July 2008 Archives
It's ready, set, hike time for Ashley Moody. But her chance to play football didn't come until she finished up her collegiate basketball career.
Moody, 22, finished her eligibility with the Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team in March. As soon as her season ended she was on the gridiron with the Los Angeles Amazons of the National Women's Football Association.
"I always wanted to play football," said Moody, who averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the Broncos. "When I was little my uncle had a team and he wanted to play but of course my mother said no. I love all sports but this is new so it's exciting."
Moody was introduced to the sport and the franchise by Tamara McDonald, a first-year assistant coach for the Broncos who was playing for the Amazons, but has since stopped because of injury.
McDonald talked up the football team with the Broncos and invited the seniors to come to a practice, an offer Moody gladly accepted.
Moody, a 5-foot-7 guard on the hardwood, said even she was surprised at what she found when it came to the team.
"I thought there would be all these massive 6-foot-4 women. And it wasn't that at all," she said. "There are players all different sizes, different ages. And the competition is tough. We play hard."
Moody, a native of Carson, didn't get much playing time at first but has become a valuable addition, particularly on special teams. The highlight for her this season was a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown in a 41-14 win over the Phoenix Prowlers.
She has also seen some time at cornerback and has 13 carries for 133 yards on offense.
The Amazons are one of 38 teams in the league which is set to expand by nine teams in 2009. They are 9-0 and the only unbeaten team in the 19-team Southern Conference. They will host a playoff game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bassett Stadium in La Puente.
Moody can forsees the sport gaining in popularity.
"It is that way for every woman's sport," she said. "It always takes awhile to catch on. Look at the WNBA. It has become very popular but it wasn't always that way."
Although Moody is done with basketball, she still has a year left before getting her degree in graphic design. She plans to follow through with that.
"Definitely, school comes first," she said.
By Michelle Gardner
Staff Writer
Tacy Duncan's job just got a lot easier.
Trying to compete in one of the premier conferences in the country was tough enough. And when Duncan took over three years ago the program was the conference doormat.
She did that while holding down a full-time job in the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside. Then a year ago motherhood factored into the mix as she gave berth to twins.
But the load has been lightened considerably as Duncan's position has been elevated to full time. She becomes the first full-time coach in the 11-year history of the program.
The school had planned on making the full-time appointment last year but the timing wasn't right so it was put on hold until this year.
Duncan had to go through the interview process all over again with job having to be advertised, even though she had done a stellar job in her three years as a part-time coach, highlighted by her selection as CCAA coach of the year by her peers.
She was still the best person for the job.
"We got a good pool of applicants," Cal State athletic director Kevin Hatcher said. "But I think much of the reason for that was the success she had last year and the recognition she brought to our program. We couldn't not look at what she has been able to do in a short time."
The Coyotes are coming off their best season in school history. Cal State went 36-32 overall (17-13 in CCAA play), advancing to the postseason for the first time ever. They also advanced to the Division II West Region, before being eliminated by Humboldt State which went on to win the national championship.
That was a significant improvement over the 2007 season in which the Coyotes were sixth in the conference and 27-27 overall.
The team went 21-32 in Duncan's first year and that represented a 10-win improvement over the previous year.
To put the progress in perspective, the Coyotes were a combined 38-129 overall and 24-70 in conference play the three seasons before Duncan took over.
Hatcher said he expects the program to continue to grow, thanks in part to the Western Interchange Program adopted by the school for the coming calendar year. The program gives all students from the western part of the country in-state tuition. That should make it easier for coaches to lure in top talent from out of the area.
"I see how well she has done evaluating talent," he said. "I can't imagine how much better she will do with more time to do it."
But Hatcher said the school will still stick to its core area for the majority of its players.
"We have great talent in this area," he said. "There is no reason we shouldn't get the bulk of our players from around here."
Duncan earned her bachelor's degree in education from the University of Mary in North Dakota where she also earned All-American honors as a player. She got a master's in counseling from the University of Redlands while serving as an assistant coach from 2002 to 2005.
