Around the Ohio Valley - May 19

Austin Peay: For the first time since 2007, the Austin Peay baseball team has claimed the OVC Baseball regular season championship. The Governors locked up the championship last Sunday with a victory over Southeast Missouri. The title is even more satisfying for the program when you consider they did not make the OVC Championship field (six teams) each of the past two years. Ticket information for the 2011 OVC Baseball Championship (which is May 25-29 at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn.) can be found HERE.

Eastern Kentucky: Although the EKU men's golf team came up short of winning the OVC Team Championship, the Colonels Johan Eriksson shared medalist honors and received an automatic individual berth to the NCAA Regionals. Eriksson was assigned to the Central Regional in Zionsville, Ind. which begins on Thursday. EKUColonels.com takes a look at Eriksson chances at the event.

Eastern Illinois: The EIU men's track and field team was ranked 11th in the final Midwest Region poll of the regular season released by the USTFCCCA. Overall the Panthers were 57th nationally. The rankings are projections based on how athletes would fare at the NCAA Championships. Individually Zye Boey was 13th in the 100 meters and 17th in the 200 meters while Mick Viken is ranked seventh in the pole vault. This past week the EIU athletic department announced its student-athletes had a combined 3.08 G.P.A. for the spring semester, as 57 percent of its student-athletes had a G.P.A. of 3.00 or higher. In addition 15 of the Panthers 19 intercollegiate teams had combined G.P.A.'s of 3.00 or higher and 54 student-athletes had perfect 4.0's.

Jacksonville State: The Jacksonville State softball team will play in its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament this weekend. After winning the OVC Championship last weekend in Charleston, Ill., the Gamecocks were picked to play in the Louisville Regional and open play on Friday (May 20) against No. 7 California. Daniel Paulling of the Birmingham News takes a look at the JSU softball team and how they overcame a poor finish to the regular season to win the OVC Championship. The softball team is the first Gamecock program to make four consecutive postseason trips since the school became a Division I program.

Morehead State: If you search the internet you can find a new and different NBA Mock Draft every day. Every outlet has an opinion of where they think forward/center Kenneth Faried will go in this year's Draft (which will be held June 23). This mock draft from SB Nation has Faried going to the Golden State Warriors at No. 11, while this one at CSNPhilly.com thinks the 76ers should pick Faried at No. 16. If you take to Google you can find numerous other ones predicting Faried to go to a variety of teams in the first round. If Faried is picked in the first round (which he should be), he will be the first OVC player taken in the first round since Carlos Rogers was 11th overall in the 1994 NBA Draft.

Murray State: Although Murray State is currently going through the search for its next head coach, as Billy Kennedy announced on Monday he was taking over at Texas A&M, the school did announce that it will be playing in this year's 2011 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage. The Racers will be paired with UC Irvine in the first round (Nov. 23) and play either host Alaska-Anchorage or Southern Miss in the second round on Nov. 25. The rest of the field includes Central Michigan, Dartmouth, New Mexico State and San Francisco. This will be the 34th annual Great Alaska Shootout.

Southeast Missouri: The Redhawks softball team made a great run through the OVC Championship last weekend in Charleston, Ill., making the Finals and playing eventual champion Jacksonville State to two title games. After trailing in the first championship game, freshman catcher Shelby Kuryllo hit a three-run walk-off home run to give the 5th-seeded Redhawks the 3-2 victory. The next day the team came up just short in falling to JSU by a 9-5 margin. Southeast Missouri finished the year 31-30 overall.

SIU Edwardsville: Earlier this week the NCAA announced the winners of its NCAA Public Recognition awards for high Academic Progress Rates (APR). SIUE led all OVC schools with five individual sports programs that were recognized, including men's cross country, women's tennis, women's golf, women's soccer and softball. As SIUE continues it reclassification to being a full Division I member, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Vahe Gregorian took a closer look at the school and how the process has been going. Finally, SIUE baseball coach Gary Collins is just two wins away from 1,000 for his career. Steve Porter of the Alton Telegraph wrote a story about Collins' career and reaching the milestone (which could potentially come this weekend against Eastern Kentucky).

Tennessee State: The Tennessee State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently received a 2011 Service Learning Award at the Community Partners Luncheon put on by the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. The award was one of just six given out at the luncheon, which honors groups across the city of Nashville.

Tennessee Tech: Following the basketball season head coach Mike Sutton stepped down and long-time assistant coach Steve Payne assumed the head coaching duties for the Golden Eagles. The website National Hoops Report recently interviewed Payne to talk about the transition of taking over as head coach. In the sport of football Tennessee Tech recently announced is 2011 football schedule, which features a game at Football Bowl Subdivision foe Iowa.

UT Martin: One of the surprise men's basketball teams last year was UT Martin, as head coach Jason James took a young team and helped them develop over the season to earn the No. 8 seed in the OVC Championship Tournament and pull off an upset of No. 5 seed Tennessee State in the first round. Recently James announced the addition of five signees to his 2012 recruiting class. The group included three junior college transfers and two freshmen.

Belmont: Although not a member of the OVC until 2012-13, last Friday the OVC announced the Bruins will become the 12th member of the Conference. The Nashville school will play one final year in the Atlantic Sun before joining the OVC. This story has a link to all the news stories that were generated from last Friday's announcement.

Nashville's Fox17 Does Feature on Southeast Missouri Pitcher Jordan Underwood

Paul Jones from Fox17 in Nashville recently did a story on the inspirational story of Southeast Missouri State pitcher Jordan Underwood. Underwood's story has been documented here before, but he lost an eye in junior college after being struck by a line drive.

CLICK HERE to watch the story that Paul did a great job of telling.

Around the Ohio Valley- May 11

Austin Peay: Head Coach Dave Loos must be pretty happy that his 6-foot-4 TyShwan Edmondson will be returning to the Govs in the fall. Edmondson sent a letter to the NBA, and copied APSU, informing the league of his decision to withdraw his name from the upcoming draft. In the Leaf Chronicle Dave Loos stated that it might help Edmondson to return for a final year and maybe even position himself better for next year's draft... We will have to wait for the fish. The 17th Annual Governors Bass Tour has been delayed as a result of high waters due to recent rain fall. I am not sure if they throw the fish back or what, but I do know that the grand prize is worth $12,000 in merchandise! Check out the article on the Bass Tour, and maybe sign up.

Eastern Illinois: A interesting article from the Journal Gazett & Times-Courier details how Ben Thoma is one of the few in college baseball that has seen his numbers go up despite recent NCAA changes to metal bats. The statistics across the nation point to a decline in batting averages and home runs after the NCAA switched to bats that are made to resemble wooden bats. Thoma doesn't mind, his numbers are staying the same and even increasing in some areas. "When we recruited him, we knew he had a great swing. He is a wooden bat hitter," stated coach Jim Schmitz. Read the full article to understand the details involved and how Thoma continues to show off his great hitting mechanics.

Eastern Kentucky: Alex Raich and Stephanie Lynch will both be giving away the knowledge and experience gained during their time as student-athletes for EKU's soccer program when they go abroad this summer. Raich will travel to Guatemala to be involved in the program Soccer Without Borders, a non-profit organization that uses soccer as a tool to provide youth in underdeveloped parts of the world with role models. Lynch will take part in a 21-year-old ministry on the campus of North Eastern University in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Both student-athletes shared their excitement and thoughts about the upcoming adventures in the article at EKUSports.com.

Jacksonville State: In light of the recent stories we have mentioned about the JSU athletic director position, I thought maybe I would continue to keep you informed. The JSU website details the times and dates they will be holding meet and greet events for the five final candidates for the position. The position obviously means a lot to the school and they have some great candidates as President Dr. William A. Meehan stated, "We are extremely pleased with the quality and experience of our five finalists for the athletics director position." The meet and greet opportunities will correlate with the candidates on site interview process.

Morehead State: MSU baseball and softball didn't exactly have the seasons they were hoping for, but all is not lost. There are some bright spots to point out, and more so there are some things that inspire optimism for the future. Junior catcher Taylor Davis has been named to the Johny Bench Award Watch List, one of only 49 catchers in the nation, and softball earned the best batting average and most hits in the conference this season. Davis leads the OVC in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases. Rebecca Butler leaves the softball program with a total of eight school records, but returning will be Sam Woodall, who set the single season record for most at bats and scored fourth all-time in single season hits. Things are looking up next season for both programs with players like these returning.

