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Saturday, February 5, 2011
Kenyon coach gives his side of the story on cancellation
A day after his men’s basketball team elected not to travel to Wittenberg for a 7:30 p.m. game Friday, Kenyon first-year head coach Dan Priest gave his side of the story.
The decision resulted in a no-contest for both teams and a 2-0 win for Wittenberg and a 2-0 loss for Kenyon in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings.
The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but pushed back to Thursday because of the ice storm. Classes were canceled on Wednesday and Thursday at Wittenberg, which is why Athletic Director Garnett Purnell decided to postpone the games. School reopened on Friday.
“It’s a terrible situation,” Priest said Saturday. “Here’s what happened from our end. We were supposed to play Thursday, and everyone in our state played Thursday. Witt’s athletic center was open Thursday, but they told us they couldn’t play Thursday (Wittenberg athletic director) Garnett Purnell asked (Thursday morning) if we could play Monday. I said sure.”
At that point, Priest said two Kenyon seniors rescheduled comprehensive oral exams, required for graduation, to 5:15 p.m. Friday. They had to trade time slots with other students to take the exams then. Later on Thursday, Priest said Wittenberg called back and said it couldn’t play Monday.
Wittenberg coach Bill Brown said Saturday the first contact between Wittenberg and Kenyon on Thursday was Priest calling Wittenberg assistant coach Travis Schwab and telling him they had one player with a conflict on Friday. Only on Friday, Brown said, during a conference call between the two schools, did Wittenberg learn Kenyon had an issue with multiple players. Priest said he only knew about the one player on Thursday morning but found out about the second player’s conflict at practice Thursday night.
After the game was postponed Thursday, Brown said the game should be played at the next available date (Friday), per NCAC rules, and he didn’t want to play any day next week, which would have added to an already busy and important week. He also said the decision to postpone the game because of the academic conflicts for players would have opened up a whole new can of worms. In Brown’s thinking, if that precedent was set, what would stop a team in the future from trying to get out of game because a player had a law school entrance exam, for example.
Priest said if the decision to play Friday had been made right away, that would have been better for his team because they don’t play today (Saturday). But his players couldn’t switch their exams again.
“We weren’t going to make them hurry with their finals and rush them to the game with the weather,” Priest said. “We were willing to play any day between here and the rest of the season. I’m really sorry it came to this. We want to play. They want to play.”
Priest said if they had played the game Friday without the two seniors, he would have had just six players available.
“We didn’t know if that was the best thing,” he said. “Our numbers are low. That’s our fault. That’s no excuse.”
Priest said they offered to play the game at neutral site, Cedarville University, on Friday or to even host the game.
“They didn’t want to do that,” Priest said. “That’s fine. I understand. … It’s a really disappointing situation for all of us.”
Keri Alexander Luchowski, the acting executive director of the North Coast Athletic Conference, said Friday she holds out hope that the game will still be played sometime in the next two weeks, but that’s highly unlikely in Brown’s mind.
“There’s no time left to do it,” Brown said Friday. “There’s only two weeks left in the (regular) season. You can’t do it. It’s setting a precedent.”
“It’s an internal issue for Kenyon. If they want to play, they should adhere to the conference manual and play the first available date.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: College Basketball, Kenyon College, North Coast Athletic Conference, Wittenberg
TweetBen Logan senior to play football at Urbana University
From the Bellefontaine Examiner:
After an impressive senior season on the gridiron, Benjamin Logan senior Landon McKirahan is taking his football talent to Urbana University.
A shifty tailback with blazing speed, McKirahan set a new single-season rushing record for the Raiders in the fall with 1,487 yards and had a total of 24 touchdowns.
“It was something that sprouted up this year,” said McKirahan. “After high school I thought maybe I’d go to college if I was able to get an offer.
“I didn’t expect to be preparing to play football in college right now. I’m definitely excited about this opportunity. It came up quick and is definitely worth everything I did to get to this point.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: College Football, Urbana University
TweetKR’s Toadvine to play in New England summer baseball league
Kenton Ridge graduate Derek Toadvine, a freshman infielder at Kent State, will play for the Keene Swamp Bats in the New England Collegiate Baseball League this summer, according to this report in the Keene (N.H) Sentinel:
“Kent State infielder Derek Toadvine could be one of the fastest players to ever play in Keene, and teammate David Lyon, a switch-hitting catcher, could add some pop to the lineup, Watterson said. The Bats hit only 16 home runs at homer-friendly Alumni last season.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: College Baseball, Kenton Ridge High School
TweetGreeneview boys will have to win OHC title on the road
If the Greeneview High School boys basketball team wants to win the Ohio Heritage Conference title for the first time since 2007, they’ll have to do it on the road.
The winter weather has forced the Rams to move to road games to the end of the schedule — where they already had two road games to end the season. They played their last home game on Friday, a 53-37 victory over Division IV eighth-ranked Catholic Central. The
They’re at West Liberty-Salem next Friday, then travel to Southeastern on Feb. 15. The Rams travel to Cedarville (Feb. 18) and Triad (Feb. 21) in its final two games.
“It’s one win,” said Rams coach Bill Green after last night’s victory over Central. “(The schedule) just worked out that way. You have to take them one at a time, play well and see what happens.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Boys Basketball, Greeneview High School, The Wizard
TweetWitt lacrosse team loses to Michigan
From Lacrosse Magazine:
On a cold Friday night (February 4) in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan’s men’s lacrosse team defeated the Tigers of Wittenberg University at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse by a score of 13-9 in Michigan’s second scrimmage of the season. The game started close until the Wolverines took the lead and control going into the second half. Michigan was slow to start in the third but quickly regained focus to hold the lead down the stretch.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Wittenberg
TweetFormer Cedarville U. catcher signs minor league deal with Braves
From YellowJackets.Cedarville.edu:
Former Yellow Jacket catcher David Convertini will continue his baseball career after signing a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves made the offer last week to Convertini, who was planning on being an assistant coach with the Jackets this spring. The Buffalo, N.Y. native and 2010 Cedarville University graduate signed the contract on Tuesday.
Convertini will report to the Braves’ minor league camp in Buena Vista, Fla. on March 3 along with other catchers and pitchers. He is expected to begin the season with one of the organization’s rookie league teams.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Cedarville University, College Baseball, Minor League Baseball
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