2006 Spring Sports In Review

July 14, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Horizon League student-athletes excelled both on and off the field of play this spring, earning numerous individual and team honors.

Eight championships were held with Butler University (men's tennis and women's golf) and Youngstown State University (women's outdoor track and field and softball) taking home two League crowns apiece. The University of Illinois at Chicago captured its tenth straight women's tennis title, while Cleveland State University won its first men's golf championship since 1998. In men's outdoor track and field, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee earned top honors for the third consecutive season and Wright State University represented the League in the 2006 NCAA Baseball Tournament after winning the loop's crown.

For the third consecutive year, UW-Milwaukee received the James J. McCafferty Trophy, recognizing the school as the All-Sports Champion of the Horizon League. The award is given annually and honors McCafferty, who served as the League's first commissioner from 1979-80.

In the classroom, five student-athletes earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America distinction. UIC senior Sara O'Mara earned a spot on the second team and Youngstown State graduate-student Jarrod Davis was named a first-team honoree in track and field. YSU senior Brandon Capien was honored on the baseball second team, while the Cleveland State duo of Grace Luginbuhl (first team) and J.J. Thornberry (third team) both garnered spots on the softball squads. The 2006 Spring Academic All-League selections featured the most student-athletes from Youngstown State (18), while the University of Detroit Mercy had the second-most honored (15).

Golf

Cleveland State claimed its first Horizon League Men's Golf Championship since 1998 at Plum Creek Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. The Vikings (six under par) edged Youngstown State by five strokes, 858-863, to earn the League's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Golf Tournament.

Viking junior Mike Rutgers led the tournament with three holes to play as five players were within two strokes of the lead. Rutgers (-5) could not hang on to the individual lead, however, and finished one stroke behind Wright State junior Brandon Knutson (-6) and Butler senior Will Turner. Knutson would defeat Turner in a four-hole playoff to claim medalist honors. The playoff was the third in the history of the tournament.

Lauren Showers defeated older sister Lynnsey Showers in the first playoff hole and Butler cruised to a 19-stroke victory to capture the Horizon League Women's Golf Championship for the second straight year. Butler established new tournament standards with its final-round 302 score and 936 composite.

Tennis

Different year, same story at the 2006 Horizon League Men's & Women's Tennis Championships, with both the Butler men and UIC women repeating as Horizon League champions.

The Bulldogs, who entered the championship as the number-one seed, defeated No. 2 UIC, 4-1, to earn their fifth consecutive title, while the UIC women claimed their tenth consecutive crown by defeating Butler, 4-1.

Men's Player of the Year Tim Prudlow finished the regular season with an 11-16 overall record at No. 1 singles, leading the Phoenix to the third seed in the championship. For the second straight year, the Horizon League Men's Tennis Newcomer of the Year honors were claimed by Wright State, with freshman Nicolas Camilleri earning the 2006 award after posting a 4-1 record in League singles and going a perfect 4-0 at doubles.

On the women's side, Annie Moore excelled at No. 1 singles, earning both the Athlete of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards. Moore compiled a 24-11 ledger, setting a Detroit rookie record for victories.

Outdoor Track and Field

The UW-Milwaukee men and Youngstown State women successfully defended their 2005 titles at the 2006 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Penguins tallied 216 points to hold off UWM in second with 205, while the Panther men scored 243 points en route to the title.

The UWM men had nine first-place finishes at the championship, including the 100m dash (Trentin Edwards, 10.78), 200m dash (Edwards, 21.54), 800m run (Jeremy Majors, 1:53.03), 110m hurdles (Adam Schleis, 14.60), 400m hurdles (Justin Bohler, 55.60), 3000m steeplechase (Josh Nygren, 9:29.21), 4x400 relay (3:19.64), long jump (Schleis, 6.99m) and triple jump (Sean Cludy, 14.43m).

