William Penn Athletics #8 Story of the 2013-2014 Year
William Penn University Athletics
The #8 story from 2013-2014 highlights the athletic triumphs of several Statesmen after leaving their respective navy and gold squads.
Two football players–Damon Harrison and Nick DiMarco–and two men’s basketball cagers–Brandon Beasley and Keith Steffeck–are all living their dreams as professional athletes.
Beasley and Steffeck, both NAIA First-Team All-Americans in 2012-2013, are continuing to score with ease overseas. After a short training camp stint with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, Beasley was drafted by the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Mad Ants, a franchise in the NBA’s Development League. Unfortunately, that was also not a long stay. He finally found solid ground in Saudi Arabia, however, suiting up for Al Qadisiya and playing an entire season in the Middle East.
Steffeck signed his original contract with Usti Nad Labem BKU of the Czech Republic and performed so well that he has moved up a rung and recently inked with BBC Sparta Bertrange from Luxembourg. In the Czech Republic, Steffeck averaged 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest.
DiMarco is the most recent success story, narrowly missing out on being drafted in May. His impressive collegiate campaign at William Penn, coupled with tremendous tryout combines, kept him quite visible on everyone’s radar. Then only a couple weeks ago, DiMarco was invited to mini camp by the Baltimore Ravens and won a spot and a contract to return for regular training camp next week.
Harrison, though, has undoubtedly flourished the most of the foursome thus far, earning a starting spot with the New York Jets. A beast on the line, the 6-4, 350-pound defensive tackle, who affectionately received the nickname ‘Snacks’, posted 66 tackles, one sack, and two passes defended in his second campaign with New York.
#8 Performance of the 2013-2014 Year
Tarah Alexander needed just one race to earn her spot in the top ten as she comes in at #8.
In her lone cross country race of the fall and just her second competition as a collegiate athlete, Alexander stunned the field at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships. She placed ninth out of 73 runners with a 5K time of 20:50, collecting the final at-large spot to the NAIA National Championships by only one second. At nationals, she was 226th.
The original story can be found at http://www.statesmenathletics.com/article/4864.php
