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Year in Review ~ AMCC Champ
Women’s Cross Country
The 2004 women’s cross country team and AMCC Champions
By Brooke Dodds
from the Nov. 5 issue
The women’s cross-country team
captured the AMCC Championship title
last Saturday when the cross-country
teams traveled to Frostburg State
University for AMCC Championships
meet. The blue and white faced tough
competition from schools such as Penn
State Altoona, Pitt-Greensburg, Mt.
Aloysius, La Roche, Medaille, Lake
Eric, Pitt-Bradford, Frostburg State and
Hilbert.
On the women’s side, they earned 19
points for a first place finish, giving the
Lions the 2004 AMCC Championship
title they fiercely fought for. Penn State
Altoona earned 50 points for a second
place finish and Pitt-Greensburg fin
ished third with 113 points.
Taking the first place finish was our
very own Jessica Knapp who also
tabbed this week’s Runner of the Week
honors. As senior captain of the
women’s team this year, she helped set
the standard. Knapp blew away the
competition covering the soggy 6K
course at Western Maryland 4-H in a
time of 25:01.
“I am proud that our girls team has
come together and was so successful,”
said Knapp. “We are building a
Behrend Cross Country dynasty under
Coach Cooper.”
Sophomore Leslie Gentile took the
By Jenna O’Block
from the Oct. 15 issue
The golf team just had their last match of the season at
Pine Acres Golf Course in Bradford. Pitt Bradford was the
host of the AMCC men’s championship. There were only
five guys that played in the AMCC championship. Josh
Loaney, Josh Hull, Kevin Grignol, Jeff Black and Tom
Omer. Josh Lot
vidual medalilst. After a sudden death
away with runner’s-up honors. Kev :
80, Josh Hull recorded an 82, "
Jeff Black carded an 88.
The others who -
Pagliari, Dan
Kevin Thieman
contributed to the successful season that the golf team had
“These guys have come along way,” said assistant coach
Bowen. “Their hard work and dedication paid off in bring
ing home the AMCC title.”
“It was very exciting to get a win down in Bradford to
cap of an outstanding year for Behrend Golf,” said sopho
more Josh Hull majoring in MIS.
This year the blue and white has had one of the most suc
cessful years in team history. “It was also nice to get this
win for our co-captains Jeff Black and Anthony Pagliri,
who will be leaving us at the end of spring semester on such
a positive note to end their athletic career, and I am proud
to help them achieve their goal of winning AMCC’s,” said
By Jenna O’Block
from the Oct. 22 issue
This past Sat. the team played in the
AMCC Tournament Title, and won the
first four AMCC championships in
1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. They had
wins in six single flights; two of three
were double flights. The team has
improved a lot between last year and this
year, and has got some new strong play
ers that helped the team to do very well
this season.
“Our freshman played well all year
which was a great boost,” said Coach
Barger. “I see good things for this group
if we can keep them together. We play
well as a team and everyone gets along
which makes it a lot more enjoyable.”
The team won almost all of their match
es and also won the AMCC tournament.
runner’s up place with a time of 25:57 in
the women’s individual category.
Senior Claire Manelick finished fifth
with a time of 27:29, sophomore Willa
Paterson came in sixth place with a time
of 27:39 and finally freshman Leisl
Soergel finished in 28:46.
“1 think that everyone did a great job
on Saturday. It was a hard course, but
we dug down and finished where we
wanted to,” said Manelick. “All the
hard work that we’ve put in since this
summer has paid off. “
Head Coach Dave Cooper and
Assistant Coach Greg Cooper have
done a great job in preparing the team
for the AMCC Championships and now
they are preparing for the NCAA
Regional race at Allegheny College,
which is slated to take place November
13.
The men took a second place finish,
not being able to bump Frostburg State
out of their top spot. Frostburg earned
25 points, Penn State Behrend scored 33
points and Penn State Altoona came in
third with 89 points. Behrend’s top run
ner was sophomore Brad Ruffo. He
came in second place out of fifty male
runners with a time of 29:01 on the 8K
course.
Freshman Eric Diluzio came in fourth
place with a time of 29:42.00 and soph
omore Craig Davis followed closely
coming in sixth with a time of 29:54.
Men’s Golf
Women’s Tennis
“I don’t think that has ever been done
before,” said sophomore Jenna
Yankowski who plays number 5 singles
and 3 doubles for the tennis team.
“Along with having a very strong team,
all of the players got along really well
which helped us to do even better.”
The first three Players of the Week out
of five weeks were also from Behrend,
which was Jenna Yankowski, Allison
Mudrey, and Mindy Calvert. Freshman
Allison Mudrey has been named the
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate
Conference tennis athlete of the week.
The Lions took first place in each divi
sion, except at first doubles where we
took second.
