Action ahead: fall sports preview Football team works hard to remain among nation’s elite
The MNU Pioneer football team lit up the scoreboard last fall on the way to a
10-2 overall record and its run into the second round of the NAIA playoffs. And most of the players that were key to the Pioneers averaging 44 points a game — including nearly 48 points a game in their 10 wins — are back.
The Pioneers finished 10-2 and won an
NAIA playoff game for the first time since 2004. Back for MNU in 2010 is quarterback Tyler Herl, who was a five-time Heart of Amer- ica Athletic Conference player of the week.
Three of the team’s top five receivers return, along with running back Ashford Johnson, who led the team with 724 yards rushing. On defense, two of MNU’s top players – Dantren Anderson and Brady Croucher – also return.
Women’s soccer team builds on last year’s momentum
Tight end Juan Redmon, a junior, from St. Louis, Mo.
Things started clicking for the women’s soccer team midway through the 2009 season, and head coach Rocky Orton is confi- dent that midseason surge will continue in fall 2010. The fact the Pioneers lost just three play- ers from last year’s 8-9-1 team definitely helps.
“I really think that we can carry that momentum over from last year into this year,” Orton said.
Certainly the Pioneers were focused in the classroom. The MNU women’s soccer team was awarded the National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2008-09 Team Academic Award for earning a combined GPA of 3.46.
Men’s soccer team gets infusion of young talent
Still in the throes of reloading after the wildly successful run of the 2007 and 2008 soccer teams, men’s soccer head coach Kevin Wardlaw will welcome a dozen new players this fall. That group will join 11 young returners.
“We’re going to be young,” Wardlaw said. “But we do have a core group of experienced players coming back.”
The Pioneers were 7-11 a year ago and won three of four late in the season
before dropping their last two matches. The group of newcomers is the largest that Wardlaw has welcomed to MNU.
Pioneers bring Karen Lange on board
“Today is an exciting moment in the history of MNU Women’s Basketball,” said MNU Director of Athletics Kevin Steele, as he announced the appointment of Karen Lange as MNU’s new women’s basketball coach. Lange replaces Bill Olin who retired this June after 11 years at the helm.
For the last seven seasons, Lange was lead assistant coach at the University of Kansas. Lange also was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Virginia Tech for eight years.
Lange
enjoyed a stand- out student
career at the University of Iowa with an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1993 and two other championship appearances. She also earned All-Big Ten Conference and Academic All-Conference honors.
“It will be very important to me to serve
MNU and represent its values as I feel my purpose is to help our young women grow spiritually,” she says.
Lange earned a bachelor’s degree in
exercise science from the University of Iowa in 1996. She and husband Cory have two children, Ashley and Ty.
Volleyball hits turn-around point When the Pioneers volleyball camp opens this summer, MNU will be young, but with a lot of talent. Former coach Rick Banis brought in a group of newcomers last fall and seven more will join the team this fall. Several are junior college transfers who can contribute right away.
“I think we have a team that has the potential to make an impressive run at the top half of the conference this year,” says Kevin Steele, athletics director. A search for a volleyball coach is underway.
In 2009, the Pioneers finished the season over .500 and made the post-season conference tournament for the first time since 2004. Four of the six 2009 recruits made All-HAAC teams.
Summer 2010 | Accent magazine | 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24