The University of Akron Athletics
athletics emails tom 2012 13 may 8 2013
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SUPPORT TRACK & FIELD AT THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
It’s our honor once again to host the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week, as our Men’s and Women’s teams compete for titles at Lee R. Jackson Track and Field Complex.
Our Men’s team seeks to defend its streak of winning two straight outdoor titles (and four of the last five), while our Women look to build on their seventh-place finish from last year. Between our two squads we have an impressive 27 athletes ranked among the top three in the league in their disciplines, so there will be plenty of talented Zips to cheer on.
We hope you will attend the three-day event that starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow and runs through Saturday, but if you cannot make it in person our staff will be streaming it live (weather permitting) on www.MAC-Sports.com. The full schedule of events is available here.
Also, as the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge comes down the stretch, we are tied at 6 with Kent State, with three points remaining (one each for Men’s Track, Women’s Track and Baseball). We defeated Kent at last week’s annual Campbell/Wright Invitational, and if we do the same this week we will clinch the Challenge since the winner is the first school to score eight points.
QUESTION: WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MAY 18?
Answer: Participating in our second annual Trivia Night at James A. Rhodes Arena!
This is an incredibly fun night of eating good food, visiting with our head coaches at your table, and, of course, playing trivia. If you haven’t already, it’s not too late to sign up for this Z-Fund event that benefits our student-athletes and athletics department. Again, it’s on Saturday, May 18 at 6 p.m. at the JAR – bring an entire table of friends, and I promise you will have a great time!
Please contact Alexa Doutt at asd9@uakron.edu or (330) 972-2695 for more information.
BASEBALL STRETCH RUN
Baseball is looking to secure its first berth in the MAC Tournament since 2005, and let’s cheer them on during the stretch run of games.
They play at Central Michigan this weekend for a critical three-game series, and then return home against Kent State the following weekend. The first game, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 16 at Canal Park, is our annual Diamond Classic for Kids, followed by Friday and Saturday 1 p.m. games at Lee R. Jackson Field.
We started the week off right by beating Penn State at home yesterday 11-2, thanks to 16 hits.
NCAA QUALIFIERS
Congratulations to junior Charlie Bull, who qualified for the NCAA Men’s Golf Regional Championship for the second consecutive season. Charlie was one of 10 individuals selected to compete in the Central region on May 16-18 in Columbus after he posted a third-place finish last week in the MAC Championships.
Congrats, too, to Prang Pantusart and Angelina Jogasuria for being one of 32 doubles teams selected to compete in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship later this month in Urbana, Ill. They are ranked No. 42 nationally and are our first doubles team to be an at-large pick.
STUDENT-ATHLETE VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Watch record-setting pole vaulter Shawn Barber, our featured student-athlete of the week, describe his ideal pre-game meal, among other topics.
‘DRIVE FOR 5’ DONOR OF THE WEEK
Thanks to Dan Hayes for joining our team through the “Drive for 5”! You can join Dan – and our team – by signing up here as we seek to elevate Zips Athletics by having 5,000 donors and fundraising $5 million annually by 2015.
ZIPS CONGRATS TO …
… Brian Peresie, named our head coach for Swimming and Diving – looking forward to having you lead our Zips in the pool!
… Erin Seiler, named to the MAC All-Freshman Team after serving as our ace this year, appearing in 43 of our 51 games while tossing 24 complete games and throwing more innings than anyone in the MAC this season …
… Brady Stewart, named MAC East Baseball Player of the Week after batting 8-for-12 during this past week’s games …
… graduating senior Prang Pantusart from Women’s Tennis, who was selected to speak on behalf of the Spring 2013 class at her graduation event Friday night …
… defensive end J.D. Griggs for signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars …
… offensive line coach Alan Arrington, named the College Assistant Coach of the Year by the Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation …
… Our 10-man Men’s Soccer recruiting class – Clint Caso, Louis Cross, Robby Dambrot, Jonny DeMoya, Riley Grant, Brett Gravatt, Adam Najem, Tyler Sanda, Ismail Seremba and Victor Souto – for committing to join Head Coach Jared Embick for the 2013 season. Welcome to the Zips!
ZIPS CLIPS
... Michael Beaven of the Akron Beacon Journal looks at Jared Embick’s first recruiting class …
… CollegeSwimming.com, SwimmingWorldMagazine.com and SwimSwam.com all cover Brian Peresie becoming our head coach …
ON A FINAL NOTE …
Congratulations to all of our graduating student-athletes, as well as all University of Akron graduates, who will enjoy commencement this weekend. We tell student-athletes, recruits, donors and fans, as well as the general public, that a student-athlete’s number one goal at UA is to earn his or her degree. We are so proud that so many of you have done just that, and we know that you’ll do great things as you represent the Zips!
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
