Fans who will be unable to make it to Evansville this weekend for the Lady Miner games in the GLVC Tournament will still have the opportunity to follow the team while it plays in the event.

The Great Lakes Valley Conference is providing live stats free of charge for each of the tournament games as well. Click on the link through the conference web to keep track of the games throughout the weekend.

UMR's first game in the GLVC Tournament is scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Northern Kentucky at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Ind. If UMR wins, it will play the winner of the Drury-Kentucky Wesleyan contest Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The women's championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

Posted by John Kean at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nicole Dierking and Tamara McCaskill, the top two scorers for the University of Missouri-Rolla women's basketball team during the 2006-07 season, were named today to the Great Lakes Valley Conference's all-conference team as honorable mention selections.

McCaskill, a sophomore from Edwardsville, Ill., leads the Lady Miners in scoring with an average of 13.6 points per game and ranks among the conference leaders in that category and in several others. She is pulling down 5.9 rebounds a contest -- second on the Lady Miners to Dierking -- while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 79.8 percent at the free throw line. McCaskill also leads UMR in blocked shots with 26.

Dierking, a senior from Alma, Mo., is scoring 12.5 points a game and is fourth in the GLVC in rebounding with 7.3 a contest. She is also among the top free throw shooters in the league at 82.4 percent. Dierking went over the 1,000-point mark for her career in January and will finish her playing career as a Lady MIner ranked among the top 10 all-time for points (she is currently sixth), rebounds and assists. She is second on the team in assists with 82.

Dierking has recorded seven double-doubles this season and owns the top scoring game for a UMR player with a 25-point showing in a win over Saint Joseph's in December. It is the second straight season in which Dierking has been named honorable mention by the GLVC.

Taylor, who hails from Webster Groves, Mo., averaged 9.4 points and a team-high 3.1 assists while starting all but one game at the point guard position for the Miners this year. He had the Miners' top scoring game of the season with a 27-point effort at Kentucky Wesleyan and owned a 1.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio during the 2006-07 season.

Posted by John Kean at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stephen Read

The Miner baseball team extended its winning streak to five games Wednesday afternoon by sweeping a doubleheader from Maryville University by scores of 4-3 and 5-1 at the UMR Baseball Field.

UMR completed the sweep Wednesday with a five-run first inning and a strong pitching performance from Stephen Read, as he threw a complete game with six hits allowed and 10 strikeouts.

Read got all the runs he needed right from the start, as the Miners batted around in the opening inning and knocked out Maryville starter Derek Strauser.

Robbie Martin’s sacrifice fly got the Miners on the board, then a bases loaded walk to Cody Bass made it 2-0. Kris Hamilton greeted Saint reliever David Wiggins with a run-scoring hit and a second run scored on the play thanks to an error. The Miners got their fifth run on a passed ball.

Read allowed only three hits through the first six innings and was one out away from a shutout when Bo Bunton’s two-out single drove in the only run for Maryville.

In the opener, the Miners fell behind 3-0 as the Saints tallied two runs in the first and a run in the second off starter Ben Sherman. UMR got two of the runs back in the bottom half of the second, as a bases loaded walk to Gerad Fox brought home the initial run and a sacrifice fly by Thomas McCormick made it a one-run game.

The Miners then tied the contest in the third when Bass singled home Eaf Redden, who had doubled with one out.

UMR reliever Andy Draper held the Saints off the scoreboard over the next three innings, in which time the Miners got the go-ahead run across the plate.

A leadoff walk to McCormick and a hit by Martin started the fifth for the Miners, but a failed sacrifice bunt led to a force out at third. Joe Montgomery followed up with a run-scoring hit to drive home Martin with the Miners’ fourth run.

Draper pitched around a two-out hit in the sixth, then Brian Rickert preserved the win for him by getting the Saints out after allowing a leadoff single.

The Miners had seven hits in the first game and five in game two.

UMR, now 5-3 on the season, will host Southwest Baptist Saturday in a doubleheader starting at noon.

Posted by John Kean at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lucas Handley

The University of Missouri-Rolla will have three representatives at next week's NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston, as the national fields were released by the NCAA.

Tyrone Smith, who finished fourth in the indoor long jump last season and second in the nation during the outdoor season, will have a return appearance in the event which will take place Friday, March 9 at 6:45 p.m. Smith made the automatic standard in the event with a leap of 25-2 3/4 at the University of Arkansas on Jan. 19.

Smith won the Great Lakes Valley Conference title in the long jump over the weekend and comes into the national meet seeded third behind Morehouse's Randall Flimmons, who has the nation's best mark of 25-6 1/4, and defending champion Wilbert Walker of Lincoln whose best mark this season has been 25-5 1/4.

The Miners' other two competitors at the national meet will be in the pole vault, where Lucas Handley and Jordan Henry will be part of the 13-member field that will compete Saturday, March 10 at 2:15 p.m.

Handley competed at last year's indoor meet and then took sixth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, comes into the meet fresh off tying the UMR school record in the pole vault of 16-5 1/2 as part of a second place finish at the GLVC Championships over the weekend.

Henry, who competed at the outdoor nationals last year as a freshman, took third at the conference meet with his best mark of the season of 16-1 1/2.

Kyle Dennis of Abilene Christian has the best mark of the 2007 indoor season in the pole vault of 17-0 3/4.

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Tavish Hill

Tavish Hill's outstanding outing Friday to help the MIner baseball team complete a sweep of Truman State has been rewarded by the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Hill was named Monday as the GLVC's "Pitcher of the Week" after a six-inning, one-hit performance in UMR's 13-2 victory over the Bulldogs. Hill, a senior from Bunker Hill, Ill., faced just two batters over the minimum in his six innings of work, allowing only two baserunners on a hit and a walk.

He left the game with a 1-0 lead; UMR then proceeded to score seven times in the bottom half of the inning to help secure his first win of the season.

It was the second strong outing by a Miner starter on Friday, as Brandon Cogan allowed just one unearned run and two hits in six innings in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Miners, 3-3 on the season, will host Maryville University in a twinbill Wednesday starting at noon.

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Jarryd Dean

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- The UMR men's track and field team posted six all-conference performances Saturday -- including four conference titles -- in taking third place at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships held at Wabash College.

UMR got two event wins from Tyrone Smith, plus victories from freshman Jarryd Dean and sophomore Charles Melton as it finished with a total of 127 points as a team. Dean, who also earned All-GLVC honors in the triple jump as did Lucas Handley in the pole vault, gained an additional honor as he was named as the "Freshman of the Year" by the conference.

Smith repeated as the GLVC champion in both of the horizontal jumps, posting marks of 24-11 in the long jump and 45-9 3/4 in the triple jump while also taking fifth place in the 55-meters with a time of 6.61 seconds. His mark that was good enough to win the long jump came in the second round, but he recorded his best mark in the last round of jumps.

In the triple jump, however, Smith needed to post his best mark in the final round to top Dean, whose leap of 45-6 1/2 had held up since the third round. Dean ended up taking second in the triple jump to go along with his high jump title and sixth place showing in the long jump of 21-11 1/2.

Dean's winning mark in the high jump was 6-7, which he cleared on his first attempt. Indianapolis' Adam Campagna also cleared 6-7, but did it on his second attempt and that ended up breaking the tie as both jumpers had an equal number of misses in the competition.

Melton won his GLVC title in the 55-meters with a school record-tying time of 6.45 seconds, which was also just one-half second off the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark. Melton also took third in the 200-meters where his time of 22.24 seconds was a seasonal best.

Handley finished second in the pole vault to earn his all-GLVC honor and drew closer to a berth at the NCAA Division II Championships as he cleared 16-5 1/2 -- tying J.R. Skola's indoor record in the event. Jordan Henry took third in the pole vault as he also went over 16-feet for the first time this season at 16-1 3/4, while the Miners had two more pole vaulters tie for fifth as Peter Hollenbeck and Jared Anders went over the bar at 15-1 3/4.

Matt Bartels took third in the high jump with a personal-best clearance of 6-5, while Nick Windhorst also had a seasonal-best mark in that event of 6-1 1/4 to net a sixth place finish.

The Miners got a fourth-place showing from Matt Osmond in the 800-meters with a time of 1:57.67 and a fifth from Paul Roland in that event in 1:58.46.

Chris Carsten took sixth in the shot put with a throw of 46-6, then added a seventh place effort in the weight throw of 52-2 1/4. UMR also got a sixth place showing from Jeff Pike in the triple jump with a mark of 43-2 1/4.

Ryan Vessell finished seventh in the 200-meters in a time of 22.78 seconds as did Joffroi Holcombe in the 5,000-meters in 15:30.00 and Matt Bartels in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 25.35 seconds. Chris Murray came in eighth place in the 3,000-meters in 9:00.64 and Kyle WIlliams did likewise in the triple jump as he posted a mark of 42-7 1/2.

The Miners' 4x400-meter relay team took third place with a time of 3:25.97, while the distance medley relay quartet of Thomas Green, Handley, Jesse Scott and Kurt Schauwecker finished fourth in 10:38.49.

Southern Illinois Edwardsville won the team competition with 175 1/2 points, while Lewis finished second with 144 to UMR's 127. The Miners finished well ahead of Indianapolis, who came in with 98 1/2 points.

Results from GLVC Indoor Championships

Posted by John Kean at 04:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

QUINCY, Ill. -- It was only fitting that a strong finishing kick Saturday got the Lady Miners into the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

UMR, which has essentially been playing playoff games since the first of February, outscored Quincy 18-5 over the final three-plus minutes of play and came away with a 75-61 win that clinched a spot in next week’s GLVC Tournament in Evansville, Ind.

The victory gives UMR the No. 3 seed in the GLVC West, due to its sweep over Southern Indiana which finished 10-9 in league play as well, and sets up a date Friday with No. 24-ranked Northern Kentucky at 2:30 p.m..

The Lady Miners led for much of the game, although the teams did swap the lead several times during the early stages of the contest. Quincy took a 31-29 lead on a three-pointer by Janette Burgin, but a free throw by Jennifer Pena and a long two-pointer by Josie Polk late in the first half gave UMR a 32-31 lead at the intermission.

Baskets by Nicole Dierking and Katie Bunge pushed that lead to five early in the second half before the Lady Hawks tied the game at 36 on a pair of free throws by Burgin. UMR regained the lead again two possessions later when Jaime Forsberg knocked down a three-pointer.

Pena’s three-pointer at the 12:58 mark gave UMR a 48-42 lead, but Quincy kept chipping away and got to within one on two different occasions. Jessica Keller’s three-point basket with 10:07 left made it 50-49, but Bunge and Dierking scored to extend the Lady Miner lead back to five.

After Jaime Forsberg hit a pair of free throws with 4:13 to play, Alex Wieser converted a three-point play to get the Lady Hawks back to within one again at 57-56. But a basket by Dierking followed by a lay-in by Tamara McCaskill with just over three minutes left got the game back in control of the Lady Miners.

UMR had been struggling with the Lady Hawks’ offensive rebounding all afternoon, but started forcing one-and-done possessions for Quincy and making the Lady Hawks foul to extend the game. The Lady Miners answered the challenge by making 14-of-16 at the free throw line in the final 1:58 to clinch the win and a trip to Roberts Stadium.

The Lady Miners (17-10, 10-9 GLVC) were led by Bunge with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Dierking scored 15 and McCaskill and Forsberg finished with 11 apiece. Despite struggling from the floor, McCaskill went seven-of-eight at the line and added six rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.

UMR shot 50 percent in the game and made 24-of-28 at the free throw line in the contest.

Quincy (16-11, 9-10 GLVC), which saw its season end with the loss Saturday, got 13 points from Keller but made only 35.8 percent of its shots for the day.

Posted by John Kean at 04:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Taylor Hahn

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- Taylor Hahn shattered the school record in the pole vault Saturday as she won the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship in the event during the conference meet held at Wabash College.

Hahn, who earlier this season set the mark at 10-8, went over the bar at 11-2 1/4 on her first attempt and won the meet on that clearance. Sarah King of Lewis also cleared the same height, but it came on her second effort which allowed Hahn -- who had just one miss in the entire competition until going out at the final height -- to claim the title.

Hahn, a sophomore, ended up as the only Lady Miner competitor to win all-conference honors at Saturday's meet, but several others had scoring performances to help UMR to a sixth place finish as a team.

Wendy Moore gained a fourth place finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:17.87, just barely off her best time of her career and under the previous facility record in the event. Kendra Lewis also took fourth in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.49 seconds in the finals, which came after she ran a 7.44 in the preliminaries to qualify.

Jamie Statler took fifth in the pole vault as she cleared 10-2 1/2, while freshman Hannah Terwelp had a scoring performance in the shot put with her top mark of the year of 39-6 1/2 which she posted on her first throw of the competition to take sixth place.

Earlier in the day, she broke the school record in the weight throw with a mark of 45-1 to break her old record by more than two feet.

Hillary Griffith took eighth in the 55-meters in 7.55 seconds as did Katie Bruce in the 400-meters with a time of 1:00.27 and Sarah Zaremba in the pole vault with a season-best mark of 10-2 1/2.

The Lady Miners' 4x200-meter relay team of Lewis, Bruce, Moore and Griffith came in fourth place with a time of 1:45.94, while the 4x400-relay group of Kylee Hyzer, Jocelyn Bailey, Kierra Handley and Laura Ruf took fourth as well in 4:05.23

Southern Illinois Edwardsville won the team competition while Indianapolis came in second. UMR finished with 42 points.

Results from GLVC Indoor Championships

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QUINCY, Ill. -- The 2006-07 Miner basketball season ended Saturday night with a game that has become all too familiar to them throughout the campaign.

UMR stayed in the game for much of the night with Quincy University, but the Hawks were able to break free in the latter stages of the game and came away with a 92-83 win at Pepsi Arena.

