Bearkat Bytes

Root for fifth-year seniors

2011-11-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

This is the biggest game, so far, in Sam Houston football history. With a likely win today, this year's group of Bearkats are the first to ever grab the undisputed Southland Conference title.

Sam Houston shared it in '91, '01 and '04. There won't be any sharing in '11. While Northwestern State is sure to be a respectable opponent, the Bearkats just have too many weapons.

Timothy Flanders usually runs for 100 yards on the ground and scores a couple of touchdowns at will. It shows in his 856 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns this season. Flanders also just so happens to lead the team in receiving yards with a touchdown through the air as well.

Of course we know about the multi-threat Richard Sincere, Torrance Williams' speed and the pleasant surprise of guys like running back Keyshawn Hill and wide receiver Keith Blanton.

We fully expect to see all of them give Northwestern's defense a fit today.

Don't forget the fact that Sam Houston's defense is in fact an offense, because they've picked off 18 passes for 235 yards and recovered 12 of their opponents' fumbles for 31 yards.

Just play archived videos of the offensive players telling us how easy the defense is making their job, with takeaways and the field position they've been given. They'll tell you about it.

But I've said all this to really say one thing: Root for the fifth-year seniors.

See, it's not always easy to recognize Travis Watson and Chris Crockett on the offensive line, even though you might recognize Eddie Decambre, Kash David and Randy Stewart making plays on the other side of the ball.

But these, you should know, are the fifth year seniors. They were here when Todd Whitten was the coach, toiling in obscurity in '08 and '09.

These players experienced losing more Southland Conference games than winning during that period.

Today's outright Southland Conference championship is sweetest for the players who have been here the most, if they win it, which they should.

"Really, '09 was a season I'd really like to forget," Crockett said in an interview last month. "You know, that was the year we lost Whitten, we didn't do well in Conference. It was just a bad year."

This is a good year, and today is a good day. We'll see a lot of young guys scoring touchdowns. The Bearkat quarterback Brian Bell doesn't look a day over 18.

Still, that's what we'll probably pay attention to because let's face it, it's easier. But somewhere within you, root for the fifth-year seniors. Seek out numbers 73, 57, 90, 47 and 5.

Today is five years in the making and the author knows because he too stepped on the SHSU campus for the first time as a student in 2007.

Eat 'em up Old Kats.

- Brandon K. Scott

Time to move on

2011-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Most Bearkat fansknow about the history of the Battle of the Piney Woods (it has been prettywell documented over the last two years on GoBearkats.com) and the Bearkatfootball rivalry with Texas State. Both are historical, standing as the twolongest running FCS rivalries in the state of Texas. Not many fans howeverunderstand that 25 years ago, the Lamar rivalry with the Bearkats was just asfierce – albeit mostly one sided toward the end.

The Bearkats andCardinals have met 32 times since 1935 with the Kats holding a 22-9-1 recordagainst the rivals from Beaumont. The series came to a screeching haltfollowing the 1989 season when the Cardinals dropped football.

During the Katschampionship runs in the 80’s, the Bearkats won five straight from 1984-88. Itis the last game in that run that anyone ever wants to talk about. Known as the“Game of the Black Roses” or the “Black Rose Bowl” or countless other names,the signature event of this rivalry stems from a very ugly moment in SamHouston State football.

Following a 16-14win at Bowers Stadium (then known as Bearkat Stadium) a Sam Houston fanpresented Lamar head coach Ray Alborn a bouquet of black roses. That act led toan ugly brawl and is the lasting memory of Lamar football for many Bearkatfans.

It has been 23years since that incident and for the first time, the Cardinals will make areturn to Bowers Stadium. Naturally the talk of the Black Roses is kicking upagain.

Before we start romanticizingabout the past, let’s take a look at what the Black Roses actually signified.When Bearkat Stadium opened in 1986, the Kats were dominant at home. They hadwon the first 13 games at the new stadium and had an overall win streak of 15in Huntsville.

The Black Rosesessentially marked the “death” of the dominance. The Kats lost a week later athome to arch rival SFA and then the following week to North Texas. In the finalhome game of the year, Southwest Texas took advantage of the Kats new foundinferiority at home and clipped the Kats 10-3.

From the momentthose black roses hit the turf, the Kats went nearly a year before posting a “W”at home. The ship was not righted however. The Kats went on to lose three offive at home in 1989, giving them a 2-6 record on their home turf following theBlack Roses. Not to mention the five-game win streak over Lamar was snapped in1989 as well, with a 41-0 thumping in Beaumont.

The win over Lamarin 1988 elevated the Bearkats record to 20-8 overall following the opening ofthe stadium. They won a conference championship in 1986 and posted an 8-3record in 1987. The Kats started the 1988 season with a 3-2 record, droppingonly road games to Boise State and Southwestern Louisiana (nowLouisiana-Lafayette).

In the aftermath ofthe Black Rose Brawl, the Kats went on a tailspin. They lost the final sixgames of 1988 and the first three in 1989, finishing the year just 3-8. 1990wasn’t much better, mustering only a 4-7 mark. While the first 28 gamesfollowing the opening of the new stadium were nothing but successful, the 28 followingthe Black Roses were an exercise in futility. The Kats went just 7-21 over thesame stretch to the end of the 1990 season.

While many Bearkathistorians like to jubilantly talk about the 1988 game against Lamar as a badgeof honor for the program, it actually was anything but. It truly marked a darkperiod for Bearkat football and one Sam Houston didn’t recover from easily.

I don’t think theCubs have missed a return to the World Series because they refused to let agoat in the stadium in 1945. I don’t believe the Rex Sox suffered the massiveWorld Series drought because of Babe Ruth. I don’t believe the Bearkats went ona two-and-a-half year slide because one fan took it upon himself to storm thefield and present a visiting coach with a bouquet of spray-painted flowers.

But with the Katssitting at 7-0 and No. 6 in the country, I’m not willing to take any chances.Leave the roses at home on Saturday and move on. The last thing this team needsright now is another ugly incident to mare what has been a thrilling resurgencefor Bearkat football.

-- Jason Barfield

Hooten: New look 2011-12

2011-09-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted for you all toread. First and foremost, I would like to apologize for not keeping you allmore up to date with the happenings of our program.

If you haven’t been able to figure it out yet, I am notmuch on social networking. I don’t Tweet, and I check my Facebook about once amonth if that. So from time to time I just forget to put something together forJason Barfield, so please don’t be mad at him it’s not his fault.

A lot has taken place since the last time I posted. Our first season was probably an overallsuccess. I will always be my toughest critic, but I felt like coming in andtaking over a team full of returners that were used to doing things a certainway ended up being pretty darn good.

We won 9 out of our last 12 and that’s always a sign of apretty good team! We lost 3 very good student-athletes and they will be hard toreplace in more than one way. BUT, I will try and make this the last time Ispeak about what we’ve lost and try to concentrate on what we have coming in. It’snot fair to our young guys and returners to compare them all year long toClavell, Crow and Pevehouse. Just like it wasn’t fair to those guys gettingcompared to Ashton and Corey all year long.

I have heard a lot of you had questions about why so manyof the guys besides those 3 are not returning this season. I am a person thattells it how it is, and will not sugar-coat or hop around a question. If youhave not seen our roster yet, we return 6 players from last year’s team: Twowalk-ons (Cameron Sadler, Wes Fritz), Konner Tucker who was sitting out lastseason and Antuan Bootle, Aaron Thompson and Marcus James. That isapproximately 11.5 ppg and 12.3 rpg. Again, we are more focused on what we haveback than what we have lost.

This will also be the last time I discuss another topic. Offlast year’s team, we have 5 young men that are not returning. Two of them werestaff-coaches decision, while the other three decided they may fit bettersomewhere else. Here at Sam Houston State, our basketball program has andalways will stand for student-athletes who take care of their business in theclassroom as well as on/off the court (period).

The last issue I’m discussing for the last time isTra’Vaughn White. Tra’Vaughn has decided to attend Independence Junior Collegein Kansas. It is not an academic issue, it is just simply the coach therecontinually recruited him all summer long even though Tra’Vaughn had signed anNLI with us. Tra’Vaughn feels he can go to a bigger school after JC, so we wishhim the best of luck.

Everything happens for a reason, that’s why we areextremely excited about the new guys that are here on campus and lookingforward to a great year on the court and in the classroom. Obviously we startedclass two weeks ago, and we started working out on August 29^th. Our roster has changed so much that it wouldtake another couple of pages to talk about each one of our guys. I will save that for another day.

Not sure how good we will be due to the youthfulness andinexperience, but I have a pretty good feeling that this group will bring itevery day and work extremely hard! Usually that in itself can be a sign ofsuccess! Also, I believe last year I predicted that my Rangers would make it tothe World Series?

GO BEARKATS!!!

-- Jason Hooten
Head basketball coach

Former Kat lands assistant gig

2011-06-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

JACKSONVILLE — Who better to fill the spot as assistant women’s basketball coach at Jacksonville College than someone who knows what it is like to play junior college basketball while at the time aspiring to one day attain a hoops scholarship at a four-year institution and then reaching that goal as a player?

That someone is Leasa Ailshie.

Ailshie was recently hired to fill the spot as Lady Jaguar assistant, a slot that became available earlier this summer when former assistant coach Amber Taylor was promoted to head women’s basketball coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College (NJCAA, Region II).

Ailshie brings an experienced-packed resume with her, dating all the way back to her prep playing days as a Lady Zebra at Claremore (Okla.) High School.

While at Claremore, Ailshie led her team to three Class 5A state championships and was a two-time (2004, 2005) All-State Tournament choice.

From Claremore, she then spent two years at Conners State (Okla.) College (NJCAA, Region II) where she averaged nearly 9 points a game and led her squad in three point baskets (38).

Ailshie finished up her college playing days as a member of the Sam Houston State University (NCAA, Division I) Bearkats women’s basketball team.

Read the entire story:

http://jacksonvilleprogress.com/sports/x177910514/Ailshie-named-women-s-basketball-assistant-at-JC

Head baseball coach candidate: Randy Mazey

2011-06-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Randy Mazey has been an assistant coach at TCU for five years and last season, Mazey was promoted to Associate Head Coach. He was previously the head coach at former Conference USA-foe East Carolina for three seasons and, prior to that time, spent six seasons as the recruiting coordinator at Tennessee, East Carolina and Georgia.

Since Mazey's arrival in 2007, the Frogs have continuously progressed. In each of his previous four seasons, the Frogs have tallied 40 or more wins, been to four NCAA Regionals, including hosting two, two NCAA Super Regionals and one College World Series. The Frogs are 186-65 during his tenure and have claimed seven conference championships (four regular season and three conference tournament titles). Ten pitchers have been drafted in the last four years, three of which have already made their Major League debuts (Andrew Cashner, Chicago Cubs; Jake Arrieta, Baltimore Orioles; Sam Demel, Arizona Diamondbacks).

Under Mazey's tutelage in 2010, the Horned Frog pitching staff had one of the best season's in school history. In addition to setting new school records in innings pitched (607 2/3) and strikeouts (553), the staff produced two All-Americans in Steven Maxwell and Matt Purke.

Mazey posted a three-year record of 120-66-1 (.644) as a head coach at East Carolina, including a school-record 51-13 (.797) mark in 2004. In addition, the Pirates were 60-30 (.667) in C-USA regular-season action during that span, which included three NCAA Regional berths.

During the 2004 season, Mazey's Pirates were ranked in the top 10 for numerous weeks during the season, hosted the NCAA Regionals and advanced to the Super Regionals. For his efforts in 2004, Mazey was honored as the C-USA Keith LeClair Coach of the Year as well as ABCA East Region Coach of the Year.
Mazey spent four seasons as the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at Tennessee. His pitching staffs posted two of the top four strikeout totals in school history and he produced six Volunteer pitchers who signed professionally, including one first-round draft pick. Tennessee had the second-best ERA in the SEC in 2000. In 2001, the Vols advanced to the College World Series where they tied for third.

The appointment at ECU was the second head coaching post of Mazey's career. At the age of 27, he was named head coach at Charleston Southern University in 1994. In 1996, he led the Buccaneers to their first-ever NCAA Regional appearance and was named Big South Coach of the Year.

His success in 1996 came with a team that was picked to finish last in the preseason coaches poll but rolled through league competition with a 17-4 conference record. At 30-24-1, CSU posted its first winning season since 1988 and its second 30-win season in school history.

Mazey departed CSU to become recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at Georgia in 1997. His staff produced its lowest ERA in four years and set a season strikeout record in his lone season with the Bulldogs.
Prior to that, Mazey spent the 1998 season at ECU as an assistant. Under his tutelage, the Pirates posted the third-highest strikeout total in school history. He also served as the program's recruiting coordinator.

Mazey began his coaching career at Clemson University, his alma mater. During his four-year stint with the Tigers (1990-93), Clemson recorded a 198-67 mark, won two ACC titles, made four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances and advanced to the CWS in 1991. While at Clemson, he coached or recruited 40 players who went on to play professionally, including 19 who were drafted in the top 10 rounds.

Mazey was a three-time All-ACC selection as an outfielder/pitcher during his playing career at Clemson. The Tigers won two ACC titles and advanced to two NCAA Regionals during his stay from 1985-88. He finished with a career batting average of .331 and was 8-1 on the mound.

He was drafted in the 28th round of the 1988 draft by Cleveland and played two seasons in that organization's minor league system before returning to Clemson as an assistant coach.

Mazey earned a bachelor of science degree in administrative management from Clemson in 1988 and an MBA from Clemson in 1993. He was an 11th round pick in the amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles following an outstanding prep career at United High School in Johnstown, Pa.

Head baseball coach candidate: Jim Blair

2011-06-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

Jim Blair will interview for the head baseball coaching position on Tuesday. Blair has been an assistant for Mark Johnson the past five years at Sam Houston State.

In Blair's tenure as recruiting coordinator, hitting coach and outfield coach, the Bearkats have produced the three best team batting averages and the top four season hitting totals in school history. The Kats produced an SHSU and Southland Conference record .335 mark in 2008. Prior to Blair's arrival, the school record for a season was .315 in 1980.

The past five seasons, the Bearkat offense has set more than 20 school records. Blair's hitters have been named All-Southland Conference a total of 18 times. Eight have been recognized as SLC All-Tournament 11 times. Two hitters (Bobby Verbick in 2007 and Todd Sebek in 2008) have earned NCAA Division I All-America honors. Verbick also was named 2008 Southland tournament MVP.

Braeden Riley led the NCAA in total hits in 2008 with a Southland record 111. In fact, the top four players in hits in one season in the SLC record book are Bearkats. Keith Stein (103 hits in 2007), Sebek (101 in 2008) and Nick Zaleski (99 in 2009) rank second, third and fourth, respectively. The Kats set the league mark for hits in a season by one team with 740.

Blair served four years as an assistant coach at the University of Texas-San Antonio where he worked as hitting, outfield, and third base coach. He coached two NCAA Division I All-Americans at UTSA and guided the Roadrunner hitters to a Southland Conference best 55 home runs in 2004. In 2005, UTSA hit a school record 30 triples to rank in the top 10 nationally.

Blair was a top hitter for Baylor, compiling a .335 career average as a three-year starter for Steve Smith.

Head baseball coach candidate: Jason Marshall

2011-06-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jason Marshall will interview for the baseball head coaching on Tuesday. Marshall has been on the coaching for UTSA for the last 11 seasons.

After serving as an assistant his first three seasons for UTSA, Marshall was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2004 campaign. He coaches both the infielders coach and is the recruiting coordinator in addition to running the UTSA Baseball camps.

His efforts on the recruiting trails have resulted in a pair of All-Americans (Mark Schramek 2002/Michael Rockett 2008), four Freshman All-Americans (Ryan Crew 2003/Rockett 2006/Tim Palincsar 2007/Ryan Dalton 2010), 46 All-Southland Conference performers (including 11 first teamers), the 2007 and '08 Southland Regular Season Championships and 2005 Southland Tournament title.

The Roadrunners posted a .964 fielding percentage in 2007, the second-best mark in school history, and have recorded the top five fielding seasons in school annals under his guidance. Five years ago, UTSA led the Southland Conference with a school-record .969 fielding percentage.

A standout performer at Texas A&M from 1989-92, he was named the Aggies’ Most Valuable Player after leading the team in games played (61), hits (66), runs scored (35) and RBIs (40) as a senior.

Following his collegiate career, he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. Marshall went on to play four seasons in the Royals organization before finishing his professional career in 1995.

Smith gets first win in summer ball

2011-06-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Morehead City, N.C. - The Marlins gave their Morehead City faithful the first home win of the season on Facebook Friday, in which Facebook fans of the team received one dollar off game tickets, shutting out the Wilson Tobs by the score of 4-0. Left-handed pitcher Caleb Smith was instrumental to the Marlins' success in his 2011 CPL debut, pitching for eight strong innings and recording the win (1-0).

Smith, a freshman for Sam Houston State University this spring, had not practiced or played with the Marlins before the day of his start. For the BearKats, though, he saw over 60 innings and maintained an ERA of 3.18. If Smith continues to toss the way he did on Puck O'Neal Field Friday night, then he is certain to see the same sort of success this summer.

Offensively, the Marlins looked as sound as they have so far this season. In addition to Elon University outfielder Jake Luce belting the team's first home run of the year on a full count in the top of the fifth, four of his teammates (Austin Wulf, Tyler Boyd, Jake Gronsky, and Jordan Hollis) had multiple hits on the evening. In fact, Boyd, Gronsky, and Hollis successfully bunted for hits to lead off the sixth inning, though none of the three could find their way to home plate.

The Marlins, who move to a 2-3 overall record with the win, will play a home-and-away series with the SwampDogs this weekend, traveling to Fayetteville on Saturday and hosting the 'Dogs at Big Rock Stadium on Sunday for the first Super Duper Sunday of the 2011 season.

http://www.wcti12.com/news/28128934/detail.html

Former Kat still playing the game

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

By Ian Busby
The Calgary Sun

Scorpio Babers’ football career reads like something out of a soap opera.

Cut by one team, he comes back with another, never going away for good.

Fittingly, Robert Scorpio, the General Hospital character for which he was named, keeps reappearing after he’s believed to be dead.

“My mother had a thing for soap operas,” said Babers, who took part in Calgary Stampeders’ rookie camp Thursday and Friday.

“She loved Robert Scorpio.”

Babers is a tad older than the average Stamps’ freshman. At 27, he’s been around for a while still looking for the ultimate opportunity.

After leaving Sam Houston State, Babers signed as an undrafted free agent with the Miami Dolphins.

Read full article

Austin TV Interview with Mark Johnson

2011-05-31T08:55:00.001-07:00

Coach Johnson's farewell - Alan Cannon

2011-05-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my mom and dad and my grandparents always drove home the point of surrounding yourself with good people.

As it turned out, I was blessed beyond measure when as a young and impressionable college student, I had the good fortune to play baseball for Tom Chandler and then to be the student sports information director for the Aggie baseball team for Coach Chandler when a young assistant coach joined Coach Chandler’s staff in 1983. Mark Johnson came to Aggieland from Mississippi State and had previously worked with the University of Arizona and had won a national championship in 1976.

When Coach Chandler retired after the 1984 season, a new Aggie graduate was again fortunate to remain as an assistant SID to handle baseball as Mark Johnson took over the Aggie head coaching job on the diamond.

From the season opening 10-1 win against Northeast Louisiana with Tom Arrington on the mound (the baseball media guide ink may have been wet, but at least it was out!) to the 1,000^th coaching victory as Sam Houston State defeated UT-San Antonio, 8-6, Mark Johnson has always been among the country’s best baseball coaches.

If influence was judged solely on wins and losses, Coach Johnson would be among the best, but that is just part of the story. Coach Johnson has been such a positive influence on so many baseball players, coaches, media, fans and sports information personnel.

Thanks seems so inadequate when I consider all that Coach Johnson, Linda, Ron and Brian, have done and all that his family has meant to me and my family through the years. My wife, Kaye, and I had a Christian couple in Mark and Linda that modeled how to make a marriage work in collegiate athletics. My oldest daughter Katie still remembers where Linda would sit at Olsen Field so she could go down and get some candy. Kaye was pregnant with our youngest daughter Macie in 1999 as we went to Omaha and the College World Series.

I can still remember driving back from the CoSIDA convention in Nashville, Tennessee, when I got a call from Coach Johnson telling me he was going to become the head coach at Sam Houston State. I was so excited that more young people would have the opportunity to be influenced by his baseball coaching as well as his teaching in the game of life.

You see it is the game of life where Coach Johnson has really excelled and he continues to this day. I have heard people say of Coach Johnson, he is more like a teacher than a coach. But aren’t good teachers just like good coaches? Always there, always caring and someone you can always depend on.

After each baseball season in Aggieland, Coach Johnson would meet with the team. And not just the players, but he would have his SID, trainers, managers and field workers present to say thanks for the hard work and dedication. Regardless if it was a College World Series team, or a team that did not make the playoffs, Coach Johnson would always express his faith and mention hanging around with good folks and good things will happen.

The Good Lord has blessed me so much, but one of the greatest blessings has been to “hang around” one of the all-time greatest coach, husband, father and Christian in Mark Johnson. Other than my parents and grandparents, Coach Mark Johnson is probably the greatest influence on my life and for that I am most grateful.

To Coach Johnson—Go Kats! God Bless and Gig ‘Em

Alan Cannon (aka A.C.)

Bearkats named CBI team of the week

2011-05-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

After going 4-0 this past week, including a Southland Conference sweep of first-place Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State is the CollegeBaseballInsider.com Team of the Week.

The Bearkats started the week with a 2-0 victory over Texas Southern on Tuesday. SHSU traveled to Southland leader Stephen F. Austin over the weekend. The Bearkats posted a 5-1 win on Friday before taking a 7-3 decision on Saturday. SHSU completed the sweep with a 3-2 victory on Sunday to climb to third in the Southland standings.

Soccer wraps up Spring season

2011-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Spring soccer has finished up. The team competed in the Texas A&M and Houston Baptist 7-A-Side Tournaments, The Challenge Presidents Day Invitational, hosted St. Edward's University, and held its first alumni game. Only freshmen and sophomores took the field for the Bearkats this spring. Our seniors do not compete with the team in the spring and Deanna Long was doing rehabilitation from knee surgery. The team progressed throughout the spring and showed improvement in the areas we have been focusing on in training.

I really enjoyed our alumni game. I got to meet quite a few players who had played here during the first few years of the program. It was also great to see the three senior classes that have graduated during my time here at Sam Houston State. We are already planning a bigger and better event for 2012!

Head Strength Coach Kyle Speer took over the training of our team in the weight room. Our young players have gained strength and played with more confidence during this time. On the field we have focused on attacking themes and working with our forwards with finishing around the penalty box. We were pleased to score 13 goals in our 3 games at the HBU tournament. The team was led in scoring by 2010 Southland Freshman of the Year, Tricia Mallory.

Eight new faces will join the up with the team on August 3, when the team reports for pre-season training. One of those new faces is Ashlyn Davis. She helped lead her high school, Cedar Park Vista Ridge, to the Texas State 4A Championship Game where the ended the season with a 2-1 loss. However, Ashlyn was named to the Soccer State Championship All-Tournament Team.

The team will open the 2011 season in Waco, TX on Friday, August 19. The team will face Big 12 team Baylor University on that date with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 PM.

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

NCAA Bowling Championships - Day 2

2011-04-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today's play at the NCAA Bowling Championships will be a double elimination, bracket format.

Once again, today's matches can be view live online on the NCAA website: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule

Match 1 SHSU vs. Nebraska
Baker match Best 4 of 7
Game 1 - Kats win 179-169
Game 2 - Nebraska wins 221-195
Game 3 - Nebraska wins 226-206
Game 4 - Nebraska wins 204-188
Game 5 - Nebraska wins 237-211

The seventh-seeded Bearkats fell in the opening match 4-1 to No. 2 Nebraska. The Kats took the opening game by 10-pins, but came up empty in the last four to fall to the losers bracket. SHSU will now face No. 6 Arkansas State in an elimination match.

Match 2 SHSU vs. Arkansas State
Game 1 - Arkansas State wins 183-165
Game 2 - Kats win 246-169 (7 straight strikes to finish)
Game 3 - ASU wins 244-176
Game 4 - ASU wins 255-192
Game 5 - Kats win 192-185
Game 6 - ASU wins 227-176

April 15, 2011 - Bracket Play
Round 1 (Matches 1-4) - 8:50 a.m.
- Match 1 - #1 Fairleigh Dickinson vs #8 Kutztown
- Match 2 - #4 Vanderbilt vs #5 Central Missouri
- Match 3 - #2 Nebraska vs #7 Sam Houston State
- Match 4 - #3 Maryland-Eastern Shore vs #6 Arkansas State

Round 2 (Matches 5-8) - 10:20 a.m.
- Match 5 - FDU vs. Vanderbilt
- Match 6 - Nebraska vs Maryland-Eastern Shore
- Match 7 - Kutztown vs. Central Missouri
- Match 8 - Sam Houston State vs Arkansas State

Round 3 (Matches 9 & 10) - 2:40 p.m.
- Match 9 - Loser of Match 6 vs Winner of Match 7
- Match 10 - Loser of Match 5 vs Winner of Match 8

Round 4 (Matches 11 & 12) - 4:20 p.m.
- Match 11 - Winner of Match 5 vs Winner of Match 9
- Match 12 - Winner of Match 6 vs Winner of Match 10

April 16, 2011
Round 5 (Matches 13 & 14) - 9:40 a.m. (if necessary)
- Match 13 - Winner of Match 11 vs Loser of Match 11
- Match 14 - Winner of Match 12 vs Loser of Match 12

Round 6 (Championship Final) - 2:40 p.m.
- Match 15 - Semifinals Winners

NCAA Bowling Championships - Day 1

2011-04-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

TAYLOR, Mich -- We are about set and ready to get the first day of the NCAA Bowling Championship in Taylor Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. Today's format is a round-robin competition where the Kats will bowl against the seven other schools to determine the seeding for bracket play on Friday.

Live Video is available on the NCAA website of today's matches http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule

We will be updating this page throughout the day.

The order of play for today's session was announced this morning:

Morning Session (8:50 a.m.to 1 p.m.)
Game 1 - Vanderbilt - Lanes 19-20
Game 2 - University of Maryland Eastern Shore- Lanes 7-8
Game 3 - Kutztown - Lanes 13-14
Game 4 - Arkansas State - Lanes 25-26

Afternoon Session (2:40 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.)
Game 1 - Central Missouri - Lanes 7-8
Game 2 - Fairleigh Dickinson - Lanes 27-28
Game 3 - Nebraska - Lanes 23-24V

Game 1 vs Vanderbilt (Won 958-946)
The Bearkats got their first trip to the NCAA Championship off to a great start, knocking off Vanderbilt 958-946. Dayna Galganski got the first turkey of the day for the Kats with strikes in the 6th, 7th and 8th frames. She made it four straight in the 9th. The Kats trailed most of the match, but rallied late. Shaina Woolbaugh hit on three straight strikes in the 9th and 10th and finished with a 181. Galganski lead the Kats with a 220, 22 pins above her average. Kimi Davidson bowled a 195, Aida Sanchez a 174 and Neishka Cardona finished with a 188.

Game 2 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (Lost 1240-904)
The Bearkats dropped the second match of the day, falling to Maryland Eastern Shore 1240-904. Galganski led the way for the Kats with a 205, followed closely by Cardona's 204.

Game 3 vs Kutztown (Won 1013-971)
SHSU bounced back to take the third match of the day 1013-971 against Kutztown. The Kats opened strong with Lisa MacAllister opening with four consecutive strikes. Sanchez had a turkey in frames 2-4 to help the Kats to an early 100 pin lead. MacAllister then picked up a split in the 7th and Cardona followed with a split pick up in the 8th as the Kats held off Kutztown. MacAllister bowled a 237 to lead the Kats and Woolbaugh finished with a 205.

Game 4 vs. Arkansas State (Lost 1086-954)
The Bearkats finished the first session 2-2 with a loss to Arkansas State. Galganski led the Kats with a 211 and Cardona closed strong with four strikes in he last six rolls to finish with a 210.

Game 5 vs. Central Missouri (Lost 989-964)
The Kats fell in a hole early, and despite a furious late rally, fell in the fifth match of the day to Central Missouri. SHSU dominated the 10th frame, with Davidson, Sanchez and Galganski rolled a turkey in the 10th frame, with Galganski finishing with four straight. Sanchez had the high score for the Kats with a 223.

Game 6 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (Lost 1100-900)
The Bearkats had a strong start in the first three frames against Fairleigh Dickinson, but four open frames in the fourth and fifth cost the Kats in the 200-pin loss. Davidson finished with a turkey in the 10th to bowl a 195. Sanchez was the top Kat bowler with a 225 after opening with three straight strikes.

Game 7 vs. Nebraska (Lost 972-939)
The Bearkats fell in the final game of the day, 972-939 to Nebraska to close the day at 2-5 in the preliminary qualifying round. Dayna Galganski and Kimi Davidson led the way for the Kats with a 211 (Galganski) and 209 (Davidson) with Galganski closing with five strikes in her last six rolls.

Baseball numbers down in 2011

2011-04-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

When the college baseball season started, there was a lot of talk about the new bats. They are supposed to play more like wood bats and as a result the gaudy offensive numbers were supposed to come down. I talked to a lot of people before the season about it and most agreed.

However, a few said they wanted to see how the numbers played out before making a decision, and said they didn’t think it was going to be a huge difference. Well the NCAA has released its first half numbers, and I think it is very telling about the change in offensive production.

Data from the NCAA statistics staff reveal that in Division I games through April 3 (essentially the midpoint of the season), scoring is down by more than a run per game per team compared with the same time last season (from 6.98 per team in 2010 to 5.63 in 2011), and home runs have dropped from .85 a game per team in 2010 to .47 this year.

Batting average has also declined sharply, from .301 per team at midseason last year to .279 so far in 2011. Conversely, earned-run average has improved, from 5.83 in 2010 to 4.62 this year. In addition, more shutouts have been thrown this year (444) compared with this time last season (277).

I wanted to do the same for the Bearkats this season and see how their numbers stack up against the rest of the country.

The trends for the Kats are similar in some areas. Home runs this year are down for SHSU as well. Last season, the Kats averaged .74 homers per game and this year, they are hitting them at a .38 per game clip. Runs are also down for the Bearkats, although, not by nearly the same margin. In 2010, the Kats averaged 5.94 runs per game. This season they are averaging 5.61 per game.

The batting average is one area, the Kats have not seen a decline. Last year they had a team average of .302 and this year, it is down just a point at .301.

The pitching numbers for the Kats a skewed a bit, because the team overall was down last year, but there is still a huge disparity between the two seasons. Last year, the Bearkats has a staff ERA of 6.38. It is down more than three runs this year at 3.22. Also, the opponents’ batting average is down from .313 last year to .244 through 31 games this season.

The new bat standards that went into effect this season feature a stricter “Ball-Bat Coefficient of Restitution” standard (BBCOR) that reduces a batted ball’s exit speed.

The new BBCOR formula provides a better measure of a bat’s performance and allows the Baseball Rules Committee and bat-testing laboratories to better predict field performance based on lab tests. The goal is for non-wood bats that meet this new standard to perform similarly to wood bats.

The NCAA Baseball Research Panel, a group charged with maintaining the protocol for testing bats in the college game, recommended the new standards after reviewing Division I statistics from previous years that revealed sharp increases in offensive performance, particularly in home runs and runs scored, that was attributable mostly to the kind of bats in use at the time.

In 2007, the per-game average of home runs hit was .68 per team. That increased to .84 in 2008 and to .96 in 2009. It was .94 last year.

Runs scored per game experienced a similar trajectory. The 6.1 average per team in 2007 ballooned to 6.57 in 2008, 6.88 in 2009 and 6.98 in 2010.

“These new bat standards have brought the game back to its original style of play,” said Tim Weiser, deputy commissioner at the Big 12 Conference and chair of the Division I Baseball Committee. “It has put a premium back on strategy, pitching and defense, and not on the No. 9 hitter being able to hit the ball 400 feet just like the No. 4 hitter can. That’s what a lot of the positive feedback I’m hearing is centered on.”

-- Jason Barfield

Spring volleyball going well

2011-04-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

I feel that Sam Houston volleyball is progressing very well as the spring moves along. We came together quite well in our tournament we had a couple of weekends ago, which I feel boosted our confidence. Not only did it strengthen us as a team, but it also showed us the areas in which we need to improve. I really appreciate all the feedback we get from the coaches to help us see what areas we need to focus on and get better at.

Team bonding has been a great experience. I like all the different activities we are doing because they do help us become closer to one another on a personal level and they give each and every one of us a different look at one another. My team bonding activity was a little different from the ones we have had in the past because I wanted to incorporate a little competition into mine, but in a fun way. That’s why I thought that playing knock-out at the halftime of one of the basketball games would be a fun experience! Of course, I won on my side…(I had to, it was my team bonding), and Carli won on her side. But overall it was fun and everyone enjoyed it!

Also, spring is about competition, so I figured it would help to do something like when we have Wild Wednesday practices for points in the spring. Although we have only had a couple, I think those days are fun and helps put a little more competitiveness in us, which is beneficial because you want that type of person on your team in order to be successful on the court. Overall I think we are becoming a better team in all areas and I believe by the end of spring we will become a very well rounded team that will be hard to defeat!!!

-- Kaylee Hawkins, #12, SO, Utility

With two months left in season, Andreas already has two grand slams

2011-03-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Chris Andreas has elevated himself to rare company in the SHSU baseball record book. On Wednesday night against Prairie View A&M, Andreas blasted his second grand slam of the season. It is a feat that has been done just once in school history.

Tyler Knight was the first Bearkat to ever hit two grand slams in a season with bombs over University of Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back in 2009. But Andreas, who leads the Kats batting at .373, has a pair of grand slams with 34 more games to play this season. The last Bearkat grand slam was Knight's against Corpus, which was the next to last game of the regular season.

Kelly Eddlemon is the only other Bearkat with two slams in a career, having done it in 1997 and 1998.

Andreas isn't new to the record books. Last season he went on a 26 game hitting streak, the third longest in school history.

Still, Andreas doesn't step to the plate with the bases loaded, thinking about going deep. He's waiting comfortably for the right pitch.

"I come up there just trying to get a base-hit, you know at least get two guys in," Andreas said. "Luckily I got my pitch and hit it out of the yard."

He did admit that hitting a grand slam, of course, is in the back of his mind a little bit, but he focuses on staying comfortable and not overduing it.

The last time the Kats had two grand slams in a season (which was 2009), they actually had three slams. Then sophomore Ryan Mooney blasted a slam that season as well.

In 2008, SHSU recorded four grand slams - three in a one month's time.

Could we possibly see the first ever Bearkat to hit three slams in a season? How about a school record as a team? There's certainly enough time to break 08 team record. Sam Houston has four players batting over .300, with Braeden Riley right behind them batting .283 and only six hits away from passing Eddlemon as second all-time in total hits.

Today the Kats begin a three-game conference series against UTSA, a team with the third highest ERA in the SLC (4.77).

Coach Mark Johnson knows pitching will be critical this season. But expect a lot of record-breaking hitting anyway.

-- Brandon Scott
GoBearkats.com

A great week in Hawaii

2011-03-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course

The Lady Bearkats had a strong outing in Hawaii finishing 7^th out of 19 teams last week. Five of the six teams to beat us were ranked in the top 50 in the country, so I was very happy with our performance.

I think it was difficult to stay focused on golf with two holes running along the ocean at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course which is located on the U.S. Marine Base on the island of Oahu. Of course, the whales spouting and splashing didn’t help their concentration either, LOL.

Congratulations to Meghann Stevens who had a top 20 finish individually.

All and all we had a great time in Hawaii and played some good golf as well.

-- Tommy Chain

Women’s golf coach

Crazy Spring so far

2011-03-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

This Spring Semester has been a crazy one! It has been hard to capture a gym; we have to go between the coliseum and the REC center. I think as a whole the team has enjoyed the time we have had off because mid-terms and test have been cluttering our schedules. One good thing about us though, is when we do get a chance to hit the gym we are always going hard. Practices are upbeat and we get a lot of 6 on 6 play! MY FAVORITE!

We play this Friday and everyone is super excited! We want to be able to put it all back together again on the court, although now we are a little bit lighter, with the loss of a few players. They will be missed, but time goes on and we have to keep our goals in mind… WIN! WIN a CHAMPIONSHIP!

Being a senior is amazing! I wouldn’t give anything to be a freshman again, and I really enjoy that feeling. Feeling of accomplishment, no need for “should of” or “would of” just straight sailing through the pages in my book. Spring classes and the demands of volleyball have been rough but nothing new to an ‘oldie’ like me. I have my priorities in order and can’t wait to be able to hit the gym tomorrow. Oh and you can’t forget about those 5 o’clock weights with my favorite lifting coach ever, SPEER! He keeps us lean, mean fighting machines!

-- Jamie Kaleh #7

Junior OH/DS

Preparing for the fall

2011-02-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

When one thinks of Spring, thoughts tend to sway to nice afternoons in the sunshine by the pool, or pretty flowers. Well, we Sam Houston volleyballers have one thing in mind in the Spring, and that's Fall.

We have our minds locked and committed, thanks to the community book we are all reading called "It's a Mental Thing," to reaching our one goal in the fall, sliding that beautiful piece of hardware on our pretty fingers. We hit the gym hard last week, taking advantage of being in good ole Johnson Coliseum, with a solid team practice and a ton of core strengthening. Thanks to our grad assistant Ellen we will all have six packs, and they won't be hiding in the ice chest.

It was a long week in the classroom for the Kats. With a week full of tests, this awful anatomy class that's sent a plague though half our team, and all night study session, I had the girls over for some homemade salsa, which is so delicious, and some Sex and The City 2 to relax. Of course nothing ever quite goes off without a hitch and Kim Black sets the fire alarm off!

It seems like I was the only one with nothing to really worry about this week since I chopped my stress snake's head off last Saturday after I finished the LSAT. Yes, the LSAT, why there has to be these petrifying standardized tests is beyond me. But I took the athlete approach and practiced, practiced, practiced. Talk about ‘it’s a mental thing.’ Man four hours of logical and analytical reasoning, and I was fried. So I went to the Sam Houston volleyball restaurant of choice, Panera Bread, and had some nice black bean soup and proceeded to rub it in teammate, Jamie Kaleh's face.

Well with our first competition day in two weeks at SFA, a lot is uncertain. But one thing is for sure, this group of girls has a lot of unfinished business to settle with the conference, and we won't be letting anyone have any mercy. Heck, we proved it Wednesday at "Wacky Wednesday" workout when half the team showed no mercy to the other half! I say it’s great progression! Watch out Fall, we're coming for you!

Eat 'em up!

-- Courtney Laskowski,
Senior S/DS/RS, #11

Excited to be back in the gym

2011-02-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

We are a few weeks into our spring season and we are looking great! We are mostly working on individual things now, but we are gradually having more and more team practices. I am so excited to be back in the gym again, even though it is not for that much time. Honestly, each day we all come in wanting to get better, and that is what this team needs.

