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January 30, 2007

Football Gazette names two Miners to All-America squad

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Ashton Gronewold

The University of Missouri-Rolla football team has had two of its players selected to Football Gazette's All-America team for the 2006 season.

Wide receiver Ashton Gronewold picked up his third All-America award as he was chosen to the third team, while quarterback Joe Winters was named honorable mention after his record-breaking season with the Miners.

Gronewold shared the league's "Offensive Player of the Year" award with Central State running back Derrick Moss after breaking 12 school records over the course of the fall. Among the records he established were his receiving marks of 78 catches for 1,120 yards and for all-purpose yards with 1,788.

He also broke the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and set new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Winters, meanwhile, broke the Miner single-season marks for passing yards with 3,724 and total offense with 3,731, a mark that leads NCAA Division II. In his first season at UMR, the graduate student headed up the Miner passing game that also ranks first in the nation at the end of regular season play and was named as the "Offensive Player of the Year" for the year by D2Football.com.

Gronewold and Winters, who were second team picks to the Football Gazette all-region team, were first-team all-conference selections by the Great Lakes Football Conference. Gronewold had already earned All-America honors this season from the Associated Press and D2Football.com as he has been named All-America for the second straight year.

The Miners finished the 2006 season with a record of 6-5.

January 29, 2007

UMR announces schedule for inaugural volleyball season

The first volleyball season at the University of Missouri-Rolla will get underway August 24 as the Lady Miner head coach Jason Holt has released the 2007 schedule.

The team's first appearance before the home audience will be in an intrasquad scrimmage on Monday, August 20 before the Lady Miners head to Memphis, Tenn., to play their first official games.

UMR's first match will take place in a two-day classic hosted by Christian Brothers University, as the Lady Miners will face Belhaven College in their first match on the morning of August 24. The Lady Miners will play four games over two days to open the season, including matches against defending Gulf South Western Division champion Harding and host Christian Brothers.

The Lady Miners will play in another two-day classic at Colorado School of Mines over Labor Day weekend and then play at Washburn Sept. 4 before playing in front of their home fans in a regular season contest for the first time on Friday, Sept. 7 when they open Great Lakes Valley Conference play against Drury. UMR will also play Rockhurst, one of the top teams in the GLVC, the following afternoon.

UMR will have 12 home matches as part of its 34-game regular season schedule. The home slate includes a pair of three-game weekends, one taking place Sept. 14-15 when the Lady Miners host Southern Indiana, Pittsburg State and Southwest Baptist. UMR will also play at home on three consecutive days in early October when it faces Saint Joseph's, Northern Kentucky and Indianapolis.

The Lady Miners will also host defending regular season champion Southern Illinois Edwardsville as part of Homecoming weekend at UMR. UMR and SIUE will face off on the night of Friday, Oct. 19, then the Lady Miners will host Quincy in a 5:30 p.m. match on Oct. 20 after the UMR football game earlier in the day.

Besides the two early season classics UMR will take part in, the team will also face six of the 10 schools in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in non-conference play, including matches at Central Missouri (Oct. 16), Emporia State and Truman State (Nov. 3).

2007 Lady Miner volleyball schedule

2007 Lady Miner volleyball signings.

January 28, 2007

Last second basket sends Miners to tough loss

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Yamani Ball

The Miners had a difficult time in containing David Ward in the second half Saturday afternoon. And when it came to winning time at the end of the game, it was Ward who came up with the game-winning play.

The Missouri-St. Louis forward scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half, including a go-ahead layup with 1.8 seconds to go, to send the Miners to a 78-76 loss on Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The loss dropped the Miners to 2-9 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play and 7-12 overall.

Buoyed by the largest home crowd of the season, the Miners came out flying Saturday as they raced to a 29-12 lead just over ten minutes into play. Yamani Ball's fast break layup at the 9:56 mark gave UMR a 17-point lead as it made 12 of its first 21 shots of the game.

However, the Rivermen rebounded from that early run and scored 11 straight points to get to within six, then drew to as close as one before the half ended. A basket by Ball with 44 seconds left in the half gave the Miners a 36-32 lead at the intermission.

UMR sustained that lead for much of the second half, going up by as many as nine at 66-57 on two free throws by Tyrone Davidson with 6:43 left. But a 13-0 run by the Rivermen put the Miners into a deficit for the first time in the game.

Ward hit two free throws with 4:06 left to tie and then give the Rivermen their first lead at 67-66, then a three-pointer by Brett Ledbetter on UMSL's next trip made it a four-point game. Later in the stretch run, Ledbetter made two free throws with 1:37 to go to make the score 74-70 before the Miners staged a rally to tie it.

UMSL had the four-point lead and the ball, but Owain Hall made a steal and was fouled going down the floor; the foul was ruled as intentional and Hall made both free throws to cut the lead in half. But moments later, Octavious Hawkins made a steal and a breakaway dunk to make it 76-72.

The Miners came right back as Shea Wiemann hit a driving layup and was fouled. Wiemann missed the ensuing free throw and Ward got the board for UMSL, but missed the front end of a one-and-one . The Miners came down quickly and Ball hit a short jumper in the lane to tie it with 24 seconds on the clock.

With the shot clock turned off, the Rivermen (8-10, 3-7 GLVC) played for the last shot and Ledbetter, who had 13 of his 18 points after halftime, drove into the lane and dumped it off to an open Ward for the game-winner with 1.8 seconds to play.

Ball finished the game by tying his career high with 25 points, while Davidson had 15 points and Hall had 14. UMR had only nine turnovers in the game, but shot just 40 percent (to UMSL's 50 percent) and were outrebounded by a 44-33 margin.

UMR will open a three-game stretch away from home Thursday at Kentucky Wesleyan. Game time will be at 7:30 p.m. in Owensboro, Ky.

Lady Miners turn over UMSL to gain needed GLVC win

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Nicole Dierking

It was only fitting that with a sizeable group in the stands -- whose job it is to defend the country -- that the Lady Miners would take the cue and use defense to pick up a key Great Lakes Valley Conference victory Saturday afternoon.

UMR held Missouri-St. Louis to 51 points on the day and came away with a 66-51 win over the Riverwomen on Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. It got the win with its defense, forcing UMSL into 20 turnovers, allowing just four offensive rebounds and scoring 24 points off the UMSL mistakes.

After allowing an early basket to Jennifer Martin, UMR scored 11 of the next 13 points and took an 11-4 lead on a jumper by Tamara McCaskill at the 13:34 mark. The Lady Miners maintained a lead around the double figure mark for the rest of the half and held a seven-point lead of 29-22 at the intermission despite shooting just 33 percent in the first half.