The Miners played well at the outset, grabbing a 19-11 lead on Shea Wiemann’s three-point play with under 13 minutes to go in the first half. However, the Hawks rattled off 13 straight points to take a five-point lead and maintained the advantage for the balance of the half.

UMR hung in with the Hawks, however, cutting the lead to two at 38-36 on a three-pointer by Marquis Jones with 4:06 left in the half. Another three, this one by Casey Noll, brought UMR to within one at 40-39 moments later, but the Miners couldn’t overtake the Hawks before the half drew to a close.

Quincy led 46-43 at halftime.

UMR, however, did take the lead back when Tyrone Davidson sunk a jumper at the 18:12 to give the Miners a 49-48 lead. Quincy reclaimed the lead about 90 seconds later on a basket by Andre Muse, but UMR got field goals from Noll and Yamani Ball to go up 53-50 with 15 minutes to go.

The teams swapped possession of the lead with mini-runs over the next several minutes, with UMR taking a 60-57 lead on Justin Taylor’s layup with 11:45 left.

Noll’s basket with just over eight minutes to play tied the game at 67, which came moments after the Miners lost Tyrone Davidson to an injury when he came down awkwardly after attempting to block a shot.

After Noll’s basket, the Hawks outscored UMR 12-2 over the next two and a half minutes to take a 10-point lead and held off the Miners from there.

UMR got 21 points from Ball, 16 from Davidson in his final game as a Miner and 15 from Noll. Marquis Jones also reached double figures with 10 points while Shea Wiemann, who was also playing in his final game at UMR, had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Miners finished the season with records of 7-20 overall and 2-17 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Lady Miner softball team put a lot of runs on the board on its opening weekend of play, but only came away with a split of the two games it got in during the Evangel Early Bird Classic Friday.

UMR dropped its opener 7-6 in eight innings to Oklahoma Science and Arts, the 18th-ranked team in the NAIA ranks, then held off Northwestern College of Iowa 12-11 for its first win of the year. The remaining games the Lady Miners were scheduled to play were cancelled due to the weather.

In the first game, the Lady Miners fell behind in the first inning when Morgan Thompson belted a three-run homer off starter Jen O'Hara. UMR bounced right back and tied the score in the second, with Nicole Naughton driving in one run with a double and Allison Plummer bringing home the other two with a two-run single.

UMR grabbed a 5-3 lead in the fourth when Kandi Wieberg doubled home Plummer and then scored herself later in the inning on a wild pitch. USAO cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom half of the frame, but UMR got that run back in the fifth when Ashley Winter's two-out single plated Becky Davis to make it 6-4.

The Drovers scored twice in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Ashley Wallingford to tie the game, then won it in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Kelsey MacInnes.

UMR had nine hits in the opener, with Winter getting three of them and Naughton two in their first games as Lady Miners.

Game two started out in the same fashion, as a three-run homer -- this off the bat of Tina Jacobsma -- gave Northwestern a 3-0 lead in the first.

UMR got one run back in the second on a home run by Rachel Wilkinson, then exploded for six runs in the third as it sent 11 batters to the plate.

The Lady Miners got only three hits in their six-run rally, with Wilkinson and Emily Tucker driving in a run apiece with singles and Plummer delivering a bases-loaded triple to give UMR an 7-3 lead.

UMR extended that lead to 9-3 when Kelsey Musselman scored after an error and Naughton doubled home a run. The Raiders got two runs back in the bottom half of the fourth, but UMR pushed the lead back to six with a pair of runs in the sixth inning that came home on Wieberg's two-run double.

Northwestern closed the lead to two again in the bottom of the sixth before the Lady Miners got an important insurance run in the seventh, as Naughton singled in Tucker with an unearned run. The Raiders got two runs home in the bottom half of the inning to make it 12-11 and had the tying run at second with two outs, but O'Hara struck out Michelle Van Dyun to end the game.

Four different players had two hits apiece for the Lady Miners, who had nine hits in game two.

UMR will return to Springfield next weekend to play in the Show-Me Classic that will also be hosted by Evangel.

Posted by John Kean at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Joe Montgomery

Solid pitching and gettng key hits normally add up to wins on the baseball diamond -- and that's what the Miners got Friday as they opened their home schedule with a pair of wins.

Starting pitchers Brandon Cogan and Tavish Hill combined to allow just three hits over 12 innings of work and the Miners scored 19 of their 22 runs on the afternoon after two outs as they posted wins of 9-1 and 13-2 over Truman State at the UMR Baseball Field.

The Miner offense got things going right from the start, sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning as they grabbed a 5-0 lead. A throwing error allowed the first run to score, then a two-out RBI single by Thomas McCormick, a triple by Joe Montgomery, a wild pitch and an infield single by Gerad Fox brought in the five tallies.

UMR knocked out Bulldog starter Andy Schulte in the second inning.

After Truman scored an unearned run off Cogan in the third, the Miners answered when Montgomery and McCormick executed a double steal to score the sixth run of the game. UMR then extended the lead with three runs in the sixth, as McCormick brought in one with a sacrifice fly and Owen Madison drove in a pair with a two-out hit.

UMR had 11 hits in the opener with Fox, McCormick and Montgomery having two apiece. Cogan earned his first collegiate win with a strong six-inning outing, allowing just two hits and fanning three.

In the nightcap, Hill continued the Miners' mastery over the Bulldog hitters as he gave up one hit over the first six frames as he faced just two batters over the minimum. He left the game with 1-0 lead on Montgomery's RBI ground out in the third, but the win was assured once he left the game as the Miner bats came to life again.

UMR sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and tallied seven runs off three Bulldog pitchers to bust the game open. All seven UMR runs scored after two were out, the first of which came when Fox reached on an infield single with the bases loaded.

Robby Martin followed by belting a two-run double down the right field line, then Montgomery drove in two more with a single to right. McCormick finished the scoring with another double to plate two more runs and give UMR an 8-0 lead heading into the seventh.

Montgomery finished a terrific afternoon at the plate with an inside-the-park grand slam in the seventh that made it 12-0. The senior outfielder finished the day with five hits in seven at-bats, with four runs scored, two extra base hits and eight runs batted in -- seven of the RBI came in the nightcap.

Montgomery had three hits in the second game as did Kris Hamilton, while Martin and Eaf Redden had two hits apiece. UMR had 14 hits in the nghtcap.

The four Miner pitchers who saw work Friday -- Cogan, HIll, Mark Phillips (one inning in game one) and Matt Campbell (three innings in game two) -- combined to give up just four hits and no earned runs in 16 innings.

UMR evened its record at 3-3 on the season and is scheduled to host the Bulldogs (0-4) in a single game Saturday at noon.

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Yamani Ball

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Points were hard to come by for the Miners Thursday night against the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s leader in scoring defense and UMR’s missed opportunity to extend a lead in the second half ended up costing it a chance at a victory.

The Miners were able to keep Southern Illinois Edwardsville scoreless for nearly six minutes to start the second half but couldn’t push a narrow lead out, allowing the Cougars a chance to regroup and pull away for a 72-58 victory over UMR at the Vadalabene Center.

Trailing by three at the half, UMR got its first – and only – lead of the night 2:30 into the second half when Yamani Ball drained a three-pointer on the fast break to give the Miners a 36-34 lead. But despite the strong defensive effort by UMR in the early minutes of the second half, it was unable to extend the lead.

The Miners held the Cougars scoreless until the 14:12 mark of the second half when J.B. Jones got the lead back for SIUE with a three-point basket. Jones hit another three just over a minute later as part of a 16-1 Cougar run that gave SIUE a 50-37 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

UMR scored the next four points to draw to within nine, but a nine-point spurt by the Cougars that followed extended the SIUE lead to 18 at 59-41 with just over six minutes to go.

SIUE jumped out to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the contest, but the Miners were able to hang around for much of the first half. UMR closed to within three at the 14:13 mark on a three-pointer by Joe Shardo, but SIUE rebuilt its lead to 13 over the next three minutes.

The Miners, however, closed the gap to four on a couple of occasions in the final four minutes of the half and moved to within three on Justin Taylor’s put-back just before the end of the half. The Cougars led 34-31 at halftime.

UMR shot just 36.5 percent in the game and got 20 points from Ball and 15 from Shardo. The Miners were also victimized by 23 turnovers, which the Cougars turned into 27 points.

SIUE (14-12, 9-9 GLVC) was led by Anthony Jones with 16 points.

The Miners (7-19, 2-16 GLVC) will conclude the 2006-07 season Saturday with a 6:15 p.m. game at Quincy University.

Posted by John Kean at 03:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Katie Bunge

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – With their backs to the wall, the Lady Miners got exactly what they needed Thursday night.

The Lady Miners routed Southern Illinois Edwardsville 71-51 in a game they had to have to stay in the Great Lakes Valley Conference playoff race. UMR never trailed in the contest as it posted its largest margin of victory ever in the 22-game history of the series.

The win moved the Lady Miners to 16-10 overall and 9-9 in GLVC play as they remained tied with Quincy for fourth place in the GLVC West – with a game looming Saturday on the Lady Hawks’ home floor – and also matched Indianapolis’ win earlier in the night over Bellarmine as UMR is trying to fend off the Greyhounds for one of the last playoff spots.

UMR had one of its most impressive starts to a game this season, jumping out to a 23-7 lead just past the midway point of the first half. The Lady Miners made a 11-0 run after the Cougars had tied the game at two to go up by 11 and maintained that double-figure lead for a good portion of the half.

During the 11-0 run, the Lady Miners forced 11 straight missed shots by the Cougars.

SIUE got back-to-back three-pointers from Whitney Sykes to draw to within four at 28-24 by the 3:43 mark, but a basket by Katie Bunge stopped the surge and UMR outscored SIUE 6-2 to finish the half with a 34-26 lead.

UMR regained its double-digit lead on a lay-up by Tamara McCaskill with 16:50 to play in the second half, then was able to keep the lead around the nine-to-11 point mark by answering SIUE’s baskets with points at the other end over the next few minutes.

Jaime Forsberg’s three-pointer with 12:14 left gave UMR a 46-34 lead, then Chism McEntire answered a put-back by Allison Fogle with another three on the next trip to boost the Lady Miner lead to 13; a basket moments later by Nicole Dierking made it a 15-point lead at 51-36.

SIUE drew to with nine when Sykes drained a long three-pointer and converted a three-point play and had a chance to get closer, but Forsberg stole an outlet pass and hit a short jumper with 8:45 on the clock to push the lead back to 11,

At the 5:40 mark, Jennifer Pena gave UMR its biggest lead of the game at 64-47 when she knocked down a three-pointer from the corner. UMR eventually pushed that margin out to the final difference of 20.

The Lady Miners got 15 points from McCaskill, a native of Edwardsville, 14 from Bunge and 12 from Dierking in the win. UMR shot 46 percent from the floor and dominated the boards by a 46-32 margin.

SIUE (19-7, 12-6 GLVC), which entered the game ranked fifth in the NCAA Great Lakes region, was led by Sykes with 21 points. She was the Cougars’ lone double figure scorer as Amber Shelton, the GLVC’s second-leading scorer entering play Thursday was held to a season-low eight points on 2-of-17 shooting.

The Lady Miners will wrap up their GLVC schedule Saturday at Quincy. Game time will be at 4 p.m.

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The UMR baseball games with Truman State this weekend, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, have been moved up a day in order to get ahead of some pending stormy weather in Rolla this weekend.

The Miners and Bulldogs will play a doubleheader Friday at noon at the UMR Baseball Field -- on a day where the current forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and 55-degree temperatures -- and a single nine-inning game Saturday, weather permitting. According to the Weather Channel, there is a 60 percent chance of rain Saturday and more precipitation is anticipated for Sunday as well.

Saturday's game is also scheduled to begin at noon.

Friday's games will be the home openers for the Miners, who are 1-3 on the season.

Posted by John Kean at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Heather Roberts spent her collegiate volleyball career playing in the state of Missouri – and now she is returning to the Show-Me State in a coaching capacity.

Roberts has been named as the assistant coach for the University of Missouri-Rolla volleyball program that will open play in the fall of 2007. She comes to UMR after spending the last two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Bemidji State University in Minnesota.

“I am quite pleased to have Heather joining our staff,” said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. “She will be an excellent addition to the outstanding coaching staff we enjoy at UMR. I am confident that Heather's enthusiasm and abilities will make her an immediate asset to the entire department.”

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to being part of a unique experience to help start a program from the ground up,” Roberts said. “Jason (Holt, UMR’s head coach) has done a great job of recruiting the talent that we’ll have to work with and I’m excited to get the chance to work with these players.”

“I am thrilled about having Heather joining our staff here at UMR,” Holt said. “She is a bright, energetic and talented coach and her energy and intensity will add something to our program. Heather has gained some very good coaching experience and she will bring a lot of new ideas to our team.

“I think she will do a great job and know she is eager to get started,” Holt added.

Roberts, who is originally from Koloa, Hawaii, was a four-year starter at William Woods University where she played as a setter and outside hitter. She was a three-time all-conference selection in the American Midwest Conference, including first-team honors in 2002, and served as the Owls’ team captain in final two seasons at the school. She earned awards for her play as a setter from Region V and the AMC as its “Setter of the Month.”

She also earned academic all-conference honors on three occasions from the American Midwest Conference.

In addition, Roberts has been involved with numerous youth programs over the years. She coached the 12-, 14- and 16-and under teams with the Po’okela Volleyball Club prior to her arrival at William Woods, then during her time in Fulton was involved with the Central Missouri Volleyball Club coaching players from ages 12 to the 18-and-under teams for three years.

Her duties included practice planning and coordination of travel and tournaments for those teams. She also assisted the Kauai High School team in Hawaii during the summers with conditioning and weight training.

