Bass Fishing
Golf
Soccer
The bass fishing team placed five boats in the Top 12 at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Central Conference Qualifier on the Lake of the Ozarks in October, earning berths into the MLF National Championship to be held at Fort Gibson, Okla., in March. Senior Bailey Bleser and graduate student Nate Doty caught five bass weighing in at 14 pounds 4 ounces to take first place. Junior Nick Holtgrave and firstyear Jaxson Freeman finished in fourth place; seniors Tyler Christy and Trey Schroeder finished in fifth place; sophomore Colton Head and junior Trey Budach finished in eighth place; and first-years Lane Stephens and Kyle Hopping finished in 12th place.
First-year women’s golfer Imogen Rafferty won three tournaments this fall, including the USI Screaming Eagles Invitational at Cambridge Golf Course on Sept. 13, Lady Panther Fall Invitational at Silo Ridge Golf Club on Sept. 21 and Flyer Intercollegiate at Cog Hill Golf Club on Oct. 5.
The men’s soccer team reached the quarterfinals in the GLVC Championship Tournament. Senior forward James Stone and senior midfielder Eddie Davis were named to the All-GLVC first team and junior defender Cole Gerstenberger was named to the All-GLVC third team. James was also named to the United Soccer Coaches Midwest Region second team.
Football Three Bearcats earned All-Great Lake Valley Conference (GLVC) first-team accolades this season, including redshirt sophomore receiver Jacob Bachman, senior center Jake Stevenson and sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston. The Bearcats’ lone second-team All-GLVC selection was redshirt junior receiver Steven Towns, Jr. Twelve players earned honorable mentions All-GLVC accolades.
The men’s golf team closed out the fall season with three straight tournament titles. First-year Fabian Wennerlof led the field at the Bearcat Dual Gender Tournament at Far Oaks Golf Club on Oct. 19 and the Kentucky Wesleyan Fall Invitational at The Pearl Club on Oct. 31. Junior Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn won medalist honors at both the Flyer Intercollegiate at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club on Oct. 5 and the Midwest Regional at Fox Run Golf Club on Oct. 12.
Tennis The men’s tennis team finished out the fall season with two individual titles. In September, graduate student Boriss Kamdem won the men’s singles title at the ITA Fall Circuit at Dwight Davis Tennis Center and junior Ryan Fung captured the men’s “C” draw singles title at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships at Grand Valley State University.
Water Polo The men’s varsity water polo team finished second at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference-West (MAWPC) Regional Championships and third at the 2021 Collegiate Water Polo Association Division I Championships. Five Bearcats were selected to the MAWPC-West Region All-Conference Team. Graduate student utility player Michael Rojas was named to the first team, while fifth-year senior goalie Ori Scanlon, senior utility player Matthew Haygood, graduate student Uros Pelemis and senior attacker Nico Rodriguez received second team nods. The men’s club team recorded a program-best sixth place finish at the 2021 Men’s National Collegiate Club Water Polo Championships.
Staff/Coach News
Head women’s bowling coach and eight-time World Champion Shannon O’Keefe rode in the Go Bowling float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Two members of the Bearcat women’s wrestling team were recently featured on the Family Feud. Senior Joye Levendusky and her sister, first-year Esther, competed in two episodes of the show in May, along with their sister Grace, father Derek and mother Heidi.
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Longtime collegiate women’s basketball coach Paula Buscher was named as the school’s interim assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator. Paula comes to McKendree after spending the past 35 years coaching women’s basketball at both the NCAA Division I and II levels and most recently spent nine years as the head women’s basketball coach at SIUE. Other new athletic hires include Ben Greenberg, sports information director; Patrick Knapinski, assistant sports information director; Brad Bechel, head powerlifting coach; Barry Ford, head men’s and women’s track and field coach; Alec Nichols ’00, Division II head men’s hockey coach; Heather Tarter, head softball coach; and Cameron Wyper, head men’s and women’s rugby coach.
