Friday, January 29, 2010

Allmond getting a little notice on the web

Corey Allmond has been catching opposing coaches' attention this season. He is now catching the eye of some people who follow college basketball nationally.

The Bleacher Report, a national blog, posted an article today about the Bearkat sharp-shooter.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, here is the YouTube video of Corey's record breaking night at Rupp Arena when he hit 11 3-pointers.

Highlights from Bearkats win over Lamar

Highlights from the Kats 90-63 win over Lamar on Wednesday night.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

School record run for Heggie

This past weekend at the Texas Tech indoor meet, Sam Houston State sprinter Jordan Heggie set a school record in the 55-meter hurdles with a run of 8.01 seconds. She finished fourth behind two Texas Tech runners and an unattached competitor.

Heggie is the defending Southland Conference champion in the 60-meter hurdles, taking gold last season at Houston.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

View From the Corner Office

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back. The students are on campus and back in class and we are ready to get the spring season going with Southland Conference basketball already in full swing.

We have already had some good crowds for both the men’s and women’s games, with a very energetic and loud group at our home games so far.

Our men’s team opened at home on against Stephen F. Austin with a big win and despite the residence halls being closed, with still had a very good crowd. Nearly 1,600 fans were there to see the game and a good bit of that was from people who walked up and purchased a ticket at the gate.

The Lumberjacks haven’t been to Huntsville in two years, so we hoped our fans would come out to see the game. Despite the residence halls not opening until Sunday, we still had a very good turnout from our students as well with a little more than 300 at the game.

What I was the most pleased to see was the way the community turned out for the game. Our walkup sales were some of the best we have had and as a result, we ended up with a good crowd for the time of the year. I noticed we had lines coming into the coliseum even with us opening up more ticket offices.

That is why I want to take this opportunity to remind our fans that tickets can be purchased online or in advance at the Mafrige Fieldhouse ticket office during the week to help avoid waiting outside to get inside the arena.

As our team continues to push through the Southland Conference season, they are going to need the support of the students and community, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to attend a Sam Houston State basketball game.

When I saw the lines it reminded me about stories of the Old Men’s Gym and having to wait in line to get a ticket. We have really grown since those days. Our worst crowds now would have filled the Old Men’s Gym, which had a capacity of about 1,000. For those of you who remember the good ole’ days of the Old Men’s Gym, it is time to move past that.

We have a 6,100 seat arena now and need to concentrate on filling it. Our crowds now are much better every single night than they were 35 years ago, and instead of talking about how that place used to be packed every night, we need to worry about packing the gym we are currently in. Every crowd we have had this season would have packed the Old Men’s Gym. An average attendance of less than 1,000 doesn’t need to be the benchmark for this department.

While we are on the subject of tickets and attendance, it is also never too early to start talking about Southland Tournament tickets. Every year we purchase an allotment of tickets from the conference office to sell to our fans, and it is very important well sell the entire block. We will be back in Katy and we need people to keep coming out and supporting the Kats. We will have information up on the web site soon regarding tickets and how to purchase them.

Another important item to note about our ticketing is the addition of a new assistant athletic director for ticketing. Jason Chandler will be heading up every aspect of our ticketing in the department and we would like to welcome him.

We are bringing him on board with the task of increasing our ticket sales. It is always a challenge generating revenue from ticket sales, but we think he is going to give us a presence we have not had before. He most recently was working with Appalachian State, and I have seen first hand in the playoffs the job those guys do in getting fans out to the games. I am confident he will be successful in helping to continue moving this department forward.

-- Bobby Williams

Volleyball welcomes three new players

Greetings Bearkat fans! SHSU Volleyball has had a busy off season and would like to get you up to speed with what is going on with our team as the semester starts. We are still alive after the cold freeze here in Southeast Texas. No it wasn't as bad as when I was back home in Minnesota, but everyone complains like it is, I've gotten used to it, though.

First, to recap the 2009 season, we obviously had a great season on the court, finishing as the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, and ending up losing out to a upset-minded Nicholls State. But ending the year with a 20-14 record, best here at Sam in 13 years. The future looks bright, returning most of our starters and getting our freshman and sophomores valuable playing experience.

Anna Ferguson, senior middle blocker was a runner-up for player of the year in the Southland Conference, and also named The Huntsville Item's 2009 female athlete of the year, as well as earning first team all-academic SLC honors- not too shabby ending her illustrious career. You would never know it from Anna, either - she is a very humble person, most of the time. Congrats to Carli Kolbe and Kaylee Hawkins for garnering first team all-SLC honors as well. As for in the classroom, the team ended the fall semester with a 3.15 GPA, which may or may not retain our title for highest GPA in the SHSU athletic department, we are still waiting for the ballots to be counted.

As for 2010, we just met with the team the other day, and they are looking ready to work hard and get after it this off season in preparation for the fall and our goal of winning the conference tournament, which we host right here in Johnson Coliseum in November 2010! The girls had the taste in their mouth last year, and are hungrier now.

We did add three new players at semester who we feel will be a big asset to our team. Crystal Roberts, 5'5" freshman transfer from Southern Arkansas, where she lead her team in digs and set a new conference record for digs in a match. She is originally from Hutto and is a DS/libero. She's already been working hard in the past month to be ready for the spring, coming to school in shape. Tayler Gray, 5'7" DS/setter from Huntsville, is an early enrollee from high school and is ready to get a head start to her college career. Gray was a four sport letter winner at HHS, and first-team all district player in volleyball and softball. Brittany Hoag will bolster the outside hitter and opposite position for us at 6'1", transferring from Arkansas State, where she led her team in kills and attempts. She also was second in digs and service aces, and hails from right down the road in Crosby. Brittany is very excited to be closer to home and be able to pursue her major of nutrition science. Having the three new girls is a breath of fresh air, and will only make us stronger with more competition in the gym.

Other than that, we have a busy spring schedule coming up, with lots of training, reps, practice and a few competition dates. Don't forget to sign up for our 3rd Annual Golf Tournament, which will be held at Raven Nest Golf Course in town on Saturday, April 17 - destined to be bigger & better than last year!

Eat 'em up Kats,

-- Joe Lind, Assistant Volleyball Coach

Women golfers ready for Spring

With three freshmen in the lineup for the fall semester, I was pleased with the performance of the team. We had six players averaging below 80 in the tournament play.

We also got it done in the classroom. Meagan Musk was an academic standout in the fall with a 4.0 GPA followed by Ellie McKinley (3.76) and Shelby Hardy (3.75).

We are ready to get back out and start competing this fall and I look forward to see what the girls can do.

-- Tommy Chain

Monday, January 25, 2010

Former Kat lands a big job

When our players leave the program, we always want them to succeed in whatever it is they do. Many of our players gave gone overseas to continue their basketball career and those guys continue to get recognition. I want to recognize a guy who many of you still remember.

Jeremy Thomas was an Academic All-Southland player for us and he just recently finished graduate school here at Sam Houston. More importantly, he also already has a job. Jeremy has been interning for the Houston Rockets, and recently, he beat out an applicant field of close to 600 and will now be working as the Corporate Development Event Coordinator for the Houston Texans.

I just want to give a big congratulations to Jeremy on the new job and I know he will be great at it.

-- Bob Marlin

Former Bearkat runner going the distance


Former Bearkat distance runner, Melissa Keith (formerly Melissa Poole) won the Texas Marathon in Kingwood on New Year’s Day. She ran 3:24:40 which is a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. This was her first marathon.

-- Jesse Parker

Welcome to the new Bearkat Bytes

I just wanted to welcome you to the re-launch of Bearkat Bytes.

Over the last few months, we have been taking a look at many of the ways we information out to our fans, and working to tie everything in together. From Facebook and Twitter to the official site, there are many different outlets for our fans to access information on the Kats.

Hopefully with Bearkat Bytes we will be able to consolidate some of that. Some of the changes will be more content on the blog as well as posts from coaches and players.

Bearkat Bytes will also be the home of View From the Corner Office, a feature from director of athletics Bobby Williams. Also, Bearkats in the News will be featured on the blog as well as embedded video from both the official site as well as out You Tube page.

If you see something else you would like, leave a comment and let us know as we are always looking to improve.

-- Jason Barfield