Prior to the 2006 season, Roberts was a court coach at the University of Florida’s volleyball camp.

Roberts has also worked with the USA Volleyball program in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she served as a media relations intern for three years responsible for publications, releases and other media coordinations, including the IMPACT program in which she is certified by the governing body.

Posted by John Kean at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Matt Hug

Matt Hug of the University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team was honored Tuesday as the National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week” for the second time this season by CollegeSwimming.com.

Hug earned this award after winning two events and finishing third in a third race on an individual basis, while also setting a school record and being part of a winning relay team that allowed two more of his teammates to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships during the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships where the Miners won the team championship.

Hug, a junior from Bloomington, Ill., won the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:30.25 on the opening night of competition, then claimed the title in the 1,650-yard freestyle three nights later in 15:52.95. He also took third in the 500-freestyle with a mark of 4:34.74. He was the anchor of the Miners’ 800-free relay as well that made an automatic qualifying time of 6:51.38, allowing teammates Andrew Trowbridge and Andy Shelley to join 10 other Miners at the national meet next month.

In addition to those efforts, Hug broke the school record in the 200-yard freestyle as he posted a time of 1:40.47 in a time trial during the meet.

Posted by John Kean at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tyrone Smith

Tyrone Smith was selected Tuesday as the “Athlete of the Week” for men's track and field by the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Smith earned the award thanks to a pair of winning efforts over the weekend at the Central Missouri Classic and a seasonal-best time in a third event.

Smith, a senior from North Chicago, Ill. won the long jump competition with a mark of 24-9 in an event in which he has already automatically qualified for next month’s NCAA Division II Championships, then won the triple jump with a top mark of 45-7. In addition, Smith’s time of 7.08 seconds in the 60-meter dash was his best time in that event for the 2007 season.

Heading into this weekend’s Great Lakes Valley Conference Indoor Championships, Smith is ranked first in the long jump (his best mark is 25-2 3/4), second in the triple jump and ninth in the 55-meter dash.

Posted by John Kean at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kandi Wieberg

The University of Missouri-Rolla softball team has won 107 games over the last three seasons and with a good percentage of the starting lineup that allowed UMR to finish at 33-10 back in the fold, new head coach Don Kennedy has a good starting point for his tenure with the program.

The Lady Miners are slated to open their schedule at the Evangel Early Bird Tournament Friday with three games, the first of which will be against Oklahoma Science and Arts. Kennedy is hopeful that the experienced look on the roster will pay dividends, especially early in the season before Great Lakes Valley Conference begins.

“It is nice coming into my first year as head coach here at UMR that we have three upperclassmen on the infield,” Kennedy said. “Those three players have played a big role in the success that this program has had over the last few seasons. We also have a junior college transfer at shortstop, so all four infield spots will have a lot of college softball experience as we get this season underway.”

The returners on the infield are headed by Kandi Wieberg at second base, the team’s top returning hitter from the 2006 campaign as she batted .358 with five home runs, 27 runs batted in and added a team-high 21 stolen bases. Not only was Wieberg potent with the bat in the leadoff spot in the lineup, she has been a stellar defensive player with just four errors in 193 chances last spring.

Kelsey Musselman, a transfer from Lincoln Land Community College who hit .426 at the junior college level last season, is expected to man the other middle infield position. She finished with 13 home runs and 46 runs batted in last season; 31 of Musselman’s 63 hits last season were for extra bases.

The other corner infield spots will be handled by returning letterwinners who are changing positions this spring. Lauren Feltmann moves from right field to third base while Rachel Wilkinson will shift from shortstop to first base.

Feltmann batted .320 a year ago with five home runs and 20 runs batted in, while Wilkinson was a .315 hitter with 25 runs batted in.

The infield reserves will consist of a trio of freshmen – redshirt Casey Wilson, Becky Davis and Emily Speorl.

In the outfield, the Lady Miners will have players with considerably less experience at the collegiate level, as only one of the five projected outfielders has played in a GLVC game. The one, Emily Tucker, hit .286 in her freshman year with five home runs, including a game-winning homer in UMR’s victory over Indianapolis in the GLVC Tournament.

Tucker is expected to start in right field, with Allison Plummer projected to get the nod in left and Ashley Winter expected to get the starting role in center. Redshirt freshman Chelsea Appel and newcomer Krista Porterfield will compete for playing time in the outfield as well.

Winter could also see playing time behind the plate, where freshman Nicole Naughton figures to get the starting role. Naughton was an all-metro player in the St. Louis who hit .359 in her senior year and had one-third of her hits for extra bases.

The Lady Miner pitching rotation for the 2007 season includes two returning sophomores, Jen O’Hara and Kaye Wibbenmeyer, and newcomer Ashley Wallingford.

O’Hara went 13-5 in her freshman year with a 2.11 earned run average, while Wibbenmeyer was perfect in six decisions and posted a 1.47 ERA. Wallingford brings solid credentials from the high school level to the UMR program, where she was 17-6 with a 1.07 ERA and 208 strikeouts at Clark County High School.

The Lady Miners did have some significant losses, namely all-region first baseman Holly Weinberg (.451, 13 home runs, 56 RBI), catcher Ashley Weiss (.344, 7 home runs) and pitcher Renee Roberts (14-5, 1.79 ERA), but Kennedy liked what he saw in the fall with the team he will guide to the field for the first time this weekend.

“We have a nice mix of upperclassmen and newcomers,” Kennedy said. “The team gelled together well during our fall season and is working to overcome several injuries we sustained during that time. “The key to our success this spring will be good pitching, strong defense and timely hitting.”

UMR will open its home schedule March 6 against Lincoln University, with GLVC play set to begin March 17 at Saint Joseph’s.

Great Lakes Valley Conference
Pre-Season Coaches Poll

1. SIU Edwardsville
2. Southern Indiana
3. Lewis
4. Northern Kentucky
5. Indianapolis
6. Wisconsin-Parkside
7. Missouri-Rolla
8. Saint Joseph’s
9. Bellarmine
10. Kentucky Wesleyan
11. Quincy
12. Missouri-St. Louis
13. Rockhurst

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CLEVELAND, Miss. -- The UMR swimming team claimed its first conference championship since 2001 Saturday night by holding off Ouachita Baptist to win the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships at Delta State University.

The Miners, whose last title came in the Central States Invitational six years ago, scored 1,599 points in the four-day meet to beat Ouachita Baptist by 152 points. UMR had passed OBU in the team standings Friday night and stayed on top by getting several individuals into Saturday's finals.

Matt Hug, who earlier in the week won the 1,000-yard freestyle, added a victory in the 1,650-free with a time of 15:52.95. Teammate Andrew Trowbridge also reached the automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Division II Championships in the 1,650 with his second place time of 15:53.63; Trowbridge had already made the field as part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team.

Besides Hug -- who broke the school record in a time trial of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.47 -- and Trowbridge, several high finishes were posted by UMR swimmers Saturday night.

