This week's edition of “Headliners features: Sean Washington; Sydnie Wells; DJ Hogenkamp; Women's lacrosse and softball earn pre-season rankings; Bill Carmody ('74) earns Big 10 “Coach of the Year” honors; Dutchmen soccer team opens 2004 season in Europe; Coast Guard, WPI and Kings Point join the UCAA in football.
Senior sprinter Sean Washington picked up his second
indoor All-American award the weekend of March 12-13 when he finished seventh
in the 55-meter dash at the NCAA Division III championships.
Washington, who has been a career leader for the indoor and
outdoor track teams as well as a starter for the football squad, earned his
All-American status by running the event in 6.53 seconds. As a junior Washington picked up
All-American status by finishing fifth with a time of 6.47.
The Dale City, Virginia, earned the “Sophomore Athletic
Prize” and also won the “William A. Pike Award” as Union's junior male athlete
of the year.
Swimming
Freshman swimmer Sydnie Wells was the only Dutchwoman to
qualify for the NCAA Division III championship meet, which was also held the
weekend of March 12-13. While she missed her personal goals of finishing in the
top 16 for the 400 IM (she was 26th) and the 200 butterfly (she was
21st), head coach Scott Felix was very excited about her opportunity
to see what it is like to compete at the national level.
“It was a great experience for her to be able to compete and
to see the quality of the competition at the national level,” explained
Felix. “The experience she gained will
help her to be successful in the future.”
Sophomore D.J. Hogenkamp will be at the NCAA Championship
Meet this weekend (March 19-10). He qualified to compete in the 100 and 200
backstrokes and is also eligible to compete in the 200 IM. Hogenkamp finished
second at the state meet in the 100 and 200 backstroke events as well as in the
100 butterfly.
Women's lacrosse, softball earn pre-season recognition
The Dutchwomen lacrosse and softball teams were each ranked
20th in their respective pre-season national polls.
The lacrosse team, which opened its season on March 11 with
an 11-3 victory over visiting Oswego, also had three of its players named to
the preseason All-American team. Junior
attackwoman Molly Flanagan was a first-team selection, senior midfielder
Corinne Hennessy was a second-team pick and junior defensive-midfielder Liz
Flanagan earned third-team honors.
Pre-season A-A first-team
.
Head coach Linda Bevelander entered her seventh season at
the helm with an overall record of 65-32 (a winning percentage of .747) while
taking her team to five post-season tournaments. Bevelander, a three-time “Coach of the Year” selection, has
guided the Dutchwomen to a pair of NYSWCAA championships and has led her team
into two NCAA National Championship Tournaments.
The Dutchwomen return 14 players from last year's 11-5 team
that won the New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association
championship.
Softball
The softball team, under seventh-year head coach Pete Brown,
participated in the program's first-ever NCAA tournament last year (advancing
to the championship game of the Eastern Regionals). Brown, who enters the 2004 campaign with a career record of
130-72-1, has guided his team to four 20-win seasons and into post-season
tournaments in each of the last five years.
The 2001 team captured the program's first-ever New York State Women's
Collegiate Athletic Association championship.
Twelve players return from last year's 26-7 team.
Carmody (Union '74) named Big 10 “Coach of the Year”
Union Grad is “Coach of the Year”
Northwestern head basketball coach Bill Carmody (Union,
1974), was recently named the Big Ten's “Coach of the Year” by the media
voters. It marked the first time that a
Wildcat basketball coach has received the honor.
Carmody led a young squad (which started just
one senior, three sophomores and a freshman) to an 8-8 Big Ten record, the best
by a Northwestern team since 1968. The eight wins came against seven different
teams, one shy of the school record (the 1944 team defeated eight different Big
Ten opponents). In addition, the 'Cats also had their best finish in the
conference standings since 1969, tying for fifth place with Michigan.
Men's soccer team opens 2004 campaign in
Holland.
This year, the Dutchman soccer season will begin
early with an international flavor. The Garnet's returning players will
compete in matches in Holland, Belgium. and Germany from August 13 to 22. The team will return to campus for the
traditional pre-season workouts before scrimmaging with junior college
powerhouse Ulster Community College.
The 2004 campaign begins on September 4th with the four-team
Union-Rensselaer Classic.
“The team should be more match-ready and
experienced than any other time in my eight seasons here,” said head coach Jeff
Guinn, who has guided the Dutchmen to three consecutive winning seasons. “My hope is that it will translate into our
most successful year yet.”
Union is 28-21-7 over the last three years
including last season's record of 9-7-1.
Coast Guard, WPI and Kings Point join the UCAA
in football (only)
Coast Guard, Worcester Poly and Kings Point join
Union, Rensselaer, Hobart, St. Lawrence and Rochester as participating members
of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association's football conference giving the
league enough teams to qualify for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The idea for the football league began
during the 1996-97 academic year by Dick Sakala, Union's long-time director of
athletics who retired in 2000.
The 2004 schedule offers a couple of other
interesting twists. The Dutchmen will
play a nine-game schedule for the first time since 1998 season. Two of the games, the September 11
season-opener at Springfield and the September 18 home opener, are scheduled to
kickoff at 7:00 p.m.