Navy Sports

GreatAmerican · February 3, 2008, 9:33pm

No. 7 Rochester def. No. 13 Navy, 6-3
No. 13 Navy def. No. 29 Hobart, 8-1
No. 13 Navy def. No. 35 Colgate, 9-0

For Immediate Release
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008
Squash Contact: Stacie Michaud (410) 293-8773

Mids Post 2-1 Record in New York Squash Swing

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The 13th-ranked Navy squash team played three matches in three different towns in two days, producing a 2-1 record that featured wins over 29th-ranked Hobart (8-1) and No. 35 Colgate (9-0). The Mids improve to 14-7 with just one week remaining in the regular season.

Navy opened the weekend of busy action with a 6-3 loss to seventh-ranked Rochester Friday evening. All three of Navy’s wins were five-game marathon matches at the bottom half of the lineup. Second-year standout Ben Mantica (Binghamton, N.Y.) dropped the opening game and third game at No. 6 before posting a 9-3 game four win and forcing the match into a deciding game. Mantica earned a 9-6 win in the fifth to defeat Rochester’s Edwin Goncharuk, 3-2.

Meanwhile junior Allen Hartley (Charleston, W.Va.) found himself trailing 2-0 in the match, but won the final three games, 9-4, 9-7, 9-3 to take the win over Robert McDavid at No. 8. Finally, senior Matt Wiggins (Sour Lake, Texas) won the first of three matches this weekend when he beat Ori Goldman, 9-6, 4-9, 9-6, 1-9, 9-4.

Despite pushing the No. 7 match to five games by winning the third and four games, senior Brian Hamilton (Lake Forest, Ill.) fell in defeat to Alexander Lee in the fifth, 9-2.

“My hat’s off to Rochester,” said Navy head coach Craig Dawson. “They’ve assembled a pretty strong team. I was very pleased with some of the matches at the bottom of our lineup where guys really gutted out wins.”

Navy regrouped on Saturday, winning both matches, giving up just one individual match on the day. The Mids opened up Saturday’s action with an 8-1 victory over No. 29 Hobart. The Statesmen’s Nadav Tannen tripped up Navy sophomore Nils Mattsson (Spring House, Pa.), 3-1, in what would be Hobart’s only win of the day. The Mids claimed 3-0 sweeps in the remaining eight matches. Navy closed out the weekend with a 9-0 win over No. 35 Colgate, winning all nine matches in three games. Sophomore Teddy George (West Hartford, Conn.) saw his first action among the ladder’s top nine since mid-November. He dispatched the Raiders’ Nick Hajem, 9-0, 9-4, 9-0 at the No. 9 slot.

Mantica, Hartley and Wiggins each turned in 3-0 records over the weekend, while team captain Jeff Sawin (Haverford, Pa.), rookie Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.), junior Michael Beautyman Jr (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), Christopher Zipf (Gladwyne, Pa.) and Hamilton posted 2-1 marks.

Navy will play its final regular-season match next Saturday when it battles Franklin & Marshall in a neutral site match held in Baltimore.

Navy 8, Hobart 1
Feb. 2, 2008 Geneva, N.Y.
1 Nadav Tannen (H) def. Nils Mattsson (N) 3-1 9-6, 6-9, 9-4, 9-4
2 Jeff Sawin (N) def. Cale Forgues (H) 3-0 9-4, 9-1, 9-3
3 Allan Lutz (N) def. Luke Esselen (H) 3-0 9-2, 9-1, 9-3
4 Michael Beautyman Jr (N) def. Craig Chircop (H) 3-0 9-7, 9-0, 9-6
5 Christopher Zipf (N) def. Alex Khaddar (H) 3-0 9-1, 9-4, 9-6
6 Ben Mantica (N) def. Peter Hansen (H) 3-0 9-1, 9-2, 9-0
7 Brian Hamilton (N) def. Edward Lanphier (H) 3-0 9-6, 9-0, 9-5
8 Allen Hartley (N) def. Kenny O’Connor (H) 3-0 9-3, 9-0, 9-2
9 Matt Wiggins (N) def. Carl Ranieri (H) 3-0 9-5, 9-3, 9-3

Navy 9, Colgate 0
Feb. 2, 2008 Hamilton, N.Y.
1 Jeff Sawin (N) def. Rob McCary (C) 3-0 9-0, 9-1, 9-5
2 Allan Lutz (N) def. Matt McCormick (C) 3-0 9-1, 9-1, 9-2
3 Michael Beautyman Jr (N) def. Johnny Russell (C) 3-0 9-1, 9-1, 9-4
4 Christopher Zipf (N) def. Jamie Bedoux (C) 3-0 9-4, 9-2, 9-3
5 Ben Mantica (N) def. Zack Ali (C) 3-0 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
6 Brian Hamilton (N) def. Alex Punket (C) 3-0 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
7 Allen Hartley (N) def. Ty Goldman (C) 3-0 9-0, 9-1, 9-0
8 Matt Wiggins (N) def. Bob Begar (C) 3-0 9-2, 9-1, 9-2
9 Teddy George (N) def. Nick Hajem (C) 3-0 9-0, 9-4, 9-0

Rochester 6, Navy 3
Feb. 1, 2008 Rochester, N.Y.
1 Hameed Ahmed (R) def. Nils Mattsson (N) 3-0 9-2, 9-6, 9-2
2 Jim Bristow (R) def. Jeff Sawin (N) 3-0 9-0, 9-2, 9-0
3 William Newnham (R) def. Allan Lutz (N) 3-0 9-3, 9-3, 9-6
4 Frederick Reid (R) def. Michael Beautyman Jr (N) 3-0 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
5 Yohay Wakabayashi (R) def. Christopher Zipf (N) 3-0 9-2, 9-3, 9-2
6 Ben Mantica (N) def. Edwin Goncharuk (R) 3-2 4-9, 9-2, 1-9, 9-3, 9-6
7 Alexander Lee (R) def. Brian Hamilton (N) 3-2 9-6, 9-7, 7-9, 2-9, 9-2
8 Allen Hartley (N) def. Robert McDavid (R) 3-2 3-9, 3-6, 9-4, 9-7, 9-3
9 Matt Wiggins (N) def. Ori Goldman (R) 3-2 9-6, 4-9, 9-6, 1-9, 9-4

GreatAmerican · February 3, 2008, 9:35pm

Navy Swimming Teams Win Two Events at Navy Invitational

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy men’s swimmers Adam Meyer and Erik Hunter won events at the five-team Navy Invitational on Saturday afternoon in Lejeune Hall. In addition, the two Navy teams finished the non-scored invite with 18 top-three finishes during the competition.

Meyer, a sophomore from Bethesda, Md., led the Navy men’s team with a school-record performance in the 200-yard butterfly with a clocking of 1:50.02, a performance that placed him second in the event. In addition to that second-place showing, he captured the title in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:00.80. He was also a member of the 200-yard medley relay that placed second in 1:33.75, teaming with Andrew Hetzner (So. / Riverside, Calif.), Kevin Kysiak (Sr. / Western Springs, Ill.) and Alex Oldenkamp (Jr. / Coppell, Texas).

Navy’s other individual title came in the 1650-yard freestyle. Freshman Erik Hunter (Placerville, Calif.) led a Navy 1-2-3 finish with a time of 16:01.48. Sam Martinette (Fr. / Richmond, Va.) was second in 16:25.90 and J.J. Helms (Fr. / Conroe, Texas) finished third in 16:37.30.

