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Category: College

Jayhawks add DE Neal Page to football recruiting class

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Dominant defensive end Neal Page of Birmingham, Mich., chose to play football at the University of Kansas, signing with the Jayhawks and head coach Charlie Weis. Page, who prepped at Seaholm High School, is the 19th player to sign with KU in the February signing period, in addition to three January transfers, pushing Weis’ first class haul to a total of 22 athletes.

A three-year starter at defensive end at Seaholm, Page set the all-time records at the school in tackles for a loss, tackles by a defensive lineman and most quarterback pressures. He finished his outstanding prep career ranked third in school history with 20.5 sacks on his way to receiving All-Area honors. Page was also named a First Team All-OAA (Oakland Activities Association) selection following his senior season, after helping lead the Maples to the State Playoffs for the first time in six seasons and a 6-4 overall mark.

Page, who was twice named a team captain at Seaholm, chose the Jayhawks over interest from Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Illinois.

Page is one of five defensive linemen to sign with KU during the February 2012 signing period. He joins fellow high school signee Tyler Holmes (Sachse HS) and junior college linemen Ty McKinney (Trinity Valley CC), Keon Stowers (Georgia Military College) and Jordan Tavai (El Camino CC) in Weis’ first signing class.

— KU Sports Information —

Highland CC transfer Gulley earns MVC honor for Missouri State

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For the eighth time this season, the Missouri State men’s basketball team has earned a Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Award. Jarmar Gulley (Jr., G/F, Beaumont, Texas) was named as the MVC’s top newcomer on Monday after a stellar week to close out the regular season.

It is Gulley’s second MVC Newcomer of the Week honor this season. He also was given the distinction on Dec. 12.

A transfer from Highland (Kan.) Community College, Gulley posted a career-high and game-high 20 points in Saturday’s overtime loss at Evansville, knocking down a career-high 3 three-pointers.  He was 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-3 from long distance, and had 8 rebounds against the Aces in the regular-season finale. He also had a double-double in the home finale against Indiana State on Feb. 22, registering 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting and a game-high 10 rebounds.  For the week, he averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, was 4-for-5 (.800) from three-point range, and 13-for-21 (.619) from the field.

Missouri State’s eight MVC Newcomer of the Week laurels is the second-most ever by a single school since the conference began presenting the award in 2003-04. Only Creighton, with 10 awards in 2007-08, has had more in a single campaign.

Gulley and the Bears open the 2012 State Farm MVC Tournament Friday at 8:35 p.m. in a rematch with third-seeded Evansville in the quarterfinals. For more “Arch Madness” and postseason award information, check MissouriStateBears.com throughout the week.

— MSU Sports Information —

KU’s Robinson named Big 12 Player of the Week

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Kansas junior Thomas Robinson has been chosen the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player, for games of Feb. 20-26 in voting by a panel of media covering the conference. Robinson is winning the honor for a league-high fourth time this season.

Robinson helped Kansas clinch at least a tie for its eighth-straight outright or shared regular-season Big 12 Championship. The Washington, D.C., forward began the week with 10 points and 13 rebounds in a 66-58 victory at Texas A&M. He followed that performance with 28 points and 12 rebounds as KU defeated No. 3 Missouri, 87-86 in overtime. Against the Tigers, he had 18 points in the second half and overtime, including a three-point play with 16 seconds remaining to tie the game. He also blocked MU’s shot at the end of regulation to guarantee the extra session. For the week, Robinson averaged 19.0 points and 12.5 rebounds, shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the line.

The four Big 12 Player of the Week honors for Robinson in 2011-12 is tied for the third-most in a season in conference history. The list of four-time honorees includes former KU great Drew Gooden in 2001-02, Texas’ Kevin Durant (2006-07) and P.J. Tucker (2005-06) and Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer (1999-00). All of the previous four-time honorees were later named the Big 12 Player of the Year.

With Robinson’s accolade, Kansas has won Big 12 Player of the Week seven times in 2011-12 by four different players – Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor, Travis Releford and Jeff Withey. The seven times is a season best for Kansas surpassing its six selections during the 2001-02 season.

— KU Sports Information —

Griffon baseball takes two from Nebraska-Kearney Sunday

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The Missouri Western baseball team (4-3) used some dramatics and a strong dose of offense to sweep the day two double header from Nebraska-Kearney.

