2007 - Georgia State University Athletics

Georgia State has 16 teams for its student-athletes to
compete at the NCAA’s highest level.
After a 14-year relationship with the Atlantic Sun Conference
(formerly the Trans America Athletic Conference), the Panthers
made a dramatic move to the Colonial Athletic Association
for the 2005-06 season - one year earlier than planned.
Under the guidance of second-year Director of Athletics
Mary McElroy, a former NCAA student-athlete herself, Georgia
State is making huge strides in its new league, capturing
three league championships and battling for others in several
sports.
Over the past nine years, Georgia State has accumulated
23 conference championships, 24 NCAA bids, 20 conference
Coaches of the Year, 15 conference Players of the Year and eight
All-Americans.
Last year, State’s student-athletes
hit the books hard as well with
106 earning the CAA Commissioner’s
Academic Award and two earning
ESPN The Magazine Academic
all-district recognition. The 2006-07
season also saw State’s teams combine
for 45 all-Conference picks.
Volleyball led things off in
the fall. The Panthers remained in
contention for a CAA postseason
tournament berth and finished tied
for seventh at the conclusion of the
regular season.
30
Georgia State Athletics Continues CAA Success
Caitlin Price was an
All-CAA selection
and the league’s
Rookie of the Year
Men’s and women’s cross
country finished fourth and second,
respectively, in their league championship
meets, while the soccer teams
posted big conference wins in their
second seasons. Women’s cross country
head coach Jessica Raby was named CAA Coach of the Year.
The basketball teams battled well during the winter in
one of the most competitive leagues in the country as the CAA’s
men’s RPI ranked eighth nationally out of 32 conferences and
the women’s was ninth out of 31. The men’s team won its second
straight first-round league
championship contests in upset
fashion on a play that was No.
1 on SportsCenter’s Top Plays.
Early in the season, Panthers’
head coach Lea Henry notched
her 200th victory as mentor of
the women’s team and senior
Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen was
named female Student-Athlete
of the Year.
Highlighting the spring
season were the accomplishments
of the men’s golf and
men’s tennis programs as both
advanced to the NCAA Championships.
Jean-Michel Rochon-Salvas was
an Academic all-district selection
and the CAA baseball Scholar-
Athlete of the Year.
Men’s tennis earned its first CAA championship and fourth
NCAA bid.
Golf made the NCAA Championships for the third time
in four years and finished 17th out of the 30-team field. The
squad earned their seventh trip in the past eight years to NCAA
postseason competition. Junior Joel Sjoholm was named CAA
Golfer of the Year and State’s male Student-Athlete of the Year.
He earned third-team All-America honors, becoming only the
second golfer in history be named to a team.
Tennis captured its first
CAA crown (the first league
No. 4 seed to do so) and an
automatic NCAA bid. The title
was the sixth overall league
championship for men’s tennis
and the first since 2002. Senior
Martin Stiegwardt became the
first tennis player, male or female,
to earn a bid to the NCAA
Championships as a singles
competitor.
Women’s golf won a team
title for the sixth straight season
and finished as runners-up
at the league championships.
Women’s tennis saw three
players record 20+ win seasons
as the Panthers won a CAA
Tournament game for the first
time in advancing to the league
semifinals.
Martin Stiegwardt became the
first tennis player to advance
to the NCAA Singles Championships.
Georgia State’s softball team won six of its last nine games
en route to a third-place regular season conference finish. The
Panthers played through the tournament to the league championship
game for the second straight season.
Baseball, which fielded the CAA’s fifth-best squad, settled
in as the No. 6 seed in the conference championships, earning
a record third-straight postseason appearance.
The track and field teams had a record 13 multiple entrants
earn NCAA Region bids for their individual efforts. The
women placed third, while the men were eighth at the CAA
Championships. Senior Denisha Bryant was a two-time CAA
champion. State’s 4x100m (Denice Vance, Adaku Ezeonwuka,
Kendra Davis, Porscha Bailey) and 4x400m (Bryant, LaDrica
Derrico, Dawn Arnold, Nicole Davis) teams were also champions.
five time conference champions