Wednesday, May 25, 2011

W&J wins another PAC men's all-sports trophy

Washington & Jefferson College has won its seventh consecutive Presidents’ Athletic Conference Men’s All-Sports Trophy.

The seven consecutive trophies are a conference record. The award was established during the 1989-90 season and W&J has won the men’s honor 12 of the 22 years. W&J won its first and only women’s all-sports trophy in 2005-06.

The Presidents’ garnered 55.5 points and used a men’s golf title during the spring season to clinch the trophy. Grove City (48) was second, with Westminster (43), Saint Vincent (42.5), Thomas More (40.5), Bethany (39), Thiel (35.5) and Waynesburg (34) rounding out the standings.

Grove City won four PAC team championships and earned the women’s all-sports trophy with 61 points. Westminster (59) and W&J (49) completed the top three. Washington & Jefferson won women’s conference championships in soccer and track & field to grab the third spot. The women’s soccer title was the Presidents’ third in a row, and the track & field squad picked up its third league championship in six years.

Saint Vincent was fourth in the women’s competition with 47 points, while Thomas More (39), Waynesburg (37.5), Bethany (37), Thiel (24.5) and Chatham (24) wrapped up the standings.

The PAC All-Sports Trophies are awarded to the schools which perform the best across the board in league competition. First-place finishes are worth nine points (eight for men), second place equals eight points (seven men) ... last place is worth one point.

W&J men’s teams finished among the top three places in six of the 10 PAC-sponsored sports, including the 15th men’s golf conference championship in school history as well as runner-up finishes in football and track & field.

Labels:

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

PAC coaching changes

The PAC lost two of its most successful coaches in the last two days.

On Tuesday, six-time Presidents’ Athletic Conference cross country/track & field Coach of the Year Mark FitzPatrick resigned from Washington & Jefferson to become the head men’s and women’s track & field position at Denison University.

FitzPatrick, who guided the W&J women’s track & field team to its third PAC title two weeks ago, spent eight years as the head coach for the Presidents. He coached two track & field NCAA All-Americans and led W&J to its first men’s track & field team championship in 2010, He also had PAC women’s titles in 2006, 2007 and 2010. In 2005, he helped Matthew Rudzki become the first PAC cross country medalist in W&J history.

Today, Brian Neal resigned as the head women's basketball coach at Thomas More to become an assistant at Xavier University.

Neal had an .847 winning percentage (171-31) over seven seasons. He led Thomas More to NCAA postseason play each of the last five seasons, including Sweet 16 finishes in 2008 and 2011. Neal guided the Saints to six straight PAC regular-season titles, five straight PAC tournament titles, six straight 20-win seasons and two undefeated regular seasons in his seven years in Crestview Hills. This past season, Thomas More spent several weeks ranked No. 1 in Division III.

Labels: