Connors named national strength and conditioning coach of year
The National Strength and Conditioning Association has selected East Carolina’s Jeff Connors as the organization’s College Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year.
Connors, 60, is a Washington County native and a 1975 graduate of Beth-Center High School. He has been the strength and conditioning coach for East Carolina for 16 years over two stops. He coached there from 1991-2001 and returned in 2011 after a stint at the University of North Carolina.
Connors is the 36th recipient of the award, which is selected by a volunteer committee, which determines the winner based on contributions to the NSCA, community and the coaching profession.
He is credited with playing an integral role in the design and development of East Carolina’s 22,000-square-foot strength and conditioning facility, which opened in 2002.
At North Carolina, he helped develop some of the top players in the Tar Heels’ football program, including NFL players Julius Peppers, Jason Brown, Ronald Curry, David Thornton, Kentwan Balmer and Hakeem Nicks. During Connors’ stay at UNC, 73 of 77 all-time football strength and conditioning records improved and the Tar Heels went to five bowl games and produced 27 NFL draft picks.
In 2013, Connors authored his first book, “Strength Coach, A Call to Serve.” He was inducted into the USA Strength & Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame this past summer. He is one of only three coaches to be honored by both major organizations in the strength and conditioning industry.
Connors will receive his award at the NSCA Coaches Conference Jan. 4-6 in Nashville, Tenn.
At Beth-Center, Connors was a multisport athlete, playing football, wrestling and participating on the track team. He was a quarterback and cornerback for the Bulldogs and was a team captain as a senior.
He went on to Salem College, where he was a four-year starter at defensive back.
Connors was inducted into the Washington-Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
Connors’ father, Bill, was a high school football coach at Belle Vernon, Ringgold and Beth-Center. He guided Ringgold and Beth-Center to WPIAL championships.
Youngstown State forward Mary Dunn has been named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week for the period ending Dec. 11. It is the second time in the first five weeks of the season that the Washington resident and former Trinity standout has earned the award.
Dunn averaged 16.5 points while shooting 61.5 percent from the field against Akron and Kent State. She scored a career-high 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting against Akron, and had 14 points against Kent State. The 19-point game was the most by a YSU freshman since 2011.
Dunn leads all Horizon League freshmen in scoring (11.4 ppg), field-goal percentage (54.2) and blocked shots (1.1 per game).
Two former Canon-McMillan standouts were placewinners at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
Virginia Tech’s Solomon Chishko placed sixth at 149 pounds, and Colton Shorts of Cal Poly placed seventh at 157.
Chishko had a 2-2 record in the tournament. He advanced to the quarterfinals with a fall and a 12-4 decision, then lost a sudden victory match to Edinboro’s Patricio Lugo before defaulting because of an injury in the consolation semifinals.
Shorts, a senior, is the first Cal Poly wrestler to place in the tournament since 2013. He won a 4-1 decision over Alex Mossing of Air Force in the seventh-place match at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
A Canon-McMillan graduate, Shorts had a 4-2 record in the two-day tournament and has an 11-7 record for the season.
When the Three Rivers Classic is held Dec. 29-30 at PPG Paints Arena, one of the participating teams will have a Washington County connection.
Ferris State, which will play Robert Morris in the opening round, has two Washington County natives on its roster. Trevor Recktenwald is a sophomore forward from Venetia, and Tyler Andrew is a junior forward who was born in Washington.
Recktenwald has played in 17 games this season and has two goals and two assists for Ferris State (7-11-1). Recktenwald played in the North American Hockey League with the Johnstown Tomahawks for two seasons. He also played for the 18-U Pittsburgh Viper Stars, where he had 104 points and 41 goals in 74 games.
Andrew, whose father, Scott, is a former Trinity quarterback, has played in 12 games this season and has one goal and two assists.
Shippensburg junior Alec Rideout, an NCAA Division II outdoor national qualifier in the shot put last year, stepped into the indoor circle Dec. 3 and set a personal record of 56-2½ during the season-opening meet at Bucknell University. The throw surpassed Rideout’s outdoor PR of 56-1 that the Canon-McMillan graduate set last season at the NCAA Championship.
Brent Blacharczyk, a junior linebacker from Claysville, was the leading tackler for Waynesburg.
The former McGuffey standout made 72 tackles, including 40 solo stops, for the Yellow Jackets. He had three games with double-digit tackles, including a season-high 11 stops against Westminster.