Oldenkamp garnered a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a clocking of 20.84. Frank Komadina (So. / Gilbert, Ariz.) was second in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.03. Ari Molina (Jr. / Arlington, Va.) placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.43. Lastly, the relay team of Komadina, Nathan Durham (Jr. / Greensboro, N.C.), Wren Dupre (So. / Terrace Park, Ohio) and Preston Mihalko (Jr. / Chesapeake, Va.) placed second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:25.92.

“Overall, it was a productive day, but I’m not totally satisfied with where we are. We have some work to do,” said Navy head coach Bill Roberts. “Individually, we had some good performances. Adam Meyer had a good day and Erik Hunter swam well for us.”

The Navy men’s team will host Columbia next Friday at 4:00 pm.

On the women’s side, Tara Chapmon (So. / Virginia Beach, Va.) was Navy’s top finisher with a second-place showing in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.37.

The Mids picked up five third-place finishes on the afternoon, highlighted by a pair by Thuy-Mi Dinh (So. / Anaheim, Calif.). She finished third in the 100-yard butterfly in 59.91, then teamed with Jamie Call (Sr. / Valdez, Alaska), Lauren Milliron (Jr. / Richmond, Va.) and Tessa Snow (Fr. / Hamlin, N.Y.) for a third-place showing in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:53.81.

Snow also finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.63.

Clare McKenna (Jr. / Garden City, N.Y.) was third in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:04.02.

Navy’s last third-place showing came in the 200-yard freestyle relay, where Lakin Stogner, Chapmon, Allison Ranzau (Fr. / Alpharetta, Ga.) and Rachel Gray (Sr. / Latrobe, Pa.) were third in 1:39.39.

The Navy’s women’s team will next compete in the Patriot League Championships on Feb. 21-24, in Annapolis.

GreatAmerican · February 4, 2008, 8:58pm

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Saturday, February 02, 2008) * Navy¹s ice hockey team put 67 shots on goal but couldn¹t overcome a three-goal third period deficit as the Midshipmen lost to Lehigh, 4-2, Saturday night at the McMullen Hockey Arena in Annapolis.

The visiting Ice Hawks took a 2-0 first period lead thanks to even strength goals from Rob Rosenhaus at 13:17 and Greg Shurts at 18:31. Lehigh increased its lead to 3-0 midway through the second stanza with Shurt’¹ second tally of the night, coming at the 12:34 mark.

Navy (now 13-16-1) came out of the locker room for the start of the third period with a level of intensity that had been lacking in the game¹s first 40 minutes. That intensity paid off when senior Nick Schwob scored just 30 seconds after the opening face-off, assisted by classmate Adam Shields. It was Schwob¹s team leading 22nd goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, at 2:25, the Mids cut the deficit to 3-2 when junior John Patrick Culliton carried the puck over the center red line and fed it to Daniel, who fired an initial shot that was stopped by Ice Hawk goaltender Chris Langstaff. But junior Alex Wallis pounced on the rebound and put it behind Langstaff for his fourth goal of the season.

Navy kept the offensive pressure on for the remainder of the period but was unable to pull sophomore netminder Eric Anderson for a sixth attacker until just 16 seconds were left in regulation time. Unfortunately, Lehigh¹s Casey Castignetti swiped the puck at center ice and fed it to Rosenhaus, who skated in alone on the empty net for the game¹s final goal with just 6.8 second left on the clock.

Anderson finished the game with 23 saves for the Mids, while his counterpart Langstaff recorded 65 saves for Lehigh. Only three penalties were called, two against the Ice Hawks and one against Navy. Neither team scored on its power play chances.

Navy is in action again this Wednesday night (February 6) when Georgetown University visits the McMullen Hockey Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Next weekend Navy will host the 29th annual Crabpot Tournament on Friday and Saturday, February 8 and 9.

SCORING SUMMARY

Lehigh 2 1 1 - 4

NAVY 0 0 2 - 2

First Period

L * Rosenhaus (Shurts, Castignetti) 13:17

L * Shurts (Rosenhaus, Bernache) 18:31

Second Period

L * Shurts (Castignetti, Rosenhaus) 12:34

Third Period

N * Schwob 22 (Shields) 0:30

N * Wallis (Daniel, Culliton) 2:25

L * Rosenhaus (Castignetti) 19:53

SAVES

Langstaff (Lehigh) 22 24 19 - 65

Anderson (NAVY) 12 3 8 - 23

SHOTS

Lehigh 14 4 9 -
27

NAVY 22 24 21 - 67

GreatAmerican · February 4, 2008, 9:06pm

By BILL WAGNER, Staff Writer
Published February 03, 2008

Navy’s basketball team might have been able to withstand an abysmal shooting night by leading scorer Greg Sprink last night.

However, the Midshipmen could not survive a sub-par defensive effort as well.

Freshman guard Mike Venezia netted a career-high 18 points to lead a balanced attack and Colgate shot a sizzling 58 percent from the floor in beating Navy 84-77 in front of 2,025 at Alumni Hall.

Senior forward Kendall Chones contributed 17 points for Colgate, which had five players in double figures. The Raiders overcame 22 turnovers by making 29-of-50 field goals, a figure that had Navy head coach Billy Lange livid afterward.

“I’ve got a locker room filled with 15 guys who don’t believe in defense. We just do not focus defensively the way we need to that’s the problem,” Lange said. “Until you internalize it, until it means something to you, until the juniors and seniors in this program get tired of getting scored on repetitively, then we’re going to find ourselves in games that - if we don’t shoot the ball well - we have no chance to win.”

Sprink, the leading scorer in the Patriot League, managed only 10 points on 3-for-23 field goal shooting. The 6-foot-4 senior swingman was harassed for most of the game by Kyle Roemer, a rugged 6-foot-3, 216-pounder.

“I thought Kyle had a terrific defensive effort. Sprink is tough to stop because he’s so versatile, but Kyle made him work hard and was able to bother him a bit,” Colgate head coach Emmett Davis said.

Junior guard Kaleo Kina scored 21 points to lead Navy, which fell to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in the Patriot League. Kina kept the Midshipmen in the game by repeatedly scoring on nifty drives into the lane. He also totaled five rebounds and three assists.

“It’s up to the leadership of this team to get the team together and instill the defensive mentality we need in order to have a defensive intensity consistently,” Kina said. “In order to be a championship team we need to play defense and that’s on us.”

Sophomore point guard Chris Harris overcame a slow start to score 15 points for Navy, which shot just 36 percent (28-for-77) from the floor. Harris, who had been averaging nearly 20 points in Patriot League contests, could not get untracked offensively for most of the game before coming alive down the stretch and scoring 10 of his points in the final 5 12 minutes.

“Part of what hurt us tonight was that we didn’t score. So we couldn’t set up our pressure,” Lange said. “Without our pressure, we’re just an OK defensive team.”

Freshman center Mark Veazey turned in a terrific all-around effort with nine points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots for Navy, which is now 0-4 in league games when leading at halftime. The Midshipmen have dropped three consecutive home games and led each at intermission.

Navy led 36-35 at halftime and quickly increased the advantage to six in the opening minutes of the second half. A 3-pointer by Sprink followed by a layup from Veazey put the Mids ahead 41-35 at the 18:31 mark and forced Davis to call timeout.

Colgate responded with a 12-0 run that turned the six-point deficit into a six-point lead. Woodhouse, a 6-foot-8 junior, scored six of his points during that decisive stretch. Navy never really answered that run and wound up falling behind by 10 points at the midway mark of the second half.

“I was really pleased with the way we battled, especially during that stretch early in the second half. We put together a great, great run,” Davis said.

Roemer had an outstanding floor game with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists for Colgate (11-10, 3-4), which has won two straight after suffering a four-game losing streak. Alex Woodhouse and Daniel Waddy added 10 points apiece for the Raiderrs, who have now won six in a row against the Midshipmen.

“This was a solid team win for us. We’ve been playing fairly well on the road and not coming away with wins. To come in here and get a road win is huge,” said Davis, an assistant at Navy from 1986-1998 who has now won 11 of the last 12 meetings with his former program.

Navy is off for a week before resuming league action at home against Bucknell next Saturday. Lange said the coaching staff and players need to do some soul-searching with regard to the lackadaisical defense.

“Guys gotta start defending or they are not going to play. We don’t have enough guys right now who truly believe in playing defense,” Lange said. “I know we can be a good defensive team. We’ll go back and evaluate who is going to defend.”

COLGATE 84, NAVY 77

COLGATE (84)

Woodhouse 5-6 0-0 10, Ke.Chones 8-11 1-3 17, Pounds 2-3 1-2 6, Roemer 3-7
6-8 15, Waddy 3-7 4-7 10, Hoban 0-0 0-0 0, Vinson 1-1 0-0 2, Venezia 5-11
4-4 18, Morse 1-1 2-2 4, Jonson 0-2 0-0 0, Minchella 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-50
18-26 84.

NAVY (77)

Veazey 3-7 3-4 9, Sprink 3-23 2-2 10, Harris 6-14 1-1 15, Garcia 0-1 3-5 3,
Kina 9-21 1-1 21, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Colbert 2-2 2-2 6, Brigham 0-0 0-0 0,
Richards 2-2 0-0 4, Teague 3-7 2-3 9. Totals 28-77 14-18 77.

Halftime-Navy 36-35. 3-Point Goals-Colgate 8-18 (Venezia 4-9, Roemer 3-5,
Pounds 1-1, Waddy 0-3), Navy 7-29 (Kina 2-5, Sprink 2-9, Harris 2-9, Teague
1-5, Garcia 0-1). Fouled Out-Kina, Sprink. Rebounds-Colgate 40 (Ke.Chones
9), Navy 38 (Veazey 8). Assists-Colgate 18 (Waddy 8), Navy 15 (Harris, Kina,
Sprink, Teague 3). Total Fouls-Colgate 18, Navy 24. A-2,025. A-2,025.

GreatAmerican · February 4, 2008, 9:08pm

This weekend the rifle team plays host to Army on Saturday at 9 a.m., while the gymnastics team plays host to the Black Knights on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Army-Navy Update

All-Time Army-Navy Record: 878-662-38 (.568)

2007-08 Record Against Army: 11-5 (.688)

2007-08 N-Star Record Against Army: 10-2 (.833)

Last 11 Years Against Army: 216-111-5 (.658)

Last 11 Years N-Star Record Against Army: 159-66-5 (.702)

2007-08 Results

Sprint Football: Won, 30-17; Won, 41-13 (N-Star)

Women¹s Volleyball: Lost, 3-1 (N-Star); Lost, 3-0

Golf: Won, 6.5-4.5 (N-Star)

Men¹s Cross Country: Won, 23-35 (N-Star)

Women¹s Cross Country: Won, 23-38 (N-Star)

Women¹s Soccer: Won, 2-0 (N-Star)

Men¹s Soccer: Lost, 2-1 in overtime (N-Star)

Women¹s Swimming & Diving: Won, 206-94 (N-Star)

Men¹s Swimming & Diving: Won, 231-69 (N-Star)

Football: Won, 38-3 (N-Star)

Men¹s Basketball: Lost, 69-67

Women¹s Basketball: Lost, 58-49

Men¹s Indoor Track & Field: Won, 95-86 (N-Star)

Women¹s Indoor Track & Field: Won, 93.5-87.5 (N-Star)

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:43pm

Competing in the South Atlantic Conference championships at N.C. State University on Saturday, the Navy saber squad went undefeated in the preliminary rounds, then beat solid teams from U. of Georgia and Va Tech before losing the championship match against the College of William and Mary. The second place finish among 14 collegiate clubs was the best team performance for Navy since the SAC tournament began in 2005. The saber squad was comprised of MIDN 1/C Tom Kilcline and Chris Waddell (2nd Co.) and 2/C Anthony Giunipero (8th Co.).

In the individual competitions, all three sabrists made strong showings, with Kilcline and Waddell picking up medals for 3rd and 6th place, respectively, and Giunipero finishing 9th in a field of 42 fencers.

The foil team of MIDN 2/C Joe Cuschieri (5th Co.), Will Olena (19th Co.) and Tristan Willman (8th Co.) also had its best finish to date at SAC, finishing 8th among 17 teams. Cuschieri made the strongest showing in the individual competitions, finishing 10th in a field of 51 foilists. The foil squad defeated teams from James Madison University and N.C. State, before being eliminated in the quarterfinal round by the eventual 3rd place finisher, Swarthmore College.

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:45pm

This Week In Navy Sports Sponsored By Navy Federal Credit Union

<a href=“http://www.navyfederal.org/jump/x/navysports_email.html[/url]”>www.navyfederal.org/jump/x/navysports_email.html</a>

Overall Navy Sports Record: 186-85-6 (.682)

Men¹s Basketball (10-12, 3-4 in the Patriot League)
Last Week: Defeated American, 77-66; lost to Colgate, 84-77
This Week: Bucknell (Saturday, 7 p.m., Annapolis, Md., 1430 WNAV, 1050 WFED, Sirius Channel 107, Navy All-Access)

Women¹s Basketball (5-17, 1-6 in the Patriot League)
Last Week: Lost to American, 59-52; defeated Colgate, 64-49
This Week: at Bucknell (Saturday, 7 p.m., Lewisburg, Pa., Navy All-Access)

Men¹s Gymnastics (5-3)
Last Week: Lost to Temple, 342.85-332.85; lost to Ohio State, 341.15-32.85
This Week: Army-Star Meet (Saturday, 3 p.m., Annapolis, Md.)

Men¹s Lacrosse (0-0)
Last Week: Scrimmaged Virginia
This Week: VMI (Saturday, 12 noon, Annapolis, Md.)

Rifle (7-1)
Last Week: Idle
This Week: Army (Saturday, 9 a.m., Annapolis, Md.)

No. 13 Squash (14-8)
Last Week: Lost to No. 13 Rochester, 6-3; defeated No. 29 Hobart, 8-1; defeated No. 35 Colgate, 9-0
This Week: vs. No. 14 Franklin & Marshall (Saturday, 1 p.m., Baltimore, Md.)

Men¹s Swimming & Diving (14-1)
Last Week: Competed in the Navy Invitational-No team scoring
This Week: Columbia (Friday, 4 p.m., Annapolis, Md.); at Princeton (Saturday, 1 p.m., Princeton, N.J.)

Women¹s Swimming & Diving (13-1)
Last Week: Navy Invitational-No team scoring
This Week: Idle

Tennis (5-1)
Last Week: Defeated Howard, 7-0; defeated Villanova, 6-1
This Week: at Maryland (Saturday, 12 noon, College Park, Md.); UNC-Greensboro (Sunday, 1 p.m., Tose Family Tennis Center)

Men¹s Indoor Track & Field (7-1)
Last Week: Defeated Army, 95-86 (Star Meet)
This Week: Idle

Women¹s Indoor Track & Field (7-0)
Last Week: Defeated Army, 93.5-87.5 (Star Meet)
This Week: Idle

Wrestling (4-4, 3-1 in the EIWA)
Last Week: Finished second out of eight schools at the All-Academy Championship
This Week: Idle

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:46pm

For more information on Navy Athletics, please visit <a href=“http://www.navysports.com%5B/url%5D”>www.navysports.com</a>

For Immediate Release
Sent Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Navys Consedine Garners Fifth League Rookie Award

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Navy freshman Cassie Consedine (Bartlesville, Okla.) picked up her fifth Patriot League Womens Basketball Rookie-of-the-Week accolade of the year Monday after averaging 19.0 points and 8.5 rebounds a game last week for the Midshipmen. She has previously received the nod from the league which is open only to freshmen Nov. 12, Nov. 19, Jan. 7 and Jan. 21.

After scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds against American, Consedine went on to score a career-high 20 points and haul in eight caroms against Colgate. Her latter scoring tally made her the first Navy freshman to score at least 20 points in a game in seven years.

On the year, she ranks 14th nationally with an average of 2.71 blocks per game, ranks 80th in the country with 8.5 rebounds a game and is the 11th-leading rookie scorer in the NCAA this year with an average of 13.6 points per game.

Already the holder of the school record for the most blocks recorded in a season with 57, the 6-3 center also is tied for fifth place for the most three-pointers tallied as a Navy freshman with 21.

Navy will open the second half of its Patriot League season Saturday when the Mids play at Bucknell in a 7 p.m. game in Lewisburg, Pa.

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:47pm

For Immediate Release
Sent Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Navy Duo Receives Weekly Swimming Recognition

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Navy’s Adam Meyer (So., Bethesda, Md.) and Tara Chapmon (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) were recognized as the Patriot League Swimmers of the Week Tuesday after their performances during the recent Navy Invitational.

Meyer, who garnered the men’s accolade for a league-best sixth time this season, set a Navy record in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:50.02 in a second-place finish in the event. His time narrowly edged the previous standard of 1:50.04 set two years ago by Tyler Hill. Additionally at the meet, Meyer also won the 400 individual medley event with a clocking of 4:00.80 and helped Navy place third in the 200 medley relay.

Individually at the meet, Chapmon placed second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.37 and placed fifth in the 100 fly with a time of 1:01.01. She also swam the third leg of Navy’s 200 free relay team that placed third at the meet.

Chapmon led all women’s swimmers in the league this season with four weekly laurels.

The Navy men’s swimming and diving team will close its regular season this weekend with meets Friday at home against Columbia and Saturday at Princeton. Both Navy programs will then be in action Feb. 21-23 during the Patriot League Championship that will be contested in Lejeune Hall.

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:48pm

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Andrew Hanko Named Patriot League Rookie of the Week

ANNAPOLIS, Md. For the second-straight week, Navy mens track & field runner Andrew Hanko (Fr./Montville, N.J.) has been recognized as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week, the league office announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Hanko competed, scored and produced IC4A marks in the two-longest events during the Star Meet against Army last Saturday in Annapolis. He placed second in the mile run with a time of 4:12.21, his fastest time of the year in Halsey Field House. One hour later, the Navy rookie bounced back to place third in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:26.75. With the help of his performances in the distance events, Navy claimed the indoor N-Star for a school-record seventh-consecutive year by defeating service academy foe Army, 95-86.

The Navy freshman from Montville, N.J., is the second competitor this year to earn Patriot League Rookie-of-the-Week honors in back-to-back weeks, as Armys Alfred McDaniel earned the award on Jan. 15 and Jan. 22. Last week, Hanko first earned league rookie-of-the-week kudos for his first-place time of 4:09.99 in the mile run on the banked track at the Penn State National Open.

Navy has claimed the Patriot League Rookie-of-the-Week award three times in 2007-08, the most among any school this season. In addition to Hankos back-to-back distinction, Jake Palmer (Fr./Plymouth, Ind.) brought home the weekly recognition on Jan. 9.

The Midshipmen (7-1) will close out their indoor regular season on Feb. 15-16, when they head to the Iowa State Classic.

GreatAmerican · February 5, 2008, 9:50pm

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Janet von Eiff Honored as Patriot League Rookie of the Week

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Navy womens track & field thrower Janet von Eiff (Fr./San Diego, Calif.) produced one of the best marks in program history in the shot put last Saturday to earn Patriot League Rookie-of-the-Week honors, the league office announced on Tuesday afternoon.

She is the second Navy freshman to earn the award this season, as fellow shot putter Joy Nameth (Fr./Walden, Colo.) was recognized for her efforts at the UMES Invitational on Jan. 8.

During the indoor Star Meet against Army in Annapolis, von Eiff uncorked a toss of 442-3/4 (13.48 meters), the seventh-best distance in school history and almost a foot longer than her previous personal record. Her mark was good enough for second place and just 4-3/4 (0.12 meters) off the ECAC qualifying standard.

With the help of von Eiff, Navy won its third-straight indoor N-Star with a 93.5-87.5 victory over Army. The triumph was Navys 52nd-straight victory in a regular season scored meet, dating back to the 2004-05 indoor season. The Midshipmen also extended their home indoor winning streak to 68, dating back to Jan. 8, 2000.

The Midshipmen (7-0) will conclude their indoor regular season with a home dual meet against Loyola (Md.) on Feb. 14. The action will represent the final meet in Halsey Field House, as they will move into Wesley Brown Field House next year. The new home to Navys indoor track & field program will feature a 200-meter hydraulic banked track, a 60-meter straightaway, dual pole vault/jumping runways, dual throwing areas and a scenic view of the Severn River.

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:26pm

by Ron Snyder, The Examiner

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Navy doesn¹t recruit football players. It evaluates them.

That¹s the philosophy Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said his program takes when trying to convince football players to take a chance by coming to Annapolis. The first-year coach expects to have about 60 commitments from players as far away as Honolulu and as close as Pasadena by the time plebe summer begins in June.

Unlike other schools, Navy does not receive national letters of intent from its football recruits since the school does not give scholarships, and the service academy does not release an official list of freshmen players until they enroll in spring. The Baltimore Examiner, however, has confirmed at least 29 have committed to Navy, including five from Maryland.

“We’re excited about the kids we’re getting,” said Niumatalolo, who took over as head coach for the Georgia Tech-bound Paul Johnson in December. “We’ve got some guys who we think can help us now and others who we project will be contributors in the near future.”

Niumatalolo said, much like Johnson before him, he is looking for players with speed and the versatility needed to play several positions. It’s the same approach Johnson used to build a program that has gone to a bowl game and won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy in each of the past five seasons. Navy finished 8-5 after losing in the Poinsettia Bowl in December.

Navy’s class, however, is not highly regarded by national recruiting analysts, as the Midshipmen¹s incoming class was ranked 105th by Scout.com and 113th by Rivals out of 135 schools.

“A lot of the guys we look at are late bloomers,” Niumatalolo said. “Many schools may think they are an inch too short or a pound too light to play Division I football. But, we see players who have the chance to succeed if put in the right position.”

Among those Navy recruits from Maryland is Evan Campbell, a 6-5, 235-pound lineman from Chesapeake High in Anne Arundel County. The other known Baltimore-area recruit is River Hill linebacker Jonathan Hill. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Clarksville resident had 80 tackles and four sacks for the 2A state champion Hawks.

