The Official Blog of OC Athletics
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
In late April, Oklahoma Christian hosted the inaugural OCPY Awards, which honored the “best and brightest” from the past year in OC Athletics. Click the icon below to watch excerpts from this special event. For the full story, click here.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The latest Eagle Eye podcast features an interview with tennis coach Lisa Johnson in advance of the ITA National Championships. The podcast also previews the upcoming Tip-Off Burger Bash and Homecoming weekend’s Hall of Fame Dinner.
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Monday, June 05, 2006
WES McKINZIE, Blog Host
Here is one man’s opinion on the top five stories of the year in OC Athletics ...
1. Continued golf excellence
The OC golf team spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the country and knocked off a number of NCAA Division I schools along the way. The only two regular-season tournaments the Eagles lost in the spring were runnerup finishes to UCLA and Baylor. Though a tough back nine on day two of the NAIA tournament meant a third-place national finish, it speaks volumes about the program’s premier status that placing third was a disappointment. In an unparalleled run of success in OC’s rich athletic history, the golf team has now placed in the nation’s top four for seven straight years.
2. Scintillating Senior Night
There have been plenty of memorable nights in the Eagles’ Nest in recent years as the men’s and women’s basketball programs enjoy one of the most successful eras in school history. But February 25 stands out on the WOW! meter. The Lady Eagles had conference champ OCU on the ropes before Alexander Kotta banked in an improbable three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to OT, where the Stars scraped out the win. The men’s game had no such drama, but it was plenty exciting. The Eagles dominated from the start and won by 37 points, equaling OC’s biggest win ever over OCU. The game probably gave OC the lift it needed to get in position for the national tournament.
3. Tennis makes net gains
One of OC’s top programs in recent years enjoyed a renaissance this season. The men’s tennis team won the Sooner Athletic Conference championship for the first time since its 2003 national championship season while the women’s tennis team placed second in conference and advanced to the national tournament after a one-year absence.
4. Young bloods
Freshmen Tara Collins and Jordan Powell made instant impacts on the cross country and track scenes. Collins led the women’s cross country team to its first conference and region team titles, then became OC’s first female cross country All-American since Peggy Murphy in 1991. In the spring, she twice broke the indoor school record in the 5,000 meters and finished ninth in the event at nationals. Powell placed in the top 10 at both indoor nationals (seventh in the mile) and outdoor nationals (eighth in the 1,500 meters).
5. Class acts
Some might scoff at having an academic note in the year’s top five sports stories. And, granted, another championship or big national splash would have made the list. But the success of the year demonstrates how important the “student” in “student-athlete” is at OC. The men’s and women’s tennis teams and the men’s cross country team all earned recognition as NAIA Scholar Teams. And no school had more NAIA Scholar-Athletes in basketball than OC’s six women and seven total. Overall, a record 30 OC athletes earned scholar-athlete recognition this year.
Honorable mention: New soccer coaches come on board; Heath, Lynn earn SAC coaching honors; Eagles scare OSU in hoop exhibition.
Friday, April 28, 2006
OC tennis coach Lisa Johnson reflects on the Eagles’ Sooner Athletic Conference championship and talks about both tennis teams’ national tournament chances.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006
WES McKINZIE, Blog Host
Click here for a nice article on former OC tennis player and assistant coach Dann Nelson. Nelson now is the head men’s tennis coach at Southern Illinois University.
Several OC tennis alumni lead NCAA Division I programs. Besides Nelson, other head coaching alumni include Sam Winterbotham (University of Colorado), Chris Young (Wichita State University) and John Blackburn (Eastern Illinois University). Luciano Battaglini is an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota.
Former OC head coach Kris Miller, who led the Eagles to the 2003 NAIA national championship, now is an assistant at the University of Oklahoma.