Seven of the Coyotes 11 head coaches are full time. The exceptions are women's tennis coach Heather Lehman, women's water polo coach Tom Finwall, women's cross country coach Tom Burleson and men's golf coach Tom Mainez.
Hatcher said he would eventually like to have the other four coaches at full-time status as well.
"I'm asking them to go out there and win conference titles and it's hard for me to look them in the face and ask them to do it when this is their second job."
The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team signed three players,
all of them Inland Empire products and familiar names to local
enthusiasts.
Leading the trio is right-handed pitcher Andrew Schile out of A.B.
Miller High School and Chaffey College. Joining him are Riverside
Community College infielder Cody Madison and Upland Christian's Ethan
Chapman.
Schile posted a 9-3 record for the Foothill Conference champion
Panthers in 2008. He posted a 2.94 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 64
innings and limited opposing hitters to an overall batting average of
.212. He was chosen conference pitcher of the year.
Madison, out of Moreno Valley, batted .329 for the Tigers. He had
two home runs, 32 RBI and a .419 on-base percentage on a team that
went 34-20 and made it to the state championship tournament. He had a
.976 fielding percentage.
Chapman had an impressive high school career. He earned
all-league four times and was an all-CIF Southern Section selection
twice, as well as prep all-America.
He was the 2007 CIF player of the year in his division as Upland
Christian won the section championship and was the Arrowhead League
offensive player of the year in 2007 and 2008. He batted .685 as a
senior with eight home runs, 74 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 33
attempts.
Chapman led his team to a 19-11 season (12-0 in league) and a
second straight appearance in the CIF championship game. In his 92 at
bats over 30 games, he had 63 hits, 16 doubles, 10 triples and a
slugging percentage 1.337. His on-base percentage was .723. He plays
for the Southern California Bombers in travel ball.
The Coyotes graduated 16 seniors, including the bulk of their
pitching staff. Earlier this spring head coach Don Parnell signed
pitchers Dan Stenavich (all-Southern California first-team selection)
and Jorge Dryjanski from Pacific Coast Conference champion
Southwestern College along with lefthanders Kevin McLaughry and
Garret Nelson from Grossmont College.
Other recruits to date are Aaron Brooks, an all-CIF and all-area
pitcher-infielder from Cajon; Andrew Harrison, a slugging first
baseman from Riverside's Norte Vista; Matt Winn, an outfielder from
Canyon Springs HS; Darren Dworak, an infielder from Damien and Ken
Othman, a catcher from Riverside's Martin Luther King.
The Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team graduated seven players, five of whom played considerable minutes. Head coach Jeff Oliver has started rebuilding with the addition of four players to the program.
All are transfers, which has pretty much been his pattern since stepping in as head coach six years ago.
Oliver said the team's biggest needs have been addressed. The Coyotes (22-8, 15-5) led the CCAA in scoring defense but were just fifth in offense and seventh in field-goal percentage.
The Coyotes have finished with at least a share of the conference title seven of the last nine years but were bounced from the Division II West Region tournament in the quarterfinal.
"Our achillies heel was our offense and the fact that we weren't consistent from long distance," he said. "We took care of those issues. I expect us to be one of the better 3-point shooting teams."
The newcomers are 6-foot-7 junior forward Brandon Brown (Holmes CC in Goodman, Miss.), 6-4 junior guard Larry DeHughes (Fullerton JC), 6-4 senior forward-guard Michael Frazier (Mt. San Jacinto/Northern Colorado) and 6-2 junior point guard Lawrence Tyson (Northeastern JC in Colorado/Cal State Northridge).
Brown, a New Orleans native, averaged 27 points and 13 points for a team that went 16-8. He had a season high of 38 points twice.
Oliver expects him to be an impact player.
"He could be the best inside scorer we have ever had," he said. "He is an absolute presence in the paint and has 101 post moves and he's a great athlete."
Frazier last played at Northern Colorado in 2003-04 after transferring from Mt. San Jacinto. Oliver said he has unlimited range and won't affected by the move of the 3-point line back a foot.
