Spotlight

Winter 2008                                                                  Back to Spotlight home page

Athletic highlights

Cross country

A two-time All-American and a greatly improved men’s team led the way for the ESU cross

Rossbach	Delmott

country team last fall. Jonel Rossbach, of Omaha, Neb., won her second MIAA championship en route to capturing fourth place at the NCAA D-II championships and a second All-American honor. The men, meanwhile, were led by Skyler Delmott as they captured fourth place at the MIAA championships – after placing eighth a year ago and not even fielding a team in 2005.

ESU runners performed especially well on their home turf at Jones Park in Emporia. Rossbach, the women’s South Central Region runner of the year, set a 5K course record with a time of 16:55, finishing 1:16 in front of the second-place runner. The women’s team placed second as the men placed four runners in the top nine finishers to nab first place. Delmott, of Emporia, won the men’s race in 25:20 to pace the Hornets, followed by Brock Ternes, of Emporia, in fourth place and Marcus Summers, of Fairview, in fifth place.

Football

The ESU football team rattled off three straight wins to start the season but couldn’t hold on, finishing 3-7 and 1-7 in the MIAA in coach Garin Higgins’s first season at the helm.

The team’s valiant efforts were summed up in their final home game, when they fell to national powerhouse Northwest Missouri State by a score of 24-7. ESU held NWSU scoreless in the first quarter, the first time all season that the Bearcats didn’t score in the opening frame, and were within three points at halftime after intercepting a pass to snuff out a Bearcat scoring drive on the two-yard line. Likewise, ESU rushed for 305 yards versus Truman State – with two backs going for more than 100 yards – but fell 33-30 in overtime. Against rival Washburn, ESU outgained the Ichabods in total yards but lost 31-21 at home.

In MIAA honors, sophomore cornerback Travis Lee was named second-team All-MIAA to lead seven Hornets on the All-MIAA football team. Six other Hornets were named honorable mention.

Soccer

The 2007 season was rough on the ESU soccer team and second-year head coach Jim Schneiderhahn. The women played their opponents close, but wins just weren’t in the cards. Even a 1-0 lead in the final minute against the University of Central Missouri didn’t hold up, as UCM scored a goal and took ESU to overtime, beating the Hornets 2-1.

The women excelled in the classroom, as seven members of the team were named to the 2007 MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll. They were:  Katherine DeWeese, Broken Arrow, Okla.; Marcie Fundi, Berryton; Jennifer Gurnsey, Wichita; Shelly Marsh, Olathe; Allison Maxwell, Topeka; Caitlin Riemer, Shawnee; and Alicia Smith, Salina.

Volleyball

The ESU volleyballers completed one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory, finishing with a 27-9 record and a ranking of 15th in the nation. The women reached the NCAA tournament and won their first match, before falling to #4 Truman State University in the South Central Region semi-finals in a hotly contested match with 45 ties and 17 lead changes. Earlier in the season, the largest crowd in ESU volleyball history – 1,024 fans – rocked White Auditorium as ESU trumped then-#4 Washburn with three straight come-from-behind wins.

Sophomore Arica Shepard, of Rossville, was named an honorable mention All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the first ESU player since 1991 to hold the honor. She was also named first-team All-Region after the South Central matches. Freshman Ting Liu of Beijing, was named the region’s freshman of the year. Shepard finished the season with 613 kills, the third-best ESU mark, while Liu set a new single season assist record for the Hornets, with 1,792 assists. In the classroom, five women were named to the MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

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Last Updated April 17, 2008