Spirk honored for milestone win
Moravian women’s basketball coach saluted for 600th ‘W’
Moravian College women’s basketball coach Mary Beth Spirk is among the 45 high school and college coaches being honored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for hitting a milestone victory during the 2019-20 season.
The WBCA Victory Club honor is bestowed annually on each WBCA-member head coach who achieves a milestone of 200, 300, 400, 500 or more career victories.
Spirk, who now has a record of 610-296 after her 33rd year leading the Hounds, became the eighth active NCAA Division III coach and 19th overall Division III coach to reach 600 career victories on Dec. 3, as Moravian rallied from a 13-point deficit to defeat rival Muhlenberg College, 58-54, in Johnston Hall.
Moravian softball ends season No. 21
The Moravian College softball squad finished the 2020 season ranked No. 21 in the final 2020 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 Poll.
Moravian was 9-1 when COVID-19 canceled the remainder of the season. All 10 of the Greyhounds’ contests this spring were part of the Spring Games at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, in March.
Moravian outscored its opponents 77-32 with the lone setback coming to Eastern Nazarene (Mass.) College. The Hounds had a .358 batting average with seven home runs in the 10 games.
The Greyhounds’ pitching staff had recorded a 2.30 ERA with one shutout and an opponents’ batting average of .265.
The program finished ranked in the top 25 for the 11th time since 2002 including a high of second in the 2004 final poll after the Greyhounds played in the national championship round at the Division III World Series.
Nazareth grad Wasson named All-American
The Gettysburg College 200 medley relay team didn’t get an opportunity to showcase its talent on the national stage due to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, but the four women’s swimmers will still end the season as All-Americans thanks to an adjustment in selection criteria by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America announced this week.
Nazareth High grad Hannah Wasson joined three other Bullets in earning the award.
The Gettysburg relay team qualified for the national meet with a time of 1:44.30 on the way to the gold medal in the event at the Centennial Conference Championship in February. The Bullets were seeded 20th heading into the national championship.
Wasson led the 200 medley relay to a record-breaking start with a program-record 50 backstroke split of 25.56 at the conference meet. It was the start of a sterling debut CC Championship performance by the freshman as she went on to set a new Bullets’ standard (57.18) and claim the gold in the 100 back. Wasson added a silver in the 100 fly and a gold in the 400 medley relay.
Kutztown, ESU wrestlers D-II all-academic
Five members of the Kutztown University wrestling team and four from East Stroudsburg University were recently named to the 2020 National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic team.
Kutztown seniors Mitchell Camp, Chad Haegele and James Potts, along with sophomore Collin Wickramaratna and freshman Michael Albergo all earned the distinction.
East Stroudsburg senior Michael Raccioppi, juniors Nicholas Connetta and Charles Sczar and freshman Nicholas Weikel were also named.
In order for a student-athlete to be nominated to the Division II Scholar All-American Team, he must have a minimum 3.4 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale, with that benchmark at 3.2 for those who qualified for the 2020 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships.