SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013/Marietta Daily Journal
SPORTS & RECREATION
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Staff / Emily Barnes
Left: Life wrestlers Dillan Schouw, left, and Oliver Brukardt helped Life to an eighth place finish in the NAIA East Regional Tournament at the end of its inaugural season. Right: Cross country runners Simone Tavares, left, and Meghan DeGan stand next to women’s cross country coach Dr. Cathy Faust. The two new athletic programs at Life are the first two of likely many that will launch at the Marietta university in the near future and coaches are hoping the rosters have a distinct Cobb County flavor going forward.
Life athletic programs building for future and for Cobb County By John Bednarowski sportseditor@mdjonline.com MARIETTA — When people think of Life University athletics, the first two things that may come to mind are basketball and rugby. That’s understandable for two reasons. First, those are the two national programs on campus. The men’s basketball team won NAIA titles in 1997, ’99 and 2000. The rugby squad has competed at the highest level against club teams from all around the country, and even found itself on NBC last June. The other reason is basketball and rugby have been the only programs on campus the last few years. But that is changing. With the edition of wrestling and women’s cross country this year, Life University is trying to rebuild a storied athletic program that was dismantled when the school temporarily lost its accreditation in 2002-2003. With the athletics rebuilding program
underway — volleyball will begin in the 2013-14 school year — Life gives the college bound residents of Cobb County more opportunities to compete, while staying close to home and getting their education. “That’s what we want to do,” said Life women’s cross country coach Dr. Cathy Faust, herself a five-time All-American in cross country and track at Eastern Kentucky University. “We want to make this a community based program. Our intent is to pull from the (Cobb) community.” The cross country team got off to a late start in its first season and only had two runners — Mishea Peltier and Anika Dion — compete. But Life needed only two runners to put the university on the map as a program to watch when they both earned spots on the TransSouth Conference All-Conference Team. Peltier took it a step further by winning three out of her first four races. She also ran a personal best time of 19:12 to win the conference meet and earned a spot in the NAIA national meet in Vancouver, Wash. Her efforts were awarded
with being named the conference runner and newcomer of the year. Faust said she was surprised at that kind of success with only two runners, but added it works as a great base to continue to construct the program. “This is going to be a great opportunity for local athletes,” said Meghan DeGan, a former Pope soccer player who will be running for Life next fall. “It’s something that is right down the road and you can stay in Cobb County. DeGan, a senior, will have only one season to compete for Life, but has such a belief in Faust’s program that she wants to remain with the program, possibly in a coaching capacity. “Ideally I’d get to help after school with the coaches,” she said. “(Faust) has set the standards high and we have come out of the gates hard.” The wrestling program also came out of the gates hard and continued to improve as the season went on. In last week’s NAIA East Regional tournament in St. Andrews University in See Life, Page 7HH
LIFE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEN’S SPORTS Basketball, Wrestling * Rugby *(Club sport not affilliated with NAIA)
WOMEN’S SPORTS Cross Country, Volleyball (beginning 2013) POTENTIAL ADDITIONS Women’s Track, Golf, Tennis