For the women, YSU posted seven top finishes -- 100m dash (Danielle Bolt, 11.94), 100m hurdles (Satara Freeman, 14.35), 4x100 relay (46.93), 4x400 relay (3:55.18), shot put (Bethany Anderson, 13.50m), discus (Katy Williams, 41.22m) and hammer (Anderson, 52.08m).

Softball

Youngstown State rolled through the Horizon League summit and into the NCAA Tournament behind the bat of League Tournament MVP McKenzie Bedra. The sophomore designated player went 7-for-10 with five home runs and nine RBI in the four games. Junior Karlie Burnell also helped the Penguins' cause with four victories, while senior shortstop Tiffany Patteson went out with a bang - a walk-off, solo home run in the championship game.

The final regular season standings saw the top three teams - UIC (14-6), Cleveland State (14-7) and Detroit (13-7) - separated by just one game. The Flames swept Wright State over the final weekend of the season to claim the top seed entering the postseason.

Detroit sophomore Kaleigh Rafter earned Player of the Year honors after breaking the Titans' single season home run record with 12 longballs, while CSU senior Grace Luginbuhl took home her second consecutive Pitcher of the Year award, going 23-11 in the circle with a 2.17 ERA and 224 strikeouts. UIC freshman Sarah Clynes nabbed Newcomer of the year accolades, posting team-best marks in wins (16) and ERA (2.44).

Baseball

Wright State slugged its way to the Horizon League championship, outscoring opponents 52-5 in four games to capture the title. The Raiders set a tournament record with 26 hits in one game and posted 23 in another to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1994, thanks in part to Pitcher of the Year Joe Smith. The right-hander saved 13 games and compiled a 0.60 earned-run average before becoming a third-round draft choice of the New York Mets.

UW-Milwaukee's Mike Goetz earned First-Team All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association after leading the nation with a .493 batting average and .579 on-base percentage. The League Player of the Year, Goetz also set school single-season records for hits (111), doubles (23), total bases (155) and walks (41). UIC's Zach Peterson won the League's Pitching Triple Crown (nine victories, a 2.42 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 108 innings), while teammate Bart Babineaux paced the circuit with his 18 homers and school-record 65 runs batted in. The Flames raced to the regular-season League title with a 22-7 loop mark but could not sustain that momentum in the League Championship.

Academic Honors

In recognition of success in the classroom by its participants, the Horizon League honored 505 student-athletes as members of the 2006 Spring Academic Honor Roll.

Butler and UW-Milwaukee led the list with 67 honorees apiece, followed by UW-Green Bay with 60 and Youngstown State with 58. Loyola and Wright State each placed 53 student-athletes on the list---followed closely by Detroit (52)---while UIC and Cleveland State boasted 49 and 46 representatives, respectively.

The League also honored 86 student-athletes from eight sports on the 2006 Spring Academic All-Horizon League teams. Youngstown State topped the charts with 18 selections, followed by Detroit (15) and Butler (13). Cleveland State featured ten honorees, with Loyola and Wright State each boasting eight. UIC and UW-Milwaukee each received five awards, with UW-Green Bay claiming four.

The student-athletes' academic performance was not only recognized by the Horizon League. Five spots on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America teams were handed out to spring-sport participants - Youngstown State senior catcher Brandon Caipen (second team), Cleveland State senior softball teammates Grace Luginbuhl (first team) and J.J. Thornberry (third team), UIC senior thrower Sara O'Mara (second team) and Youngstown State senior thrower Jarrod Davis (first team).

Both Loyola and Detroit earned distinction as U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Teams. The teams named to the list had cumulative grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher. Loyola's men's team compiled a cumulative 3.0 GPA, while the women's squad posted a 3.20 GPA. The Titan men posted a 3.19 team GPA, while the women qualified with a 3.14 GPA.

Track and field wasn't the only sport to have team's recognized for their academic achievement. Wright State, UW-Milwaukee, Butler and UIC all qualified for the top 30 best grade-point averages in all Division I swimming and diving programs in the country during the 2005-06 season, as announced by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). WSU's women's team placed the highest with an overall GPA of 3.57, tying for fourth-best in the nation.