Fall sports finish strong

The fall semester at Georgia College & State University is coming to a quick close and so is the fall season of cross-country, soccer, golf and tennis.

Cross County

For men’s cross-country, the team had an uphill battle all season long. Only one runner returned from last year’s team, after losing some very talented runners. Newcomers to the team this year included Trey Bailey, Josh Reed and Joe Bence.
The team struggled this season. Two of their top finishes were at the Georgia State Collegiate Championships, where they finished tenth out of 14 teams and the Mercer University Invitational, where they finished 7th out of 10 teams.
Next year does hold promise with experience on the young team’s side.
The women’s team ran extremely well this year. They won the meet at the Francis Marion Invitational and finished in the top half of all their races.
Bethany Loushine once again put together a superior season. She came in first at the Saint Michael’s Invitational in Vermont with a time of 21:42.
Crystal Sutton ran the second fastest time in school history posting a time of 19:53 at the Peach Belt Conference Championships. Teammate Mandy Alliston finished just seconds behind when she crossed the finish line at 20:00 for the third fastest time in school history.
The women added seven new record times for the top 10 finishes in the 5K in school history.

Soccer

This was a monumental year for soccer at GC&SU. The Bobcats’ soccer team played its inaugural season competing in the Peach Belt Conference. The team played this year as a club team; therefore, none of their games counted in the standings but the experience was priceless. Next year they will be granted the full status of a Division II team and membership status in the PBC.
The team goal was to finish .500 and before their final tournament they were 4-9-1. The women did not win as many games as Head Coach Robert Parr would have liked, but he still had good things to say about the program.
“We laid a foundation for the future of the program,” Parr said. “We identified players who will be able to help us out next year and further developed players.”
He is also happy about how the team has connected and reached out to develop a fan base.
“We developed an identity among our fan base,” Parr said. “We learned some things that worked and we learned some things that didn’t work.”
Parr said that recruiting is already underway and spots on next year’s team will be very competitive.

Golf

The golf team returned six players from last year’s team but lost three-time PBC Player of the Year David Robinson. Key players who returned are seniors Brad Davis, Clay Best and Jose Medrano Martinez. The golf team was ranked 15th in the Precept NCAA Division II Coaches’ Poll but have since dropped out of the top 25.
The team got off to a slow start this season when they finished thirteenth out of 14 teams in the First Reliance Intercollegiate at The Country Club of South Carolina. The team gained momentum and it climaxed at the North Shore/Pfeiffer Intercollegiate Tournament where the team shot nine-over par to finish 7th out of 20 teams.
Carter Collins put together a consistent season where he finished in the top 23 out of five tournaments. His stroke average was quite well at 74.5.
Jose Martinez Medrano also played well but only competed in two tournaments. He finished in the top 20 in one of the tournaments. His stroke average is only 2.2 over par at 74.2.

Tennis

On the Bobcats tennis team, the men’s team returned seven players from last year’s team including Seniors Mikael Pettersson and Thomas Karlsson.
Head Coach Steve Barsby had a goal going into the fall season.
“We definitely wanted to improve on our regional ranking,” Barsby said. “We wanted to bring in guys who could push us back in there; I think we did that.”
According to Barsby, several players have had a great fall season.
“Brandon Lee stepped up and played really well, as did our two new Freshmen Rodrigo Yamauti and Marcelo Ferreira,” Barsby said.
The head coach was impressed with how Thomas Karlsson and Sao Paulo, Brazil natives Yamauti and Ferreira,competed and adjusted to collegiate play.
Brandon Lee went undefeated with a record of 7-0 in singles play and won the B Flight singles title at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament. Ferreira and Pettersson also competed well this year and finished 4-2 in singles play.
On the women’s side, the competition went very well. The highlight of the season was Luiza Biktyakova winning the singles title at the Alltel Women’s Fall Championship.
Barsby is impressed with how the team has played this season.
“We lost three girls from the top five, which really hurt us,” Barsby said. “The new girls have been doing well but still have a little inexperience. So, I think by the end of the season we will probably be close to what we were.”
The coach is also impressed with Rachel Prosz’s performance.
“Rachel Prosz did really well, even though she had some really tough draws,” he said. “She realizes now that she can do this and fill the shoes of the girls that left.”
Another highlight of the fall season was Jessica McKnight winning the consolation championship in the B draw at the ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, as well as stellar play by Rachel Porsz and Chenelle Kruger in doubles and the tandem of Jessica McKnight and Kremena Vassileva.
Barsby can see both teams growing and learning.
“The main thing you learn is how to react to pressure situations, because in the regionals, you lose and you are out of the tournament,” he said. “I noticed with our guys that we fought back a little harder, so hopefully that will continue. Our girls’ team realized that it is going to take a lot of hard work to get back on top but they showed me that they are willing to put forth that effort.”
The tennis team does not have a match until February. Over the break they will be lifting weights and conditioning to get ready for the second half of the season.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 21 2003. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry