Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
The University of Tampa women's cross country team took four of the top five spots in Saturday's Sunshine State Conference championship meet in Melbourne, earning its third consecutive conference title.
Junior Allison Macsas repeated as women's overall champion, setting the school record in the 6K event in 20:35.73. Dee Dee Haefling was one of four other UT runners to turn in personal bests. She claimed second (20:57.04) and teammates Erin Wilson (21:02.96) and Elizabeth Bragg (21:13.26) took third and fifth, respectively.
"I was really satisfied," coach Jarrett Slaven said. "This was the school's best finish ever. Now we have to start preparing for regionals in two weeks."
Junior Kim Dunker broke into the top 10 with a time of 22:24.09, good for ninth place and second-team All-SSC honors. Macsas, Haefling, Wilson and Bragg each earned a place on the All-SSC first team, as did men's fifth-place finisher David Forry, who ran a 26:11.58 in the 8K race. Tampa's men finished second to Florida Southern, which won the conference meet an eighth straight year.
SOCCER HITS STRIDE: After two tight games that went into overtime last week, women's soccer got a reprieve and won 6-0 over Florida Tech on Saturday to improve to 9-3-1 (5-1-1 SSC).
Tampa defeated Saint Leo 2-1 on Oct. 18, thanks to a mishap by the Lions, who had an own goal in overtime. On Friday, the Spartans played Nova Southeastern in a defensive battle that ended in a tie at 0. Sunday's regular-season home finale turned was a great sendoff for three seniors.
Katie Calvin, Melanie Moody and Amy Pfitzinger each scored as the Spartans offense came alive, peppering the Panthers' goal with 21 shots.
Tampa (9-3-1, 5-1-1) jumped four spots to No. 2 in the latest South Region poll and made a return to the national ranking at No. 16. The team plays its regular-season finale at No. 7 Lynn (10-2, 4-1-1) on Saturday.
SSC HONORS: Forward Samantha Robinson was named soccer player of the week last week. She scored the winning goal in a 1-0 win over Florida Southern, then had two goals and an assist in a 3-0 win against Rollins.
Margeaux Sinibaldi was the conference's volleyball player of the week after posting back-to-back 30-plus dig performances. The freshman turned out 30 digs in a three-game win over Florida Gulf Coast and followed it up with a 37-dig outing against Armstrong Atlantic, which the Spartans won in four games. That mark set a school record.
Sinibaldi and the Spartans defeated Bryant College in three games Saturday to boost their current win streak to eight matches. Ericka Womack (12) and Erin Clark (11) combined for 23 kills. The Spartans remain at No. 11 in the NCAA Division II top 25 coaches poll.
PRESEASON POLLS: Men's basketball coach Richard Schmidt was inducted into the Spartans Hall of Fame this past month, but after 15 Division II tournament appearances, the last in 2001, the 22-year veteran finds his team in unfamiliar territory this season, looking up at the league from the bottom.
The SSC preseason basketball poll was released and the Spartans, who finished sixth in the SSC last year with a conference mark of 6-8, found five teams ranked above them.
Defending SSC champion Rollins was picked to win the conference after receiving 14 of 18 first-place votes.
"I don't like being so low in the league but when you lose as many players as we have the last few years and haven't been able to replace the scholarship players, it's expected," Schmidt said.
"The league right now may be best ever, top to bottom. We got so many new guys in we don't know where we stand yet. I've got to hope some of these guys step up for us."
With limited scholarships, Schmidt only was able to sign two players in the offseason, Chris Evans, a 6-foot-6 forward from Middleton, and Marcus Bright, a 6-foot-1 guard from Palm Beach Community College.
Tampa's women won four conference games last season, finishing sixth in the SSC. But coaches around the league saw a young team with potential, and the Spartans received one first-place vote in this year's preseason poll and were picked to finish fourth overall.
A year of experience is one reason the Spartans have garnered more respect. They return their starting backcourt, which includes the team's leading scorer and second-team All-SSC guard Shawtavia Mathis. The addition of Division I transfer Shaneisha Walton at center gives Tampa the inside presence and scoring it lacked last season.
Defending conference champion Rollins was picked to repeat, receiving eight of 18 first-place votes.