Varsity Sports Report: Watson Earns Weekly Honor
February 18, 2008 12:12 PM | General
February 18, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.- West Virginia University has named junior gymnast Erica Watson its athlete of the week after her performance in WVU’s upset of No. 19 North Carolina on Feb. 15, in Morgantown.
Watson, competing in her first all-around meet of the season, scored 9.8s or better on all four events to total a career-high 39.325 points to be the all-around champion. The Levittown, Pa., native also posted a career high on bars with a 9.9 to win that event and another career best on beam with a 9.8.
The Mountaineers posted season highs on vault and floor (49.125) and recorded its best effort of the season in the win with 195.275 points.
This Week in Gymnastics
WVU (6-7, 3-0 EAGL) returns to action in a five-team meet at Rutgers on Feb. 23, in Piscataway, N.J. … the other opponents for that meet are Bridgeport, Rhode Island and Ursinus.
Last Week in Gymnastics
Junior Erica Watson totaled a career-high 39.325 points in the all-around as WVU topped No. 19 North Carolina, 195.275-195.075, in Morgantown on Feb. 15 … WVU’s team score of 195.275 was its season-high … Watson’s all-around score took first place, while teammate Mehgan Morris totaled a career-high 39.200 points to take second place … WVU posted season highs 49.125 points on floor and vault … Chelsi Tabor won the vault with a 9.925, while Amy Bieski won floor (9.875) … Morris and Watson tied to win bars with 9.9s … Kiersten Spoerke notched a team-high 9.825 on beam for second place.
Notes & Quotes
WVU’s win over UNC gave the Tar Heels their first loss of the season (9-1, 5-1 EAGL) … the score of 195.275 was the highest for West Virginia since the 2007 EAGL Championships at Maryland (195.300) and WVU’s second 195 score in 2008 … the Mountaineers are 41-0 all-time against Rutgers, while 1-0 against both Bridgeport and Ursinus.
This Week in Swimming and Diving
The West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will travel to the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y., for the BIG EAST Championships on February 20 ... last season the Mountaineers made history with the men’s team winning the BIG EAST Championships for the first time in school history, while the women’s team finished in third place.
Last Week in Swimming and Diving
The Mountaineers were idle last week.
Notes & Quotes
This season the Mountaineers have swam their way to a 2-3 record in BIG EAST competition as they head into the BIG EAST Championships ... the Mountaineers have posted wins against Georgetown and Cincinnati, while falling to Louisville, Pitt and Notre Dame … also this season, the Mountaineers have managed to break eight records at the WVU Natatorium … on the women’s side, sophomore Kayla Andrews broke the record for the 100 Free with a time of 50.59 against Louisville, beating the previous time of 51.46 ... junior Lindsay Largo also broke a Natatorium record in the 1650 Free recording a time of 17:00.3 … the previous record was 17:02.76 … in the 100 Breast sophomore Kitti Veisz set a new natatorium record against Louisville with a time of 1:04.69 ... WVU’s relay teams have also done well this season breaking natatorium records in the 200 Medley and in the 400 Medley … the 200 Medley team established the new record with a time of 1:46.00 against Marshall, the previous record was 1:47.70, while the 400 Medley team smashed the previous record of 3:52.21 with a time of 3:48.33.
On the men’s side senior Kevin Donohue broke a natatorium record in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:01.15, defeating the prior record of 2:04.51, while senior Nick Delic captured a record in the 100 Fly with a time of 48.41, the previous record was 49.10 ... junior Michael Walker also recorded a natatorium record with a time of 1:51.33 in the 200 IM, breaking the former record of 1:51.49.
This Week in Rifle
The rifle team will travel to GARC Championships at Ole Miss on Feb. 23-24
Last Week in Rifle
The Mountaineers defeated Virginia Military Institute 4647-4398 on Feb. 16 ... WVU shot 2318-2176 in smallbore which tops the previous smallbore school record of 2317 set on Oct. 6, 2007 ... WVU then won 2329-2222 in air rifle to top the previous mark of 2322 set on Jan. 28, 2008 ... the Mountaineers’ aggregated team score of 4647 broke the school record of 4626, set on Jan. 18, 2008.
Notes & Quotes
The Mountaineers are currently 8-3 on the season and own a four-match win streak ... Saturday’s match will factor into WVU’s NCAA qualifying score along with their wins over Ohio State on Oct. 14, Alaska-Fairbanks on Jan. 18, and Tennessee Tech on Jan. 27 ... the top eight teams in the country will make the NCAA tournament to be held March 15-16, at West Point Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. ... the NCAA will announce the teams who made the tournament later this week.
This Week in Tennis
The West Virginia University tennis team faces BIG EAST rival Pitt on the road on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 2:30 p.m. in its conference opener.
Last Week in Tennis
The Mountaineers (4-1) defeated Akron, 5-2, on Saturday, Feb. 16, in Akron, Ohio … senior Stacey Percival notched her first singles victory of the season in No. 1 singles and teamed with fellow senior Natalia Prinz to win in No. 1 doubles … Prinz also scored two victories on the day after defeating her opponent, 6-1, 6-1, in No. 3 singles … Colleen Speaker improved to 4-1 in No. 4 singles this season after winning 6-2, 6-4 … freshman Ashley Pilsbury dominated in No. 5 singles, winning 6-0, 6-1 … Pilsbury and Monique Burton also defeated their opponents in No. 3 doubles with an 8-6 victory to improve to 2-1 in doubles action … Stephanie LaFortune and Monica Lyskawa won easily, 8-6, in No. 2 doubles.
Notes & Quotes
Stacey Percival’s two wins this weekend give her 82 career victories in singles and doubles competition, leaving her two wins shy of tying Ellie Earles for 27th place in WVU history … WVU continues to excel in singles play and has won 13 of its past 18 matches … the Mountaineers’ 4-1 record is their best start since the 2003-04 season, in which they finished 10-9 overall … WVU is 27-1 all-time against Pitt, having not lost to the Panthers since its first meeting in the 1974-75 season.
“There wasn’t a single person that played bad, and that is important heading into the Pitt match. We played a competitive match and came out strong. I was really happy because we beat a team that had been playing well as of late.” – WVU Head Coach Marc Walters
This Week in Women's Basketball
No. 11/11 West Virginia travels to face BIG EAST foe Cincinnati on Feb. 19, at 7 p.m., before returning home to take on Villanova on Feb. 23 … tip off with the Wildcats at the WVU Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.
Last Week in Women's Basketball
The Mountaineers split two games this week against ranked opponents … No. 11 WVU’s defense stifled No. 18 Pitt (18-6, 8-3) in a 56-35 win in Morgantown on Feb. 13 … Olayinka Sanni led all scorers with 17 points, making 8 of 16 shots from the floor … Sanni also grabbed seven boards and had three blocks … Meg Bulger added 14 points off the bench … Pitt shot just 4-of-28 in the first half and just 12-of-59 in the game … the Mountaineers later fell to DePaul 81-80, in a classic shootout on Feb. 16 at the WVU Coliseum … Deirdre Naughton scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead DePaul ... the Blue Demons (17-7, 6-5) shot a smoking 46.7 percent from outside the arc and hit 14 3s … LaQuita Owens had 22 points and was one of five double-figure scorers for West Virginia … Sanni also had 15 points … the difference in the game may have been free throw shooting … WVU was just 9-of-19 from the line, while DePaul was 15-for-18.
Notes & Quotes
WVU’s record sits at 20-4, 9-2 in conference play … DePaul evened up the all-time series with WVU to 2-2.
This Week in Wrestling
The West Virginia University wrestling team finishes the regular season with a two-match road trip against No. 14 Edinboro on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a match at Cleveland State on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 1 p.m.
Last Week in Wrestling
The Mountaineers (7-4, 3-1 EWL) defeated non-conference foe Ohio, 28-13, on Friday, Feb. 15, in Athens, Ohio … WVU was led by the efforts of David Jauregui (149), who scored a key 14-6 major decision to extend WVU’s lead to 19-13 with two matches remaining … No. 14 Jared Villers (197) recorded his fourth consecutive technical fall, winning 15-0 while improving to 15-2 on the season … No. 19 Zac Fryling (157) stopped Clay Tucker’s seven-match winning streak after his 5-3 decision clinched the match for WVU … No. 20 Dustin Rogers (HWT) rebounded with a 12-5 decision, recording five takedowns in the match … Kyle Turnbull (125) scored his first major decision of the season in a 12-1 victory … Kurt Brenner (184) won his fifth consecutive match in a 10-8 decision in overtime … Donnie Jones also extended his win streak to five matches with a victory by forfeit.
Notes & Quotes
Villers leads WVU with a nine-match win streak, his last loss coming on Dec. 1 at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev., in which he finished fourth overall … WVU has four starters with double-digit wins, including Villers (15), Brenner (12), Chance Litton (11) and Fryling (10) … the Mountaineers remain in third place in the Eastern Wrestling League standings behind Edinboro and No. 22 Pitt, both whom are undefeated in league action.
This Week in Track and Field
West Virginia will compete at the BIG EAST Championships on Feb. 23-24, at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory in New York City.
Last Week in Track and Field
WVU was idle last week … two runners did compete in a race … Kaylyn Christopher and Clara Grandt competed at the prestigious USA Cross Country Championships at Mission Bay Park in San Diego this past weekend … Christopher, a true freshman from Kingwood, W.Va., placed 16th in the junior women’s six kilometer run with a time of 22:21, while Jordan Hasay took first in the race at 20:32 ... Grandt, a sophomore from West Union, W.Va., competed in the women’s eight kilometer run and placed 32nd in 29:06 … Shalane Flannigan won that race by crossing the line in 25:26.
Notes & Quotes
“Obviously, it’s very difficult to train for a cross country race this time of year, but both girls had really strong performances.” - Head Coach Sean Cleary
This Week in Baseball
The baseball team will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Akron in a four-game series from Feb. 22-29, to begin the 2008 baseball campaign.
Last Week in Baseball
Baseball was idle last week.
Notes & Quotes
The Mountaineers return 18 players to their roster, including 11 lettermen ... the squad is led by four seniors and six juniors, and includes 10 true and eight redshirt freshmen ... this year’s roster will comprise the youngest team ever under Head Coach Greg Van Zant, who enters his 14th season ... the 2007 team closed last season with a 29-22 record to post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1998 and 1999 campaigns.