Our goal this spring season is to not only get better as individuals and as a team, but to become more of a team; and we find ourselves obtaining that goal a little more each week. Thanks for reading, see you on the court soon!

Make sure you come check out our home spring scrimmage on Friday, March 11th in Johnson Coliseum – we are excited to get to play some other teams, it should be a lot of fun, and good competition for us.

-- Kim Black - No. 5
Junior volleyball player

Good to see the girls bounce back

2011-02-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

The ladies started their season in Victoria at the Claude Jacobs Challenge on Feb. 13^th and 14^th, taking fifth place in a field of 17 teams. A couple of teams were ranked in the top 50 in the nation.

We got off to a rocky start firing 319 in the first round and 314 in the second and closed with a 306. As we improved each round we moved from 8^th to 5^th by tournament’s end.

I was proud of the team for not giving up, which resulted in a strong finish. Jessica Borth had a good tournament, finishing in the top 25 individually in a field of 90 players. Shelby Hardy continues where she left off in the fall with another top 10 finish. Her consistency is making her one of the top players in the Southland Conference.

Our next tournament is the conference preview in Corpus Christi and now that the weather is better we will be working hard to prepare for it.

-- Tommy Chain

SHSU women’s golf coach

Four Texas Cities Bid for Future Southland Basketball Tournaments

2011-02-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

As the Sam Houston State men's and women's basketball teams begin the push for another trip to Katy for the Southland Conference basketball tournament, the conference office has revealed the plans for future potential tournament destinations.

The Southland Conference has received financial bids and supporting documentation from four Texas cities interested in serving as host for the league’s conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The four cities are Arlington, Beaumont, Frisco and current host Katy, where the 2011 event will take place March 8-12 at the Leonard E. Merrell Center. The tournament has been played at a neutral facility since 2007, and Katy, a west Houston suburb, has hosted the event since 2008.

“We are very pleased to receive four quality bid packages from these great locations,” Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett said. “It speaks very highly to how much the tournament has grown since our league went to the neutral site format in 2007. These bids ensure that we can continue to improve the event, and provide a traditional and outstanding Division I postseason basketball experience for our student-athletes, coaches, and those who follow our teams.”

Katy bid on all three years for the event to continue at the Merrell Center. Arlington bid on all three years for the tournament at the new College Park Center, scheduled to open in the 2011-12 season on the UT Arlington campus. Beaumont bid on all three years played at the Ford Park Arena, and Frisco bid on the 2013 and 2014 events at Dr Pepper Arena.

The conference’s athletic directors shall serve as the bid review committee, and it’s expected the group will make recommendations to the league’s Board of Directors for final approval in the coming months.

Weather woes

2011-02-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

The biggest force in Southland Conference basketball, both men and women, isn't the division leader or the team on the hottest winning streak. As great of a season Bearkats like Britni Martin and Gilberto Clavell are having, it's mother nature who is making headlines.

Last Saturday, UT-Arlington and Central Arkansas postponed and rescheduled games due to the icy weather restrictions. The Bearkats were set to face Southeastern Louisiana on the same day at 3pm, traveling under the same sort of conditions.

Teams typically take buses on the afternoon or evening before game day, which means under normal circumstances - and under the premise in which the Bearkats prepared - the ladies would have left on Friday evening. But as SHSU athletic director Bobby Williams explains, safety is the number one concern in these types of situations. The bus wasn't released on Friday - the same day the university cancelled classes - because of safety reasons.

Still, another priority is making sure games are played as close to as scheduled as possible, in order to avoid awkward gamesmanship and put teams at competitive disadvantages.

This is the dilemma our women's basketball team was faced with. Williams and the opposing A.D. had to plan for when the ladies could get there, with reasonable time to spare before tip-off.

To everyone's credit, this was handled well by entities that compete against each other. The first provision was that if SHSU could leave Huntsville at 8 a.m., gametime would be pushed back to 4 p.m.

But as Williams says, "It was a moving target. It all depended on when our team could get there. We were using that hour and a half, two-hour window for once they got there, give them time to get ready."

Of course no one wants to hop off a seven-hour bus ride and practically step on the court to a team that's in its comfort zone. Yet, rarely do players know how complicated it gets for the talking heads (such as athletic directors and commisioners).

Somehow, the SHSU players got the impression that they were being slighted. This, however, was far from the truth. They didn't leave on Friday because it would have been nearly impossible to do that safely. Tip-off was pushed back to 7:30, after much discussion, with the intention of giving them some sort fairness in a delicate situation.

Whatever got the Kats fired up worked, evidently. Against Southeastern Louisiana, they ended a three-game losing streak and recorded their fifth double digit conference victory of the season. The Kats are back in the driver's seat, after being held from competition all of four hours.

And here we are just a few days later seeing the same types of things happen around the conference, even as SHSU was set to host UTA on Wednesday. The Mavs couldn't get out of Arlington because of the weather, of course. The game had to be moved to Thursday afternoon with a hopeful start time of 4 p.m. But as we have already seen, only time will tell.

So at least the women's basketball team knows they aren't the only ones going through changes. And more importantly, they proved to themselves last Saturday that they could respond to change if necessary.

-- Brandon Scott
Gobearkats.com

Busy week for Bearkat soccer

2011-02-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Last week was a very busy week for the Bearkat soccer team. We return 18 players for this spring. Deanna Long is out right now awaiting knee surgery. I hope to have her back before the end of our training. Unfortunately for us, the week was full of wet and cold weather and we had to change our training plans throughout the week.

We trained outside on Monday but had to train in the racquetball courts for the next three days. Sunday we played at the Texas A&M seven-a-side tournament. With four games in five hours, our players were tired by the end. For the staff, the games are not about the results.

I want to see players weaknesses exposed so we can plan a spring season to fix those problems and be improved for the fall season. With a smaller field and less players, each of our players is put under more pressure. It is a great training environment. We will now breakdown the video and share that with our players in a Wednesday meeting.

Last Wednesday, five players signed National Letters of Intent for the 2011 season. This recruiting class is balanced from front to back but mainly includes players who will play in wide positions for our team. It is also a very athletic group. I think these players will complement our returning squad very well.

On Saturday, February 19, the team will head down to Burroughs Park in Houston to play Houston Baptist at 11 a.m. and Baylor at 5 p.m. These will be two more good tests for our young team.

Keep following the Bearkats and come out and support our basketball teams as they are getting primed for playoff time!

Go Bearkats!

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Kolbe: Ready to start playing again

2011-02-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

Spring season is always a work in progress. A time to get better and a time to re-evaluate. We have a couple girls taking care of shoulder problems, but other than that we are ready and very excited to get back into the gym.

For me, at least, it has been a long few months off and I’m ready to start. I cannot believe this is my last spring and I have only one season left. It is very overwhelming, but I could not be more excited about the future of this team.

We start individuals here this next week, and once we get those under our belt we can begin building this team up day by day.

GO BEARKAT VOLLEYBALL!!

-- Carli Kolbe #6

SHSU senior

Danny Dougherty Fan Poll Results

2011-02-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

Here are the results for the most recent Danny Dougherty Fan Poll.

The Bearkat women's basketball team stormed out to a 5-0 start to the season. They have had several players contributing to the effort this season. The question was, "Who has been the MVP so far for the women's basketball team?"

Khamra Echols led everyone with 37 percent of the votes. A close second was Britni Martin with 34 percent. Of everyone who voted, 17 percent said it was a great team effort, while 10 percent felt Sequeena Thomas and two percent tabbed Chanice Smith.

The Bearkat women will be at home on Wednesday as they take on Texas Arlington.

2011 Signing Day

2011-02-02T06:07:00.000-08:00

It is Signing Day for football, soccer and track and field, and as the names come across the fax machine we'll be posting them here.

Updated 12:29 p.m.

Football
Junior College
Si'Darius Blackshire, QB, Trinity Valley Community College (Carthage HS)

High School
Keshawn Hill, RB, 5-10, 185, Klein HS
Collin Callahan, LB, 6-1, 225, Houston (Cy-Ridge)
Stephen Williams, WR, 5-9, 178, Round Rock (Stony Point)
Beau Smith, TE, 6-6, 218, Cedar Park HS
Chris Grett, QB, 6-1, 200, Conroe (Oak Ridge)
Dylan Johnson, OL, 6-4, 250, Houston (Cy-Creek)
Tristan Eche, S, 5-10, 200, Waco HS
Emmanuel Omoegbele, DL, 6-1, 235, Houston (Alief Taylor)
Ishmael Thorns, DL, 6-3, 245, Dallas (Woodrow Wilson)
Joey White, OL, 6-5, 295, Wimberly
Andre Mosley, DB, 5-10, 180, Wylie
Greg Johnson, WR, 5-10, 170, Del City, Okla.
Drew Smith, CB, 6-3, 180, Del City, Okla.
Gavareon Marshall, DL,.6-3, 245, Freeport (Brazosport)
Antonio Chimney, OL, 6-3, 290, Crockett
Brandon Wilkerson, WR, 6-1, 185, LaGrange
Desmond Fite, DB, 6-0, 182, Tatum
Casey DeVries, DE, 6-4, 240, Dalhart

Track and Field
Sarah Pena, Distance and Cross Country, Cypress (Cy Fair)

Soccer
Becca Cheiffetz, Defender, Spring (Klein Oak)
Ashley Fluty, Defender, Roanoke, (Northwest)
Madison Bible, Forward/Midfielder, San Angelo (Central)
Ashlyn Davis, Forward/Defender, Round Rock, (Vista Ridge)
Jessica Toms, Forward, Gun Barrel, (Mabank)

Loving: Post-graduate adjusments

2011-02-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Graduating college was a challenge all on its own, but currently I’m trying to get accustomed to graduate school. This means more online classes and less time on campus, which is not necessarily a good thing.

I had envisioned graduate school to be close to my undergrad classes, but for this semester I am figuring out that I need to take the initiative on completing some of my courses.

This week the team met up at the rock wall in the HKC. I personally was a bit afraid of heights along with some of the other girls, but the experience seemed to be perfect for a team. I had no idea the amount of arm and hand strength you needed to get up to the top of the wall!

Some of the girls did an amazing job climbing up one of the more difficult walls with ease and determination. Soon individuals and practice will start for our off-season. I can’t wait to get back into the gym and start training for our upcoming season.

-- Kym Loving
SHSU volleyball

Coaches vs. Cancer

2011-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

The men's basketball coaches celebrated more than a blowout victory over UTSA Saturday night, winning with ease 88-67. Head coach Jason Hooten, as well as his assistants particpated in Coaches vs. Cancer, which is an initiative that encourages coaches, players and communities to fight the deadly disease.

On this day, the coaching staffs from both teams wore sneakers to support the cause. More than 2,000 Division I, II and III schools are involved.

"I know you guys have probably watched a lot of games on television today and saw coaches around the country wearing tennis shoes," Hooten said. "It's for a great cause. We've done it all five or six years I've been here. To be honest with you, I really wish I could coach every night with these on."

Coaches vs. Cancer is a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The program has used the public notoriety and influence of basketball coaches to bring awareness, fundraising activities and advocacy programs to combat cancer.

According to cancer.org, Coaches vs. Cancer has raised nearly $50 million in support the ACS effort to eliminate cancer as a life-threatening disease.

Key council members include: Jay Bilas of ESPN; Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, UCONN's Jim Calhoun, Mike Krzyzewski, Tubby Smith and North Carolina's Roy Williams.

Hooten says he wears a lot of colon Nike shoes, the ones that look like bowling kicks. He gets made fun of for them, but his shoes from Saturday are a special custom.

"These are hip. These are Nike ID. I made these myself online," Hooten said. "They're orange and gray and black, which I don't have a lot of. Then on the back of them it says Sam Houston. I thought they felt pretty cool and appropriate.

"I wish we could wear these every game. And if we can go 10-21 from 3, I'll wear em again!"

Brandon Scott
Gobearkats.com

Could be worse

2011-01-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

We can be honest about it. This isn't how anyone visioned the start of men's basketball conference action, at 2-4 with three straight losses heading into a tough matchup against UTSA (3-2 SLC). The Bearkats are coming off their worst offensive performance of the season, scoring only 49 points against SFA.

It was ugly. SHSU missed all of its eleven 3-pointers attempted and shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the second half. Story of the year. Usually, the effort is there. With some exceptions, the Kats are good about executing. It just hasn't been enough.

Nonetheless, consider the glass half full. The Bearkats already knocked off UTSA in the first conference game of the season. Coach Hooten is more than likely demanding everything from his team going into this game, with their backs against the wall in a sense.

The losses against Texas State and A&M-CC were close. Some would say the Kats should have beaten UTA in the first conference loss of the season. Those were all games SHSU could have or should have won. So much for history.

What the Bearkats can look forward to is a home game against a team they've beaten already, before getting a week to recover. Then they play Southeastern Louisiana, another group with a losing conference record (2-3). SHSU is better than both UTA and Corpus, teams they've fallen to and the opponents following Southeastern.

Even though the Kats are struggling, it's not far off to think they could be 6-4 on Feb. 14 when they travel to McNeese St.

Don't underestimate the value of having three seniors with Southland Conference Championship rings and even a first year head coach who's done it as an assistant. Remember that change induces an immediate struggle.

Fortunately for SHSU, the season is relatively young.

Even though it's been ugly, and we can be honest about it, it's been ugly. The situation could definitely be worse.

-- Brandon Scott
Gobearkats.com

Fan poll results

2011-01-25T08:15:00.000-08:00

Here are the results of the first Danny Dougherty Fan Poll. When asked how many Southland Conference games fans plan to attend, the leading response was “1-4,” getting 38 percent of the votes. Second was “All of Them,” which received 31 percents of the votes, “5-9” was third with 17 percent and “10-15” rounded it out with 14 percent of the votes.

Be sure to check out Gobearkats.com for the newest Danny Dougherty Fan Poll.

An ace to start the year

2011-01-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

We have things going for the spring semester and it is has been an exciting start for the women’s golf team. On our first qualifying round of 2011, Landa Stewart made a hole-in-one on No. 11 at Raven Nest. She used a 6-iron from 150 yards out for her first ace. Congrats Landa!

We have a new player on our team this semester as well. Jackie Smith has transferred to SHSU after spending three years at Texas Tech. She will spend this semester working out and practicing with the team to be ready for the 2011-12 season. I am excited to have her on the team and I am confident she will contribute to our success next year.

Our first tournament is three weeks away and will be hosted by Texas State. The course we will play is in Victoria. There will be a strong field and I would love to get off to a fast start this spring.

-- Tommy Chain
SHSU women’s golf coach

The turnaround

2011-01-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes. The dynamics of Bearkat men's and women's basketball have changed, completely. While the guys struggle to find consistency with a 2-3 Southland Conference start, the ladies have stormed to 5-0 in league play for only the second time in school history (1998).

But last year to the date, the men's team was making its case as the best in the SLC, after holding off a late-game rally to defeat UT-Arlington at Texas Hall. The Bearkats were holding their own, but started with a par 2-2 league record after an overtime home victory over UTA, the first of four OT battles the Bearkats would find themselves in (3-1).

The implications were clear in 2010. The Bearkat men were leaders of the pact, while the women were in for a Katfight.

2011 presents new implications. This season, the women have three likely all-conference performers in Britni Martin, Sequeena Thomas and Chanice Smith; the way last year's men had Gilberto Clavell, Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell.

The guys are over-relying on Clavell this season, but more than anything, they're just not quite as good as they were a year ago.

The ladies are considerably better. In these five conference wins, the Bearkats have won four of them by double digits and the other by nine. Not only are they winning, but they're doing it convincingly, the way the men eventual did last season.

What seperates the women's success from the men's failure this season is depth. Coach Brenda Nichols is getting production from role players like Zoe Tucker and Jaleesa Thomas. Freshman Nyha Carter has been an emphatic presence.

Coach Brenda Nichols has the luxury of resting her starters after a lead builds, or in case they get in early foul trouble. Men's first year head coach Jason Hooten can't do that, just yet.

Of course the season is still young and there could be more turnarounds to come. As for today, it's incredible the difference a year makes.

- Brandon Scott
SHSU Athletics

Southland Conference reaffirms membership withdrawal policies

2010-12-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

We have been getting a lot of questions about what Texas State and UTSA's departure for the WAC means to their standing in the Southland Conference. Today the SLC put out this release that should answer some of those questions.

FRISCO, Texas – The Southland Conference’s Board of Directors met recently to review the Conference’s constitutional articles related to membership withdrawal. The meeting took place after Southland members Texas State University-San Marcos and the University of Texas at San Antonio announced on Nov. 11 their withdrawal to join the Western Athletic Conference effective for the 2012-13 academic year.

Southland Conference Constitution Article 3.04, approved by the membership in 2002, addresses withdrawal, and the presidents of the 10 continuing and voting institutions reaffirmed the policy.

The effective withdrawal date of both institutions will be June 30, 2012, and by not providing at least two full academic years notice, both are assessed a financial penalty of $250,000. Further, the withdrawing institutions immediately forfeit their shares to any accrued assets of the Conference.

The Board also confirmed the withdrawing institutions will forfeit their shares of revenue distributed by the Southland effective immediately. Further, Texas State and UTSA will be subject to all applicable dues and fees paid by Southland members prior to the effective date of withdrawal.

Although the group could have considered ineligibility at any time, the Southland presidents unanimously approved that both institutions will remain eligible for all Conference championship events through the 2011-12 academic year with one exception. Texas State’s football team will be ineligible for the 2011 Southland championship, presumably due to its NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision transition requirements which make it ineligible for the NCAA Division I Football Championship.

Texas State shall remain in the previously approved 2011 Southland football schedule as a “non-conference” opponent for other teams, but will be removed from previously approved 2012-14 schedules. In all other sports, individual student-athletes from both institutions shall remain eligible to receive all awards through the effective withdrawal date.

The Board also reaffirmed that the withdrawing institutions shall forfeit voting privileges on all Conference matters, effective immediately, and representatives of both universities shall resign current positions on Southland committees. Additionally, personnel from Texas State and UTSA that serve on Southland-assigned positions on NCAA committees, councils and cabinets shall also resign immediately and be replaced by others within the Conference.

The remaining presidents also agreed that the withdrawing institutions shall be subject to and comply with all applicable provisions of the Conference constitution, bylaws, and operating code through the effective withdrawal date. Any failure to comply shall be subject to penalties to be established by the Conference Compliance Committee and the Board of Directors.

Two great golfers join women's program

2010-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Sam Houston women’s golf team has signed two great young players in the early signing period. One of them is Christina Stringham out of Pasadena. She is one of the top 10 ranked players in the state.

I have watched Christina on several occasions an am impressed with her short game. She has many years of experience playing in competition and has what many high school players lack, the ability to get the ball in the hole when she gets around the greens. She has a good mind for the game and I believe she will have a great four years here at Sam.

The other player who signed is Abby Corson out of Montgomery, which is a school with a great winning tradition. Learning how to win at an early age will pay off for Abby here at Sam. I watched her play recently at Raven Nest and she won easily with rounds of 74 and 75. Her iron play was very impressive. On the first day, she hit the ball right at the hole on every shot and could have shot much lower except for a couple of unlucky breaks. Her golf game seems to be improving at a rapid pace and she will be another layer to come here and immediately challenge the current players for the top five spots.

Watch for these two young ladies in the spring and then state finals and you will see what I am excited about.

-- Tommy Chain

SHSU women’s golf coach

Jenny's Journal: There are no goodbyes, only 'see you later's'

2010-11-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. My final blog post. We played Texas State in the first round of the conference tournament, which happened to be held at Texas State. With their home fans cheering them on, they just beat us by a score of 2-1. Tricia scored a great goal with about 3 minutes left to keep us in it, but we couldn’t quite seem to get that equalizer. Like coach said on the bus, “I’m not going to say we lost, I’m going to say we ran out of time.” We played them much better than we did last weekend, but we still fell just short. There are so many things to say in this last blog, and I’m just not quite sure how to start.

