Spotlight

Summer 2007                                                                  Back to Spotlight home page

All 10 spring sports reach national competition

For the first time in school history, all ten spring sports at ESU advanced to national competition. Emporia State and Grand Valley State are the only D-II schools in the nation to send their men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, softball, baseball teams, and representatives of their men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track teams, to NCAA postseason competition in the 2006-07 year.

Baseball
The baseball team finished the season at 41-24, falling in the NCAA Central Regional to the University of Central Missouri, after besting UCM to win the MIAA tournament. The Hornets had rallied from a 6-0 deficit to beat Minnesota State-Mankato and advance to the UCM game.

The team landed two players, Keith Hernandez and Mark McBratney, on the Rawlings/ABCA All-Central Region second team. McBratney, who signed a free agent
contract with the Detroit Tigers, was also named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All- Region second team along with Trent Lare, who was a
second-team All-MIAA selection. McBratney was a first-team All-MIAA selection, and at ESU ranks 10th all time in home runs and fifth in triples.

Softball
The softball team ended the season with a loss in the Regional Tournament championship game, but consider this – a record of 50-12, their third straight 50-win season. The Hornets’ senior class ended their careers with an incredible 209-51 record in four years.

Megan Davison hit her MIAA-record 52nd career home run in the season-ending loss to Nebraska- Omaha, and earned second-team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American honors along with Courtney Reed. Davison ended her career as the MIAA’s all-time leader in hits, home runs and RBI. Reed set the league record for winning percentage, going 79-15, and was named third-team Daktronics All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team scorched its first 16 opponents, starting 16-0, before finishing the season at 21-8 with an opening round loss to #11 Southeastern Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. The high-scoring Hornets made their second NCAA tourney appearance, and the first since 2004, on the backs of Donta Watson and DeAndre Townsend, who were named to the All-MIAA first team and the NABC All-South Central Region second team.

Watson led the MIAA in scoring for most of the year, ending in second at 19.14 points per game, and grabbing the ESU record in three-pointers made in a single season. Townsend finished fourth in the league, at 17.2 points per game, and fourth in assists. In the MIAA, Wes Book was named honorable mention and Ed Desir made the All-Defensive team.

Women’s Basketball
It was yet another banner year for the Lady Hornets’ basketball team, as it advanced to the NCAA tournament but fell in the first round to Texas A&M-Commerce. The TAMC squad notched its first tourney win in program history, while ESU endured only its second first-round lost in 10 appearances.

The season highlight came against arch-rival Washburn (above). The third-largest crowd in Lady Hornet history watched the women knock off #3 Washburn in a nationally televised game, led by junior Michelle Stueve, who earned Kodak/WBCA All-American honors for the second straight year. With her senior season remaining, Stueve is the Lady Hornets’ fourth-leading scorer and seventhleading rebounder, and the career leader in made
three-pointers. Along with Stueve’s first-team all-league honors, Casey Henningsen was named to the second team and Cassondra Boston was named freshman of the year.

Tennis
Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams advanced to the D-II national tournament.
The women reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history, and the men reached the tournament for the first time in school history.

The women, champions of the MIAA tournament for the second time in three years, drew a tough draw in the national tourney. They fell to #1-ranked BYU-Hawaii, 5-0. But all six members of the team landed MIAA honors. Karly Schultz was the only unanimous selection on the first team in both singles and doubles. She was joined on the first team by doubles partner Marcella Bayon at #2 doubles, and Natalie Villaflor and Lacy Luina at
#1 doubles. Villaflor, Luina and Audrey Sherman earned second-team honors in singles.

The #8-seeded men fell to Washburn, 5-1, in the national tournament. Two members, Kevin Arnhold and Tim Garner, were named all-league honorable mention for their performance as a #3 doubles team.

Track and Field
A large group of throwers, distance runners and sprinters led Emporia State track and field to the 2007 D-II national championship in North Carolina, fresh off hosting the 2006 national championship at Welch Stadium. Three men and one woman earned All-American honors at the national meet.

Tyson Allen finished as the national runner-up in the javelin, heaving the fifth-longest throw in school history. Andy Vogelsberg, the defending national champion in the javelin who won his third MIAA championship this year, placed fourth nationally. Jonel Rossbach ran a 4:33 to place eighth in the 1500m, while Trent Olivier’s discus landed in eighth place, earning his second All-American honor. Meanwhile, the women’s 1600m relay team of Kara Euler, Jaclyn Sill, Danielle Sedivy and Jonel Rossbach ran the fourth fastest
time in ESU history.

Correction
The cross country highlights in the January edition (see page 25) reported that Jonel Rossbach was “the first Emporia State cross country athlete to qualify for the national meet since 2001.” In fact, Andrew Bird (BS 2005) qualified and competed in the national meet in 2002. Kadri Kelve also qualified in 2002, making Rossbach the first woman to qualify since 2002. We regret the error.

Last Updated April 17, 2008