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Chiefs sign former Bearcat Chad Kilgore

Cowboys Raiders FootballThe Kansas City Chiefs announced on Wednesday that the club has signed free agent linebacker Chad Kilgore.

Kilgore (6-1, 230) originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Oakland Raiders in 2012. He spent the 2012 training camp with the Raiders before being released prior to the regular season.

The Orrick, Mo., native played in 57 games at Northwest Missouri State, recording 392 tackles (165 solo), 7.0 sacks (-36.0 yards), five interceptions, 12 passes defensed and three forced fumbles. He prepped at Excelsior Springs High School where he earned all-state accolades as a senior.

— Chiefs Media Relations —

Northwest men’s tennis defeat Lindenwood, 8-1

riggertNorthwestThe Northwest Missouri State men’s tennis team beat Lindenwood 8-1 Wednesday afternoon in MIAA action.

The Bearcats improved to 8-3 on the season and snapped a brief two-game skid with the win.

Northwest won all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

Sergio De Vilchez led the way at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory for the Bearcats.

At No. 5 singles, Jason Harris stayed perfect on the season with a 6-4, 6-5 victory.

Northwest will travel to Bolivar, Mo., to make-up a match against regional foe Harding on Thursday afternoon.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

NWMSU’s Haer earns weekly MIAA track & field honor

riggertNorthwestNorthwest Missouri State senior Will Haer was named MIAA Men’s Field Athlete of the Week Monday as announced by the league office.

Haer captured the pole vault title over the weekend at the Missouri Relays. Haer’s mark of 15-07.00 improved his NCAA provisional mark giving the Craig, Mo. native the eighth best mark in NCAA Division II.

He has also won the pole vault in both outdoor events he has competed in this season.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest Missouri State tennis teams each lose to Cameron

riggertNorthwest

The Northwest Missouri State men’s tennis team dropped a heartbreaker Sunday afternoon falling to No. 20 Cameron 5-4.

The Bearcats dropped their second straight match after winning six straight. The Aggies have been impressive this season moving to 12-1 on the year.

Sergio De Vilchez continued to play well with his No. 1 doubles partner Lluis Altimires picking up an 8-6 win. The duo that advanced to the USTA/ITA Championships during the fall improved to 7-3 this season, however the rest of the Bearcats were not as fortunate.

Altimires picked up a win at No. 3 singles winning a tough match, 7-5, 6-3 over Dennis Merdan.

Jason Harris also earned a win at No. 6 singles and Alvaro Riveros won at No. 4 singles. Cameron rebounded to take No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 singles earning the 5-4 victory.
The Northwest Missouri State women’s tennis team ran into one of the nation’s top teams Sunday falling 8-0 to Cameron University.

The Bearcats fell to 5-5 on the season and have lost two in a row after a brief two-game winning streak. The No. 12-ranked Aggies improved to 10-1 on the year.

Cameron won all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles.

Camila Quesada battled at No. 1 singles but fell just short in the Bearcats closest match falling, 6-3, 6-4

The Northwest tennis teams have postponed their next two matches due to heavy snowfall in Missouri. The Bearcats will look for another date to make up both matches against MIAA foes, Lindenwood and Truman State.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Bearcats complete three-game sweep of Truman State

NWMSUThe Northwest Missouri State baseball team got an outstanding pitching performance in a 8-0 win, while the offense exploded for a 15-8 victory to finish a sweep of Truman State on Saturday.

Northwest improved to 9-16 on the season and 7-13 in the MIAA as the Bulldogs fell to6-18 overall and 6-17 in league play.

Game one saw Ryker Fox go the distance for a complete game five-hit shutout. Fox struck out three Bulldogs and only walked one on 88 pitches for his second win of the season in the seven inning affair.

The Bearcat offense took an early 1-0 lead when Brandon Huske belted a solo homerun over the fight field wall in the top of the first inning.

Although the one-run lead would be all Fox needed on the mound, the Bearcats got another solo homer from Eric McGlauflin in the top of the fifth inning to take a 2-0 lead.

The Bearcat bats then exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Northwest would bat around in the inning as JJ Baccari led off and reached on an error. Baccari capped the scoring with a two-RBI single up the middle as the Bearcats six runs came on four hits and two Truman errors.

McGlauflin, Charlie Krueger and Ryan Abernathy finished with two hits apiece, as Abernathy added a pair of RBIs.
Northwest scored in every inning but the first and seventh and blasted 17 hits en route to a 15-8 win in game two.
Cam Bedard, Eric Swain and Eric McGlauflin all hit home runs for the Bearcats.

