William Penn Athletic News October 24
William Penn University Athletics
Schuler Guides Penn at Graceland Meet
Lamoni–Kipp Schuler (Sr., Haviland, Kan., Dana) broke into the top 50 at the highly-competitive Yellowjacket Classic hosted by Graceland Saturday.
Penn finished 14th out of 18 teams with 380 points, while NCAA Division II Central Missouri State took the team title with 50 points, while NCAA Division I Iowa State was runner-up with 79 points. #11 nationally-ranked Graceland was just one point behind that with 80 points.
Laban Sialo of CMSU won the 8K race with a time of 24:51, 16 seconds in front of the field.
Schuler led the Statesmen in 34th place overall (out of 180 runners) with a time of 27:09. Penn and Grand View represented the Midwest Collegiate Conference at the meet and Schuler topped all league competitors.
Keaton Studebaker (Fr., Ogden, Utah, Weber HS) was next in 85th with a time of 28:42, while Jordan Letzring (Sr., Alta, Alta HS) was 94th with a time of 28:57.
Nicholas Reynolds (Jr., Riverton, Utah, Iowa Western CC) took 103rd with a time of 29:15 and Quintin Marshall (Fr., St. Louis, Mo., McCluer South Berkeley HS) rounded out Penn’s scoring in 155th place with a time of 31:42.
Cameron Pittman (Fr., Carl Junction, Mo., Carl Junction HS), in 164th (33:01), and Donovan DeVore (Jr., Wilton, Wilton HS), in 177th (34:36), also ran for the Penn men.
Next: Penn takes a week off before traveling to Clinton on Saturday, November 6 to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.
Penn 2-2 During Combined Weekend
Dubuque–The Lady Statesmen netters started slow but bounced back to finish at .500 over the weekend.
Penn (20-17) opened the weekend with a 3-2 loss to Clarke Friday at the Clarke Tournament (23-25, 25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 10-15) and then was swept 3-0 against Loras in a regular match later that night (19-25, 23-25, 19-25).
The Lady Statesmen returned to tourney action Saturday and swept both Trinity International (Ill.) (25-21, 26-24, 25-22) and Indiana-Northwest (25-22, 25-17, 25-12).
Paige Echimovich (Fr., O’Fallon, Mo., Fort Zumwalt West HS) had a big game against Clarke, tallying 15 kills with a .560 attack percentage. Emily Stanton (Sr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) and Morgan Bailey (Sr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) both had 13 kills, while Brittany Rohling (Jr., Thayer, Kan., Neosho CC) added 11.
Krista Pettit (Sr., Grundy Center, Grundy Center HS) managed 29 assists, while Caitlin Hadden (Sr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS) finished with 30 digs. Stanton and Hadden each served two aces.
Jeanette Cunningham (Fr., Mt. Orab, Ohio, Western Brown HS) established herself at the net with one block solo and two block assists.
Stanton paced Penn with nine kills against Loras. Pettit had 15 assists, Hadden tallied 18 digs, and Bailey posted two aces. Cunningham and Katie Zunick (Jr., Kokomo, Ind., Kokomo HS) had two block assists apiece.
Stanton and Bailey topped their squad on offense versus Trinity International, recording eight kills each, while Rohling contributed seven. Pettit assisted on 17 points, while Hadden dug 23 balls. Rohling provided the defensive presence with two block solos and five block assists.
Echimovich book-ended her weekend with another strong showing (ten kills, .421 attack pct.) in the Indiana-Northwest matchup. Pettit concluded the match with 16 assists and Hadden finished with 18 digs. Hadden and Bailey had three aces each in the win.
For their efforts, Stanton and Pettit were named to the all-tournament team.
“We lost a couple of tight matches on Friday, but battled back on Saturday,” Lady Statesmen Head Coach Jeremy Wise said. “We got back to our normal level of play and execution and hopefully we can continue that for our final two weeks of the year.”
Next: Penn returns to Oskaloosa Tuesday to host Iowa Wesleyan in Midwest Collegiate Conference action at 7 p.m.
Penn Women Compete in Final League Tune-Up
Lamoni–The Lady Statesmen cross country team ended the regular season portion of its 2010 campaign by competing at the Yellowjacket Classic hosted by Graceland Saturday.
The Lady Statesmen placed 15th out of 16 teams with 428 points, while NCAA Division II Truman (Mo.) won the team title with 58 points. Obsie Birru of Grand View blitzed the 5K field with a time of 17:39, 39 seconds ahead of the meet runner-up.
Nicole Rogge (Fr., Glendale, Ariz., Apollo HS) headed Penn in 88th place overall (out of 138 runners) with a time of 22:35.
Katie Burnett (Sr., Mesa, Ariz., Desert Ridge HS) was next in 95th place with a time of 22:54, while Kyra English (Fr., Draper, Utah, Alta HS) finished 100th with a time of 23:37.
Morgan Avery (Jr., Minot, N.D., Iowa Western CC), in 112th at 24:19, and Jessica Bixler (Sr., Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa HS), in 116th at 24:42, rounded out the team’s scoring.
Next: Penn takes a week off before traveling to Clinton on Saturday, November 6 to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.
Late Letdown Dooms Penn Men in MCC Finale
Davenport–The Penn men’s soccer team let a golden opportunity slip away as it fell 3-2 to St. Ambrose in Midwest Collegiate Conference action Saturday.
The loss drops the Statesmen to 7-7-2 overall and 2-5-1 in the MCC, but more importantly lands Penn in the #8 position for the MCC Tournament, which begins next Sunday. The team has drawn regular season champion and #1 overall seed Grand View in the quarterfinals. Penn fell 5-0 to the #15 nationally-ranked Vikings (14-1, 7-1 MCC) on September 25.
