Buckeye Sports Shorts – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | General
May 13, 2002
Athletes of the Week
Three Buckeyes earn Good Stuff Athlete of the Week honors after receiving impressive conference awards.
Wendy Allen went 2-1 in the circle for the No. 20 softball team over the weekend, picking up both of the Buckeyes’ wins in the Big Ten Tournament. Allen went 15.2 innings allowing 14 hits while striking out 11 batters and maintaining her conference-best 0.88 ERA. She also hit .455 in the four games played collecting five hits in 11 at bats including her 18th double of the year which is tied for the second most in single-season annals at OSU. For her tremendous pitching stats and clutch hitting this year, the coaches of the conference voted her as the Big Ten Player of the Year. Allen adds that accolade to her Big Ten Freshman of the Year award attained last year.
Megan Mirick (Sr., Burke, Va.) was the American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Year for her play in leading OSU to a record 11 wins this season. Mirick had an OSU season record 53 goals and recorded 59 points, ranking second in OSU season points. Mirick also holds OSU career records for goals (143) and points (182).
Conny Kirsch (Sr., Potsdam, Germany/Helmholtz) claimed the 2002 Big Ten Rowing Co-Athlete of the Year Award. Kirsch, a four-year member of the Buckeye first varsity 8, currently rows in the fourth seat of OSU’s top boat. She shared the award with Krista Buzzell of Michigan State.
Congratulations to softball coach Linda Kalafatis, women’s golf coach Therese Hession and rowing coach Andy Teitelbaum, who all recently earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.
Sports Shorts
The No. 4 Ohio State women’s golf team finished in a tie forsecond place with a score of 918 Saturday at the NCAA Division ICentral Regional. The Buckeyes shot a 297 Saturday in the finalround. Ohio State tied with the Longhorns of Texas, as No. 3 Tulsawon the team competition. Mollie Fankhauser and Lindsay Knowltonled the Buckeyes, both finishing tied for sixth place individuallywith scores of 227. Kristen White tied for 11th place with a scoreof 231. For the sixth consecutive year, the Buckeyes will make atrip to the NCAA Championships that will be held in Auburn, Wash.,May 21-24. Congratulations to Linda Kalafatis, OSU head softballcoach, on winning the 200th game of her coaching tenure at OSU in a4-3 decision over Penn State Saturday. With a 53-12 record thisyear, the Buckeyes have helped Kalafatis to her 150th, 175th and200th wins with the program, as well as the 425th and 450th wins asa collegiate coach. For her efforts this year, the conferencecoaches selected her as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. The softballteam garnered several awards last week. Wendy Allen, Anna Smith andStacy Roth were named as All-Big Ten First Team selections whileteammates Jennifer Link, Katie Chain and Kristine Himes were namedto the third team. Allen also was named player of the year andLinda Kalafatis, OSU head coach, was selected as coach of the year.The Academic All-District IV selections were made last week withRoth earning a place on the first team and Allen and Sarah Westscoring second team accolades. The softball team went 2-2 at theBig Ten Tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., over the weekend with winscoming over Illinois and Penn State and both losses coming at thehands of the host Wolverines. In the opener, the Buckeyes scored a5-0 win over the Illini before falling to Michigan, 5-0. On thefinal day of competition, OSU bounced PSU from the tournament witha 4-3 decision before again falling to the Wolverines, 2-1. Allthree runs in the final game were scored in the first inning. Thesoftball team is headed back to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the thirdtime this year, and second in as many weeks, to participate in theNCAA Region 6 tournament. The selection marks the first nationalpostseason appearance for the Buckeyes since 1990. OSU, the No. 3seed in the event, will face No. 4 Central Michigan at 4:30 p.m.Thursday at Alumni Field with CMU holding a 2-0 lead in the series.The first time the two teams met was at the AIWA World Series in1982 with the Chippewas taking a 1-0 victory after 15 innings ofplay. CMU won the last meeting, 6-0, on March 19, 1998 at theCapital Classic in Sacramento, Calif. In a match that took overfive hours, the Ohio State men’s tennis team lost to the VanderbiltCommodores, 4-3, April 12 in the opening match of the 2002 Men’sTennis Regional in Lexington, Ky. Adrian Bohane was forced toretire five games into the opening set due to an injury. ConorCasey, Vince Ng and Brenton Contini all pulled off victories in thesingles matches. The contest came down to a thrilling three-setmatch between #16 Bobby Reynolds and #34 Phil Metz in whichReynolds pulled out a 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 victory. Metz and JeremyWurtzman were selected to play in the 2002 NCAA Singles Tournament,which will be held May 18-27 in College Station, Texas. Women’sLacrosse (11-5) finished the 2002 season with an 11-7 loss to NotreDame in the first round of the NCAA Championship. Lauren Cochran(Sr., Coatesville, Pa.) had three goals for the Buckeyes withRegina Oliver (Fr., Pottstown, Pa.) adding two. Megan Mirick (Sr.,Burke, Va.) was the American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Yearfor her play in leading OSU to a record 11 wins this season. Mirickhad an OSU season record 53 goals and recorded 59 points, rankingsecond in OSU season Points. Mirick also holds OSU career recordsfor goals (143) and points (182). Regina Oliver (Fr., Pottstown,Pa.) was the American Lacrosse Conference Rookie of the Year.Oliver had team-highs of 51 caused turnovers and 44 grounds ballsand collected 28 goals and 12 assists for 40 points. Tracey Bounds(Jr., Ellicott City, Md.), Mirick and Oliver were named to theAmerican Lacrosse Conference All-Conference Team. Bounds recordedan OSU season record 61 points this year with 36 goals and 25assists. Four student-athletes of the women’s lacrosse team havebeen named Mid-Atlantic Regional All-Americans. Megan Mirick (Sr.,Burke, Va.) and Shannon Wilson (Jr., Sherkston, Ontario) were namedto the first team while Tracey Bounds (Jr., Ellicott City, Md.) andRegina Oliver (Fr., Pottstown, Pa.) were second team selections.The Ohio State men’s golf team is one step away from qualifying forthe 2002 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, which will be held May29-June 1 on The OSU Scarlet Course in Columbus. The Buckeyes leaveTuesday for the 2002 West Regional in Albuquerque, N.M. Ohio Stateneeds to finish among the Top 10 teams in the regional competition,which will be contested Thursday-Saturday, to advance to the NCAAtournament. A total of 81 teams, 27 at each of the three regionalsites (East, West and Central) are competing this week with thehopes of being one of the 30 teams that will battle for thenational title in Columbus. The Ohio State women’s rowing teamcompetes Saturday and Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tenn., at the NCAACentral Regional in the hopes of qualifying for a third-consecutivetrip to the NCAA tournament. Ohio State, ranked No. 3 nationally,moved up two places in the national poll after winning the Big Tentournament last week. Head coach Andy Teitelbaum earned Big TenCoach of the Year honors while Conny Kirsch (Sr., Potsdam,Germany/Helmholtz) claimed the 2002 Big Ten Rowing Co-Athlete ofthe Year Award. Kirsch, a four-year member of the Buckeye firstvarsity 8, currently rows in the fourth seat of OSU’s top boat. Sheshared the award with Krista Buzzell of Michigan State. Sevenmembers of the men’s lacrosse team were honored by the GreatWestern Lacrosse League as all-conference selections. AttackmanCurtis Smith (Jr., Victoria, British Columbia/Oak Bay), long stickmidfielder John DiCamillo (Sr., Baltimore, Md./St. Paul’s) anddefenseman Greg Bice (So., Helotes, Texas/St. Mary’s Hall) werenamed to the first team. Attackmen Mike Norton (Jr., Timonium,Md./Calvert Hall) and Anthony Gilardi (So., Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin),midfielder Pat Myers (Jr., Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk) and goalieTony Russo (So., Fallston, Md./Calvert Hall) each earnedsecond-team honors. The women’s tennis team ended its season with aloss to Alabama in the first round of the NCAA tournament inKnoxville, Tenn. The team posted a program-record 19 wins thisseason. Senior Monica Rincon will continue her season at the NCAASingles Championship, which begins Monday, May 20. Congratulationsto Monica Rincon, who received the ITA Midwest Region Arthur Ashe,Jr., Leadership and Sportsmanship Award and the region’s SeniorAward. Assistant coach Frank Polito, in his first season at OhioState, was named the midwest region’s assistant coach of the year.Both Rincon and Polito now are eligible for the national awards.Lefthanded pitcher Josh Newman (So., Wheelersburg,Ohio/Wheelersburg) struck out eight batters and the Ohio Stateoffense rallied with four runs in the sixth to beat Michigan State6-4 last Saturday at Oldsmobile Park. He pitched all seven inningsallowing the four Michigan State runs on four hits. He had twowalks vs. the eight strikeouts in improving to 8-4 on the year. Hiseight wins pace the Buckeye pitching staff. OSU and Michigan Statesplit the two games the teams played last weekend. Two games wererained out. Ohio State coach Bob Todd is within one single victoryof winning his 600th game at Ohio State. The Buckeyes play host toCleveland State Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium.Todd has a 599-294-2 record and a career record of 723-376-2 in his19th season as a head coach, having previously coached at Kent.Todd won his 700th career game earlier this season against Detroiton March 16. Minnesota, which leads the Big Ten standings by justpercentage points in front of second-place Ohio State, will visitBill Davis Stadium this weekend in the final weekend of conferenceplay. The Buckeyes need to win three of the four games againstMinnesota to win the Big Ten regular season title and the right tohost the Big Ten Tournament, May 22-25. The Gophers need only twowins over Ohio State next weekend to lock up the regular seasontitle. Friday’s action begins at 6:35 p.m. Following Saturday’s4:05 p.m. doubleheader, fans will be treated to fireworks. Theseries concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m. The Ohio State men’s andwomen’s track and field teams fared well at the Len PaddockInvitational, held Friday and Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. OhioState sophomore Nosa Ehimwenman paced the men’s team with afirst-place finish in the triple jump, leaping a distance of 15.13meters. Teammate John Ferguson won the javelin with a distance of59.63 meters while Drew Carter picked up his first win on theseason in the long jump with a distance of 7.46 meters. Katy Craig,Alexis McCall and Krista Keir continued their success in throwingevents. Craig earned an NCAA provisional qualification in thehammer throw with a toss of 58.77 meters. McCall placed first inthe shot put, reaching 15.87 meters while Keir won the discus witha distance of 52.40 meters. Tami Smith continued to dominate in thehigh jump event, finishing first with a leap of 1.73 meters.Rosalind Goodwin also had a strong outing with a first-place finishin the long jump, leaping 5.84 meters. The wrestling team held itsannual Daniel G. Hummel Awards Banquet Saturday to celebrate itssixth-place finish at the NCAA Championhips and honor itsstudent-athletes. Tommy Rowlands, the 2002 heavyweight nationalchampion, Robert Sessley, one three Buckeye wrestlers to attainAll-America status three times in his career, and Nick Preston, atwo-time All-American, were selected as the team’s captains withRowlands, a sophomore, garnering the team’s Most Dedicated andOutstanding Wrestler Awards. Sophomores John Clark and Blake Kaplanearned Outstanding Wrestlers accolades while senior Richie Bordnerand freshman Nick Harpster collected Outstanding Student-Athleteawards. Russ Hellickson, OSU head coach and 2002 Big Ten Co-coachof the Year, also honored his departing seniors, Bordner, PhillipFreeman, Josh Janson, Preston and Sessley, for their dedication tothe program and the success each has had as a member of the Buckeyewrestling community.
Ohio State Athletics Events for The Week
Wednesday, May 15
Baseball vs. Cleveland State, 6:35 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium
Thursday, May 16
Men’s Golf at NCAA West Regional, All Day
Albuquerque, NM
Softball vs. Central Michigan, NCAA Regional, 4:30 p.m.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Friday, May 17
Baseball vs. Minnesota, 6:35 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium
Men’s Golf at NCAA West Regional, All Day
Albuquerque, NM
Softball at NCAA Regional, TBA
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Track and Field at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 11:40 a.m.
Madison, Wis.
Saturday, May 18
Baseball vs. Minnesota, 4:05 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium
Baseball vs. Minnesota, 6:35 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium
Men’s Golf at NCAA West Regional, All Day
Albuquerque, NM
Rowing at NCAA Central Regional, All Day
Oakridge, Tenn.
Softball at NCAA Regional, TBA
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Track and Field at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 11:40 a.m.
Madison, Wis.
Sunday, May 19
Baseball vs. Minnesota, 1:05 p.m.
Bill Davis Stadium
Rowing at NCAA Central Regional, All Day
Oakridge, Tenn.
Softball at NCAA Regional, TBA
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Track and Field at Big Ten Outdoor Championships, 11:40 a.m.
Madison, Wis.