UMR got its lead back into double figures again on a three-point basket by Chism McEntire with 14:26 to go, but the Riverwomen made a 9-2 run to get the margin down to five again. UMSL trailed 47-42 with just under eight minutes to go, but a jumper from the corner by Nicole Dierking got the lead back out to seven again.

From that point, the Lady Miners were able to keep the lead at a comfortable margin and then pulled away for their biggest lead of the day in the final minutes. Leading 56-48, UMR scored 10 straight points, including the last seven as the direct result of UMSL turnovers.

Four of UMR's five starters finished in double figures with Dierking leading the way with 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. McCaskill had 13 points, while McEntire finished with 12 and Katie Bunge with 10. The only starter that didn't reach double figures was Jaime Forsberg, but she had a good stat line with eight points, three assists and five steals.

UMSL (5-12, 1-9 GLVC) was led by Martin with 14 points as she was the only Riverwoman in double figures.

The Lady Miners (11-8, 4-7 GLVC) head to the road for their next three contests, starting Thursday at Kentucky Wesleyan.

January 27, 2007

Swimmers close dual meet season with win at Truman

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- The UMR swimming team closed out its dual meet season in winning fashion Friday night, winning 11 of the 13 events in a 119-81 win over Truman State University.

UMR had the winning performance in each of the first 11 events and had the best times in the other two events that they swam as exhibitions.

The Miners' winning performances included two wins from Matt Hug, as he took first in the 200-freestyle in 1:42.68 and later in the 500-freestyle with a time of 4:39.41.

Other firsts came from Andrew Trowbridge in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:45.73, Chris Scheuber in the 50-freestyle in 21.54 seconds, Matt Adams in the 200-individual medley in 1:58.89, Brian Howell in the 200-butterfly in 2:00.58, Mark Chamberlain in the 100-freestyle in 47.88 seconds and Travis Stensby in the 200-backstroke in 1:54.98.

Matt Hammond had the best time in the 200-breaststroke as he finished in 2:09.34, while David Calcara had a time of 2:10.90 and Bill Gaul a mark of 2:13.33 in the event.

Second place finishes were recorded by Andy Shelley in the 200-freestyle in 1:47.75, Chamberlain in the 50-freestyle in 21.72 seconds, Kyle Kammer in the 200-IM in 2:00.31 and 200-backstroke in 1:55.73, Dustin Spieker in the 200-butterfly in 2:00.75 and Trowbridge in the 500-freestyle in 4:50.53.

UMR also had a third place showing from Scheuber in the 100-freestyle as he posted a time of 49.15 seconds.

UMR's 400-medley relay team of Kammer, Calcara, Stensby and Hug won in a time of 3:30.66, while the quartet of Howell, Gaul, Adams and David Sanchez-Turner took second. The Miners also had the best time in the 400-free relay of 3:11.21 with Adams, Scheuber, Sanchez-Turner and Chamberlain recording that mark.

The Miners' next competition will take place at the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships, which begin Feb. 14 at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss.

See the Swimming World Magazine article on the "Meet of the Week"

January 25, 2007

Miner track team sits 14th in first D-II power rankings

The University of Missouri-Rolla men's track team is ranked 14th in the first power rankings of the 2007 season as conducted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

UMR, which has had competitors in three meets this season and has two individuals who have met NCAA qualifying marks, is the third-highest ranked team among those in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Lewis University is ranked third, behind Ashland and Adams State, while Southern Illinois Edwardsville is ranked ninth.

Those two schools, UMR and Saint Joseph's (No. 18) are the only GLVC schools that are ranked this week.

The Miners will be idle from competition this week and will take part in the Radio Shack Invitational at Missouri Southern on Feb. 2-3.

NCAA Division II Men's Power Rankings (Jan. 24, 2007)
1. Ashland (Ohio)
2. Adams State (Colo.)
3. Lewis (Ill.)
4. Northwest Missouri State
5. Tiffin (Ohio)
6. Western State (Colo.)
7. Fort Hays State (Kan.)
8. Shippensburg (Pa.)
9. Southern Illinois Edwardsville
10. Massachusetts-Lowell
11. Wayne State (Neb.)
12. Indiana (Pa.)
13. East Stroudsburg (Pa.)
14. Missouri-Rolla
15. Hillsdale (Mich.)
16. Central Missouri
17. West Chester (Pa.)
18. Saint Joseph's (Ind.)
19. Wheeling Jesuit (W.Va.)
20. Northern State (S.D.)
21. Chadron State (Neb.)
22. Western Washington
23. Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.)
24. Kentucky State
25. Clayton State (Ga.)

Lady Miners win in a breeze over Lindenwood

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Maggie Thompson

The Lady Miners took a breather from Great Lakes Valley Conference play Wednesday night -- and the game they played turned into an breeze for them.

UMR posted its largest margin of victory this season as it rolled to an 84-49 victory over Lindenwood at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Every player except for one scored in the tenth win of the season for the Lady Miners.

The Lady Lions hung around with UMR for the first eight minutes of play, then UMR ran off an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to build a 20-point lead with 6:50 to go in the half. During that point in the first half, the Lady Miners held Lindenwood without a field goal from the 12:33 mark when the score was 13-9 until 5:13 remained in the opening half.

UMR shot 47 percent in the first half and had good balance in the scoring column as four players had at least six points apiece. In addition, the Lady Miners held the Lady Lions to 33.3 percent from the floor and forced 15 turnovers that led to 14 UMR points.

The Lady Miners led 44-20 at halftime, then outscored Lindenwood 17-2 over the first seven-plus minutes of the second half to put the game well out of reach.

UMR came into the contest with a significant size advantage and made the most of it, scoring 44 points in the paint to Lindenwood's 16 and getting 13 second chance points in the contest. UMR also outrebounded the Lady Lions by a 46-27 margin.

Tamara McCaskill led the Lady Miners with 14 points on the night while Katie Bunge had 13; both players had eight rebounds apiece to lead the way. UMR also got 10 points from Maggie Thompson, as the Lady Miner bench got significant playing time and scored 47 of UMR's 84 points on the night.

Lindenwood (7-12) was led by Ashley Comer with 15 points. The Lady Lions shot only 28 percent for the game and scored nearly half of their points -- 24 of their 49 -- at the free throw line.

UMR (10-8) will host Missouri-St. Louis on Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day Saturday at 1 p.m. All fans with a military identification card will be admitted free of charge to Saturday's doubleheader as the men's team will play UMSL at 3 p.m.

