Category: Sports

Seasons ruined, endless rehab; ACL tears are affecting OWU student athletes more than ever

By Ashley Barno, Transcript Correspondent

Ohio Wesleyan student athletes are recovering after tearing their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) this year, preventing them from playing for their full seasons.

Senior basketball player, Brady Roesch, recently tore his ACL during a preseason practice, “I was making a jump stop and came down on someone’s foot and my knee went inward and then popped,” he said. Roesch started playing for the men’s basketball team his junior year and has never had an injury this detrimental before, he said.

“The toughest thing about tearing my ACL is the mental aspect of it all,” Roesch said. “Since I started playing so late into college, I’ve only gotten to play one full season.”

The full recovery time for Roesch’s injury is estimated to be 9-12 months, making it impossible to be able to play during his final season.

Sophomore member of the women’s soccer team, Caroline Elliot, tore her ACL during a spring play day this past April, “I had a breakaway and when I shot the ball, I slid, and my right leg got stuck in grass,” she said. “My knee bent inward instead of outward which is why my ACL tore.”

Elliot said it was frustrating to sit back and watch her team play this fall while she focused on her recovery. “It’s been really hard watching the team, knowing I am not able to play, run, or even pass a ball,” she said.” “I felt like I didn’t contribute to the team this season.”

Being on a timeline is what matters most when recovering from a torn ACL, Elliot mentioned. “I couldn’t jog until four months into my recovery, even though my body felt strong enough,” she said. “I feel ready to be back, but it’s extremely important to not push myself so I can recover properly.”

OWU Athletic Trainer, Niki Budd, says torn ACLs are the most common season terminating injuries for athletes and are even more common, specifically, for female athletes.

“Females are hamstring dominant, which means their quads are weaker and its pulls on the ACL, making it easier to tear,” Budd said.

Contact sports are the most dangerous when examining the large amounts of injuries that occur in them, but ACLs can tear with or without contact. “Majority of the torn ACLs I have seen in my career have been non-contact, especially when dealing with girls,” Budd said.

Budd mentioned “prehab,” or preventive rehab, is the most impactful way to prevent detrimental injuries, like tearing an ACL.

One game shy of a tournament appearance

By Hailey De La Vara, Transcript Reporter

Regardless of the struggles faced by the Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) women’s soccer team, they only fell one game short of the NCAC tournament.

The Bishops completed their season with a 7-9-1 overall record, with a 3-5 record in conference play.

Halfway through the season the Bishops lost their top scorer,Maggie Morse, to an ACL tear. Head coach Nicole Ross acknowledged Morse’s role as a leader on and off the field and expressed the extent of how it affected the season.

“We played a different formation without her and it was a little risky.
We played with less defenders and we had to move a lot of people
around, but Maggie still stayed a big part of our program”, Ross said.

After suffering a four game losing streak during the middle of the
season, the Bishops quickly recovered with a three game win streak, including a win against Kenyon to keep their season alive.
The win streak was enough to get some recognition, but not enough for the Battling Bishops.

Senior captain and goalkeeper Mackenzie Brunke, shared her
excitement about the Kenyon game and how it sparked a flame for the Bishop’s success.

“We were a different team this game, we came out with a chip on our shoulder and willing to do the work to prove the conference wrong”, Brunke said. “This win and shutout was the beginning of us having a chance to make it to the NCAC tournament for the first time in three years.”

The deciding game that would advance the women’s team into the
NCAC tournament was against Wittenberg. After a hard fought game the Bishops fell 0-1 in overtime.

Despite the loss, the Bishops had one last conference game to play. The contest ended in another loss, however it gave the opportunity for senior captain Megan Price to reflect on the team’s emotional final game.

“We may not have gotten the results we wanted but in the end I was surrounded by my teammates and family. Being a captain made me grow, mature and be way more responsible. In the end I became a much better person and player,” Price said.

Ross expressed that the ultimate goal for next year is to continue
building as a program and remain hungry for an NCAC tournament
appearance.

The top scorer for the Bishops was Ashley Smiley with 8 goals and
Brunke finished the season with 97 saves.

Let there be light, and a good place to sit

WCSA approved a 44,000 dollar project request to supply and install lights and bleachers to the practice fields across from Meek Aquatic Center.

The initiative, put forth by club sports captains as well as members of marching band, highlighted concerns faced due to lack of lighting on the practice fields as well as a safe place to sit while viewing the games. It also pointed out the greater benefits it would provide to club sports as well as the greater Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) community.

Lighting the fields and placing bleachers there will not only make it a more welcoming space for OWU’s club and intramural sports, but it also opens up the space to be used for night programming by other clubs, campus groups, or even off-campus organizations.

“Without lights, we start losing a lot of rehearsal time as the sun starts to set earlier and earlier. While we currently have a temporary fix that’s getting us through to the end of the year, we are looking forward to having lighting that produces the kind of visibility needed for a marching band rehearsal.” said marching band director Mary Kate McNally.

There have been instances in the past where both men’s and women’s rugby, as well as ultimate frisbee, have had to cancel practice or move it to a later time due to varsity sports using the field.

Regardless of whether frisbee or rugby have reserved the field in advance, varsity sports take precedence.

There is constant competition for field space and grass areas that are suited for sports such as ultimate frisbee and rugby. The limited outdoor space has varsity, club and intramural teams volleying for places to practice on.

Lighting has begun to become an issue as the days are getting shorter and it starts getting darker earlier. As we enter the colder months, weather starts to become an issue as well.

Captain of the women’s ultimate frisbee team Karli Bigler voiced that, “Having bleachers and lights on the fields will allow our team to hold tournaments at OWU, to have late night practices, to have more spectators, and to have pick up games throughout the year.”

WCSA met the request with enthusiasm and approved the 44,000 dollars requested, come to find, the quotes that were received from buildings and grounds were two thirds less than what was needed in order to complete the project.

In order to move forward a capital project request was submitted to attain the rest of the money needed to complete the project.

Vice President for Finance and Administration Lauri Strimkovsky explained that WCSA had approved the 44,000 without taking a look at all that would need to be done before the project could move forward.

“We’re going to have to do some backtracking, usually you do all that work before you approve a project and it came to us without any of that being done,” said Strimkovsky, “If you light a field and don’t do so properly and somebody gets hurts, it can be a liability issue. We don’t have any problem doing the project we just have to make sure to do it right.”

 

Rowing team makes their debut

The Ohio Wesleyan rowing team made its intercollegiate debut on Saturday, competing in the Muskie Chase hosted by Marietta College.

In the Novice 4 competition, Marietta completed the 6000-meter course on the Ohio River in a time of 26:32.0. Cincinnati finished in 27:56.3, Case Reserve was third in 28:09.6, and the Ohio Wesleyan boat placed fourth in 29:56.5.

Ohio Wesleyan also competed in the 500-meter sprints, and finished second in the first Novice 4 flight. Marietta’s boat finished in 1:47.7, followed by Ohio Wesleyan at 1:52.7, Case Reserve with a 1:58.2, and Cincinnati with a 2:26.6.  In the second Novice 4 flight, Cincinnati won in 1:48.2, followed by Marietta 1:50.0, Ohio Wesleyan 1:55.4, and Case Reserve 1:58.3.

“Honestly I loved training with these group of girls. Being back on the water was a uplifting moment for me and being there with such an amazing group of girls made the experience even better.” said freshman Sana Hussain.

Head Coach Andriel Doolittle hopes to gain more rowers in the spring season so as to be able to compete in more events. With a roster of just eight OWU is not yet able to race a full eight, as an eight person boat requires nine people including the coxen.

“I’m excited to see our new rowing program finally get to be on the water in a competitive environment,” said athletic director Doug Zipp, “I know they had a great experience and it’s something to build upon, and I know they’re very excited for the spring season.”

Due to the newness of the program, it was decided to schedule one event late in the season so as to prepare the girls for competitive rowing.

“Knowing that we’re going to have a lot of new people to the sport, our goal was to have one event late in the season so that we would have lots of time to establish things, get into a good rhythm, make sure people knew how to row by the time we got to that point because the hardest thing to do is to put people that aren’t ready, out on the race course.” said Doolittle.

Doolittle explained that the Fall season is meant to be more of a training season to prepare for the primary season in the spring. It’s then, that championship events occur.

Muskie Chase completes Ohio Wesleyan’s fall schedule with the spring schedule beginning at the end of March, with several races already set for the spring.

 

Bishops Claw Their Way to First Win

          By Spencer Pauley, Managing Editor

Sometimes it never hurts to just kick the field goal, as is the case for the OWU Battling Bishops who pulled out a win against the Wooster Fighting Scots with a game-winning field goal.

The Battling Bishops held their first home game of the season on Sept. 15 and had it dedicated to Coach to Cure MD, a partnership dedicated to raising awareness of the muscle disorder called Duchenne. Despite the offense not scoring a touchdown the whole game, OWU won 9 – 7.

All of the Battling Bishops’ points came from Kicker Philhower. Philhower went 3-3 with the 27 yard game-winning field goal with only 18 seconds left. Kickers need ice in their veins for high-pressured kicks like that and it seemed like Philhower had it for the entire game.

“When you go out there, your legs get numb, a lot goes through your head, you just gotta kick it.” Phillhower said.

OWU Quarterback Jax Harville had a moderately successful game despite getting sacked nine times by the Wooster defense. He completed 63 percent of his passes for a total of 216 yards. However, the offense’s biggest plays came from receivers Deji Adebiyi and Aaron Fields II. Both receivers combined for 107 yards and some key plays of theirs lead to the game-winning field goal.

Adebiyi would end up going to the hospital after the game due to dehydration. What will he do to improve for the next game?

“Drink a little more water, avoid cramps for sure,” Adebiyi said.

The OWU defense was able to limit Wooster to only seven points for the whole game. Sophomore Cody Streit lead the Battling Bishops with 11 total tackles.

Head Coach Tom Watts was satisfied with how the game went, especially his players’ effort.

“A win’s a win. It’s awesome. I’m proud of the guys, they played their hearts out,” Watts said. “They played four quarters, you couldn’t ask for much more.”

When it comes to the yearly matchups with Wooster, Watts sees a consistently competitive game every time.

“It’s always a good game between us. It’s always back and forth,” Watts said. “It’s the fun part about playing in the NCAC.”

The Battling Bishops (1-2) will travel to Meadville, Pennsylvania on Sept. 22 to play the Allegheny Gators (1-2).

Greer stays hot as Field Hockey defeats Earlham in impressive shootout win

    By Hailey De La Vara, Transcript Reporter

Senior defender Maggie Greer scored her second game winning goal in as many contests to lift Ohio Wesleyan over Earlham College on Wednesday at Selby Stadium.

With the final attempt in a shootout, Greer’s shot bounced off the goalkeeper’s shoulder and found the back of the goal.

“Shootouts are always nerve-wracking, so I was hoping we would be able to clinch it before it got to my turn.” Greer said. “Once I stepped up and the referee blew the whistle, my whole body went numb. I saw the keeper was low and I felt I could lift the shot over, and luckily it worked.”

Earlham and Ohio Wesleyan both competed through the first 70 minutes of regulation play and two overtime periods, scoring a goal apiece.

Earlham took the lead 11 minutes into the game when Sofia Salvatore followed her own shot and scored on a rebound. Quickly after, OWU answered when freshman midfielder Barbara Welling set up Greer for a goal to turn the deficit into a tie.

Sophomore goalkeeper Paige Ross had two of her 8 saves within the last five minutes of regulation to keep the score knotted at one.

With the scored tied after both overtime periods, the game went to a shootout to dictate the winner.

In shootout play, Earlham’s Denise Bergholt and Ohio Wesleyan senior Alexis Roberts each missed their attempts to begin the shootout. Both teams got on the board when Salvatore converted for the Quakers and Welling countered for Ohio Wesleyan.  Bishop freshman defender Astrid Koek converted her attempt to put OWU up 2-1.

On Earlham’s final attempt of the shootout, Maite Turling converted her shot and kept the Quakers alive, but Greer connected with hers to give the Bishops the 3-2 shootout advantage and the victory.

Ohio Wesleyan outshot Earlham 24-19.

“Through the two overtime periods and the shootout, I was left speechless with the way we played,” Ross said. “We demonstrated strength not only physically, but mentally. The team this year is going to do big things, and we are going to prove our initial rank wrong.”

 

Coaches Corner: A Q&A with Head Wrestling Coach Paul Reid

By Hailey De La Vara, Transcript Reporter

 

 

 

Paul Reid has been named head coach of the wrestling team at Ohio Wesleyan. Reid will oversee the return of the team, which hasn’t been a varsity sport since 1984.  Reid has experience rebuilding programs: he transitioned Alfred State into a Division III program and completely revamped Iowa Western Community College into winning teams.

Q: Did OWU approach you about the job?

A: No, it was a really unique process. They announced the return of the sport last February and the hiring process took a little longer than expected because of the change of athletic directors.  But they had always been on my radar.

Q: How do you plan on rebuilding the wrestling team after not having it as a varsity sport since 1984?

A: We are starting from the ground up. The key is recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, but also recruiting the right type of kids. This first class we have 15 kids that are all the right type of kids to build a program.

Q: What are the expectations heading into the season?

A: Make it a great experience. Obviously wrestlers are very competitive and the expectation is to grow as a team all while making it a great experience.

Q: How do you think OWU wrestling ranks against other opponents on the schedule?

A: The schools in Ohio are traditionally tough, but the good thing about our schedule is that there is a good cluster of teams that we are going see throughout the year so we are going to be able to measure our progress throughout the year.

Q: Was it just you who went out and recruited?

A: Yep, I went everywhere.  My first day was Nov. 1 last year and by Nov. 2 I was already calling kids, compiling a list and going to tournaments every weekend.  

 

Students celebrated for academics and athletics

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

The 14th annual Dale J. Bruce athletic dinner highlighted the acheivements of Ohio Wesleyans scholar-athletes.

A total of 51 students, ranging from sophmores to juniors, were recognized for earning a GPA of 3.66 or above.

President Rock Jones said, “We celebrate the real virtue of college athletics and that is the integration of the whole person, of the intellectual life of the mind reflected in the acadmeic work of our students.”

Each of the 51 students recognized were asked to bring a guest proffesor. As each student received their award, they spoke a little about why they chose the professor they did.

Aside from the recognition of the top 51 athletes, there were a total of 10 student-athlete awards given to students across all sports.

NCAC Scholar-Athletes : Nate Axelrod, Ashley Day

James DiBiasio Award (male sportsmanship award) : Nick Horton

Mackenzie Conway Award (female sportsmanship award) : Kayla Richard

Dr.Richard Gordon Award (top male scholar-athlete) : Scott Harmanis

Mary Parker Award (top female scholar-athlete) : Meaghan Teitelman

Dr.John Martin Award (best all-around senior male athlete) : Nate Axelrod

Nan Carney-DeBord Award (best all-around senior female athlete) : Iris Anderson

Top Eleven (represent the OWU athletics department in a positive manner and contribute to the entire campus community) : Nate Axelrod, Michael Blatchford, Mackenzie Brunke, Amanda Clay, Brianna La Croix, Nick Horton, Brian Jordan, Trey Olsen, Kayla Richard, Richard Spernoga, Kari Seymour

Bob Strimer Director’s Cup (team with the highest GPA) : Women’s cross country

Dale J. Bruce Presidential Award (recognized athletic and acadmeic accomplishments) : Nate Axelrod

“This shows how Ohio Wesleyan and our student athletes exemplify the ideals of the division and place primary emphasis on academics,” Athletic Director Doug Zipp said.

Leisinger competes for 1 million dollars: Drafted in first ever NBA 2K league

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

Imagine being so good at a video game that competing professionally for 1 million dollars is a reality.

Ohio Wesleyan University junior Malik Leisinger is doing just that.

Leisinger has put aside his Battling Bishops jersey to dawn a National Basketball Association (NBA) 2K League uniform to participate in the first ever NBA 2K inaugural video game competition.

The league, which is a joint promotion between the NBA and 2K Sports, was first announced in May of 2017.

He was one of 102 gamers that were drafted by one of the league’s 17 teams. Teams selected one player at each position over the first five rounds of drafting, (point-guard, small forward, power forward, center). In the sixth round, each team could select a second player at the position of their choice.

The draftees will become the competitive gaming league’s first professionals when the inaugural season tips off in May. The NBA 2K season will take place over the course of three months from May through August with a total prize payout of $1 million, including $35,000 for first-round draft picks. The season concludes with the first NBA 2K league finals.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver attended the draft in New York to announce the first pick. “What’s so exciting today is we’ll be welcoming a new generation of athletes, of NBA players, into this league,” he said, via USA Today’s Charles Curtis.

Leisinger was drafted with the 32nd overall pick in the second round by the Utah Jazz Gaming e-sports team. Qualifying took place in January, with players needing to win fifty games in NBA 2K18’s Pro-Am mode featuring five-on-five matches involving custom-made characters.

“As far as the experience goes, so far, it’s been great,” Leisinger said, “I have never been to Utah, so shifting from living in Cleveland my whole life to Salt Lake City was different at first, but I am getting used to it. One of the main things I enjoy is being surrounded by the beautiful mountains at all times.”

As business administration major and accounting minor, Leisinger has found that playing for Utah Jazz Gaming has given him experience in both the business and marketing areas of e-sports teams.

“Meeting and socializing with these people of power is really intriguing for me because it mixes my passion for the game of basketball and (my career interest in) business and marketing,” Leisinger said, “I hope to land a job with one of the many NBA teams that have an e-sports team.

As it is, e-sports is a growing industry for which analysts have predicted a strong future. Leisinger and his fellow NBA 2K draftees look to earn between $32,000 to $35,000 for their contributions to the sport, as well as housing and health insurance.

Leisinger plays center for Utah Jazz Gaming as MrSlaughter01.

Big Red bears a beating

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

Ohio Wesleyan men’s lacrosse defeated sixth ranked Denison 13-8, leading the Big Red all four quarters.

OWU hadn’t seen a victory over Denison since the 2015 season when the men’s lacrosse team went 18-1 in the regular season and 8-0 in the conference, winning the NCAC men’s lacrosse tournament.

“Beating them does not mark the high point of our season,” said senior defenseman Justin Smith, “We have a long way to go and we’re gonna rock the national tournament this year.”

In what was the 100th meeting on the lacrosse field between the two rivals, Ohio Wesleyan gained momentum early with a goal from freshman attackman Will Anton.

Junior attackman Steve Hildebrand put one in the net soon after, making it 2-0. Denison responded with a goal at the 10 minute mark, putting Big Red on the scoreboard, but was met with four more unanswered goals by the Bishops.

Freshman midfielder Sean Gellen and sophomore midfielder Lucas Smith each contributed one goal each, with Hildebrand racking up two more goals in the first quarter. By the end of the first, the score was 6-1 with Big Red trailing by five goals.

The second quarter started with a goal from senior midfielder Peter Hamblett to extend OWU’s lead. Denison scored their second goal of the game with 10:24 left in the quarter but was met with a goal by freshman midfielder Storm Schalit. The Big Red went on to score three more goals to make it 8-5 by the end of the third quarter.

Junior attacker Max Tennant scored during the first minute of the third quarter, courtesy of a Hildebrand assist, and Tennant and senior midfielder Luke Leyden followed with goals, both assisted by junior midfielder Cole Jamieson, for an 11-6 Ohio Wesleyan lead.

Ohio Wesleyan led 11-7 entering the fourth quarter and Luke Leyden gave his team some breathing room with an unassisted goal at the nine-minute mark. Denison managed to get one more on the scoreboard but was met with another goal by Leyden and a total of six stopped shots by senior goalkeeper Ben Rigger to preserve the lead.

The 13-8 victory moves the Battling Bishops into first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference at 12-2 overall and 6-0 in league play. The loss drops Denison to 11-3 and 5-1 in conference play.

The win also moved the men’s lacrosse team up to No. seven in this week’s USLacrosse Magazine poll and to No. nine in this week’s United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division III coaches’ poll.

“Super proud of all the guys, we had seniors all the way down to freshman stepping it up big time for this game,” said senior midfielder Trent Schulte.