Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
Athletics Good Stuff
– The Ohio State Varsity “O” Association will induct nine members into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame the weekend of Sept. 7-8. The class will be officially inducted in two separate ceremonies Sept. 7 and introduced to the public at halftime of the Ohio State-Akron football game in Ohio Stadium the following day. The 2007 class includes: Men Andy Dumpis (volleyball), Ivan Gilbert (fencing), Marv Homan (administration) and Pete Johnson (football); Women Kristy Dascoli (tennis), Yelena Kalkina (fencing), Conny Kirsch (rowing), Susan Mallery (cross country/track and field) and Anna Smith (softball).
– College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) rewarded the joint effort of the Ohio State Athletics Communications and Creative Services Departments with nine honors in the 2006-07 CoSIDA Publications contest. Ohio State is tied with Louisiana State University for eighth place with the nine awards while Nebraska grabbed the most with 18.
In the competition, the Ohio State football media guide took home best in the district honors, while the guide and football program finished second and third in the nation, respectively. The women’s basketball media guide ranked third, the men’s soccer media guide took fifth and received kudos for best cover, the wrestling media guide which also garnered honors for best cover was fourth overall in the country and the men’s swimming and diving guide ranked sixth in the nation.
– David Lighty, a sophomore on the men’s basketball team has started four games, all wins, for the United States 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship Team currently playing in Serbia. Lighty has averaged 20 minutes per game while averaging nearly 10 points a game. He scored a team high 19 points in the squad’s most recent victory against Lithuania (90-81) Monday. Lighty, a sophomore guard from Cleveland, Ohio, made all eight shots from the field, a pair of 3-pointers and a foul shot in the Lithuania victory. He has made 70 percent (16-23) of his shots from the field for the U.S., who plays again Tuesday against Brazil.
– Marscilla Packer, a guard on the women’s basketball team, won her second gold medal with USA Basketball last week. The Pickerington, Ohio native helped the Americans win the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship with a 96-73 victory July 8 over Australia in the finals in Moscow.
Packer also won gold last August with the USA U20 team in Mexico City. She joins several former Buckeyes who recently have collected gold medals with Team USA. Jessica Davenport, Ohio State’s only three-time All-American from 2004-07, and Katie Smith, a two-time All-American as a Buckeye from 1993-96, have won a pair of golds for the USA Senior National team in the last two years. Davenport and Brandie Hoskins also won gold with the USA Junior team at the 2005 World University Games in Turkey.
For the 8-game tournament, Packer led the Americans with 12 steals and ranked third overall with 12 assists. She averaged 5.0 points in 14.1 minutes a game. Packer also ranked third on the USA squad with eight 3-point FG.
– Men’s lacrosse rising sophomore James Green has been named to the US Lacrosse Men’s Under-19 Team that will compete in the 2008 International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) Under-19 World Championship. Green, a midfielder, played in all 13 games for the Buckeyes as a freshman in 2007, posting 13 points, including 10 goals. He was one of 23 players selected from a pool of 120 that participated in tryouts July 12-15. The ILF U-19 World Championship is set for July 3-12, 2008, in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
– A trio of Buckeyes from the men’s tennis team had a successful campaign at the Nielsen United States Tennis Association Pro Tennis Championship. Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge paired up to advance to the doubles quarterfinal and teammate Bryan Koniecko partnered with Luis Manuel Flores of Mexico to also qualify for the round of eight at the USTA Pro Circuit event that ran from July 2-8 at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center in Winnetka, Ill.
– Four members of the men’s swimming and diving team and head coach Bill Wadley took part in the opening activities at the Governor’s Council on Children with Disabilities annual leadership conference, held last week in Columbus. The Buckeyes Joe Doyle, Sam Pelkey, Alex Stuart and Matthias Sigrist were asked to speak to the delegation of children with disabilities, who were chosen to represent their respective counties during a week of leadership activities at the forum. Following opening remarks, the Buckeyes played with the conference attendees in games of wheelchair basketball and in the swimming pool.
The Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion is prominently featured with a four-page spread in the latest issue July/August 2007 of Aquatics International magazine. The article, photos and captions “A state-of-the-art competition pool loaded with the latest technology sets a university apart from the competition” are all terrific. See for yourself at http://www.aquaticsintl.com/2007/jul/0707_dreamdesigns.html.
– After earning the No. 2 ranking by Wrestling International Newsmagazine in May, the wrestling team’s 2007-08 incoming class was regarded the best in the nation among Division I programs by wrestling Web site intermatwrestle.com July 6. Buckeye head coach Tom Ryan’s first recruiting class consists of eight of the top wrestlers in the nation who combined for 14 state high school individual titles, while three wrestlers earned National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) All-America honors.
The Buckeye fall signees were Sean Nemec, Colt Sponseller, Bo Touris, Nikko Triggas and John Weakley, while Jesse Campbell, Patrick Harrington and Pat Zamaria signed with Ohio State in the spring.
– Three former softball student-athletes are having a successful summer on their respective teams. Jamee Juarez (2004-07) is 8-4 in the circle for the Akron Racers of the National Professional Fastpitch league and has added a home run and four RBI for the 16-8 Racers. Kristie DeVries (2001-04) helped lead the Dutch National Team to a berth in the 2008 Olympics last month. Lauren Daykin (2006-07) has been named captain of the Australian University Team, which will compete at the World University Games next month in Thailand.
– Former members of the men’s golf team, Scott Anderson, Kevin Hall and Chris Smith made a homecoming to Scarlet Golf Course at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational July 12-15. At the Nationwide PGA Tour event, Anderson made the cut and finished tied for 56th place with a score of 8-over par 292.
– The field hockey team has added Pablo Mendoza as an assistant coach to its staff, head coach Anne Wilkinson announced July 5. Mendoza brings years of experience coaching several levels of teams in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bridgetown, Barbados. Mendoza, a native of Buenos Aires, has most recently worked in his hometown at the Northlands School as its marketing and communications director in its development department. He also was involved with the San Fernando Club for five years as their Web site creator and administrator. Earlier this spring, he worked at the Combermere School in Bridgetown as its field hockey coordinator for the Under-18, U-16 and U-14 teams as well as the head coach and coordinator of the male and female premier and Division 1 teams.
