BEHREND BEACON YEAR IN REVIEW
A look back at the stories that define the 2009-2010 academic year at Penn State Behrend
(ALL STORIES PRINTED WITH AUTHOR, THEIR STAFF TITLE AT THE TIME AT WHICH THE ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, AND DATE THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE SEKUND BEACON.)
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Swimming and Diving take fourth consecutive AMCC title
The men's and women's swimming
and diving teams blew away their
competition last weekend at the Grove
City College Invitational for the 2010
AMCC titles. The team won its fourth
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
Harmilee Cousin has provided leadership and stability to the team all year.
r•i I)1 0.1 •1 1 , 4,‘l3SEti
Reaching new heights at Disney
ALEC ITALIANO
sports editor
January 29, 2010
Short skirts were flying high
in Orlando, FL over winter
break as the Behrend cheer
leaders competed in their first
collegiate event in more than
five years.
The first Penn State Behrend
co-ed traveling cheerleading
squad made its way down south
for the UCA College Cheerlead
ing National Championships
over the winter break.
This was the first time
Behrend has sent cheerleaders
down to this championship in
seven years and was the only
time men accompanied the
team.
"Up until October, our two
men (T.J. Banas and Zachary
Eritz) had never been cheer
leaders before," said coach
Elysia Tomlinson. "This was
truly an eye-opening experi
ence for the entire team."
Coach Tomlinson led the
Athletes
of the Week
Sport
Kevin Gorny X Country
Brooke Gallentine Volleyball
Dustin Walker Soccer
Joe Nelson Golf
Jacob Bernstein Water Polo
Karen Hobaugh Tennis
Kayla Frost - Soccer
Ryan Banks Soccer
Andy lams X Country
Lance Sabol Soccer
Chris Saltzman Basketball
Kelly Nowacinski Basketball
Adam Kaiser Basketball
Russ Conley Basketball
Taylor Lotis Basketball
Steve Graves Diving
Anne Lawerence Swimming
Danielle Wilson Swimming
Jenna Fatica Track
Ronson Mazany Track
Krystal Kovach Diving
Shane Mosier Tennis
Josh Fyffe Baseball
Elliot Blackstone Tennis
Kessi Osborne Softball
Jenna Zeyfang Water Polo
Dustin Dubesky Baseball
Stefania Pontillo Water Polo
KAYLA BISHOP
consecutive AMCC title
"They're deserving of this from a
combination of factors: their strength
as a team, supporting each other, as
well as the hard work that they put in
throughout the season," said head
coach Jen Wallace.
staff writer
February 26, 2010
The Behrend men's team finished
with 385 points, out-swimming Penn
squad to Disney's Wide World
of Sports Arena just outside of
Orlando to compete with top
ranked teams from all over the
country.
Behrend competed in the
small co-ed Division 11, which
included 13 teams in the na
tional level. The top eight teams
from that level moved on to the
finals.
"This was an opportunity for
us to show off our best stunts,
cheers, dancing and gymnastic
moves that we have," said co
captain Danielle Budziszewski.
"Plus, with the guys we could
do a lot more impressive stuff.
Even though they had limited
experience, they jumped right
into it."
Behrend cheerleaders sadly
did not make finals, missing the
score needed to advance by a
mere five points.
"We performed very well at
Nationals, but we did not make
it into finals." Tomlinson said.
"Our division was extremely
tough, though, this year."
Week
September 11
September 18
September 25
October 2
October 9
October 16
October 23
October 30
November 6
November 13
November 23
November 30
December 14
January 4
January 11
January 18
January 25
February 1
February 12
February 19
February 26
March 19
March 26
April 1
April 9
April 16
April 23
April 29
State Altoona (148), Frostburg State
University (130), and University of
Pitt-Bradford (114).
The women's team shared the suc
cess with 336 points over Penn State
Altoona (152), University of Pitt-Brad
ford (122), and Frostburg State Uni
versity (108).
"Their domination in the water ex
ceeded their expectations," Wallace
said. "Within the AMCC, they did over
and above what we asked of them."
The women 200-yard freestyle relay
event initiated the final meet. Katie
Van Epps, Hilary MacManus, Julie
Cook, and Danielle Wilson, each did
their part to place first in this event,
completing the relay in one minute
and 44.62 seconds.
The Behrend men also placed first
in this event. Frank Sullivan, Clay Al
temose, Everett Sargent, and Dane
Dombrosky finished the relay with a
time of 1:26.80.
Wilson finished the 500-yard
Freestyle event in 5:42.06 earning the
women's team seven points. In the
same men's event, Dombrosky took
first place, earning the Lions nine
points and completing the event with
a time of 4:55.43.
In the 200-yard individual medley,
the Lady Lions claimed first through
fourth place. Anne Lawrence finished
It was a unique experience
for many cheerleaders who
made the trip, as it was the first
time many of them had been on
a plane or to Disney. Some of
them had participated in simi
lar tournaments in high school,
but had never competed at the
"This was truly an
eye-opening experi
ence for the entire
team."
Elysia Tomlinson
Cheerleading Coach
collegiate level.
"A lot of us did it in high
school, but this is the first
Behrend cheerleading squad
that competed," said co-captain
Emily Griffith.
This trip was much more
than a competition for most.
ESPN and Varsity TV both did
separate interviews for the
Men's Basketball wins ECM Tournament in D.C.
AMANDA STETZ
senior reporter
March 19, 2010
The Lions basketball team
became a part of Behrend
sport's history when they won
ECAC Divison 111 South Re
gion's Men's Basketball Cham
pionships against Alvernia
79-73, the second time the
Behrend men have won it in
the history of the program.
The ECAC
Championships "It was obvious dur- reer," Kaiser
were held at said. "I really
Catholic Univer- ing the game that we could not have
sity in Washing- asked for a bet
tion D.C. The wanted it more than ter way to end
Lions started the , it."
game right lead- the other teams in it,'
While
ing the game at Chris Saltzman Behrend had a
halftime 42-29. minor break-
When the men
returned to the
court, they were determined to
finish the game and maintain
the lead that they had in the
first half.
"In the first half we came out
and scored and with the will
that we needed to win," said
junior Chris Saltzman.
"We also shot the ball ex
tremely well in the first half and
continued that throughout the
game that was a huge part to
our success in that game. We
also played good defense."
The Lions' were capable of
doing that with senior Adam
Kaiser leading the team with 24
points in the game. Junior
Chris Saltzman was also a
team on how the squad was full
of first timers in the national
competition.
The event had the cheerlead
ers' day planned out from start
to finish and included dinner at
the Rainforest Café and at the
Epcot resort. The team was
also invited to attend the Dis
ney parade.
"While it was a whirlwind ex
perience and hardly a vacation,
it was a once-in-a-lifetime expe
rience for this Behrend team
who never would have been
able to make this happen with
out the support of the Behrend
student body and the Athletic
department," Tomlinson said.
After competing past mid
night, the Behrend squad was
able to witness many big name
teams display their finest work
which included teams such as
University of Central Florida,
Kentucky and Morehead.
The competition will be on
ESPN 2 in the spring, so keep
an eye out for fellow Behrend
students in the coming months.
standout with 17 points and five
rebounds. Freshman Russ Con
ley also contributed to the
game with 16 points and five
boards.
Fans on the Behrend side
were excited when Kaiser was
able to surpass the 1,000 point
mark in his career at Behrend
with his layup in the second
half.
"It was really nice to score
my I,oooth point in the final
game of my ca-
junior, forward down in the sec-
allowing Alvernia to narrow the
point deficit, the Lions were
still able to maintain the lead
for their win through free
throws and easy shots towards
the end of the game.
"We really came together as a
team and couldn't have got it
done without one of the people
on the team."
With the ECAC win, the
Lions are 22-8 for the 2009-
2010 season.
"It was obvious during the
game that we wanted it more
than the other teams in it,"
Saltzman said. "We are proud
to...say we won the ECAC
Championship."
with the fastest time of 2:15.80. For
the men, Ben Struck (2:04.91) took
second place.
Krystal Kovach earned first place in
the women 1-meter diving with a score
of 416.90. In the men 3-meter diving,
Steve Graves (331.95) also took first
place.
"When it comes time to compete, I
let everything go and allow my body to
have a mind of its own," Graves said.
Graves dove exceptionally well dur
ing his senior year.
"I became a lot more comfortable
and confident on the boards and it has
been a good end to my diving career."
The first place women 400-yard
medley relay team included Meghan
Stefanko, Brittany Tanilli, Anne
Lawrence, and Van Epps.
The Behrend men (Altemose,
Struck, Dombrosky, and Hunter Back
enstose) also obtained first place in
this event. The Behrend men and
women added to their first place wins
in the 200-yard Medley Relays. Ste
fanko, Cook, Lawrence, and Mac-
Manus made up the women's team.
Altemose, Strunk, Sullivan, and An
drew Opalewski represented the men.
"[Freshmen) Andrew Opalewski
and Meghan Stefanko had a stand out
meet," said Wallace. "They performed
at their peak when we needed them
rebounds. His effort wasn't enough to lead the Lions over Franciscan,
however. The upset snaps Behrend's six-game home win streak.
Additional individual wins in
clude Epps in the 400-yard individual
medley, Lawrence and Altemose in the
100-yard butterfly, Josh Weaver in the
200-yard free-style, Tanilli and Strunk
in the 100-yard breaststroke, Stefanko
in the 100-yard Backstroke, and John
Kelley in the 1650-yard freestyle.
The Behrend men's and women's
teams swept the 400-yard freestyle
and 800-yard freestyle relay events.
In the last diving events, Ko
vach earned a 453.60 in the women's
3-meter dive and Graves received a
381.85 in the men's 1-meter dive.
The Behrend divers swept the first
place seats in every diving event.
"Outside of practice, I visualize my
dives," said Graves. "I am very
pleased with how this season went."
After practicing over 15 hours per
week and swimming from 5,000-9,000
yards per day, the team was well pre
pared for the meet.
"The experience was a lot of differ
ent things from the leadership to what
to expect coming into the meet like we
were just in," Wallace said. "And how
to pull together and swim fast when
you're tired is what it's all about."
The team finishes their season antic
ipating strong results at the ECAC and
NCAA championships.
Harmilee Cousin has provided leadership and stability to the
team all year.
. oft
-ow
• ft
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
Junior forward Chris Saltzman led Behrend with ten
BEO4F t }
lor mt .
of
3