This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

The Francis Marion University Family and StaffNewsletter
Jan. 30, 2004
Walk This Way meets goal of 150 employee participants
Walk This Way participants have donned their pedometers and can be seen far and wide on the FMU campus checking their step count.
Walk This Way, a wellness program for FMU employees in association with McLeod Health, has enrolled 150 employees. Participants will wear pedometers for three months and have the opportunity to attend educational sessions about fitness and nutrition.
There was an informational question and answer session Jan. 29 p.m. in the Lowrimore Auditorium. Additionally, there will be an educational session provided
by McLeod Health every Thursday in the Lowrimore Auditorium beginning Feb. 5, and all FMU employees are welcome.
The first educational session, facilitated by a registered dietitian, will be offered Feb. 5 and 12 and is titled, ?The Trouble with Dieting: Myths and Truths about Permanent Weight Control.?
For more information, contact Janis Me Wayne, School of Education, at 1467 orjmcwayne@fmarion.edu; or Peter King, Department of Biology, at 1399 or pking @fmari-on.edu.
I5th-ranked Patriot baseball team opens 2004 season tomorrow
The Francis Marion University baseball team is ranked 15th in the preseason 2004 Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II Top 40 poll.
Francis Marion opens its 2004 campaign at home on Saturday, Jan. 31, with a 2 p.m. game against Limestone College.
FMU returns four position starters and five pitchers from last season?s 30-20 squad that ended the year ranked 18th and placed third at the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional, the program?s first post-season appearance in 10 years. Altogether, the Patriots return 14 of 26 lettermen.
?It is a great honor to be ranked
nationally at the start of the season,? said FMU head coach Art Inabinet. ?However, our goal is to be ranked at the end of the season, which would most likely mean a return trip to the NCAA tournament. We will be strong up the middle (returnees at catcher' shortstop, second base, and center field), but young and inexperienced at first and third base. We also return the meat of our starting pitching, and will rely on them as the other hurlers develop.?
Picked to finish eighth in the 2003 Peach Belt Conference preseason coaches? poll, the Patriots finished third in the PBC with an 18-10 mark, only one-half game away from win-
ning the program?s first-ever conference title.
The 18 conference wins were a team record and the third-place finish equaled the program?s highest finish, ever, previously accomplished in 1993 and 1997.
Playing an extremely tough schedule in 2003, FMU was 10-10 against Top-30 opponents, while 13 of the squad?s defeats were by one or two runs.
Defending Division II national champion Central Missouri State University (51-7) and the University of Tampa (45-18) share the top spot in the poll. In addition to the Patriots, seven other PBC members appear in the Top 40.
Presidential candidate John Edwards to visit FMU today
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will visit Francis Marion University today (Friday, Jan. 30) at 1:30 p.m. for a campaign rally.
The rally will be in the Smith University Center. The event is sponsored by the FMU chapter of Pi
Sigma Alpha, a student political science honor society. Edwards visited FMU in April of last year for a local Democratic Party retreat.
Edwards finished second in the Iowa caucuses, and fourth in the New Hampshire primary. The South Carolina primary is Feb. 3.
Edwards was bom in Seneca, S.C. and raised in Robbins, N.C.
For more information, call Edwards? South Carolina office at 803-255-8556 or e-mail at scarolina@ johnedwards2004.com. The candidate?s website is www.johned-wards2004.com.