After scoring two runs in the second inning, Bedard led off the third with a double in the gap to right. Just three pitches later, Bedard would steal third and a throwing error on the catcher saw the senior cross the plate starting the inning.
Swain would follow with a single to score Baccari as he reached on a double after Bedard scored. One batter later, McGlauflin blasted his fourth home run of the season giving Northwest a 7-0 lead. McGlauflin finished 2-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Chase Anderson picked up his third win of the season to move to 3-3 on the year in 6.1 innings of work. The Bearcat bullpen saw Rob Henrichs, Tyler Barth and Nathanial Horton pitch the final 2.2 innings allowing only three hits and two runs.
Northwest continues MIAA action on Tuesday as they travel to Missouri Western for a double-header in St. Joseph. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest track claims four titles at Mizzou Relays

riggertNorthwestSeveral Bearcats earned personal best marks Friday and Saturday at the Missouri Relays while four Northwest Missouri State track and field athletes walked away with titles at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.

Will Haer improved his NCAA provisional mark and also claimed the pole vault title with a mark of 15-07.00. The height was the second best of the senior’s career.

The other Bearcat to earn a provisional mark was Jordan Warner in the high jump. The freshman tied for second with a height of 6-04.75, currently the fourth best mark in NCAA-II.

Eli Smith finished one of the best weekends of his young career winning both the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. Smith raced to a time of 22.48 in the 200-meter dash and narrowly missed a provisional time. The sophomore also missed a provisional time and his personal best in the 400-meters by just over half a second, with a time of 48.63.

Travis Manning also came up just shy of a provisional time in the 110-meter hurdles. After a time of 15.08 in the preliminaries, Manning finished third in the finals with a time of 14.83 missing the provisional time at 14.69.
Senior Porter Groves also claimed the triple jump title with a distance of 40-1.25

For the Bearcat women, Anne Herbert raced to the second best time of her career in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Herbert earned a runner-up finish with a time of 11:22.55 giving her the second and third best times in the Northwest record books.
Senior Jordan Esry earned a personal best mark in the 5000-meter run racing to a seventh place finish. Esry crossed the finish line with a time of 17:54.97 – just missing the provisional time of 17:19 – and beating her personal best of 17:58.92 set last spring.

Ashton Nibert also won the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.24. Nibert missed a provisional mark, but the time was a personal best and the third best mark in Northwest history.

Adrienne Cornelius was another Bearcat to miss a provisional mark as she finished third in the 400-meter hurdles. Her time of 1:06.43 was two seconds shy of a personal best and four seconds shy of the NCAA provisional time.

The Bearcats will host the Herschel Neil Decathlon and Ashley Nally Heptathlon March 29-30 to close out spring break. The entire Bearcat team returns to action April 6 for the Northwest Open at Bearcat Stadium.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Bearcats win game one at Truman State Friday

riggertNorthwestThe Northwest Missouri State baseball team picked up its seventh win of the season Friday by beating Truman State 8-3 in a nine inning affair.

The Bearcats were able to have a big inning early in the game when they put five runs up in the top of the second inning. Paul Johnson was able to knock in Derek Meyer for the first run of the game. Johnson stole second and would eventually score on a throwing error. Ryan Abernathy also scored on an error to put Northwest up 3-0. Steven Garber picked up two RBIs with a single to center field to add to the total and put his team up 5-0.

Truman State got two runs back scoring one in the fourth and one in the fifth. The Bearcats added two more runs in the seventh inning as Brandon Huske scored on a throwing error and JJ Baccari knocked in Cam Bedard with a sacrifice fly.

Northwest added one more insurance one in the ninth inning when Baccari grabbed his second RBI of the game when he plated Bedard with a sac fly.

The Bulldogs added one in the ninth but that would be it as the Bearcats improved to 7-16, 5-13 with the 8-3 victory.

Marcus Garrett picked up win number two on the season as he went 7.0 strong innings giving up three hits and collecting two strikeouts.

The series will continue tomorrow with a double-header. Game one will be a seven inning contest with first pitch scheduled for noon followed immediately by the final game of the series which will be a nine inning game.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest softball takes two from Northern State

NWMSUThe Northwest Missouri State softball team hosted Northern State at Bearcat Field Friday and combined for a two game total of 38 runs as the Bearcats took the first game 4-1 and game two 17-16 in extra innings.

