For more information on any of the club teams, visit the website:
clubsports.appstate.edu email us at
clubsports@appstate.edu or call us at the
Student Recreation Center (828)262-2100
Director of UREC: Joe Carter carterjr@appstate.edu Director of Club Sports: Erin Sanders sandersec1@appstate.edu Coordinators for Competitive Sports: Chris Carr carrcp@appstate.edu Heather Marshall marshallha@appstate.edu Executive Officers: Chad Deaver deaverce1@appstate.edu Olivia Chason chasonom@appstate.edu Patrick Sekel
The SEPT. 25th Edition of the Club Sports Illustrated Cover Designed by Jessica Dixon
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Inside this issue: Gearing up for Competition Fencing
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News of nonads navigating Women’s Ultimate
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A weekend at white lake Triathlon
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Competition lies ahead Women’s volleyball
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New faces, new season Women’s basketball
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First game in review Women’s Lacrosse
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Young ultimate team makes noise Men’s Ultimate
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George mason and lees mcrae races cycling
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What’s new with the equestrian team? Equestrian
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Fall down seven times, stand up eight.
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Women’s rugby 20
Executive Corner Volume 5, Issue 3
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Pictures and Article Submitted by: Leah Stanley, PR Officer and Armor
The Appalachian State Fencing Club is hitting the ground running this year with our new President, Carleton Stuecker, and our new Vice President, Sean Cobb, leading the way! Our new officers this year, represented in this photo, left to right, are; Suryaveer Singh, our Club Sports Council Representative: Evan Zuercher, our Treasurer: Sean Cobb, our Vice President: Carleton Stuecker, our President: Alex Steinert, our Secretary: and Leah Stanley, writing to you now, PR Officer and Armor. (Due to some last-minute changes, Eli is no longer with us). And our administration this year has made some good headway! We’ve joined a new league, called the Southern Intercollegiate Fencing Association, and this means that that we are going to be able to participate in many more tournaments this year than we have been in the past. To prepare for this, we’re in the process of purchasing new equipment, including, for the first time in the recent history of the club, electric sabre gear! For those of who are unfamiliar with the fencing world, there are three types of weapons in fencing: foil, sabre, and epee, each with their own set of rules, and to some extent, their own equipment. Due to lack of having sabre equipment, the club has not been able to participate in Sabre events; however, due to an increase in funds, we have now purchased the necessary equipment to compete in Sabre. We are very excited to branch out into this area of competition. It’s a whole new world for us in the fencing club! To follow these changes in our competitive league, we’ve also made some changes to the club’s structure. We’ve gotten more serious with our practices this year, creating a competitive tier in the club for those who want to travel with us, and we have made plans to start semi-frequent Saturday practices to gear up for competition. All in all, we’re prepared and excited to get started in the competitive season! Page 4
The Nonads are back and ready to rumble! We just had our first tournament this weekend at UNC Charlotte, and played gallantly. The rookies got a fresh flavor of tournament life. A flavor filled with turf beads, sweat, and the sweet taste of accomplishment. Drastic improvements were made between each game, and the stoke is very high for our next tournament at Liberty University in two weeks.
Pictures and Article Submitted By:
Lindsey Rotche, Secretary
Leading the team through Queen City was the sensational Terran Tout, one of the Nonads two new coaches! Terran played for the Nonads for four years (2010-2014), captaining them for her last two. Last year her presence was missed as the Nonads endured a building year, trying to replace their five magnificent starting seniors from the previous year. This year, Terran came back to light the much needed fire under the Nonads and get them roaring onto the field.
Terran’s co-coach George Ehrhardt has come in, brought organization and thought to the life of the Nonad. He is an associate professor at Appalachian State, and a totally rip-roaring ultimate player and coach. He is a very experienced player and father of two, and can be spotted on any field in his bucket hat and mad ultimate skill. George has already brought an array of new drills, strategies, and techniques to the team. His goal is to have the Nonads running like a well oiled machine. With these two great new coaches, a wave of new and amazing rookies, and a band of fierce returning veterans, the Nonads have high hopes for the coming year. Regionals are definitely a realistic possibility for the team. Page 5
There’s no better way to kick off a season than spending the weekend in beautiful White Lake, North Carolina sweeping the podium. September 11th - 13th, we had the opportunity to compete in several races, as well as volunteer at the White Lake Sprint. International, and Half-Iron Distance triathlons. On the 12th, we had six athletes compete in the International distance race and one athlete, Alex Haugh, compete in his first ever Half-Iron distance race. The rest of the team was stationed throughout the course directing traffic and handing out water to cyclists as they raced past their stations. Although it down-poured for the greater half of the races, we had five out of our six International competitors place in their age groups along with a 2nd place finish for Alex in the Half-Iron! On the 13th, a lot of our members competed in the White Lake Sprint triathlon. For a lot of them, it was their first race. Those that did races the day before were stationed all over the two-lap course directing cyclists, making friends with law-enforcement directing traffic, and yelling directions to competitors through megaphones. All of our members had outstanding finishes, especially those that finished their first race! We are so proud of everyone for their individual performances and volunteering efforts at White Lake, and we can’t wait to attend the race again next year. Overall we had five 1st place, seven 2nd place, and four 3rd place age group finishers. We look forward to our races to come and continuing to stay competitive in our conference throughout the season. swim. bike. run.
Picture and Article Submitted By: Abby Duffy, Vice President
Starting in early September, Women’s Club Volleyball started to prepare for tournaments that lie ahead. From contacting schools, to collecting dues, to having practice, the executive board members have been very busy. However, they are all very excited. Women’s Club Volleyball will be hosting the first tournament of the year at home on October 10th. The officers, such as Riley Dixon, have already started to contact schools such as Radford, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and many more. The teams are waiting for replies from these universities and cannot wait for the tournament season to be upon us. The captains of the three teams all are preparing for the home tournament that is in a couple weeks. Captain Ashley Collins of the Club Regional Black stated that, “I’m working on bringing our team together to prepare them for the ups and downs that all of us will have, so that we can encourage each other and fight in every match for a victory.”
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Other players such as, Priya Ford said, “I am preparing for this tournament by making sure our team is performing as a unit an working well together. I think our main challeng going to be maintaining consistent, playing whe we are tired. Therefore, I am trying to incorpora more conditioning throughout practice. This hom tournament is our first one of the year so we wi be working out a lot of kinks but I’m hoping to come out strong and win the whole tournament
Most teams seem to want to work on team unit and a positive outlook on the Volleyball game its As well as players wanting to practice to go well perform well in the tournaments the president a some other members of the executive board ha others things to think about to get the home tournament prepared.
The President, Priya Ford, said, “As the President I am working on getting the logistics down, getting the teams signed up, making sure everyone pays their fees, creating t pools, and the play-off schedule; while the rest o the officers work on contacting the schools that might want to play in the tournament!”
Officer, Sam Creech as feels the same but wants emphasize that, “Being a part of club volleyball not only as team do we strive to win but most importantly g the responsibilities done and have fun with teammates that will make memories.”
Currently, Women’s Club Volleyball is striving to work together, get together a home tournamen and have fun as teammates, and of course strive win.
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Article and Pictures Submitted by: Ayron Walker, Secretary, Right Side Hitter on Regional 1 and Captain
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The girls are back! After a long summer and a first month of practices, the women’s club basketball team has their first tournament this weekend here in Boone. The team will be inviting UNC, UNCG, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Duke. App State is projected to win, but not without some competition from UNCG of course. Last year, App State lost twice to the Spartans in two very close games. The ‘Neers are prepared to bring the intensity this weekend and not disappoint! Of course, in order to play together on the court as one, the team must be as one off the court as well. The girls get along with each other very well and love to group message everyone. They will be having their first team dinner on Friday to spend time together before the big weekend. In way of officers and coaches, we have a couple of new faces. This year’s President is Madison Thomas, who is a senior majoring in health promotion with a minor in nutrition. The Vice President is Alyssa Horan, who is a junior majoring in exercise
science. The Treasurer is Kelly Beasley, a junior majoring in nursing. And lastly for the officers is the Secretary, Jordan Cobb, a freshman majoring in chemistry. The coaches consist of last year’s head coach Dylan Eppley and a new assistant coach David McAdams. With only 4 returning players from last season, the App State Women’s Club Basketball team is full of fresh new faces. Everyone is excited for the first tournament that is coming up this weekend on September 26th, but the most crucial and important parts of the upcoming tourney are the practices. Everyone has to be focused and in game mode. The practices that the players go through are filled with offensive and defensive drills, conditioning drills and running through plays. The team does fast paced scrimmages as well to get a feel of what they will encounter this upcoming weekend. Everybody pushes each other to be theie best so that they can be just that in the games. The tournament will be held in the Student Rec Center, and everyone is welcome to attend and cheer on the ‘Neers! Pictures and Article Submitted by: Jordan Cobb, Secretary
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Our first scrimmage against High Point University was held this past Sunday, and it was a huge success! It was great to play some high-level competition, and to mold together more as a team. Although the weather was a little toasty for Boone, NC, we held our ground and powered through two twenty-five minute halves. Within a few minutes after the first blow of the whistle, HPU had really started off strong with two points. It was a good wake up call because all of us realized that we needed to step it up as a team. Soon enough, we had come back and had four goals on them. It was awesome to see everyone on the field and on the sidelines begin to work together more cohesively. Even the fans gave us an extra push. These together gave us the momentum to work past the heat, past the mistakes, and hold on until the end. We ended the game with a tie of 10-10, and although the score may not show it, we played so well as a team. We don’t have another game until our big Yosef home tourney which will be towards the end of October, but for now we can go back to practice, address things we can improve on, and continue to solidify as a team. Our Yosef home tournament is our big event for the year, so it will not disappoint! We will tentatively be playing UNC Charlotte, East Carolina University, Richmond, Duke, UNC Greensboro, Elon, and Western. The fans who came out to support our HPU scrimmage were game changers and brought some much needed encouragement, so fans at our home tournament will be even more so. Get ready for some good lacrosse because we’re only going uphill from here! Pictures and Article Submitted by: Emma Evans, Club Sports Council Representative
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The Men’s Ultimate Team traveled to UNC-Charlotte this weekend for the Bank Run tournament. Although focused first on rookie development, the Nomads were able to win their pool on Saturday, and earn a much-deserved first round bye for Sunday. After sleeping in, the team edged the University of South Carolina during the final point of the game to advance to the semifinals, where they were defeated. The Nomads were not sure what to expect from this tournament because the team lost a lot of talented seniors last year, and are working to build a program from the ground up. The focus of this tournament was to introduce new players to game and build team chemistry. Not only were the Nomads excited to see the rookies enjoying themselves, but also were crucial to the Nomads success.
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Despite the 90-degree temperatures and hot turf fields, the Nomads rookies and veterans alike were able to make big plays on offense and defense, and surprise teams with quick moves and calculated throws. By playing all players similar numbers of points, the team was able to keep the player’s cooled off, and not too exhausted. It became apparent that the Nomad’s high energy is what led to many of their victories this weekend. This years Men’s Ultimate Team is the beginning of a program to be reckoned with. The Nomad’s surprised the East Coast last year with their 6th place finish at Regionals, and although they may be the underdogs again, hope to make a similar ruckus this year, and in the years to come.
Article and Pictures Submitted by: Otto Solberg, Secretary
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Last weekend was a busy one for the cycling team, with two separate race events held in both the ACC and SEC conferences. Some of the team made the long trip up to the DC area to race in George Mason University’ s “Wolf Bouncer All Mountain Event,” while others stayed closer to home to race in Lees McRae’s gravity weekend. Up in Virginia, Saturday was a muddy, rainy day on the course. The trails were flowy with some root sections and short, fast climbs. Van Hubbard came in 4th in his first mountain bike race with Men's C, starting the weekend off with a 7 mile race. Jordan Bouldin and Annie Pharr both took first place for Men's B and Women's A races next in a 14 mile race. Hayden Miller came in at a solid 6th place for Men's A, finishing strong in the 21 mile race. The cross country races were followed by super-d/individual time trial races where everyone tried to complete a short trail loop as fast as they could with 2 minute gaps in between riders. The pouring rain kept things interesting and was an added obstacle to the roots and sharp turns of the course. Hayden finished 6th, Jordan and Annie got 1st, and Van got 3rd to finish out the day. Sunday’s race was held nearby on old prison grounds. The first race was another Super-D time trial that wove around the woods, finishing by the old prison buildings. Hayden took 2nd in Men's A against stiff competition, and Jordan took 2nd as well for Men's B, despite being on a single speed bike. Van and Annie both got 3rd for Men's C and
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Women's A. The second race of the day was Short-Track race that was a fast circle of gra grass, and a paved climb. Men's B raced for minutes and Jordan came in an impressive 2 place.
Back at Lees McRae, App racers also pulled some quick finishes. The weather held out t so conditions on the track were good for th Dual Slalom event to start off the day on Saturday. In Dual Slalom races, two riders go head to head on a short, downhill track with lot of little jumps and berms to pump the b over. The finishes are ranked on a bracket system, and riders race each other until the fastest is left. Spectators lined the course th whole way down and there was a huge field 34 racers who started the Men's A race. Ale Jerome finished 10th and Levi Rose finished both impressive results.
The next day was the Downhill race, and wi the mud from the trails being tracked into t rock gardens, the racers were in for a challe Hecklers lined both sides of the rock garden however, to cheer racers through and see if anyone would make it past clean. Levi smok the competition again, getting 4th place for Men's A, with only 4 seconds of separation between 3rd place and him. Francesco Mar came in second for Mens C in his first race f App State. Overall, it was an eventful and successful race weekend and we are all pro our racers.
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Article and Picture Submitted by: Annie Pharr, Vice President
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The Equestrian team is excited to share that we now have a new western coach named Crosby Reed. Her barn is called Mimosa Hills Farm in Morganton, NC. The team still has to drive an hour to the barn, but it is well worth the drive. We are able to ride in a covered arena, so that when Mother Nature is not cooperating with us we can still ride horses. Also for the first time we are able to have practice rides this allows us to have two hours a week to ride horses instead of just one hour. We are also really excited that she will be traveling with us to our horse shows. This is going to help us excel in being more competitive with other teams. Being able to have a coach on the rail helping to coach us along will be great. Also she will be able to see what we are doing wrong in the show arena, so she will know what we need to work on the most. Our first show was supposed to be this past weekend, but Saint Andrews horse got an upper respiratory virus so it has been reschedule to October 24-25th. This has allowed us to have more time to practice and get acquainted with our new teammates although we are all anxious to get it the show ring again. The western team is very excited and ready to get our season started. We are excited to see how our first show goes with our new coach. We are also excited that our western team has grown! We have a competitor in every class. These are the different levels of classes at our shows: beginner, intermediate A, intermediate B, novice, advanced, open horsemanship, and open reining. I would like to wish the best of luck to our Hunt Seat team as they kick off their show season at Averrett University. So if you feel like taking a road trip this weekend go support our Hunt Seat team and see what we are all about. Article and Pictures Submitted by: Corinne Bregman, Treasure
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Article written by: Mikhala Dougher, Match Secretary Pictures submitted by: Melissa Manderbach, Club Sports Council Representative
After the outcome of last season’s matches, AHO Women’s rugby was ready for a comeback. We were eager to start the season strong with returning players back at 100 percent and the addition of some pretty incredible rookies. We were excited to say the least to open the season in Greensboro. We traveled to UNCG on September 12th for our first game of the year. After about just two weeks of practice we went into the game uncertain of how we would perform as a team. There were quite a few rookie players in the starting lineup, making it slightly nerve-racking concerning overall safety on the field. The amount of pride and excitement after we scored the first try to take the lead was something to remember. It came in the first minute and we knew that we could seal the win if we kept up our momentum. The game finally ended with a score of 41 – 0. That game showed us that while we had a lot of work to do when it came to fitness, we were strong at the fundamentals. We had three players score their first try, Emerci Jones, Sadie Lagle, and Mikhala Dougher. It was important to celebrate that win but even more important to recognize that playing NC State, a D1 team, the next weekend was going to be much more difficult. The NC State game was going to be a full 80 minute match against a seasoned Page 18
team. The Wolfpack showed up Saturday to play with 34 girls and 2 coaches, while AHO had only 20 players. With the fall season allowing unlimited substitute players to cycle in, we knew fitness would need to be the key to our success. NC State cycled in players every chance they got while we knew we had to use our substitutes wisely with our small team. The whole first half was neck and neck. NC State scored first but it was quickly answered with a Try of our own. It played out like this throughout the match as they would score and then we would also. The first half was marked with try’s by Senior back captain Rachel Baker, and Sadie Lagle, then Angena LeBarre with the conversion kicks, we went into the half one try ahead of the pack. We came into the second half tired but just as driven as when we started. We pulled ahead and took the lead and held it to the end. We stayed strong on defense with a full team effort. Together we pushed through fatigue and with key scores made by pack captain Megan Campbell, and Rachel Baker, AHO pulled out a win on September 19th. A win that we could not be happier about. A team tradition of ours is to wear a rubber band around our cleats with a quote on it. The title of this article is the quote we wore for the NC State game and expresses our dedication not only to the sport of rugby, but to our team. If you are interested in joining the team, please feel free to contact us at ahowrfc@gmail.com. Page 19
Article written by: Patrick Sekel, Club Sports Executive Officers
The Executive Officers continue to work hard on their long- and short-term objectives this semester. They have been working hard on their destinations every day, making the club sports program bigger and better. Chad is now in contact with 90.5 WASU radio in order to help get the word out about results and events going on around the club sports program. Chad explains that it will start with a small bit during the Mountaineer Monday Sports Pod Cast, but plans to try and have a section during the live broadcasts. Olivia continues to look at different opportunities to boost team unity inside the program. She is currently looking at the logistics of different types of systems that might work for the program. Patrick is still attempting to revise the budget point section of the Club Sports Manuel. He is trying to understand what each section means in relation to all the different teams and tiers in order to get a better understanding of the system. A Club Sports Council meeting was held on Wednesday, September 23. Council Representatives continued to update the council on their games and practices. Many teams have begun competition in Boone and across North Carolina. A big announcement that was made at the council meeting was our participation in the First in Flight Fight Against Hunger: NC Canned Food Competition. Schools such as UNC Wilmington, Davidson, Duke, UNC Charlotte, NC State, Western Carolina, UNC Greensboro, ECU, UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC Asheville will be competing against each other to see which program can donate the most pounds of canned food per athlete in a 30 day period. Along with pride, glory, and bragging rights, a trophy will also be given to the winner. The 30 day period will be determined by Club Sports at a later date. The council is looking forward to competing in this and hopes to win!
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