January 24, 2007

UMR to host Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day Saturday

The University of Missouri-Rolla will welcome the soldiers serving our country to the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building Saturday as part of Fort Leonard Wood Appreciation Day when the UMR basketball teams play host to the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

All individuals with military identification cards will admitted free to the doubleheader with UMSL which will begin with the women’s game at 1 p.m.

A group of at least 200 soldiers are expected to come to Rolla from Fort Leonard Wood for the games. Among the contingent representing the base will be Major General William McCoy, who will be appearing at his first public event since taking the commander’s post at Fort Leonard Wood.

Major General McCoy, who most recently served as the commander of the Gulf Region Division of the Corps of Engineers in Baghdad, Iraq, will be honored alongside UMR Chancellor Jack Carney as will the soldiers during the halftime intermissions of both games Saturday.

“This is a day in which we want to recognize the courageous men and women of Fort Leonard Wood and all of those who are or have served our country,” said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. “UMR is proud of the outstanding relationship with Fort Leonard Wood and we encourage the Rolla and campus communities to come out and show their support.”

The servicemen coming to the game will include international soldiers from 11 countries. UMR’s branch of the Air Force ROTC will present the colors prior to both games Saturday.

Miners fall to Mighty Oaks in final moments

OAKLAND CITY, Ind. – The Miners were able to keep Chad Miller in check for much of the second half, but Oakland City’s senior guard came up with the big shot down the stretch to win the game for the Mighty Oaks.

Miller nailed a three-pointer with 18 seconds to go, giving OCU a 63-59 win over UMR Tuesday night.

UMR held leads at various points in the first half, but the Oaks outscored the Miners 14-7 over a stretch of eight minutes to take a seven-point lead at 27-20.

Justin Taylor hit a pair of three-pointers to get the Miners closer, then a put-back by Joe Shardo got the Miners to within one at 29-28 with eight seconds left in the half. However, Miller hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Oaks into the locker room with a four-point lead.

Oakland City carried that momentum into the start of the second half, scoring the first eight points to go up by 12. Mervyn Clarke’s dunk after a steal made it 40-28, but Clarke was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim.

UMR scored four straight points immediately after the technical, but after the Oaks pushed the lead back out to 11, the Miners rattled off 11 unanswered points and tied the game at 43 on Shea Wiemann’s tip-in with 11:33 to go.

Keegan Carmony ended the run by connecting on a baby hook in the lane with under ten minutes left, giving the Oaks the lead back. It also started a six-point by OCU that made it 49-43 before UMR scored the next five points.

A three-point basket by Eric Sanders got the margin back to four with less than six minutes to play, then the Miners got to within two on a driving layup by Yamani Ball with 3:42 left. However, after the Miners nearly made a steal, Carmony hit a three with a second left on the shot clock to push OCU’s lead to five.

Sanders made it a seven-point game by making two free throws with 2:02 on the clock, then UMR got a tip-in from Shardo and a steal in the backcourt, but Ball missed a runner in the lane that could have brought the Miners to within three.

UMR got a couple of more chances moments later, but missed three chances to make it a one-possession game. However, another turnover by the Oaks gave UMR another opportunity, which the Miners took advantage of to tie the game.

First, Shardo hit a long three-pointer to draw the Miners to within two, then after the Oaks couldn’t get the ball in-bounds, Dan Kieres was fouled and hit two free throws to tie it with 51 seconds left.

But at the other end, Miller got free and knocked down a three from the wing with 18 seconds left and four on the shot clock to give the Oaks the lead back. Taylor missed a shot at the other end and Carmony made one of two at the line for the final margin.

Shardo led the Miners (7-11) with 15 points, while Taylor and Wiemann finished with 12 points apiece. Miller, who had 16 points in the first half, led all scorers with 21 points.

UMR will host Missouri-St. Louis Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

January 21, 2007

Miner swimmers win Washington U. meet once again

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Kyle Kammer

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Miner swimming team has a long winning streak going at the Washington University Invitational -- and its 200-point victory this weekend extended that run of wins in the annual January meet.

UMR added eight first place finishes Saturday -- including completing a sweep of the relays -- to the six it won Friday to finish with a total of 957 points, exactly 200 ahead of Washington University's total of 757.

Matt Hug won the 500-yard freestyle as he finished just under six seconds in front of teammate Andrew Trowbridge, recording a time of 4:37.78 to Trowbridge's 4:43.03. Hug added a win in the 1,650-freestyle Saturday in a time of 16:00.32, while Travis Stensby was a double winner as well by taking a pair of events on day two. Stensby won the 100-backstroke in 51.85 seconds and later took first in the 100-butterfly in 51.69 seconds.

Matt Adams also came away with a win in the 100-yard breaststroke with a mark of exactly one minute as UMR claimed the first four spots in that event with the those four finishing barely over a second apart. Brian Howell took first as well in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.80 as did Chris Scheuber in the 50-freestyle with a winning mark of 21.28 seconds and Matt Hammond in the 200-breaststroke in 2:09.36.

Kyle Kammer had a winning performance in the 200-backstroke in 1:54.76 and then took second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:58.93, while runner-up finishes were also recorded by David Calcara also took second in the 100-breaststroke in 1:00.17, Dustin Spieker in the 200-backstroke in 1:58.56, Trowbridge in the 1,650-free in 16:01.91, Adams in the 100-butterfly in 52.39 and Rory Swift in the 100-backstroke in 55.64 seconds.

Third place showings came from Spieker in the 200-IM in 2:02.29 and 400-IM in 4:18.34, Bill Gaul in the 100-breaststroke in 1:00.64, Mark Chamberlain in the 100-freestyle in 48.20 seconds and the 200-free in 1:47.88, Calcara in the 200-breaststroke in 2:11.53 and Hug in the 200-butterfly in 1:59.74.

Hammond had fourth place finishes in the 100-breaststroke in 1:01.01 and 100-backstroke in 56.30 as did Swift in the 200-backstroke in 2:02.17 and the 50-freestyle in 22.01. Kammer took fourth in the 200-freestyle in 1:48.51 and Calcara in the 400-IM in 4:18.53, while Chamberlain came in fifth in the 200-individual medley along with Howell in the 400-individual medley in 4:18.70.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the Miner team of Stensby, Gaul, Adams and Scheuber won the event in a time of 1:35.48, while the 800-freestyle relay quartet of Hug, Chamberlain, Adams and Kammer won with a time of 7:04.80 to win that relay by six seconds.

The results in the relays were just as good for the Miners Saturday with wins in the 400-medley, 200-freestyle and 400-freestyle events.