Northern State took an early lead as they plated one run in the top of the first inning of game one. The Bearcats were held scoreless by Wolves starter, Smesmo, until the third inning.

Rachel Schmitz led the inning off with a walk followed by a Jordan Ereth double to put runners at second and third. Candace Miller hit a double to left field to score Schmitz and move Ereth to third.

Stephanie Price then laid down a bunt and beat it out to load the bases for Kristen Uthe. Uthe smacked a bases clearing double to left center field to put Northwest up 4-1.

Smesmo settled in for the Wolves and did not allow another run. However it was the Bearcats starter who earned the upper hand as Jenna Creger also fell into a groove in the circle not allowing any hits after the first inning.

Creger set down 18 consecutive batters in order on her way to her seventh victory of the season. The senior pitcher collected seven strikeouts as the Bearcats claimed a 4-1 victory.

Game two was an offensive slugfest that consisted of six home runs, three doubles, a triple and 17 runners left on base.

Northern State scored two runs in the top of the fourth and two more in the third. Northwest was able to run across five runs in the first, six runs in the second and four more runs in the third to go up 15-4.

The Wolves battled back scoring two runs in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth while the Bearcats were added one run in the fourth inning. The Wolves had come back from an 11 run deficit to tie the game at 16 and push it into extra innings.

International tie-breaker rules were in effect in the eighth inning and NSU ended up stranding a runner on third.

In the bottom half of the inning Kylie Cantrell was placed on second base and moved to third on a Rachel Schmitz sacrifice bunt. Ereth proceeded to hit a walk-off single up the middle to end the game as Northwest claimed a 17-16 win.

Hailee Hendricks, Stephanie Price and Cantrell all hit home runs for the Bearcats. Kristine Labertew and Hendricks combined to finish 5-for-8 with six RBIs and four runs scored.

Abbie Vitosh was the starting pitcher for Northwest but got a no-decision. Morgan Brunmeier picked up her first win of the season with 4.1 innings of work.

The Bearcats will be back on the road to take on Pittsburg State March 29 for a double-header at 3 p.m. Northwest will continue its road swing the following day at Missouri Southern in a twin bill starting at noon.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest men’s tennis defeats Southern Indiana, 5-3

riggertNorthwestA complete team effort helped No. 25 Northwest Missouri State hold off No. 41 Southern Indiana, 5-3 Thursday in men’s tennis action.

The Bearcats improved to 7-1 on the season as Southern Indiana fell to 5-4. The match kicks off a stretch of six matches in six days for Northwest as they start their spring break road trip.

Northwest picked up wins at No. 1 doubles as Sergio De Vilchez and Lluis Altimires fought for a 9-8 victory. At No. 3 doubles, Dylan Bernatzky and Alvaro Riveros claimed an 8-2 win giving the Bearcats a 2-1 lead.

Heading into singles action Sergio De Vilchez claimed his sixth straight win at No. 1 singles with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. De Vilchez is now a combined 13-3 as a freshman counting dual matches and tournament play.

Also impressive was Jason Harris at No. 6 singles who stayed perfect in duals at 8-0 with a, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Rodrigo Flores.

The two losses for the Bearcats came at No. 2 singles and No. 4 singles. Rafael Bugiga dropped a tough 6-1, 6-1 decision as Alvaro Riveros fell 1-6, 7-6, 7-6, for his first loss of the season.

The Bearcats return to action Friday as they head south to face Harding in Springfield, Mo. at the Cooper Indoor Tennis Complex.

— NwMSU Sports Information —

Tjeerdsma returns to Northwest Missouri State as Director of Athletics

NWMSUNorthwest Missouri State University announced Wednesday that one of the most successful and well-respected coaches in the history of collegiate athletics, Mel Tjeerdsma, will serve as the institution’s next director of athletics. Tjeerdsma starts his new role in mid-April.

Tjeerdsma, 66, announced his retirement as the Bearcat football head coach at a December 2010 news conference following 17 years of service at the institution where he orchestrated one of the greatest football program transformations in collegiate athletics.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as the athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University,” said Tjeerdsma, who was enthusiastically welcomed by the Bearcat coaching staff and student-athletes as well as Northwest alumni, faculty, staff, friends and community members at Wednesday’s news conference. “For 17 years, Northwest was our home, and we are excited to return to Maryville. The Northwest athletics program has a rich and outstanding tradition, and it is my goal to see it continue to thrive and improve in the years to come. ‘Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat’ is more meaningful to me now than ever before.”

