The University of Akron Athletics
athletics emails tom 2012 13 june 11 2013
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ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Congratulations to our Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Cross Country and Women’s Tennis teams, which received a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR). Those programs finished in the top-10 percent of all teams in their respective sport over the last four reported academic years (2008-09 through 2011-12).
The APR measures eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes on each Division I team.
This is the eighth year of APR awards, and a quick look at our history over this period shows how far our department has grown. In the previous seven years, we had a total of just nine teams honored. It’s a testament to our student-athletes, coaches and academic staff that we have a school-record four teams receiving this recognition this year.
TRACK & FIELD SHINES AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The final student-athletes wearing Akron blue and gold uniforms for the 2012-13 year are the six Zips on our Outdoor Track and Field teams who earned the right to compete in Eugene, Ore., at last week's NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships.
Freshman Shawn Barber won the bronze Wednesday in the pole vault, finishing third and earning All-America First Team honors for the second time this year (he also finished fifth in the NCAA Indoor meet earlier this year).
Junior Brittany Funk also earned First Team All-America honors, placing sixth in the hammer throw. She was a Second Team All-American in the weight throw during indoor.
Upping the Zips' total to three, sophomore Alexis Cooks joined Barber and Funk on the All-America First Team with a sixth-place finish in the discus last Thursday, with the second-best mark in school history.
While sophomores Alex McCune and Claire Lucas gained valuable experience competing against the nation's best in their first NCAA Outdoor Championships in the men's decathlon and women's pole vault, respectively, senior Brittany Cheese capped off her standout college career with a 21st-place finish in the women’s long jump. Congrats to Cheese, McCune and Lucas, who each earned All-America Honorable Mention.
The future of our track and field program remains bright as all but one of our qualifiers will be back next season.
TICKET UPDATES
Just a reminder that the renewal deadline for Football and Men’s Soccer season tickets has passed – if you missed the deadline, please call our ticket office immediately at 888-99-AKRON (25766) or log on to your Ticketmaster account here.
“DRIVE FOR 5” DONOR OF THE WEEK
Thanks to Mr. Lee S. Good for joining our team through the “Drive for 5”! You can join Lee and the rest of our Zips Team – by signing up here as we seek to elevate Zips Athletics by having 5,000 donors and fundraising $5 million annually by 2015
THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE!
I want to thank three long-time contributors to Zips Athletics who have retired over the last couple of months: Director of Sports Medicine Marilyn Bowman; Dottie Schmith, who served as the Administrative Assistant for our Women’s Basketball and Volleyball programs; and J. Dean Carro, who was a trusted advisor as our Faculty Athletics Representative while serving as a professor in UA’s School of Law and Director of the Law Clinic.
Thanks for all that you did for Zips Athletics!
GOLF OUTINGS
We were pleased to announce that the Zips Football program’s Summer Jamboree Golf Outing, presented by LeafFilter, sold out for the second consecutive year. We hosted 36 foursomes at Medina Country Club yesterday.
There’s still plenty of time left to sign up for our outings later this summer to support Baseball (July 22 at Medina Country Club) and Men’s Basketball (August 19 at the Quarry Golf Club in Canton).
GOLF SUMMER BLOGS
Keep up with how our golfers do this summer through our blogs for Men’s Golf and Women’s Golf.
STUDENT-ATHLETE VIDEO FEATURE
Click here to watch men's golfer Ryan Harris talk about majoring in business and what he likes about the UA campus.
Here is an online archive of student-athlete video profiles that we have shared with you in recent months … with more to come!
ZIPS CONGRATS TO …
… Angelina Jogasuria and Prang Pantusart of Women’s Tennis, who were ranked 43rd in the final national doubles rankings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association …
… Women’s Soccer midfielder Kelly DeNiro, who earned W-League Team of the Week honors after scoring the game-winning goal for her team …
… Men’s Soccer striker Reinaldo Brenes, winger Aodhan Quinn and defender Bryan Gallego, who were named to Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 10 lists for their position …
… Four Women’s Golfers for earning Academic All-MAC honors – Hanna Ek and Tyler Etcheberry were named to the First Team while Sara Chaves and Laura Murray were Honorable Mentions …
… Baseball outfielder Jared Turocy, who was named to the All-MAC Second Team in his final year as a Zip …
… Seven members of our Track and Field program were named to the outdoor Academic All-MAC Team – Alex McCune, Kyle Cochrun, Jake Hiltner, Bjorn Johansson, Ariane Beaumont-Courteau, Claire Lucas and Gabriela Szkolnicka all were recognized …
… Men’s golfer Cameron Simmons, who was named Academic All-MAC Honorable Mention …
… Softball's Cassie Gleisner, Rachael Ratcliffe and Kellie Roudabush, who earned Academic All-MAC Honorable Mention …
… Men’s golfer Charlie Bull, who was named to the Division I PING All-Region Team after posting a Top-25 finish at the NCAA Regional in Columbus …
… Jason Sanders, who was named MAC Video Coordinator of the Year by Collegiate Sports Video Association …
… Volleyball Assistant Coach Aline dos Santos, who was named head volleyball coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania …
ZIPS CLIPS …
… listen to Men’s Basketball Head Coach Keith Dambrot’s on Fox Sports Ohio’s A to Z Podcast with Andre Knott and Zac Jackson as he discusses the past season, the future of Zips Basketball and LeBron James, among other topics …
… The Canton Repository checks in with baseball recruit Dom Iero …
… George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal profiled Alexis Cooks and Brittany Funk from Track and Field…
… Aodhan Quinn of Men’s Soccer is excelling on the Seattle Sounders’ Under-23 team …
… Crain's Cleveland Business highlights the $14.5 million economic impact the MAC Basketball Tournament had on Cleveland in March …
ASK THE AD …
As always, if you have a question or want to comment about Zips
Athletics, click here now or at any
time on the “Ask the AD” button on the home page
of GoZips.com.
Go Zips!
Tom Wistrcill
Director of Athletics
