Sports Round-Up
B aseball
(16-17 overall, 6-8 North Coast Athletic Conference [NCAC], fifth place)
Matt Burdette was named NCAC Coach of the Year after guiding Kenyon to a program-record sixteen victories. The Lords won six of their last nine games en route to posting the record, which exceeded the record of thirteen victories set in 1981 and tied in 1989.
Overall, the 1998 Lords set or tied ten records: most victories (16), highest team batting average (.302), most runs scored (204), most runs batted in (178), most runs batted in by an individual (Greg Ferrell, 31), most complete games (23), most complete games by an individual (Mitch Swaggert, 11), most pitching victories (Mitch Swaggert, 7), most pitching victories by a team (16), and most strikeouts by a staff (171).
Swaggert ranked fourth among NCAC pitchers in victories, as he finished the season with a 7-4 record en route to earning first-team all-conference honors.
All-NCAC honorees: First team, sophomore Mitch Swaggert; second team, senior John Hobson; honorable mention, seniors Mark Faust and Greg Ferrell.
NCAC Coach of the Year: Matt Burdette.
M en's basketball
(4-21 overall, 4-12 NCAC, seventh place)
It was a season of progress for a youthful men's team that emerged competitive against a schedule loaded with one challenge after another.
Three Lords finished the season ranked among the top fifteen scorers in the NCAC, led by sophomore David Houston. Houston closed the campaign as the conference's runner-up scorer, averaging 16.2 points per game. Sophomore Kesh Kesic ranked fifth, averaging 14.3 points per outing, and senior J.J. Olszowy ranked twelfth, averaging 12.0 per contest.
Houston also ranked fifth in the NCAC in field-goal accuracy, hitting on 59.6 percent of his attempts, and he ranked seventh in free-throw percentage, hitting 77.4 percent.
Junior Shaka Smart led the conference in assists, averaging 5.2 per contest. Olszowy ranked second in three-point field goals made per game (2.7), and Kesic ranked third in rebounds per game (8.2).
All-NCAC honoree: Honorable mention, sophomore David Houston.
W omen's basketball
(15-11 overall, 11-5 NCAC, second place)
After winning the conference championship for the first time ever in 1997, Kenyon returned to the court to emerge as the NCAC runner-up with a very young team that placed leaders in numerous statistical categories. Three first-year players started for the Ladies, who ranked as one of the top defensive teams in the conference. Kenyon allowed only 62.2 points per game, the third best mark in the NCAC.
Junior Karen Schell led the team in scoring, averaging 17.2 points per game, the third highest average in the conference. Sophomore Stephany Dunmyer ranked seventh among the NCAC's leading scorers, with 15.3 points each outing, and senior Laurie Douglass ranked eleventh, pumping in 11.9 points per game.
Dunmyer also led the conference in free-throw shooting acurracy (82.7 percent) and in three-point field goals made per game (2.8), while senior Sandy Isaranucheep paced the league in three-point shooting accuracy (40.5 percent). Schell was the conference leader in rebounding (10.8 per game), and Douglass led the NCAC in steals (3.6 per game). Schell also ranked second in blocked shots (1.4 per game), and Dunmyer ranked second in assists (4.3 per game).
All-NCAC honorees: First team, junior Karen Schell and sophomore Stephany Dunmyer; second team, senior Laurie Douglass.
G olf
(Lords sixth in NCAC championship tournament)
Seniors Greg McCarthy and Owen Lewis placed among the top twenty individuals in the NCAC championship tournament to help the Lords to a sixth-place finish in the 1998 title event. McCarthy finished eleventh with a score of 158, while Lewis finished twentieth with a score of 168.
Overall, McCarthy paced the team through the season with an average score of 81.5 in twelve rounds of competition. Lewis ranked second for the Lords with an average of 83.7 in ten rounds, while junior John Idoine was third with an average of 88.0 through ten rounds.
All-NCAC honoree: Second team, senior Greg McCarthy.
M en's lacrosse
(9-4 overall, 3-2 NCAC, third place)
Kenyon closed the 1998 season with five consecutive victories en route to recording its fifth consecutive winning season. That effort was highlighted by the final victory of the season, a 12-7 decision at the College of Wooster. It marked the three-hundredth victory in the program's fifty-one year history.
Sophomore goalie Andy Kureth emerged as the most effective goalie in the conference, ranking first in saves percentage (64.9). He allowed eighty-six goals and produced 159 saves in eleven games. He also ranked sixth nationally in Division III, leading a Lords defensive game that ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense. Kenyon allowed only eight goals per game.
Senior Chip Unruh led the NCAC in assists with twenty-five in thirteen games. He led Kenyon in scoring overall, averaging 3.07 points per outing, highlighted by five-assist efforts against Marietta College and Northwood University. Sophomore Kurt Cross ranked second in scoring by averaging 2.92 points per game, leading the Lords in goals scored with twenty-nine.
All-NCAC honorees: First team, senior Mike Collins; second team, senior Chip Unruh and junior Cory Munsterteiger; honorable mention, sophomore Kurt Cross and first-year Lord Derick Stowe.
W omen's lacrosse
(8-8 overall, 4-3 NCAC, fourth place)
Late-season victories over Earlham College and the College of Wooster helped to lift Kenyon to its most successful finish in women's lacrosse since 1993. The Ladies set or tied five individual or team records during the season.
Junior Ali Lacavaro emerged as the fourth leading scorer in the NCAC, averaging 4.44 points per game. Her totals included a league-leading sixty-six goals, a Kenyon single-season record. Lacavaro's total was just part of 246 goals scored by the Ladies, smashing the previous Kenyon record of 189 goals set in 1986. That new record included a single-game record of twenty-nine goals against Earlham, which broke the previous record of twenty-four goals scored by the Ladies against Earlham earlier in the season.
All-NCAC honorees: Second team, senior Megan Cook and juniors Sarah Colestock and Ali Lacavaro.
S oftball
(5-25 overall, 0-6 NCAC, fifth place)
Kenyon's first varsity victory in women's softball was recorded on April 25, when the Ladies defeated Notre Dame College, 3-2. Junior Kristi Kose finished the season as Kenyon's leading hitter with a .338 batting average, followed by sophomore Kassie Scherer with a .333 mark. Kose also led the team, and the NCAC, in stolen bases, with fifteen in thirty games.
All-NCAC honoree: First team, junior Kristi Kose.
M en's swimming and diving
(Lords placed first in the NCAC championship meet and first in the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] Division III meet, the latter for the nineteenth consecutive year)
See story on page 7.
All-NCAC honorees: Seniors Robin Blume-Kohout, Nathan Gardner, Ken Heis, James Hinckley, Pedro Monteiro, and Justin Thoms; juniors Michael Courtney-Brooks and Brian Kirkvold; sophomores Colby Genrich, Mike Holter, and Jeremy Weinman; first-year Lords Lloyd Baron, Jessen Book, Brett Holcomb, and Tom Rushton.
NCAC Swimmer of the Year: Monteiro.
NCAC Swimming Coach of the Year: Jim Steen.
NCAA Division III All-Americans: Seniors Blume-Kohout, Gardner, Heis, Monteiro, Torsten Seifert, and Thoms; juniors Courtney-Brooks and John Newland; sophomores Darrick Bollinger, Genrich, Holter, and Weiman; first-year Lords Baron, Josh Everett, Holcomb, and Rushton.
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees: Seifert and Thoms.
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American: Seifert and Thoms.
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year: Seifert.
W omen's swimming and diving
(Ladies placed first in the NCAC championship meet and first in the NCAA Division III championship meet, the latter for the fifteenth consecutive year)
See story on page 8.
All-NCAC honorees: Seniors Anna Drejer and Malia McGlothlin; juniors Amelia Armstrong, Laura Baker, Sarah Buntzman, Becky Sanford, Marisha Stawiski, and Katie Varda; sophomores Jenny Kozak and Becky White; first-year Ladies Erica Carroll, Michelle Englesman, Elizabeth Foy, Beth Harrod, and Nicole Watson.
NCAC Swimmer of the Year: Armstrong.
NCAC Swimming Coach of the Year: Jim Steen.
NCAA Division III All-Americans: Seniors Drejer, McGlothlin, and Rachel Schiming; juniors Armstrong, Baker, Buntzman, Stawiski, and Varda; sophomores Erin Detwiler and White; first-year Ladies Carroll, Englesman, Foy, Harrod, Neala Kendall, Anna Prichard, Sarah Steen, and Watson.
NCAA Division III Swimmer of the Year: Stawiski
M en's tennis
(17-7 overall, 6-1 NCAC, second place)
A runner-up finish in the NCAC highlighted the season for Kenyon, which compiled a winning record for the thirteenth consecutive year.
Senior Alain Hunter advanced to the individual portion of the NCAA Division III national championship tournament, but he was eliminated in the first round. He closed the year with a 16-12 record. Hunter also teamed with sophomore Tim Bearman to play first doubles and to lead the team with a 16-9 record.
All-NCAC honorees--singles: First team, senior Alain Hunter; second team, sophomore Tim Bearman.
All-NCAC honorees--doubles: First team, Hunter and Bearman.
W omen's tennis
(18-6 overall, 3-0 NCAC, first place)
See the story on page 8.
Coach Scott Thielke made his return to the Kenyon courts a successful one as he guided the Ladies to a fourteenth consecutive winning season, a fourth straight NCAC championship, and a twelfth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III national championship tournament. The team placed second in the title event, marking the fourth straight year, and the seventh in the last eight, that Kenyon has finished among the top three teams in national competition.
The Ladies did record a first in the national competition, however, as the doubles team of sophomore Caryn Cuthbert and junior Erin Hockman won the Division III championship. It was the first doubles crown for a Kenyon duo. They closed the 1998 campaign with a standout 20-2 record.
Cuthbert also finished as the national runner-up in singles, closing her season with an impressive 25-6 record. She was named the NCAC Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, becoming only the third woman in Kenyon history to repeat. Katja Zerck '93 did it in 1992 and 1993 and Lynne Schneebeck '88 did it in 1986 and 1987.
All-NCAC honorees--singles: First team, senior Ali St. Vincent, junior Erin Hockman, and sophomore Caryn Cuthbert; second team, senior Renee Brown.
All-NCAC honorees--doubles: First team, Hockman and Cuthbert.
NCAC Player of the Year: Cuthbert.
NCAC Coach of the Year: Scott Thielke.
NCAA Division III All-Americans: Hockman and Cuthbert.
I ndoor track and field
(Ladies placed sixth in the NCAC championship meet; Lords placed eighth in the NCAC championship meet )
Senior Heather Atkin and first-year Lady Erica Rall produced the highlight efforts of the championship meet for Kenyon as both women placed first in their respective events. Atkin won the NCAC indoor title in the high jump by clearing a height of five feet, two inches. Rall won the title in the triple jump with a combined leap of thirty-four feet and two and one quarter inches.
Senior Dan Denning took top honors for the Lords in the men's meet by finishing third in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:21.71. Overall, the Lords scored 29 points in the NCAC championship meet, while the Ladies scored 63.5 points in their meet.
O utdoor track and field
(Ladies placed fourth in the NCAC championship meet; Lords placed sixth in the NCAC championship meet)
Juniors Christine Breiner and Katie Varda earned individual-event championships to highlight Kenyon's efforts in the outdoor championship meet. Breiner placed first in the 3,000-meter run in an NCAC-record time of 12:00.88, while Varda placed first in the heptathlon with an NCAC-record total of 4,192 points. Varda also finished as the NCAC runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles (:15.78) and in the high jump (5-2.5)
Senior Dan Denning paced the Lords' efforts in the competition with a runner-up finish in the 10,000-meter run (32:51.69).
All-NCAC honorees: Senior Dan Denning; juniors Christine Breiner, Ryan Snyder, Katie Varda, and Crosby Wood; sophomore Maraleen Shields.
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees: Denning, Breiner, and Varda.
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American: Denning.
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