NAIA Track & Field, Geneva, OH
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| Photo: eousports.com |
Sophmore Damion Flores won the national championship in
the 5000m run with a time of 14:37.53. He led the entire race. Junior Hans Roelle won the national
championship in the 1000m run after breaking away from the pack over the last
200m. Senior, Isaac Updike won the
3000m. He broke his own EOU record with a time of 8:23.70. Travis Simpson finished third in the high
jump with a leap of 2.09m, tied for best but knocked to third based on
tiebreaker. Brian Wickham threw shot put for 18.30m, good for sixth place. Ryan Rosenau finished seventh in the
heptahalon. EOU men finished in sixth place nationally, the best
finish in program history.
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| Photo: eousports.com |
Talitha Fagen won the national championship in pole
vault with a leap of 3.83m, which set the EOU record for the fourth time this
year, this time by 5¼ inches. Irene
Olivo broke the school record in the 600m in the prelims on Friday. The women’s 4x400m relay team (Olivo, Kadie
Booth, Carlondra Woolbright-McGee & Megan Sullivan) finished in seventh place with a time of 3:51.40, which broke the EOU record
they had set in the prelims. Harley McBride finished third in the high jump. Her
jump of 1.71m broke her own EOU-record. EOU women finished in 15th
place.
NAIA Div II basketball National
Tournament Previews
Women
Eastern Oregon
(#23, 23-9) received the automatic berth as regular season CCC champions. It
will be their tenth appearance, third straight, with a 5-7 all-time record. Two of those wins came last season, and one
of those the first round win over Southwestern-KS Moundbuilders. Again, EOU will play Southwestern (#9,
28-4). This will be the Moundbuilders sixth appearance, 1-5 all-time record. Last year, EOU won 86-54. Bourne, Jones, Freeman and the other EOU
forwards went silly all over SoWestern for nearly 50 total points. EOU had a +14 turnover differential and held
SoWestern to 24% shooting.
Obviously, a lot has
changed. Last year, EOU was a one-seed
versus an eight-seed. This year, EOU is
the six-seed playing the three-seed. Southwestern won their regular season
conference title and had a 18-game win streak, but were blasted by Tabor-KS in
the conference tournament 85-51.
Similar story for EOU in
their conference. EOU first had a
29-game conference win streak snapped (by the last place team) and then had a
33-game home win streak snapped (by Oregon Tech, who also earned an automatic
berth to nationals). EOU held on to win the CCC season schedule before being
soundly defeated at home by SOU in the semifinals.
EOU has a stronger history
in the national tournament than Southwestern, so a lot of different
intangilbles could be at work. This year’s contest will not be decided by a
large score. I give EOU the edge, in so much if EOU can play defense, they will
win the game. If they can not, they will
lose. The loss to Oregon Tech, 58-50,
being the only exception, EOU won every game in which they played fundamentally
sound, defensive basketball. Oregon Tech managed to turn EOU’s offense
off. That would seem harder for the
Southwestern to do.
#GoMounties #whynotus #whynotnow (to borrow from the softball team) #mountup #EOUWBB
#GoMounties #whynotus #whynotnow (to borrow from the softball team) #mountup #EOUWBB
- tipoff this wednesday,
8:15am (pdt), round one versus Southwestern
- live
updates on KEOL from 8:00-10:30 wedns morning
Oregon Tech
(#18, 28-5) received the automatic berth as CCC tournament champion, for their second appearance, with only a first round loss in 2005. Oregon Tech
has won seven straight games. The Hustlin’ Owls will face Purdue Calumet (#15,
24-6) in first round. Purdue Calumet made first their appearance last year,
losing the first round.
Biggest powerhouses return to the
national tournament
22 of the 32 teams return
from last year’s tournament. EOU was
placed in the same bracket as the #1 team.
However, if EOU can advance to meet them, it will be the final eight,
matching the furthest EOU has ever been in the tournament.
St Francis-Ind (#1, 33-0)
is the only undefeated team in the tourney and has a lot to prove. This will be
their 15th appearance, with an all-time record of 24-14. Yet, they have no national titles, and were
runner-up to the national title only once, in 1999. Davenport (#2, 31-1) has won 26-straight
games. This is their 10th appearance. They were runner-up to the
national title in two of the last three seasons. Indiana Weslyan (26-7) is the
defending champion and has a 23-9 tourney record. Hastings-NE is back in the mix, with three
national titles to their credit. They are set for a potential second round
matchup with Indiana Wesleyan. Local Sioux City team Morningside is a perenial
power. This will be their 13th appearance, with an all-time 28-8
record and three national titles. Morningside (2009) and Indiana Wesleyan
(2007) both finished 38-0 to become the first two NAIA women’s teams to end the
season undefeated. Northwestern-IA is the all-time best team in the tournament. This will be their 13th appearance, in which they have a 42-7
record, including five national championships.
Most of that success is recent.