We graduated five seniors this year, including me. I have played with Kelley and Nikki since freshman year (for Nikki and I it was freshman year in high school!) and Alex and Adriana came in my junior year. These girls have all been amazing friends and teammates, and I will miss every one of them.

Nichole Watkins, you are by far the toughest player I have ever met. You always put your body on the line to block a shot or a cross, and I knew I could always trust you back there. For anyone that doesn’t know Nikki, she has a metal plate in her face because she broke it going up for a header. How much tougher can you get?? We’ve played together for 8 long years and had our ups and downs, but I really loved playing with you all that time! I have so many memories, like that one time Angie got mad at us and made us do pushups on the field if we gave the ball away... I think you got a yellow card that game! And we laughed the whole time! And I can’t even begin to count the times you have saved my butt by clearing the ball off the line! I definitely appreciate that J I wish you the best of luck in anything and everything you do.

Adriana Vasquez, you have the most amazing calming presence wherever you go. I will miss seeing you every day, and I will definitely miss your laugh the most! It was always contagious. I always laughed when you came to practice in your hoodie when it was any cooler than like 80 degrees, with the hood pulled over your head, and the strings tied in a bow! Like it was the second Ice Age! Let’s have more dinner/chill nights, mmk? I’m going to miss you. 2 years wasn’t enough time!!

Alex Clifton, my little hood rat!! ;) Alex is from Fresno, California. When we were leaving for the tournament on Wednesday morning, Kelley Sikinger locked her keys in her car, with all of her travel stuff in it. We were kind of freaking out, until Alex pipes up. “Oh, I can break into a car!” ….. ummm, what? Alex says her mom taught her how. Why in the world would her mom teach her that, you ask? “In case I ever got locked out!” Yeah, sure Alex. So here we are, at 9:30 in the morning, with the Huntsville campus police department’s “slim jim”. The cops didn’t know how to get into Kelley’s car (they had the instruction manual out, seriously) but Alex did! She saved the day! Alex didn’t get to play this year because of her stupid ankle. I really missed her on the field, because I think she is super competitive and has an amazing drive to win. Alex, you are amazing. You have the most amazing sense of humor, and I can count on you for a great conversation, or for being a great partner at Pictionary Man (I demand a rematch!). Anyways, I’ll miss you, friend. More game and dinner nights are definitely in order.

Kelley Sikinger. Kelley, Kelley, Kelley. There’s so much to say! We started out trying to kill each other in warm-ups on the first day of practice freshman year, and somehow became best friends. You have always been that person that would be there for me through anything, and I can’t thank you enough for that. You have always had the most amazing positive attitude on the field, and you have been so strong and determined to finish what you started. We have enough memories on and off the field to last a lifetime! You’re going to be the best second grade teacher that anyone has ever seen! Here’s a quote that’s perfect for you: “Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain”. You’ve crossed some pretty big mountains, best friend.

For the rest of the team: you guys have a HUGE amount of potential going forward from here. You guys will be awesome, as long as everyone stays focused and keeps everybody accountable. I’m really, really, REALLY going to miss everyone. I feel like I’ve made some good friends this year, and I hope those friendships last! And like I said earlier this season, make every second count. You never know when it will be your last. Four years goes by in an instant, so don’t ever settle for less that you deserve or less than you can accomplish. And for heaven’s sake, please beat Texas State!

As for me, I know this isn’t the end of the world. I had some tears after the game, but nothing too bad. As I've gotten older, I’ve realized that soccer really isn’t something to stress about. Life doesn’t hinge on whether I get scored on or not, or whether we win or lose. I think I had my best season this year, and made some of my best saves, because I wasn’t stressed about it. I actually had fun playing soccer again *gasp!!*. I remember when I was looking at which school I wanted to go to, I had one pretty big requirement: I wanted to be somewhere where I could make a difference. I’m proud to be a part of the transition Sam Houston has made to being one of the top teams in the conference.

I’ll leave everyone with a quote; I think it’s pretty good:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”-Dr. Seuss

Have a great week Kats, and always remember to smile!

-- Jenny Pence

SHSU Keeper

Best Sports Cities in America

2010-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is not the most current item in the world, but I have been wanting to hit on it. The Sporting News recently released it's top sports cities in America list and Huntsville ranked fairly decent on the list.

Huntsville was rated at No. 144, just ahead of Missoula, Mont., home of the Montana Grizzlies. Sporting news rated the top 402 cities in America. The formula is based on the 12 months from summer 2009 to summer 2010. Point values are assigned to various categories, including but not limited to won-lost records, postseason appearances applicable power ratings, number of teams and attendance.

I know what you are wondering, where do Nacogdoches and San Marcos rank? Well, Huntsville comes in ahead of the home of SFA (No. 173) and the home of Texas State (No. 209). Only San Antonio, which is home to the NBA Spurs, WNBA Silver Stars, minor league baseball, the Alamo Bowl and last year's Women's Final Four in addition to UTSA is the highest rated Southland city at No. 36.

Here is where the Southland schools ranked on the list:

36. San Antonio
144. Huntsville, Texas
173. Nacogdoches, Texas
180. Corpus Christi - Also home to Class AA Corpus Christi Hooks
188. Hammond, La.
209. San Marcos, Texas
233. Thibodaux, La.
234. Beaumont, Texas
242. Lake Charles, La.
247. Natchitoches, La.
253. Conway, Ark.

Arlington was not mentioned on the list, so we can only assume they are lumped in with Dallas which was No. 5 in the rankings.

Other Notable cities that rank below Huntsville:

145. Missoula, Mont. - Home of Montana Grizzlies

153. Princeton, N.J. - Home of Princeton University
154. Boone, N.C. - Home of Appalachian State
159. Des Moines, Iowa - Home of the AAA Iowa Cubs and the Drake Relays
200. Chattanooga, Tenn. - Site of the 2009 FCS National Championship Game
205. Youngstown, Ohio - Home of Youngstown State
213. Daytona Beach, Fla.
220. Little Rock, Ark.
232. Statesboro, Ga. - Home of Georgia Southern
237. Cheney, Wash. - Site of the greatest Bearkat football comeback (2004 I-AA playoffs)
248. Prairie View, Texas
250. Shreveport, La.
260. Huntsville + Normal, Ala. - The "other" Huntsville
271. Talladega, Ala. - Talladega Motor Speedway
272. Augusta, Ga. - Home of the Masters
315. Kissimmee, Fla. - Spring Training home of the Houston Astros
328. Frisco, Texas - Class AA Rough Riders, MLS FC Dallas, 2011 FCS National Championship host
363. Grambling, La.
376. Williamsport, Pa. - Home of Little League World Series

Jenny's Journal: Two tough losses

2010-11-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had two of our toughest games of the season. We hosted UTSA and Texas State to close out our regular season. We started out the season with a chance (albeit a slim one) of winning the conference title, and a much better chance at getting either of the two top seeds for the tournament, which would have given us a first round bye. The first round bye is HUGE, because the first two rounds of the tournament are played on Thursday and Friday, respectively. None of us are 11 years old anymore, and two games back to back like that are really hard work for our field players.

On Friday, UTSA came into town tied for first place in the conference. We were third, so we knew we had to beat them to have a chance at the higher seed. It was also senior night. All five of us seniors were honored before the game, and I was doing well not getting emotional until I saw my mom’s face. She had tears in her eyes the whole way she was walking me onto the field! I did get a little choked up, but it wasn’t anything too bad, and I was definitely ready for the game. It was such a weird feeling being a senior. I always had the feeling like I had all the time in the world to get my soccer goals accomplished here, and all of a sudden, it was a slap in the face that I had only two more home games left! We didn’t play really well against UTSA, which was a big disappointment. I wanted to win on senior night, and we came just short and lost 1-0. We created tons of opportunities, including some that were on a completely open net, and just couldn’t get any finished.

Saturday, we had our recovery session, which was focused on finishing, specifically the crossing game that we always do. The girls were really focused on it, which was nice to see. They were definitely burying the same shots that were missed only hours before in the game. I just wish it could have happened sooner!

Sunday, we played Texas State. I have always hated Texas State, and Sunday didn’t do anything to help that. I think I got caught up in the fact that it was my last EVER home game: last time to meet in the team meeting room, last time to change in the locker room, last time to swerve through campus all the way to the field. I also think my emotions about Texas State got the best of me, and I didn’t have my best game. We ended up losing 4-1, and I take full credit for one of the goals. Nobody really had a great game, which was another disappointment. I wanted to go into the tournament strong off of two wins!

After our losses, we will go into the tournament this Thursday as the #5 seed, and play none other than Texas State again at their home field (they’re the tournament hosts). Although our loss on Sunday was a tough one to take, I feel like it might give us a little bit of an advantage going into Thursday. Texas State definitely didn’t see the Sam Houston team that we know we can be! I’m excited to get another chance to play them, and I think the second time around will definitely be better than the first! I’m confident that, if we play like we know we can, then we will go deep into this tournament! We play Thursday night at 7 pm, so if anyone can make a trip to San Marcos, we really need your support!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU Keeper

Jenny's Journal: It feels great to beat SFA

2010-10-28T14:17:00.001-07:00

Battle of the Piney Woods weekend is always big for us. I’ll start out by saying this: I really don’t like SFA. I guess it started because SFA is the traditional rival of Sam Houston, but I’m not really sure. I think for me it happened slowly over four years, simply because we never beat them. In my entire four years here, there were two teams I had never beaten: Texas State and SFA. (P.S.- I really don’t like Texas State either.) SFA was also ahead of us in the standings, and a win would guarantee a spot in the conference tournament.

So we came into this past weekend pretty fired up about the game against SFA. Last year, we went to their place and got HAMMERED 6-0. It was really embarrassing. I think I’ve blocked that game from my memory actually! All week in training before the game, we were training very specifically for SFA. We knew they were good, and that they had three very good players up top. We worked on absorbing pressure, and getting off to quick counter attacks. I thought it was a really good week of training, and our field players were getting the defense and the system down really well. By Friday, I felt pretty optimistic about the game. That 6-0 defeat only a year ago was in the back of my mind though.

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about! We came out ready to play! We definitely played the best full 90 minutes of the season against SFA. We defended as a team, we went in hard on tackles, and we really executed our game plan well! We got a great goal from Natalie Johnson to start things off in the first half and I think that goal made SFA freak out a little bit. They aren’t used to getting scored on! In the second half, we came out firing again, and went up 2-0 on an AMAZING goal by Emily Edenstrom by about 30 yards out. I think it’s those shiny new shoes she’s got! After getting the lead, everybody worked hard on defense to keep SFA off the scoreboard. After pressing us hard really late, they ended up getting a good goal off of a corner kick to go down 2-1 with 45 seconds left. We held on though, and finally BEAT THEM! It felt so good to finally get a win in that rivalry game!

Saturday, we had a much needed day off, and Sunday we were back on the field to do a fitness practice. I seriously got dizzy from all of the shuttle turns we were doing! Or maybe I’m just out of shape? J It felt good to get that fitness in, but it felt even better knowing that we were getting a leg up on the other teams in the conference because they had to play that day.

This weekend, we are at home again! Tomorrow (Friday) we will play UTSA, the team that we knocked out of the tournament last year. They’re definitely going to play to win! It’s also senior night, which is really bittersweet. There is free food too, so everyone come out, get a free burger, and watch a good soccer game!! We really need your support! Sunday, we play host to Texas State. Texas State is the other team I’ve never beat, so I’m excited about that game too! If we win both of our games this weekend, we have a chance to be conference champions. We have never been in this position before, and I’m excited to play these top teams and see exactly how good we can match up. So please, please, PLEASE come out to the games and cheer us on! We could really use your help!

Senior night will be Friday at Pritchett

2010-10-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

I want to invite everyone out to our game on Friday night at 7:00 PM. We will be celebrating Senior Night at our game against UT-San Antonio. Goalkeepers Jenny Pence and Kelley Sikinger, defender Nikki Watkins, and midfielders Alex Clifton and Adriana Vasquez will be honored before the game. This is the most successful senior class we have ever had and they will be making their final home appearances this weekend.

The team is in third place and is only one point behind the two co-leaders. Two home wins this weekend will give the team a chance to win the regular season championship. Please come out and help cheer the team on. The team is 7-2 in the last half of the season and 6-1 at home overall. We need your help to complete a successful season!

The team has already qualified for the Southland Conference Tournament to be held in San Marcos, November 4-7. If you can't see us in person, you can catch our results on gobearkats.com or on our SHSU Soccer Facebook page.

Go BearKats!

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Jenny's Journal: Eventful trip to Louisiana

2010-10-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend was VERY eventful, so this post might be a little lengthy. Sorry guys.

This weekend, we traveled to good old Louisiana for conference games against Southeastern Louisiana University, and Nicholls State University. We left Huntsville REALLY early again, and went straight to the bustling town of Hammond, LA where we had a short practice to get our legs moving and to get a feel for the field we were going to be playing on the next day. After our practice, we went to the hotel, where we found out that *GASP* there was no MTV! So no Jersey Shore watching party Thursday night. Bummer.

Friday, we got up for study hall that was scheduled for 10 in the morning. Me and Kelsi Brown, my roommate, decided that sleep was much more important than breakfast, and woke up at exactly 9:50 AM. It was glorious. Our game was at 3:30 because SLU doesn’t have lights on their field, so we had lunch, and pretty soon after that left the hotel for the game. Keep in mind that our hotel was about an hour from the field, since it was in the middle of the two schools. This will be important later.

We get to SLU and finished watching Never Back Down, a fighting movie about a guy (and his six pack) that never backs down. Go figure. We finished the movie, and got off the bus to go into our locker room. As we are putting our stuff down and getting settled, a realization dawns on us, and our coaches. We forgot the jerseys. Yep. The whole bag of jerseys was back in New Orleans. At this point, it is two hours before game time. If you do the math, you will see what we saw: WE. ARE. SCREWED. We were thinking that we were going to have to warm up in our tennis shoes or something. It was bad. But, luckily, Nikki’s parents were staying in the same hotel we were, and they hadn’t left yet! Coach called the hotel and arranged for Nikki’s parents to pick up the bag of jerseys, which they then drove the entire way to the game. Seriously, Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, Y’ALL ARE AWESOME.

Our jerseys arrived a little less than an hour before game time, so we quickly changed and got onto the field. We were only behind by about 10 or 15 minutes, so it worked out as well as expected! I think coach thought that the jersey fiasco would be a bad distraction for us, but we came out hard in the first 5 minutes of that game. We had them on their heels, but just couldn’t capitalize on anything. In the second half, they scored off of a corner, which actually may have not gone in. Lindsey Posner cleared the ball off of the line, but the ref on the sideline called it a goal. He wasn’t in position to make the call, because in order to see the ball completely go over the endline, you actually have to be on the endline. Crazy concept, right? Anyways, we lost 1-0. I was bummed about it, but we played pretty well and had a lot to build off of.

Saturday, we had a day off from practice! We had study hall from 10 to 12, and then got lunch delivered. After that, we got on the bus to head down to the French Quarter! We had about three hours to walk around, and we all had a lot of fun. I thought the different artwork was really cool, and I also liked to look at all of the different masks! That night, we ate at Hard Rock Café, and then headed home.

Sunday, we got up bright and early to go to IHOP for breakfast. After that, we drove to Thibodeaux for our match against Nicholls. It was a crazy game, with three goals being scored in the first 10 minutes. We scored first, but they responded only 17 seconds later right off of the kickoff. The one they scored was soft, so I wasn’t too happy about it. Amanda Biega scored a great, sliding goal to put us up 2-1 though. After halftime, we came out strong and had a great half. We scored three unanswered goals to win 5-1! Five different people scored, which is a great thing. Teams can’t shut us down by shutting down one person, because we have many different people who are really good and are scoring threats.

I have to give a shoutout to my backline after this weekend. Gayle Ziegler played great this weekend, especially since on Friday, she seemed to be a fan favorite for the SLU supporters (not in a good way) and on Sunday, she seemed to have a target on her back for Nicholls’ dirtiest players. On Friday, Carly Rheman saved everyone’s butts more than once by making great sliding tackles at exactly the right times. Hillary Ackerman did a great job covering for other players and connecting her passes, which is what we have been working on. And Nikki Watkins had great timing, and she is consistently one of the hardest tacklers on the team. They all did great this weekend. After the game, Coach treated us to Baskin Robbins on the way home!! Mmmm, chocolate peanut butter shake. Way better than dinner.

We have one game this weekend, against SFA on Friday night at home!! So everyone, be at Pritchett at 7 pm for the soccer version of the Battle of the Piney Woods! We need everyone’s support, this weekend more than ever!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU Keeper

National Play of the Week Candidate

2010-10-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

If you were at Johnson Coliseum for the Bearkat volleyball team's win against SFA, you know how exciting of a match that was. Now the winning point from that match is up for a national award.

The American Volleyball Coaches Associaiton has selected the match-winning point from the Kats' five-game win over SFA as one of the five finalists for the National Play of the Week. The best part is, the fans will be the ones who decide the winner.

Voting will be open until Tuesday at 10 a.m. for fans to go on the AVCA website and vote for the play they think is the best of the week. The winner will be announced on Wednesday.

At the end of the season, the weekly winners will compete for the AVCA Play of the Year.

So get online and vote for the Bearkats. Let your friends know as well.

The Kats are play No. 5 on the list.

http://www.avca.org/awards/play-of-the-week/

Jenny's Journal: Two big home wins

2010-10-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Kat fans! Sorry this post is so late, school has been a little crazy this week. I have good news, though, so I think it is worth the wait! This weekend was our second weekend of conference play, and we hosted McNeese and Lamar at home. We had a good week of training leading up to these games, with some focus on the play of our back line, and lots of finishing, as usual. We were a little embarrassed after our loss to Northwestern, so we were pumped up to play this weekend, especially since we were at home!

We played McNeese on Friday night. They came into the game with one tie and one win, so they were ahead of us in the conference standings. We were moving the ball around really well, and got our first goal off of a GREAT combination between Amanda Biega, Emily Edenstrom, and Kirby Zak. Our goal came right before half time too, so that was really important! Our second goal came from Tricia Mallory, who put a shot in the far side netting. After building a 2 goal lead, our defense really stepped it up. We played some really good team defense in the second half, and our back line played well as a unit. We gave up a goal, but we won the game 2-1!

A McNeese player was overheard at Chili’s saying “I can’t believe we lost to a team like that.”. Its so funny how teams in the conference underestimate us, and think they will be able to come in to our home field and get an easy win! I’m not complaining though, I’m perfectly okay with being the team that kind of flies under the radar. I think everyone felt really good about that win, and it came at an important time for us.

Sunday, we played Lamar. They came into the game with a 2-1 conference record, same as ours. A win was obviously very important! They came into the game leading the conference in yellow cards, by A LOT. They were a physical team, borderline dirty. And they were all British! I half expected to have tea and crumpets at half time! Okay, maybe not. They might have though. Their physical play backfired on them when they got called for a foul in their own box that led to a penalty kick. Kirby put it in the back of the net, and we were up 1-0.

After that goal, they all started yelling at each other and getting too emotional. As a team, we stayed calm, which I really liked. Nobody got caught up in the emotion or physical play, and that really helped us. Our second goal came from Natalie Johnson. Let me tell you about Nat. She’s all of 5’2”, MAYBE, but this girl seemingly flew through the air to get her head on a high cross to put us up 2-0. It was a really good finish, and one that we work on in practice. Our defense had a good game again, and we got the shutout!

