February 2009 Archives
In the final home game of the 2008-09 season, the University of Redlands men's basketball team provided a memorable sendoff for senior Travis Miller (Coto de Caza, CA) with an exciting victory over the Tigers of Occidental College by a score of 63-62. However, this night stands out in Miller's mind for one reason in particular as he sank the final layup with 2.7 seconds remaining for the win.
The first half saw a back-and-forth battle with the Bulldogs gaining a six-point edge at the half. Redlands took advantage of Oxy's 10 turnovers in the opening period, converting them to nine points, which proved to be difference.
The Tigers tied the game at 43 apiece off of a 6-0 run early in the second half. After a Redlands timeout at 14:52, the Bulldogs returned the favor with eight unanswered points to put them up 51-43 with 11:05 remaining. Oxy eventually closed the gap and moved ahead off of two made free-throws by junior forward Sean Anderson (Burbank, CA) at the five-minute mark.
After trading turnovers, the Tigers converted their next possession on an Anderson dunk, stretching their lead to three points with 3:35 to go. Redlands responded with an important three-pointer by freshman forward Stephen Call (Portola Valley, CA) to tie the game at 61. Oxy freshman wing Jack Hanley (Seattle, WA) sank just one of his two free throws with 1:29 remaining, which left the door open for Redlands.
Although both teams failed to score on their next possessions, the ball was in the Bulldogs' hands with four seconds to play.
Following timeouts by both teams, Head Coach Jim Ducey drew up a play for Miller to finish his career as the hero and it worked. With Oxy tightly defending junior guard Patrick Coffey (San Carlos, CA), who supplied 17 points on the night, Miller went by his defender and cut under the basket for the uncontested layup and the game-winning basket.
With 2.7 seconds remaining, Oxy threw up a last-ditch effort and missed at the buzzer.
Miller contributed a career-high six assists in his final game with the Bulldogs, along with eight points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Sophomore Matt Dietrich (Phoenix, AZ) led the Bulldogs with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Coffey added 17 points, four steals, and three assists.
For Oxy, Anderson posted a game-high 24 points and 10 boards, while Hanley chipped in 15 points.
Redlands (10-15, 6-8 SCIAC) finishes out the season in sixth place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, while Oxy placed fifth.
The University of Redlands swimming & diving team's freshman Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) garnered Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Athlete of the Week honors today following his dominance at the 2009 SCIAC Swimming and Diving Championships from Feb. 12-14 in Long Beach.
Harp torched the program record book, breaking three individual records while having a hand in four relay records. The only event in which he did not walk away a school record holder was in the 50 freestyle as he finished the event just .08 seconds behind sophomore Miran Terzic (Mostar, Bosna i Hercegovina) in an NCAA "A" qualifying time of 20.39.
Additionally, he won the 100 freestyle in an NCAA "A" qualifying mark of 44.97 and registered "B" marks with a first-place 100 butterfly (50.02) and a lead-off split of 1:40.69 in the 800 freestyle relay.
He served as a part of the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:23.16), the winning 200 medley relay (1:34.34) and the winning 400 freestyle relay (3:02.46). Also, he partook in the 800 freestyle relay (6:54.35) that took second overall. Each of his relay contingents captured NCAA "B" qualifying marks.
For his successes, the conference head coaches named him the men's SCIAC Athlete of the Year, edging out worthy candidates such as his teammate, sophomore Alec Alders (Los Angeles, CA), and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges' Vincent Pai.
Harp, as well as a few additional Bulldog swimmers, will compete next in the 2009 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships, which occurs from March 18-21 in Minneapolis, MN.
The SCIAC Athlete of the Week is voted on by the eight conference sports information directors on a weekly basis.
The University of Redlands swimming & diving teams finished as runners-up to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in both the men's and women's competition following the third and final day of competition at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships.
Freshman Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) received the conference's Athlete of the Year honor following a meet where he set three program records and one conference record individually and four program marks and one conference standard as a relay member. With "A" qualifying standards in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, he receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship meet, which takes place in Minneapolis, MN, from March 18-21.
The Redlands record book got torched throughout the three-day meet as the men set a total of eight program records while three program marks fell on the women's side.