All five of Northwestern’s titles have been since 2001, four have been
in the last six years. Most teams that dominated NAIA Div II in the first ten
years play in other leagues/divisions now. Northwestern, Mornigside, Hastings and Indiana
Wesleyan are the only four teams to have a championship in the last thirteen
years. College of the Ozarks, who earned the final at-large berth, has four
runner-up finalist efforts in the last eight years.
Men
College of Idaho
(#2, 27-5) will face host school College
of the Ozarks (unranked, 21-10) in the first round. The Yotes are 11-8 in 10 appearances, first since
2007, with one national championship. The Yotes have won 14 straight games.
The Bobcats finished 4th in their conference,
but receive an automatic berth as the host school. Bobcats are 6-2 in first round
games on the home court in southern Missouri. Last year, CoO def. #3 Northwood-FL in the first round. The Bobcats are 27-16 in a league-leading 18 national tournament appearances, with one
national championship. More alarmingly, the Bobcats are 3-0 all-time vs CCC teams (def. Oregon Tech
2001, EOU 2008, SOU 2013).
Northwest Christian
(unranked, 18-12) are making their first ever appearance at nationals. They received an automatic berth as the CCC
tournament runner-up. They will face
Cornerstone (#4, 29-4) in the first round. Cornerstone (29-4) won their conference and automatic
bid. Cornerstone is 26-9, making their 12th appearance,
with two national championships.
Concordia
(#25, 22-9) received the tenth and final at-lage bid to the NAIA Div II
national tournament in Point Lookout, MO.
Concordia is making the scond appearance at nationals. The only other appearance was 2000 when they
went 1-1. They will face Bellevue (#8, 28-5) is 20-14, making their 15th appearance. Adam Herman, of Vancouver WA, is Concordia’s all time
leading scorer. He was named CCC player of the year and selected to the 10
member NAIA Div II all-star team to play vs. Div I all-star team on March 22 at
Municipal Auditorium in KC.
15 of the 32 teams in the tournament participated in
the 2013 tournament. Cardinal Stritch is the defending national champion. At
29-4, Cardinal Stritch has been ranked #1 for the last seven polls.
Evergreen men’s coach Alvin Mosely has resigned after 6
years as head coach. This follows the recent retirement of Evergreen women’s
coach Monica Heuer after 13 years leading the Geoduks.
NCAA Div III basketball
Men
Whitworth defeated Trinity-TX in the first round, and
followed that with a tense loss to UT-Dallas in overtime. Whitworth was leading by
two points with the clock expriring, when Nolan Harvey hit a three-ponter for the
UT-Dallas win, 78-77. Whitworth gave up a double digit lead late in the second
half to allow overtime, and then gave up six points in the final 18 seconds to
take the loss.
Women
Whitman (28-1) defeated Whitworth in what was the
fourth matchup between the two this season. Whitman had beaten Whitworth in
both regular season meetings, en route to a 26-0 record before being upended by Whitworth 68-65 in the NWC tournament
final. Both teams advancing to the NCAA
III national tournament, with the regional games in Walla Walla last weekend. Whitman defeated Chapman, 106-51, in round one. Whitworth defeated George Fox in the first round.
Then a Whitman/Whitworth showdown for the fourth time, Whitman leaving no doubt
they are the superior Northwest Coference Team.
They advance to the sweet 16.
Coach Michelle Ferenz won her 200th game.
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| Whitman Missionaries advance to Sweet Sixteen, with more home court games in Walla Walla on Friday and Saturday. |
Whitman will retain a home court advantage in the
next two rounds. They will host Christopher Newport with a chance to advance to
the elite eight where they would meet the winner of UT-Tyler vs Thomas More. Thomas More is undefeated at 30-0 currently and just set the tournament record
for points with a 120-86 second round win. In the first round, they defeated
Salem 95-58 behind Burgoyne’s career high of 35 points. Thomas More also
features Sydney Moss (daughter of Randy Moss) who set an NCAA Div III record
for points in a game at 63 in the conference championship game on Feb 28. That would be a very significant matchup in
Walla Walla on Saturday night.
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| Rookie Adin Hill with Coach Mike Johnson, Photo: whl.com |
The Winterhawks won their 50th game on Saturday night at the Moda Center vs
Vancouver 4-1.
At 3:33 in the first, Bjorkstrand found De Leo one on one with the goalie for a 1-0
lead. 16:28 Joel Hamilton on a power play tied the game for Vancouver 1-1. Midway thru the second, thru the crease, backhanded a shot past the goalie for
a 2-1 lead. In the third, Petan fed Iverson to make it 3-1 and Bjorkstrand
scored a late goal to seal it 4-1. It
was Aden Hill’s 2nd career start, stopping 28 of 29 shots on
goal. Friday night, Portland scored
three goals in the third period to beat Seattle 7-3.
With an overall record of 50-13-2-3, Portland has won the U.S. Division and trails only Kelowna
in the WHL overall standings. Four games
remain in the regular season: vs Tri Cities, Tues, 7:00pm; @Seattle 3/14; vs
Seattle 3/15; vs Everett 3/16. Playoffs
to follow.
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