May 2nd

May 2, 2014

LAST Photo ISSUECompOFWinner THE &SEMESTER Year Wrap up

IN THIS

ISSUE 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 Club Sports Specialist: Hannah Roberts robertshj@appstate.edu Publicity Programmer: Miles Elliott elliottmd@appstate.edu Executive Officers: Jessie Harrelson harrelsonje@appstate.edu Ashley Cutrell cutrellae@appstate.edu Tyler Grandis grandistw@appstate.edu

04 2014 Club Sports Photo Comp Winner 06 Volleyball- How to Play Beach Volleyball 08 - 31 Year in Review Fencing08 Getting on the Radar 10 Ice Hockey- A Year of Rebuild 12 Men’s Ultimate- If We Win, We’re In Snowboarding14 Saying Goodbye is a Gnarly Process Skiing16 Ski Team Legacy Swimming 18 19 Equestrian 20 Women’s Basketball 22 Women’s Rugby 24 Women’s Soccer 26 WOmen’s Ultimate 27 WOmen’s Lacrosse Cycling 28 Triathlon 29 Baseball 30 Climbing 31 32 - 37 End of Year Specials 32 Outlook on the Future 33 5 words or less 34 Club Sports Symposium 36 Club Sports Banquet

Designed by Miles Elliott with assets from Marcie Ried

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CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

Cover Photo provided by Cycling Team All Photos Provided by respective teams except where noted

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2014 CLUB SPORTS PHOTO COMP WINNER team

Cycling Team title

Yosef Rides Bikes photographer

Zeb King subject

Zeb Ramsbotham location

Watha, NC event

UNCW Road Race

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CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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How to play Beach Volleyball 6

CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

by Corbin Bruton, Secretary With LDOC being right around the corner the first thing on every student’s mind is, “ How we are going to spend our summer?”

As expected, most students are ready for a break from the mountains and the crazy Boone weather. While there are countless summer activities to do while in Boone, there is one activity that requires students to take a break from the High Country and head to the coast. I’m talking about Beach Volleyball here… in all its sandy, gritty glory. To Boone’s defense, students can technically play “beach” volleyball in Boone by heading over to the sand court on campus by Eggers Hall or off campus by Mountaineer Village, but it just isn’t the same without a real beach underneath your feet. Beach Volleyball is one of Club Volleyball’s favorite summer activities. However, any skill level can join in on the fun!

Beach volleyball can be played in teams of two if you want to be serious, or teams of 6 if you want to include as many people as possible (more than 6 and it just turns into a free-for-all!).

Volleyball has four basic skills: serving, passing, setting and hitting. These skills are just as useful on the beach as they are on the court. A serve is your first attack on the opposing team, placement and power are key.

If you’re a beginner try doing an underhand serve, just hold the ball in the open palm of one hand and use your other hand to hit the bottom of the ball in an upwards and outwards motion with your first! If this isn’t your first time on the court, try and overhand serve but this time think about placement of your serve on the court (p.s. we always like to go for the deep corners!)

After a good serve, the next most important thing is a good pass! It can take a team as many as three contacts to get the ball over the net but no more or the other team gets the point! The third skill is a little tricky, so we’ll understand if you don’t get it right away. The key to setting is to make the Illuminati sign with your hands, then put it above

your head, spread your hands out a little and loosen up your fingers! When you see the ball coming, just slightly flick your hands up and use your legs for power. Just remember, if you don’t get this on the first try, keep practicing! Lastly is probably the most fun skill to use while on the court, hitting!

Just approach the ball, jump and hit the ball as hard as you can!

Remember to open your hand wide and snap your wrist down when you make contact. Put all these skills together and you’ll be ready for a game of beach volleyball this summer without a doubt. Playing volleyball in the sand makes for a great workout, but you’ll be having so much fun you won’t even realize!

Remember these skills next time you take a trip to the beach and get a game together, you might even make a couple new friends!

“Beach Volleyball is one of Club Volleyball’s favorite summer activities.”

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

Photo by Amanda Martinez

GETTING ON THE RADAR

by Kelsey Painter, Member

App State Fencing Club has ended the year on a high note.

Two members will be graduating in May, President Bennett Hatfield and former Treasurer Robert McClelland. Robert will be returning to Appalachian for grad school, and we wish Bennett well, whether he furthers his education or heads into the work force. However, we hope to see all of our remaining members return and to have many new members join.

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Next semester begins the work of almost all new officers.

Former Secretary Vlad Vedock is moving up to the position of President and Amanda Martinez will return as Treasurer. The new members include new Vice President Sean Cobb, new Secretary Carleton Stuecker, new Publicity Officer Kelsey Painter, and new Armorer Richard Batsuli.

A new officer position has been created, which is the Club Sports Representative, and that position will be held by Amanda Pausch.

All new officers look forward to

CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

making the club even better than it was this year.

This semester the club attended three tournaments. Two took place in Raleigh and the other in Tennessee. The last of these was most recent. On April 12, App State Fencing Club members

“We want to compete more, train harder, and perform better.�

Photo by Amanda Martinez

traveled to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for an Epee Tournament. There were many high skilled fencers in attendance, including several A and B ranked fencers. Though our fencers were unable to make it to finals, they performed very well, with Vlad Vedock in 8th place and Keif Wiltshire in 12th place.

We also hosted our own tournament, Massacre on the Mountain, here in Boone in the Quinn Center. That tournament took place on Saturday April, 26 and Sunday April, 27. This

tournament helped us to raise necessary funds as well as give a good impression of ASU. Hopefully we will compete even more next year, and although we performed well at all tournaments, we will train harder and do better.

While Fencing Club is no longer as well known, it is growing and shows just how diverse Appalachian State University is when it comes to club sports. We have high hopes for next year.

We want to compete more, train harder, and perform better. We look forward to being completely on the radar next year!

Photo by Amanda Martinez

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

A Year of Rebuild

by Sam Young, Vice President

After failure to support a season in the 2012-2013 year, even failing to play one single game, the 2013-2014 squad had quite a large rebuilding task ahead of them.

One of the biggest problems in need of addressing was the process of getting back into good standing with both App State Club Sports and in the Blue Ridge Hockey

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Conference (BRHC), Thankfully, our relationship with the league has been repaired, allowing the hockey team to play a total of seven games this season, two games apiece were shared with teams from High Point, Johnson and Wales, and Coastal Carolina, along with one contest with Wake Forest. Perhaps our biggest accomplishment from this past year was the fact that we were able to hold an entire season at all. This may not seem like an overwhelming

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accomplishment for our team, but with the excessive amount of problems placed before us, the 2013-2014 season was a sign of success.

“The coming year for the App State hockey team promises to be even better�

One of the highlights of the year has been our two game season sweep of one of our division rivals, Johnson and Wales University. The first game of the year for the Mountaineers finished with a close 8-7 decision under the bright lights of the Time Warner Cable Arena one late October night. After some strategic adjustments involving shutting down their most

dominate forward, we were much more prepared for our second contest, resulting a 13-2 rout of the Wildcats in the Extreme Ice Center in Charlotte.

With the work coming from the new officers and the rest of the team, we look to bring App State hockey back to its peak of a BRHC championship in 2008.

The coming year for the App State hockey team promises to be even better with currently four prospective transfers and surely another talented crop of boys from the Class of 2018.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

If We Win, We’re In

by Austin Olive, Secretary

The College Ultimate season is winding down, and with it comes the college series.

First there are Conference Championships, then Regionals, then Nationals. A few weeks ago the Nomads hosted the Conference Championship tournament here in Boone. All the Division 1 Ultimate teams from North and South Carolina were in attendance, including UNC Chapel Hill, NC State,

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Duke, South Carolina, and many more. With ten teams and only five bids, this would be the most important tournament of our season. Saturday the Nomads came out strong, beating Clemson in their first game, then rolling through Duke and UNCCharlotte. The last game of the day was against the #2 team in the nation UNC Chapel Hill. We fought hard, but unfortunately lost. The next day we played South Carolina in the first game, if we win we’re in. That was the motto. But to our disadvantage,

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“There were huge skies, layout bids, and exciting plays.”

we came out playing flat, and USC took the game. Now it was time to grind for the last bid, if we lost any more games we were out of contention. The second game of the day was against College of Charleston. We fought through the wind and won the game. The final game, for the final bid, to get into regionals was against Clemson. We only narrowly beat them 13-11 the first time we played them that weekend. The whole game was up and down, back and forth.

There were huge skies, layout bids, and exciting plays. The Nomads were able to make the final push and pull out the W, narrowly avoiding elimination and the end of our season.

Now we have one tournament left next weekend, Regionals.

With only two bids to Nationals from our region, the Nomads will be sure to bring a hard fight to any team we play.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

Written by Katrina Matza, Secretary

There comes a time of year when we snowlovers, who call ourselves the Appalachian Snowboard Team must remember the wise words of Peter Pan. “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

Yes, it is sad to say its graduation time here at Appalachian State University, and we have two amazing snowboarders leaving the gnar cat family and entering into the real world. Leaving the

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team isn’t easy, since the team is your extended family. Many members have always sensed that something was missing from their life, but it wasn’t until they joined the team, that they understood what it was. It was the late night hot tubing, the dance offs, the sleeping of four deep on a twin bed, the long car rides, the friendships, and the excitement of success. Many members truly find themselves within the team and the sport of snowboarding, and saying goodbye to our graduating members can be extremely hard, but we are extremely proud as well.

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Our first senior who is graduating is Drew Cook. He is a finance and banking major, who hails from Asheville, North Carolina.

Drew has been part of the team for all four years of his college career, and if that doesn’t say

“The Appalachian Snowboard team never fully says goodbye, because the family bond we have never goes away.”

enough for itself, we can say he loved every second of it. Drew is the clown of the team. He’s the one who always makes the team laugh, but he also is one of the teams best assets. Drew is an extremely experienced rider, who is a little park rat. His specialty is being the teams top park rider.

Drew placed first this year in the slope-style competition at Wisp Ski Resort in Maryland, which was a big success as a graduating senior. Drew Cook is the one who knows how to make cheesy eggs with cheese and a little egg, he is the one who always wins the dance offs, he is the one who will hit any feature in the park, and he is a senior that will be amply missed.

Our next senior is Alex Martin.

Alex has been a member of the team for two years now, but it feels like forever because he fit right in. Alex is from Richmond, Virginia, and is majoring in Entrepreneurship. He became one of the teams best treasurers last year and has held the team together through his great budgeting skills. He reduced the amount of money it cost per person to go to nationals

and regionals this year in order to bring more people. Not only is Alex always looking out for his teammates and using his finance skills, he is an extremely large asset to the team with his riding abilities as well. Alex also is an extremely experienced rider, who has used his talent for placing 10th at Nationals this year, as well as teaching many of the team members new advancements for their personal riding. Alex is the one who is always there to make peace, always wanting to help, always on the mountain, and always wanting to have a good time.

The team will miss this great guy with no problem at all.

paths these seniors take, they won’t be the easy ones because these two like a challenge. But we know they will be prepared, and we know they will push through and emerge again. But however they emerge, each and every time, they will be marked as Appalachian State Snowboard Team alumni, as people who know that what’s too easy is apt to be boring. And, let me tell you something, boring is the one thing that the team and these two guys definitely are not. So cheers to our seniors Drew Cook and Alex Martin, we will miss you both!

So it is time to say goodbye, in the best way possible, to wish these two amazing guys good luck in their new adventures in their futures. The Appalachian Snowboard team never fully says goodbye, because the family bond we have never goes away. We are constantly seeing and hearing from our alumni members and that is what makes our team so special to the many great people who compile it.

The team knows that whatever

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

Ski Team Legacy

by Ashley Cutrell, President

As a member of the Ski Team for the past four years, I have watched the generation before me get married, have children, and get real people jobs.

I have watched my own generation turn into college graduates and I am excited to watch this new generation grow to share their legacy.

The Ski Team has been an incredible experience. Not only has it given me the chance to

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practice what I love, but also it has given me the best of friends.

My experience on the App State Ski Team gave me purpose at Appalachian and kept me here for all four years. There is nothing better than packing up the car on a Friday afternoon, cruising to a race, and spending your weekend doing what you love with the people that you love.

At the beginning of the year, we had a lot of freshman join the team, which is always exciting. Our guys team gained an exceptional amount of experienced skiers that used to

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race in high school. While our girls team lost a lot of talent due to injuries and graduated seniors.

However, we had a common end goal, which was to have the best time possible and make it to Regionals.

“College in itself has been an indescribable experience, but what made it worth it was the Ski Team.�

Well, we succeeded. The Appalachian State Men and Women’s Ski Team made it to Regionals for the fourth year in a row, something that has been unheard of for our team. We booked it up to Hunter, New York during what was supposed to be the snowstorm of the decade representing the Dirty South.

The Dirty South is the best conference in all of USCSA. We get to ski on dirt, mud, and sticks. We get to ski in the rain and fog. But most importantly, through these treacherous conditions, we became a family.

Other conferences are so serious and have all of their tuning equipment on the top of the racecourse, while our conference cheers for one another, dances together, and supports each other. I will never forget at Regionals my sophomore year, when the officials got mad at the Dirty South for having a snowball fight across the starting point.

College in itself has been an indescribable experience, but what made it worth it was the Ski Team.

I am extremely excited for the new officers to grow and learn together much like I did. I am happy to announce that Dixon Styres is our new president, Crosby Taymore is our new vice president, Matthew Brodie is our returning treasurer, Brooke Laing is our new secretary, and Rebecca Purkey is our new club sports council representative. I am also sad to say good bye to my team, but especially our seniors: Sara Beeken, Sarah Honeycutt, Taylor Jones, and Trevor Thomas.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

ASU Swimming Concludes Regular Season

by Kyle Cicenia, Captain

ASU Swimming brought its season to a close Saturday with a 1st place finish over Western at our annual Dual in the Pool meet.

In fact, our Men’s team had first place finishes in every event.

Many Appalachian students are aware of the football rivalry between ASU and WCU. We decided to bring “The Battle of the Jug” to the pool. Coming off a successful National appearance at the East Coast Swimming & Diving Championships at Georgia Tech, our team was ready to end the season with a huge win over Western. “Overall it was a strong meet. A lot of lifetime best times

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throughout the whole team” said team captain, Kyle Cicenia. With over 60 teams in attendance at ECC’s, our team placed in the top 25. Having broken three school records and setting numerous personal best times, our team is looking forward to another successful swim season.

“This is something we can build on for next season” said head coach Richard Miller.

“...our team is looking forward to another successful swim season.”

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Year in Review

by Katherine Uva, Club Council Representative

As the 2013-2014 academic year comes to a close, the Appalachian Equestrian Team is already thinking about next year.

With plans for new fundraisers, new sponsors, and a new logo, the Equestrian Team is ready to grow. In the college horse world, it is all about talent and numbers, so when we go to a show, we want to have as many quality riders that we can have.

Even though we are a Club Sports team, we still compete against varsity level teams such as North Carolina State, Martins Community College, Virginia Intermont, Wake Forrest, University of Virginia, Avert University, St. Andrews University, and many others. Although we

do not have our own facilities we still continue to place well at all of our shows, and pose a threat to nationally ranked programs.

We enjoy the challenge of being the underdog, but we are excited to grow. We have plans to increase our social media marketing and to do more events on campus to increase our public image.

Sophomores, who all have a fresh attitude and vision for the team.

Our new officers are as followed: Katherine Uva - President, Haley McCune - Vice President, Cori Rash - Secretary, April Kaiser Treasurer, Molly Bostancic - Club Sports Representative. We are excited for next year and all of the possibilities that it holds for our team.

In addition to all of the new things the team we will be doing, we also have new officers. All of our officers are Juniors and

“We enjoy the challenge of being the underdog, but we are excited to grow.�

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

by Elena Kacan, Secretary

The women’s basketball team attended the NIRSA National Tournament at NC State just a few weeks ago for their last tournament of the year.

They faced both Virginia Tech and Marquette, two tough and competitive teams. They fought hard and fell short in both games. Although they didn’t come out with a win, they had fun off the court. The men’s

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intramural team also went and competed and went 2 for 2 over all. Both teams supported each other throughout the entire tournament. They all stayed with head coach Nick Collin’s family

“...with each season comes improvement and hopefully more success than the last!”

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and got a taste of some home cooked meals and had a chance to see downtown Raleigh in their free time.

There are 3 seniors graduating this season. Beth Pittman, Madalyn File, Elena Kacan and head coach Nick Collins have all played big roles this past season and they will be missed.

Carly Hall was elected MVP of the season and Alyssa Horan was voted Most Improved Player and the team couldn’t be more proud! To end the season, new

officers have been nominated and they hope to continue to improve for next fall. The end of the great season is so bittersweet for this team but with each season comes improvement and hopefully more success than the last!

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

WOMEN’S RUGBY

by Kelly Castanho, President

This year has proven to be a great learning experience for our team.

With many senior players graduating last year and brand new officers stepping into positions we were nervous for what this year would bring.

Luckily, we had a great turnout of new players who committed themselves to the team very quickly. Lucky for us too because Rucktoberfest was in September this year, much earlier than normal due to the boy’s Matrix schedule being moved to the fall. Despite the earliness of this tournament and the influx of inexperienced players we managed to take home the trophy for the second year in

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a row, but not without some hardships. During Rucktoberfest both of our captains got injured that wouldn’t allow them to play again until spring semester.

Following Rucktoberfest a few more of our key/starting players got hurt as well that took them out the remainder of the semester. Despite these setbacks we bounced back and gave every game our all. We came out about even with wins and losses during our fall season games and considering many of our players at that point started playing this year that isn’t a bad record at all.

Coming back from winter break brought a new wind to the team.

Our Matrix season was starting and all those injured were able to come back and play. Our

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first Matrix game was against our long time rivals, UNCC. We won our first Matrix game 100 and something to nothing. This gave us a great kickstart to our season. All of our Matrix games except for one more against Charleston were forfeited on the others teams part. This created an issue because in order to play well you have to actually be able to play. However, we managed to come out of yet

“You know you have something special when no matter what you can stick by your team through thick and thin and do great things.”

up by two tries by the last minute of the game.

another setback and won our next Matrix game against the College of Charleston. After the regularly scheduled Matrix games were over we had made it to playoffs for the third year in a row. We were one step closer to making it to nationals again for the third year in a row, but we had one obstacle, the College of Charleston Rugby team. They had made it to playoffs and they were dying to beat us for nationals this year. But regardless of their efforts we were able to pull out a huge win and qualify for nationals and be in the top 16 teams in the nation in division 2!

Nationals were held this past weekend (April 26th-27th) at Penn State University. Our first game was played on Saturday against American University.

We had a tough fight against American, we did not play our best game, we were sloppy and even two of our girls got sin binned. However, we managed to pull out a win advancing us to

elite 8 for the second time in a row.

We now had to face Mary Washington in our next game.

We played Mary Washington last year and won in the last play of the game to advance to Sweet 16. We knew this year it would be another tough match up. We knew this team would be our biggest challenge to date. We turned ourselves around from the day before and knew we had to prove ourselves to make it to the final four. We played a clean rugby game and never let up.

Our scrum-half, Julie Blakesmith suffered an injury right before half-time that brought her to the hospital on a stretcher. Luckily she is okay, but she will have to take it easy for a while and definitely no rugby for a couple of weeks. We ended the half tied with Mary Washington, but Julie’s injury kickstarted our team and gave us an even better reason to win... for Julie. We fought hard the second half and put ourselves

During the last minute of the game one of our seasoned players Lyndsie White was tackled right after passing off the ball to Bonnie Nuygen.

We ended up scoring during this minute sealing the win for our team, but at the expense of Lyndsie’s leg. The girl who tackled her landed on her leg so hard that it broke in two places and requires surgery as well as dislocated her ankle. It was a bittersweet win. Sweet because we have never made it to final four until now but bitter because now two of our teammates, sisters, were now in the hospital.

We left Penn State at 11:30 pm Sunday the 27th and arrived back in Boone Monday the 28th at 8:30 am.

Despite how up and down our year has been we are a family and will always have each others backs. Both Lyndsie and Julie are expected to make full recoveries and both are tough competitors and fighters that we are all going to be stronger because of this now. You know you have something special when no matter what, you can stick by your team through thick and thin and do great things. AHO Women’s Rugby is a family, plain and simple we are and we always will be.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

WOMEN’S SOCCER

by Taylor Branton, Treasurer

The Women’s Club Soccer team finished their season at Chapel Hill.

Even though we didn’t finish ideally, it was still a blast to play with all the girls, some which were their final games with the team. Ginny Gills, Kate Beyersdorf, Cat Boyte, Bailey Pages, Brooke Leadbetter, and Brittany Leadbetter were our

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seniors this year. Each of these girls brought a lot of skill and creativity to the field. We hate to see them go, but the team wishes them the best of luck in their futures and we hope to see you guys soon! It was an amazing experience to play with some of these girls over the past few years. Some of my best laughs involve them. We will definitely miss these girls on the field next year. With the season coming to an end, we also elected three

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“It was an amazing experience to play with some of these girls over the past few years.”

new officers. We look forward to starting a new season with new faces. Thanks to all the girls who came out and participated this year, and a special thanks to our coach Smitty for putting up with us this year!

“Thanks to all the girls who came out and participated this year�

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

WOMEN’S ULTIMATE

by Ingrid Humphrey, Secretary

This has been a really great year for the ASU Nonads.

Every player on the team has improved from the beginning of the year, and the team as a whole has developed together and come to compete at a higher level than ever before. In the their most recent tournament — Carolina Conference Sectionals, hosted by UNC Chapel Hill — the Nonads fought hard against the teams from UNC and Wilmington (both ranked amongst the top college teams in the nation), putting more points on the board in each game

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than any previous game played against these teams. Although the Nonads didn’t win either game, they fought hard in the pouring rain and finished strong.

“We don’t consider this a loss, really,” said Ingrid Humphrey, a junior on the team, “we consider games like these learning opportunities and a chance to throw our hardest defense and strongest offensive plays against teams we know will challenge

“The Nonads hope to be a strong presence at regionals...”

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us.” Despite those losses, the Nonads won enough games to advance to regionals, which will be May third and fourth in Axton, Virginia. The Nonads hope to be a strong presence at regionals, where they’re sure to encounter teams ranked above them, maybe even pulling a couple of upsets on some unsuspecting teams. They look forward to next year as well, as the team has only been growing and improving throughout the years; despite great players graduating each year, the Nonads also gain new members, who are each invaluable to the success of the team.

Year in Review

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

by Leigh Ann Haigh, Secretary

This year has been a great year for Women’s Lacrosse.

We gained some awesome new team members who really contributed to our team dynamic.

Two of these new ladies really stood out and stepped up for our team this year, Freshmen Andrea Dean and Sophomore Kate Roche. Kate Roche came in as a shy and quiet attack player who was more interested in giving the assist than getting the goal herself. As the year progressed Kate gained more confidence and really excelled as an attack

player, becoming one of our top shooters on the team. Kate is the recipient of our Most Improved Player award this year, it has been an honor to watch her skills grow and develop this season.

Andrea Dean came in as a quirky and sassy little thing who showed no fear on the field. She is one of our top defense players, rarely

“She is one of our top defense players, rarely letting anyone get past her.”

letting anyone get past her. She has also excelled this season at practice by helping teach our other players about good defensive stance and slowing the ball down when it is being moved by the other team. She always keeps a positive attitude during games, regardless of the score and always keeps our teams morale up. This year Andrea is the recipient of our Most Valuable Player award. With the season completed our ladies are looking forward to our end of the year celebration and for what adventures and exciting tales are in store for next season.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

CYCLING

by Zeb Ramsbotham, Secretary

What an exciting year it has been!

Our 2013-2014 year started off with the mountain bike season. We attended every race weekend, raced hard, and became the conference champions after our home weekend on Beech Mountain.

Soon after we would send riders to Nationals, also on Beech Mountain, and we would bring home a national championship for downhill. After a short break the team began cyclocross season. Again the team performed extremely well ending the season with a trip to Colorado to compete against other schools from around the

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country. Our women’s team did a great job with two finishes in the top 15! This Spring semester has been all about the road season. Team members have dedicated a lot of time to training and it has shown.

Throughout the season we had numerous podium finishes in all events. Unfortunately we slacked a bit in attending one of the race weekends and that caused us to slip into 2nd overall for Division 1. Even though we did not finish 1st overall we still won the most national allocation points which

“Team members have dedicated a lot of time to training and it has shown.”

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lets us send the biggest squad of riders to compete from the ACCC. This coming weekend (5/2-5/4) Appalachian State will be represented in Richmond, VA as we try to bring another national championship home.

Be sure to keep up with us on Facebook or Twitter throughout the week to find out how we do!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors and the Club Sports program for making everything we do possible. It has been a great year with great results and also many unforgettable adventures and fun times. While the year may be ending we are already looking forward to coming back next school year to keep doing what we do!

Year in Review

TRIATHLON

by Allison Crook, Secretary

The end of the semester has been great for Triathlon Team.

We competed at the White Lake Sprint Triathlon on April 13th. This event consisted of a 750-meter swim, 14-mile bike, and 5k. We had three competitors place in the top 3 for their age groups. Two weeks later, we went to Tuckfest at the U.S. National Whitewater Center

“We cannot wait to see what next year will bring as we continue to improve and advance.� for a fun weekend of outdoor events and music. We competed in the adventure race, running races (from half marathon to 5K), mountain biking, rock climbing, and kayaking. It was a great way to end the year and celebrate our achievements as a team. We cannot wait to see what next year will bring as we continue to improve and advance.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Year in Review

BASEBALL

by Patrick Sekel, Secretary

Major League Baseball has begun and the App State Club Baseball team’s season is coming to a close.

After the NC State series, the team got a bye week and then relaxed over the Easter break as most teams did in the conference. After complications with Wake Forest, Appalachian State gained the victory over the Demon Deacons through a forfeit. This bumped their record to 3-6 (4-9 overall) but still in 5th place by a good bit. In order to avoid getting last, they would need to string up some wins against the Elon Phoenix.

The Mountaineers agreed with the Phoenix to play a total of four games with one-7 inning game and one-9 inning game on Saturday and two-7 inning games on Sunday with the last 7-inning game being non-conference. The weekend would turn out to be a great success for App State.

Not really knowing what to expect, the Mountaineers jumped on the Phoenix early during the first game and never looked back. They would score 5 runs in the first two innings and would hold off a late rally by

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Elon to win the game 5-3. Junior pitcher Kevin Wentzel flirted with a little history, going perfect through 4.1 innings, finishing with a stat line of 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 3 ER’s, 4 K’s. Freshman catcher Grant Caudill had the biggest hit of the game, hitting a bases clearing double, putting the Mountaineers up 3-0 in the first inning. The second game of the day would see even more stellar pitching. Junior pitcher Mike Aiello would go 9.0 IP, allowing 4 H, 5 BB, 0 ER’s, 3 K’s in a 1-0 win. The Mountaineers would get their one run on a single by senior catcher Matt Hodges in the 4th inning. The team would then go on to strand the bases loaded twice in the 8th and 9th innings.

After the successful Saturday games, the Mountaineers would look to continue there winning ways on Sunday. Unfortunately, they would fall short in both games. Going into the bottom of the 7th inning, the game was tied 3-3 with the top of the order

“The weekend would turn out to be a great success for App State.”

CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

coming up for the Phoenix. The first batter was walked with the next batter sacrifice bunting to advance the runner to second.

The batter would hit a hard ground ball back to senior pitcher Josh Kelly, who saw the runner at second going to third.

He would proceed to throw it to 3rd base, but his throw was off target. The runner would score and win the game 4-3 on a walk-off error. The Mountaineers would have to quickly bounce back to play one more game against Elon. The final game would become a run fest that would go into extra innings tied at 11-11. In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Mountaineers would get two quick outs and looked like the game would head to the 9th. That was not the case. After errors by senior shortstop Kyle Cesaro and sophomore second baseman Patrick Sekel, the Phoenix had men at the corners with two outs. The next pitch would find a gap in left center and would win the game 12-11 for the Phoenix. App State would finish the weekend with a 5-7 (6-11 overall) record, preventing to fall to last place in the conference. The Mountaineers will finish the season next weekend against UNC in Chapel Hill, NC.

Year in Review

CLIMBING

by Alexa Zakula, Secretary

The spring semester is prime time for climbing competitions, as it is essentially the Collegiate Climbing Series season.

Our team has competed in numerous competitions throughout the past few months against many other college students from all over the Appalachian Region. Committed team members have driven hours on end to show their strength at other schools, and many have returned with prizes, trophies, and bragging rights. The Appalachian State Club Climbing

Team has made sure to make our presence known throughout the region.

In early March we hosted our 14th semiannual Southern Comfort Bouldering Competition at the Student Recreation Center. Once again, we were successful in organizing an exciting and fun competition for everyone involved, and all of the registration spots were full within a week of opening! We were able to give away amazing prizes thanks to our loyal sponsors, and had an exhilarating finals round for the strongest of the strong.

We are already looking forward

to the fall and what we can do to make the tradition even better.

Earlier this month we had a few team members represent our school at the CCS Regional competition in Chattanooga, TN. They were able to show the rest of the region how ASU climbers get it done, and had a great time climbing in the challenging setting of Tennessee Bouldering Authority. Unfortunately, we were not able to send any team members to the Nationals competition in Melbourne, FL but we are already planning ahead and will be more prepared than ever to dominate next season.

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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End of Year Special

Outlook on the Future Three Club Sports Officers for the 2014-2015 Year share their thoughts on the future

I am excited to return this coming year as the secretary of the Appalachian Snowboard team. I have enjoyed every aspect of the Club Sports Program and how well the program is supported by all the participating teams.

As secretary, I love sharing my love for the amazing sport of Snowboarding through the Club Sports Illustrated and look forward to keep sharing. I want to thank our passionate Executive officers for making an incredible program and the Appalachian Snowboard team is honored to return to the best program on this awesome campus.

I joined the Club Volleyball to continue playing competitively in college. I became an officer to encourage other to do the same!

Club Volleyball is such a close knit team and I’m excited to see all our new players next Season!

I am excited to support other club sports and get our players out in the community to make a difference.

Corbin Bruton Secretary, Volleyball

Katrina Matza Secretary, Snowboarding

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CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

I am excited to be Club Sports Representative and Captain of the Club Swim Team here at App. With the new school year will come a great opportunity to encourage those interested in the sport of swimming to explore their potential passion.

Jake Barnes Club Council Rep, Swimming

End of Year Special

A YEAR IN 5 WORDS OR LESS

Teams were given the challenge of chosing five words or less to summarize their year of Club Sports

“Dedication, “Perseverance, Tough, Wild, Adventurous” — Women’s Basketball

“Looking forward to the future” — Ice Hockey

“Leave everything on the court!”

— Volleyball

“Stay hungry. Stay humble.”

— Women’s Rugby

“Fantastic, Unforgettable, Family, Progress, Successful.”

—Snowboard

“Reaching the next level” — Triathlon “Fierce, Ambitious, Close-Knit, Courageous, Unique” — Women’s Lacrosse “Harder Better Faster Stronger” — Women’s Ultimate “Awesome, Exciting, Ratchet, Fun, and Amazing” — Women’s Soccer

“Learning Year against Tougher Competition.”

— Baseball “Warm down for What?”

— Swimming “Dedication, Training, Fun, Quirky, Exciting” — Cycling

“Dedication, Family, Competitive, Precision, Stamina” — Equestrian “First or First Aid” Alpine Ski “Climbers crushin cruxes comeback kings” — Climbing

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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End of Year Special

Executive Jessie Harrelson kicks off the night.

Men’s Lacrosse discusses officer responsibilities

Club Sports Symposium Climbing team reviews their constitution

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The Club Sports Symposium occurs at the end of every school year to introduce the new officers into the program.

The Club Sports symposium is planned and executed by the Club Sports Executive team.

Teams review the budget points and tier system policies

CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

End of Year Special

Executive Ashley Cutrell discusses the tier system

Executive Tyler Grandis introduces new officers to the Club Sports Program

Athletic Trainer Chase Webb discusses first aid

Guest Speaker Coach Snow discusses recording practices

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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Club Sports Banquet

The 2013-2014 Executive Team: Ashley Cutrell, Jessie Harrelson, Tyler Grandis, and Activity Specialist Hannah Roberts

Enjoying the food and presentations

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CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014

At the year end Club Sports Banquet the teams celebrate their accomplishment’s and the program recognizes those who have helped further its mission.

Men’s Lacrosse recognizes members

Men’s Rugby presents their accomplishments

Katherine Uva, CS Rep of the Year

The 2014-2015 Executive Team Katherine Uva, Ian McNeill, and Philicia Gibson

Women’s Soccer presents their year

Team of the Year Women’s Lacrosse

May 2nd, 2014 /// CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

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CLUB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED /// May 2nd, 2014