Saturday's finals session featured a timed-final heat of the women's 1650 freestyle, and three Bulldogs managed top-eight finishes in the event. Sophomore Michelle Camburn (Sunnyvale, CA) stopped the clock at 18:16.25, taking sixth. Camburn's swim bested the program's former record of 18:16.60 in the event, which Cathleen Penney '07 set in 2006. Sophomore Kayla Desai (Lakewood, CO) and junior Danielle Caver (Highland, CA) finished seventh and eighth with times of 18:54.20 and 18:58.71, respectively.
Sophomore Alec Alders (Los Angeles, CA) completed the trifecta, winning his third event of the meet with a decisive 16:05.58 victory in the men's 1650 freestyle. Alders flirted with the program record in the event (16:04.99) but earned an NCAA provisional qualifying time with the performance nonetheless. Senior Marc Hicks (Granada Hills, CA) caught Occidental Colleges' Michael Wade at the 800 mark of the race and earned a fifth-place finish (16:47.88) while junior Ned Voytovich (Salt Lake City, UT) powered through the back half of his race to gain a seventh-place time of 17:01.21.
Utilizing her endurance, senior Hillary Nicholson (Santa Cruz, CA) maintained a solid spot in the middle of the pack in the women's 200 backstroke throughout the entirety of the race and took fourth with a time of 2:11.16.
Backstroke depth again helped the men earn points as the Bulldogs placed sixth through eighth in the men's 200 backstroke. Junior Ian Starkie (Arroyo Grande, CA) took sixth with a 2:01.41 time, sophomore Mike Reilly (Coral Gables, FL) finished seventh with a 2:02.78 mark and junior Chad Kyffin (San Jose, CA) stopped the clock eighth with a 2:02.95 standard.
Two young sprint talents allowed the Bulldogs to make a strong presence in the women's 100 freestyle. Freshman Casey Sripramong (Glendale, CA) took advantage of a surge in the second half of her race to gain a fifth-place finish (54.91) while freshman Jaime Nippert (Gresham, OR) had a competitive showing as well, taking eighth with a 56.00 time.
Harp became the first-ever SCIAC swimmer to crack the elusive 45-second barrier in the men's 100 freestyle as he lowered Greg Milton '96's program and conference record of 45.07, which he set back in 1993 when he won the event at the NCAA Championship meet. Harp's swim also cleared the NCAA automatic qualifying time by .01. His teammate, sophomore Miran Terzic (Mostar, Bosna i Hercegovina), finished right behind him with an NCAA provisional cut time of 45.44. Two additional Redlands swimmers placed in the top eight as well. Senior Buddy Olds (Murrieta, CA) touched the wall at 47.07 for fourth place while junior John Floersch (San Jose, CA) captured seventh (47.50).
Three Redlands student-athletes swam in the championship final of the women's 200 breaststroke, and freshman McKenzie Nakamura (Kenmore, WA) led the way with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and a program record of 2:23.85 in her second-place showing in the event. Cathleen Penney '07 clocked the former gold standard of 2:25.70 back in 2006. Sophomore Jo Navarro (Chandler, AZ) tapped in at 2:33.30 for sixth while sophomore Kelley Cooper (San Antonio, TX) finished eighth with a time of 2:34.70.
Freshman Mike Grant (Weston, MA) took out his first 100 in a 1:03.30 and pushed through the final half of the race to give the Maroon and Gray a fifth-place finish in the men's 200 breaststroke (2:17.60). Rounding out the top eight finishers was Hicks who clocked an eighth-place 2:20.31.
Despite having just two Bulldog representatives in finals, Redlands took advantage of its depth as it accounted for six of the eight consolation finalists in the men's 200 butterfly. Freshman Jesse Lieberman (Princeton, NJ) clocked a lifetime-best 1:57.82 for sixth in the championship final while sophomore Sonny Morin (Seattle, WA) managed a time of 2:02.43, which earned him eighth.
The Redlands women closed out the weekend with a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Sripramong led off the relay with a 54.90 split, setting the pace for the quartet. Freshman K.C. Hughes (Gig Harbor, WA), Cooper and Nakamura followed suit and registered a final time of 3:41.52.
Perhaps none of the broken records of the weekend resonated as much as the Bulldogs' victory in the men's 400 freestyle relay. With the bleachers on the starting end of the pool packed with swimmers cheering on their teammates in the final event of the meet, a loud atmosphere ensued, setting the stage for a final curtain call by the Redlands sprinters.
Olds led off the relay with a time that was nearly a full second faster than that of his 100 freestyle in the championship final an hour prior, clocking a 46.26. Terzic extended the lead over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the second leg with a 45.25 and handed a two-second lead off to Floersch. With a strong first lap to set the tempo, Floersch muscled his way through the 100 in 46.03 and gave the large lead off to the individual champion in the 100 freestyle, Harp. With the race already in hand, Harp battled the clock and turned in a remarkable anchor split of 44.92 to give the team a total time of 3:02.46.
Their collective efforts earned a quality NCAA "B" cut while erasing a 26-year-old SCIAC record (3:03.10) and a 16-year-old program record (3:05.31).
The Athenas won the women's meet with relative ease, raking in a whopping 1004.5 points throughout the meet. Redlands finished second with 621 points while Pomona-Pitzer Colleges settled for third (547).
For the second consecutive year, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the men's meet. Despite elite performances from both sides, the Stags edged the Bulldogs in the end by a 932.5-871 score. Pomona-Pitzer emerged in a three-team battle for third with 402.5 points.
Both Harp and Terzic possess NCAA "A" cuts and earn an automatic invitation to the NCAA Championship meet, which is held in Minneapolis, MN, from March 18-21. Those who possess "B" qualifying times are placed in an at-large pool but are not guaranteed a spot at the meet.
The NCAA will announce a psych sheet for the NCAA Championship meet after the conference championship season is completed. Further information on additional invitees to the national championship meet will be posted on www.goredlands.com.
The University of La Verne baseball team earned a pair of key regional wins over the weekend by defeating non-conference rival Chapman University on Saturday in Orange before concluding with a come-from-behind 11-10 triumph over Pacific Lutheran Sunday at Ben Hines Field.
The Leopards have won three straight games to improve to 3-2 on the season heading into SCIAC play next weekend.
La Verne overcame a 7-2 decifit in the seventh inning to overtake Pacific Lutheran. Mark Larini was the offensive hero for the Leopards against the Lutes, batting in both the game-tying and game-winning runs.
La Verne erupted for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull to within a run at 7-6, only to watch the Lutes add a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on a Geoff Gabler homer to give PLU a 9-6 advantage. Back came the Leopards in the bottom half, as a Jon-Michael Hattabaugh RBI single was followed by a two-run single from Larini to knot the game at 9-9.
After the Lutes reclaimed the lead at 10-9 in the top of the 10th, the Leopards loaded the bases in the bottom half of the frame to set the stage for Larini, who delivered with a two-run double down the left field line that scored Hattabaugh and Allen Komori to end the game. Komori pitched the final three innings to earn the win.
Both teams registered 15 hits while the Leopards overcame three errors. Larini totaled 4 RBI for the game on a 3-3 performance at the plate. Victor Pinado tallied 3 hits along with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
A night earlier against Chapman, the Leos plated a pair of runs in both the fifth and seventh innings to take a 4-2 lead and finished with a three-run ninth inning to sweep the home-and-home set with the nation's second-ranked team in Division III. The Leopards pounded out 13 hits highlighted by solo homers from Pinada and Kevin Ibarra. Pinado went 3-3 with 2 runs scored.
On the mound, the trio of Tim Jolly, Willie Patti and Grant Wheatley combined to allow two runs on five hits against Chapman as Patti earned the win while Wheatley registered a save. Jolly struck out 7 batters in 4 2/3 innings of work.
La Verne opens conference action next weekend with a three-game set against Cal Lutheran, beginning with a single game Friday in Thousand Oaks followed by a doubleheader saturday at Ben Hines Field.
The University of Redlands women's basketball team entered tonight's game against Whittier College with an opportunity to gain redemption against the Poets, following a tough loss to them in their first meeting on January 15.
After taking the lead with 9:11 to go in the first half, the Bulldogs accomplished just that by storming past Whittier en route to a solid 69-48 victory.