With that win, we are 3-1 in conference, in sole possession of second place. We are traveling to New Orleans tomorrow to play Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls this weekend! It should be a fun weekend, and if we get two wins we are guaranteed a place in playoffs. I’ll be back next week with an update, hopefully its another good one!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU keeper

Jenny's Journal: Sometimes the ball bounces your way

2010-10-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I hope you guys are enjoying this awesome weather we have been having! I hope it stays! This weekend we played Central Arkansas and Northwestern State on the road to start conference play. We left EARLY Thursday and drove to Conway, Arkansas. We arrived that afternoon, and had a quick training session to get our legs loose.

On Friday, we played UCA at 4 in the afternoon because they have no lights on their field. In the first half, we played great. We got two great goals, one that Kirby Zak headed in off of a perfect corner from Paige Rodriguez, and one off of a great individual effort from Kelsi Brown, who I think either ran through or around about 3 players before burying it in the back of the net.

We went into halftime with a good 2-0 lead. Anyone who knows soccer though, knows that 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer. Coach likes to say that the next goal in a 2-0 game is always the most important. If we score, the game is 3-0 and probably out of reach for the other team. If they score, it is 2-1, and all of a sudden they are right back in it. Well, they scored. They hit a shot off of the crossbar, and a girl was about 10 yards away from the goal to collect the rebound and put it away. 3 minutes after that, they scored again.

So, in the span of 3 minutes, it’s 2-2 and a tie game. We pressed hard, and we were the better team. Paige had free reign on the right side, so she was getting in often and sending in crosses. Natalie Johnson was also doing well on the left side getting behind their defense. We had good chances, but couldn’t quite get one to fall our way.

With a minute and a half left, Paige sent a cross into the box. I think their keeper got a hand on it, then Trish passed it back for Kirby to hit. One of their midfielders/defenders was running back, and it hit off her shinguard and went in. And just like that, we won the game. We should have closed them out, and not let them score. But a win is a win, and I’ll take it any way we can get it.

Saturday, we got on the bus again to start the 4ish hour trip to Northwestern State. We have great memories on that field, that’s where playoffs were last year! We drove straight to the field, and had a small practice again. We ate at the Trail Boss Steakhouse that night, which was right next to “China Garden”, the hole in the wall Chinese buffet that we went to my freshman year. There were literally zero cars in their parking lot. I remember all we ate was ice cream because the food looked AWFUL! Funny how times change!

After dinner we had study hall. I did some Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy homework, Hillary was working on English, and Michele and Kelley were studying the Yankees/Red Sox game that was on TV. Hey, there’s a lot of history in that rivalry! That counts as studying, right? They were reading too, so I’m not completely throwing them under the bus :)

Sunday, we played Northwestern State. We were a little off our game, and couldn’t quite get into a rhythm. They scored first, but we responded in the second half to tie the game at 1-1. I like that we can work our way back into games, it would be nice to not have to though! Then they got another one off of a breakaway, and ended up winning 2-1. It was a game we shouldn’t have lost. It doesn’t feel good to lose games like that, but we will work hard to get two wins next weekend.

We play McNeese on Friday, and Lamar on Sunday at Pritchett field. We need your help and your support! If you’re in town, come out and watch some soccer!

--Jenny Pence
SHSU Keeper

Jenny's Journal: Just one game = a ton of training

2010-09-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, it’s me again with the weekly update for the women’s soccer team! This past weekend, we played Prairie View A&M on Friday, and then had the weekend off from games. Last week, we practiced a TON of finishing, which is what I thought we were going to do.

On Wednesday, we played a game called lightning, and the team was split into two different teams. We had the Houston team, and the “Other” team. One keeper would kneel at the top of the 18 yard box, and the team that was shooting would pass the ball to her. The keeper would then push the ball to one side or the other for the shooter. There was one keeper in the net and two field players on the posts.

Those three people had to keep the ball out, and if the shooting team scored, the two field players had to switch out for different ones. Confusing to explain, but it was a lot of fun to play! It got really competitive, and it’s fun for the keepers too because we can make a ton of saves! Thursday, we practiced set pieces and corner kicks like we usually do.

So by the time Friday rolled around, we were pretty excited to play. We knew we had to get a good result to give us a boost going into conference! For the first half, we had a bunch of opportunities, but couldn’t quite find the net. During halftime, we made some adjustments in the lineup and in how we played, and we came out strong on the second half. Hillary Ackerman scored the first goal of the night, which was great! She is one of the hardest workers on our team, so it was awesome to see her get rewarded for it! She even scored with her left foot too!

During halftime, I “shined” her shoes with my nasty, wet gloves. I guess I’ll have to do that more often now! After Hil scored, we didn’t look back. We went on to score 5 more goals. Michele McCullough made a great save on a corner kick, and Kelley Sikinger also had an amazing breakaway save with about seven minutes left! It was awesome that all three of us got that shutout! The team felt good after that game, and we were proud of how many goals we had scored.

Saturday, we had a much needed day off. No soccer, no weights, no school, an ACTUAL day off! I planned on sleeping in until at least 10:00, but then was wide awake at 8 in the morning. And so was the dog. It was awesome, really. I went to the Bearkat football game at 6, which was fun! It was nice to see the guys get a win. Sunday night, we had a fitness practice. It was a little scary when we showed up at the field, because there were NO soccer balls out. We had a good fitness session, though, and everyone did really well!

This weekend we start conference play at UCA! We’re going to try to carry this momentum through practice this week and into the weekend! I’ll try to come back next week with some more great news!!

-- Jenny Pence
Bearkat Keeper

Kats in the national rankings

2010-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

The girls are off to a great start this year, taking second up at North Texas earlier this week.

We have also managed to make our way into a few of the national rankings on Golfstat. Shelby Hardy ranks 15th in the country on Par 4 scoring with an average of 3.92. The national leader is Megan McChrystal at LSU with a 3.67 average. Shelby is also 8th in the country in subpar strokes per round, averaging 4.33. As a team, the Kats are 7th in the nation in Par 4 scoring, with an average of 4.09.

Individually and as a team we also set several records at the North Texas tournament. Shelby’s 215 score was a new best as well as her eight birdies in a single round. Also, as a team, it was the first tournament where we first three rounds under 300 (293, 294 and 298).

Hopefully the girls can keep it up. I like what I have seen so far this year.

-- Tommy Chain
Women's golf coach

Jenny's Journal: A meeting with our old coach

2010-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I hope you guys had a great week last week! As for the soccer team, we had a great, intense week of practices, where everyone seemed very focused. I think that was definitely one of our best weeks so far, and we looked good going into the weekend!

On Friday, Baylor traveled into Huntsville for the Friday night matchup. Now, let me say one thing about Baylor. They’re tall. Like, REALLY tall. All of them. Except for their coach. He’s short. Am I allowed to say that? And they like to play balls very direct and in the air because, honestly, they can win 90% of them. Simply because they are bigger than everyone else. So that’s what we dealt with on Friday night. We played well, and had great intensity throughout the match. I’m kinda bummed about the goals, because I feel like they were a little soft. I got chipped from about 20 yards out for the second goal because, unlike the entire Baylor roster, I am NOT tall. Bummer. So, we ended up losing 2-0, but we played well and really came out of it feeling good about our performance.

Sunday, we played Grambling State University. For those that don’t know, our old coach, Marcia Oliviera, now coaches there. There are only three of us on the roster who were on the team 4 years ago with her, but we definitely wanted to win and make a statement. In the first 10 minutes of the game, a Grambling player committed a hard foul on one of our players, which resulted in a little bit of a disagreement, I’ll say. The ref quickly pulled out the red card, and sent both players off. On the resulting free kick, Emily Edenstrom controlled the ball out of the air and buried it in the net, so I think the team responded very well.

For the next 80 minutes, both teams played with 10 people. It worked to our advantage, because we were definitely fitter and more mentally tough than they were. It seems like all the Grambling was trying to do was foul us hard and see if they could throw us off our game, and for the first half, it worked. They also had an offsides trap, which got us quite a few times in the first half.

In the second half, we played much better and kept the ball on the ground and moving. Natalie Johnson got a great goal off a cross, putting us up 2-0. We had plenty of shots, but they didn’t hit the target. I’m sure finishing will be a priority in practice this week! We won the game 2-0, but it should have been about 6-0. We got the win and the shutout though, so that was great!

We are going to work hard in practice this week in preparation for our game against Prairie View A&M this Friday at 7 pm at Pritchett Field. I hope everyone can make it out to support us!

Enjoy your week Kats and Kat fans, and make every second count!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU keeper

McCown earns UFL player of the week honors

2010-09-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hartford Colonials and former Sam Houston State quarterback Josh McCown has added the United Football League Offensive Player of the Week award to the opening day win he orchestrated over the Sacramento Mountain Lions.

McCown led the Colonials to the first-ever win in franchise history on Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, throwing for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 27-10 victory over the Mountain Lions.

McCown completed 11 of 21 passes with no interceptions and connected with running back Lorenzo Booker on an 80-yard touchdown on a screen pass, which turned into the longest pass play in UFL history (previous best: Brooks Bollinger to Jason Foster, 62 yards, Florida at California, 11/19/09).

“Josh had an outstanding game,” said Colonials head coach Chris Palmer. “He played within himself, read the defense well made outstanding plays.”

The 31-year-old quarterback was a third round selection of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2002 NFL Draft and has played in 47 NFL games including 31 starts with the Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers.

Injury update and tough tournament ahead

2010-09-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings Bearkat Volleyball fans!

I hope that everyone reading the blog is able to follow how the team is doing in some way shape or form. Our official Twitter account is @SamHoustonVB, the gobearkats.com website with articles and video interviews, the Huntsville Item, and the Houstonian newspapers, as well as gametracker on other universities websites when we are on the road, and live web streaming on gobearkats.com of our matches when we are at home. Obviously you can come watch us as well – home and away!

First, an update on our team and injuries. We have been a little thin on our middle blockers, with sophomore transfer Sam West being out with a back injury the first three weeks; freshman Haley Neisler has been out since before preseason with Mononucleosis, and Tarona Williams not being ready to compete yet. Being able to have Kaylee Hawkins train in the middle in the spring was tremendously beneficial to our team this fall so far. She is an outstanding competitor and athlete and will score points or keep us in matches wherever she is playing. Between her and Kim Black – they have done a great job in the middle so far, but it will be nice when we have a little more depth there.

Haley got her first action this past weekend after being sick, and shows some promise, and now we have a lot of options in many positions with our team, but putting it all together will be the key. The team is definitely stronger in full (and healthy) numbers.

All this being said – this past week we played Texas Southern twice, and got to see some different players play who haven’t played as much, and to see how competitive we can be, and stay consistent to our game. We also beat TAMU Corpus Christi at their place in 3, serving them really tough and taking advantage of their mistakes, we had a lot of high energy, and it showed. Against Villanova, a tougher opponent, we started slow and made a lot of mistakes in the first set. In the 2nd set, we had a 8-5 lead, and were tied at 13-13, but let them stay in system, and made a few of our own mistakes, while being frustrated with their smarter play with off speed shots and relentless hustle.

We practiced hard yesterday, and watched film from this weekend after practice to learn from our mistakes and what we did well. We will learn from our mistakes and apply to the rest of the season. A tough road ahead this weekend before conference starts officially next week. We play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Classic at Tulane, also facing Florida International and No. 16 Oregon. Each team made the NCAA tournament last year, and that’s where we want to be as a team, so this weekend will be a great test. I think we can compete with these teams this weekend, but we need to be the aggressor, and not be passive at all. We look forward to the challenge, and can’t wait to show what us Bearkats can do! Thanks for the support and being loyal readers!!

-- Joe Lind
Assistant Volleyball Coach

Jenny's Journal: 3 seconds

2010-09-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post will be a little different than my others. If you read this only to hear about the games, we lost on Friday 3-2 and didn’t play too hot, and then we tied on Sunday 1-1 and played much better. We had good team meetings, and got a lot of stuff ironed out over the weekend, so it can only go up from here. We have two home games (finally!) next weekend at Pritchett Field, so come out and support us! If you read for other reasons, however, here it goes.

On Friday, we were tied with South Alabama 2-2 going into the very end of the game. We did a great job of coming back from being down twice in the game, and maybe that took a lot out of us emotionally, mentally, and physically. With the seconds ticking down on the clock, South Alabama got a counter attack, and scored. After picking myself up off the ground to fish the ball out of the back of the net, I looked at the clock: 3.5 seconds left. That’s it. Not too much time to do anything with at the end of a game, right? Normally, this is when I tell you exactly how the game went, what we can do better, yadda, yadda, yadda. But today is different.

Life is best measured in seconds. A good night’s sleep? 28,800 seconds. A good movie while on the couch with a loved one? 7,200. A soccer game? 5,400. Do you not believe seconds are important? Ask the swimmer who just lost a gold medal by 1/100 of one. Hell, ask our soccer team who has lost 3 games this year within the last 60 seconds. 3 different 90 minute soccer games, coming down to seconds. The difference between a record of 2-5-1 and 5-2-1 (basically).

It’s cruel, really, when you think about it, paring life down to mere seconds. You think you have so much time to do things, experience things, accomplish dreams. I’m guilty of it. But what are you doing with RIGHT NOW? Forget the past, forget the future. What about now?

Have you ever thought about that, how important every second is? I have. After the game on Sunday, I got news that a friend of mine passed away this weekend. She was hit by a drunk driver. She was 22, about 31 million seconds older than me. What if she had left in her car 3 seconds later? What if she got stuck at a red light instead of going through a green, putting her 60 seconds farther back on the road? What if she had said goodbye to one more friend before she left, taking a few precious seconds? I can play the “what if” game all day, but it’s only driving me crazy.

Here is my question to you. Are you making your seconds count? Are you achieving everything you want in life? Because any second could very well be the last second. Tell people you love them. Tell people you appreciate them, you care about them. Don’t play the “what if” game with yourself. As cliché as this sounds, live your life to the absolute fullest. Make every second count. Because we don’t get extras.

Jenny's Journal: Great weekend for the Kats

2010-09-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Week 3 of season, and I have some great news! This weekend, we played the University of North Texas at home on Friday, and then traveled to Houston to play Texas Southern University. Our Friday game was played in some CRAZY weather out on Pritchett. During warm-up, the sky was looking a little foreboding (word of the day) and then right when announcements were supposed to start, it just opened up. No lightning, just a torrential downpour for about 30 minutes of the first half. We still had a good crowd, especially considering the nasty weather! We should give BBQ away for every game! :)

I always love games in the rain, because when I dive or come out on a breakaway, it feels like I slide 10 feet. Who says you’re too old to act like a kid?? Since the field was so sloppy, the game wasn’t pretty. It was hard to get control on the ground, and we just had to keep putting it in the air to stay away from the puddles. The team played AWESOME though, and we completely outworked UNT, who looked like they just wanted to get the heck out of Huntsville and go home.

We were tied 0-0 going into overtime, but we were getting some good looks. With about 5 minutes left in overtime, I punted the ball into the center circle (which Coach gets mad at me for all the time... oops) where Tricia headed it to Kirby up top. Kirby beat about 4 defenders on her way to the goal, and buried it into the net. Our first win was definitely an exciting one!! There were a lot of smiles after the game, and for me, a lot of relief! It felt great to finally win a close one!

The Sunday game wasn’t as exciting when we played Texas Southern on their home field. And by field, I mean football field. And by football field, I mean green carpet. They had the old school Astroturf, and all 3 of us goalkeepers looked like we had just rolled around in moss before the game had even started. We won 2-0, and really dominated the entire game. So that win felt good too! And two shutouts for the weekend! It’s always a good feeling when I do my job and keep the ball out of the back of the net.

This week, we leave on Thursday for a tournament in Mobile, Alabama! We’re going to work hard to get two more wins, and two more shutouts!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU keeper

Show your Kat pride on your license plates

2010-09-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Bearkat fans can now unleash their passion on the new Sam Houston University Specialty license plate released to the market today through MyPlates.com.

Starting today at www.myplates.com, you’ll find a specialty plate for Sam Houston State to create for your car or truck.

Order online at www.myplates.com or by calling 888-7MY-PLATES.

My Plates prices range from $55 to $195 for a one-year plate. The yearly cost gets lower when plates are purchased for 5 or 10 years.

“Specialty” plate refers to any official license plate other than the state’s general issue plate. Specialty plates can be “personalized” plates, but they don’t have to be. The legislature, the law, TxDMV, and My Plates use only “specialty” and “personalized” to refer to these plates, not “vanity,” which is slang that rarely fits the diverse stories behind the plates thousands of quite humble Texans have a lot of not-at-all-vain fun displaying.

Texas is the first state in the U.S. to hire a private vendor to create, market, and sell new license plate designs as a way to raise money for the state. The program guarantees millions of dollars for the state and offers all Texans a fun choice in customizing their cars. In August 2009, the state awarded the contract to operate the My Plates program to a joint venture between Etech, Inc. of Nacogdoches (www.etechinc.com) and Pinnacle Technical Resources of Dallas (www.pinnacle1.com). My Plates is a contracted vendor with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV). Since sales began November 19, 2009, Texans have bought more than 21,000 My Plates, putting $1.6M in the State General Revenue Fund.

My Plates designs and markets new specialty license plates as a vendor for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. My Plates’ goal is to create a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship designed to maximize revenues for the state through the sale of My Plates specialty plates. My Plates is dedicated to providing Texans with greater choices in specialty plate designs, a unique way to add personality to your vehicle, and unmatched customer service. My Plates is a joint venture of Etech, Inc. of Nacogdoches (www.etechinc.com) and Pinnacle Technical Resources of Dallas (www.pinnacle1.com), Pinnacle is a HUB certified minority owned company. http://www.myplates.com/

TxDMV is responsible for the registration, titling and credentialing of personal and commercial vehicles. It also licenses vehicle dealers and issues operating authority for commercial motor vehicles and buses. TxDMV also is home to the Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority (ABTPA), which awards grants to law enforcement agencies to reduce auto theft and increase public awareness and education. To learn more, go to http://www.txdmv.gov/.

Promoting the Battle of the Piney Woods

2010-09-02T09:46:00.001-07:00

Sam Houston State director of Athletics Bobby Williams and a group of administrators will head down to Reliant Stadium this afternoon to begin preparations for the Battle of the Piney Woods.

During the 4 o’clock hour, Williams will join the crew on 610 AM live to discuss the Battle of the Piney Woods and then will head to the field to talk to ABC 13 television.

Administrators from SHSU and SFA will also do a press box evaluation during tonight’s Houston Texans game against Tampa Bay.

If you are driving around Houston be sure to listen and then check out ABC 13 sports.

Golf getting back in swing

2010-09-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

It is good to be back in school and having the girls back out on the golf course. This year I have three seniors returning to the squad who all had tournament experience and will be backed up by a strong group of sophomores who all performed well as freshmen. .

They are all off to a fast start in qualifying, shooting the lowest scores I’ve seen in my four years of coaching here. I’m anxious to see how they fare in tournament play this semester. The girls are all hard workers both on and off the course and this should pay off for us when the going gets tough.

Our first tournament at North Texas will have a good field with a number of schools from our conference attending and we are ready to test our skills.

--Tommy Chain
Women's golf

Tough loss last weekend, busy week ahead

2010-08-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

The 35th Annual Comfort Suites Volleyball Invitational is in the books, and we lost an EXTREMELY tight match Saturday night against Louisiana. We came out a little slow in the first two sets, and were able to come back in each, but losing by two points in each, 23-25 & 24-26. Down 0-2 is a daunting task, especially when it was that close, but our girls came back roaring after the break, winning the next two, but gave up the lead in the 5th, and dropped 2 match points before losing to the Ragin’ Cajuns, 14-16. Tough loss to swallow, but we will definitely learn from it, as we gave them too many unforced errors.

I don’t mean to sound so bleak, but just letting you know our side of the story. We will learn from that lesson as we go on through the season, and the schedule gets harder as we go on, but that’s what its all about. We play at Reed Arena in College Station tomorrow night against the Aggies at 6:30pm – which will be against a very tough team that made it to the sweet 16 last year, but graduated 6 seniors – I thought we had it tough graduating 3 great seniors – I can’t imagine! We did play them very closely in the spring with most of their players that are playing now, and we even took a set off of them, after adjusting our defense and line up to get a bigger block against their stellar OH, Kelsey Black – (side note – coached in the same club – Brazos Valley Juniors – as me last year) – she is their go to hitter right now, and will be throughout the year. If we can find a way to slow her down and frustrate her – a block here, digs here and there, we will be in a better position to win.

In two days we fly up to Newark, Delaware for the UD Invitational – but for now, we are focused on A&M. More to follow. Thanks for the support, we had good student crowds on Friday and Saturday night – hopefully we can get another good crowd when we come back to town in a week. Until then, ‘Eat ‘em up, Kats!’

Joe Lind,
Assistant Volleyball Coach

Jenny's Journal: First road trip of the year

2010-08-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had our first road trip of the season, where we went to play Louisiana Tech and Texas Christian University. After only our second day of classes, we got on the bus on Thursday and started the long 6 hour trip to Ruston, La. We got in and had a really good dinner at Chili’s, where most of us paired up and got the 2 for $20 deal they advertise. For anyone that cares, their guacamole appetizer is REALLY spicy!! Not okay Chili’s, not okay. After Chili’s we had a “Jersey Shore watching party” in our room. I admit, that’s the first time I have EVER watched an entire episode of that show. And I kinda liked it.

So we began the weekend at Louisiana Tech, a team we played to a 0-0 tie last year at Pritchett Field. This year we played them on their home turf for their home season opener. From the beginning, we couldn’t quite keep possession of the ball, and we kept having to chase a less talented LA Tech team all over the field. The second half was a better though. With about 20 minutes left in the game, we got a free kick around the midfield line. Kayla Anderson took the kick, and placed it perfectly in front of the Tech keeper, where Emily Edenstrom got her head on it and flicked it to Tricia Mallory for our first goal of the season. It was a good goal off of a set piece, which we work on a lot in practice. That goal seemed to wake LA Tech up though, and within the last 5 minutes of the game, they scored two goals to beat us. And that’s about all I have to say about that.

Saturday, we left for TCU, which was about a 5 hour bus ride from Ruston. When we got in, we went to practice on their field. They have a GORGEOUS facility! A HUGE field with what looked like a practice field next to it, and soccer specific locker rooms and training rooms. The grass was super short, which made it a very fast field as well. We did some finishing drills and some position work, and then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to SouperSalad, which was really good! We cleaned out all of their mac and cheese, and all of their soft serve toppings! After dinner we had a little team meeting where people got to know each other. Did you know that Kelsi Brown is part Norwegian? And Carli Rheman can ride a unicycle? Or that Cat has a cat named Cat? Yeah, me neither.

Sunday, we played TCU at 1 pm. We got off to a little bit of a slow start and got scored on about 4 minutes into the game. After we had settled down, we were creating some good chances against them! TCU is a good team, and we were sticking with them in the first half. We also got some great looks in the second half, with Kirby Zak hitting the crossbar from about 40 yards out (so close!) and Adriana Vasquez getting in behind their defense and almost scoring. I think we were a little tired though, and we gave up 5 goals in the second half. I know 6-0 is an awful score line, but as crazy as this sounds, we played much better than we had Friday night. We were moving the ball a lot quicker, and moving around for each other more.

We have a lot to work on in practice next week, but good things to build on too. We can’t wait for our home opener, and we hope that everyone can make it out! Friday night we play UNT at 7 pm at Pritchett! Come out and support us!

-- Jenny Pence
Senior Keeper

Jenny's Journal: Opening weekend out of the way

2010-08-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Bearkat fans! Its Jenny Pence here, goalkeeper and captain of the soccer team. Once a week, I’ll be giving you updates on our games the previous weekend and on our team as a whole. So get excited, because this is only post No. 1. I know you can barely contain yourself.

First of all, preseason is finally over! It was a long couple of weeks, with a lot of soccer. We ran fitness tests, played small sided games and talked about tactical defense/offense/everything else. And that was just Day 1. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but we covered A TON of stuff over those two weeks. We have eight new freshmen in, and they seem to have adjusted really well. It’s a weird feeling when I stop and think that this will be my LAST preseason. I, along with four other players: Kelley Sikinger, Nicole Watkins, Adriana Vasquez, and Alex Clifton, will be graduating after this season. But, I won’t get too sentimental yet. I’ll save that for later in the year.

We started off our 2010 campaign against HBU, a team that we have historically played down to. I always seem to come off the field wishing something had gone differently, and Friday night’s game was no exception. It was our first game together as a new team, and we are playing 10 freshmen and sophomores, so maybe the nerves got the best of us. We had a bunch of scoring opportunities, and freshman center forward Emily Edenstrom was creating some good chances for herself and others, but we couldn’t find the net. With 5 seconds left in the game (yep, you read that right), HBU snuck one past me in the side netting, and we lost 1-0. Although we were frustrated, it was definitely a lesson learned.

The Sunday game against the University of Houston was a different story. We got to play under the lights at Robertson Stadium, where the Houston Dynamo play, so that was a really cool experience. Before the game, we were in the locker room where the Chicago Fire (another MLS team) had stayed the night before. I think Houston’s plan was to smoke us out, because it felt about 90 degrees in that locker room. I think they let their cleaning crew off for the night too, because it smelled like the Fire had just left: stinky guys, with a hint of dirty socks and a little bit of dirty bathroom. Mmm, mmm, good. We had large fans to cool us off, and Kirby Zak, our sophomore center mid, decided to make a game of it. She had brought a large bag of popcorn, and would throw a piece towards the fan. After it was blown back, Natalie Johnson and Gayle Ziegler were trying to catch it in their mouths. I don’t think they ever caught one. Maybe I missed it though.

Anyways, back to the game. We played REALLY well against UofH. We were moving the ball well, and Kelsi Brown, Kirby Zak and Tricia Mallory were doing a good job controlling the midfield. Our back line is brand new and is just starting to play together, so we are still working the kinks out, but they did a good job considering. The outside forwards were doing an awesome job of moving up and down the flanks on offense and defense. We also got almost every single player some minutes, so that was really good. It’s nice to know that we have capable subs coming into the game. We ended up losing 1-0, but our goal was to play better than we did Friday night, so we didn’t feel too bad about it. Our record doesn’t show it, but I think we made some really good progress towards our ultimate goal of winning the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA’s. Yep, SHSU as the conference champions.

What’s that you say? You don’t think we can do it? Just watch.

Have a great week everyone, and a great first week of classes! Talk to you next week!

-- Jenny Pence
SHSU senior keeper

Thompson wins STPGA Senior Professional Championship

2010-08-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

From the Huntsville Item

Former Sam Houston golfer Robert Thompson broke open a close final round at the 2010 Southern Texas PGA Senior Professional Championship thanks to three consecutive birdies and a hole-out from the fairway for eagle on the 15th hole Tuesday.

Thompson, a six-time Southern Texas PGA Professional Champion who works at Whispering Pines Golf Club near Trinity, won the Senior Professional Championship by four strokes over runner-up Troy Schleicher (68-72 — 140) of Swanson Golf Center in Houston.

Thompson’s impressive six-hole stetch at The Hills Country Club’s Signature Course helped him post a 5-under par 67 Tuesday, and complete a 36-hole total of 8-under par 136.

Steve Parker, a PGA Life Member, finished alone in third place with a final-round 70, and a 141 total.

In addition to winning the STPGA Senior Professional Championship and the $1,100 first place check, Thompson and seven other PGA Professionals from the Southern Texas Section advanced to the PGA Senior National Professional Championship.

The STPGA Senior Professional Championship served as the qualifier for the Senior PNC for the Southern Texas Section. Dave Findley of Redstone Golf Club in Houston won the Veteran’s Division for players age 70 and over.

Martin continuing solid season in Triple-A

2010-08-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota Twins are having a championship caliber season this year, so Dustin Martin may not get the call to the bigs this season. But the former Sam Houston State outfielder continues to impress everyone with his play at Rochester, a AAA affiliate of the Twins.

Here is a write up from a game over the weekend:

Right fielder Dustin Martin drifted back to the warning track in right field and, with a vertical leap worthy of the NBA, reached over the fence to steal a home run from Rich Thompson in the fifth inning.

"It was definitely one of those plays an outfielder thinks of," Martin said.

It's also one that becomes second nature at this point of a career. Martin said that while in college at Sam Houston State University, the outfielders did daily plays-at-the-fence drills.

Martin also threw out Mayberry at the plate to complete a double play in the seventh inning. At the plate, Martin produced as well, going 2-for-4 with two runs.

Martin is hitting .262 this season with a team leading seven triples, 64 runs and 60 RBI. He is third on the team in homers with 10.

Other Bearkats in the minors:

Robert Manuel, who pitched for the Kats in 2004, is currently 6-2 for the Pawtucket Red Sox, a AAA affiliate of Boston.

Manuel leads the team with a 1.44 ERA and has a team best WHIP of 0.92. He is second on the club in saves with 10.

Manuel has been called up twice to the Red Sox this year, making five appearances.

Ryan Teperra, a pitcher on the Kats championship team in 2009, is currently 9-6 at Class-A Lansing, an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Teperra has the second-best ERA on the team among starters (3.97) and is second on the team in strikeouts. His last outing on Aug. 8, Teperra left the game early with and injury and is currently on the DL.

Dallas Gallant has made two appearances for Elizabethton and sports a 1-0 record. He was a winner in his debut. He second outing he worked 2 2/3 innings allowing a run while striking out four. Gallant was a 23rd round selection by the Minnesota Twins this past June.

Gallant wins in pro debut

2010-08-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dallas Gallant made his professional debut last night for the Elizabethton Twins, and promptly picked up his first win as a pro. Gallant worked the final two innings of the game for the Twins.

He allowed just one hit and struck out two batters (the first two he faced, BTW). Thanks to a four-run bottom of the ninth, including a three-run walk-off homer, the Twins made Gallant a winner in his debut.

Gallant signed his deal with the Twins last week, earning a reported $122,500 signing bonus. Elizabethton is the Class A Rookie affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

First week of volleyball practice is in the books

2010-08-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings Bearkat volleyball fans!

We are well on our way to another great season of volleyball here in the Johnson Coliseum. We are wrapping up our first week of practice, and the intensity has been high and the girls are very energetic and ready to learn. We have had a couple nagging injuries, but for the most part we have been healthy, and that is a GREAT thing.

We gave the girls the afternoon off yesterday from on the court practice, after getting after it twice a day 3 days straight and again yesterday morning. They took full advantage of the time off by giving their partner ball massages, stretching, listening to Coach Gray read a motivational book. Today we will work on some eye sequencing with blocking, more ball control, and putting it all together with 6 on 6 drills and transition work on and off the net - defense to offense.

We will have a closed scrimmage tomorrow morning to see exactly where we are at and some position battles - as the media likes to say will (and already have) emerged. We will give you an update on how the scrimmage went, and update you again next week - have a great day - EAT 'EM UP KATS!!!

-Assistant Coach Joe Lind

Training going well

2010-08-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

I am in early on Wednesday morning getting ready for our first session of the day and thought I would catch you up on our first several days of preseason training. Friday was spent fitness testing to see where our players were as they entered training camp. Lots of players recorded personal records in our various tests. We already had a very fast team but six of our incoming freshman were in the top 10 in the "flying 40" test.

Lots of time has been spent on technical skill training. The level of the team is higher than we have ever had so I have been very pleased. Each training session has been focused around a theme, such as counter-attacking or switching the point of attack. Each "theme" will make up an important part of how we play this year. Last night, the team reported to evening practice at different times so that I could explain in depth to each group their roles and responsibilities in our attack. It was a good session with the team showing a good understanding of how they fit into the system of play.

This morning we will focus on keeping possession of the ball. The time we have spent on our technical skills will be put to test as the games become very competitive. We will finish with a soccer related activity that will help improve the speed endurance of our team. This afternoon will be about recovery from the last two days. The team will have a short pool workout, work on tired muscles with the foam rollers, and do some flexibility training with our new trainer Karly.

I will remind you again to follow our Facebook page. We have been uploading pictures from training and keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress this spring. Congratulations to Jenny Pence and Kirby Zak for being named to the Preseason All-Southland Confernce Team. This is the first time that two players have appeared on this team. The preseason coaches' poll picked the team to finish fourth, which again, is the first time to be picked that high.

The team opens the season on Friday, August 20 at 7:00 PM versus Houston Baptist. We hope you will make the short trip down to Houston to see the opening of the 2010 season.

-- Tom Brown
SHSU head soccer coach

Hooten: Wrapping up the summer

2010-08-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

July recruiting period is over and we saw a lot of kids for the 2011 and 2012 classes. If all goes well we will only need to sign 3 in the 2011 class. My assistants did a great job of putting me in the right places to see the right kids this July.

Since the last time we talked there has also been a new addition to our coaching staff. Will Weaver from the University of Texas has joined the Bearkats. I am very excited to have Will on board. He brings a lot of versatility in many different areas to the program. Will can help me on a lot of different fronts, and I am looking forward to watching him grow as a recruiter and coach.

Our roster is pretty much set. I know a lot of you had a bunch of questions throughout the spring and summer months. Unfortunately due to NCAA rules and other reasons, there wasn't too much that I could say at the time. We have filled all 13 scholarships and have five walk-ons for a total of 18 players.

Only changes from last year will be Marco Cooper not returning. Marco, his family, and myself decided that it was best for Marco academically and athletically to have a change of scenery. At this time Marco has signed a scholarship to attend Our Lady of The Lake an NAIA school in San Antonio, Texas. Marco will do really well there and we wish him nothing but the best.

We really have two new additions since the last time we spoke, Marcus James from Seward County CC in Liberal, Kansas, and Konner Tucker a transfer from Wake Forest. Marcus, we actually signed a while back but due to some summer school stuff elected not to officially put it out in the media yet.

Marcus is a long 6-foot-7 forward that can really defend and rebound. Offensively he will be a lot like Preston in that his best is yet to come. He will step out and really expand his game the next two seasons. We're excited to have Marcus's toughness and athleticism. Marcus has also been well coached and knows what it takes to be successful and WIN!

Konner on the other hand, will have to sit out 2010-11 season due to transfer rules. Konner played his freshman season at Lon Morris before signing with Coach Gillespie at Kentucky. After Gillespie was fired, Konner decided to be re-recruited and ended up at Wake Forest. He left last Christmas and sat out the spring semester at home. Konner has really gotten bigger and stronger, and is a lot heavier than the 175 listed, lol. A really good player who can flat out SCORE! Actually can play 3 different positions and we had to beat a couple of really good schools to land Konner.

As for me, it has been a whirlwind. Everything from finishing our schedule to the simplest things like arranging our offices, paper work, academic assignments, ordering new uniforms, and the list goes on and on. I am really looking forward to getting on the floor and working with the guys. I know it will be here before you know it.

In my small amount of spare time, I have done a lot with my wife and 2 small children. Of course I have found time to watch my Texas Rangers. I will be there this week to watch them play the Yankees, 10th and 11th. If I remember correctly in one of my first articles, I told you all that the Rangers would win the pennant and make a run at the World Series. It looks like my prediction may stand up!!!! What I would do to have the Rangers and the Braves in the World Series.

Let's all get ready to support the Fall sports and come out to watch the BEARKATS. This is a good year to get back on the Commissioner’s Cup train. Come see us anytime, will start working out on August 30th with weights, conditioning, and individual workouts. October 16th will be here before you know it. Still need to find 2 more games to finish up our schedule. It's going to be a pretty tough one, but one that I feel will prepare us for SLC play. Take care.

--Jason Hooten
Men’s basketball head coach

McCown lands in the UFL

2010-08-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

Former Sam Houston State quarterback Josh McCown will get a chance to be a starting quarerback again. He announced his signing with the Hartford Colonials of the UFL. McCown played one season for the Bearkats in 2001, leading the team to a Southland Conference championship and a trip to the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs.

The following is the story from the Hartford Courant

By MIKE ANTHONY
The Hartford Courant

EAST HARTFORD — Josh McCown, potentially the starting quarterback and face of the franchise, was introduced as the newest member of the Hartford Colonials Tuesday at Rentschler Field.

McCown, 31, has played for four NFL teams in eight years. He joins quarterbacks Ryan Perrilloux and Andre Woodson on the roster. The three will compete for playing time in training camp beginning Aug. 18 at Sage Park in Berlin.

"I wanted to have a young quarterback I could develop and try to help along [Perrilloux], I wanted a guy two or three years out who had some experience in the NFL [Woodson], and I definitely wanted a veteran quarterback," coach Chris Palmer said. "As I studied the league during the spring, the teams that were most successful had quarterbacks who were experienced guys who had played in the National Football League for an extended period of time and had a lot of starts under their belts."

McCown, selected by the Cardinals out of Sam Houston State in the third round of the 2002 NFL draft, spent four seasons in Arizona, posting career highs of 2,511 yards and 11 touchdown passes in 14 games in 2004. He shared quarterback duties with Daunte Culpepper under Lane Kiffin with the Raiders in 2007 and spent the last two seasons as a backup in Carolina.

"Could I bounce around and continue to be a No.2 or 3 or something like that? Maybe," McCown said. "But more important to me was a chance to come and play and to continue to play at a high level and really increase my ability as a quarterback, to be productive and to get better."

McCown would like to play his way back into the NFL and will be free to sign with any team after the UFL season. The Colonials open their eight-game season Sept. 18 at Rentschler Field against Culpepper and the Sacramento Monarchs.

In addition, McCown announced his support for the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford by agreeing to donate $10,000 to the club. He was to present a check later Tuesday at the club located at 170 Sigourney St.

Soccer training camp right around the corner

2010-08-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Training camp is almost here! The team will arrive on Friday and spend the day going through physical testing so we can see where the fitness component of the team is. This weekend, the team will be holding two training sessions each day. Morning sessions will begin at 8:30 AM and the evening session will start at 6:30 PM. These sessions will be held on upper Prichett Field due to the laying of new sod in worn spots on the lower field. All sessions are open to the public and we would encourage you to get an early look at this year's team.

You can also keep up to date on the happenings of the team on our new Facebook page. Just search for SHSU Soccer and then follow the team as we begin our 2010 campaign.

Go Bearkats!

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Former Kat golfer wins Texas State Open

2010-07-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

By Brad Meyer
The Courier of Montgomery County

Robert Gwin, 26, of Montgomery, took top honors in the 40th annual Chesapeake Energy Texas State Open golf tournament Thursday through Sunday in Tyler. He came from four strokes down in the final round to win the tournament on the final hole.

“I was playing steady throughout the tournament,” Gwin said. “I just focused on my play and tried not to get ahead of myself.”

Gwin, who played college golf at Sam Houston State University, shot solid golf all week, turning in rounds of 66, 65, 68 and 66 for a combined score of 265. He made six birdies and two bogeys during the final round to take the TSO championship and a $26,000 payday.

“I was dead even with Bobby Massa, of Grand Prairie, going into the last hole,” Gwin said. “I shot par on the 72nd hole and he bogeyed it, so I avoided a sudden-death playoff.”

Read the rest of this story

The ESPY awards

2010-07-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to sit and watch the ESPY awards last night on ESPN. As always they did a good job mixing the awards and jokes with some of the serious topics like the job the Jimmy V Foundation is doing for cancer research.