As Northwest’s director of athletics, Tjeerdsma will be responsible for leading the institution’s athletics program, providing an overall vision for the program and serving as the lead athletics fundraiser. Tjeerdsma will oversee the University’s athletics personnel, budget and facilities and will work to address an athletics strategic plan and the funding necessary to address such.

“Northwest is ecstatic to welcome Mel and Carol back to campus,” said Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski. “We can proudly talk legacy and the past, but more pointedly, we look to a very bright future with Mel at the helm. This will not be a figurehead sort of position. His external focus on behalf of Northwest athletics will be invaluable as well as his focus on serving as a leader, mentor and guide to our student-athletes, athletics department, campus community and alumni and friends.”

Since departing Northwest in February 2011, Tjeerdsma coached Team USA to a world championship at the 2011 International Federation of American Football World Cup in Austria. He also was a member of Austin College’s Institutional Advancement development team where he led athletics fundraising efforts. Most recently, he served the NCAA, piloting the Coaches Connection program that used prominent former coaches to create a more effective dialogue between coaches and the Division II governance structure and staff.

Mike Johnson, vice president of university advancement, said Tjeerdsma’s return to Northwest marks an exciting time of growth and renewal at the University.

“Mel is a man of character and integrity, and he exudes winning on all fronts. His timely and most-welcome return will be embraced by all of Bearcat Nation,” Johnson said. “The opportunity to partner with such a proven leader excites us as we face a future focused on the health, wellness and competitive advantage of all Northwest athletes.”

Tracy Hoza, Northwest’s head women’s soccer coach since 2003 who also served as a member of the athletics director search committee, has expressed enthusiasm that her former colleague will be returning to Northwest.

“When Mel was a coach at Northwest, he took a sincere interest in all Bearcat athletics, along with football,” Hoza said. “Whether our teams were playing at home or on the road, you could count on receiving a text message from him offering his congratulations or a word of support. It wasn’t uncommon to see him at track meets, basketball games or anywhere else where the Bearcats were competing. He’s a real people person, connecting with coaches, student-athletes and the entire Northwest community.”

Four years after Tjeerdsma’s inaugural winless season with the Bearcats, Northwest became the first NCAA Division II football program to finish a season 15-0. The Bearcats won back-to-back national championships in 1998 and 1999 – the University’s first national titles in any sport. Northwest added a third championship in 2009 that capped an unprecedented run of five national championship game appearances that began in 2005. He captured a 32-10 overall postseason record, 12 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference championships and, with a record of 183-43, he is the Northwest football program’s all-time winningest coach.

Matching on-the-field performance were honors off the field. Tjeerdsma’s teams featured seven academic All-Americans in his last seven years as coach and he had two Ken B. Jones Award winners in his last five years, recognizing the top male student-athlete in the MIAA, as well as one National Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Tjeerdsma’s honors include being named the Kansas City Chiefs’ nominee for the Don Shula Coach of the Year Award and being inducted into the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He is a four-time national coach of the year honoree, was Liberty Mutual’s Coach of the Year in 2009 and is a 12-time MIAA Coach of the Year honoree.

Prior to coaching at Northwest, Tjeerdsma guided Austin College to three Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships and became the program’s all-time winningest coach. Before his time at Austin, Tjeerdsma was the offensive coordinator at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, for eight years. He also served as the head track and field coach at Northwestern. The Red Raiders earned four trips to the NAIA Division II playoffs and won a national championship in 1983 with Tjeerdsma on staff. His track and field teams won three Tri-State Conference titles and five consecutive NAIA District 15 Indoor Championships. Prior to his collegiate coaching career, Tjeerdsma served as head football coach at Denison (Iowa) High School, where he guided his team to a 9-0 record and a 1975 state playoff berth. He earned Northwest Iowa Coach of the Year honors in 1972 after winning a state championship at Sioux Center (Iowa) High School. He was the Northwest Iowa Track and Field Coach of the Year in 1973, 1974 and 1975.

Tjeerdsma earned his bachelor’s in physical education from Southern (S.D.) State College in 1967 and a master’s degree from Northwest in 1977. He and his wife, Carol, have three married daughters and eight grandchildren, and will soon relocate to Maryville.

Tjeerdsma succeeds Wren Baker, who resigned earlier this month to become the deputy athletic director of external affairs at the University of Memphis.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

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