SID Notes

November 11, 2009

It Is Definitely Bell Week!

I did an interview with a sports writer from the Wabash student newspaper, The Bachelor, this week discussing the planning and effort that goes into Monon Bell Week.

Want a sneak peek?

Just look around this week at the media coverage this game garners. Tuesday evening Fox 59 from Indianapolis stopped by to conduct interviews for the sport segment (view Jeremiah Johnson's piece and interviews with Coach Raeburn and the players here). After working with Jeremiah and Scott (the cameraman), I returned to my office to find three phone and email messages (OK, I already knew about the email messages thanks to my iPhone) with interview requests.

Today will be non-stop for both the players and Coach Raeburn. Matt Hudson and Kody LeMond will be my new office mates today as they sit down for two phone interviews. Want to find Coach Raeburn this afternoon? Look for the only coach with the phone glued to his ear in the Allen Center. His interview sessions start at 1:30 Wednesday afternoon and end at the start of practice.

It's a hectic week, but one more reminder of what makes this rivalry so special. Take a moment and think about what this week would be like without a Monon Bell game. Remember, it almost happened. The actions of a few fans (and players) nearly brought a hiatus to the annual meeting between these two great football programs.

So thanks to fans, players, alumni, and administration at both schools who continue to make this Monon Bell rivalry so much fun to be a part of behind the scenes. And thanks to the media --- local, statewide, and national --- who's interest and coverage also keep the mid-November game between Wabash and DePauw in the forefront of college football year after year.

It may be a lot of work for everyone involved, but I'll guarantee you it's worth it every year!

Posted by harrisb at 07:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 18, 2009

Starting the 2009-10 Sports Season

Monday marked the official start of the 2009-2010 sports season at Wabash College when 144 football and soccer players reported the Allen Athletics and Recreation Center.

The football team welcomed 51 freshmen to their ranks. Over half of the soccer team had just returned from a 10-day trip to Argentina, and were still basking in the memories of their South American adventure as they processed paperwork, took physicals, and ran the dreaded "beep test" to test their conditioning heading into the season. Imagine starting your first day at a new job by being asked to run back and forth over a distance of about 70 feet repeatedly, with the pace increasing every minute. The players were exhausted at the end of the session, ready to get to bed in preparation for the first practice on Tuesday.

The cross country team will join their ranks later this week, and will kickoff the start of fall competition with the annual Charlie Finch Alumni Run on August 29.

View a photo album from reporting day here.

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July 01, 2009

A Busy Summer

The Wabash campus has not gone quiet just because the summer months are here. Coaches have been busy over the past few weeks with camps and events, with the schedule continuing into the first week of July.

The past three days track and field coach Clyde Morgan has been working with six young men and women at his first hurdle camp at the College. Morgan has gone through everything from stretching and preparing for the race, mental preparation and visualization, running and hurdling technique to lifting and off-season workout routines. The group has shown great progress throughout the three-day event. Morgan was joined by former Wabash head coach Rob Johnson, current cross country coach Roger Busch, and NCAA national qualifier and rising senior Emmanuel Aouad for the training sessions.

Two weeks ago Brian Anderson's annual wrestling camp was another huge success. More than 300 wrestlers learned from former Olympians during the day. The campers put the moves learned from the morning and afternoon sessions to work in dual meets held each evening. (Read about the 2009 camp here)

Cory Stevens, Ryan Flynn, Matt Dodaro, and Tom Perkins will have Mud Hollow Field ready for the Indiana Bulls this Fourth of July weekend. The Bulls will host a 12-team tournament at Wabash and Purdue University Thursday through Sunday. There is no admission, so stop on by and watch some all-star high school baseball.

The past two weekends Chadwick Court and the Knowling Fieldhouse served as home court for several Indiana high school and middle school basketball players during the Hoosier Shootout. Coaches Mac Petty and Antoine Carpenter also held a skills camp the last week of June.

Even I've been busy throughout June. After taking a week off to travel east to see friends and family, I took a trip to San Antonio for the annual CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) conference. I picked up some new tips and techniques that you should see filter into releases and web stories throughout the coming year.

Speaking of the coming year and a busy summer, Pete Metzelaars ’82 has kept busy. He and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts coaching staff have been preparing for the opening of training camp on August 2. Metzelaars also received mention on the wire2 blog as one of the top-50 all-time Buffalo Bills football players. Pete was named the 37th-best player in Buffalo history, and was also named one of the top tight ends for the Bills by the blog. You can read the entry here.

I hope your summer has been safe and enjoyable. By the way, we are less than 45 days away from football and soccer players reporting for the 2009 season!

Photo - Wabash head baseball coach Cory Stevens prepares home plate between games. Mud Hollow is serving as one of two sites for the Indiana Bulls 2009 summer tournament.

