Two Former OVC Golfers on PGA Tour This Season

The PGA Tour back in full swing once again and this season there are two former Ohio Valley Conference golfers participating.

Josh Teater, who played at Morehead State (1997-01), played in 31 events on The Tour last year and is back again this season. The Danville, Ky. native turned pro in 2001 after graduation. In 2010 he won an impressive $1,005,323 in those 31 events.

Teater earned his PGA Tour card by finishing seventh on the Nationwide Tour in 2009. After earning his Tour card Teater told MSUEagles.com ... “[Earning my tour card] is something I’ve strived for since the end of high school when I decided to play golf in college, so I’m extremely pleased. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing with the world’s best."

Here is a video that Morehead State produced on Teater last year.

Scott Stallings, who played at Tennessee Tech (2003-07), is in his first year on The Tour. He qualified back in December after competing in the six-round PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (Q School). He was the OVC Golfer of the Year in both 2006 and 2007.

Stallings told The Golf Channel in December ... "To have the opportunity to play on the PGA Tour is something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid. To have the opportunity to go out and play with best players in world is something I'm very excited about." TTUSports.com also had a feature on him recently.

Here are some highlights and an interview with him from Q School in December.




Both opened the 2011 PGA season at the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier in January (13-16). Neither golfer made the cut, but Stallings posted a two-round score of 142 (+2) while Teater was two strokes back at 144 (+4).

Who might be the next OVC star to make the Tour? You can find out for yourself on April 25-27 at the 2011 OVC Men's Golf Championship which will be held at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tenn.

Around the Ohio Valley- January 26

Around the Valley this week we spotlight some noble work by our conference's student-athletes, who not only perform on the field, or court, but also off it. Programs around the conference are achieving excellence in more places than just the win column and we have many athletes who have been recognized nationally. Let's get started.

Austin Peay: Director of Athletics Dave Loos proudly commented on the recent academic achievements made at the university, “The success of our student-athletes in the classroom is one of our top goals. To see them succeed at the level they have for the past few years is certainly encouraging.” Bravo to any athletic department such as APSU's that can see 155 student-athletes named to the Athletic Director's honor roll in one semester.

Eastern Illinois: EIU honored former US Olympian and Division All-American John Craft by retiring his jersey at the Mega Meet over the weekend and pledging to rename the event after him starting in 2012. Craft, who served as a long time coach at EIU until 2002, surely enjoyed watching current athlete Mick Viken grab adidas OVC Field Athlete of the Week honors with his performance at the event. Check out the Panthers’ website which is currently taking a poll of the greatest career of athletes to have their jersey retired at EIU, which includes the likes of Tony Romo and Sean Payton.

Eastern Kentucky: Former EKU All-American Christian Friedrich has been named one of Major League Baseball’s top 50 prospects according to MLB’s annual top 50 prospects list. Friedrich looks to be a very promising prospect, and being invited to Anaheim over the summer for All-Stars Futures game is an indication of that. In other campus news Aramark and Mountain Dew present EKU’s first ever White Out Thursday night as Men’s and Women’s Basketball play host to OVC leading Austin Peay. The atmosphere should be electric, and caffeine injected, as samples of Mountain Dew's new product and rally towels are going to handed out at the door.

Jacksonville State: The Jacksonville State athletics department put together its best overall GPA in a semester during the fall. The overall GPA was a high 2.984. “We are very proud of the work by our student-athletes…The fact that we had 12 teams with a 3.0 or higher GPA is a credit to the hard work in the classroom by our teams.” Chelsea Pelletier, senior in women’s soccer at the time, actually claimed the OVC’s 2009-2010 Scholar Athlete Award, which spotlights the a great job by the university's staff and student-athletes.

Morehead State: Senior goalkeeper for the Eagles, Lily Meisner, was named to the 2010 Jewish Sports Review All-American team. Meisner lead the team to a school record thirteen victories and finished the season undefeated in conference play. Morehead won the OVC Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.

Murray State: Leading up to the OVC’s conference Rifle Championship on February 5-6, Murray State claimed a note worthy victory this Sunday against Ole Miss in Oxford. State got by in a closely contested match and eked out the win by 10 points. Back on campus Saturday alumni and former players and coaches got together to be recognized at half time of the Racers’ game against Southeast Missouri and pregame activities included hearing from State’s Athletic Director about plans for the new practice facility, which is spurring excitement around the campus.

Southeast Missouri: SEMO tailback Henry Harris and center Sean Middleton recently earned more honors as they were named to the College Sporting News Sweet 63 Football Subdivision All-American team. Middleton was the Rimington Award winner for the FCS’s top center, part of an offensive line that led the nation in sacks allowed. Harris had a record breaking season with 1,735 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, some of which is captured below.



Tennessee State: The University is gearing up for the TSU Invite at the Gentry Center this weekend. The Track and Field athletes at TSU are coming off some great performances recently and look to build upon their success in familiar surroundings.

Tennessee Tech: Basketball coaches from Tech Mike Sutton and Sytia Messer spoke to Cookeville area business leaders this past week. Also speaking at the Leslie Town Center were Tech President Bob Bell and Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. Representing Tech, the leaders spoke about academic results by student-athletes, importance of community support for the athletic program at Tech and more. The coaches have a lot to promote as Women's Basketball just got ranked 24th in the Mid-Major Poll.

UT Martin: Martin has added a 15th member to the 1,000 point club as Benzor Simmons went for a season best 26 points Monday night in Men’s Basketball. In the spirit of big news in the Equestrian world today, the famous Zenyatta announced to be bread by her owners, UT Martin looks to build on the excitement when they open up to No. 2 Auburn Friday at the Ned Wherter Agricultural Complex. The raw excitement of the sport is displayed here by the recent headline grabber, and I am sure there will be some similar interesting action on display Friday.

Top plays and tight standings

In women's basketball Tennessee Tech is sitting alone on top of the OVC standings, but a victory over Austin Peay last night was anything but comfortable. APSU had it to within a point in the last minute but couldn't find the go-ahead basket.

Elsewhere across the conference things were close between TSU and Jacksonville State, and Murray State delivered a blow to Eastern Illinois keeping the Panthers tied in conference play with APSU after a 7-point victory.

On the men's side, you might have caught Tennessee Tech's Zac Swansey deliver a game winning 3-pointer to defeat the first place Governors on Thursday nights edition of ESPN's Sportcenter Top Plays.



You should have also noticed Eastern Illinois' Jeremy Granger coolly dropping a floater in the paint with 3.2 seconds left to give the Panthers the win in Murray.

Competition last night in the OVC proved to be exciting, and not just for the games themselves but for the race to the title. Be on the lookout for games that could make or break someone's title hopes on the women's side like when Eastern Illinois vistits UT Martin for a battle between 3rd and 4th, and also a game down the line on February 5th when Tennessee Tech plays host to Morehead State.

For the men, Tennessee State vs. Morehead State is fast approaching on the 27th of this month and two days later MSU turns around to play the top place APSU Governors.

OVC basketball fans should be in for some more top plays, but are guaranteed a tight race to the finish.

Around the Ohio Valley: January 19th

2011 is starting out with a bang. Excitement is growing as the basketball seasons grow ever closer to the OVC Basketball Championship Music City Madness. Basketball isn't all that is stealing the headlines, as you can see by looking around the conference.


Austin Peay: It is "Coming Home Week" at Austin Peay where the Men's and Women's basketball programs will play host to Tennessee Tech on Thursday Night. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the "Hoops for Haiti" project APU has intiated, and the students of APU will be inacting a whiteout for the event.

Eastern Illinois: The Panthers have signed an additional two Junior College transfers. On the first day JUCO players could sign National Letters of Intent in mid December the Panthers signed three players. New additions Eric Varela and Clinton Simpkins will add to the offensive and defensive lines respectively and also add to the new faces around campus.

Eastern Kentucky: EKU baseball has announced that it will kick off their season with the 11th annual Daimond Legacy Dinner on Saturday, Febuary 5th at 6pm in the Keen Ballroom. Key note speaker for the dinner will be Josh Anderson. Anderson was drafted by the Houston Astros and is a former player and hall of famer of EKU's program.

Jacksonville State: JSU's Laveeta Oliver set a new JSU indoor track and field record with a time of 7.56 in the 60 meter dash. Also, former JSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux signed a future/reserve contract with the New York Giants.

Morehead State: Last week standout Kenneth Faried was named to the Wooden Award Midseason watch list, one of the most prestigous awards for college basketball. His coach Donnie Tyndall has stated, "there's no question he (Faried) is one of the top 20 players in college basketball and he deserves to be on the list." Faried is definitely making some noise around the nation, and why not when you can fly like this.



Murray State: Planning is under way for a new basketball specific practice facility at Murray State. The new facility could be completed and ready for start of the fall 2012. The new facility would legitimize MSU as a top program, according to the Head Men's Coach Billy Kennedy. Other planning like adding luxury boxes to the CFSB Center and moving the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame there is under way as well. Read more in the article outlining the new plans.

Southeast Missouri State: State has announced the "Show Me Sellout- Part II". The event will take place as the Redhawks host Tennessee Tech in a double header January 29th. Students are orgainizing a blackout and the University is offering ways to help disadvantaged youth get out to see the game on their website.


Southern Illinois University Edwardsville: SIUE has just announced that for the fall semester of 2010 the University's student athletes posted the highest cummalitive GPA in the last decade, 3.172. "Timely graduation continues to be a top priority for our student athletes and Intercollegiate Athletics. The support and stucture that is in place helps our student athletes excel in the classroom," said Director of Athletics Dr. Brad Hewitt.

Tennessee State: TSU Men's Basketball currently sits third in the OVC after handing Austin Peay their first conference loss of the season in OT. Wil Peters was awarded Adidas Athlete of the Week after scoring seven of TSU's eleven overtime points, while Kenny Moore was named Adidas OVC Co-Newcomer of the Week after scoring a game high 20 points and securing his fourth double-double of the season.

Tennessee Tech: Kevin Murphy has become the 32nd Golden Eagle to joing the 1,000 point club while dropping 31 points against Murray State on Saturday night. On the women's side Tacarra Hayes is edging ever closer to achieving the same feat, needing just 81 more points to reach the mark.

UT Martin: Adidas OVC Freshman of the Week Jasmine Newsome and the UT Martin Skyhawks will put their 10 game home winning streak on the line tonight as they face Southeast Missouri tonight. Get live stats here.

A Look Ahead to the 2011 OVC Basketball Tournament

I know we have been really bad about updating the blog. That is about to change as our new intern starts officially next week. We'll have news, links and stories coming more regularly and hopefully the return of the OVC Insider weekly webisode.

In the meantime, we'll hold you over with a preview of our new spot for the 2011 OVC Basketball Tournament. The event is March 2-5 at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. For all your information on the event, please check out the Championship Page at OVCSports.com