Thought of the Day - "There is a shrine in the temple of ages, where lie forever embalmed the memories of such as have deserved well of their country and their race," said John Mason Brown about the holiday being observed today. Happy Memorial Day!
HEY Awards
There are so many events and performances of note as the college spring seasons wind down, virtually everyone in today's column is deserving of a Higher Education Yahoo! award.
Track & Field
Senior hurdler/sprinter Meg O'Keefe of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas played a major role in leading her team to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. Individually, the North Schuylkill graduate finished second in the 400 hurdles and fifth in the 100 hurdles. The 4x400 relay team, on which she ran a leg, captured gold and the 4x100 relay team was fourth.
- Sticking to the West Coast, it was a gold-medal day in the javelin for Azusa-Pacific sophomore Allison Updike of Tamaqua. Updike helped A-P's women's team to a second-place finish in the National Christian College Athletic Association championships. Updike's throw of 46.36 meters was nearly six meters farther than her closest opponent.
- Moving east, but sticking to the javelin, Shippensburg junior Andrew Korrubin of Pottsville took third place at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships, throwing a personal record (by 10 feet) of 209 feet, 6 inches and qualifying for the NCAA Division II Championships. At the NCAAs, Korrubin again acquitted himself well, finishing 11th.
- Also at the PSAC meet, Kutztown sophomore Tyler Matunis of North Schuylkill finished fifth in the decathlon, accumulating a career best 5,848 points. Third-place finishes in the 110 hurdles and 1,500 meters and a fifth in the javelin helped Matunis. Senior teammate Tyler Rolshausen of Blue Mountain finished 12th in the hammer throw.
- At the Middle Atlantic Conference championships, Alvernia senior Dillon Emery of North Schuylkill finished 11th in the hammer throw and 15th in the discus. Earlier in the season, Emery had set a new program record in the hammer throw.
- Bloomsburg graduate student Vicki Davis of Schuylkill Haven concluded what the university calls "one of the finest careers in Bloomsburg history" by receiving All-Atlantic Region accolades from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in both the steeplechase and the 5,000 meters. Davis owns three outdoor school records.
Diamond Delights
We have overlooked a key contributor - as a freshman - to the West Chester Golden Rams softball team, which reached the NCAA Division II national tournament this weekend in Salem, Virginia.
Minersville grad Sarah Walasavage of Minersville is the starting center fielder for the Rams, starting 26 games and appearing in 52. Walasavage is a defensive cornerstone for West Chester, having recorded 38 putouts without an error.
The Golden Rams (42-21) captured the Atlantic Super Regional to qualify for nationals. At nationals, the Rams lost to Armstrong Atlantic State 5-1, stayed alive with a 6-2 win over LIU Post, but were ousted Saturday with a 4-3 loss to Dixie State.
- South Florida's national title quest ended in the championship round of the Tallahassee Regional with a 2-1 loss to third-ranked Florida State. Freshman outfielder Juli Weber of Tri-Valley went 2-for-3 in the final game and earned a spot on the All-Regional team.
- Lourdes graduate Emily Long of Keystone College has been named Honorable Mention All-Colonial States Athletic Conference. Long, a freshman outfielder, led her team in RBIs with 34, slugging percentage with .558 and hits with 43 (including 10 doubles, two triples and two home runs). She was second on the team in batting at .381 and had a .407 on-base percentage. In the field, Long made only one error and had a sparkling .977 fielding percentage.
- Coastal Carolina's baseball season - and Williams Valley grad and senior pitcher Tyler Herb's collegiate career - ended with a 15-11 loss to Campbell in the Big South Championships.
Herb ended the season with a 7-6 record, a 3.53 ERA and 68 strikeouts. For his career, Herb was 22-9, with a 3.40 ERA and 210 Ks in 272.2 innings pitched. His 46 career starts rank sixth all-time, ERA is 15th, and wins, strikeouts and innings pitched 13th.
- Binghamton University captured its second straight America East Tournament championship Sunday, defeating Stony Brook 8-7 in 12 innings. The win advances the Bearcats (25-25) to the NCAA Tournament.
Binghamton won straight elimination games after a 6-1 opening loss to Hartford. Sophomore pitcher Jake Cryts of Blue Mountain pitched seven strong innings in a 6-3 win Friday over Maine that kept the Bearcats alive, then pitched 2.1 innings in Sunday's final. He gave up four runs on six hits Sunday, then played second base.
On the season, Cryts is 5-5 with a 3.58 ERA. Binghamton made it to the finals after beating Hartford 8-0 in a rematch, then topped Stony Brook 4-3 earlier Sunday.
- Susquehanna's best baseball season ever came to an end last week in a 4-3 loss to Wesleyan at the NCAA Division III Tournament. Susquehanna, the Landmark Conference champ, finished the season 30-14.
Upper Dauphin's Ty Raubenstine is a senior center fielder for the Crusaders, while Nativity's Taylor Luckenbill, a freshman, led the team in hitting at .360.
Raubenstine did all he could to stave off defeat in the final game, scoring two runs and making three sterling catches in the field. Raubenstine was also named to the Landmark Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll (minimum 3.20 grade-point-average), as he was in 2013 as well.
- Rider junior pitcher David Hafer of Pine Grove was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic team. A biochemistry major with a 3.28 grade-point-average, Hafer finished the season 4-3 with a 5.13 ERA.
- King's College pitcher and Marian grad Ryan Gimbi finished his junior season with two wins, a save and a 3.18 ERA in 34 innings of work. Gimbi struck out 41 while holding the opposition to a .197 batting average.
Golf Goodies
Led by junior Ryan Laudeman of Blue Mountain, Elizabethtown's men's golf team finished fifth at the recent Commonwealth Conference championships. Laudeman had the third-lowest score of the day Sunday, shooting a 79 to go with a first-day 84 for a two-day total of 163 - vaulting himself from 16th to 7th and earning All-Conference honors in the process.
Other local competitors at the championships were Lebanon Valley junior Kory Lopata of Panther Valley, who finished tied for 31st with an 86-94-180, and Lycoming junior John Koch of Blue Mountain, who finished 47th with a 102-98-200.
(MacLaughlin's college column appears bi-weekly. To make contributions, email Sports Editor Leroy Boyer at Lboyer@republicanherald.com)