GCSU takes second place at nationals

    A group of students hailing from a small liberal arts college known as GCSU, with an undergraduate enrollment slightly over 5,000 was undaunted by schools boasting numbers of 15,000, 20,000, or even 30,000 students, beating them into submission during the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association flag football championship, held Jan. 3 through 5 in Dallas, Texas.
    Whiteout, GCSU’s current intramural flag football champion, received an invitation to compete in the national tournament after defeating the University of Georgia for the 2007 state championship, held in November.
    The members of Whiteout, all GCSU juniors and seniors, arrived in Fort Worth, Texas on Jan. 2 to represent their school, their pride and the state of Georgia.
    For Ryan Erwin, a GCSU senior history major, this week would become one of his fondest college memories.
    “The most fun I’ve had in college has been playing with Whiteout,” Erwin said. “Being on this team, which are my closest friends, has been awesome.”
    As the week progressed, word quickly spread throughout the tournament that an unknown school was piling up the wins, and the points, with a high-flying style that many GCSU flag football teams are already aware of.
    Whiteout made it all the way to the national championship game, narrowly losing on a last second play to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 18-13.
    “It’s great that they’re representing our name (GCSU) around the country,” Matthew Hopkins, a GCSU graduate student, said. “Not many people outside of Georgia have ever heard of GCSU.”
    UNC Charlotte repeated as the national champion. Whiteout, to its disadvantage, was forced to play eight games, the tournament’s high, due to an early loss to Arizona State University and the seeding of the playoff brackets. Already missing two players due to injury, Whiteout faced an experienced team that had only played five games prior to the championship and boasted a roster of 14 players.
    “We were probably the least experienced team, and to do as well as we did says something,” Bert Rosenberg, GCSU’s intramural director said.
    Rosenberg hopes that the success of Whiteout, the first GCSU flag football team to ever participate at the national level, will bring increased awareness to GCSU’s intramural program, both on campus and across the state.
    “I hope this encourages intramural participants to compete hard and carry on the tradition that Whiteout has laid down,” Rosenberg said.
    GCSU made a significant contribution to the Whiteout team, covering the airfare for each individual player. The opportunity was created through the efforts of GCSU’s Student Government Association and Dr. Bruce Harshbarger.
    “Runner-up is extremely hard to get at your first year playing in nationals,” Rosenberg said. “They did a great job and represented the campus well.”
    The national runner-up trophy is currently being displayed on the third floor of the Student Activities Center. In the meantime, Whiteout will graduate the majority of its players this May, leaving room for another GCSU intramural dynasty to begin.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 18 2008. 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