in 1996-97, but two of them said they had been hazed, including having their clothes set on fire by male cadets.
Desiree Browning was a volleyball setter from 2000 to 2003 and holds the school record with 80 assists in a match against South Carolina State her first season. She married Chris Duncan, a member of the class of 1996, which Browning says is considered the last to graduate all-male cadets. "The environment evolved since I got there," she said. "It's going to keep changing as women keep coming here."
As the number of female cadets rises, the quality of women's sports will increase, too.
Holli Knox, a senior on the soccer team, has seen things change from more of a sisterhood when she arrived on campus to a fiercer competition to post victories.
"There's a tight bond among us," she said. "But there's also the competitive bond. We're all more competitive, and we all want to succeed."
