20 minute read
Bearcat Sports
2017 2019
Northwest became the fi rst NCAA Division II men’s basketball program to capture three straight titles when it defeated No. 5-ranked Augusta University, 67-58, March 26 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, in front of a national television audience.
“Until you win one, you don’t understand that there are so many things that can go wrong,” Head Coach Ben McCollum ’03, ’05, said. “We were good enough and tough enough that we didn’t allow anything to go wrong for three straight seasons. We are in the history books forever. It’s so crazy, I can’t even wrap my mind around it.” The dynamic backcourt duo of Trevor Hudgins and Diego Bernard continued their perfect run through NCAA Tournament play with six more postseason wins in 2022. The Hudgins-Bernard combo put together an NCAA Division II record 17 consecutive postseason victories and combined to produce a four-year record of 131-8.
Augusta used the post play of its 7-foot, 1-inch Tyshaun Crawford to build an 18-12 lead eight minutes into the national title game. But the Bearcats hit the Jaguars with an 11-2 run that included a pair of triples from Hudgins and gave Northwest a 23-20 lead with 6:40 remaining in the fi rst half. Hudgins continued his scoring assault in the fi nal fi ve minutes of the half as he accounted for 12 of Northwest’s fi nal 14 points on his way to tallying 22 fi rst-half points, including four three-pointers. The Bearcats closed the half on a 2710 scoring run to take a 39-28 lead to the locker room.
Northwest looked to put away Augusta in the fi rst six minutes of the second half as the Bearcats opened an 18-point cushion. Hudgins buried his fi fth three-pointer of the game with 13:47 to play to give Northwest a 52-34 advantage. But the Jaguars refused to wilt and trimmed the Bearcat lead to a single point at 57-56 with 2:36 to play. After Hudgins sank a pair of free throws and sophomore forward Luke Waters corralled a rebound and scored on the ensuing possession, the Bearcats opened up a fi ve-point lead at 61-56 with 1:42 to play. Wes Dreamer made one of two free throws with 12 seconds left to close out the scoring and send the Bearcats into celebration.
It wasn’t the easiest road the Bearcats have had to navigate for a national title, but it was certainly memorable.
The Bearcats won their fi rst two games of the season over ranked foes in No. 15 Northern State and No. 21 Seattle Pacifi c, at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri. However, Northwest stumbled against unranked Sioux Falls on Nov. 13 for its fi rst non-conference regular season loss since Nov. 19, 2015. Then, No. 18-ranked Central Oklahoma came away with a 76-75 overtime victory over Northwest on Jan. 20 in Edmond, Oklahoma, to give the Bearcats their fi rst MIAA loss of the season.
Northwest came back with fi ve straight wins by an average of 27.2 points per game, which included an 89-49 thrashing of Central Missouri in Bearcat Arena. In that victory, Hudgins became Northwest’s all-time leading scorer and surpassed the mark of 2,459 points set by Justin Pitts from 2014 to 2018. Emporia State handed Northwest a pair of losses on Feb. 8 and Feb. 21 to leave Bearcat fans wondering if the men had enough for another championship run. After the second loss, a one-point letdown at home, Northwest was 23-5 overall and 16-4 in MIAA play – one game out of fi rst in the MIAA standings behind Central Oklahoma. However, a Central Missouri win at Central Oklahoma on Feb. 23 paved the way for the Bearcats to earn a share of their ninth consecutive MIAA regular season title and 22nd overall crown.
Taking back the MIAA Tournament crown
The No. 2 seeded Bearcats blew away Rogers State, 72-50, in the quarterfi nals of the MIAA Tournament title and then barely got past No. 21-ranked Fort Hays State in the semifi nals, winning 53-50 after trailing by eight points with 8:01 to play in that contest. Northwest claimed the program’s 10th MIAA Tournament title with an 84-76 win against Washburn. The victory gave McCollum his sixth MIAA Tournament crown – the most by any coach in league history. Hudgins poured in a championship-game record 35 points – becoming the fi rst to have three 30-point scoring games in MIAA Tournament history – and was named the MIAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He was joined on the all-tourney team by Dreamer and Bernard.
Central Region Tournament title defended
Northwest earned a bid to the NCAA Central Region tourney in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as the No. 3 seed. It was Northwest’s 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth straight under McCollum. The Bearcats handled Minnesota State University Moorhead in the fi rst round, 69-54, with a balanced scoring effort as four Bearcats reached double-fi gure scoring. Then, Northwest met Washburn for the eighth time in two seasons in the NCAA Central Region semifi nal and ended the Ichabods’ season with a 70-55 win. All that remained for Northwest to reach the Elite Eight for the third straight tournament was a matchup against No. 6-ranked Augustana on the Vikings’ home fl oor in Sioux Falls. Hudgins scored a gamehigh 27 points as the Bearcats clinched their sixth Elite Eight trip overall with a 70-56 triumph.
Postseason accolades
TREVOR HUDGINS
• Recipient of Bevo Francis Award, given to the nation’s best small college basketball player • NABC’s NCAA Division II National Player of the Year for the second straight season • D2CCA First-Team All-America for third consecutive season • D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year for second time • Central Region Tournament MVP • MIAA Player of the Year for third consecutive season
DIEGO BERNARD
• Central Region All-Tournament Team • First player named to MIAA All-Defensive Team for four straight seasons • Second-team all-MIAA selection
WES DREAMER
• Central Region All-Tournament Team • Third-team all-MIAA selection
BEN MCCOLLUM
• NABC NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year for fourth consecutive season and fi fth time overall • Clarence “Big House” Gaines National Coach of the Year
Award, given by CollegeInsider.com
HAWKINS SHINES FOR CREIGHTON BLUEJAYS
While the Northwest men chugged toward their fourth NCAA Division II national championship this past year, Bearcat Nation also found itself rooting for Ryan Hawkins ’20 and the Creighton Bluejays as they made a run of their own on the Division I stage.
Hawkins transferred after fi ve highly successful seasons at Northwest to Creighton for the extra year of eligibility granted to him as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He started every game for the Bluejays, which fi nished their season with a 23-12 record. Highlights of the Creighton regular season included a 20-point win over then-No. 9 Villanova and two victories against perennial power Connecticut. Among Hawkins’ individual achievements, he tied his career-high with eight three-pointers and scored a season-high 30 points to go with 12 rebounds and six assists in a win at Georgetown on Feb. 12. In the Big East Tournament at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden, the Bluejays were the runner-up to Villanova and earned a bid to the national tournament. There, Hawkins was part of Creighton’s epic fi rst-round overtime victory against San Diego State, in which he played all 45 minutes, fi nishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals. The Bluejays bowed out of the tournament, however, during a hard-fought, secondround 79-72 loss to the eventual Division I national champion Kansas Jayhawks. Hawkins led Creighton with 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while leading the Big East conference with 11 doubledoubles and earning Second Team All-Big East and USBWA All-District 6 accolades. At the end of the season, he ranked fi rst among active Division I players with 1,220 career rebounds and 927 fi eld goals made. He was second with 2,580 points, fi fth with 41 double-doubles, seventh with 363 three-point fi eld goals and 11th with 257 steals. Hawkins also was named by the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association as a member of the 20th Annual Scholar-Athlete Team, which honors student-athletes who maintained a minimum GPA of 3.20 in undergraduate studies as a starter or important reserve with their team. He was the fi rst representative of Creighton men’s basketball named to the team since 2014.
Photo courtesy of Creighton University
SPRING
SPORTS RECAP
OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD The Bearcats combined to secure seven school records, 38 new spots on the top-10 performance lists in school history and a new national champion. Sophomore Reece Smith won the steeplechase at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in a meetrecord time of 8:33.64 and was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Central Region Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. Additionally, junior Dakota Schmidt secured second-team All-America honors in the men’s javelin at the national meet for the second consecutive year, and sophomore Kaylee Harp earned her first All-America nod in the women’s 800-meter. Smith was the lone Bearcat to capture an MIAA individual crown at this year’s conference meet, where he broke a 38-yearold MIAA outdoor championship record in the steeplechase. He clocked in at 8:42.50 to eclipse the MIAA mark of 8:44.34 set in 1984. The women set four school records with junior Caroline Cunningham putting her name at the top of three events (1,500-meter; 5,000-meter; 3,000-meter steeplechase), and sophomore Sarah Prickett set the new mark in the 100-meter hurdles. The men tallied three school records, including Smith setting the 3,000-meter steeple chase and the 5,000-meter marks. Junior Dakota Schmidt beat his own record in the javelin.
