Painting the Town Maroon - McMurry University

ATHLETICS
For the full athletics update, please visit us on the web at
http://www.mcmurrysports.com.
UPDATE
dominant backstroke swimmer, Amber Perkins leads
McMurry’s women in distance events, and Erin Johnson
is an all-around swimmer with her strongest events the
butterfly and freestyle.
Indoor Track and Field
McMurry’s men were ranked No. 6 and the women’s team
No. 12 in the first USTFCCA National Top 25 to begin
the 2010 Indoor Track and Field Season. Neither team
disappointed early in the season with each team having
athletes with provisional or automatic qualifying marks.
On the women’s side, sophomore transfer Sage Lasater
(Texas Tech) broke the women’s indoor school record in the
pole vault and set an automatic qualifying mark in the first
meet of the season in Lubbock with a jump of 12-07.25.
Her teammate and 2008 Outdoor National Champion,
Holly Rollins, also set a provisional mark in the pole vault,
early in the season. On the men’s side, Cory Altenberg and
Thomas Dimitri had provisional marks in the pole vault
while Gavan Bass, the two-sport standout (football), had
provisional marks in the long jump and the 55-meter dash.
The NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships
are March 12-13 in Depauw, Indiana.
SPRING SHORTS
Baseball
The McMurry baseball team will be looking for its seventhstraight
trip to the American Southwest Conference
postseason tournament in 2010. McMurry posted a 26-17
record under first-year head coach and long-time assistant
John Byington in 2009. In his second season, he’ll return
all-region honoree and two-sport standout Jake Mullin
(football) to play in the outfield. In addition, McMurry will
return seniors Jeff Jackson (catcher), Clay Shubert (IF),
Derek McBride (LHP), Dakota Smith (RHP), Greg Guse
(IF) and Blaine Wieck (RHP). The 2010 baseball schedule
began February 7th.
Men’s and Women’s Tennis
McMurry’s men, under head coach Mark Hathorn, took
the ASC West Division title for the first time in school
history in 2009 and will look to repeat in the spring. Will
Davis, Bryan Rainwater and Andy Bonau will help lead the
charge. On the women’s side, the team will look to return
to the ASC tournament for the first time since 2008. Gavee
Olsen, Rachel Smith and Amy Hathorn are among the
upperclassmen who will help guide the 2010 squad.
Mark Hathorn (far right) stands alongside the men’s tennis team who won the school’s first
ever ASC West Division title in the spring of 2009. – Photo by Ben Dobson
Men’s and Women’s Golf
Head coach Russ Evans and the men’s and women’s
golf teams will return to the course in February after
a successful non-traditional fall season in 2009. In the
spring of 2009, the men’s team finished third and the
women’s team finished fourth at the American Southwest
Conference Championship Tournament. Juniors Monica
Harris and Libby Scarlett will lead the women’s team, while
freshman Matt Ragovin and senior Matt Qualls are among
the players to watch for the men’s team.
Outdoor Track & Field
Life without six-time national champion and 17-time all-
American Hann Ollison begins for the McMurry men’s
team, who has turned out first-place and second-place
finishes in each of the last two NCAA Division III Outdoor
Championships in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Gavan
Bass (sprinter / long jumper) and Thomas Dimitri (pole
vault) return as all-Americans for head coach Barbara
Crousen and the men’s team. On the women’s side, Breana
Anderson-Burton (triple jump) returns as the only all-
America selection from last season, but Holly Rollins, who
is another year removed from knee surgery, will be back to
pole vault. •
24 M c M u r r y U n i v e r s i t y