River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen said he expects Hill to make a smooth transition to the regimented military life as a Midshipman, who each will have to serve in the Navy for five years upon graduation. Hill is expected to be among about 20 recruits who enroll at Navy this fall; the rest will arrive in Annapolis if they successfully complete a year at the Naval Academy Preparatory school in Newport, R.I.

“Jon is a perfect example of what a student-athlete is supposed to be,” Van Deusen said. “He is a hard worker with the leadership skills and dedication necessary to be successful at the Naval Academy.”

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:33pm

By TEREZ A. PAYLOR
The Kansas City Star

Capt. Chris Hill Sr. watches intently from the stands as his son, Chris Jr., races up and down the court.

It’s Feb. 1, and Chris Jr., a senior guard on Lansing¹s basketball team, is trying to help the Lions beat Basehor-Linwood. Chris Sr., an Army military intelligence officer, savors every moment while his wife, Carla, and their three youngest children sit nearby.

He knows these nights of watching his son play high school sports will all too soon come to an end.

Chris Jr., a 5-foot-11, 193-pound running back, recently committed to Navy to play Division I football. In that sense, he is no different from the thousands of high school seniors across America who signed letters of intent to play football on Wednesday, the first day of the official signing period.

But the commitment made by Hill, Blue Valley West’s Aaron Ashley and Rockhurst¹s Jake Arbanas are to service academies, where there is much more at stake.

Those three, and others who make similar decisions, face a near-certain five-year military commitment upon graduation in four years. With the country still at war, it could be a decision that leads them directly into Afghanistan, Iraq or another danger spot in a matter of years.

“It’s a possibility,” said Chris Sr., who has been deployed just once during his 12 years in the military. ³As long as you¹re in the service, you understand that. The sooner you come to terms with it, the easier it is to deal with."

Aaron Ashley thinks he has a good idea of what he can expect when he steps on Air Force¹s campus this summer. He can thank his grandpa for that.

Ashley, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound receiver/safety, will be following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who served in the Air Force.

“My grandpa said it’s different than any other college,” Ashley said. “But being able to do something I love (football) will keep me excited about it.”

That’s good, because there will be plenty of challenges along the way. Freshmen, known as plebes in the Army and Navy, are traditionally given a hard time by upperclassmen and sometimes struggle to adjust to the challenging academic curriculum, strict rules and basic training.

And then there¹s that not-so-little matter of mandatory military service. Once candidates graduate from the service academies, they have to serve a minimum 5-year military commitment, during which they can be deployed to war at any time.

However, Ashley is confident he would be OK if that were to happen. The chance to play D-I football, get a top-notch education and leadership training is worth the risk.

“It doesn¹t really bother me,” Ashley said. “It’s a risk you take for your country; it’s something you’ve got to do. For all the opportunities that come with it, you’ve got to take the bad with the good, I guess.”

Chris Jr. isn’t concerned about the possibility of deployment. Like his father, he says he would consider it an honor to serve his country.

“The mandatory service time didn’t faze me at all,” Chris Jr. said. “I just saw it as something I had to do if I wanted to play D-I and get a good education.”

Chris Jr. and Ashley each drew attention from other D-I schools, but the only firm offers they received came from military schools. However, they are the lucky ones.

With Ashley’s grandfather being a veteran and Hill’s dad being a career military man, they each had immediate family members who could fill them in on what they could expect during their time in the service, which helped them with their decision.

It was the kind of luxury that Jake Arbanas, an Army commitment, and his parents didn’t have.

Like Ashley and Hill, Arbanas would like to play in the NFL one day.

That much is no surprise, considering his grandfather, Fred, was a tight end on the Chiefs’ 1969 Super Bowl team and his father Mike played for Kansas in the early '80s.

But his parents can’t say the same thing about their initial reaction to his interest in the military. For Arbanas, a 6-foot-5, 188-pound senior tight end who is listed as a two-star prospect on Rivals.com, what started out as a boyhood fascination with G.I. Joe action figures could lead him straight to West Point.

He’s known he has wanted to go into the military since his freshman year of high school, so he didn’t really entertain any other schools. Whether he got a chance to play football or not, a military academy was for him.

And after attending summer leadership seminars at Army and Navy last summer, Arbanas has little doubt he¹s making the best choice for his future.

“I think about how these next four years will affect the rest of my life, but it doesn’t really worry me because being in the military is more of a pride thing for me,” said Arbanas, who is still trying to decide whether he wants to make the military his career.

“This sets me up for the rest of my life. I’ll have a good job for the rest of my life and I’ll be able to say I went to West Point.”

It’s a decision that makes his parents both proud and nervous. Mike says they are comfortable with the risk Jake is taking because of the education and discipline he stands to gain, but admit they worry about what the looming war in Iraq will mean for their son in four years.

It doesn’t help that Jake is talking about joining the infantry or special forces after he completes his four-year degree at West Point. He’ll be an officer at that time, and his mother, Jenny, hopes he follows a career path in the Army that takes him away from direct combat. But she knows he wants to fight.

“It’s always been out there, but I try not to think about that,” she said. "But I know when the time comes, I’ll be a basket case.

“I’d be praying every day that everything turns out OK.”

Gary Ashley, Aaron¹s father, gets a little worried about his son, too. But he agrees with the Arbanas¹ belief that this is the best decision for his son.

“Oh yeah, I worry,” he said. “But you know what? You worry about your kids when they drive off in their cars, too.”

Back at Basehor-Linwood, Lansing is still trailing in the third quarter of its basketball game.

Chris Jr. is on the bench, and Chris Sr. is sitting down, too. He¹s having a blast spending time with his family, because it certainly beats the alternative.

Chris Sr. remembers how tough it was to leave his family when he was deployed to Afghanistan from March 2004 to February 2005. It was hard on everybody, especially Carla, who had to take care of their four children by herself.

“Nobody wants to leave their wife, nobody wants to leave their kids,” said Chris Sr. ³It makes you understand just how precious your time is together. (Chris Jr.) will get a better understanding of that."

Family is so important to Chris Sr. that when he finishes his tour of duty at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in June, he hopes to move his family to the Washington, D.C. area so they can be close to their son at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Whether that happens or not, Chris Sr. and Carla are comfortable with their son¹s college decision. But they¹re still parents * they can¹t help but think about Chris Jr.'s future.

Carla is asked about the role that faith has played in their son’s college decision. She stares at her son, who is still sitting on the bench, and says that she and her husband had been praying since the beginning of the recruiting process that Chris Jr.'s college decision would be easy for him.

Ultimately, it was. And that was a relief.

“We don’t believe in things just happening,” she says, softly, her eyes still fixated on her oldest son. “They happen for a reason.”

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:35pm

Teague to play at Navy

By CHRIS HOBBS

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Fred T. Foard High will have two athletes playing for Navy next season, with kicker Jon Teague on Wednesday signing to play football there next year.

Teague, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior whose nine field goals this season included three of more than 50 yards, will join former Tigers basketball star Adam Teague at Navy.

Teague, a 6-8 junior, is averaging 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season for the Midshipmen.

Another Foard athlete, Stewart Wilkinson, is also going the military route. He signed to play soccer for Virginia Military Academy.

Other local signees announced Wednesday by the high school they attend or the college they chose on Wednesday, which was national signing day, were:

n Lenoir-Rhyne College’s 17 signees for football included 6-4, 315-pound lineman Will Joseph of St. Stephens.

Eleven of the Bears’ signees are from out-of-state, including six from Georgia.

East Burke defensive back Darian Peterson (6-3, 205) signed with North Carolina Central.

Mars Hill signed Bandys defensive back-wide receiver Kyle Flynn.

Foard head football coach Ryan Gettys was excited about Teague’s signing.

“Jon is a great kid with great character,” Gettys said. "I’ve enjoyed coaching and learning from him.

“He will definitely be missed on and off the field. Jon is also top of his class and will keep doing great things for Navy in coming years.”

At Foard, Teague hit 19 of 22 extra points this season and averaged 39 yards per punt. All of his kickoffs went inside the 10 and 87 percent of them were touchbacks.

Teague was all-conference three times, conference special teams player of the year twice and was on The Record’s All-Unifour team.

This week, Teague was named as one of only 50 prep football players in the country on the National Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year list. More than 5,000 players were nominated for spots on the list.

As a member of that exclusive list, Teague will be honored today in a full-page announcement of the players in USA Today.

Wilkinson will leave Foard as the school’s all-time career goals leader in soccer. He was all-conference four times and all-region three times and is also a standout in club level soccer.

Joseph was All-Unifour at St. Stephens last season. He helped the Indians average 305.1 yards per game on offense and 4.4 yards per rush.

A defensive leader on East Burke’s 12-2 team that set a single-season school record for wins, Pearson had 102 tackles (six for lost yardage) and 46 assists and was named the team’s most valuable player on defense.

Flynn, a 5-9, 170-pound senior at Bandys, helped the Trojans’ secondary limit 12 opponents to 15 passing TDs. On offense, he caught 15 passes for 188 yards.

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:36pm

Proctor signs with Navy

Wednesday, February 6, 2008 1:04 PM PST

Kriss Proctor shows off his letter of intent, which was signed and will be delivered, Feb. 6. The Big Bear High School senior will play football for the Naval Academy. (Judi Bowers/Big Bear Grizzly)

Big Bear High School quarterback Kriss Proctor joined a number of other athletes across the country signing his letter of intent today. Proctor will attend the United States Naval Academy.

Proctor, a three-sport athlete, led the Bears to a CIF East Valley football championship in 2006. He played on the varsity team three years and amassed impressive stats.

With his teammates, family, friends, coaches, the school principal and his school counselor looking on, Proctor affixed his signature to the document committing to play football for Navy. Bears coach Dave Griffiths congratulated Proctor and told him how proud he, the coaches, his teammates and the school are of him. Griffiths said Proctor has done something special not only for himself, but for future Big Bear High School athletes.

Proctor’s accomplishments caught the attention of scouts from all over the country, which bodes well for the school¹s athletes of the future, Griffiths said.

For proctor, the recruiting process began during his junior year but stopped this past October about the time he was injured. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind with several schools showing renewed interest. The Naval Academy contacted him, he and his family visited and within a few days Proctor verbally committed his next four years to the academy to play football and the five following as a Navy officer or a Marine.

At the Naval Academy Proctor will wear no. 15 in honor of 1st Lt. Jared Landaker, a former Big Bear High School quarterback who was killed in action in Iraq Feb. 7, 2007. Proctor said Landaker was someone he looked up to growing up, and he is honored to wear his jersey number.

Judi Bowers

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:38pm

GORDON LAW, BERWICK

Berwick quarterback Gordon Law made it official Wednesday morning by signing with the U.S. Naval Academy.

Law received his letter of assurance from the Naval Academy in December, meaning he was accepted even if he decided not to play football. But Navy also wanted him as a quarterback prospect and won out over Army, Bucknel
and VMI.

Law’s ability to pass and run was evident this season as he helped the Dawgs to the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 3A championship and a District 2 Class 3A playoff berth. The TL all-WVC selection fell just short of becoming one of the few players in Pennsylvania football history to pass and throw for 1,000 yards each in a season.

Navy finished 8-5, including a victory over Notre Dame that ended a 43-game losing streak to the Irish. The Midshipmen played in a bowl game for a fifth consecutive season, losing 35-32 to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:41pm

By Stanley Lee
Advertiser Staff Writer

A few pen strokes brought out years of pent-up emotion.

“I kept asking him if I could cry now,” said Jill Shibata, whose son, Matt, of Mid-Pacific Institute, yesterday signed a binding document to play football for the U.S. Naval Academy.

“I feel he made the right choice,” she said. “The important thing is he feels he made the right choice. I think he’s really going to enjoy this and take it as far as he can go.”

Yesterday was National Letter of Intent Day, the first day high school student-athletes in sports such as football can commit to play for a college, often in return for a scholarship.

Signing day has intensified in recent years, with ceremonies being held yesterday throughout the state, including one on Maui for the first time, and across the nation. ESPN2 also televised a signing-day segment.

The Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance, which offers a service that pairs an athlete to a college, held a morning signing ceremony yesterday at Mission Memorial Auditorium on the grounds of City Hall. Parents, relatives, coaches and friends flowed into the auditorium at 6 a.m. to witness more than 40 football players and two girls soccer players sign commitments. Parents also have to sign the document, which is then faxed to the college.

“It’s exciting,” said Sione Sione Jr., whose son, Earvin Sione, a McKinley High School football player, signed with the University of Hawai’i. “You’d always like your kids to stay home but you also want them to go away so they can grow up.”

ROLE MODELS

Shana Siavii, mother of Leilehua senior and Advertiser Defensive Player of the Year Robert Siavii, said signing the letter felt as if she was the one going off to college.

She hopes her son, the oldest of seven, will set an example for his siblings. Robert helped lead Leilehua to a state football title in December and is now headed to the University of Idaho.

“I’d like to follow his footsteps,” said Russell Siavii, Robert’s brother and an eighth-grader at Wahiawa Middle School.

“He thinks of his family first and watches his brothers and sister.”

Lahainaluna’s Lake Casco, the only Neighbor Island participant in yesterday’s PIAA ceremony, remembers how his older brothers set an example for him. Casco will play for the University of Pennsylvania and chose the school because of its engineering program.

“One of my brothers went to Utah, the other is going to Portland State,” Casco said. “They showed me that to get ahead, you need to go to college … and if football is the way to take you there, you have to try hard and work hard.”

In most instances, football is the way to pay the bills.

A college offers an athletic scholarship in exchange for a commitment. Such scholarships, which can run up to five years and cover the cost of tuition, fees, room and board, can easily be worth more than $100,000 over the life of a scholarship.

Eugene Bailey said he was wowed by the experience.

“It was probably one of the biggest days of my life,” said Bailey, whose son, Kama, was the state’s top rusher for Damien Memorial School. "I almost wanted to cry.

“I’m not only proud of him, but of the boys who are going away or staying home. Hopefully they can do a good job and open up the eyes of a lot of the others kids in the following years.”

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who gave the opening speech, reminded players to focus on their college education and of the impact their parents and coaches have made.

“Without them (coaches), he wouldn’t have gotten this far,” Dolly Sione said of her son, Earvin, who has been playing sports since he was 5.

Parents of players heading to Mainland colleges found comfort in local connections at those schools. New Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, who played at Radford and Hawai’i, visited the home of Kamehameha’s Kahikolu Pescaia.

“A local coach really makes you feel more comfortable,” said Pescaia’s father, Damon. “Coming from the same culture, growing up in the Islands, he knows what these boys are going to go through.”

Punahou soccer players Brittney Sanford and Erin Rementer are both headed to Loyola Marymount in California.

“I feel safe,” said Brittney’s mother, Melinda. “I feel she’ll always have somebody and they can help each other.”

The ceremony ended with numerous pictures taken and the presenting of lei from family and friends. With their senior year in high school near the end, yesterday will just be the beginning of more emotional days to come.

“The day he leaves, that will be another big day,” Eugene Bailey said. "Then he’ll be really gone.

“I always wanted him to go away and see the world. He took advantage of it, had a great season, he’s doing a good job in school and it’s paying off.”

Reach Stanley Lee at <a href="mailto:sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com">sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com</a>.

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:45pm

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Wednesday, February 06, 2008) * Navy¹s ice hockey team got goals from eight different players, including two who recorded the first goals of their Naval Academy careers, en route to a lopsided 9-2 victory over Georgetown University Wednesday night at the McMullen Hockey Arena.

The Midshipmen are in action again this weekend when they host the 31st annual Crabpot Tournament. Towson and Maryland square off Friday at 4 p.m., followed by Navy and UMBC at 7:30 p.m. The tournament continues on Saturday with the consolation game at 4 p.m. and the championship at 7:30 p.m.

After a low scoring first period that featured just one goal, by the Mids¹ Charlie Daniel at 10:08, Navy (now 14-16-1 this season) exploded in the second stanza with three unanswered tallies to take a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Georgetown got on the scoreboard just 35 seconds into the third period to trim the deficit to 4-1, but the Midshipmen scored four consecutive times * including three in less than a minute * to take a commanding 8-1 lead. The two teams traded tallies in the game¹s final four minutes to account for the 9-2 final.

Navy sophomore Calen Mims and freshman Sam Carlson picked up the first goals of their respective USNA careers, both coming in the third period.

But the loudest cheers of the night came with 11:38 left in the second period when sophomore Alex Tidei replaced Jeremey Estevez as the Mids¹ netminder. After working last year as a team manager, Tidei earned the third goaltending slot on this year¹s roster but had not seen any playing time until Wednesday night.

The likeable Illinois native made nine saves in his 31:38 of action, and all nine stops evoked loud cheers from the sparse McMullen Arena crowd. Estevez stopped all five Georgetown shots he faced in his 28:22 between the pipes.

Starting Georgetown netminder Greg Graham made 42 saves in his 52:46 minutes of work before he was replaced by Clayton Kossl, who stopped one of two Navy shots he faced in the game¹s final 7:14.

SCORING SUMMARY

Georgetown 0 0 2 - 2

NAVY 1 3 5 - 9

First Period

N * Daniel 3 (Shields) 10:08 (pp)

Second Period

N * Horner 5 (Daniel) 6:27

N * Swezey 18 (Wallis, Daniel) 10:58

N * Bowen 3 (Ochalek, Kinkade) 17:45

Third Period

G * Hickton (Russell) 0:35

N * Carlson 1 (Keller) 2:30

N * Kinkade 3 (unassisted) 11:49

N * Mims 1 (Johnson) 12:31

N * Swezey 19 (Daniel) 12:46

G * Hickton (Russell) 15:53

N * Dubinsky 2 (Horner) 19:20

SAVES

Graham (Georgetown) 14 17 11 - 42

Kossl (Georgetown) x x 1 -
1

Estevez (NAVY 4 1 x -
5

Tidei (NAVY x 1 8 -
9

SHOTS

Georgetown 4 2 10 -
16

NAVY 15 20 17 -
52

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:50pm

Seeing Stars (Bird Dog Navy Sports Blog)-A GREAT ARTICLE TO READ ON WHY RECRUITING RANKINGS ARE A JOKE

<a href=“http://thebirddog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/[/url]”>http://thebirddog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/</a>

By
Mike James

Emmitt Smith isn¹t big or fast and he can¹t get around the corner. I know all the folks in Pensacola will be screaming and all the Florida fans will be writing me nasty letters, but Emmitt Smith is not a franchise player. He¹s a lugger, not a runner. The sportswriters blew him out of proportion. When he falls flat on his face at Florida, remember where you heard it first.

The above words of wisdom were brought to you by long-time recruiting analyst Max Emfinger back in 1987. I bring them up because it¹s that time of year again. Signing day is fast approaching, and more and more college football fans are wired to their favorite recruiting service, obsessing over the ratings that ³experts² like Emfinger give their school¹s recruits and each team¹s recruiting class. It¹s modern-day alchemy; a pseudo-science that has turned into a thriving, multi-million dollar industry. With that kind of money changing hands, you¹d think that people would dig a little deeper into how these recruit ratings are developed. But nobody seems to care, or at least care enough to raise their voice over the hype, anyway. But in my isolated internet kingdom/suicide hotline, I¹ll try to convince you not to jump off of that bridge after some Scout 4-star linebacker commits to another school.

A lot of people put a lot of stock into recruiting rankings. Recruiting aficionados believe that recruiting rankings matter because, for the most part, the teams at the top of them are winning games. But does correllation imply causation? The San Diego Union-Tribune put together an analysis last year of teams and their recruiting rankings, and put their results into a lovely PDF for us all to admire: <a href=“http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070205/images/bluechip.pdf[/url]”>http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070205/images/bluechip.pdf</a>

Of the top ten recruiting classes in the years leading up to 2006, 6 finished outside of the top 10 in the AP poll. Two teams, Miami and Florida State, missed the top 25 altogether.

Even if you disagree with the U-T¹s conclusions, think about what you¹re really saying here. The recruiting rankings correctly predicted that USC, Michigan, Florida, LSU, etc. would be talented.

Wow. Stop the presses. Is it really much of an accomplishment on Rivals¹ part to correctly predict that USC, Michigan, Florida, and LSU would be good? Who couldn¹t predict that, even without these rankings? These teams are traditional powerhouses. It¹s an anomaly when they aren¹t the dominant powers in college football. So we¹re left with a chicken & egg situation. Are teams good because their recruiting rankings are high, or are their recruiting rankings high because they are traditionally good teams? To answer that, one must look at how each individual player is rated.

The assumption amongst recruiting junkies is that each recruiting service¹s team of about 20 experts analyzes each player¹s ability and rates them accordingly. That¹s pretty hard to believe. Most coaching staffs have a hard enough time evaluating the talent they¹re targeting just for their school. The idea that this small team of ³experts² can break down the relative ability of the thousands of recruits listed in their database, then rank them accordingly, is just slightly ridiculous. They obviously haven¹t seen all of these players in person, and several of these players don¹t have any video in their profiles. So how on earth can all these recruits be ranked according to ability? The answer is that they aren¹t. Oh, they¹re ranked, obviously but it isn¹t according to ability. It¹s according to popularity.

It¹s a subtle but important distinction. Ratings are not assigned by talent. Ratings are assigned based on which schools are recruiting a particular player. For example, a player with offers from USC, Notre Dame, and Ohio State will be rated higher than players with offers from Akron, North Texas, and Ball State. The clearest proof of this is that it¹s fairly common to see a player¹s rating change. For Navy fans who follow the recruiting scene, it¹s almost an annual joke to see the way a player¹s rating changes when he commits to the Naval Academy. A lot of the one-star players magically become two-star, and sometimes three-stars become two-stars, too. The best example of the latter is Bayard Roberts, the 3-star New Mexico LB/DE who became a 2-star after he committed to Navy instead of UTEP. Of course, most recruitniks scoff at Navy football as some insignificant outpost on the I-A recruiting scene. But if you follow recruiting, you don¹t really need examples. You see ratings change all the time.

Great, but so what? Football coaches are the real experts, right? And if all these guys are recruiting a kid, then shouldn¹t that be a good indication of how talented he is? Well, there are a few problems with that assumption.

