Wittenberg University Fall Athletes Earn Postseason Honors

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Another banner fall sports season has reaped tangible rewards for 38 Wittenberg University athletes who were selected to All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams. In addition, several Tiger athletes have received regional and national recognition from various organizations.

Announcements for football, men's and women's soccer, volleyball and field hockey have come in separate releases from the NCAC office in the past two weeks. All-conference selections in men's and women's cross country were determined by individual finishes at the conference championship events that were held at Wabash College on Oct. 27.

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Abi Gerstle

At the NCAC Cross Country Championship Meet, junior co-captain Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) paced the Tiger women to one of their best team finishes ever by capturing first place individually. Gerstle became the first Tiger runner to win the individual conference title as she crossed the finish line in 19:09.45, more than seven seconds faster than anyone else in the field. Her fine performance earned NCAC Female Runner of the Year honors.

Also making first-team All-NCAC in women's cross country was senior co-captainSarah Weide (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead), who recorded a career-best seventh in a time of 19:41. It was the first time Weide has earned such an award in cross country after taking home second-team honors the last two years. For the men, senior Dave Hyde (Naperville, Ill./Central) led the team, finishing 21st in a time of 27:33, which landed him honorable mention All-NCAC honors.

Gerstle went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet at Kalamazoo College on Nov. 10, advancing her to the national competition for a second straight year. Gerstle finished 108th in a field of more than 210 runners at the NCAA Division III National meet at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. on Nov. 17.

Gerstle wasnt the only Wittenberg athlete to win Athlete of the Year honors for a fall sport. Two other Tigers were so honored - junior middle hitter Tiffany Keller (Massillon, Ohio/Tuslaw), who won Player of the Year for volleyball and senior defensive tackle Juan Howard (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster), who claimed the NCAC's Richard Gregory Award as the football Defensive Player of the Year.

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Tiffany Keller

Keller, the team leader in blocks and third on the team in kills, is the third player on the active Wittenberg roster to claim NCAC Player of the Year honors, and it was the fifth straight year that the Tigers have had a player win the award. She led Wittenberg to a fifth straight outright regular season and tournament North Coast Athletic Conference championship in 2001. Joining Keller on the All-NCAC first team were freshman outside hitter Monica McDonald (Newark, Ohio/Catholic) and junior outside hitter Teresa Murphy (Blacklick, Ohio/Newark Catholic), who was selected for a third time. Freshman setter Sarah Yuskewich (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) was named honorable mention.

McDonald and Keller were further honored with first-team All-Great Lakes Region designations, as selected by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Keller made the first team for a second straight year, while McDonald, who led the team and NCAC in kills, was named the Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year.

The football team, which remains alive in the NCAA Division III playoffs following a perfect 7-0 record in 2001 conference play, placed 14 players on the All-NCAC awards list, while head coach Joe Fincham claimed Coach of the Year honors for a fourth straight season.

Fincham became the first coach in school or conference history to earn Coach of the Year in four straight times. Fincham is the winningest active college football coach in America (based on winning percentage), his career record is 63-6, including this year's 11-1 mark.

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Juan Howard

Howard, who was named All-NCAC first team for a third straight year and was the winner of the Hank Critchfield Award for the Defensive Player of the Year, had 25 solos and 29 assisted tackles during the regular season, including 17 tackles for a loss of 67 yards. He has added 11 total tackles and four for loss in two playoff games. He added to his postseason hardware haul on Friday, Nov. 30 as he was named Football Gazette NCAA Division III North Region Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Howard shared the award with Matt Campbell of Mount Union.

Senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) joined Howard as a three-time first-team All-NCAC selection. Other Tigers to make the first team were junior tailback Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont), junior center Adam McClain (Danville, Ind./Community), sophomore offensive guard Chad Thompson (Ft. Thomas, Ky./Highlands), senior offensive tackle Matt Leisure (Canton, Ohio/McKinley), senior defensive end Tim Daoust (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic),junior outside linebacker Andy Pope (Hamilton, Ohio/Lakota East), senior safetyJohn Hauser (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) and senior cornerback Jason Jackson (Columbus, Ohio/South).

Second-team choices included senior defensive tackle Mike Houck (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) and senior outside linebacker Nic Black (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua).Honorable mention selections were junior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) and junior defensive end Allen D'Andrea (Naples, Fla/Barron Collier).

Grove, Leisure and Hauser joined Howard on the Football Gazette All-North Region teams. Howard was a first-team choice, while the other three made the second team. The only player nominated who was not selected for regional recognition was Aljancic.

All-America honors for football will be announced during the month of December. Four different organizations recognize football players.

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Rebecca Russ

Moving on to field hockey, Wittenberg finished second in the NCAC with a school record-tying 10-2 record and a 13-6 overall mark (13-3 against Division III competition). Garnering the most postseason recognition was junior back Rebecca Russ (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart), who was named first-team All-NCAC, first-team All-Great Lakes Region and third-team All-America by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Russ is the second Wittenberg player in as many years to earn third-team All-America, following the 2000 designation of Kelly McMullen.

Russ was joined on the first team in 2001 by freshman Amy Burlingame (Dennis, Mass./Yarmouth-Dennis), junior Emily Duh (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley) and junior Heather House (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood). Sophomore Barb Keselman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) and junior Cara Romanowski (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) were named to the second team.

Duh, Burlingame and Russ were named first-team All-NCAC, while Keselman and House took home second-team all-conference and senior Jess Martin (Powell, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) and Romanowski were named honorable mention.

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Katie Mazzio

The women's soccer team, which finished 7-7-3 overall and 4-3-1 in the NCAC, placed two players on the All-NCAC first-team, including freshman midfielder Katie Mazzio (Wilmington, Del./A.I. duPont), who was named conference Newcomer of the Year. It was the second straight year that a Tiger player earned the award. Last year's nominee, sophomore forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood), claimed first-team All-NCAC honors for a second straight year after leading the Tigers in scoring with eight goals and six assists.

Making second team was sophomore forward Jill Rekers (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro), who was second on the team with seven goals and 1.06 points per game. Honorable mention recognition went to senior midfielder Emily Gersbach (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) and sophomore goalkeeper Jenny Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy).

Rounding things out, the men's soccer team finished the 2001 season with a 10-7-1 overall record, including a 4-5 mark in the NCAC. Sophomore forward Taggart Suddes (Ostrander, Ohio/Dublin Coffman), who led the team and NCAC with 12 goals, 10 assists and 1.89 points per game, and senior midfielder Steve Cassiere (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) were both first-time All-NCAC first team selections. Cassiere had twice been selected to either second team or honorable mention in previous seasons, but this was his inaugural appearance on the first team.

Wittenberg didn't have anyone on the second team, but three players made honorable mention: junior forward Brian Armstrong (Delaware, Ohio/Dublin Coffman), junior midfielder Matt Lapish (Grosse Point Farms, Mich./South) and junior defender Josh Curtis (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman).