William Penn Athletics News – April 13
William Penn University Athletics
William Penn Takes Momentum into Conference with Win at AIB
Panora—The Statesmen women’s golf team dominated in its final warm-up for the league championship, winning the AIB ‘Eagles for Heroes’ Spring Invitational Friday and Saturday.
#23 William Penn was first out of seven teams at the par-71 Lake Panorama National Golf Course with a two-day tally of 661 (332-329). North Iowa Area CC was a distant second, 53 strokes back of the navy and gold.
Maggie Yang (So., Chino, Calif., Biology) won her third title of the season (fifth career), leading a field of 34 players with a score of 158 (80-78).
Directly behind her was Courtney Kronmuller (Sr., Fountain Valley, Calif., Digital Communications) in second at 165 (82-83) and Demi Coertze (Fr., Johannesburg, South Africa, Undecided) in third at 167 (84-83).
Ashley Manhnieo (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) was also in the top five, placing fifth at 171 (86-85). Natalie Booton (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Undecided) rounded out the varsity by finishing eighth at 178 (89-89).
“We persevered through cold temperatures and a very challenging golf course,” Head Coach Nik Rule said. “We came here to get in one more tune-up before conference and I think we accomplished that. Our top five developed some consistency; now we just need to work on bringing our two-day score down in a consistent manner.”
Technically, it was a clean sweep of the top five by WPU as future Statesmen Alexandria Eckenrod was fourth at 168. Eckenrod currently plays for NIACC, but has committed to finish off her career in the navy and gold.
William Penn also had its Varsity Reserve team in action. The squad placed sixth at 858 (423-435).
Danielle Giannotti (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Undecided) led the charge by tying for 18th at 195 (101-94). Lindsay Dorn (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Elementary Education) was next, placing 27th at 213 (108-105), while Samantha Lingle (Fr., Manilla, Iowa, Undecided) was right behind her in a tie for 28th at 216 (102-114). Janet Kuskie (Fr., Grant, Neb., Undecided) concluded the scoring, placing 31st at 234 (112-122).
“We really enjoy coming to Lake Panorama National,” Rule said. “It was great to have both of our teams there. We had some great team-bonding to complete our regular season.”
All of the team’s hard work will be culminated next Friday and Saturday as William Penn travels to Coal Valley, Ill. to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships at Oakwood Country Club. The conference champion will receive an automatic berth for the NAIA National Championships in May.
“The next four days will be spent putting the finishing touches on our conference preparation,” Rule said. “We will go light on Sunday and have normal practice on Monday and Tuesday. It will be fun because this is why we compete and why we play the game.”
Errors Play Big Role in Doubleheader Split Against Fighting Bees
Oskaloosa–The William Penn baseball team kept pace with the preseason league favorite, but that might not get them to the top of the Midwest Collegiate Conference standings as the Statesmen split a doubleheader against St. Ambrose Saturday.
William Penn (16-14, 6-6 MCC) lost the opener 5-1, but picked up the nightcap 4-0. The Fighting Bees (8-18, 5-5 MCC), who were picked to win the MCC back in November, remained .500 in the conference as well. Unfortunately, Clarke won twice Saturday to move to 7-3 in league play, two full games ahead of both teams at the midway point of the MCC season.
The hosts were outhit 7-6 in the opener, but three fielding errors were actually more damaging to the team.
The visitors, helped by two WPU errors, got on the board in the second with two runs. Nick Kirby (Sr., Palmdale, Calif., Physical Education) cut the deficit in half in the fourth when he doubled home pinchrunner Austin Westercamp (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Undecided). Unfortunately, a three-run home run by SAU’s Adonis Brown in the fifth frame put the game out of reach.
Enrique Alvarado (Jr., Lancaster, Calif., Sociology) finished 2-for-3 to pace the offense. Jayme Mueller (Sr., Mundelein, Ill., Sociology) took loss to fall to 2-1. The senior, who struck out four in six innings, only permitted two earned runs.
The Statesmen posted their fifth shutout of 2013 (all since March 16) in the second matchup. Stan Simmons (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y., Physical Education) put William Penn on top in the third as the Fighting Bees committed both of their errors in the frame.
Three more runs were added in the fourth, highlighted by RBI singles by Simmons and Kyle Mauricio (Jr., Arden Hills, Minn., Physical Education). Chris Redfern (Sr., Stratford, Ontario, Digital Communications) collected an RBI on a fielder’s choice as well. Simmons was 2-for-3 in the contest to guide WPU to a 7-4 edge in base knocks.
Starter Danny Erece (Sr., Chula Vista, Calif., Physical Education) tallied three strikeouts in three scoreless innings, but did not reach the mark for innings pitched to figure into the decision. The senior walked two in the second, but removed both from the base paths by starting successful rundowns between first and second base.
Corey Lathram (So., Brentwood, Calif., Physical Education) went the rest of the way, moving to 3-1 as he struck out three in four relief frames. The sophomore only allowed one hit in his outing.
Next: The two programs will meet up for another MCC doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.
Edwards Qualifies with School Record at Jim Duncan Meet
Des Moines–Alex Edwards (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Secondary Education) became William Penn’s first outdoor track and field national qualifier as he led the Statesmen at the Jim Duncan Invitational hosted by Drake Friday and Saturday.
Edwards placed fifth in the 800-meter run with a school-record time of 1:53.70, breaking the old time of 1:55.34 by Travis Sauer from 2005. More importantly, his time also eclipsed the NAIA’s provisional-qualifying standard of 1:54.00.
Gabriel Green (Sr., Anniston, Ala., Business Management) had a strong invite as well, posting two third-place finishes in the 100 (11.13 seconds) and 200-meter dash events (22.12 seconds).
Frederick Pannell (Fr., Trenton, Mo.) was actually the highest navy and gold finisher, earning a runner-up showing in the triple jump at 43-5. Jalen Wilson (So., Desoto, Texas, Undecided) was ninth in the long jump at 21-0, while Kederick Givens (Fr., Wylie, Texas, Communications) had a pair of high placings. The freshman was tenth in the 200-meter dash at 22.72 seconds and 11th in the 100 at 11.45 seconds.
Meaghan Foster (Fr., Centerville, Iowa, Undecided) was the lone top-ten finisher on the women’s side, taking eighth in the shot put at 41-1.5.
Next: In conjunction with the Midwest Collegiate Conference Multi-Event Championships next Friday and Saturday, William Penn will host the First Annual Statesmen Relays at the Lacey Complex Stadium in Oskaloosa.
Statesmen Fall off on Second Day in Final Regular Season Tourney
Panora–The William Penn men’s golf team was unable to improve upon its first day score and fell back into the pack at the AIB ‘Eagles for Heroes’ Spring Invitational Friday and Saturday.
The Statesmen placed fifth out of ten teams at the Lake Panorama National Golf Course with a two-day tally of 642 (321-321). Host AIB cruised to the victory with a 601 (302-299).
William Penn, led by a Friday-leading score of 73 by Seb Stobart (Sr., Harare, Zimbabwe, Business Management), was in second after Day One. Unfortunately, the navy and gold were passed by three squads on Saturday to drop to fifth.
AIB’s Thailer Carlson, who was last week’s Midwest Collegiate Conference Men’s Golfer of the Week, won his second tournament in a row with a 147 (74-73).
Stobart shot a 78 on Saturday to tie for third out of 54 competitors at 151. Adriaan de Villiers (Sr., Akasia, South Africa, Industrial Technology) was also in the top ten in a tie for ninth at 155 (79-76).
Byron Lindeque (So., Boksburg, South Africa, General Accounting) was 24th at 163 (79-83), while Terence Schafer (Fr., Solwezi, Zambia) tied for 42nd at 173 (90-83). Kaden VanMaanen (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Secondary Education) rounded out the scoring at 182 (92-90) to place 48th.
Next: William Penn travels to Silvis, Ill. next Friday and Saturday to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships at TPC Deere Run Golf Course. The conference champion receives the automatic berth for the NAIA National Championships in May.