Game 1: MWSU 3, UNK 2

Pinch hitter Bubba Dotson hit a walk off double in the bottom of the seventh scoring Michael Schulze from third and Shawn Egge from first giving Western a 3-2 come from behind victory over the Lopers. Schulze led off the inning with a doulbe and then advanced to third on a bunt single by Egge setting up Dotson’s heroics.

Things looked good for the Griffons in the first getting singles by Egge and David Chew. Unfortunatley they would be stranded on base. The Lopers scored the frist run of the game in the fourth when Erik Montes homered to left field off Griffon pitcher Nik Jurado.

Western left three more runners on in the fourth and one in the fifth before Western got on the board. Nate Ramler led off the sixth innning with his second home run off the season tying the score at one. Jurado got out of a jam in the seventh and got the win with the walk off. Jurado went all seven giving up one earned run and four hits while striking out four. He improves to 1-0 on the season.

The Lopers had four hits with Eric Ringblom getting two. Mike Nowak started the game going 4.1 innings with two hits while walking five. Mike Loseke pitched 1.2 innings in relief giving up five hits and three earned runs. Loseke falls to 0-2 with the loss.

Game 2: MWSU 12, UNK 5

After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning, the Griffons scored three runs each in the third, fifth and sixth innings on the way to a 12-5 drubbing of the Lopers. Western added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth.

A Jake Graham double in the fourth brought  Bubba Dotson and Nate Ramler in to put the Griffons up for good. Grant Fink’s Double Bubble double in the fifth plated Michael Schulze and Shawn Egge.

Spencer Shockley led off the Griffon seventh with an inside the park home run to left-center field after Alex Miller’s foot got caught under the fence in center field. Five of Western’s 12 hits were doubles and eight of 12 runs were earned.

Mason Queen (1-0) picked up the win for Western, going 5 1/3 with seven hits allowed and two runs. Queen struck out three, walked none, but did hit two Loper batters. Logan Hollingsworth surrendered two earned runs on four hits in relief of Queen. Jake Jones relieved Hollinsworth and allowed two hits and an unearned run in 3 2/3 innings of work.

Kyle Simpson finished 3-5 with two RBI, Graham, Fink and Ramler added two RBI’s each.

Western hits the road next week for an early test in the MIAA. The Griffons land in Warrensburg to face off with No. 3 Central Missouri. The Griffons and Mules will play one Friday, March 2, a double-header on Saturday and close the series with one game on Sunday.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Bearcats get swept by Arkansas Tech

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After earning a split with the Riverhawks on Saturday Northwest Missouri State looked to do the same with Arkansas Tech Sunday afternoon. However the Bearcat bullpen faltered as the Wonder Boys took a 14-7 win at Rousey Field in non-conference college baseball action.

The Bearcats fell to 1-7 on the year as regional power, Arkansas Tech, moved to 7-6 on the season. Northwest opens MIAA action next weekend as they travel to Fort Hays State for a four-game series starting with a single nine inning game on Friday.

After falling behind 6-0 the Bearcat bats answered the call scoring three runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to pull within one run.

Jake Kretzer led off with a single and one batter later Travis Green would double Kretzer home starting the rally. After a walk to Jon Pomatto, Ryan Abernathy would crush a bases clearing triple into the gap to make the score 6-3.

The Bearcats’ two runs in the fourth would also come via a Travis Green triple just ahead of a Kretzer’s sacrifice fly. Green went 3-for-4 on the day with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Northwest would scratch across runs in the fifth and another in the sixth on Abernathy’s fourth hit of the day driving home Green. The run pulled the Bearcats to within 11-7 as Abernathy finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs in the loss. Abernathy also extended his brief hitting streak to seven games.

However that would be as close as the Bearcats could get as Cody Hatman shut down Northwest out of the Wonder Boys’ bullpen. Hatman pitched five innings and scattered 10 hits, but only allowed the one run.

Northwest starter Chase Anderson only went 3.1 innings allowing five hits and six runs while walking three and striking out three.

Josh Parrish faced the same tough luck as he only lasted 2.2 innings giving up four hits and five runs. Only two of Parrish’s runs were earned however, as errors haunted the Bearcats in the Oklahoma finale.

Northwest finished with 17 hits on the day, a season high, however, the Bearcats gave up four home runs to Arkansas Tech as well.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

19th ranked Griffons win two more at Five-State Classic

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The 19th ranked Missouri Western softball team improved to 14-3 on the season with two victories on the final day of the Arkansas-Monticello 5-State Classic. Western won game on of the day hanging on for a 7-6 extra inning victory. In game two Western used a strong pitching performance from Bishop earning a 3-1 victory over Arkansas-Monticello.