Kyle Kammer took second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.25, as did Travis Stensby in the 200-yard butterfly as he reached the wall in 1:52.75. UMR's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Hug, David Sanchez-Turner, Mark Chamberlain and Matt Adams also finished second Saturday in a time of 3:05.76.

Dustin Spieker finished third in the 200-backstroke in 1:54.40 as did David Calcara in the 200-breaststroke in a time of 2:07.15, while Matt Hammond ended up fourth in the 200-breaststroke with a mark of 2:07.17

Fifth place finishes came from Mark Chamberlain in the 100-freestyle with a time of 47.52 and Brian Howell in the 200-butterfly in 1:53.99. Rory Swift took sixth in the 200-backstroke with a time of 1:56.92, as did Chris Scheuber in the 100-freestyle in 47.92. UMR's top-eight finishers also included Cameron McKay as he was seventh in the 200-back in 1:58.22.

UMR will have 12 swimmers heading to Buffalo, N.Y. for the NCAA Division II Championships which will get underway March 14.

FRIDAY'S PERFORMANCES

A strong third day performance has moved the UMR swimming team into the lead at the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships at Delta State University.

Friday's efforts included the addition of two more automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Championships next month, as Andrew Trowbridge and Andy Shelley earned berths to the meet as part of the winning 800-yard freestyle relay performance. They combined with Mark Chamberlain and Matt Hug to win the race in 6:51.38 and won the race by more than six seconds over Truman State.

UMR got second place showings from Travis Stensby in the 100-yard backstroke in 50.96 seconds and Matt Adams in the 100-yard breaststroke in 57.24 seconds and the 100-butterfly in 50.14 seconds. All three times were better than the necessary standard for automatic qualification for nationals, but both individuals have already qualified for the meet.

Dustin Spieker also had a runner-up finish Friday in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:06.47, while Stensby also finished third in the 100-butterfly with a time of 50.31 seconds.

Shelley added a fourth place finish in the 200-freestyle in 1:43.58 and Kyle Kammer took fourth in the 100-back in 52.22. Mark Chamberlain came in fifth in the 200-freestyle with a time of 1:44.75, while Brian Howell finished seventh in the 100-back in 53.24 seconds, Chris Scheuber took seventh in the 100-butterfly in 51.01, Hammond was seventh in the 400-IM in 4:10.53 and David Calcara finished eighth in 58.63.

UMR's point total stands at 1,149 heading into the final day, over 100 points more than Delta State and over 200 better than what Truman State has through three days.

With Trowbridge and Shelley added to the list, the Miners now have 12 individuals qualified for the national meet that will take place next month in Buffalo, N.Y.

The meet will conclude Saturday night.

THURSDAY'S PERFORMANCES

The Miners remained in second place in the team standings as the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships reached the halfway point Thursday night at Delta State University.

UMR got a winning performance from its 200-yard freestyle relay team of Chris Scheuber, Mark Chamberlain, Matt Adams and David Sanchez-Turner with a time of 1:23.24. That time surpassed the automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Division II Championships, but the quartet had posted a faster time in the Arkansas-Little Rock Invitational in December in the same event.

The Miners also got a win in the consolation round of the 200-free relay as Paul Reinisch, Andy Shelley, Brian Howell and Matt Hug posted a time of 1:24.96 to beat out Ouachita Baptist's team by under one-half of a second.

UMR's 400-yard medley relay team of Kyle Kammer, David Calcara, Travis Stensby and Chamberlain finished second to OBU in a time of 3:26.79 and the "B" relay won the consolation round as Howell, Bill Gaul, Adams and Hug clocked in at 3:27.63.

Individually, Adams placed second in the 200-individual medley with a time of 1:53.18, passing the automatic qualifying standard, while Hug grabbed a third place finish in the 500-freestyle with a time of 4:34.74 as did Scheuber in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.14 seconds.

Andrew Trowbridge was fifth in the event in 4:38.25 and Dustin Spieker posted a fifth in the 200-IM in 1:56.22. Chamberlain checked in with a seventh place showing in the 50-free in 21.52, while Rory Swift finished eighth in the 200-individual medley in 1:58.38 and Andy Shelley took ninth in the 500-free in 4:43.25.

UMR has 620 points through the first 16 events of the meet as trails Ouachita Baptist by just 28 points heading into Friday's competition. Truman State is currently in third place with 501 points.

WEDNESDAY'S PERFORMANCES

Matt Hug, who came into the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships as the top seed in the 1,000-yard freestyle, won the event Wednesday on the opening day of the four-day meet.

Hug won the event in a time of 9:30.25 to win the event by just under a second over teammate Andrew Trowbridge, who reached the wall in 9:31.18. UMR also got a sixth-place showing in the event from Matt Hammond, who posted a time of 9:59.19, and a seventh from Cameron McKay in 9:59.23.

UMR also scored well with its 200-medley relay teams later in the evening, as the quartet of Travis Stensby, Matt Adams, Bill Gaul and Chris Scheuber took third in 1:33.57 -- just 0.41 seconds off Henderson State's winning time -- and its "B" relay came in 11th in 1:35.77. That relay team consisted of Brian Howell, David Calcara, Paul Reinisch and Andy Shelley.

The Miners finished the first day of competition with 193 points and trail Ouachita Baptist by three points. OBU and UMR have a sizeable advantage over Truman State and Delta State.

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The Lady Miners entered Saturday's Senior Night game with Drury on a four-game winning streak and with high hopes of knocking off the Lady Panthers to draw closer to a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

However, the visitors had other ideas as they squelched those dreams right from the start, putting UMR in a big hole early and keeping them there as Drury beat the Lady Miners 75-64 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

The loss dropped UMR into a tie for fourth with Quincy in the GLVC West Division with a pair of road games on the horizon, one of which is against Quincy to close the season next Saturday.

The Lady Miners never led in the contest. Drury scored the first five points on a jumper by Becky Flippin and a three-pointer by Molly Carter before UMR closed the score to 5-4 on buckets by Katie Bunge and Tamara McCaskill.

From that point, the Lady Panthers rattled off 10 straight points to go up 15-4 before Nicole Dierking's basket stopped that run -- but not the bleeding entirely. Chism McEntire's three-pointer drew UMR to within six at 15-9 before a 15-2 Drury run that concluded with a three-pointer by Hannah Carter gave the Lady Panthers a 30-11 lead with 6:19 to go in the half.

UMR got as close as 12 before halftime, the last point at 36-24 on a jumper by McCaskill with just over two minutes to go. The Lady Miners trailed by 16 at the intermission as they shot just 30 percent in the opening half.

The Lady Miners were able to convert on 53.6 percent of their shots in the second half, but despite the improved mark, couldn't make any significant headway into the Drury lead throughout most of the final 20 minutes. UMR had the margin down to 13 twice and to 14 on several another occasions, but couldn't get the lead any closer until the final minute.

The final difference of 11 points was as close as the Lady Miners got in the second half.