DeHughes played at Compton as a freshman and at Fullerton last year, helping the Hornets to the state title game and earning All-Orange Empire Conference honors.
Tyson played at Cal State Northridge as a freshman and is a graduate of Quartz Hill High School.
The Coyotes have just one returning starter - defensive stopper Phil Jones. Reserves Devon Davis, Reggie Brown and Steve Gaston saw considerable time while freshman Ryan Kinney saw some playing time.
Those who redshirted last year expected to have an impact next season are guard Tim Denson, a transfer from Colorado State, and center Jordan Richard, out of Los Osos High School.
Guard Omar Krayem, who redshirted last season afer coming in from Eastern Washington, is not returning.
Oliver is still looking for a wing, a point guard and another big man.
The only other question mark is an intangible as Oliver will be looking for a floor leader to replace departed guard Marlon Pierce who filled that role.
"We really don't know yet who is going to be the take charge guy," he said.
Cal State San Bernardino's women's tennis team captured the "Cody Coyote Award", which recognizes the Coyotes sports team that earned the highest grade point average for the academic quarter, giving the team a clean sweep of the award all three quarters in 2007-08.
The team posted a Spring Quarter grade point average of 3.63. The team prevailed in the Winter Quarter with a 3.36 GPA and took the Fall Quarter "Cody" Award with a 3.47 average.
Women's cross country was the runnerup team each quarter, posting GPA's of 3.07 for spring, 3.16 for winter and 3.26 for fall.
The overall grade point average for all 11 NCAA-sponsored sports at CSUSB for the 2007-08 academic year was 2.73.
Seventy-nine student-athletes earned a grade point average of 3.0 or higher for the Spring Quarter while 40 of them had a grade point average of 3.5 to 4.0.
LEADER OF THE PACK ACADEMIC AWARDS (3.5-4.0) FOR SPRING QUARTER
Men's Soccer -- Lorenzo Loson, Helio Navarro.
Women's Soccer -- Sophie Bruins, Alejandra Flores, Ashley Haagsma, Jacqueline Reyes, Cleary
Women's Cross Country -- Shawna Alavarez, Marlene Malagon, Kristen Torrez.
Women' s Volleyball -- Alyssa Auck, Meghan Haas.
Men's Golf -- Dane Bagnell, Bill Clayton, Joshua Segal.
Men's Basketball -- James Estrada, Joseph Tillman.
Women's Basketball -- Mindy Baker, Shanae Blake, Jaclyn Rainville.
Baseball -- Robert Badilla, Tyler Cross, David Martin, Michael Minjares, James O'Neill, Brent Planck, Corey Sandoval, Justin Watson.
Softball -- Tawni Baker, Tori Beaudette.
Women's Tennis -- Brittany Choate, Priscilla Cooper, Dottie Elwell, Leslie Horn.
Women's Water Polo -- Jennifer Goetz, Kaitlin Hartman, Italia Iossif, Sabrina Marquez, Cheryl Salazar, Aimee Salcido.
COYOTE PUP ACADEMIC AWARDS (3.0-3.49) FOR SPRING QUARTER
Men's Soccer -- Nick Boyce, Zach Ellis, Ryan Larson, Ryan Myers, James Pusey, Brock Steele, Brent Vander Eyk.
Women's Soccer -- Lynn Castillo, Jenna Faughnder, Krista Feer, Karissa Kelly, Katie Liby, Megan Monahan, Cathleen Rodriguez.
Women's Cross Country -- Kari Brandt, Holly DiGerolamo, Kim Miller
Women's Volleyball -- Michelle Alvarez, Sara Hoffman, Alicia Karver, Ligaya Malones.
Men's Basketball -- Grants Huff, Ryan Kinney
Baseball -- Theron Cueva, Billy Haynes, Ronald Leon
Softball -- Anjelice Foreman, Jocelyn Perry, Maddie Pulido, Rhiannon Treat.
Women's Tennis -- Xinia Chaves, Kara Jenkins, Ashley Hulett, Christine Macias
Women's Water Polo -- Freyja Berg, Sara Hastings, Ashley Hays.