In game one the Griffons jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Illinois-Springfield raillied back to tying the score at six after five innings of play. Western was able to get a run in the eighth inning while Annelee Rubio struckout two of the final three batters earning the victory in releif.

Rubio went 3.2 inning giving up just one hit while striking out five. Emily Moe went 4.1 innings striking out six. Rubio improved to 4-3 with the victory.

Offensively Western had 12 hits with Kandall Sorensen going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Sarah Elliot and Keri Lorbert each had two hits for Western.

In game two Jackie Bishop allowed six hits while striking out eight and giving up just one run in the 3-1 victory. Bishop improves to 8-0 on the season and this marked the first game this season where she had less than 10 strikeouts.

Western scored two runs in the second inning off three hits. Leah Steele doubled in Taylor Anding and pinch runner Erin Widrig. The Griffon scored their third run in the fourth off a Kat Steponovich single which scored Meagan Roemmich.

Kim Robinson had two of the Griffons seven hits as they left three runners on base.

Kayla Jackson picked up the loss for UAM going six innings giving up seven hits while striking out three. She gave up two earned runs.

Western will play their first home games of the season on Tuesday, March 6 when they host Quincy University in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 pm from the Griffon Softball Field at the Spring Sports Complex.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Northwest softball finishes 4-1 in Arkansas

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The Northwest Missouri State softball team closed out the UAM Quad-State Classic Sunday with a pair of wins. The Bearcats earned an 8-5 victory over UMSL and an 11-3 win in five innings from host Arkansas-Monticello to finish a successful weekend.

The Bearcats got back to the .500 mark on the season after going 4-1 on the weekend. Northwest continues tournament action next weekend as they head to Joplin for the Teri Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament hosted by Missouri Southern.

In Sunday’s early game, Northwest scored eight runs on 10 hits and held off a rally from UMSL to cap the 8-5 win.

In their final game of the tournament the Bearcats stopped a red-hot Arkansas-Monticello team. Northwest halted UAM, who had won six straight, taking a five inning 11-3 win from the host school.

The Bearcats only loss of the tournament came Saturday morning to the University of Illinois-Springfield. After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead the Prairie Stars rallied scoring six unanswered runs for an 11-3 win ending the game in the sixth inning.

In the nightcap on Saturday the Bearcats downed Rockhurst 6-4.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest track teams improve provisional marks at MIAA Championships

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The Northwest Missouri State track and field teams did not come home with any team or individuals titles at the MIAA Indoor Championships, but had several performances to help solidify NCAA Provisional marks for the NCAA National Championships in March.

The Bearcat men finished seventh as a team while the women finished ninth during the three-day event. Central Missouri ran away with the men’s title while Lincoln edged Central Missouri on the women’s side.

Seven Northwest men earned top five finishes highlighted by Travis Manning and Porter Groves who each improved their NCAA provisional marks while Will Haer completed a runner-up finish in the pole vault.

Groves earned a third-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 48 feet. Groves was just six inches behind champion Taylor McClelland from Missouri Southern with a jump of 48-06.75. The Lions claimed first and second-place finishes in the triple jump as they earned a runner-up team finish.

Travis Manning improved his time in the 60-meter hurdles, but will have to wait and see if it was fast enough to earn a spot in next month’s National Championships.

Although Haer did not improve on his NCAA provisional standing, the junior stands to likely earn a spot in the NCAA meet with his jump earlier this winter.

Pittsburg State’s Colby Snyder recorded a 16-10.00 jump in the pole vault to claim the title, which was an automatic mark.

The Bearcat women saw a three top five finishes from Brittany Poole, Lekiesha McKnight and Chloe Wichman who earned her top five finish in the 600-yard run, while Brianna Evans earned an NCAA provisional in the 60-meter dash.

McKnight, who bettered her NCAA provisional, finished fourth in the shot put with a distance of 47-02.25. MIAA Champion Kayla Muyskens who threw an NCAA automatic mark of 49-09.75.

Poole ran to a third-place finish in the 3,000-meters with a time of 10:12.15 behind runners from Lincoln and Emporia State’s Katelyn Mona’s first-place time of 10:00.59.

Evans was up against some of the toughest competition as MIAA Champion, Latoya King of Lincoln, raced to the title while also capturing a building record with a time of 7.53. Evans provisional mark sits in the middle of the pack as she will also have to wait to see if her time of 7.72 will qualify her for the NCAA meet.

Evans and the rest of the Bearcats won’t know for sure if they’ve qualified for NCAAs until Feb. 28 when the official entry list is revealed. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships are set for March 9-10 in Mankato, Minn.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Koch becomes MWSU’s All-Time leading scorer in win over SBU

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Missouri Western senior forward Jessica Koch from Kansas City, Mo. became Missouri Western’s all-time leading scorer on a free throw with 2:29 to play in an 86-69 victory over Southwest Baptist. Koch has 1,751 career points which is one better than previous record holder Lisa Hughes. With the victory the Griffons make the MIAA tournament on Thursday, March 1st against Washburn at 12:00 pm in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Last season Western fell 58-55 in the first round of the tournament.

Fighting for a post season spot in the MIAA tournament the Griffons came out on fire shooting 64.3-percent (18-28) from the field in the opening frame. They sank 9-of-14 long range shots with senior Brittany Casady connecting on four three’s for 14 points in the half.

Senior’s Ashleigh Curry and Koch dumped in 16 and 11 points respectively for Western.

The first half was never close as the Griffons jumped out to a 20-9 lead at the 12:35 mark of the first half after two Abby Stone free throws. Western continued the pressure outscoring the Bearcats 32-19 the rest of the way taking a 52-28 halftime lead. The 52 points is the highest point total in a half for Western this season.

Western outscored the Bearcats 16-8 in the paint and scored 12 points off 12 SBU turnovers. SBU shot just 34.4-percent (11-32) from the field as LaKendra Smith led the way with 11 points.

The Bearcats opened up the second half scoring the first nine points cutting the Griffon lead to 54-39 with 16:43 to play.

The Griffons remained calm pushing their lead to 20 once again after Koch’s lay-up with 12:27 to play. The Bearcats could not get any closer than 15 the rest of the game as the Griffons held a 27 point lead at 72-45.

The Griffons finished outscoring the Bearcats 30-22 in the paint and had 20 points off 20 Bearcat turnovers. Casady finished with a career high 18 points while Koch and Curry finished with 24 and 20 respectively. Western improves to 7-19 overall and 5-15 in MIAA play.

The Bearcats were led by Smith wih 21 points while Brittney Dukes dumped in 17. The Bearcats end its season 9-17 overall and 4-16 in MIAA play.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Bearcats beat Southern to earn share of MIAA championship

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It was a heavy weight bout Saturday with each fighter throwing punches and battling to the final bell. After all the dust cleared it was 16th-ranked Northwest Missouri State outlasting 10th-ranked Missouri Southern 67-64 on Saturday clinching a share of the MIAA Regular Season Championship.

The Bearcats improved to 21-5 on the year and 15-5 in the MIAA finishing in a three-way tie with Central Missouri and Washburn for the regular season title. Defending champion Missouri Southern fell to 22-6 overall and 14-6 in league play.

With time running down Missouri Southern missed a shot and a tip-in under their own basket before the smallest player on the court grabbed the biggest rebound of his career.

DeShaun Cooper corralled the Keane Thomann miss and stepped to the free throw line after being fouled, sinking both with two seconds left. Cooper finished with a game high 21 points, his fourth straight game of 20-plus points to close the regular season. The junior added eight assists and went 3-for-4 from behind the three-point line.

The Lions would have a half court heave at the buzzer as the Bearcats claimed their first conference championship since the 2006-07 season.

Cooper hit a three pointer to open the game as Northwest would lead most of the first half. The Bearcats trailed just briefly as the Lions hit a jumper at the 10:12 mark taking a 16-14 lead.

Northwest would steal the momentum back on the next possession as DeAngelo Hailey hit a jumper sparking a 14-5 Northwest run. From there the Bearcats would take a 34-23 lead at halftime.

In the second half Northwest led the entire half fighting off continuous runs by the defending league champion.

After a three pointer from Cooper that gave Northwest a 61-50 lead, MSSU would rally to tie the game with just over a minute remaining. However, the conference’s leading free throw shooter, DeShaun Cooper, hit four free throws to preserve the Northwest victory.

Seniors Jake Reinders and Kyle Haake also stepped up big on senior day. Reinders grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds while Haake added 14 points in the win.

Reinders and Dillon Starzl combined defensively to limit the league’s leading scorer Thomann to 14 points and only three rebounds.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

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