Murray State: "Hey, stick around for awhile," that's what Murray State has told the leaders of their basketball programs. Both the men's and women's coaches have seen their contracts extended... Other campus news sees the many student-athletes receive honors at the Annual SAAC Banquet. Associate AD Matt Kelly honored 18 student-athletes who received a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester, and 6 of those achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout their collegiate career. That is truly amazing if you ask me. Visit goracers.com to see the stories on the contract extensions of Billy Kennedy and Rob Cross, and of the Annual SAAC Banquet.

Southeast Missouri: SEMO has plenty to excited about with an impressive transfer coming in, and lots to be proud of as a student-athlete is named to the Academic All-District First Team. SEMO announced the addition of Jessica Crabtree to the women's soccer program. Crabtree will be a transfer from the University of Missouri, where she appeared in 60 games. Crabtree is quite the product as she is still fourth all-time in Illinois High School history with 142 goals scored. Michael Adamson is the player that was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America All-District Team. Adamson has started in every game for SEMO this season and leads the team with 49 runs scored, 11 stolen bases and 1.000 fielding percentage. He also carries a 3.78 GPA as an education major. Catch both stories at gosoutheast.com.

SIU Edwardsville: A fascinating story coming out of Edwardsville is the tale of Collen McDonough. McDonough is a redshirt sophomore from Orland Hills and leads all Cougar throwers in the hammer throw and shot put. The part of her story that is the most inspiring is the battle her and her father went through during the start of her collegiate career. As McDonough was contemplating which university to attend a few years back, her father, Brian, was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. During her father's battle with cancer, life was very difficult for Collen, who was now some 4 hours away from home. She communicated with the track and field coaches that at any time she may have to pack up and go home, and they were very supportive of her situation. The end result was an eventual bone marrow transplant for her father, who seems to be doing much better. The lessons that Collen learned during these hard times has no doubt shaped her for the better, and the story unfolds in more depth at siuecougars.com.

Tennessee State: Kim Haynes has been selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA Career in Sports Forum. Haynes was one of 303 student-athletes who were selected to participate in the 10 sport-specific coaching and administration tracks. "I think it will be a good opportunity for me to network and prepare myself for life after TSU," said Haynes... Elsewhere on TSU campus the SAAC received the 2011 Service Learning Award at the Community Partners Luncheon. The award is given to a student organization for implementing an outstanding community service program into their organization for at least two years. Read about these two accomplishments at tsutigers.com.

Tennessee Tech: TTUsports.com put it as, "the battle is over, the race is won, and the degree is in their hands." This refers to the 50 TTU student-athletes who graduated on Saturday. The size of the graduating class is growing every year in Cookeville, so the ceremony was held 9:30am for most and completed at 2pm for others. This is surely a good problem to have for administrators as nothing is more pleasing than to see student-athletes excel in the classroom as well as in the athletic realm. The website details a full list of graduates, but a few from the football team are pictured to the left. Job well done boys.

UT Martin: UTM continues the list of schools who are proud of their student-athletes academic achievements. Cody Terry, a senior shortstop, has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District first team. To be eligible for the award a student-athlete must have reached sophomore academic standing and at least a 3.30 GPA. Terry carries a 3.86 cumulative GPA, was named OVC Scholar Athlete, is a three-time member of the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll and was also an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. So, it is fair to say that UT Martin are very proud of his achievements.

Around the Ohio Valley- May 4

Austin Peay: APSU completed the sweep of Morehead in their three game conference series. The Govs currently sit on top of the OVC standings and are obviously enjoying a great season. However, the true story is that Head Coach Gary McClure completed his 700th win in the process. McClure has been with the Govs for 24 years now, truly a great run in modern day collegiate sports. The Leaf Chronicle has an article and video interview with the coach.

Eastern Illinois: EIU clinched at least a share of the OVC Regular Season Championship by defeating JSU Sunday. Amber May picked up her 20th win of the season during the series. She now sits No. 5 all time on the EIU single-season win mark. Elsewhere on campus, EIU announced four new members to EIU hall of fame. The 2011 consists of Craig DeWitt, Nick Ricks, Jason Thompson and Vanessa Wells. You can see the detailed write up on the contributions of these inductees and the recent success of the softball team at the Panther's website.

Eastern Kentucky: EKU recently caught up with former offensive lineman Dereck Hardman. Hardman has been chasing his dream of playing in the NFL. He made the practice squad for the Buccaneers in 2010 before being called up to start the final four games of the season at right guard.


Jacksonville State: Last week saw a extended amount of time devoted to the now former Athletic Director Oval Jaynes, who retired after 3 years in the position. This week sees Greg Seitz announced as Acting Athletic Director until the position is filled. Seitz has been with JSU since 1993, and has achieved many accolades since that time such as becoming the first SID elected as President of the Alabama Sports Writers Association, media and press box coordinator for several NCAA tournaments and has served as SID and Associate Athletic Director in his time at JSU. See his quotes on the announcement and his sentiments towards Oval Jaynes in the article here.

Morehead State: Student-athletes were recognized at Honors Banquets hosted by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee on Monday evening. Michael Brown and Emma Keough received the Male and Female Scholar of the Year awards, respectively. Both students posted a 4.0 GPA, with Brown majoring in physics and Keough in learning and behavioral studies, I think I can speak for everyone is saying, "WOW!" Holly Evans received the Laughlin-Miller award while achieving All-American status on the volleyball court and maintaining a 4.0 GPA in health promotions (double wow). Many more awards were received, and to not do the other recipients an injustice I highly recommend checking out the article...Is that Faried back there?

Murray State: Casey Brockman was named to the Sports Network FCS Top 10 Quarterbacks list that was released today. Brockman started only six games last season but managed to pass for 2,442 yards and 15 touchdowns. Brockman is a 6-2, 205 lb. junior and is expected to put up big numbers in Chris Hatcher's spread attack. Should be interesting to watch his season unfold, but in the meantime read about the recent announcement here.

Southeast Missouri: Former SEMO football player and athletic director John Schneider passed away last Wednesday in Cape Girardeau. He was 82. Schneider was an inaugural member of SEMO's Athletics Hall of Fame. He was named to AP Little All-America team in 1955, served as an assistant football coach, became the university's director of athletics and later was chairman of the department of physical education. Our sympathies go out to his family and the SEMO community, he will surely be missed. You can read more about his life in the Southeast Missourian.

SIU Edwardsville: SIUE baseball withstood a three-run ninth inning by JSU Sunday. It took some big time hits and solid pitching from the Cougars to pull off the victory, but they took the win and improved to 19-22 on the season. Head Coach Gary Collins had a few quotes in the siuecougars article, so I will leave most for you to read about but I will share his statement of, "They'll (JSU) will be at the top of the league. This proves we can play with them."

Tennessee State: The picture to the left, courtesy of Espn.go.com, features a young Sean Foley kneeling to the left. Foley went on to become Tiger Woods swing coach, but this story isn't just about Foley. It is about the former golf coach in the middle, Dr. Cantana Starks of TSU. I mentioned Dr. Starks and the movie made about her journey "From the Rough" a few weeks ago in the blog, but I can't help myself. The movie is expected to hit the big screen in the fall, and the excitement and impact it will create could be huge. Starks quoted, "I just think there is an opportunity to try to get more African-Americans in professional leagues to challenge these positions that are available in high school and college. I hope people can take the initiative to develop these young ladies to become head coaches somewhere. It's not just basketball. I think there are so many other opportunities for them." Read the ESPN article that has some former players' sentiments and more quotes from Dr. Starks.

Tennessee Tech: The TTU football team wrapped up their spring season off the field. They chipped in and helped out with the Putnam County Habitat for Humanity. "One of the main reasons I wanted to get out here was to teach our guys to learn to give," Coach Brown said. "Coach Brown told us that we had a great spring as a team, and working on these Habitat for Humanity Houses is letting us get to know the community and helping us become stronger as a team, a better team," one player said. Read about how this effort benefited the community in the TTUsports write up.

UT Martin: UTM announced a few award recipients at the Sixth Annual Senior Athlete Night on Monday. Cody Terry was named the Outstanding Sportsmanship Recipient and Bob Carroll Male Athlete of the Year. On the women's side Lauren Montague was named the Bettye Giles Female Athlete of the Year. Montague will go down as one of the all-time volleyball greats at UT Martin while Terry sports a 3.86 GPA with an impressive career as a shortstop. See utmsports.com to read about what it takes to receive such awards.