First, it assumes that the recruiting analysts are actually getting their information from college coaches. But they can¹t; NCAA rules prohibit coaches from talking about a recruit until he has either enrolled or signed a Letter of Intent. So where does the information come from? In a lot of cases, it comes from the player himself. Take the (in)famous example of Travis Tolbert. A little bit of self-promotion on a few internet sites, and things start to snowball. Eventually, other sites won¹t want to miss the boat, and they¹ll start hyping him too. Next thing you know, he¹s making Top 100 lists. It all came crashing down once people actually bothered to talk to Tolbert¹s coach. But there¹s another problem; some coaches will be frank about their players¹ ability. Others really want to see their kids get scholarships and will actively promote them. It¹s no guarantee that you¹ll get a straight answer from coaches, either. Of course, Tolbert¹s example is clearly an extreme case. But you don¹t have to take things all the way to the extreme to work the system.

Another fundamental flaw in recruit ratings is that they don¹t take into account the wide variety in scheme that you find in college football. Let¹s look at Sean Renfree. Renfree, listed as a 4-star quarterback by Scout.com, had committed to Georgia Tech before Chan Gailey was fired. Once Paul Johnson was hired, it was obvious to Renfree that he¹d be a fish out of water in the spread option, so he de-committed. PJ then went out and got a commitment from a 3-star quarterback named Jaybo Shaw, whom he had recruited while still at Navy. According to Scout¹s rating system, that¹s a downgrade.

But Shaw was a 1,000-yard rusher in high school. Georgia Tech will clearly be better served with him under center in their new offense. Renfree might be all-world to Scout, but to Paul Johnson he¹s useless. It isn¹t just quarterbacks, either. Different offensive systems place different priorities on certain skill sets, as do defenses* there is a difference between the ideal 3-4 and 4-3 player. But to recruiting services, one size fits all.

A recent column by Tim Stevens in the Raleigh News & Observer found that the average Scout.com rating of the All-ACC first-team was 2.77 stars. Along those lines, Andrew Carter of the Orlando Sentinel asks how on earth some of Florida State¹s players could have been so overrated relative to other players within the ACC. After reading these, I decided to take a look at this year¹s AP All-America team and the Rivals ratings of those players. Four first-team All-Americans were rated as 5-stars: Tim Tebow, Darren McFadden, Illinois guard Martin O¹Donnell, and Penn State linebacker Dan Connor. There were seven who had a 2-star rating. Seven! It¹s one thing to say that some fluctuation is inevitable and that maybe a 2-star guy should have been a 3-star. But to whiff on that many future first-team All-Americans? Come on. And I¹m sure that the recruiting rankings of the teams that brought these players in would have received a boost if Rivals knew that the group included All-American-caliber talent.

Here¹s another thought: if recruiting rankings were all that some people claimed they were, then there shouldn¹t be any surprises in college football. Where was Miami¹s slide in the recruiting rankings prior to this season? How about Florida State? Why did Nebraska actually regress under Bill Callahan despite the almost universal applause for his improved recruiting by Nebraska fans? Where were the steady recruiting ranking increases of Missouri and Kansas leading up to this season? Or Boston College and Wake Forest? Or Kentucky? Why haven¹t North Carolina and Mississippi State ever lived up to the lofty rankings they¹ve received over the years? The reason is that recruiting rankings are reactionary. If we follow the recruiting rankings, we should see things coming. Maybe not everything But it¹s disingenuous to ignore all this while hailing recruiting rankings for predicting which teams were going to be good. Every single person reading this blog could probably make correct predictions at the same rate as Rivals and Scout without having any idea of what players each team has recruited.

I¹m not saying that all 5-star players are overrated and all 2-star players are underrated. I¹m just saying that you need to understand what¹s really being evaluated with these star ratings* it isn¹t talent. But don¹t take my word for it. Jamie Newberg, one of Scout¹s top recruiting analysts, said this about last year¹s Georgia recruiting class:

“From a rankings perspective, maybe it¹s a little below the bar Mark Richt has set. But recruiting rankings don¹t mean crap.”

Couldn¹t have set it better myself.

Recruiting sites serve a purpose. Hell, I read them. It¹s fun to get a look at the Mids of the future. These sites are a great source of information. Evaluation? Not so much.

GreatAmerican · February 9, 2008, 7:54pm

By
Lisa Horne
Fox Sports

It’s not what you think it is. That magical 5-star rating that gets plastered on only the seemingly creme-de-la-creme prepsters really stands for something else. No one admits it, no one has to. All recruiters know the real value of the star ratings, and what it signifies; dude is popular, and has offers from some elite schools.

Say what, you say? A five star doesn’t mean he’s the best, or one of the best players in his position? Well, no, not technically. It means he’s the most popular, and has generated the most interest in the recruiting wars. Sure, usually the best players in skilled positions generate that type of interest, but the rating system, if he were the best player, would never waver from the player’s inception into the arena of recruiting, now would it? And the reality is this- many players ratings change over a year. Sometimes, it’s overnight.

Think of it like the spread in football games. The opening line is the amount of points Vegas thinks will generate enough interest to have people open their wallets and bite. It has nothing to do with a handicap whatsoever, because if it did, the spread would remain constant.

But the spread fluctuates if too many bets are placed on one side of the spread. Vegas counters that trend by lowering or raising the spread to keep action on both sides of the line in order to make, or not lose, a lot of dough. Judging by the all the pretty casinos and huge taxes they pay, looks like they make more than they lose, doesn’t it?

Back to the rating system of players, there have been numerous examples of recruits’ ratings going up a few stars as soon as that player receives an offer(s) from an elite school. One night he’s a three star, then an offer from USC or Florida bumps him up to a four or higher star.

A perfect example of this is Tampa-local Stephen Garcia, that long-haired uber-quarterback who had Ole Miss on his list of schools of interest. As soon as South Carolina, Florida and Oklahoma were added to his list, his stock went up; getting recruited by Spurrier, Stoops and Meyer must mean he’s pretty good, right? Garcia also looked at Alabama, but the school told him he would have to cut his hair, so Garcia nixed them. He signed with South Carolina as a four-star QB, but has had two arrests over the last year to temper the excitement of his prospects for staying out of trouble.

Another misnomer about the true value of a recruit’s rating goes back to the total accuracies surrounding a players’ stats to begin with. Nowhere is this more evident than in summer camp.

The recruits are invariably slower (by .02 seconds or more) in the 40 yard dash, rarely are as tall as their high school’s bio says they are, and are usually twenty pounds or more off their stated weight, especially if they are linemen.

Summer camp is a sure-fire way to smell out all the manure from the hay; it gives recruiters a chance to find out which high school coaches are perpetual liars, and which ones are pretty well on-target about their highly touted players. After all, most of a recruit’s good press is generated by his coach, who does everything possible to get recruiting websites to scout him, and the local press.

Case in point…Jeff Byers*.

In 2004, USC signed a highly regarded center (Gatorade Player of the Year), from Colorado named Jeff Byers, without ever getting him into summer camp. Big mistake. While he was regarded as the #1 center to come around in ten years, it turns out that this five star recruit’s mind-blowing stats were due to playing average high schools, not his abilities or toughness as a center. A 2005 season saw him sit out the entire season with hip surgery, and in 2006, he sat out the season due to a back sprain. 2007 wasn’t much better when starting guard Matt Spanos was hurt, and a true freshman, Kristofer O’Dowd, was picked to start as center, instead of Byers- it’s the first time a true freshman has ever started as center for the USC Trojans. Oops.

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