SPORTS SHORTS
STRONG START FOR JUNIOR SOFTBALLER
Third baseman Lauren Moore is off to a torrid start this spring for the Loyola softball team, which was picked to win the Horizon League title. Through games of March 6, Moore was batting .342 (13 for 38) with four home runs and 14 RBI. At Antioch High School in Antioch, Ill., Moore’s head coach was current Rambler assistant Jeff Tylka, who joined the Loyola staff for the 2012 season.
TEAMMATES SINCE AGE 4 , NOW PLAYING FOR THE RAMBLERS
Sophomores Amanda Ciran and Annie Korth are teammates on the Rambler softball team, but have been teammates since they were four-year-olds playing tee ball when they were coached by Ciran’s mother. Both Ciran and Korth were teammates at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles, Ill., where they helped the North Stars to a runner- up finish in the state tournament in 2011.
THEY’RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
New men’s soccer coach Neil Jones was an assistant at Northwestern University for the past three seasons before arriving in Rogers Park, but his entire staff played with or against one another in the 2004 NCAA Tournament championship match. Assistant Brian Plotkin was on the Indiana University team that won the NCAA title in 2004, while Jones and assistant Nate Boyden starred for UC Santa Barbara, which fell to the Hoosiers on penalty kicks.
BY THE NUMBERS
POINTS (GAME)
14.8 FREE THROWS
83%
REBOUNDS (CAREER)
500+ GPA
3.8
High marks on the court— and in the classroom
B
en Averkamp, one of the most highly deco- rated athletes in Loyola history, usually doesn’t bother to call home after he’s won
an award. But this one was different: Averkamp was recently named Capital One Second Team Academic All-America. “It’s the only time I called my parents to let
them know I won an award,” says Averkamp, a se- nior biology major and sports management minor. To be eligible for Academic All-America, a
MEN’S BASKETBALL
student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve and carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade point average. Despite missing six games with a concus-
sion, Averkamp led the Rambler Men’s Basketball team in points per game (14.8), minutes per game (32), free throw percentage (83%) and blocked shots (29). He also has a 3.8 cumulative grade point average. “Ben is the quintessential student-athlete,”
says Rambler Head Coach Porter Moser. “To be an Academic All-America is such a prestigious thing. But I don’t think people realize how difficult that is. These guys are physically exhausted after a practice or a game. But there was Ben after a road
game, studying on the five-hour bus ride back to Chicago.” Averkamp is only the eighth Loyola athlete, and
the first male basketball player, to win the award. Additionally, the 6-foot-8 forward is one of only 19 Ramblers to have scored more than 1,000 points and grabbed 500 rebounds over the course of a career. The Academic All-America award is the cap-
stone to a four-year career that has included Sec- ond Team All-Horizon League honors; a two-time member of the Horizon League Men’s Basketball All-Academic Team; I-AAA Men’s Basketball Schol- ar-Athlete Team; National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court; and a four-time Horizon League Male Scholar Athlete of the Month. After he graduates this spring, Averkamp hopes
to take a break from hitting the books and pursue a basketball career overseas, perhaps Italy or Ger- many. After two or three years, he hopes to return home to attend medical school. “I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity to
play basketball at the college level,” Averkamp continues. “I came to Loyola for the academics and to help build the basketball program. I feel very fortunate.”
SPRING 2013
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