Henson's Class Highly Touted
May 07, 2015 09:33 PM | General
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| West Virginia coach Sammie Henson has a lot to smile about after landing one of the top recruiting classes in the country in 2015. | |
| Larry Slater photo |
Now, Henson has put together one of the top recruiting classes in the country, according to FloWrestling.
Three of Henson’s recruits won national titles this year – AUSTIN MYERS (220), CONNOR FLYNN (152) and KEEGAN MOORE (132), while 125-pounder DEVIN BROWN won the prestigious Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic.
FloWrestling rated Henson’s first WVU haul No. 5 in the nation and second in the Big 12 Conference behind just Oklahoma State.
“Sammie Henson’s new regime has brought in one of the biggest groups of talent from all over the country,” wrote FloWrestling. “Devin Brown will be a great addition to the start of the Mountaineers’ line up along with Moore. Duggan and Flynn can surely firm up the middle with Myers and Faust securing things at the top.”
Don’t forget, Henson has NCAA runner-up Zeke Moisey back for three more seasons.
Indeed, the future looks very bright for WVU wrestling in the coming years.
More WVU Sports Notes:
* The latest NCAA Division I baseball attendance report came out earlier this week and West Virginia has jumped to 37th this week with an average of 1,744 fans per game. West Virginia’s average attendance for its 14 dates at brand new Monongalia County Ballpark now puts the Mountaineers sixth in the Big 12 in average attendance behind Texas (5,517), TCU (3,841), Texas Tech (3,665), Kansas State (2,630) and Baylor (2,351).
That just goes to show you the saying “build it and they will come” rings true.
Anecdotally, I was told that WVU’s total concession sales for its first weekend series against Butler when the Mountaineers drew nearly 7,000 fans was approximately the equivalent of “three or four years” of concessions sales at old Hawley Field.
Good stuff.
* Former West Virginia University women’s track and cross country star CLARA SANTUCCI (GRANDT) is inching closer toward qualifying for the U.S. team in the marathon for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil after she produced another first-place finish at the 2015 Pittsburgh Marathon last Sunday.
It was Santucci’s second consecutive Pittsburgh Marathon victory - the first time that has happened since 2002 and only the third time ever.
She earned $13,500 for winning the race and also received a bonus for clocking an Olympic Trials qualifying time. Her top marathon times ranks her 10th among U.S. qualifiers.
Santucci, a two-time All-American at WVU, resides in nearby Dilliner, Pennsylvania, and works and trains in Morgantown.
Former Mountaineer and Morgantown native AUBREY MOSKAL also has an Olympic Trials qualifying time in the marathon.
* Senior guard Bria Holmes was recently invited to the 54-player 2015 Pan-American Games and World University Games trials taking place May 14-17 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
That’s a big boost to Holmes and also to the WVU women’s basketball program. Holmes had an up and down junior season for the Mountaineers, despite averaging nearly 19 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 2015.
If Holmes can even out those peaks and valleys in 2016, she could become the best player in school history.
If memory serves me correctly, ROSEMARY KOSIOREK was invited to the U.S. Olympic trials following her senior season at WVU in 1992, making them the only two players affiliated with Mountaineer women’s basketball that I am aware of to take part in USA Basketball.
* West Virginia had four players taken in this year’s NFL draft and all four guys, KEVIN WHITE, MARK GLOWINSKI, SHAQ RIDDICK and MARIO ALFORD, were one-time transfers.
I take two things from this … No. 1, it shows West Virginia coaches can evaluate top-level talent and get them acclimated quickly into the program and, No. 2, it shows that West Virginia was in dire need of some impact players when it joined the Big 12 Conference three years ago.
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| Kevin White has signed a four year deal with the Chicago Bears valued at $15 million, according to the Chicago Tribune. | |
| NFL Network photo |
White was the No. 7 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, becoming the 11th Mountaineer player in school history taken in the first round.
