Thought for the Day — Many of these columns describe outstanding effort. Yogi Berra had a thought about that. He said, “You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn’t enough, in the second half you give what’s left.”
HEY Awards
A former Pottsville Area and Susquehanna University women’s soccer player gave so much effort on the pitch that she is being named to the SU Sports Hall of Fame and receives today’s first Higher Education Yahoo! award.
Jessica Paulshock, Susquehanna Class of 2005, is one of six former Crusaders being inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sept. 18. Paulshock was a two-time Middle Atlantic Conference first-team selection, the MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year in 2004, and a CoSIDA Academic All-District player. In 2004, Paulshock led Susquehanna to a record of 14-5-1, a program record in both wins and winning percentage.
She is near the top of virtually every offensive category list in Crusader women’s soccer history. She is tied for first in program history in points (102) and assists (18), second in goals (42), and holds the single-season records in points (43) and goals (19). She is also second all-time in shots (220).
• A HEY award goes to the University of Delaware figure skating team, which won its third consecutive U.S. Intercollegiate Team Figure Skating Championship last weekend, with the help of Bryan and Shaun Schaeffer of Blue Mountain. Shaun took first place in pre-juvenile men’s free skate and 10th in senior solo dance, while Bryan finished third in juvenile men’s free skate.
Track Talk
Kutztown’s men’s track and field team features three local student-athletes who boast a diverse set of skills and compete in a diverse group of events. The student-athletes are junior Tyler Matunis of North Schuylkill and two freshmen from Blue Mountain — Colton Cryts and Tristan Dickey.
Matunis and Cryts both compete in perhaps the most grueling event in track — and the one that tests a wide variety of skills — the decathlon. Most recently, Matunis became the first-ever Kutztown competitor to win the decathlon at the Mondschein Multi Meet, turning in career-best marks in nearly every event and scoring 5,853 points.
Cryts, running in his first-ever Mondschein Multi, finished seventh in the decathlon with a season-best 5,292 points.
Dickey runs mid-distance events. He took third in the 400 meters with a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-qualifying time of 50.11 at the Tribe Invitational. He also runs on the 4x400 relay team, which has captured first at the Tribe Invitational, the Rider Invitational and a tri-meet with Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg.
• University of Virginia freshman Carter Green is making an impact on the Cavaliers’ women’s track team. Green, a North Schuylkill alum, finished second in the discus and sixth in shot put and hammer throw for the Cavaliers at a tri-meet with California and Michigan.
• Two Blue Mountain graduates, both sophomores at West Chester, performed well recently. Thrower Greg Raudenbush won the shot put and was second in the hammer throw at the WCU Invitational, and set a new school record in the shot put (13.61 meters) to finish second at the Lafayette 7-Way Invitational. Raudenbush also finished second in the hammer throw.
At the same meet, jumper/thrower Elizabeth Rauenzahn finished third in the triple jump. She took second in the long jump and fourth in the javelin at the WCU Invitational, and was seventh in the long jump at the East Stroudsburg All-American Invitational, where Raudenbush finished fourth in the shot put and seventh in the discus.
• At Shippensburg, senior javelin thrower Andrew Korrubin of Pottsville recorded a collegiate-best mark of 212 feet, 6 inches to finish second at the Millersville Metrics. Korrubin’s mark is an NCAA provisional-qualifier and moves him to seventh in the national Division II performance rankings and second in the PSAC.
• At the same meet, sophomore hurdler Eric Hertzog of Tamaqua finished sixth in the 110 hurdles with a PSAC-qualifying time of 15.81. Hertzog topped that with a season-best time of 15.52 at Ship’s invitational meet. Hertzog also ran a 12-flat in the 100 meters.
• On the women’s side at Shippensburg, senior Ashley Nicola of Jim Thorpe finished third in the 100 meters with a time of 12.71, ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team and took third in the long jump at the Shippensburg Invitational. Prior to that, she qualified for PSACs in both the 100 and 200 meters at Bucknell’s Outdoor Classic.
Hamburg grad and Ship freshman Kali Hepner finished second in the pole vault at the SU Invitational, bettering her PSAC-qualifying mark with a vault of 11-5¾ inches. Freshman hurdler Christy Digiandomenico of Marian finished second in the 400 hurdles, and junior thrower Heather Bolick of Mount Carmel qualified for PSACs with a throw of 121-3 in the javelin at the Millersville Metrics.
Diamond Doings
West Chester’s softball team (34-12, 18-6) is atop the PSAC East standings due in no small part to the play of sophomore center fielder Sarah Walasavage of Minersville. Walasavage is batting .307 from the leadoff spot with an on-base percentage of .380 and a slugging percentage of .507. Her five triples lead the team and she has four home runs and 24 RBIs. Defensively, she has recorded 34 putouts with only one error.
• Williams Valley grad Ben Ancheff, is now a junior at St. Thomas University, which competes in the NAIA and is 34-12 in the Sun Conference. Ancheff, a right-hander, who has pitched at several schools (most recently the University of Central Arkansas), is 1-0 and has pitched three innings in two appearances.
• Wilkes senior and Pottsville grad Bobby Schappell recently stole home and had two hits on the day for the Colonels in a tough 7-6 loss to FDU-Florham. Schappell, a second-baseman, is 5-for-5 in stolen bases and batting .267 with a .421 OBP.
Potpourri
Bloomsburg played its annual Maroon & Gold spring football game this past weekend, with the Gold team (offense) defeating the Maroon (defense) 35-17. Seeing some time at quarterback was redshirt-sophomore Chris Palubinsky of Shenandoah Valley. Palubinsky completed 5-of-10 attempts for 42 yards.
Bloomsburg and Kutztown recently released their 2015 recruiting classes. Bloom’s included defensive tackle Nate Gadinski of North Schuylkill. Kutztown added Jim Thorpe’s Shane Snisky, who is listed as an “athlete” position-wise.
• Lycoming junior tennis player Zackary Collevechio of Panther Valley won both his singles and doubles matches against Stevenson albeit in a losing effort for the Warriors.
• Elizabethtown senior golfer Ryan Laudeman of Blue Mountain was top finisher for the Blue Jays at the E’town Spring Invitational at Hershey Country Club East. Laudeman shot an 85.
(MacLaughlin’s college column appears bi-weekly. To make contributions, email Sports Editor Leroy Boyer at Lboyer@republicanherald.com)