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Alumni baseball game set for October 2 Former Miner baseball players are invited to come back and take part in th e annua l alumni baseball game, which will take place as part of the Homecoming festivities on campus Saturday, Oct. Z, 1999. The game begins at 10 a.m. Those interested in taking part should call head coach Travis Boulware at (573) 341-4191 fo r more information.
Baseball, softball teams struggle The 1999 season on the ball diam ond has been a struggle for UMR's teams. The Miner baseball tea m has dealt with a rash of injuries within the pitching staff and ended the season at 9-Z7. The list of the wounded incl uded th e team's lead ing winner, Tom Winkelman, who had posted a 4-1 record and 5.0Z earned run average before the injury. Freshman outfielder Ben Frank was the tea m's top hitter with a .344 average, whi le catcher Kyle Bruemmer broke the UMR single-season record for runs batted in with 36. In softball. the Lady Miners went to the fi nal week of the season still trying to make the MIAA playoff fie ld. UMR's struggles in an ll-Z6 season have been at the plate, where the team has an overall batting average of .Z3Z. A couple of bright spots have been outfi elders Candice Luehrs, who leads UMR wi th a .310 average, and Kari Kavanagh, who is hitting .Z91 with a team-high 18 runs batted in . Kristi Curry has a 1.68 earned run average and has struck out 116 batters on the seas on.
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MSM -UM R ALUMNUS I Summer 1999
McNeal selected as MIAA's top freshman Janel McNeal , a freshman for the Lady Miner basketball team, was selected as the MidAmerica Interco ll egiate Ath letics Association's "Fres hman of the Year" for the 1998-99 season. McNeal. a forward from St. Louis, also was the only UMR player named to the allleague squad as she gained honorable mention laurels. She led the Lady Miners in scoring during UM R's 10-17 season with an average of 15.7 points per game. She also finished the regular season as the league's top rebounder with 9.6 per game. McNeal averaged a doubledouble - 16.8 points and lo} rebounds - in the Lady Miners' ~ ~ 16 confere nce games She is the first Lady Miner freshman since the 1994-95 season to win the league's top honor fo r a freshman. The last player to do so was also on this year's all-conference team Becky Reich ard , who fi nished her career at Missou ri Western State College this season by winning All-America honors. On the men's side, sophomore forward Scott Holly earned his
Several former members of the UMR basketball team returned to campus for a reunion in conjunction with the 25th anniversary celebration of women's basketball on campus. The reunion took place Feb. 20 during the UMR-Southwest Baptist basketball game
second honor from the MIAA as he was named to the all-conference second team. Holly, the MIAA's "Freshman of the Year" in 1997-98, was the only UMR player named to the all-league squad. He averaged a team -high 15 poi nts per game during the Miners' lZ-1 5 season - which ranked seventh in the MIAA - and also ranked among the team leaders in assists (801, steals (4Z) and free throw percentage (75 percent).
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Swimmers place seventh at nationals For the th ird straight year, the UMR swimming team placed among the top 10 teams in NCAA Division II. Th is year's team did it by posting a seventh-place fi ni sh at the NCAA Division II Swimm ing and Diving Championships in Buffa lo, N.Y The Miners also had 13 of their 15 competitors in Buffalo win some form of All-America honors. Eleven swimmers gained All-America status by placing among the top eight in their events. Two others made honorab le mention by plac ing in th e second tier, from ninth to 16th. Highlighting the Miner performances at nationals were a pair of individual All-America efforts by freshman Mark Finley, who placed third in the 500-ya rd freestyle on the fi rst night of the meet. Finley posted a time of 4:3 1.0Z after having the best time during the preliminaries. He then fi ni shed sixth in the ZOO-yard freestyle a day later with a time of 1:41.16.
Other highlights: -
The Miners' 800-yard freestyle team of Finley, Vanja Dezelic, David Nurre and Mark Pearce finished in th ird place. - Matt Scott finished seventh in the ZOO-yard butterfly with a time of 153.05. - The team of Dave Belleville, Tom Beccue, Kris Leftwich and Pearce won All-America honors in the ZOO-yard freestyle re lay, finish ing in sixth place with a time of 1:Z4.66. - The ZOO-yard team of Josh Jolly, Jeremy Evans, Jeff Rueschhoff and Beccue came in ninth place, while the 40o-yard team that included Finley, Evans, Scott and Beccue placed 10th. Both teams earned All-America honorable mention. - Steve Caruso placed 14th in the 1~O - ya rd butterfly and 16th in both the ZOO -butterfly and ZOO-ind ividua l medley. - Dezelic was 10th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. - Nurre placed 10th in the ZOO-freesty le and 13th in the 500-free. - Scott was 10th in the 1~O -yard butterfly.
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