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By ROD GIPSON
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 24, 2001
TAMPA -- USF softball coach Ken Eriksen has been named to the U.S. national team coaching staff. The staff will be responsible for selecting the 2004 Olympic Team that will compete in Athens, Greece.
Last season, Eriksen led the Bulls to a 43-34 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. Seeded fourth in Region 4, USF finished 2-2 and fell one game short of the College World Series.
Eriksen is 235-120 in six seasons at USF.
SCHEDULES: The men and women's soccer teams and the volleyball squad get underway next week.
The volleyball team will participate with Arizona, Marshall and host Florida) at the Sun Trust Invitational Aug. 31 in Gainesville. The men's soccer team begins the same day at home against Lafayette, and the women host Utah Sept. 2.
TRACK AND FIELD: Freshman Jimmy Baxter, who came to school on a basketball scholarship, earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the high jump during the NCAA Championships over the summer in Eugene, Ore.
Baxter, a graduate of Boca Ciega, jumped 7 feet, 3 inches and was the only freshman among the eight athletes to earn points in the event.
Baxter was also the first USF men's track and field athlete to score points in an NCAA Championship since Jon Dennis in 1993.
BASKETBALL: For the second time in three years, Altron Jackson was invited to try out for the U.S. national team.
As one of the top 45 collegiate players in America, Jackson tried out while training in Colorado in June. Jackson led the Bulls and Conference USA in scoring last season at 18.9 points a game.
He was first-team All-Conference, was the league's sixth man of the year for the second straight year and was named to the United States Basketball Writers Association's All-District 6 second team.
He was also the nation's top-scoring sixth man for the second consecutive season.