Penn had a great start to Saturday’s matchup as Daniel Beseau (Fr., Florissant, Mo., Timberland HS) put the Statesmen ahead 1-0 in the 44th minute off a pass from Jordan Hoffman (Fr., Hyde Park, Skyview HS). The goal is his third, while the assist is Hoffman’s third as well.
Nearly a half hour later, Nick Gorrie (Fr., Kilmarnock, Scotland, Grange Academy) doubled the advantage to two in the 71st minute with his team-leading 11th score of the fall. The assist was credited to Danny Aguerre (Sr., Salt Lake City, Utah, Iowa Western CC), his first of 2010.
Gorrie is currently seventh on Penn’s all-time single-season goals list and ninth in points (23).
Unfortunately, right after the second goal was recorded, the momentum switched violently in favor of St. Ambrose (6-10-2, 3-4-1) as Kendrick Tyson scored in the 75th and 77th minutes to knot the game.
Then, as the seconds waned, Curtis Howard put the hosts up for good in the 89th minute and the Fighting Bees held on for victory. The win helped St. Ambrose secure the #5 seed (and a quarterfinal matchup with #4 Viterbo), the spot Penn would have earned had it come away on top.
Penn held a 9-8 advantage in shots, led by five by Gorrie.
Tadeo Cavazos (Sr., Baytown, Texas, Lee HS) recorded two saves in the loss.
Next: Penn hosts non-conference foe William Woods (Mo.) Tuesday in its regular season finale at 5 p.m.
Dream of Perfect Season Crushed in 24-14 Loss to McKendree
Lebanon, Ill.–Despite doing most everything right for much of the game, the Statesmen football team was still its toughest opponent in a 24-14 loss to #16 McKendree in Midwest League play Saturday.
#11 nationally-ranked Penn (7-1, 4-1 MWL) outgained the home team 462-322, but committed four costly turnovers, three in Bearcat territory, to have its nine-game winning streak snapped (dating back to November 7, 2009).
The gut-wrenching loss puts the Statesmen on the outside looking in for the NAIA playoffs. Penn can still share the MWL title and has a narrow chance of earning an at-large postseason bid by winning its final three games (two in league). To win the crown outright, though, Penn will need an upset win by Quincy (on October 30) or Grand View (on November 13) to keep McKendree (6-2, 4-1 MWL) from punching its ticket.
The visitors could not have scripted a better start as, on just the second play from scrimmage, Taylor Parsons (Fr., The Woodlands, Texas, College Park HS) hooked up with Bernard Luster (Sr., Corinth, Miss., Northeast Mississippi CC) for a 72-yard touchdown to give Penn a 7-0 lead just 47 seconds into the afternoon.
The Bearcats were not intimidated on their Homecoming, however, and knotted the game just over eight minutes later.
After a pair of punts, Penn found its groove again, marching all the way to the McKendree 28-yard line. Unfortunately, the next play was a glimpse of terrible things to come as the Bearcats recovered a Parsons fumble.
The home team made the Statesmen pay with a long-drive that resulted in a field goal, giving McKendree the lead for good.
The Bearcats forced a quick Penn possession and put up another seven points, extending the margin to ten at 17-7.
Penn tried valiantly to pull back within one score before the break, but a 30-yard field goal attempt by Marcus Kerrigan (Fr., Cary, Ill., Cary-Grove HS) sailed wide left.
The Statesmen’s first drive after intermission was like most before it with the offense pounding the ball forward. Unfortunately, like two before it, the possession ended with misery as Shawn Davis (Fr., Hamersville, Ohio, Western Brown HS) fumbled at the Penn 35-yard line.
McKendree made long work (nine plays, 3:35 T.O.P.) of the short field and eventually scored again to lead 24-7 midway through the third stanza.
Penn wasted little time to get back on track, scoring less than two minutes later on a P.J. Perry (Sr., Clermont, Fla., East Ridge HS) six-yard run. Trailing 24-14 with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter, the visitors were still very much alive and kicking.
The Statesmen defense stepped up to the challenge and allowed just four first downs for the rest of regulation.
The Penn offense also found success, but failed to capitalize. The next two drives crossed midfield, but the first ended in a punt, while the second concluded with a Parsons fumble at the McKendree 18-yard line.
With time running out, the Statesmen came up short on a fourth-down try near midfield on its second-to-last possession. The defense quickly got the ball back to the offense, but with only 49 ticks left, Parsons capped a difficult day by being intercepted inside the Bearcat redzone.
The freshman quarterback completed 12-of-25 passes for a season-high 180 yards and a score and also rushed 14 times for 43 yards. He completed seven balls to Luster for 126 yards.
Perry, with 69 yards, topped a run game that gave the Bearcats fits all day, finishing with 282 yards (5.5 avg.). DeMarco Sanders (Jr., Horn Lake, Miss., Horn Lake HS), with 58 yards on just three runs, and Dalton Phelps (So., Tipton, Tipton HS), with 47 yards, also produced solid numbers.
Dale Woods (Sr., Southaven, Miss., Northwest Mississippi CC) headlined the defensive effort with 13 stops (one for a loss), while Javaras Thomas (Sr., Miami, Fla., Miami Beach HS), with 11, and Chris Ruff (Sr., Highland Park, Mich., Grand Rapids CC), with ten, also reached double figures. Ruff was making his first appearance since September 18 against Quincy.
Next: Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Saturday to host non-conference foe Peru State (Neb.) at 1 p.m.
Lady Statesmen Soccer Vs. St. Ambrose Postponed
Davenport–Saturday’s women’s soccer game between William Penn and St. Ambrose was called off in the first half due to lightning and therefore the game was not made official. The two teams have rescheduled the contest, which will again start scoreless from the beginning, for Thursday at 3 p.m. in Davenport.
Wade Steinlage