The 400-medley group of Kammer, Calcara, Stensby and Chamberlain won in 3:28.08, then the 200-free relay team of Chamberlain, Scheuber, Kammer and Adams finished first in 1:24.73. The 400-freestyle team of Hug, Adams, Chamberlain and Scheuber completed the relay sweep by posting a win by nearly three seconds in that event with a time of 3:10.31.

UMR will compete in a dual meet at Truman State Friday in Kirksville, Mo., which will be its final meet prior to the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships that begin Feb. 14.

Complete results

No. 15 Lewis answers Lady Miner rally to claim victory

The Lady Miners erased a 14-point deficit to take a lead against Lewis Saturday afternoon at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, but the 15th-ranked Flyers had an answer to that to get out of town with a victory.

After UMR had taken a 77-76 lead with just over four minutes to play, the Flyers scored the final 15 points of the game and took a 91-77 victory to prevent the Lady Miners from gaining any ground in the GLVC playoff race.

UMR trailed 58-44 after a basket by Darcee Schmidt with 15:47 to play and still trailed by nine at the 12:02 mark after another basket by the game's leading scorer. But thanks to some strong inside play by Katie Bunge and Tamara McCaskill and the three-point shooting of Chism McEntire, UMR started knocking the margin down and finally passed the Flyers on a three by McEntire with 7:21 to go to give the Lady Miners their first lead since the 6:08 mark in the first half.

Lewis regained a three-point lead at the free throw line before UMR got its final lead of the contest on back-to-back baskets by Maggie Thompson, the latter one a foul line jumper that gave UMR a 77-76 lead with 4:17 to go.

Jenna Mooberry drove the baseline for a layup on Lewis' next trip down the floor to get the advantage back for Lewis, then the Lady Miners went ice cold on the offensive end. UMR missed its final eight shots as the Flyers (15-2, 8-1 GLVC) were able to pull away for their ninth straight win.

The first half was a scoring battle between UMR's Nicole Dierking and the Lewis' triumvirate of Schmidt, Mary Moskal and Kelly Dianis. Dierking, who had 21 points in the second half of UMR's win over the Flyers in the GLVC Tournament last March, scored 18 in the first half and hit all five of her three-point attempts.

But on the other side, Dianis was four-of-six from three-point range and had 16 points, while Schmidt and Moskal combined for 21 more. Lewis finished the half by shooting 65.4 percent from the floor and outscored UMR 19-7 over the final 5:27 of the half to build a 49-38 halftime lead.

Schmidt finished with 30 points in the game and Moskal added 20 to lead the Flyers. Despite not scoring in the second half -- in part because of foul trouble -- Dierking still led UMR for the day with her 18 points. McCaskill finished the day with 16 and Bunge with 14.

UMR will host Lindenwood in a non-conference contest Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Flyers use strong second half to fly past Miners

There was quite a show at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building Saturday, but unfortunately for UMR fans, it didn't come from the team wearing the white uniforms.

After the home crowd was wowed by the performance of the Extreme Team during the halftime intermission, visiting Lewis managed to subdue the excitement by shooting 55.2 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored the Miners 42-24 in the final 20 minutes in a 79-59 win over UMR.

Despite shooting just 34.4 percent in the opening half, the Miners overcame an 11-point deficit to trail by just two at halftime at 37-35. But once the second half started, the Flyers outscored UMR 18-4 over the first five minutes to take a 16-point lead and never allowed the Miners to get any closer than 14 for the duration of the contest.

Lewis jumped out to an 15-4 lead before the Miners started finding the mark from the field. UMR missed eight of its first 10 shots before Tyrone Davidson's basket at the 14:31 mark started a 10-1 Miner spurt to draw the team to within two.

The Flyers maintained the lead, however, throughout the half and got it out to nine again at 32-23 before the Miners outscored them 12-5 to finish the half down by two. Yamani Ball's two free throws with 22 seconds to play before halftime trimmed the margin to that point.

Lewis came out and scored the first seven points of the second half, then after Shea Wiemann followed up a Marquis Jones miss with a basket for the Miners' first points of the half, scored 11 of the next 13 and took a 16-point lead at 55-39 on Stephan Bolt's lay-in with 15:10 to play.

The Flyers' (10-7, 5-4 GLVC) advantage grew to as many as 26 points in the second half with most of the damage being done by either Bolt (26 points and 14 rebounds) or Jason Genova (24 points and five three-pointers), who combined to scored 50 of Lewis' 79 points on the afternoon.

UMR had four players in double figures, with Owain Hall leading the way with a career-high 15 points. UMR also got 12 points from Ball, 11 from Wiemann and 10 from Davidson as it dropped to 7-10 overall and 2-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Miners finished the afternoon shooting just 31.1 percent from the field.

UMR will return to action with a non-conference game Tuesday at Oakland City. Game time will be at 7 p.m. in Oakland City, Ind.

January 20, 2007

Winning performance lands Smith automatic NCAA mark

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Tyrone Smith

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Chances were good that Tyrone Smith was going to get to make a trip to Boston in March to compete for the NCAA Division II championship in the long jump, but on Friday night he made certain that he will be boarding a plane to the east coast at the end of the indoor track season.

Smith won the long jump at the Razorback Invitational at the University of Arkansas with a leap of 25-2 3/4 that surpassed the automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships. Smith edged Daryl Reeves, representing Real Deal Track Club by hitting the mark on his fifth jump of the night.

Also at Arkansas on Friday, Lucas Handley finished eighth in the pole vault with a mark of 15-5, the same height cleared by Jordan Henry as he finished 11th in the standings. Stuart Denson finished 15th in the long jump with a mark of 21-7 1/4, while Ian Packard recorded a time of 22.37 in the 200-meters.

Packard also competed in the 400-meters Saturday and finished his race in a time of 50.46 seconds, while Charles Melton ran a time of 7.25 seconds in the 60-meter dash.

UMR also had a contingent of competitors at the Central Missouri State Invitational in Warrensburg on Friday night and gained a provisional qualifier along the way.

Freshman Jarryd Dean finished in the high jump with a clearance of 6-8 3/4 that made the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard. Matt Bartels also had a third place finish in the 600-yard run in 1:16.29 and competed in the high jump where he took eighth at 6-0 3/4. UMR also got a third from Logan MacCash in the pole vault as he cleared 13-1 1/2.

Dean added a fourth place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 45-11 3/4 and Joffroi Holcombe finished fourth in the 3,000-meters with a time of 9:00.50.

UMR's highest finish in an event came from Chris Carsten in the shot put as he made a throw of 48-6 3/4. He also ended up seventh in the weight throw with a mark of 47-3.