Two regular starters for the Lady Miners -- McCaskill and Bunge -- scored 11 and 10 points respectively to lead the way for UMR. Those two did not start the game as seniors Becca Kueny and Marta Tlalka got the nod in the Lady Miners' final home game of the season.

UMR (15-10, 8-9 GLVC) will play Southern Illinois Edwardsville Thursday night in Edwardsville, Ill., at 5:30 p.m.

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The Miners saw their bid for an upset come up short Saturday night as Drury overcame a 17-point deficit in the first half and a seven-point UMR lead with six minutes to play for an 86-82 win over the Miners at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Yamani Ball's hot hand early in the contest -- he scored UMR's first 11 points by making his first four shots from the floor -- helped the Miners get out to a 23-6 lead just over five minutes into play in front of a sizeable crowd on Senior Night at UMR. The Miners made nine of their first 13 shots from the field in that opening run.

UMR held that double-figure lead for a good portion of the half, building it to 16 points again on a three-point basket by Joe Shardo nine minutes into the half. Drury got the lead back into single digits with 5:23 left in the half and went to the locker room trailing by eight when Steven Gum beat the first half buzzer with a three-point shot after the Miners turned the ball over while playing for the final shot of the half.

The Panthers were able to stay on the Miners' heels early in the second half and despite losing their leading scorer, Collins Harris -- who fouled out with 16:51 remaining -- finally caught UMR for the first time wth 12:13 to go on a fast break basket by Brandon Kimbrough. Another layup by Kimbrough moments later gave Drury its first lead of the night at 54-53.

Drury held the lead for the next three minutes, but UMR went back in front on a dunk by Tyrone Davidson with 8:30 to play. The Miners held onto that lead and buiit it to seven with 6:02 left when Justin Taylor scored on a beautiful backdoor play with Davidson and completed the three-point play to give UMR a 72-65 lead.

UMR led 75-71 with 3:41 to play, but the Panthers ran off seven straight points to get a lead it would not relinquish. Kimbrough went the length of the floor after rebounding a Taylor miss and scored with 2:21 on the clock to give Drury a 76-75 lead, then Adam White's putback just under a minute later made it a three-point game.

After Davidson converted just one of two at the line to cut the lead to two, Kimbrough and Tim Brown hit driving layups (Brown got a three-point play on his) to extend the Drury advantage to seven. UMR closed to within three in the final moments after Shardo knocked down a pair of long three-pointers, but Brown made one of two at the line with 2.9 seconds on the clock to ice the win.

UMR had five players in double figures, led by Ball's 18 points. Shea Wiemann, one of two Miners playing in his final home game, finished with 16 points while Shardo scored 15, including going a perfect four-of-four from three-point range. Davidson scored 14 points in his final home game and Taylor landed in double figures with 10.

Kimbrough led all scorers in the game with 23 points. Both teams shot 50 percent from the field for the night.

The Miners (7-18, 2-15 Great Lakes Valley Conference), who fell for the ninth straight time, will finish their season on the road next week starting with Thursday's game at Southern Illinois Edwardsville. Game time is at 7:30 p.m.

Posted by John Kean at 05:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Tyrone Smith had two winning efforts Saturday to highlight the Miners' tune-up performance for next weekend's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships as three Miners won events at the Central Missouri Classic.

Smith won the long jump with a leap of 24-9 and also won the triple jump with a 45-7 mark in a meet where several Miners recorded their best times or marks of the 2007 season. Ian Packard won the 400-meters in a school record-tying time of 49.84 seconds, his first sub-50 second time of the season in that event, while Matt Osmond took first in the 800-meters with his best time of the season of 1:58 flat.

UMR also got a school record performance from from Chris Carsten in the weight throw of 52-9 1/4, which surpassed the old mark by exactly a foot.

Former Miner Jamel Sims, who was competing an unattached runner, won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.32 seconds.

Lucas Handley improved on his provisional qualifying mark in the pole vault with a clearance of 16-1 3/4 to take second place. Jarryd Dean came in a tie for second in the high jump as he cleared 6-6 and in the long jump with a mark of 22-8 1/2.

Charles Melton posted a pair of seasonal bests in the sprints Saturday, finishing second in the 200-meters with a time of 22.26 seconds and third in the 60-meter dash in 6.95 seconds. The time in the finals was seven-hundredths of a second off the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Ryan Vessell finished fourth in the 200-meters with a mark of 22.83, as did Joffroi Holcombe in the mile with a time of 4:27.96 and Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump with a top distance of 43-4. Holcombe later took seventh in the 3,000-meters with a mark of 9:02.14.

Chris Murray came in fifth in the mile with a time of 4:30.39 as did Peter Hollenbeck in the pole vault at 15-1 3/4, Kyle Williams in the triple jump at 41-7 and Stuart Denson in the long jump with a leap of 21-8.

Thomas Green took sixth in the mile in 4:31.32, while Jesse Scott also recorded a sixth-place effort in the 800-meters in 2:02.60 along with Jordan Henry in the pole vault at 14-8. Matt Bartels came in seventh in the 400-meters in the 400-meters in 52.05 and Jared Anders did as well in the pole vault with a mark of 14-8.

Kurt Schauwecker claimed ninth in the 3,000-meters with a time of 9:04.08, while Smith came in ninth place in the 60-meters in 7.08 seconds, the same time that Denson recorded in that event to take tenth. Brandon Marchegiani also got a tenth place finish in the 400-meters in 52.99 seconds as did Andrew Ropp in the mile in 4:35.35 and Andrew Conrad in the 800-meters in 2:03.76.

The GLVC Championships will take place Feb. 24 in Crawfordsville, Ind.

Results from Central Missouri

Posted by John Kean at 05:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The UMR women's track and field team got a winning effort from Wendy Moore Saturday to highlight its final meet prior to next weekend's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships.

Moore won the 800-meters with a time of 2:18.08, beating Missouri Southern's Alison Walker by more than a second with the second-best indoor 800 mark of her career.

Freshman Katie Bruce posted a time of 1:00.35 to take third in the 400-meters. Bruce also had a pair of eighth place efforts in the sprints, running an 8.18 in the 60 and 27.02 in the 200.

HIllary Griffith finished fourth in the 200-meters in a time of 26.54 seconds and also took seventh in the 60-meters in 8.13 seconds. Taylor Hahn also posted a fourth place finish in the pole vault with a clearance of 10-feet.

Kierra Handley took fifth in the 800-meters in 2:29.02 while Kendra Lewis took sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.15 seconds; she ran an 8.07 in the preliminaries to qualify for the finals. Jamie Statler and Sarah Zaremba tied for sixth in the pole vault as each of them went over the bar at 9-6 1/4.

Kylee Hyzer had an eighth place effort in the 3,000-meters with a time of 11:05.79.

The GLVC Championships will take place Feb. 24 in Crawfordsville, Ind.

Results from Central Missouri

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Josie Polk

For a while Thursday night, it appeared that the road back to the .500 mark in GLVC play for the Lady Miners was about to hit a pothole.

