Simpson gets NCAA postgraduate scholarship
Bethany College women’s track and field senior Lauren Simpson, a Washington native and Trinity graduate, will be awarded with a $7,500 Ethnic Minority and Women’s Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee.
The NCAA awards the scholarship through a selection process to a group of student-athletes who will be entering their initial year of postgraduate studies. Simpson is one of only 26 students – 13 male and 13 female – in the country to receive the honor. She was recently accepted to Illinois State University and will pursue a degree in sport management, while completing a graduate assistantship in the Redbird Athletics Communications Office.
“Lauren epitomizes the type of student-athlete we are proud to develop at Bethany,” athletics director Brian Rose said. “Since day one on campus, she has been seeking challenges and opportunities to prepare herself for a career in athletics. Earning this prestigious NCAA scholarship is just one of the latest examples of how Lauren has represented Bethany with class and distinction. As proud as we are of Lauren for all she has accomplished at Bethany, we can’t wait to see what her future holds.”
As a scholarship recipient, Simpson has also been extended an invitation to attend the 2017 NCAA Career in Sports Forum this summer in Indianapolis. The event is a four-day educational session that allows student-athletes to learn about careers in intercollegiate athletics.
Simpson was a two-year starter on the Bethany women’s basketball team and currently is a middle-distance runner on the track team. She also is the president of the Bethany Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the vice-president of the PAC SAAC, a member of the Phi Mu sorority and works in a variety of facets as a work study in the Bethany sports information office.
Simpson will receive her bachelor’s degree in communications from Bethany at the conclusion of the spring semester.
“Bethany gave me the opportunity to get involved in so many different aspects, not just athletically but also around campus,” Simpson said. “I grew from a shy reserved high school student into a leader that I never thought I could be. Being involved in SAAC and becoming the vice president of the PAC SAAC really propelled me into those leadership roles.”
“This campus has transformed me into a leader and allowed me the confidence that I can do anything that I put my mind to. Receiving this honor from the NCAA is further evidence of that.”
Point Park sophomore Ashley Iagnemma, a South Fayette graduate, was named the River States Conference Pitcher of the Week for April 3-9 after throwing a no-hitter against Cincinnati Christian. Iagnemma had six strikeouts in the no-hitter.
During the week, Iagnemma also beat Ohio Christian with five shutout innings of two-hit ball. Later in the day, she struck out the side in the seventh inning to preserve Point Park’s 1-0 win over OCU and earn a save. Her week started with a three-inning save against Chatham.
Iagnemma also threw a no-hitter March 29 against Waynesburg, when she struck out eight and did not issue a walk.
Iagnemma has an 8-4 record, 1.51 ERA with two saves this season. She has struck out 107 batters in 88 1/3 innings.
Two former Canon-McMillan players are having big seasons at the plate for Robert Morris as sophomore outfielder Abby McCartney and junior third baseman Olivia Lorusso are second and third on the team in batting, respectively.
McCartney has a .320 batting average. She got off to a slow start to the seaosn but has been hitting at a .375 clip since March 10. She has four doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI.
Lorusso is batting .316 and leads the Colonials with nine doubles, nine home runs and 30 RBI. She hit three home runs during a doubleheader April 2 against Central Connecticut.
Lorusso is two home runs shy of tying the single-season school record set in 2003. With 16 games remaining, plus the postseason, Lorusso could potentially shatter the mark by a wide margin.
“To be honest, I haven’t even given it much thought,” Lorusso said. “I approach things game by game with a goal of helping my team win. I don’t go up there trying to hit home runs. I just want to chip away and do what’s best for the team.”
Freshman shortstop Linda Rush has made an immediate impact at Drexel.
A Canon-McMillan graduate, Rush has a .380 batting average, which is best among the Dragons’ regulars. Rush also leads the team in hits (35), doubles (11), home runs (8), runs (22), RBI (32) and walks (10). In her second collegiate game, Rush hit two home runs and drove in five during a February game against Howard. She topped that April 13 at Coppin State, when she hit two home runs, doubled and drove in six runs in a 13-0 Drexel victory.
Junior Giorgiana Zeremenko of Canonsburg had another big game Saturday for Pitt. Zeremenko hit two home runs, her seventh and eighth of the season, and drove in all of Pitt’s runs in a 7-3 loss to Syracuse.
Zeremenko is the Panthers’ leading hitter with a .298 batting average. She also leads the team in home runs, RBI (27), total bases (67), slugging percentage (.577) and shares the team lead in doubles (9) in Olivia Gray, a sophomore third baseman from Washington and a Trinity graduate.
Gray has started all 40 of Pitt’s games and has a .276 batting average, five home runs, 22 RBI and five stolen bases. Gray has committed only five errors in 161 total chances.
Indiana freshman outfielder Kassie Kesneck smacked two doubles and a triple, and drove in four runs, as she helped the Crimson Hawks to a doubleheader sweep of Pitt-Johnstown last Monday.
A Chartiers-Houston graduate, Kesneck went 5-for-7 in the doubleheader and scored three runs as the Crimson Hawks won 9-1 and 4-2.
Kesneck is IUP’s fourth-leading hitter with a .291 batting average.
Bobby Finn, a sophomore first baseman from Venetia, is one of the leading hitters for Saint Vincent.
A Peters Township graduate, Finn is batting .292 with five doubles, a triple and 11 runs in 22 games. In the Bearcats’ first game of the season, Finn went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a triple in a win over New Jersey City.
Two pitchers who were playing for Canon-McMillan last season have combined to win almost half of Pitt-Greensburg’s games.
Left-hander Matt Mish and right-hander Austin Berger, each a freshman pitcher, have five of Pitt-Greensburg’s 12 wins.
Mish leads the Bobcats with a 3.86 ERA to go with a 3-1 record in five starts. Opponents are batting only .241 against him.
Berger is primarily a reliever and leads UPG with eight appearances. he has a 2-1 record and one save in 10 1/3 innings.
Mount Union pitcher and Venetia native Phil Mary pushed his record to 7-0 on the season as the Purple Raiders blanked Capital, 1-0, Friday.
Mary pitched his second consecutive complete game – a three-hitter – and struck out a career high 10 batters. Mary lowered his ERA to 0.96. The Peters Township graduate leads the Ohio Athletic Conference in wins and ERA.
MiKayla Sonneborn, a redshirt senior at Tulane, is having a strong outdoor season for the Green Wave.
A West Finley native and West Greene graduate, Sonneborn has been running the 3,000-meter steeplechase and set a personal record of 11:05.11 when she placed third at the Victor Lopez Classic hosted by Rice University in Houston.
“The highlight of the day was Mikayla Sonneborn running a big personal record in the steeplechase because she’s continuing to show the improvement that we want to see for her in that event at this point in the season,” Tulane associate head coach Doug Fraley said.
Sonneborn finished second in the steeplechase Thursday at the Mt. SAC Relays in Torrance, Calif., with a strong time 11:06.45.
Sean Hilverding, a sophomore from Spraggs and a Waynesburg graduate, helped Point Park win the team title at the Geneva Invitational. Hilverding won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:21.
Point Park finished second at the Westminster Invitational, where Hilverding placed third in 33:40.
Hilverding had a strong start to the outdoor season when he won the 5,000 meters in 15:34.97 at the Muskie Duals hosted by Muskingum College.