Jesse Scott took fifth in the 400-meters with a time of 52.95 seconds, while Matt Osmond was sixth in the 800-meters in 2:01.57 as was Kurt Schauwecker in the 3,000-meters in 9:11.54, Steve Berg in the 60-meter hurdles as he posted a time of 9.03 and Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump at 43-10.

UMR got seventh place showings from Paul Roland in the 800-meters in a time of 2:03.17, Kyle Williams in the 60-hurdles in 9.02 (missing the finals by 0.02 seconds),

Bryan Hogan finished eighth in the 400-meters in 54.04, a spot ahead of Brandon Marchegiani who had a time of 54.10. Nicholas Windhorst finished ninth in the high jump at 5-10 3/4, while Andrew Conrad finished tenth in the 800-meters in 2:05.25 as did Chris Murray in the 3,000 in 9:16.99.

UMR's 4x440-yard relay team of Osmond, Scott, Bartels and Roland finished third with a time of 3:34.35.

UMR will have several competing again at Arkansas on Saturday before taking next week off from competition. The Miners will return to the track Feb. 2 at Missouri Southern.

Results from Arkansas
Men's results from Central Missouri

Hahn tops school record in winning pole vault effort

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Taylor Hahn

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Taylor Hahn recorded the highest clearance ever for a Lady Miner in the pole vault Friday night as she won the event to highlight the UMR performances in the Central Missouri State Invitational.

Hahn cleared the bar at 10-8, the best mark ever either indoors or outdoors in school history. Her mark was six inches better than the mark of 10-2 posted by teammate Jamie Statler, who finished second in the event. Hahn has the outdoor school record in the pole vault of 10-6, which was the previous top mark in the event.

Kierra Handley had a second place effort as well in the 800-meters with a time of 2:29.50, while Kylee Hyzer claimed third in the 3,000-meters with a time of 11:05.31 and Sarah Zaremba finished fifth in the pole vault with a clearance of 9-8.

Freshman Katie Bruce took fifth in two events Friday, doing so in the 200-meters with a mark of 26.82 seconds and then in the 400-meters in 1:01.78. Meanwhile, fellow freshman Megan Rodenburg made the finals of the 60-meter hurdles and took sixth in the event with a time of 10.72 seconds.

UMR got an seventh place finish from Hannah Terwelp in the weight throw at 40-2 1/4 -- she also took eighth in the shot put with a throw of 33-11 1/4 -- while Hillary Griffith took ninth in the 400-meters in 1:04.82 and later finished 11th in the 200-meters when she crossed the line in 27.43. Laura Ruf also took ninth in the 3,000 in 11:56.03.

Kendra Lewis took 10th in the 200-meters in 27.35 seconds and also finished 11th in the 60-meter dash in 8.30. Jocelyn Bailey also had a 10th-place finish in the 400-meters in 1:05.63.

UMR's 4x440-yard relay team of Bruce, Handley, Lewis and Griffith came in fourth place with a time of 4:17.06.

On Saturday, Wendy Moore had a seventh place finish in the 800-meters at the Razorback Invitational at the University of Arkansas, posting a time of 2:21.95.

The Lady Miners as a team will be idle until Feb. 2 when they compete in the Radio Shack Invitational at Missouri Southern.

Results from Arkansas
Women's results from Central Missouri

January 19, 2007

UMR to host pole vault camp January 27

The University of Missouri-Rolla track and field teams will host a pole vault camp on Saturday, Jan. 27 in the Student Recreation Center on campus.

The camp will run from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. and those participating will need to bring their own poles and shoes; no spiked shoes will be allowed for use. The camp is designed to develop fundamental skills for pole vaulting and to learn a proper drill series to improve technique.

For an enrollment form for the camp, click here.

Miners come away winners in shootout against Rangers

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Yamani Ball

Dale Martin knew coming into Thursday's game that the Miners were going to need to get the score into at least the 80s to beat a talented Wisconsin-Parkside team -- and they ended up doing a little better than that.

The Miners needed every point they could muster to win a wild 97-92 decision over the Rangers at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building to get their second victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. UMR shot 59.6 percent from the floor and was able to hold off UW-Parkside in the second half despite several serious runs at the Miner lead.

The Rangers had an early 12-6 lead in the contest, but the Miners bounced back and scored the next six points to tie the game. UW-Parkside regained the lead at 19-17 on a layup by Kyle Clark at the 9:59 mark, but the Miners scored the next nine points to take the lead for good.

UMR took a 10-point lead at 40-30 on a three-pointer by Tyrone Davidson with 3:02 to go in the half and took its biggest lead of the period into the locker room on a pair of free throws by Joe Shardo with 35 seconds to play.

The Miners built their lead to 14 at 58-44 on a lay-in by Shea Wiemann at the 16:18 mark, but the Rangers then rattled off 13 of the next 15 points in a span of three minutes to close to within three at 60-57.

UMR pushed its advantage back out to seven when Owain Hall made three free throws, but six straight Parkside points drew the visitors to within one. The Rangers answered UMR points with points of their own on two straight possessions, but a pair of baskets by Wiemann got the Miners a five-point lead at 78-73 with 6:36 to play.

The Rangers wouldn't go away, however, and got to within a point again at 83-82 and had a chance to take the lead, but Tyrone Deacon -- who scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half -- missed a shot in the lane. UMR countered by getting a three-pointer at the other end from Marquis Jones to go back up by four.

One more time, the Rangers trimmed the margin to one at 90-89 with 1:43 to play, but Wiemann tipped in a missed three-point shot by Justin Taylor to make it a three-point game. After Clark made one of two at the line for Parkside, Yamani Ball drilled a three-pointer to give UMR a five-point lead.

Tyrone Davidson iced the win by making two free throws with 15 seconds to play.

Ball led a five-player contingent in double figures with 25 points, while Jones had 14 including four of UMR's 14 three-point baskets. UMR also got 12 points from Davidson and 10 apiece from Wiemann, Taylor (who also had six assists) and Shardo off the bench. The Miners outscored the Rangers 26-11 from the bench in the game.

Clark led the Rangers (13-6, 4-4 GLVC) with 26 points.

UMR (7-9, 2-7 GLVC) will host Lewis Saturday in a 3 p.m. game. It will be Forum Dental Day at UMR and the Extreme Team will perform at halftime of both games of the doubleheader.

Lady Miners get defensive to snap losing streak

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Katie McElrath

The Lady Miners got tougher on the defensive end and on the boards in the first half -- then let the offense finish the job after the intermission to claim a 69-52 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory Thursday night over Wisconsin-Parkside at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

UMR ended a four-game losing streak by holding the Rangers to 38.8 percent shooting from the floor, including a 30.4 percent mark in the opening half to take a 26-21 lead into the locker room.

Then in the second half, the Lady Miners outscored UW-Parkside 21-8 over the first 7:21 to take an 18-point lead and never looked back.

UMR never trailed in the contest and took the lead for good on Nicole Dierking's basket 1:03 into play to take a 4-2 lead. The Lady Miners built their lead up to as many as eight on four different occasions in the first 20 minutes, the last at 19-11 on a basket by Katie McElrath.

The Lady Miners had the five-point lead at halftime and then made a 7-0 run early in the second half to take their first double figure lead of the contest. A free throw by Jaime Forsberg at the 16:30 mark gave UMR a 35-25 lead.

UMR took its biggest lead of the game at 18 on a give-and-go play from Katie Bunge to Nicole Dierking to make it 47-2 and had two other leads that reached the 18-point mark in the second half.

For the game, the Lady Miners shot 51.7 percent and were good on 61.3 percent (19-of-31) of their attempts in the second half. UMR also outrebounded the Rangers (11-5, 4-4 GLVC) by a 35-29 margin.

Bunge and Dierking led UMR with 12 points apiece, while Forsberg had 11 points and McElrath finished with 10. Becca Kueny had 10 rebounds to pace the Lady Miners, who gained their first win since prior to New Year's.

UW-Parkside's Ashley Ferguson led all scorers with 25 points.

UMR, 9-7 overall and 3-6 in GLVC play, will host No. 15-ranked Lewis Saturday at 1 p.m.

January 14, 2007

Knights' first half shooting enough to send Miners to defeat

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Justin Taylor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Miners couldn’t slow down a hot shooting team in the first half and that ended up proving costly in their hopes of gaining a split on the weekend road trip.

Bellarmine scorched the nets at a 55.2 percent clip in the opening half and went on to record an 85-72 win over the Miners Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Knights Hall.

The Knights got off to a bit of a slow start against the Miner defense, as UMR led for most of the first eight minutes of the contest. But after Marquis Jones hit two free throws at the 11:37 mark to tie the score, Bellarmine rattled off 13 straight points to take a 29-16 lead with 8:11 to go in the half.

Bellarmine’s advantage never shrunk below double figures after that run, but the Miners came out in the second half and scored seven of the first nine points to get to within 12 on a three-point basket by Justin Taylor.

However, the Knights responded by outscoring UMR 23-10 over the next nine minutes to put the game out of reach.

The Miners were led in scoring by Yamani Ball with 22 points, while Taylor, who did not start the game, scored 13 points in 21 minutes of action. UMR shot 39.3 percent for the game as they fell for the fourth straight time.

After the Knights’ big first half, the Miners held them to under 40 percent from the field after the intermission.

UMR (6-9, 1-7 GLVC) will host Wisconsin-Parkside Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Comeback efforts fall short for Lady Miners at Bellarmine

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Tamara McCaskill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Lady Miners allowed a 14-0 run to Bellarmine early in the game and never caught up from that as they dropped their fourth straight game Saturday afternoon by the score of 74-68 at Knights Hall.

UMR grabbed the early lead on a basket by Katie Bunge, but the Knights scored the next 14 points to take a 12-point lead by the 13:08 mark. The Bellarmine lead was still 12 at 20-8 midway through the first half, but the Lady Miners clawed back into the game and got the margin down to five at 25-20 on Maggie Thompson’s layup with just under two minutes left in the half.

Bellarmine led 31-23 at the half and pushed its lead back into double figures early in the second half before UMR went on a run that put it right back in the game.

The Knights led 47-40 with exactly 14 minutes to play, then UMR outscored Bellarmine 7-2 over the next 1:25 and drew to within two on a layup by Nicole Dierking. UMR then had a chance to get the game tied on its next trip down the floor, but a missed shot followed by a turnover led to a three-pointer by Denasha Mondy that gave the Knights a five-point advantage.

UMR closed to within two again at 60-58 when Jaime Forsberg drove down the floor for a layup with 5:30 left, but baskets by Ashley Lewallen and Mondy got the BU lead back to six.

McCaskill made a lay-in with 3:53 to go to make it 64-60, then UMR got a defensive stop and a chance to draw closer, but a turnover in the backcourt allowed the Knights to get back to the free throw line – when they scored their final 10 points to put the game away.

McCaskill led the Lady Miners (8-7, 2-6 Great Lakes Valley Conference) with 17 points, while UMR had three others in double figures in Bunge with 13 points, Dierking with 11 and Jennifer Pena with 10.

UMR shot 44.6 percent from the field on the afternoon, but connected on just four of its 14 attempts from three-point range.

The Lady Miners will host Wisconsin-Parkside Thursday in a 5:30 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

January 13, 2007

Smith makes provisional qualifying mark in season opener

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Tyrone Smith

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Tyrone Smith picked up right where he left off last season, passing the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark Friday night in the long jump at the University of Missouri Invitational.

Smith had a top jump of 24-2 1/2 overall as he took second place in the event to the man who topped him at the national meets last year, Lincoln’s Wilbert Walker. Walker jumped 24-3 1/2 to win the meet.

The Miners also got strong showings from their pole vaulters, as four of them finished among the top seven overall. Jordan Henry had the top finish in fourth place as he cleared 15-1, while Jared Anders, Peter Hollenbeck and Lucas Handley all came in right behind Henry with clearances of 15-1 as well.

Jarryd Dean, who busy in his first meet at the collegiate level as he competed in three events in his top finish in the triple jump as he finished fifth with a mark of 44-6 3/4. UMR had the sixth-place finisher in the event in Kyle Williams (44-5 1/2) and seventh-place finisher as well in Kal-El Waters-Jones with a mark of 43-9.

UMR also got a sixth-place effort from Charles Melton in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.03 seconds in the finals, from Ian Packard in the 200-meters with a time of 22.86 and Chris Teel in the 1,000-meter run in 2:45.49.

The Miners had three in the top eight in the 200, with Melton taking seventh in 22.94 and Ryan Vessell coming in eighth place in 22.96 seconds.

UMR also got a seventh place finish from Andrew Conrad in the 1,000 as he posted a time of 2:45.80, an eighth from Stuart Denson in the long jump with a mark of 21-2 and a ninth-place showing from Chris Carsten in the weight throw with a mark of 47-6 1/4; Carsten also took 11th in the shot put with a top mark of 43-9 1/4.

Joffroi Holcombe finished 10th in the 3,000-meters in a shade over nine minutes at 9:00.16, as did Kyle Williams in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.97 seconds.