Meanwhile, the path toward a starting job for Tampa Bay running back CHARLES SIMS is a little bit clearer now that the Bucs have chosen not to pick up Doug Martin’s fifth-year option for 2016.
Martin rushed for 1,454 yards and 11 touchdowns as a rookie three years ago but has played in just 17 games the last two seasons because of injury.
Drafted in the third round a year ago, Sims battled injuries during his rookie season and that limited him to just 66 carries for 185 yards. However, Sims has apparently shown enough in practice to warrant a legitimate shot at becoming Tampa’s feature back this year.
* I’ve seen a couple of “way-too-early” men’s basketball top-25 rankings and am mildly surprised that West Virginia is not included among them, despite the Mountaineers having nearly 75 percent of their offense and almost all of their rebounding returning from last year’s 25-10 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament “Sweet 16”.
The one thing factoring into this could be a much stronger Big 12 Conference in 2016. Kansas and Texas are putting together great recruiting classes once again this year and some are predicting top-10 campaigns for Iowa State and Baylor in 2016. Plus, league player of the year Buddy Hield chose to return to Oklahoma for his senior season.
Pair that with a very challenging non-conference schedule next year featuring a game in New York City against Virginia, a trip to rapidly improving Virginia Tech, a road game against an SEC team in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and two difficult games in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving and the Mountaineers could have a better team in 2016 with possibly fewer wins to show for it.
* Former Mountaineer JEDD GYORKO has raised his batting average 30 points in his last two games. That’s the good news. The bad news is Gyorko is still hitting .182 and there were rumblings in San Diego late last month that the Padres were considering a demotion to the minors to work on his swing.
San Diego manager Bud Black put those rumors to rest and now Gyorko’s bat is beginning to come alive after some intensive work with Padres hitting coaches Mark Kotsay and Alonzo Powell.
Gyorko hit 23 home runs in just 125 games as a rookie in 2013, but he has hit only 11 in 132 games since then.
* SHANE LYONS was in Phoenix earlier this week taking part in the Big 12 meetings and was a visitor on the Big 12 Digital Network. Here is some of what West Virginia University’s new director of athletics had to say about future facility improvements within the athletic department:
“We started the (football stadium renovation) project. The concourse is going to be widened. There will be more restrooms and more concession stands. This is really more from a fan amenity standpoint and then next year we are going to be replacing the turf and taking out the crown. So by the start of 2016 season, from that standpoint, it will be a relatively new stadium.”
Lyons further elaborated on other projects being considered:
“We are going to be re-doing the concourses in the Coliseum and we are going to be looking at a new strength and conditioning center for our Olympic sports and we are beginning discussions on improving our locker rooms and overall facilities for our Olympic sports. If you are not building you are going backwards so we plan on going forward.”
* Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Marketing NATHANIEL ZINN tells me the WVU GameDay App is approaching 40,000 downloads, making it one of the most popular apps among IMG network schools.
You can download the app through iTunes and Google Play Store to stay up to date on the Mountaineers and also access exclusive Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG content.
* West Virginia University’s Athletic Training program will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in Morgantown the weekend of July 17-19. Those former athletic trainers interested in attending are encouraged to register online here (https://www.mountaineerconnection.com/AT-Anniversary) before July 8, I am told.
Contact planning committee member VINCE STILGER at vincent.stilger@mail.wvu.edu for more information.
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| Something all Mountaineer collectors will want to get - the Kadeisha Buchanan Canadian World Cup team stamp is now available. | |
| Submitted photo |
Buchanan, a two-time Big 12 Defender of the Year and Canada U-20 Player of the Year, is a starting defender on Canada’s National Team that will compete in the World Cup coming up later this month.
West Virginia University teammate Ashley Lawrence is also a member of Team Canada as a backup midfielder.
It’s the first time West Virginia University has had two current players competing in World Cup Soccer.
Go get ‘em Kadeisha and Ashley, except when Canada faces the U.S., of course! :)
Have a great weekend!
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