Thoughts and a Review of 2010-11

Since I’m new to blogging, bear with me as I evolve…

In some ways, I’m picking a terrible time to start up a Trinity Athletics blog, but I’ll do my best to make it interesting.  I figured since the 2010-11 year is now over, I could look back on the past season and hit some highlights.  But before I get to that……

First on my mind is a rare find by a recent alumnus among some new baseball cards he bought.  Among the many cards he opened, he found two of Ryan Cavan.  Cavan is a former Tiger baseball player who transferred out of Trinity after one season, but was drafted by MLB’s San Francisco Giants in 2009.  For more on Cavan at Trinity, go to the 2006 baseball season statistics.  Cavan earned All-SCAC honors at Trinity in 2006, and was also listed as an “Organizational All-Star” for the Giants in 2010.

Should Cavan go on to the “Big Leagues” with the Giants, he’ll join Jerheme Urban as a former Tiger player in the pros.  Urban is now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs, though the NFL lockout has him in occupational limbo.  It might be interesting to look at players like Urban who aren’t signed to multi-million dollar contracts, and how the lockout affects them.  My hope is that with a short off-season, veteran role players like Urban will be irreplaceable.  My worry is that he won’t have time to out-perform young draftees, and he might become a casualty of the lockout.  Good luck to both.

On to current Trinity news…first thing that comes to mind is men’s tennis.  Second-year coach Russell McMindes has taken the team to the NCAA Quarterfinals each of the past two years, and Max Frey made it to the Singles Semifinals as well.  He and his brother Jacob, who was the ITA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year, have been outstanding after replacing Hall of Famer Butch Newman as the Tiger coach.  It has to be one of the hardest things in coaching to replace a legendary coach, but Russell is up to it so far.  Earlier this year, he had two players win the ITA Small College Division III National Championship.  Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal brought home the trophy – the fifth time Trinity has won the award, but the first since 2003.Women’s tennis also had a player make the singles tournament – Thavindra Ekanayake…most likely the hardest name to say among the Tiger student-athletes.  She lost her opening round match in the tournament, but she’ll be back for her junior year in 2011-12. 

Baseball also won the SCAC Tournament and made it to the NCAA Regionals – and in an odd year, no less!  Trinity previously only made it in even-numbered years, but broke the trend by making a return to the postseason in 2011.  The Tigers finished 1-2, though, beating Concordia, but losing to Linfield and Redlands.  The conference title was the seventh overall for Trinity’s baseball team (as well as winning the CAC title in 1990).

A pair of divers highlighted the winter season at Trinity, nearly coming away with two more national championships.  Hayley Emerick – the 2010 NCAA 3-Meter Diving Champion – finished second on both the 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards in 2011, while Ruth Hahn was third in the 3-Meter event.

The biggest fall story was of course the national champions mentioned above (Cocanougher/Kowal), but both soccer teams also enjoyed strong seasons.  Both teams went to the NCAA Playoffs once again, but both also failed to take advantage of San Antonio hosting the Semifinals and Championship in both men’s and women’s soccer.  The teams have missed that opportunity twice now, but they have another shot at it this fall.  Cross country also had two runners make it to the NCAA Championships.  Not as big a deal until you realize that they were both first-years! 

Overall, Trinity had five teams win SCAC Championships in 2010-11, while seven teams were in the postseason.  A total of 11 players were named All-American in their sport, while 10 were named either Player of the Year* or Newcomer of the Year in the SCAC.  There were 14 student-athletes who really reinforced the student part of their designation, earning national or regional academic honors.  Among those 14, Tyler Czinege and Kelly Watts were named ESPN Academic All-Americans, while Danika Wright and Hayley Emerick earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. 

A number of coaches also reached milestones during the past year.  Tim Scannell passed Hall of Famer Houston Wheeler on Trinity’s all-time wins list, and also picked up win #400 in his career.  Amie Bradley won her 100th career game this season, as did Lance Key during the fall.  Coach Scannell and Coach Key were both SCAC Coaches of the Year this season, as were Russell McMindes, and Paul McGinlay.  McGinlay was also the NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year, and I already mentioned Jacob McMindes and his award as an assistant coach.

Coming soon will be the announcement of the 2011 Trinity Athletics Hall of Fame class.  I can’t reveal the new class quite yet, but I can say that it will be another superb group that will be honored.  It will also be the first HOF class for President Ahlburg.  If you want to nominate for future classes, send an e-mail to: trinityhof@gmail.com.

* Also Diver of the Year, Diver of the Meet, Pitcher of the Year, and Track Athlete of the Year