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.

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.

Waynesburg-W&J time changes

Because of the Steelers' playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens this weekend, Washington & Jefferson College has moved up its men's-women's Presidents' Athletic Conference basketball doubleheader Saturday against Waynesburg by two hours.

The Presidents and Yellow Jackets will play the women's game at Henry Memorial Center at noon, followed by the men's game at 2 p.m.

Killeen among top free-throw shooters in NCAA history

Washington & Jefferson College senior point guard Kennan Killeen, pictured, the 2010 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, finished her career as the ninth-best free-throw shooter in NCAA Division III history.

Killeen, who scored 1,189 career points, made 85.6 percent (339-of-396) of her free throws during four seasons with the Presidents.

Anderson (Ind.) College's Angel Hall, a 2004 graduate, is the top free-throw shooter in NCAA Division III history at 89.5 percent (323-of-361).

Killeen likely could help many Division I men's teams with their free-throw shooting. For example, DePaul. The Blue Demons, who were eliminated from the Big East tournament earlier today, ranked 347th out of 347 Division I teams in free-throw shooting at 58.5 percent. The Blue Demons have three players shooting less than 50 percent from the line.

PAC: Big 2, Little 8

Washington & Jefferson and Thomas More played a memorable football game Saturday at Cameron Stadium, one that decided the Presidents' Athletic Conference championship.

That shouldn't come as a surprise. For years, W&J has been the giant in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, in the size of both its football linemen and its wallet. The Presidents have won 22 PAC football championships. And W&J's success has not been limited to football. Over the last decade, the Presidents have built a powerful athletic program with full-time head coaches and several sparkling new playing facilities as its blueprint for success.

Thomas More is a relative newcomer to the PAC, having joined in 2005. But the Saints have become a major player. Last year, Thomas More won PAC titles in the conference's three marquee sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball.

There is little doubt that W&J and Thomas More are the powerhouse athletic programs in the PAC. While Grove City has had much success - primarily in the pool, on the tennis courts and in the running sports - and Westminster's women won the conference's all-sports trophy last year on the strength of titles in volleyball and track & field, there is a big gap between W&J, Thomas More and the rest of the PAC. With the exception of cross country, the Big Two can be found in the top three in all current men's sports standings. The same can be said for women's volleyball and women's soccer. In reminds of the old days of Big Ten football with Ohio State, Michigan and then everybody else battling for third place.

This should concern the PAC because it's possible - some might say likely - that W&J and Thomas More will leave the PAC in the near future. W&J has made overtures on at least two occasions, including this year, to the North Coast Athletic Conference about joining that league. When Thomas More, which is located in Crestview Hills, Ky., joined the PAC many expected it to be a short-term relationship before the Saints joined a conference based closer to its campus. Thomas More had played as an independent before joining the PAC.

If W&J and Thomas More leave the PAC, then it will be a huge blow to the conference. Think back to the state of Big East football when Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami bolted for the ACC. The PAC will be in worse shape than Big East football was in 2005.

Four of the current PAC schools have athletic programs that are light years behind W&J and Thomas More. Bethany did not win a PAC championship in any sport last year. The last Bison titles came in the 2007-08 school year in men's basketball and softball. Thiel wins the conference title each year in wrestling, but there are only three schools that field teams in that sport and the other two have trouble filling the weight classes. Chatham is an all-girls school and the development of its athletic program is in its infancy.

The athletic program at Waynesburg is the worst in the PAC. The Yellow Jackets haven't won a conference championship in any sport since a volleyball title in 2004. The men's teams at Waynesburg haven't hoisted a PAC title trophy since it football title in 2003. That's amazing when you consider the school's president is a former high school and college coach.

Geneva and St. Vincent are currently completing the process of becoming full-fledged members of the PAC. However, neither is showing the ability to become a power in the league.

There are some people at W&J who openly joke about the sorry state of the athletic programs at Bethany, Thiel and Waynesburg. W&J football coach Mike Sirianni even took a shot at Thiel's football program after the Presidents lost to Thomas More.

"We haven't been good on offense all season. Who have we really played? Thiel?" Sirianni said.

If W&J and Thomas More leave the PAC for other leagues, then will the rest of NCAA Division III be joking about what's left of the PAC?

W&J women picked to win PAC

Washington & Jefferson, with three returning starters from last year's NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament team, has been picked to finish first in the Presidents' Athletic Conference preseason poll of coaches, sports information directors and media.

W&J received 14 of 22 first-place votes and 179 points to edge defending PAC champion Thomas More by a single point. Thomas More, which won two games in the NCAA tournament last year, returns only one starter. The Saints received 10 first-place votes. No team other than W&J and Thomas More received a first-place vote.

"It is truly an honor to receive this type of recognition, especially in a conference as competitive as the PAC," said W&J coach Jina DeRubbo. "While the
honor of being picked first is great, we will still need to show up week in and week out in conference play."

Defending PAC champion Thomas More was picked to repeat as the men's champion. The Saints received 15 first-place votes and 147 points to edge W&J and Bethany. The Presidents received five first-place votes and Bethany had three. The other first-place vote went to Grove City.

The polls:
Men
1. Thomas More (15) 147 points
2. Washington & Jefferson (4) 115
3. Bethany (3) 112
4. Grove City (1) 89
5. Westminster 88
6. Thiel 56
7. Waynesburg 37

Women
1. Washington & Jefferson (14) 179 points
2. Thomas More (10) 178
3. Grove City 117
4. Westminster 96.5
5. Bethany 95
6. Waynesburg 91
7. Chatham 59.5
8. Thiel 48

New baseball field at Waynesburg

The Waynesburg University baseball team will have a new home next spring.

Construction began earlier this month on a new baseball field for the Yellow Jackets. The complex will be located off Route 21 west of Waynesburg, next to the Waynesburg softball field.

The project will allow the Yellow Jackets to move from their previous facility, Madison Field, which they shared with Waynesburg High School, adult and youth baseball organizations and youth soccer teams. Sharing of the field has been a problem at Waynesburg for decades.

“I think I speak for the entire team when I say that we are elated to be able to come into parity with some other institutions that we compete against,” fifth-year head coach Mike Humiston said. “We have a facility that we can use to showcase the talents of players we have.

“I’m excited about it. I only go down there three, four times a day. If they would let me drive the grader or the backhoe or the dump truck, I’m definitely all in.”

The entire infield, including the base lines, will be made out of FieldTurf. The infield “grass” will be a traditional green color while the baselines will be colored to look like the infield dirt. The only parts on the infield featuring dirt will be the pitcher’s mound and the batter’s box. For those familiar with the Frontier League, this is the same setup used by the Lake Erie Crushers.

The left-field line will run a little more than 320 feet, while the right-field line will be around 340 with center field at 400 feet. The field will feature a 12-foot high wall from left field to center and an eight-foot wall from center to right.

“I think every field has an air of uniqueness, and this is ours,” Humiston said. “With the way our field is laid out, this is going to set us apart.”

The turf instillation should be completed by the first week of November. The dugouts are expected to be built during the winter.

Last year, field issues and poor weather forced the Yellow Jackets to play their first three home games at Mylan Park in Morgantown, W.Va.

“The scheduling problems from last year caused us not only budgetary problems, but problems for our fans. We had to play a lot of games in Morgantown, and they couldn’t always go to see us,” Humiston said. “Now we’re just a mile and a half off campus, and we’re very excited about playing on it this season.”

The Jackets will debut the new facility March 25, when they host Presidents’ Athletic Conference rival Thiel.

The Waynesburg softball team is having its field upgraded with new bleachers and improvements to the infield. The tennis teams will also have new courts built right between the baseball and softball fields. They are expected to be completed by the 2010 seasons.