Matt Cohen – Page 5 – The Transcript

The Stolen Fire steals OWU students’ hearts

The Delaware bar scene’s Ohio Wesleyan representatives no longer include just students, thanks to a classic rock band comprised of four OWU professors.

Professors Erin Flynn, Mark Gingerich, James Franklin and John Stone-Mediatore are the members of The Stolen Fire, which was created in the fall of 2011.

Stone-Mediatore and Gingerich began playing music together before the other two members joined in on the fun. When the search for other musicians began, Stone-Mediatore knew exactly where to go. He had played with Franklin in bands before and knew of his talent. Franklin quickly joined the band, leaving a frontman as the band’s only missing component. The trio heard about Flynn’s captivating and energetic performances through the grapevine, and once Flynn was on board the band was set to get started.

“Just everything clicked, these guys are really good musicians and all of us have been in bands before,” Franklin said. “We could just sit down and play music that sounded good.”

The band’s name comes from Greek mythology.

“Prometheus stole fire from Zeus to give to humankind,” said Stone-Mediatore, a literature professor. “I like the literary angle of that story.”

All the professors are thrilled with how the band has turned out and love getting together on the weekends to jam out in Stone-Mediatore’s basement studio. “It’s great, I think it’s been going about perfect.” Franklin said.

“We’ve all been playing in bands since we were really young, so it’s really important to us,” Stone-Mediatore said. “We have a great time.”

Many students know the band because they have seen them perform live at Clancey’s Pub on Saturday nights. Stone-Mediatore said he is overjoyed every time they get a chance to perform in front of students.

“Students have so much energy, and that’s really great for us because it helps us play better,” he said. “It’s really special because it enables us to have fun with the students and get to know them not just as students, but as people.”

Franklin said he is a little more unsure than Stone-Mediatore about playing in front of his students.

“It can be a little strange, we’re the professors and their our students,” Franklin said. “We see each other in a whole different way than you do in the classroom.”

Along with Clancey’s Pub, the band also performs at Roop’s Pub and at events hosted by the university.

Racking up miles, merits

headshot_2_Sotos — Freshman John Sotos. Photo: battlingbishops.com

Freshman garners Division III newcomer honors

Ohio Wesleyan cross country team, led by sophomore John Sotos, finished 13^th out of 43 teams at the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship on October 3^rd.

Sotos finished 27^th overall and received Division III Newcomer of the Year for his efforts on the course.

The Transcript: What does it mean to you receiving the award for D3 newcomer of the year?

Sotos: Receiving the Division III Newcomer award was a pretty special award to receive. To me, it’s just a reminder of all the miles I have put in and how it’s starting to pay off.

The Transcript: How was the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship for you individually and as a team?

Sotos: Individually the All-Ohio race went pretty well. I ran a personal record and ran my own race and didn’t let the fast pace from the gun get to my head. More importantly, as a team, this race shows how dangerous of a team we can be if all of the runners click on the same day, especially our number 3, 4, and 5 runners (Nathan Madonich, Kevin Ford, Landon Erb), who are without a doubt the three most dedicated guys on the team, are ready to drop some pretty fast times.

The Transcript: How did everyone feel after finishing 13th out of 43 teams?

Sotos: Everyone was pretty thrilled to finish 13th in the state of ohio, especially because the race contained some outstanding competition from the Division I and II schools in addition to the Division III schools. We were right in the mix with the other Division III schools in our region, and look forward to beating those teams later in the season.

The Transcript: How do you as an individual continue to improve after so much success already?

Sotos: The success only hungers me for more. My favorite kind of success isn’t from the individual standpoint, but rather the success of a team and taking this team to new heights, and this OWU cross country team has a lot coming in the near future.

Cross country seeks NCAC championship

Members of the men's cross country team running at the Denison Invitational. — Members of the men’s cross country team running at the Denison Invitational. Photo by Jason Miller for battlingbishops.com

The North Coast Athletic Conference championship held on Nov. 1 in Granville, Ohio will be a great opportunity for the Ohio Wesleyan cross country team to prove their excellence.

The conference championship is the focal point of the season, It’s what everyone has been training for.

Head coach Matter Wackerly thinks the runners are prepared to showcase their talent this Saturday. “Their training really started in June, and has progressed gradually from there. Now, we are reducing the volume and intensity a bit as we prepare for the championship portion of the season.” Wackerly said.

In order to qualify for the All-NCAC team, runners must finish in the top seven at the event. “I think that John Sotos and Zak Geiger can both be first team all NCAC,” Wackerly said. “For the women, I think that Sarah Fowler, Abbey Warth and Kaillie Winston could compete to earn that honor.”

Freshman John Sotos was named DIII Newcomer of the Year at the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship on Oct. 10. The award has motivated him and his teammates to keep pushing for more recognition. “A good result at the conference meet would be a big confidence booster for us heading into the regional meet,” Sotos said.

The team is confident of their abilities and are motivated to get a good result this Saturday. “Everyone is excited and ready to show the other teams in our conference what we are made of,” Sotos said.

Ohio Wesleyan has yet to win at the NCAC championship and only has had one individual winner since 1989, Cara DeAngelis in 2011. The women finished second last year while the men finished third in 2012.

“It is the opportunity to represent your team and your school in the best possible manner,” Wackerly said.

Garwood makes invitational final

After winning five straight matches, including two monumental comebacks, freshman Elliot Garwood made it to the finals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s invitational on Sept. 28, an unheard of result for an Ohio Wesleyan tennis player.

Garwood won his first two matches in straight sets, beating his opponents 6-3 6-2 and 6-0 6-1. The rounds that followed, however, did not go exactly as planned.

“I knew that I would have to face adversity heading into the tournament as every tournament almost always has something unexpected to offer,” Garwood said.

He found himself behind after dropping the first set in his third round matchup.

Garwood rallied and came back to win the second set 6-2 and third set tiebreak 10-6 to win the match.

Later in the day he was again trailing, but this time with an even bigger mountain to climb.

Down 6-1 5-0 and with a match point against, his odds of coming back were slim, to say the least. “(My opponent) had a match point but I managed to rally and come back to win that game along with the next game which made the scoreline 5-2,” Garwood said.

“Then my opponent started to cramp in the legs which changed the entire complexity of the match and ultimately enabled me to win the second set 7-5 and the third set tiebreak 10-4.”

Garwood regained his energy the next day to get a 6-1 6-4 result in the semis to send him straight through to the finals. “Elliot made it all the way to the finals of his draw. It was an unprecedented performance by a men’s tennis player at OWU,” Head Coach Tom Drabczyk said. “Elliot is one of many freshman that look to contribute a lot this year. We are projecting starting one sophomore and potentially five freshman in singles.”

Although losing in the finals, Garwood is excited with the way he played and overall glad to be a part of the OWU tennis program: “We look to build the tennis program through continuous work ethic and a willingness to get better each and every day. This is a great team that doesn’t care who gets the recognition, but just wants to win,” he said.

Offensive firepower fuels football

The Ohio Wesleyan high-powered read-option rushing attack led by sophomore quarterback Dom Orsini and senior running back Kevin Herman has sliced through defenses in their first three games like a hot knife through butter.

For those not familiar with the term; read-option is a play where the quarterback has the choice to hand the ball off to the running back, run himself, or give to a receiver. When properly executed it can be painfully difficult for defenses to figure out.

“(The goal of the read-option) is to confuse the defense and keep them on their toes, making them guess every play who the ball is going to,” Orsini said. “That’s the beauty of our offense.”

In their first three games Orsini has rushed for five touchdowns and 236 yards.

“Since he is a talented runner and our slot receivers are as well, the run option has been effective so far,” said Herman. “Everyone is really happy with how he is doing.”

Herman, who has been a key part of the team in all of his three previous seasons as a Bishop, has proved his worth yet again with 153 yards and two touchdowns total.

“He takes the work load off me as the game goes on, which makes my job a lot easier,” Orsini said about the senior running back. “We are always picking each other up and playing as one big unit.”

To start the 2014 campaign, the team has averaged 35 points per game and 177 rushing yards, which ranks third in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The only thing keeping the Bishops from a 3-0 start was a last second game-winning field goal by Denison last Saturday.

Coach Tom Watts said he is optimistic about the rest of the season.

Spiking the competition

A new crop of freshmen, along with a new head coach, has launched Ohio Wesleyan’s volleyball team to an impressive 10-2 start to their season.

Formerly a Xavier University assistant coach, OWU volleyball’s new head coach, Kirsta Cobb, has brought her laid back approach of coaching to the program.

“I’m looking to teach, I’m not a big yeller and screamer,” Cobb said.

Cobb said she likes to give her players a chance to be involved and to create a classroom feel at practice.

“I want my players to feel like they’re part of the process and to ask questions.”

The team’s roster includes six sophomores and nine freshman, which means there are only three upperclassman on the team.

“We’re young, it’s exciting.” Cobb said.

“I think we’re talented and we’re just going to get better and better.”

Iris Anderson and Brianna La Croix are two standout freshman who have gotten a lot of playing time during the beginning of this season.

“They’re outside hitters, they both play big roles,” Cobb said.

“They have to pass, play defense, hit. Anderson averages four points per set, and La Croix averages three.”

The team won all four of their matches last weekend at the Manchester Invitational, only dropping one set throughout the whole tournament.

The Bishops open up NCAC play against Allegheny this Saturday, Sept. 20 in Branch Rickey Arena.

Thinking like a runner

After a strong finish at the OWU Invitational, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams look forward to an exciting year.

The men finished second out of ten and the women fourth. Top runners for the Bishops include junior Zak Geiger, sophomore Kaillie Winston and Freshman John Sotos. All of OWU’s top runners finished in the top ten.

Many people have completed a 5k race before. But try running it under twenty minutes, which is what Winston did on Saturday, finishing with a time of 19:30.

“With many races ahead, we needed to run smart. I am happy with our performances at this meet and excited to see how we will run later.”

Mentally preparing for one of these races can be a challenge. Winston says her strategy is to remind herself that she’s been through worse.

“Mentally, I prepare by reminding myself that I trained for this and if my workout last week didn’t kill me, this race probably won’t either,” she said.

Winston said a couple times that it is still very early in the season and how excited she is for the upcoming races. “Again, this is only the beginning of a fun season.”

The next race for both the men and women team is on Sept. 6th, at the Denison Invitational in Granville, Ohio.