Another of the awards given out every year at the ESPY’s is the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. This year’s recipient was Ed Thomas, a high school coach in Iowa who was killed by a former player.

I had read the stories about Thomas, but didn’t have a full understanding for what he meant to that community until I watched the interviews with everyone involved last night. ESPN did a great job of capturing one part of a very difficult series of events that two families and a small town have had to deal with.

After watching I think I gained a greater appreciation for the fact that former Bearkat football coach Ron Randleman was named the first recipient of the Ed Thomas Award at William Penn University. Randleman was the head coach at William Penn while Thomas played quarterback there.

The award Randleman received was inscribed "For his inspiration and motivation as a coach based on the principles of faith, family and excellence."

"That truly describes Ed Thomas," Randleman said. "Ed was one of Parkersburg and Iowa's most beloved citizens. It was a privilege being part of a ceremony honoring his contributions to football and education."

-- Jason Barfield
Media Services

Top games of 2009-10

2010-07-13T08:04:00.001-07:00

We are about to countdown the top games and moments of the last year in Bearkat athletics and need your help.

Leave a comment and let us know what game you think should be on the list. Include your name and why you think that particular game is one of the best of the last year. The top responses will be included with the stories in the countdown.

This will be our last look back before the Bearkats begin another great year at Sam Houston State.

Manuel getting his chance in the show

2010-07-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Robert Manuel got his second call up to the big leagues, and he got to pitch this time. The former Bearkat pitcher was recalled to Boston earlier this month and has seen some time for the Red Sox out of the bullpen.

Since being called up on July 2, Manuel has pitched well for Boston. Through Saturday, the former Bearkat has made four appearances, allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings.

“We think he deserves to be here,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “He was pitching great. Righties were hitting something silly off him down there. We’d like to give him a chance to pitch and see how he does.”

In his first outing on July 3, Manuel, who inherited a 9-1 lead in the ninth against the Baltimore Orioles, allowed a pair of runs to cross home plate before coaxing Julio Lugo to pop out to shallow center field to end the game.

Manuel’s next two appearances went a little smoother as he held Tampa Bay scoreless through 1 1/3 innings.

Most recently, Manuel, pitching with a 14-2 lead, allowed just one run to score in a pair of middle relief innings against Toronto on Friday to earn his third hold in four attempts.

Manuel was called up to Boston in June and spent just three days in the show before getting sent back down without ever appearing in a game. On July 1, he was named a Triple-A All-Star playing for the Pawtucket PawSox of the International League. He would have played with former Bearkat Dustin Martin who was named an All-Star playing for the Rochester Red Wings of the Twins organization.

This is Manuel’s third stint in the big leagues. Last season, Manuel made his major league debut on his birthday and ended up pitching 4 1/3 scoreless innings in three appearances for the Cincinnati Reds.

Former Kat lands head coaching gig

2010-07-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

By Mike Forman
The Victoria Advocate

Lauren Janak will be speaking from experience when she talks about the state tennis tournament.

Janak made two appearances at the state tournament as a player and she hopes to return after being named the head tennis coach at Victoria West. Janak's hiring was approved by a unanimous 6-0 vote of the Victoria school board of trustees at a special-called meeting on Friday.

"It's exciting coming to a new high school," Janak said by phone from Baton Rouge, La. "I think I'm ready to build a new team."

Janak, 24, is a 2003 graduate of El Campo High School where she won two regional doubles titles and advanced to the state tournament.

She was a junior college All-American at Lee College in Baytown before lettering for two years at Sam Houston State University. Janak worked as an assistant coach at Sam Houston State while earning her master's degree. She has been an assistant tennis coach at Groesbeck High School for the past two years.

"I've had great experiences working with coaches and I learned a lot from them," Janak said.

Janak is anxious to meet her players and start preparing for the team tennis season.

"I think teamwork is a majority of it," Janak said. "It's what you can do all together."

Brown: ready to get training started

2010-07-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

In about one month, the team will be reporting to training camp. We start training on the afternoon of August 6. During the first couple of days, we will be doing fitness testing to measure the incoming fitness of our players. The team will measure a couple of explosive strength tests in the weight room, a "flying" 40 yard sprint, body fat, and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test.

These tests help me to determine the workload in upcoming training sessions and spot potential injury problems for players who score low in one of the tests. It also allows our players to show us what fitness improvements they have made with the summer conditioning program.

We will have a couple of days of two-a-day training and then get into a two-a-day followed by a one-a-day pattern. For me, it is about quality training and not quantity training. Therefore, it is important that our players show up in shape and not plan on using pre-season training to get fit.

Our athletic trainers work long hours to make sure that our players are ready for the next session. Each session is followed up with mandatory ice baths and hydration levels of each team member are monitored. All of that is on top of dealing with the blisters, muscle strains and bruises that accompany pre-season training. Other recovery methods are built into our pre-season schedule to help make sure that our players are ready to get the best from their training.

Four of our incoming freshman, Kelsi Brown, Natalie Johnson, Tricia Mallory and Carly Rheman recently competed at the USYSA Region 3 Championships. Their team, Challenge 92, won their preliminary group and a quarter-final game before falling in the semifinals 3-2. Although they fell short of their goal of advancing to the National Final Four, they had a great season and we are looking forward to their contributions to our team in this upcoming year.

Speaking of semifinals, I am looking forward to watching the World Cup semifinals this week. There have been so many surprises in the competition this year! Although my two favorite teams, the USA and England, are out, I have been excited to watch every game. I might have to root for the team in Bearkat Orange!!!

Go Bearkats!

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Hooten: just catching up

2010-06-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since the last post. There are a lot of things going on in the world of Bearkat Basketball. Since the last time we spoke my assistant coaches have been on board exactly a month Thursday. So much to do and yet school will be starting before you know it.

We have gotten a lot of things established here in the office with recruiting and such. They have created a Facebook and Twitter page for the program, and we have also installed new recruiting software which I have wanted to do for some time now.

Within the next month or so we will be adding another person to our staff. He will be labeled as the GA until we officially get another full time assistant coach, but in essence he will really be the 3rd assistant. I am really excited about this guy and he will add another dimension to our staff. That’s about all I can say at this time.

As far as the program is concerned, we have every returner in the first session of summer school. This is a big time deal to have these guys working hard in the weight room every day with Coach Speer and then working with each other in the gym. The NCAA does not allow us to work with the players in the summer time, but these guys are getting a lot done on their own.

In the classroom -- so far so good. We will finish up finals next Tuesday and it looks like everyone will do really well. As of right now, in the 2nd term we will have 5-6 more here. Summer time is the best time to get ahead academically and get better and stronger as a player. We will hit the road recruiting on July 6th and be out until the 16th in the first period, then the 2nd period will be from the 22-31. All 3 of us will be out the whole time looking at student-athletes for the future.

Our schedule is really starting to fall in place the way I want it. We will play Houston here and there in the same season, and UNT here. Our road contests are to Austin, Nov 23rd to take on Texas and at UTEP on Jan 2nd. We are still looking for few more games and trying to solidify the home date with UH.

I will try not to wait so long to get back with you all next time. Thanks.

-- Jason Hooten
Men's Basketball head coach

Bearkats in the News: Shaina Woolbaugh

2010-06-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Wanted to pass on a link to a news story in New York on future bowler Shaina Woolbaugh.

http://www.wbng.com/sports/94554009.html

Glad to have some help around the office

2010-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Finally it is really going to happen. After two months on the job I am going to finally be able to unveil my new assistant coaches. Coach Bobby Williams and Ms. Bobbie Hilliard were very gracious in letting me get the two candidates that I wanted from the beginning.

I am so excited about these two young, energetic and hard working guys. They both have been in winning programs, and worked under some great head coaches already at such an early stage in their careers. They will officially begin working Monday June 1. They have officially been hired so I can release there names at this time, Alvin Brooks III and Chris Mudge.

Alvin has been at Bradley University the past three years, and before that won a national championship as an assistant at Arkansas Fort Smith and Midland College. Back to back years at two different places is pretty amazing! He will bring a lot of great things to the table: recruiting, coaching, player development, academic monitoring and the list goes on and on. Alvin is a young guy who we coaches call a budding star. I am looking forward to working with him and hopefully helping his career grow even more. He is really excited to be at Sam Houston State and back at HOME!!!

Chris Mudge is what we coaches in the business call a GRINDER! He works 24-7 and loves the game of basketball. He will always turn over every rock and never leave a loose end untied. I am really excited about Chris because in essence he really reminds me of myself when I was that age many moons ago. His tireless work ethic will come in handy with recruiting, film preparation, player development, and all the ends in outs of the day to day operation of a program.

Chris is very intelligent and has also been a part of some Championship caliber basketball at Midland College as an assistant coach. He also was under the tutelage of coach Barnes at the University of Texas as a graduate assistant. Coach Barnes is a very good friend of mine and called on Chris's behalf. Was very complimentary of his work ethic and desire to become a Division One assistant coach. By the way, we will be making a trip to Austin, Texas, on November 23rd of this upcoming season for a contest with the Horns.

As for the basketball program, we are starting to slow down just a bit. Our guys finished up the semester strong academically, and we are looking forward to summer school where we will have the largest participation of our players that we've ever had. Lance and Josten will graduate first summer session and walk in August. Of course they both have another year of eligibility remaining and will use it! Corey finishes up in the Fall semester with two classes that he can take on line while he pursues a professional basketball career. Preston as I mentioned in an earlier piece, will have to take all of next year to finish due to his preparation to get into Physical Therapy School. Arthur and DeLuis finished this May.

Our recruiting is almost complete. I know a lot of you are wondering how we can sign all these people when there are only a certain amount of scholarships available. This will all take care of itself in due time. Until all the grades are in and decisions are made, we will continue to look at possibilities to improve our basketball program. We feel good about the guys we have signed up to this point, and when the dust settles in the next couple of weeks the makeup of our team will be complete.

Jason Hooten
Head basketball coach

Andres looks to make it 24

2010-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hitting streaks can be fun to watch. Each day presents a new challenge and a new set of hurdles. Right now Sam Houston State designated hitter Chris Andres has a pretty good run going.

The junior from Brenham has hit successfully in 23 straight games going back to the Texas Southern game April 7. The streak is the third-longest in school history behind Terry Pirtle’s 34-game streak in 1987 and Andrew Kasparek’s 28 game streak in 2003 and the first game of the 2004 season. The streak is currently the 8th-longest current streak in the nation. Florida International’s Garrett Wittels is on an amazing 45-game hit streak.

Three players in the Southland have had longer streaks this season with one still current. Northwestern State’s Eric DeBlanc is on a 24-game hitting streak. Tanner Hines at SFA had a 24-game streak snapped and Jermaine Marek had a 25-game streak this season.

Taking a look at the hitting streak for Andreas, his average during this span is .383 and he has eight multi-hit games during the streak. Nine times he extended the streak in his first at bat, and one of those times it was a pinch-hit homer against McNeese, his only at bat of the game.

Twice, Andres pushed the streak to his last at bat of the game, and both times were late in the streak. He picked up a single in the eighth against Southeastern Louisiana to extend the streak to 18 games. The hit to extend the streak to 22 games might have been the most dramatic of the streak.

He did it on the bottom of the ninth this past weekend against Central Arkansas. With two outs, Andreas ripped a single to extend the streak. The story there happened the play before, however. With two outs, Braeden Riley hit a grounder on the infield. Payton Wisner was at first base and hustled to second, sliding in just ahead of the throw to keep the inning alive.

With three games left in the season, Andreas has a chance to extend the streak to 26. He then will have nine months to think about game No. 27.

Martin to face Strasburg on Tuesday

2010-05-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

EDIT (5-19-10): The game was rained out on Tuesday, and will be played tonight. It will be video streamed on www.milb.com

Former Sam Houston State outfielder Dustin Martin is on a pretty good run right now at AAA Rochester. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, including seven straight. He also has five consecutive multi-hit games.

Martin is now hitting .339, with five homers and 31 RBI, which leads the team in all three categories.

He will get a chance to test himself against the best on Tuesday when the Red Wigs welcome Stephen Strasburg and the Syracuse Chiefs to town.

It will be Martin’s second outing against one of the top pitching prospects in Minor League Baseball. Last week, Martin faced Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, and was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Chapman signed a $30.2 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason and entered Friday’s game with a 2.84 earned-run average.

Strasburg, 21, who entered the 2010 season as Baseball America’s No. 2 prospect (Atlanta outfielder Jason Hayward No. 1), was the first overall pick in the 2009 June baseball draft.

In seven minor league starts between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse, Strasburg has a 5-1 record with a 1.06 ERA. In 34.0 innings of work, Strasburg has allowed nine runs (four earned) on 14 hits while walking eight and striking out 40. Opponents are batting just .121 (14-for-116) against him.

In his two starts for Triple-A Syracuse, Strasburg has a 2-0 record with a 0.00 ERA. In 12.0 innings of work, Strasburg has allowed just one hit and struck out 13.

There is no live video of the game listed, but if you want to give it a listen, the Red Wings offer free audio.

Kats set for double-dip today at The Don

2010-05-15T07:36:00.001-07:00

The Bearkats are set to play a double header today (assuming the weather permits) against Central Arkansas. This series will g a long way in determining if the Bearkats will be in Corpus Christi for the Southland Conference Championship in two weeks.

This will be the fourth double header day for the Bearkats this season and the third time against the same team. This year, the Kats are 3-3 this season on double header days. They were swept in the home opening series against Utah on Feb. 27. A week later, the Bearkats took two from Creighton and Northern Colorado. They have one Southland Conference double header this season, splitting a pair with Texas State in Huntsville.

The Bearkats enter the day 1 ½ games back of Nicholls, which lost last night to Texas State, for the eighth and final tournament spot. Since the Colonels have the tie breaker, the Kats will have to finish a game ahead of them.

In Mark Johnson’s four years in Huntsville, the Bearkats are 23-17 on double-header days with six sweeps. In double headers played in Huntsville the Bearkats sport a 17-9 record, and they are 17-11 in double headers against the same team.

Katy chipping in to help Southland Tournament

2010-05-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

In three years of hosting the Southland Conference basketball tournament in Katy, the crowds have steadily increased. This past March when the Bearkats knocked off SFA in the championship game, it featured the largest attended championship game the Southland has had since moving back to a neutral court. In fact, this year's game had a larger crowd (3,573) than the previous two years in Katy combined (1,006 in 2008 and 2,531 in 2009).

Now the city of Katy wants to do its part to ensure the tournament is a success and continues to grow. The City of Katy is awarding a $110,000 grant to the Southland Conference to help fund promotional and operational costs of the 2011 college basketball tournament at the Merrell Center.

Council unanimously approved the Convention and Tourism Bureau application request during a regular meeting Monday night. The amount includes last year’s request of $65,000 for tourism-related advertising and promotion of the city, as well as an additional $45,000 for facility rental and operational cost.

“On the days they play, we actually get national coverage on ESPN, and that’s the only national thing we have in Katy,” city finance director Byron Hebert said. “Hotel money can be used to promote the city, and that’s probably the biggest stage we can do at this time.”

Read the rest of the story in The Katy Times

An unexpected record

2010-05-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

It is always fun at the end of the season to go back and add the stats from the year to the record book. Every year, players move up the career lists, and on occasion set a new school record.

Most of the time, the accomplishment is not unexpected. During the year we are checking the record book to see where people stand. Sometimes, you do get a surprise.

We got one today when updating the softball record book – sort of. Amy Brown has been a four-year starter for the Bearkats at first base. The nature of the position will get you a lot of putouts over a career.

So when Amy was added to the top of the list for career putouts with 1,734, it was really no surprise. She was at the top of the list to start the season. Even the fact she beat Kim Nevil by more than 500 is also not a huge surprise.

However, we had no idea how quickly she was climbing the NCAA all-time list. Although the national list won’t be updated until the end of the season, Brown ranks in a tie for No. 10 on the list for most putouts in NCAA history.

Oddly enough, the player she is tied with is also a Southland Conference softball player. Shante Jones of Northwestern State had the same number of putouts during her four-year career with the Lady Demons from 1996-1999.

The NCAA doesn’t keep up with fielding percentage, but I’d have to think Amy’s would rank pretty high. In 1,837 career chances, she committed just 18 errors.

Bearkats in the News: Former baseball player Todd Sebek

2010-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Tivy-ex Sebek content without baseball
By Richard Oliver, San Antonio Express News

Todd Sebek says he doesn't harbor bitterness today. But it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a long memory.

The former Kerrville Tivy star recalls his 2007 summer with the Alaska Baseball League, leading the circuit by hitting .440. He remembers his All-America senior season at Sam Houston State, collecting nearly 100 hits, 33 for extra bases, en route to a .356 average.

But he also recollects sitting in front of his computer for long hours in June 2008, shell-shocked as his name failed to appear in 50 rounds of selections in the major-league amateur draft.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Sebek, 24. “I'm an All-American, and I'm not picked up in 1,500 picks? I was as blue-collar a player as they come. I thought I was the prototype of the kind of person you want in the ring with you.”

Instead, today Sebek sells medical supplies in San Antonio, more content to pick up a fishing rod than a bat. He's a baseball fan, no longer a player, and claims to be perfectly content with that evolution.

Read entire story

Bearkat minor league baseball update

2010-04-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

A pair of former Bearkat baseball players are off to great starts this season at the AAA level. Dustin Martin who finished his career at SHSU in 2006 is currently playing for the Rochester Red Wings in the Minnesota Twins organization. Robert Manuel, who was an SHSU pitcher in 2005, is playing at Pawtucket in the Boston Red Sox organization. Another former Kat, Ryan Tepera is 2-0 at the Class A level.

Martin is currently hitting .298 for the Red Wings, and leads the team in home runs (3), RBI (11) and stolen bases (2). He is second on the team in runs (11).

Last week, Martin was named the Red Wings player of the week.

At Pawtucket, Manuel has been dominant on the mound. In eight appearances this season, he has yet to allow a run. The right handed pitcher has worked 12 innings this season and has a 2-0 record and a save, all in relief. He has struck out 10 batters while allowing just one walk and seven hits. Opposing batters are hitting just .167 against him.

The two former Kats faced off against each other on April 18. Manuel entered the game in the fourth inning and Martin singled off his former teammate. Martin later homered in the game off a different pitcher, but Manuel picked up the victory.

You can read more about Manuel on the PawSox blog.

One other former Bearkat is also off to a good start. Ryan Tepera is currently 2-0, playing for the Lansing Lugnuts, a Class-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. He picked up his second win of the season last night, tossing 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run.

Tepera currently has a 3.98 ERA in four starts this season. In his second start of the year, threw seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball to pick up the win.

Chris Andreas homer from Sunday

2010-04-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the blast Chris Andreas hit on Sunday against Nicholls. It is one of the farthest home runs I have seen at this stadium and I have only missed a handful of games here in the last five years.

Volleyball set to wrap up busy spring

2010-04-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Bearkat Volleyball fanatics!

We have been quite busy this spring with training, fundraising, recruiting, scheduling and all the normality and craziness that is involved in any sports program, so we apologize for the delay in blog posts, as we always want to keep the fans involved!

Here's a recap of what we have been up to lately:

Spring Competitions - we played two home tournament/single match events in March, playing local junior colleges from around the area. We were a little sluggish in the first four-team tournament, splitting with Lee, Blinn and San Jac, while beating Paris 2-0. When Blinn came up to Huntsville on March 31, we ended up losing in five sets, 12-15 in the fifth, they are quite the squad with great athletes going to some top 25 programs, but we should have found a way to win. Playing with some people out of position and players recovering from injury this spring isn't an excuse, we need to execute.

We played at the University of Houston on April 7, and won in a sloppy, but needed 3-1 match. We improved from our previous dates of competition, and saw some good things out of our new kids. Overall, we still needed to cut down on the errors. We finished our fourth date of competition on April 10th at Texas A&M in their practice court, which was about the same size as Lamar's regular playing gym, but very nice. We ended up taking one set from them, but could have won two more, losing 1-4. It was good to see where we stack up against the Aggies, considering they made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 last year -- we can play with any team that we want to -- but must find a way to really 'dial in' and focus when we are in the last 5-7 points of a set and find a way to victory. That being said, it was an overall good day for the team.

We are finishing up with individual practices this week to end our spring.

Fundraisers - We always have various fundraisers throughout the year to help the program raise money. We sold roses on Valentine's day, and sold out in just our pre-order sales. It was the first time in the 7 year history, pretty impressive! Two weekends ago, our third annual golf tournament was another record setting success, and you can read a more detailed recap on the official site, but we had 13 teams of four golfers, more than 50 hole sponsors, and raised more money for the program than the past two years!

Recruiting - we signed two great young ladies when the spring signing period started on April 14th, Lakeshia Craft, a 6'0" Middle Blocker junior transfer from Blinn (Junior) College, and Tarona Williams, a 5'11" Middle Blocker senior from Hightower HS (just southwest of Houston). Lakeshia we have targeted for awhile, and has been committed for a few months, will help us tremendously in the middle right away, gaining valuable experience playing for the 2008 NJCAA National Champions. Tarona was a late find for us, but what a gem she will be in the classroom and on the court - she has a high ceiling, and we can't wait to get her in the gym and training with us! Both of these young ladies will enroll for the summer II session in July to take a class and be able to work out with our strength and conditioning coach to get ready for the fall.

Last night we had the SHSU All Sports banquet which awards all sports, coaches, trainers, managers and the staff associated with everything that we all do. Our team had many honors, including our team MVP, Senior Middle Blocker Anna Ferguson. Outside Hitter Carli Kolbe was named the SH Award winner, which goes to the top sophomore female athlete in the entire athletic program. Anna Ferguson was also named the top female student athlete of the SHSU athletic program. She spoke well, and it was a great night for our volleyball program!

Hope y'all are doing well, and glad you are reading!!

-- Joe Lind
Assistant volleyball coach

Soccer wraps up spring practice

2010-04-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Soccer has finished up for the spring season and is now going through individual meetings and fitness testing. This year's spring season was focused on improving technical skills under the pressure of time and space. As we continue to upgrade our schedule, it is important for our players to be able to play more quickly and cleanly. This next year's schedule will feature home games against Baylor and North Texas as well as an away game in Fort Worth against TCU. It is important in these games, as well as in our Southland Conference schedule, that we are able to play and move quicker because of the speed of play.

Coach Neal has done another outstanding job with improving the strength of our players. Although most of our fitness testing will be done this week, one important statistic is that our team averaged more than a .2 second drop in their 40 yard dash. This is a very positive change for a team that already had quite a bit of speed. The strength training combined with our functional speed training will help us as we move into next season. Coach Neal has said repeatedly that this has been the best spring in the weight room for women's soccer. By recruiting soccer players who are better athletes and keeping past players who are willing to work hard in our system, we feel this hard working culture will help us be successful in the future.

For the 2010 season, we will return 13 of the 16 players who started games this past season. We also return 3 of the top 4 goal scorers from last season. All 3 players who earned all-conference honors return also. One player who will be missed will be freshman Shelby Grissett. She scored 7 goals last season, including the game winner in the conference playoff victory, despite missing 9 games due to a concussion. Due to her history of concussions, it was felt best if she stopped playing. We will miss Shelby and wish her the best! The team will have to work hard to replace those goals next season.

After just two seasons and one recruiting class the team has been able to post the first winning season, the highest finish in the Southland Conference regular season, and the most shutouts in one season. We hope with the addition of our second recruiting class this August, the team will be primed to reach even more heights next year. Please come out and catch us when the Bearkats play their home opener against the University of North Texas on September 3.

-- Tom Brown
Head soccer coach

Six months until the Battle of the Piney Woods

2010-04-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

We have the auction tonight and the Orange-White game on Saturday, so football is on the mind right now. It is never too early to start looking ahead to football season in the fall and today seems like the perfect day to do that.

Today marks six months from the Battle of the Piney Woods making the move to Reliant Stadium. The annual SHSU-SFA rivalry will begin a four-year partnership to play the game in Houston on October 23. If you are a season ticket holder, that game is part of your season ticket package.

We are not going to limit you to just your season ticket amount, however. Hopefully you will take some friends with you to the game in Houston. Just let us know how many more tickets you want for that game and we will make it happen for you. We want to see as much orange in Reliant as possible.

If you are not a season ticket holder, but are still planning on making it out to the game, don’t wait to buy tickets. They are on sale right now in the Bearkat Ticket office here at the Mafrige Field house or by going online and purchasing your tickets.

This is going to be an exciting event and it will be here before you know it. Don’t wait. Make sure you get all the tickets you want and get them together by purchasing now.

Looking forward to a great auction

2010-04-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

We are getting things wrapped up with Spring Football coming to a close on Saturday for the Orange White game. The night before is going to be our annual auction, and I am excited about the items we have up for bid this year.
Some of the highlights include hunting trips, fishing trips and a couple of very nice dinners. Some of the stuff I am most excited about is the autographed items we are going to have up for bid.

I have had these things in my office the last few weeks and it has looked like a museum in here. We have some great stuff here that I would be real tempted to buy myself.

A few of my favorites are the jerseys. We have a signed jersey from Earl Campbell, Drew Brees, Gayle Sayers and maybe my favorite, a jersey combo of LaDanian Tomlinson with a signed TCU and Chargers jersey.

If you are a fan of the college game, then we have the piece for you. We will have a football up for auction that is signed by 17 Heisman Trophy winners included Mark Ingram, the 2009 winner. This one will be a hard one to let leave my office, I can tell you that.

In addition to all the great items up for bid, I would love to just have everyone come out to the dinner so I can get a chance to meet you. That has been one of the best things since starting this new job is getting to meet all the fantastic Sam Houston State football fans out there.

So come on out and please come by and say hi.

-- Willie Fritz
Head Football Coach

Soccer signees pick up postseason honors

2010-04-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

After successful high school careers, several players we signed to join next season's soccer team have been recognized for their play on the field.

Defender Carly Rheman, from Katy H.S. and midfielder Kelsi Brown, from Atascocita H.S. were named First Team All-Greater Houston by the Houston Chronicle today. Rheman, who has been one of the area's top defenders the last three years, was also named District 17-5A Defensive Player of the Year. Brown, who scored 39 goals and had 10 assists this season, was the District 19-5A Most Valuable Player.

After helping The Woodlands to the 5A State Championship, goalkeeper Mallory Garthwaite and defender Natalie Johnson were both named to the District 14-5A All-District First Team. Midfielder Tricia Mallory, of Klein H.S., was also named First Team All-District in District 13-5A.

-- Tom Brown
SHSU soccer coach

First few weeks going well

2010-04-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

The first few weeks on the job have been unbelievable. I have been doing everything from radio/TV/newspaper interviews, to individual skill workouts for the guys, or trying to find a couple of good assistant coaches.

I finally got moved into Coach Marlin's office and it sure is nice to have new furniture and my own space. Feels like I can get so much more done now, or it may be because I got so much more to do, lol. You really start to appreciate how valuable you were as a head assistant when you now are doing the head coaches job and the assistants’ job.

It has really been a lot of fun and I haven't been able to let it soak in due to Neil leaving and I have no help. I'm BUSY! Recruiting is going really good. Can't comment much on that but I feel good about where we are. Have a couple of really good assistants in mind and I think they will be tremendous when that time comes.

We had our first team meeting with all the guys and it was really positive. Then I brought each one in individually and that was productive as well. Our goal is to finish the semester strong in the classroom and in the weight room. Emphasizing CLASSROOM.

Josten and Lance will graduate after the first summer session and walk in August. Corey will finish in August, and Arthur graduates in May. Preston will finish next fall due to heavy lab work load. He will then go to PT school for a couple of more years. Ashton has officially signed with an agent out of Houston and he is very happy. Corey will sign with his high school AAU coach who now is partners with another guy.

The Rangers are playing really well even though the record isn’t really showing it. Lost several in the 8th or 9th inning so we could be much better. I'm feeling a PENNANT in Arlington!

-- Jason Hooten
Head Basketball Coach

First bowling signee has strong senior year

2010-04-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Sam Houston States inaugural bowling signee Kimi Davidson has made a strong finish to her high school career and is looking to have a very promising summer as she travels to some of the largest youth national tournaments in the country.

Despite mid-season injuries Kimi concluded her high school career on a very positive note by bouncing back and winning the Fort Worth-South-Regional High School Individual Championship as well as played a key contributor to her teams success in qualifying for states for Azle High School.

Kimi had a strong appearance at States held at Bandera Bowl in San Antonio where she qualified for the semifinals as the 11th-seed overall, finished with a top ten finish and concluded her 2009-2010 high school bowling season with one of the top 20 averages in the state of Texas.

There's no doubt in my mind that Kimi's level head, willingness to learn and excel will be a very key contributing asset to this teams success next season.

-- Brad Hagen
SHSU head bowling coach

State championships for three future Kats

2010-04-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Three incoming freshmen will bring state championships with them when they report to training camp in August. The Woodlands won the 5A state soccer championship with a 3-2 score. Mallory Garthwaite started in goal and Natalie Johnson started in defense. Last year, The Woodlands lost in the championship game.

Gayle Ziegler won her second consecutive 4A State Championship with a 3-0 win. Ziegler started as a left midfielder for Richardson Pierce.

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Future Kats on verge on championship

2010-04-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

Three incoming freshmen have powered their high school teams into the state soccer tournament this weekend in Georgetown.

Goalkeeper Mallory Garthwaite and defender Natalie Johnson helped The Woodlands to a 2-1 win over Westwood High School. The 5A semifinals will begin on Thursday.

Defender Gayle Ziegler helped lead Richardson Pearce to a 1-0 win over Longview. The 4A semifinals will begin on Friday. Good luck to them!

Go BearKats!
-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

Hooten: A little more about me

2010-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to catch you up on who I am and where I’m from. I was born and raised in the Central Texas city of Killeen. Killeen is known for neighboring the largest army base in the world, Ft. Hood. Although my life consisted of military friends and nights of lying in bed listening to bombs going off, my family was/is not military.

I come from a very athletic family. My father played baseball for 1 semester at Sam Houston State, and then transferred to Tarleton State to play baseball but only stayed there 1 semester. Now that I look back, it's kind of weird that he went to school at both places I’ve worked, just reverse order. He really didn't like college so he moved back home and ran my grandfather's Texaco gas station.

After meeting and marrying my mother, he went to work for a construction company for the next 30 years. Got to work around 5am every morning and off at 6pm for 30 years. Probably missed a hand full of days in 30-plus years and those were to come see me play ball! That's kind of who I am, get up no matter what every day and go punch the clock.

My uncle was a great pitcher at Blinn JC and then transferred to Rice where he had a tremendous career. Killeen, Texas was a rough and tough city. I was a good baseball player growing up and everyone just knew that this would be my ticket. Somewhere around my junior year in high school basketball started to become really important to me. Not sure if the years of constant baseball and expectations just got to be dull.

Basketball was exciting, fast paced, and something that no one expected me to excel in. My junior summer was the first time UIL would allow summer league basketball to take place. We went up to Waco, 1hr, once a week and played in a very competitive league. College coaches could attend the games and I will never forget the feeling I got knowing those guys were watching us play. I still believe to this day that the rush and excitement I got from that summer is what led me to continue playing basketball and enjoying recruiting as much as I do.

From there I had to choose between playing baseball or basketball in college. I obviously chose the basketball route and looking back it's the reason I am where I am today. I ended up at McLennan Community College and played for a tremendous coach named Ken DeWeese (he is now the Head Coach at Mary-Hardin Baylor who is on our schedule next season).

In my second year at MCC an assistant coach from Houston Baptist walked in the gym one day to come see a player they had put into MCC. That guy’s name was Bob Marlin. Isn't it weird how small of a world we live in. After my 2 years at MCC I transferred to, at the time a small NAIA school, Tarleton State University. Played on 2 championship teams and after a year of doing my student teaching/part-time assistant coaching at Weatherford JC for my former high school coach, I went back to Tarleton State as an assistant coach at the ripe age of 23.

In August of 1993 I signed my contract to be an assistant coach, teach four classes and be the head tennis coach, LOL, not even going to say for how much $. Oh and I almost forgot, my boss was not only the head basketball coach, but also the AD! I walked in that office the first day, he tossed me a phone card and a couple of scouting services and said we need to bring in 3 players, and you got about 2 weeks to do it. That's where it all got started!

Bearkat Elite adding extra incentive for football

2010-04-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Willie Fritz loves competition. He also loves teammates working together for one common goal. This fall that goal is a Southland Conference Championship. Right now that goal is pizza.

All semester, the Bearkat football players are participating in a weekly competition called Bearkat Elite and the prize at the end of the week is a pizza party.

“Just like everything in life there is a winner and a loser,” Fritz said after practice on Friday. “I like guys who are competitive on the field and off the field. I like them competing on the football field, the weight room, the classroom and compete to be a good person.”

Fritz said they broke into eight different teams, had a draft with eight players on each team. They compete for points on a variety of different competitions that range from class work to attendance at other sporting events on campus.

“They get positive points for things and they get negative points for things,” Fritz said. “The winners get a pizza party at the end of the week and the losers have some sort of punishment. We are competing and a lot of it involves peer pressure.

“They get points for study hall, sometimes I have guys go to a game and the team with the most guys there gets the most points,” he said. “Miss class you get a negative point. We check grade cards and the guys who have A’s and B’s get plus points and the guys who have C’s, D’s and F’s get minus points.”

A ring ceremony honoree

At the end of practice on Friday, Fritz called Michael Pittman to the front of the team and congratulated him on getting his ring from Sam Houston State and going through Thursday’s Ring Ceremony at Austin Hall. He told the team what a great event it was and urged more players to take part in it next year.

“I am a graduate of Sam Houston myself and that is a really neat deal that Dr. Gaertner started,” Fritz said. “I just wanted to make sure the guys hear those sort of things. That is the goal. I tell them all the time, ‘if you come here and play football for five years and don’t get your degree, you are really wasting your time.’”

Hooten: A wild couple of days

2010-04-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

What a last couple of days, whew! This actually all started about 2 weeks ago when we came an eye lash away from beating No. 3-seed Baylor on national television.

The truth of the matter is the country could no longer say that Bob Marlin was the best kept coaching secret, it was out! My phone began to ring then, and has not stopped. Everyone knew that Coach Marlin’s time had come, and everyone felt that my time was coming.

I guess out of all the things that have happened the last couple of days, knowing that your friends, family, co-workers, and most importantly colleagues, were pulling for you to get this opportunity makes you feel even better.

This is a hard business and after years of blood, sweat, and tears, I have finally reached a huge step in my career. It is just the next chapter and something that I have been groomed for by two of the best coaches in the country, Lonn Reisman and Bob Marlin.

Both of these men taught me how to run a program and I will do my best to make them proud.

-- Jason Hooten
Head Basketball Coach

Baseball game today moved to 2 p.m.

2010-04-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

With the threat of inclement weather in Natchitoches, La., today's baseball game with Northwestern State has been moved to 2 p.m.

The series finale between the Bearkats and Demons is still schedule for Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Bearkats fell in last night's game in 13 innings and will be looking to rebound today and even up the series.

Wiginton: A couple of big wins for softball

2010-04-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hey there Bearkat fans. It has been a busy few weeks for your softball team. Many successful things have happened along with some hardship. We started off a little rough in our conference play. SFA and TX State got the wins in the series, but we fought back hard against Monmouth and UTSA and got the sweeps!

On another positive, we split with two nationally ranked teams. Against North Dakota State we had a rough opening game and lost, but the second game we won 2-1 in 10 innings. Then a couple weeks later we faced Baylor, and we won the first game 4-0. The second game was a hard fought game but resulted in a Baylor win.

We now start the second half of our conference race. The team is looking great and we are really coming together at the right time. Our practices have picked up and are becoming tougher, but at the same time better executed.

In addition to how all our team is doing as a whole, my teammate Morgan Mikulin was awarded with dual Southland Conference honors of Pitcher and Hitter or the week. I just wanted to send a congratulation to her. WAY TO GO MO!!!!

This Friday and Saturday we host McNeese at home, double header on Friday at 1 p.m. then on Saturday single and final game of the series at 1 p.m. Come out and support your Bearkats!!
EAT EM UP KATS!!!

-- Hailey Wiginton #2

A closer look at the 7-game winning streak

2010-03-31T14:58:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to go the Bearkats way on the diamond as of late. Last night was a pretty thrilling win for the SHSU baseball team rallying for a 9-7 win over a very strong Dallas Baptist team at Don Sanders Stadium.

The win was the seventh straight for the Bearkats. Over this stretch, there have been some pretty incredible numbers put up by a few Bearkat hitters and pitchers.

Two Kats are hitting above .500 over the last seven games with Chris Andres hitting at a .531 clip and Mark Hudson checking in at .516. Greg Olson hasn’t been too bad either, producing a .462 average in his last seven games.

Hudson especially has been on a tear as of late. During the current winning streak, he leads the team in homers (4), RBIs (13), runs (10), doubles (4) and stolen bases (4).

Chris Andres has hit safely in all seven wins and currently carries an eight-game hitting streak. Braeden Riley has the longest hitting streak of the season of 11, which was snapped last night against the Patriots.

The Kats have had a few very good performances on the mound as well. Brandon Kimbrell has been very good on the hill for the Kats. The junior from Cameron has worked 7 2/3 innings over the last week and a half without allowing a run. He has given up just four hits in two appearances, picking up the win both times for the Bearkats, once in relief.

Matt Shelton has settled back in and looks more like the Shelton of 2009. His last four appearances he is sporting a 1.93 ERA and has picked up three wins for the Kats. In 9 1/3 innings of work he has allowed just two runs and fanned seven batters.

Maybe the guy who stands out the most over the last seven games is a guy who has been productive both hitting a pitching. Daniel Nottebart has nine plate appearances and has reached base five times. He has three hits, with two of those home runs, two walks and has driven in four runs. He has scored three runs as well. On the mound, Nottebart has worked 6 1/3 innings without allowing a run and has given up just two hits. In his three appearances he has a win and two saves.

As a team the Bearkats are hitting .352 and are outscoring opponents 62-43. One of the differences has been their production late in the game. Over the last seven game, the Kats are outscoring opponents 12-1 in the 8th and 9th innings. They are also taking care of business the second and third times through the batting order, outscoring opponents 22-8 in the third and fourth innings.

The Kats will be back in action on Thursday for a three-game series against Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La.

Soccer picks up home win against PVU

2010-03-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

The women's soccer team played its only home game of the spring season this past Saturday. We defeated Prairie View A&M 2-0. Leah Snelson opened the scoring early and Kirby Zak finished it with a late header from a corner kick. The players were able to gain some valuable experience which will be helpful next season.

Before Spring Break, the team traveled over to College Station to play against the University of Utah. The team lost 1-0 to a very good Ute team. In spite of an early goal, the goalkeepers and defenders held tight and played a very good game.

The Bearkats will close out the spring season in Austin on April 11. We will travel to St. Edwards for an afternoon game.

Also, incoming freshmen Mallory Garthwaite and Natalie Johnson will lead The Woodlands today in a regional quarterfinal playoff game. Gayle Ziegler's team, Richardson Pearce, also plays today as they try to progress towards a second state championship.

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach