Tupper holds out hope for NCAA spot
Spring-Ford grad placed 4th in 400 at ECAC finals for Widener
JOSH TUPPER (SPRING-FORD) >> Josh Tupper came up with another big effort for the Widener men’s track team at the Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships Feb. 24-25 in Bethlehem. The junior from Pottstown (Spring-Ford) captured the 400-meter dash in 49.15 and was a member of the winning 4x4 relay posted a time of 3:23.17 and the 4x200 relay which finished second in 1:31.67.
But that was a tad short of his performance last year as a sophomore when he won the 400 (49.28) and ran legs on the winning 4x4 (3:22.02) and the 4x2 (1:31.35). He spent his freshman season at Mansfield.
“Josh’s arrival to Widener as a transfer from Mansfield was a great surprise to the team and coaching staff,” coach Vince Touey said. “His quiet passion for success has added great value to our team.”
Tupper won the 400 at the ECAC Championships last year and was hoping for a big effort in last weekend’s ECAC meet in Ithaca, N.Y. to secure his berth in the NCAA Division III Championships. Unfortunately he finished fourth with a time of 50.39 and fell short. However, his 49.15 stood 15th on the NCAA performance list last week and he has an outside chance to be invited to compete in the NCAA meet next weekend in Naperville, Ill. XAVIER SMITH (DANIEL BOONE) >> The junior sprinter will be one of six Penn State men headed to College Station, Texas, this weekend to compete in the NCAA Division I Indoor Track Championships. Smith is a member of the 4x4 relay that captured the Big Ten title with a time of 3:04.80 on Feb. 25 in Geneva, Ohio. He will run the second leg, the team rated fourth on the NCAA performance list. Smith
just missed out on being in the top 16 in the 60 meter and 200 meter dashes. He missed the 60 by .01 second and the 200 by .24 seconds. He finished first in the 60 and fourth in the 200 at the Big Ten meet. SARAH PAYONK (SPRINGFORD) >> The senior was named to the Landmark Conference first team for the second straight year after helping the 26-3 Scranton women’s basketball team capture the league title and earn a berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament where they advanced to the third round with a 7665 victory over SUNY-Poly last Saturday. Payonk had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the game. The 6-foot guard is third on the Lady Royals in scoring (11.1) and leads in rebounding (9.4), assists (137) and blocked shots (31). The assist total leads the conference. She is 12th in points (1,313), first in rebounds (1,091), second in assists (508) and third in blocks (165) in the Scranton career record book. ZACHARY STROHL (BOYERTOWN) >> The senior wrapped up his career with the Akron rifle team at the Great American Rifle Conference Championships Feb. 24-25 in Akron, Ohio. Strohl posted a score of 573 in smallbore on Feb. 24, tied for second on the Zips squad. On Feb. 25, his 588 air rifle score tied him for first on the Akron squad. The Zips finished sixth out of nine teams with scores of 2286 (smallbore) and 2344 (air rifle) for a 4630 total and failed to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships. CAMERON SIMMONS (SPRING-FORD) >> The sophomore is hitting .353 in 11 starts with the Virginia baseball team which kicked off the season with a 10-1 record after an 8-5 loss to Niagara last Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound outfielder has 12 hits in 34 at-bats with three doubles, eight runs scored and 10 RBIs. He’s made one error on 24 chances (.958). Simmons saw more action than any other Cavalier freshman last season. He played in 50 games with 44 starts and hit .261 with four home runs and 21 RBIs. BRIANNA EARNSHAW (METHACTON) >> The senior helped the Elizabethtown women’s track team capture its firstever Landmark Conference title on Feb. 25th ending Moravian’s nine-year run. Earnshaw earned All-Landmark honors for finishing second in the 3,000-meter run in 10:45.56. She also finished third in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 19:09.04. She finished fourth in the 5k and fifth in the 3k in last year’s Landmark indoor meet and was second in the in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs outdoors last spring. HALEY WENTZEL (BOYERTOWN) >> The junior is off to a big start with the Lehigh women’s lacrosse team. She had four goals in a 19-8 season-opening loss to No. 7 Penn State on Feb. 18 and came back with two goals and an assist in a 13-3 victory over Iona on Feb. 25. And she had a goal in a 12-9 victory over Wagner last Saturday. She also has two ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Wentzel entered this season having scored 29 goals with 12 assists including 20 goals and 11 assists with three game-winners last season. ADAM MYERS (DANIEL BOONE) >> The Ursinus junior finished second in the shot put at the Centennial Conference Indoor Track Championships Feb. 2526 in Collegeville. Myers posted a distance of 49 feet, 4½ inches to finish behind record-breaking Logan Lewis of Franklin & Marshall (52-6). The toss was a career record of more than three feet for Myers and only five shot put winners since 1994 had a better effort. He had four victories and a third in five meets during the regular season. KYLE MCKELVY (SPRINGFORD) >> The 6-foot-2 senior left-hander had the honor of pitching the first game of the season for the Widener baseball team and he picked up the win in a 4-2 victory over Washington College on Feb. 25. McKelvy worked five innings and gave up five hits and two runs, one earned. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six. He entered this season having pitched in 39 games with 20 starts for the Pride and was 8-2 in 16 games and 11 starts last season. ANAMARIE BRUNI (PERKIOMEN VALLEY) >> The freshman has played in 15 games with 11 starts for the South Florida softball team, the Bulls 10-6 after a 2-1 loss to Syracuse last Saturday in Tampa. Bruni had two hits and scored two runs in a 6-3 victory over Stetson on Feb. 26. On Feb. 25, Bruni had two hits and a run scored in a 6-0 triumph over Colgate. The leftfielder is hitting .323 (10 for 31) with nine runs scored and an RBI. She’s also 2-for-2 in the stolen base department. KIRA GENSLER (SPRINGFORD) >> The junior has scored six goals and picked up an assist for the Temple women’s lacrosse team which is 6-1 after a 12-5 victory Maryland-Baltimore County last Saturday. In an 18-12 triumph over Lafayette on March 2 in Philadelphia, Gensler had two goals and an assist. She has totaled four ground balls, a draw control and a caused turnover thus far. She played in five games as a sophomore, missing a lot of time with an injury. KELLY GLATTHORN (METHACTON) >> The junior defender has started all nine games for the Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse team which has kicked off the season with a 7-2 record, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hokies have outscored foes 135-62. Glatthorn has 12 ground balls, is second in draw controls with 16 and second in caused turnovers with 11. She had two ground balls, five draw controls and two caused turnovers in an 1812 ACC victory over Boston College on Feb. 18 and had a ground ball, a draw control and two caused turnovers in an 11-6 league victory over Duke last Saturday in Durham, N.C.