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June 17, 2009

On The Mat With A Legend

Imagine being a young basketball player and learning that at your summer camp, Bobby Knight, Gene Keady, Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, and Kobe Bryant are going to be there teaching you how to play the game.

That's equal to the experience 320 wrestlers have gone through once again this year at the Brian Anderson Little Giant Wrestling Camp at Wabash College.

Anderson has brought in top talent every year for the camp, from college champions to Olympic medalists. This year's staff may be the best ever. (Click here for an overview and photos from the 2009 camp.)

Wednesday the campers had a chance to listen and learn from one of the best to ever lace up a pair of wrestling shoes and hit the mat for competition. Dan Gable's resume as both an athlete and coach is astounding. He won 118 matches at Iowa State with only one loss, and won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (without allowing any opponent to score a single point in any match, by the way!). As a coach Gable led Iowa to 15 national titles, including nine consecutive crowns. He led the Hawkeyes to 21 Big Ten titles along the way. Gable also served as the US Olympic Team coach at the 1980, 1984, and 2000 Olympic Games. His hometown of Waterloo, Iowa has even opened the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in his honor.

Gable taught two sessions in the Knowling Fieldhouse, not only focusing on the specific moves on the mat but the importance of making wrestling entertaining too.

"If you make wrestling entertaining, it's harder to be an extinction-type of sport," Gable said in between sessions as he discussed the sport's battles over the last 15 years to maintain a strong public image and its hold in the college sports scene. "With everything out there grabbing some of the focus over the last 15 years, it's almost like you've double the field of sports fighting money issues and regulations. Schools have a choice --- you can either double the amount you spend or cut back. Usually doing away with stuff that's easy to cut is the simplest way to do things. If you make wrestling entertaining it's harder to be that extinction-type of sport."

Gable was joined by another legend, Bruce Baumgartner. The 1995 Sullivan Award-winner as the outstanding US amateur athlete, Baumgartner has won more Olympic and World freestyle medals (13) than any other competitor. Joe Heskett (a four-time All-American at Iowa State and silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships), Reece Humphrey (three-time Indiana High School champion, two-time NCAA Nationals qualifier, and 2008 World University Championships silver medalist), and Heny Cejudo (2008 Olympic gold medalist at 121 pounds and the youngest gold medalist in US Olympic history) also served as clinicians during the four-day camp.

For former Wabash wrestler and current Crawfordsville High School teacher and wrestling coach Chris Ervin ’91, the decision to attend the camp every year has been an easy one.

"Our reason for coming year after year is the great job Coach Anderson has done is bringing top clinicians in every time. A lot of camps we've gone to — ones at Indiana University or Ohio State — get stale after a few years because the same people keep coming to teach over and over again. This camp is run extremely well to start with, then when you add the high quality coaching staff and clinicians that Brian puts together I just don't think it can be beat. The ten kids I brought to camp this year will have learned from three former Olympians. It would be difficult to find another camp that has that kind of draw anywhere in the country."

The hard work won't end for Anderson when the camp draws to a close on Thursday morning. He'll turn right back around and start working on the 2010 group of instructors in an attempt to top this year's group.

Photos (top right) - Dan Gable shows one of the campers how to use leverage against an opponent.

(Bottom right) - The legends of wrestling: Bruce Baumgartner and Henry Cejudo provide instruction for at the Brian Anderson Wrestling Camp.

Posted by harrisb at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 29, 2009

The Aouad Brothers - What A Week!

It’s been a pretty good week for the Aouad brothers.

Last weekend Wabash College junior Emmanuel Aouad competed at the NCAA Division III Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Marietta College in Ohio. The 110-meter hurdle specialist for the Little Giants earned his first trip to the Nationals after breaking the Wabash record in the event one week earlier in a last chance meet at North Central College. Eman posted a time of 14.68 at that meet to take a place among the field at the Nationals. He finished 14th overall at Marietta in his first experience.

This week Emmanuel became a spectator and cheerleader for his 13-year-old brother, Kennyi. The younger Aouad was competing for the third time in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. The Otter Creek Middle School eighth-grader, nicknamed “sardoodledom” after overcoming a giggling fit to spell that word correctly at the 2007 competition worked his way into this year’s finals. Aouad finished sixth after misspelling palatschinken, a thin Central European pancake often eaten for lunch or dinner.

The younger Aoaud, a 91st-place finisher in 2008, was also selected to speak to the 292 fellow spellers prior to the beginning of the national competition on May 27.

Emmanuel and Kennyi were shown together during a pre-recorded piece on the ABC finals telecast Thursday night. Each time Kennyi spelled a word correctly, the cameras would cut away to Eman and his mother, Salamatu Adama-Aouad, who were seated on-stage to the right of the final 11 spellers.

The television broadcast quickly became the Kennyi and Emmanuel Aouad Show. Kennyi would spell a word correctly, and the network would cut to Eman. The elder Aouad would give a thumbs-up and with a huge smile showing the support and pride in his brother’s accomplishments, would point to Kennyi. At one point, reporter Erin Andrews interviewed Kennyi, who immediately grabbed the microphone to begin to answer. Andrews chuckled and said, ““Oh, you want to take this, too? You are so confident, you are going to take my mike?”

Kennyi showed the same confidence his brother has shown during his three seasons as a track and field runner at Wabash. That is until palatschinken came up on the list. After misspelling the word, Kennyi immediately said, “It’s alright” before the bell sounded to notify him of his exit from the event. His smile never faded as he stepped to the right side of the stage to join Eman and his mother to watch the rest of the spelling bee.

Kennyi’s spelling career came to an end last night. As an eighth-grader, he was competing for the final time in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He will still be able to cheer his brother on next year as Emmanuel tries to earn another berth at the NCAA Nationals.

(Dan Steinberg from The Washington Post blogged about the Bee finalists prior to Thursday night’s event. He included comments from both brothers as Kennyi prepared for the finals. View his blog here. Steinberg wraps up the event as well, including a nice mention of Kennyi as the crowd favorite of the Bee here.)

Photos - (Top right) Kennyi Aouad competes in the early rounds at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Photo by Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee.

(Bottom left) Wabash College junior Emmanuel Aouad congratulates his brother, Kennyi, after the younger Aouad earned one of the 11 places in the finals of the National Spelling Bee. Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post.

Posted by harrisb at 08:56 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 27, 2009

Wabash Baseball Honors Boone

Graduation weekend at Wabash is full of activities for the senior class. Another group was also on campus that weekend, celebrating the rich history of Wabash baseball by honoring its greatest head coach.

Scott Boone ’81 took over the Little Giant baseball program in 1986 after a tremendous career as a three-sport athlete at Wabash. Thrust into the position when former head coach Dale Sprague departed three days before the team departed for its annual spring break trip to Florida, "Boonie" led his charges to a 12-19 record.

It wouldn't take long for Boone to turn the program around. The next season, "Boonie" and his Wabash team posted a 17-17 record and a second-place finish in the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, earning Boon Coach of the Year honors in the conference. His teams went on to win 20 or more games four times, culminating in a 25-15 season in his final year at Wabash. Boone left to take the head football coaching position at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia before eventually landing in his current position as an assistant football coach at the College of William & Mary.

His numbers on the diamond are unequalled among Wabash coaches. He is the all-time leader in wins with a record of 210-207-1. Boone's 25-win season was matched by his former players one season after he left when the 1998 team went 25-9 and captured the ICAC baseball crown.

"Boonie" was a star at Wabash before he ever stepped on the baseball diamond as a head coach. He earned 11 varsity letters as a member of the Little Giant football, basketball, and baseball teams. Sports Illustrated was so impressed by his achievements the magazine published a story entitled "The Three-Sport Man: Hail and Farewell." He is still ranked among the all-time Wabash leaders in kick returns, touchdown pass receptions, and average yards per catch in football. As a basketball player, his 107 career steals and 213 assists are still among the best marks ever posted by a Wabash athlete. Boone's .378 career batting average topped the Little Giant record book until it was broken this year by senior Jake Thomas and his .386 four-year average. Boone is still second among Wabash players in career stolen bases, swiping 58 in four seasons including 21 in 1979.

Twenty-five fellow Wabash teammates, former players, and supporters joined Boone the day before graduation to honor the former Little Giant legend. Wabash athletics director Tom Bambrey ’68 and Boone's father — former Wabash athlete and baseball coach Bill "Papa" Boone — presented "Boonie" with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat engraved with his career accomplishments as a head coach at Wabash. A replica bat will also be mounted in the trophy case in the Allen Center.

Weather kept the Wabash athletes from reliving their days in a Little Giant uniform once again on the Mud Hollow Field. The 25 former players still found time to tell stories, throw the baseball around in between the raindrops, and honor "Some Little Giant" — Scott Boone.

Photos - (top left) Bill "Papa" Boone tells another story about his son, Scott. The younger Boone was honored for his outstanding coaching career as the Wabash baseball coach at a gathering of Little Giant baseball alums on May 16.

(Middle right) Former Wabash players Zak Judd ’99 and Matt McGuire ’00 listen as Boone is presented with an engraved Louisville Slugger bat.

(Bottom left) "Papa" Boone and Wabash AD Tom Bambrey make the presentation.

Posted by harrisb at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 19, 2009

2008-2009 Season Review: Part III

Winter sports were still in the heart of competition when Clyde Morgan’s 2009 track and field team took to the indoor surface for the first time in January. Morgan took over the program from retired legendary coach Rob Johnson, and immediately brought a new excitement mixed with several of Johnson’s traditions. By the end of the year every Little Giant track fan would know M.O.W.N.B.U. (Men of Wabash Nothing Break Us!), a phrase joined from Morgan’s motto (NBU) and Johnson’s familiar cry of “We Are Wabash Men, and We Know We Can!”

The first few meets led to the traditional indoor conference championship event. Wes Chamblee, Emmanuel Aouad, Wade Heiny, and Kevin McCarthy each earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors while guiding the Little Giants to a fifth place team finish.

Late February arrived, and with it the start of tennis and baseball. Head coach Jason Hutchison’s netters opened the 2009 season with three victories before running into a buzz saw schedule of nationally- and regionally-ranked opponents. The tough early competition would help a young squad of freshmen and sophomores gain valuable experience while seniors Jay Horrey, Sean Clerget (right), Ian Sequeira, and Ryan Waldon provide their leadership on the court.

The first trip for the baseball team would be a portent for the rest of the season. Wabash split the first two games of a three-game set in Birmingham, Alabama before having to return home after a freak snowstorm scattered five inches of snow throughout the southern portion of the United States. One week later the Little Giants would make an early return from their spring break trip to Texas when rain and cold weather in the San Antonio and Dallas regions cancelled the last few games of their ten-game schedule.

Track and field returned to action when the outdoor season got underway in March. Wabash athletes posted 18 top-three performances at the J. Owen Huntsman Relays. A week later the Little Giants took fourth place at the DePauw Invitational, crushing their fellow Division III opponents in the final team results. The Wabash team continued to get stronger and faster until the end of the season. The Little Giants were finally ready to show their best at the NCAC Outdoor Championship Meet. Eighteen athletes earned All-NCAC honors by finishing in the top-three places in their events, led by Alex Moseman and Chamblee as individual champions. Wabash finished third as a team, trailing second-place Allegheny by seven points in the final standings.

Great conference finishes were also in store for the Wabash tennis and golf teams. The Little Giant linksters were the last group of athletes to start their season. After some up-and-down results throughout the year — with the high notes coming when Jordan Vice (left) won medalist honors at the Hanover Invitational and the team as a whole cruised to another victory in the Giant-Engineer Match Play Classic against Rose-Hulman — the squad was poised to compete in the final meet of the year. The Little Giants took fourth place at the NCAC Championship event and fifth overall in the four-tournament NCAC Championship Series. Vice finished tied for fifth in the final individual standings to earn First Team All-Conference honors for the second time in his career. Sam Russell joined Vice on the All-NCAC squad as a Second Team selection, giving Wabash two all-conference players for the first time since joining the league in 1999.

The tennis team scored a third place finish at the NCAC Tournament — the best finish ever by a Little Giant team. Horrey rewrote the Wabash record book for singles and double wins while picking up First Team All-NCAC honors. He and Clerget scored All-Conference Honorable Mention honors for their doubles play throughout the season.

The tennis record book was not the only place where Little Giant players used an eraser. Senior Jake Thomas and Matt Dodaro (left) demolished nearly every offensive record to help Wabash tie for first place in the NCAC’s West Division and earn its first-ever trip to the conference baseball tournament. “Tooma” and “Dodo” weren’t the only players on the team setting records. Keegan Leckrone became the all-time leader after recording his ninth career save for Wabash. Freshman Brian Lares became the first rookie to pound out 50 hits in the season to show the future of the Little Giant program is in good hands.

Wabash played at Wooster in the opening round of the baseball tournament, handing the nationally-ranked Fighting Scots program its only loss of the season in a 6-5 10-inning win in game one. Wooster took game two to set up a winner-take-all finale. The Scots took an early lead before Wabash rallied for a 4-2 edge heading into the seventh. Wooster’s experience as an 11-time NCAC champion showed in the late innings. The Scots picked up three runs in the seventh on the way to a 6-4 win and eventually a 12^th conference crown. Dodaro earned the first all-tournament team award for Wabash, while he and teammates Thomas, Leckrone, Andy Weeks, and PJ Tyson were All-Conference picks by the coaches. The loss to Wooster in a close final game seems even bigger now that the Scots have just advanced to the NCAA Championship series with a shot at winning the Division III national title.

All of that would appear to bring the 2008-2009 sports season to an end, but we’re still not finished. Aouad (right) earned a berth in the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championship this weekend, becoming the first Wabash sprinter to make the trip to nationals in 13 years. He will compete in the three-heat preliminaries Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Marietta, Ohio in an attempt to make the finals and earn All-America honors.

The 2008-2009 season was full of highs and lows, records and memorable individual and team accomplishments. While we will always keep this season in our minds as one of the best ever by each of the Wabash teams, the Little Giant athletes are already preparing to make the 2009-10 season even better.

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