Morgan Thiele
The team had 38 student-athletes selected to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, and eight were named to MIAA ScholarAthlete status. Six Bearcats produced 4.0 GPAs to earn Academic Excellence accolades.
GOLF The Bearcats produced the second-best four-player team scoring average in program history at 321 during the 2021-22 campaign. Senior Morgan Thiele capped her career as the school’s all-time leader in stroke average at 80.14 during 83 career rounds, which is the second-most in school history. She also posted the top three single-season stroke averages in program history and tallied a team-best 79.5 stroke average this season, which ranks third-best in program history.
The Bearcats earned fifth-place finishes at the SMSU Spring Invite at the Wigwam Golf Course in Litchfield Park, Arizona, and the Wildcat Classic at the Wayne Country Club in Wayne, Nebraska. Six golfers earned MIAA Academic Honor Roll recognition, including sophomore Elly Speece garnering a spot on the Academic Excellence list with a 4.0 GPA.
Sarah Prickett Max Spitzmiller
Julia Aliseda Franco Oliva
TENNIS Th e men made their 22nd all-time NCAA tournament appearance while capturing the program’s 32nd MIAA regular season crown. Th e Bearcats rose as high as No. 18 in the ITA national rankings, fi nishing 14-6 in dual action with a season-ending loss May 9 in the NCAA Central Region fi nal in Magnolia, Arkansas. Sophomore Andrea Zamurri went 21-5 in singles play with a 16-2 mark in dual matches and was named MIAA Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. Nationally-ranked Franco Oliva completed his collegiate career with 67 singles wins, which tied for 10th-most in program history, and 57 doubles wins. Fabien Calloud concluded his Bearcat career with 58 singles and 58 doubles victories, which are tied for the ninth-most in Northwest history. Th e duo of Oliva and Calloud captured fi rst-team allMIAA honors at No. 3 doubles. Altogether, seven men earned all-MIAA accolades, and fi ve were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. Calloud, senior Martin Sanchez and Zamurri were honored as MIAA ScholarAthlete selections. Th e women fi nished with a record of 16-9 overall and 5-3 in MIAA play during the spring, including a pair of wins over ranked foes in No. 25 Nebraska-Kearney and No. 30 Southeastern Oklahoma State. Th e women also scored an MIAA tournament quarterfi nal win over UNK before bowing to eventual champion Central Oklahoma in the semifi nals. Julia Aliseda had a team-best 18 singles wins and 17 doubles victories in 2021-22, capping her career with 65 singles wins and 52 doubles triumphs. Seven women earned all-MIAA honors with sophomore Tessa Kwakernaak garnering fi rst-team status at No. 6 singles. Six were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, including sophomore Vera Alenicheva and Kwakernaak with 4.0 GPAs.
BASEBALL Th e Bearcats began the spring with only six wins through their fi rst 24 games but regrouped midway through the MIAA season and fi nished with 13 wins in their fi nal 22 contests. Th e Bearcats won four of their last six MIAA games to fi nish in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league standings with Emporia State and Newman. Junior starting pitcher Max Spitzmiller became the 16th Bearcat pitcher to earn fi rst-team all-MIAA honors. He ranked No. 2 in the nation with seven complete games and No. 2 in the MIAA in strikeouts (93). He led the MIAA in innings pitched (93) and WHIP (1.02), going 6-7 while holding batters to a .220 batting average and walking only 19. He was a two-time MIAA Pitcher of the Week. Sophomore relief pitcher Jacob Gajic, junior outfi elder Ryan Koski, senior shortstop Jacob Pinkerton and junior starting pitcher Alex Slocum were all-MIAA honorable mentions. Twenty-four players were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, and Koski, Pinkerton and Spitzmiller were MIAA Scholar-Athlete selections. Head coach Darin Loe collected his 700th career coaching victory March 5 in a 6-3 win over Missouri Southern. He has recorded 558 wins in 23 years at the helm of the Bearcat program.
SOFTBALL Th e Bearcats won seven of their last nine games, including a pair of doubleheader sweeps of Pittsburg State and Lincoln to fi nish in a tie for ninth place in the MIAA standings with fi rstyear head coach Naomi Tellez. Junior Olivia Daugherty led the team with 27 runs scored and ranked second on the squad in hits (45) with a .313 batting average. She hit eight home runs and has a career total of 30 home runs, which ranks third in school history. Sophomore Abby Nolte hit a team-best 12 home runs, which ranks as the seventh-best single-season total in Bearcat history. Freshman Skylar Pieper, batting leadoff and starting 42 games, led the Bearcats in batting average at .322. Junior Jacee Winn recorded a team-best 48 hits and batted .312 as she started all 50 games. Th e Bearcat pitching staff was led by sophomore Breck Dickey, who went 9-12 with a team-best 128 strikeouts, the seventh-best season in program history. Th e Bearcats had 11 players earn a spot on the MIAA’s Academic Honor Roll, including Daugherty, Nolte and Winn as Scholar-Athlete selections. Daugherty, Nolte, Pieper and Winn were honorable mentions on the All-MIAA softball teams.
WINTER
SPORTS RECAP
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD The Bearcats sent seven women and one man to the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships March 11-12 at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas, where those eight representatives secured six NCAA Division II All-America honors. Redshirt freshman Bailey Blake, redshirt freshman Jaedy Commins, sophomore Tiffany Hughey and freshman Chloe Saenz notched first-team All-America status in the women’s 4x400 relay with a sixth-place finish. Blake, in the 800m, and Hughey, in the 400m, also secured second-team All-America accolades. Sophomore Jada Shanklin secured first-team All-America honors in the women’s high jump. Representing the Bearcat men, sophomore Blake Morgan secured second-team All-America status in the high jump. Junior Caroline Cunningham collected the Women’s High Point Scorer Award at the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Northwest’s Carl and Cheryl Hughes Fieldhouse. Cunningham netted a meet-best 23 team points and defended her MIAA indoor title in the mile to earn 10 points. She added eight points with a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter and five points with a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter race.
Luisarys Toledo
Northwest also captured MIAA indoor titles from freshman Luisarys Toledo (pentathlon), Shanklin (high jump) and the men’s distance medley relay squad (junior Jake Norris, redshirt freshman Prince Griffin, senior Tucker Dahle and redshirt freshman Reece Smith). The Bearcat women placed second at the MIAA meet, while the men placed sixth. The Bearcat indoor track and field teams had 26 women and 12 men earn MIAA academic recognition. The coaching staff also was voted the MIAA Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL The reconstruction of the Bearcat women’s basketball team took another positive step as the Bearcats posted a mark of 17-12 overall and 12-10 in MIAA play. Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Austin Meyer ’06, ’08, Northwest tied for sixth in the MIAA final standings, which marked its highest finish in the league since the 201011 season. Northwest’s 12 MIAA victories, 11 home wins and seven-game win streak in November and December also were the most for the program since 2010-11. Northwest ranked No. 1 in the nation in fewest three-pointers allowed by its opponents (87) and No. 3 in the country in fewest 3-pointers attempted by the opposition (323). The Bearcats ranked No. 5 in the nation and No. 2 in the MIAA in fewest turnovers per game at 11.8 per contest. They ranked second in the MIAA in scoring defense by limiting opponents to 56.7 points per game. Senior Mallory McConkey earned third-
Peyton Kelderman Mallory McConkey
team All-MIAA status while redshirt freshman Molly Hartnett and freshman Peyton Kelderman were honorable mention All-MIAA selections. The Bearcats also had 10 student-athletes earn MIAA academic recognition, which tied for the second-highest number of recipients in the league.
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KXCV 90.5 FM, the 100,000-watt FM public radio station that broadcasts from the Northwest campus, is entering its 24th season as the fl agship for Bearcat sports broadcasts. An anchor of Bearcat athletics broadcasts since 1985, John Coffey ’82 returns as the “Voice of the Bearcats” with Matt Tritten ’11, who is entering his seventh year with the broadcast. In addition to Bearcat football games, tune in for the Bearcat Coaches Show at noon on Tuesdays and “In the Trenches with Rich Wright” at 6 p.m. on Thursdays. 2022 Bearcat Football Schedule
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• KXCV, 90.5 FM Maryville • KRNW, 88.9 FM Chillicothe • KKWK, 100.1 FM Cameron
Listen on the web or your mobile device
Go to KXCV.org and click “Listen Live,” or download the Bearcat Public Media app.
SEPT. 1 (THU.) / 7 P.M. VS. FORT HAYS STATE
SEPT. 10 (SAT.) / 2 P.M. AT LINCOLN
SEPT. 17 (SAT.) / 1:30 P.M. VS. CENTRAL MISSOURI
(FAMILY WEEKEND)
SEPT. 24 (SAT.) / 2 P.M. AT CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
OCT. 1 (SAT.) / 1:30 P.M. VS. MISSOURI WESTERN
OCT. 8 (SAT.) / 2 P.M. AT PITTSBURG STATE
OCT. 15 (SAT.) / 1:30 P.M. VS. WASHBURN OCT. 22 (SAT.) / 2 P.M. VS. NORTHEASTERN STATE
(HOMECOMING)
OCT. 29 (SAT.) / 2 P.M. AT NEBRASKA-KEARNEY NOV. 5 (SAT.) / 1:30 P.M. VS. MISSOURI SOUTHERN
(AG DAY/SENIOR DAY)
NOV. 12 (SAT.) / 1 P.M. AT EMPORIA STATE
HOME GAMES IN GREEN
BURNSIDES, SPURGEON SELECTED FOR MIAA HALL OF FAME
Northwest was represented by a pair of former student-athletes when the MIAA inducted its 2022 Hall of Fame class June 6 in the Music Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center.
SCOTT SPURGEON Spurgeon, a member of the Bearcat baseball team from 1986 to 1988, is Northwest baseball’s only fi rst-team AllAmerican, receiving the honor in 1988. He earned fi rst-team All-MIAA honors both years, claiming the conference’s MVP award in 1987 as a catcher and Hitter of the Year in 1988 as a third baseman. Spurgeon ranks in Northwest’s top-10 in four categories. He owns Northwest’s all-time slugging percentage record (.872) and ranks second in career batting average (.432). He ranks fi fth in Bearcat baseball with 30 career home runs and seventh with 35 career doubles. His 1.007 slugging percentage and 22 doubles in 1988 rank fi rst in Northwest’s single-season records. Spurgeon was drafted by the Houston Astros in 1988 and went on to earn his doctorate degree in educational leadership at St. Louis University.
MYLES BURNSIDES Burnsides, a member of the Bearcat football team from 2006 through 2009, was a two-time fi rst-team All-American and All-MIAA defensive back. The Bearcats went 37-0 in MIAA contests and appeared in the NCAA Division II National Championship game each year, winning the title in 2009. He led the team in interceptions all four seasons and ranks third in Northwest record books with 16 career interceptions. He also notched 100 career playoff tackles, which ranks second all-time at Northwest. Among numerous honors, he was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, Burnsides was the MIAA’s Ken B. Jones Award Winner and the NCAA Division II’s National Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2009-10.
ROBERTS DRAFTED BY NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Sam Roberts became the seventh Bearcat football player to be selected in the NFL Draft after the New England Patriots selected him in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft in April in Las Vegas. He led a dominant Bearcat defense and recorded 6.5 sacks in 13 games in 2021. His 18 tackles-for-loss tied for the eighth-best single-season mark in Bearcat history, helping to guide Northwest to a No. 2 national ranking in scoring defense and No. 4 in the country in total defense. In addition to several other postseason honors, Roberts was named the 2021 Cliff Harris Award winner, which is given to the nation’s best small college defensive player.
