WRESTLING
NDC - NATIONAL DOMINANCE CONFIRMED: Notre Dame grapplers garnered three national championships and nine Falcons placed, as the mat men from College Road earned NDC's first national championship in any sport with a victory at the 53rd Annual NAIA National Championships on Saturday. Sophomore Jeffrey Pelton (149 pounds, Bellevue, Ohio) and juniors Thomas Straughn (157, Massillon, Ohio), and Derek Foore (197, Wadsworth, Ohio) won national championships, as the fourth-year program from steamrolled to a decisive team victory. The Falcons, ranked No. 1 in the nation (NAIA Coaches' Poll) heading into the event, won in dominant fashion -- NDC scored 179.5 team points, 59.5 points more than second-place Southern Oregon (120 points). That margin of victory is the second-largest at the NAIA National Championship tournament since 1982 and the third-largest in the 53-year history of the NAIA title event.
TREMENDOUS TRIO: Pelton earned his title Saturday night with a 7-5 decision over third-ranked (NAIA Coaches' Poll) Byron Kuylen of Great Falls (Mont.). The junior grappler went 5-0 at the tournament to remain unbeaten (24-0) on the season. … Straughn followed Pelton in the next bout with an 11-7 victory over eighth-ranked James Casadaban (Cumberland University-Tenn.). The Massillon, Ohio, native and now two-time All-American also went 5-0 in Oklahoma City; his final record for 2009-10 stands at 27-3. … Foore defeated No. 3 Jake Kallestad from Dickinson State (N.D.) in a 3-1 decision to close out a remarkable season. The Wadsworth, Ohio, native went 5-0 at the tournament and 27-0 with 13 pins on the season.
STARS EARN STRIPES: In addition to Pelton, Straughn and Foore, six more NDC grapplers placed in the tournament, which was held at Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City, from Thursday through Saturday. The NAIA awards All-America recognition to top-six finishers in each weight class and honorable mentions to seventh- and eighth-place finishers, so 10 Falcon student-athletes returned to Cleveland as All-Americans. NDC's 10 All-Americans, their finishes in Oklahoma City and their final 2009-10 bout records - Tyler Savage, fifth at 125, 23-10, Adam Koballa, sixth at 141, 29-3; Jeff Pelton, national champion at 149, 24-0; Ashtin Primus, third at 149, 29-4; Thomas Straughn, national champion at 157, 27-3; Jon Bittenger, seventh at 174, 18-6; Cody Butzer, third at 174, 16-1; Alex Denman, sixth at 184, 19-10; Derek Foore, national champion at 197, 27-0; and Orlando Scales, second at HWT, 27-4.
NOTABLE: Adam Koballa's sixth-place finish at 141 closes out his collegiate career. The former standout at St. Peter Chanel (Bedford, Ohio) is now a three-time NAIA All-American. Koballa was national runner-up at 141 as a sophomore and national champ at the same weight a year ago as a junior. The Falcons' team captain went 60-11 in three seasons, after transferring to Notre Dame from Old Dominion (Va.).
QUOTABLE: “When you enter the National Championships, you never know what is going to happen,” said NDC Head Coach
Frank Romano. “Our guys are in great shape and we wrestled really well. I thought we were competitive in all our matches and we wrestled really well on our feet. That's what wins matches, performing on your feet, and our guys worked hard and did that. I've been in wrestling for 50 years and to come out of retirement to start this program and now win a national title, it's really special.”
QUICK ASCENT FOR FALCONS: In its inaugural 2006-07 season, Notre Dame placed 20th at the 2007 NAIA National Championships. The Falcons improved their place of finish to 13th in 2008 and then fifth in 2009. … In four seasons, Notre Dame has produced five individual national champions, 17 All-Americans and 56 national qualifiers.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
LAST WEEK: Notre Dame (19-12) suffered a 74-73 loss to Cedarville in the finale of the American Mideast Conference Qualifying Tournament on Tuesday (March 2). The loss brought Notre Dame's season to an end, with the Falcons -- the AMC North Divison champion -- coming up one game short of making the 32-team field for the NAIA National Championship Tournament. … NDC's 19-12 mark ties a program record for both wins and winning percentage (.613) in a single season; the Falcons also went 19-12 a year ago (2008-09)
DYNAMIC DUO: The AMC announced on Wednesday (March 3) that sophomores Eric Dummermuth (Dover, Ohio) and Nick McCartney (Newton Falls, Ohio) were selected by league coaches as First Team All-AMC performers for the 2009-10 season. Dummermuth set new single-season scoring and rebounding marks for Notre Dame this season, averaging 22.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-6 power forward averaged 35.7 minutes per contest, shot 57.7 percent (244-for-423) from the field and made 73.6 percent (184-for-250) of his attempts from the free-throw line. The Falcon forward's wing man this season was McCartney, who averaged 12.3 points and 4.1 assists per game. The product of Ursuline High School (Youngstown) also paced NDC in steals, with an average of 1.9 per game. … Senior Al Miller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) was an honorable mention in the conference's postseason player recognition, and Will Townsend (Long Island, N.Y.) was named to the AMC All-Freshmen team.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
LAST WEEK: The AMC announced that Kealy McNally (Rocky River, Ohio) was named to the All-AMC Second Team, while both Yvette Hunter (Jamestown, N.Y.) and Chelsea Andorka (Canton, Ohio) earned honorable mentions. Andorka and Lauren Macer (Twinsburg, Ohio) were also named to the circuit's All-Freshmen team.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
LAST WEEK: The Falcons sent 17 athletes (six men, 11 women) to the NAIA National Championships in St. Charles, Mo. Both teams placed 13th at the event. … The Falcon men had one individual Top-25 finish in St. Charles -- Chris Tuttle (North Royalton, Ohio) finished 21st in the 1,650-Yard Freestyle, with a time of 17:11.46. … The Notre Dame women were led by Emily Whittington (Pickerington, Ohio), who finished 13th in the 200-Yard Backstroke, with a time of 2:11.09. … The national event closes out NDC's 2009-10 season.
TRACK & FIELD
THIS WEEK: The Falcons are idle this week.
LAST WEEK: Notre Dame competed at the NAIA National Championships in Johnson City, Tenn., and the trip was a success with the program producing its first individual national champion. Michael Mannozzi (Youngstown, Ohio) became just the third national champion in NDC history, and the first for NDC Track & Field, when he captured the title in the Men's 3,000-Meter Race Walk on Friday. … For the women, Tiffany Tucker (Akron, Ohio) set a new Notre Dame record in the 60-Meter High Hurdles, with a time of 8.95 seconds, finishing seventh overall and just missing out on qualifying for the final round.
WALK-MAN(NOZZI): Senior Race Walker Mike Mannozzi blazed 3,000 meters in 13:19.50 and beat his nearest competitor by nearly seven seconds in earning the title in the event. The former walk-on is now a two-time NAIA Al-American -- he placed sixth at the 2009 Indoor Championships. “Mike is the hardest working person I know,” said NDC Track & Field Coach Ricardo Franklin. “He truly earned his national championship.”
BASEBALL
THIS WEEK: The Falcons are scheduled to play a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Hiram on Sunday.
LAST WEEK: Notre Dame participated in the Central Florida Invitational Tournament and played a total of 10 games in and around Winter Haven, Fla. The Falcons went 7-3 in those 10 games and are now 10-4 on the season. … NDC has already matched their win total from a year ago, when the team struggled, going 10-39.
FLYING HIGH: The Falcons have had two four-game winning streaks thus far in 2010. Prior to this season, the last time NDC had a four-game win streak was in April, 2007. … Notre Dame is 5-0 in one-run games; they had four such games on their Florida trip.
SOFTBALL
THIS WEEK: Notre Dame is idle this week.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons finished up a 17-game southern swing on Saturday. NDC participated in two tournaments on their spring trip -- one in Savannah, Ga., and one in Mobile, Ala. The Blue & White went 6-11 on the trip, going 0-for-Alabama (0-9) to close out the southern sojourn.
THREE UP: Notre Dame went 6-2 in Savannah, outscoring foes, 89-32. … On Sunday, Feb. 28, the Falcons scored 22 runs in a 22-5 whitewash of Edward Waters (Fla.). That outburst marked the most NDC has scored in a single game since March, 21, 2007, when the Falcons whipped Wilmington, 22-3. … The Blue & White got significant contributions from no less than 11 freshman players during the southern trip. This year's roster is comprised of 13 freshmen, seven sophomores and two juniors.
THREE DOWN: NDC closed out the trip with 10 straight losses, nine of which came after the trip from Savannah to Mobile. The losing streak is the program's longest since 2004, when the Falcons lost 12 straight, from March 12-April 17. … Notre Dame has been shut out five times this season. The Falcons were blanked just once last year en route to going 34-11 overall. … NDC was outscored, 48-13, in their nine games in Mobile.
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
THIS WEEK: The Falcons will take on Gannon in a road tilt on Friday, March 12. The opening draw at the game in Erie, Pa., is slated for 7 p.m.
LAST WEEK: Notre Dame began the season with three games down south. The Falcons went 2-1 on the trip, defeating Lees McCray (N.C.) and Erskine (S.C.), while losing to Rollins (Fla.). NDC's two victories were no-doubters -- the Blue & White drubbed Lees-McRae, 19-1, and finished up their trip with a 21-1 dismantling of Erskine. … Katie Christensen (Sandy, Utah) and Jenn Morse (Brampton, Ontario) each scored 10 goals over the three contests.
MEN'S TENNIS
THIS WEEK: The Falcons return to action on Saturday, March 13. They will face Lake Erie in Mentor, Ohio.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 3-2 during a five-game trip to Florida. Notre Dame earned victories over Hanover (Ind.), Alma (Mich.) and Capital, while losing to St. Leo (Fla.) and Mount St. Mary's (Md.).
BOWLING
THIS WEEK: On March 13-13, the Notre Dame Women's Bowling squad will compete at a Sectional Qualifying Tournament in Allentown, Pa.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons were idle last week.
