Ex-Redhawks basketball player Purcell to represent New Zealand in Olympics

Two people with Southeast Missouri State ties will be a part of the 2008 Summer Olympics that are under way in Beijing, China.

Former Southeast women's basketball player Natalie Purcell will participate in that sport for her native New Zealand. She is believed to be the first Southeast product to compete in an Olympics.

Purcell, a 6-foot forward, played at Southeast during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Purcell was the second-leading scorer — averaging 11.7 points per game — on the 2005-06 Southeast squad that won the program's first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and made the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance.

But in June an NCAA ruling took away those two OVC titles and NCAA tournament berth as part of the penalties handed down for NCAA rules violations in the Southeast women's basketball program during former coach B.J. Smith's four-year tenure.

New Zealand, considered a longshot for a medal, will play its opening game at the Beijing Olympics against Mali today.

New Zealand also will have Group B games against European power Spain on Sunday, host China on Wednesday, European power Czech Republic on Thursday and world No. 1 United States on Aug. 17.

* Linda Wells, a 1972 Southeast graduate, will be an assistant coach for the Netherlands softball team at the Beijing Olympics. The squad's first game is Tuesday.

Wells, a native of Pacific, Mo., was the head coach of the Greek softball squad at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Wells, who started her coaching career at Minnesota in 1974, won more than 900 games and made two College World Series appearances as Arizona State's head coach from 1989 through 2005.

Rypien talks to Redhawks

The Southeast football team had a surprise visitor at Thursday morning's practice session.

Mark Rypien, the 1991 Super Bowl MVP, attended the practice and talked to the Redhawks.

Rypien, who was in Cape Girardeau for a golf outing at Dalhousie Golf Club, passed for 292 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Washington Redskins past the Buffalo Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI.

Rypien was named to the Pro Bowl in 1989 and 1991.

The Redhawks had their third practice of fall camp Thursday. Their first workout in full pads will be today and two-a-days begin Saturday. All practices are open to the public.

— From staff reports