UMR’s 4x400-meter relay team of Matt Osmond, Matt Bartels, Paul Roland and Jesse Scott posted a time of 3:31.62 in that event.

UMR will compete next weekend at Central Missouri and will also send selected individuals to the University of Arkansas.

Complete results

Lady Miners open track season at Mizzou

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Taylor Hahn

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The UMR women’s track team opened its 2007 campaign Friday night with four finishes among the top 10 in their respective events at the University of Missouri Invitational.

The top finishes for the Lady Miners Friday came from their field event competitors, led by pole vaultlers Taylor Hahn and Jamie Statler as each of them cleared the 10-foot mark to tie for sixth in the final standings.

Wendy Moore finished eighth in the 800-meters as she recorded a time of 2:23.87, while Kylee Hyzer came in tenth place in the 3,000-meters in 11:05.91.

UMR’s 4x400-meter relay team of Moore, Kierra Handley, Katie Bruce and Hillary Griffith took fourth place with a time of 4:06.98.

Griffith, competing in her first meet for the Lady Miners, took 11th in the 200-meters in a time of 26.99. She also posted a time of 8.18 seconds in the 60-meters. Handley also had an 11th-place effort in the 800-meters with a time of 1:37.94.

One school record was set by the Lady Miners at the meet, as freshman Hannah Terwelp set the mark in the weight throw with a toss of 42-11 3/4.

UMR will compete next weekend at Central Missouri and will also send selected individuals to the University of Arkansas.

Complete results

January 12, 2007

Miners fall short on road at Northern Kentucky

HGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- IA game effort by the Miners fell short Thursday night as Northern Kentucky held off UMR 81-73 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Miners and Norse went toe-to-toe throughout the first half with the lead changing hands 12 times in the first 20 minutes. UMR had as much as a five-point lead on two occasions, the last at 21-16 when Marquis Jones hit two free throws at the 7:06 mark.

NKU rallied and turned the game into a seesaw battle for the rest of the half, but UMR got the final points of the period on a jumper by Justin Taylor and led 35-34 at the intermission.

Casey Noll’s basket 17 seconds into the second half gave UMR a 37-34 lead and the Miners still led 40-38 at the 16:55 mark after Noll made the first of two free throws. However, the Norse made a 15-5 run to take a 53-45 lead with 11:16 remaining.

UMR scored eight of the next 10 points – five of them by Joe Shardo – to trim the NKU lead to four at 55-51. But after Yamani Ball’s basket got the Miners to within four, Kevin Schappell converted a four-point play on the Norse’s next trip down the floor to double the lead.

The Miners were able to get the margin down to four in the final minute as Shardo connected on three shots from long range in that time, but the Norse made 12 of their final 14 free throws to hold off UMR.

Shardo, who made 10-of-12 from the field and five-of-seven from three-point land, led the Miners with a career-high 25 points. UMR also got 17 points from Ball and 10 from Taylor as it dropped to 6-8 overall and 1-6 in GLVC play.

The Miners will play at Bellarmine, a 73-53 winner over Missouri-St. Louis, Saturday at 2:15 p.m. (Central time).

Poor shooting sends Lady Miners to loss at NKU

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- The first game of the Lady Miners’ swing through the state of Kentucky didn’t go very well, as UMR shot just 32.8 percent and suffered a 72-51 loss at Northern Kentucky Thursday night.

UMR had a 6-4 lead on a layup by Nicole Dierking at the 16:50 mark of the first half, but didn’t score again until there was 6:48 on the clock when Emily Petrea hit a three-pointer. The drought prevented the Lady Miners from taking advantage of NKU’s struggles from the field during that stretch, although the Norse was able to build a 10-point lead in that time.

After Petrea’s three-pointer, Maggie Thompson made a steal and layup under the NKU basket to cut the lead to five at 16-11. UMR got to within four at 19-15 on a basket by Katie Bunge with 4:48 to go in the half, but the Lady Miners scored just one more basket over the balance of the half and found themselves staring at a 30-17 deficit at the intermission.

UMR was able to close to within seven on a basket by Bunge four minutes into the second half, but the Norse then rattled off 16 of the next 22 points to go up by 17 at 48-31 on a three-point play by Brittany Winner at the 11:33 mark.

The closest UMR got after that point was 14.

No Lady Miner scored in double figures in the game, as four players finished with eight points apiece. UMR got that total from Bunge, Dierking, Petrea and Tamara McCaskill in a game where it made just 20 of its 61 field goal attempts and three three-point shots in 16 attempts.

UMR (8-6, 2-5 Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play at Bellarmine Saturday at noon (Central time). The Knights beat Missouri-St. Louis 67-49 Thursday night.

January 11, 2007

Hug earns national award from CollegeSwimming.com

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Matt Hug

Matt Hug, a junior on the University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team, has been named as the national swimmer of the week for NCAA Division II by CollegeSwimming.com for his performance over the past weekend.

At the University of Indianapolis Invitational, which the Miners won by a sizeable margin as a team, Hug won three freestyle events. He claimed first in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:42.85, the 500-freestyle in 4:39.71 and the 1,650-yard free in 16:16.94.

All three of the times were under the NCAA Division II B-cut standard, but Hug has already qualifed automatically for the national meet that will take place in March in Buffalo, N.Y.

It is the second time in Hug's career that he has won the weekly award from CollegeSwimming.com, as he was also honored during his freshman year at UMR.

Pair of Miners selected to Football Gazette all-region squad

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Joe Winters

Two members of the University of Missouri-Rolla football team have been named to Football Gazette's all-region team for the 2006 season.

Ashton Gronewold, who has already earned a pair of All-America honors already in this post-season, was chosen to the second team at wide receiver as was quarterback Joe Winters.

Gronewold shared the league's "Offensive Player of the Year" award with Central State running back Derrick Moss after breaking 12 school records over the course of the fall. Among the records he established were his receiving marks of 78 catches for 1,120 yards and for all-purpose yards with 1,788.

He also broke the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and set new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Winters, meanwhile, broke the Miner single-season marks for passing yards with 3,724 and total offense with 3,731, a mark that leads NCAA Division II. In his first season at UMR, the graduate student headed up the Miner passing game that also ranks first in the nation at the end of regular season play and was named as the "Offensive Player of the Year" for the year by D2Football.com.

Gronewold and Winters were first-team all-conference selections by the Great Lakes Football Conference. Gronewold has also earned All-America honors this season from the Associated Press and D2Football.com.

The Miners finished the 2006 season with a record of 6-5.

January 09, 2007

Extreme Team to perform at UMR on January 20

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ROLLA, Mo. – The Extreme Team, a high-flying team of acrobatic dunkers, will return to the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building as part of Forum Dental Day when the UMR basketball teams play host to Lewis University on Saturday, Jan. 20.

The group once known as the Bud Light Daredevils when they performed at UMR home games in the past, will have shows during the halftime intermissions of both games of the doubleheader that afternoon. The women’s game that day will be the first meeting between UMR and Lewis since the Lady Miners beat the Flyers in the opening round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament last March.

Game time for the basketball doubleheader will be 1 p.m.

Forum Dental is one of the platinum level members of the UMR Corporate Club.

More information on the Extreme Team is available on the internet at http://www.class-act.com/dunk/index.asp.

January 08, 2007

Gronewold earns All-America honor from D2Football.com

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Ashton Gronewold

After being named to one All-America team prior to Christmas, Ashton Gronewold has added a second honors in the early days of the new year.

The junior wide receiver from Carthage, Ill., was named to D2Football.com’s All-America squad as an honorable mention selection after being selected last month to the Associated Press Little All-America second team for the 2006 campaign.

In a season where he established a number of UMR records, Gronewold shared the Great Lakes Football Conference's "Offensive Player of the Year" award with Central State running back Derrick Moss after breaking 12 school records over the course of the fall. Among the records he established were his receiving marks of 78 catches for 1,120 yards and for all-purpose yards with 1,788.

He also broke the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and set new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Gronewold was a first-team selection to the GLFC team as well as D2Football.com's all-independents squad. He was also chosen to the Daktronics All-Southwest region first team in 2006 after earning honorable mention All-America honors from Football Gazette following his sophomore season at UMR.

The Miners finished the 2006 season with a record of 6-5.


January 07, 2007

Swimmers roll to meet victory in Indianapolis

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Travis Stensby

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The Miner swimming team recorded 11 first place finishes over the weekend and grabbed a decisive victory in the University of Indianapolis Invitational.

The winning performances on an individual basis Friday came from Matt Hug in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.85 and the 1650-freestyle in 16:16.94 and from Travis Stensby in the 100-butterfly in 51.61 seconds. Saturday's winners included Hug in the 500-freestyle in 4:39.71, Stensby in the 200-backstroke in 1:54.95, Matt Hammond in the 400-individual medley in 4:14.44, Mark Chamberlain in the 100-freestyle in 47.60.

UMR also had the winning team in the 400-yard medley relay as Kyle Kammer, Matt Adams, Stensby and David Sanchez-Turner posted a time of 3:31.01 as well as the 200-freestyle relay with Chris Scheuber, Chamberlain, Adams and Sanchez-Turner posting a winning time of 1:26.01.

The Miners then claimed two relay titles Saturday as the 800-freestyle team of Andrew Trowbridge, Chamberlain, Kammer and Hug won in a time of 7:04.43 and the 200-medley relay group of Kammer, Adams, Stensby and Schueber won in 1:36.42

David Calcara took second in the 100-breaststroke in 59.51 seconds, along with Kammer in the 100-backstroke in 53.50 and 200-back in 1:56.78, Chamberlain in the 50-freestyle in 21.77, Adams in the 200-individual medley in 1:58.74 and 400-IM in 4:15.98, Trowbridge in the 1650-freestyle in 16:18.50 and Scheuber in the 100-free in 47.90. UMR's 400-freestyle relay team of Sanchez-Turner, Scheuber, Hug and Chamberlain also came in second in 3:11.36.

Third place showings came from Chamberlain in the 200-freestyle in 1:46.14, Scheuber in the 100-fly in 53.10 and the 50-free in 21.78, Trowbridge in the 500-freestyle in 4:45.15, Calcara in the 200-breaststroke in 2:09.70, Adams in the 200-butterfly in 1:59.70 and Dustin Spieker in the 400-IM in 4:16.16.

UMR's 400-medley relay team of Spieker, Calcara, Paul Reinisch and Hammond also came in third as it reached the wall in 3:37.42.

Brian Howell took fourth in the 100-butterfly in 53.19, 200-butterfly in 2:00.47 and the 400-IM in 4:17 flat, as did Hammond in the 100-breaststroke in 1:01.30 and 200-breaststroke in 2:11. Fifth place finishes were recorded by Reinisch in the 100-butterfly, Bill Gaul in the 100- and 200-breaststroke, Sanchez-Turner in the 50- and 100-freestyle, Trowbridge in the 400-IM and Rory Swift in the 200-backstroke.

UMR scored 905 points in the two-day meet, nearly double of the total of 474.5 posted by the host school and the 466.5 scored by Ashland.

The Miners' next competition will take place at the Washington University Invitational Jan. 19 and 20 in St. Louis.

Complete results from Indianapolis: Day 1/Day 2

Miners fall to 12th-ranked Quincy

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Casey Noll

The Miners played on fairly even terms with 12th-ranked Quincy University for much of the first half Saturday night, but the Hawks got rolling in the second half and made a decisive run that led to an 86-79 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

UMR never held the lead in the game, but was tied with the Hawks at 22 on a basket by Casey Noll with 5:46 to play in the opening half. The Miners were still down by just one after a Joe Shardo three-pointer with 4:03 on the clock, but the Hawks outscored UMR 8-2 to finish the half with a 36-29 lead.

Quincy proceeded to turn on the burners when the second half started, outscoring UMR 25-10 over the first 8:23 of the half to build its biggest lead of the night of 22 points. The Hawks were able to maintain that double-figure lead until the final minute of play, when UMR made a late-game surge to cut the margin down to its final mark of seven.

UMR held the Hawks, the 13th-best field goal shooting team in NCAA Division II, to 34.2 percent in the opening half. Quincy (12-2, 5-1 GLVC) ended up making 58.3 percent after the intermission to finish at 43.5 percent on the night. UMR, meanwhile, finished at 44.8 percent and did outrebound the Hawks by one. However, 21 turnovers by the Miners led to 27 Quincy points.

The Miners had five players in double figures, led by Noll with 19 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Justin Taylor finished with 13 points and five assists for UMR, while Marquis Jones had 12 and Yamani Ball and Shardo ended up with 10 apiece. Quincy's Ryan Walker led all scorers with 25 points.

UMR (6-7, 1-5 GLVC) will play at Northern Kentucky (8-4, 2-3 GLVC) Thursday at 6:45 p.m. (Central time).

Another lead slips away from UMR in loss to Hawks

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Nicole Dierking

The Lady MIners seemed to have Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference game against Quincy University in their control, leading by nine with just over 14 minutes t