Suddenly, reserve guard Josie Polk sparked a run near the end of the first half and the Lady Miners took off from there for a 77-64 victory over Rockhurst at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

The victory, coupled with Southern Indiana's double overtime loss to Southern Illinois Edwardsville, moved UMR into a three-way tie for third place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division. The Lady Miners, Southern Indiana and Quincy, who was idle Thursday, are all 8-8 in league play.

Polk scored a career-high 10 points, but seven of them came in the span of a minute in the latter stages of the first half as UMR outscored the Hawks 15-6 to finish the first half. Polk's first points of the game at the 3:43 mark gave the Lady Miners the lead for good at 28-27 in a contest in which they had trailed for a majority of the first half.

Polk scored again moments later on a putback of her own miss and hit a subsequent free throw, then scored again on a jumper after a Rockhurst turnover to give UMR a 33-27 lead. The Lady Miners led 41-33 at the half.

The Lady Miners outscored the Hawks 17-7 over the first seven-plus minutes of the second half to build an 18-point lead and cruised from there, building the lead to as many as 22 at one point.

UMR (15-9, 8-8 GLVC) had five players finish in double figures, with Tamara McCaskill leading the way with 14 points. UMR also got 11 points apiece from Nicole Dierking and Jennifer Pena, while Polk and Katie Bunge finished with 10 points each. The Lady Miners also won the rebounding battle by a 39-29 margin and forced 26 Rockhurst turnovers.

The Lady Miners finished the game shooting 40.9 percent from the field, but racheted up the defense in the second half after watching the Hawks (8-16, 2-14 GLVC) connect on 14-of-21 from the field in the first 20 minutes. UMR held the Hawks to 38 percent after the intermission.

UMR will host Drury (17-7, 11-5 GLVC) in its final home game of the season Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Fans who wear green apparel to the game will get a $2 discount on a ticket to the game as part of "Green Day" at UMR.

Posted by John Kean at 04:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Shea Wiemann

The Miners were able to overcome a double-digit deficit in the first half Thursday night to get to within striking range, but were put away by a big Rockhurst run after the intermission as the Hawks ran away with an 80-58 victory over UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

UMR trailed by as many as 14 points in the opening half, the last time at 27-13 at the 7:34 mark. But thanks in part to seven points from Shea Wiemann, the Miners outscored Rockhurst 16-6 to end the first half trailing by just a 33-29 margin.

A three-pointer by Yamani Ball and another basket by Wiemann early in the second half brought the margin back to four again at 40-36, but the Hawks then went on their decisive run as they scored 19 of the next 20 points to go up 59-37 with 10:06 left in the game.

UMR got the margin down to as low as 15 after the run but that was as close as it could get.

The Miners shot just 33.9 percent in the game while allowing the Hawks (15-9, 9-7 Great Lakes Valley Conference), who remained in fourth place in the GLVC West, to connect on 62.3 percent of their shots on the night. UMR was hurt in particular by the inside-outside combination of John Torson and Aaron Hill, who combined to go 20-of-27 from the floor and 8-of-11 from three-point range.

Hill scored 28 points to lead all scorers while Torson finished with 24 points.

The Miners (7-17, 2-14 GLVC) got 15 points from Ball and 13 from Wiemann in the contest. Casey Noll had 10 rebounds off the bench, as UMR finished with a 34-32 advantage on the boards against the Hawks.

UMR played without its second-leading scorer, Tyrone Davidson, who is out for the remainder of the season with a broken hand.

The Miners will conclude their 2006-07 home schedule Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Drury, who won in overtime Thursday at Missouri-St. Louis. Fans who wear green to Saturday's game will be admitted for $2 off the price of a ticket to the contest.

Posted by John Kean at 04:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Matt Hug

The UMR swimming team will seek to win a conference championship meet for the first time in six seasons this weekend when it heads to Cleveland, Miss., for the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships at Delta State University.

The Miners, who are seeking their first victory in a conference meet since the 2000-01 season, enter the meet as one of five teams ranked among the top 13 in the Division II in the competition. UMR is ranked 11th coming into the NSISC meet, while Ouachita Baptist is ranked sixth, Henderson State is seventh, Delta State is eighth and Truman State is 13th.

Competition will get underway Wednesday with the 1,000-yard freestyle – an event where UMR has the top two performers in the conference this season – and 200-yard medley relay events. There will be a full day of competition on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Matt Hug (Bloomington, Ill.) and Andrew Trowbridge (Arlington, Texas) have the top two marks in the NSISC in the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle events heading into the meet, with Hug also holding the second-best time in the 200-yard freestyle and third-best mark in the 500-freestyle.

Matt Adams (Fayetteville, Ark.) has the second-best mark in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:56.21 and the sixth-best time in the 100-butterfly at 51.03 seconds.

Chris Scheuber (Papillion, Neb./Papillion-LaVista) is fourth in the 50-freestyle with a best mark of 21.29 seconds, as is Travis Stensby (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West) in the 100-butterfly at 51 seconds; Stensby also holds marks among the top four in three other events, the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes and 200-yard butterfly. Scheuber is also ranked sixth in the 100-freestyle.

Mark Chamberlain (Lake Jackson, Texas) is fourth in the 200-freestyle and fifth in the 100-freestyle coming into the meet, while Trowbridge has the sixth-best time in the 500-freestyle as does Kyle Kammer (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette) in the 100-backstroke. Kammer is also ranked fifth in the 200-backstroke coming into the weekend competition.

The Miners have posted the second-best time in the 800-yard freestyle relay this season of 6:54.05, while holding the third-best time in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays and 400-medley relay.

UMR comes into the meet with 10 individuals already qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships and hopes to land one or two more into the meet this weekend.

Posted by John Kean at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The University of Missouri-Rolla is encouraging all of its fans to wear green to the February 17 home basketball games against Drury University as part of the first “Green Day” at UMR, an event sponsored by Mullally Distributing of Cuba.

With the game taking place exactly one month before St. Patrick’s Day, UMR is asking that all fans from the campus and community wear green to the doubleheader that will get underway at 5:30 p.m. All fans who wear green to the arena that night will receive $2 off the admission price of a ticket to the games.

To assist in the efforts, the UMR Bookstore -- located in Havener Center -- will have a 25 percent discount on green clothing on Friday, Feb. 16, the day prior to the UMR-Drury doubleheader.

Mullally Distributing, one of the platinum level sponsors of the UMR Corporate Club, will have giveaways for fans both at the gate and during both games of the doubleheader. UMR TECHS, a peer education group of UMR students, will also be on hand to assist with promoting the theme of the night, “Responsibility Matters”, and will also conduct contests during the halftime intermissions.

In addition, all members of the UMR Corporate Club will be honored during halftime to in appreciation of the critical role they play in support of athletics at UMR and the student-athletes who earned 2005-06 academic all-conference awards from the Great Lakes Valley Conference will be recognized as well.

The senior members of the Miner and Lady Miner basketball teams will also be honored prior to each game as it will be the final home game of the 2006-07 season.

Posted by John Kean at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)