“That was a disappointment to go
undefeated all year and then to lose in
the finals, but Mindy and I will get it
Senior Tim Schultheis took 10th place
at 30:13 with teammates Harry Balwick
and Andy Marshall coming in directly
behind him to take the 11^ 1 and
spots, respectively.
“Our team this year is the closest knit
team I’ve ever been on, and we are the
best Men’s Cross Country team
Behrend has ever had, said junior Brent
Beauseigneur. “We are looking to place
in the top ten at Regionals in two weeks
which a men’s team has never accom
plished.”
“We put our heart and souls into it
and nobody should feel bad about their
performances,” said senior Mike
Barlett. “It is really nice to be in a con
ference where there is this tight rivalry
among teams, especially between
Behrend and Frostburg, because it
makes people hungry for a win.”
This marks only the second time in
school history that the Behrend women
have won AMCC’s, once in 2001 and
now in 2004. Knapp has taken three
AMCC first place finishes during her
stellar career, in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
The Runner of the Year, Rookie of the
Year, and Coach of the Year awards will
be announced later this week. Knapp
was predicted to keep her title as
Runner of the Year again this season
and with her first place performance
many would say this was the right pre
diction.
“I credit and send out my thanks to each individual on
this team for making it the most successful season in
Behrend golf history,” said senior Jeff Black, MIS major.
This year the team had six new freshmen, and two of
them have played in every match.
“This year my co-captain Jeff Black and I were excited
always do
the best we could at the matches, while constantly working
to improve our game,” said freshman Hilary Neal,
Mechanical Engineering major. “We had a fun season, and
we hope to recruit a couple more girls for the spring!”
The other women who played are Shelly Leonard and
Brittany Gray. Shelly Leonard placed first in the Pitt
Greensburg tournament reaching a milestone and became
the first woman to have a first place finish in a golf tourna
ment.
“I feel that the both teams had a good season overall.
Both the men and women teams are looking forward to the
spring season,” said assistant coach Bowen.
next year,” said Mudrey.
“I really liked coaching this team this
past season,” said Coach Barger.
“Everyone did as asked with no ques
tion. We set out to win the conference
and do well in our regional matches and
that is what we did.”
“I think that our team not only had tal
ent but we put our heart into it to get
where we ended up, which was AMCC
champions” said Freshman Shelley
Goodpastor who played 6th singles and
2nd doubles.
The blue and white played very well
all year, and the team’s final 2 matches
were against Thiel and Westminster.
They beat Thiel 9-0 and Westminster 6-
3. All of the girls got to play against
Thiel which was nice for the seniors.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
ce major.
a blast this year. It was the most
competition.”
;fing f or Behrend has been
Black. “It’s a great
and be honored
Men’s Basketball
By Kyle Woodside
from the March 4 issue
Men’s basketball lost Thursday
evening to Lebanon Valley in the
first round of the NCAA tournament.
The 71-53 loss comes after Behrend
defeated Lake Erie and Pitt-
Greensburg to win the AMCC title.
According to D3Hoops.com, the
Lions were a huge underdog even
though they were a higher seed than
Lake Erie. Behrend was referred to
as “a group of very average players
at best” who can't shut down Lake
Erie point guard Reggie Richardson.
This mockery of the Lions seemed to
get them fired up instead of getting
to their heads.
In a very tight ballgame, Behrend
prevailed, 56-55. Both teams were
struggling to find the bottom of the
net, but the Lions managed to find a
way to pull it out with senior Tom
Lulich making a clutch layup with 3
seconds left in the game.
Senior Jared Clough scored 17
points to lead the way for Behrend.
Senior Cam Mascara continued to be
a strong force of late off the bench by
adding nine points. Senior Joe Lucas
also had nine points.
Behrend managed to take Lake
Erie’s best player, Richardson, by
storm (no pun intended). He only
Senior Tom Lulich
Beacon I
April 29.2005
ions
managed to score three points in 37
minutes
The Lions were probably under
dogs the next night also because they
had to face the number one seeded
Pitt-Greensburg squad on their home
court. After trailing by 10 points at
halftime, things looked bleak for
Behrend. However, they managed a
way to claw their way back into the
game and win 52-49.
On a night that no Behrend starter
scored in double digits, the bench
decided to show why they could
probably start for any other AMCC
squad. Mascara, who continued his
impersonation of Andl’s “Half Man.
Half Amazing,” scored 16 points.
Freshman Kevin Buczynski, who has
also been hot of late, chipped in with
10 points and three blocks.
Behrend was able to shut down
AMCC Player of the Year, Kevin
Conlon, who played the whole game
only scored six points and grabbed
three rebounds.
D3hoops.com did not given
Behrend a chance in the Thursday
night game. The opponents proved
D3hoops.com right after Lebanon
Valley took Behrend out of NCAA
play. J.B. Byers scored 31 points in
against the Lions which lead to the
Lebabon Valley win and an end to
the Lions’ season.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO