Winter 2008

Three Gannon teams won GLIAC tournament championships in 2007—top to bottom: the women’s basketball team, led by coach Cleve Wright; the softball team, led by coach Beth Pierce; and the men’s soccer team, under coach Rob van Rheenen. led by Cleve Wright and Beth Pierce, respectively, also won tournament championships in the rugged GLIAC. “Year in and year out, and in all sports, the GLIAC has very strong teams that also have fared extremely well nationally,” said Bill Elias, Gannon director of athletics. “So for our three teams to win championships in the same year reflects very positively on those coaches in terms of both their recruiting efforts and how they led their teams during their respective seasons. But most of the credit has to go to those men and women student-athletes.”

“All three of those teams have had a lot of success in the recent past and were on the cusp of greatness,” Elias concluded. “They had great senior leadership and kids who made plays.”

Gannon’s student-athletes also have excelled in the classroom; during the spring 2007 semester they collectively earned a 3.26 grade point average with more than 40 percent being named to the Dean’s List. In addition, 66 athletes earned perfect 4.0 GPAs that semester. Starting with the 2008-09 academic year, Gannon University will leave the GLIAC and begin to compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), where it will compete against some local and regional rivals, such as Edinboro, Slippery Rock, Clarion, and IUP.