PRESSBOX Kelly Coker
Coker, Mattison Earn Academic Honors
Women’s Rowing Wins A-10 Crown, Bid to NCAA Championship The URI women’s rowing team won its second straight Atlantic 10 championship on May 4, clinching the school’s first-ever NCAA Championship bid in the process. Heading into the final race of the day, the Rams held a one-point lead over Massachusetts and George Washington. Rhode Island’s Varsity 4 boat—consisting of junior Kaitlyn Rupert, sophomores Michelle Forte, Jess Bergen, and Hannah Milam, and freshman cox Avery Cohen— won its race, beating the rest of the field by more than six seconds to clinch the title
and the spot in the 22-team field at the NCAA Championship in Indianapolis May 31 through June 2. It was URI’s fourth Atlantic 10 title since 2008. This season marked the first time the A-10 champion earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The Rams also had four women named to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Rowing All-Conference team. Seniors Anne Mulholland, Lotte Sherman, and Alice Murray were named to the first team, while senior Ari Wakeman was named to the second team.
Men’s Track and Field Wins Ninth Outdoor Title Led by six individual title winners, the URI men’s track and field team captured the 2013 Atlantic 10 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championship on May 5. Junior Trent Baltzell set a new school record with 7,015 points to win the decathlon title, while classmate Mark Castilletti won both the 110 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdles. Other individual titlists were
senior William Janes (hammer throw), junior Jordan Burandt (pole vault), sophomore Jonathan Stevens (javelin), and sophomore Tyler Oliveira (200 meter dash). The title was the ninth in program history for Rhode Island. Head Coach John A. Copeland Jr. earned Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors for the seventh time in his outdoor career.
URI senior Kelly Coker and junior Jocelyn Mattison were named to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Softball Team on May 7. The Rhody captains were two of 10 players selected in voting among the league’s sports information directors. This is the second straight season Coker has earned the honor, and the first time on the team for Mattison. Coker, who has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.72 as a nursing major, finished her career as one of the most decorated players in program history. She ranks in URI’s all-time top 10 in hits, home runs, runs batted in, walks, stolen bases, sacrifice hits, and runs scored. She also was one of 11 players named to the Capital One COSIDA Academic All-District Team for District I, which covers schools in all New England states plus New York. Coker also was URI’s pick for the 2013 Rhode Island Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Distinguished Athlete of the Year, and she is one of 10 national finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for Softball. Mattison has a cumulative GPA of 3.70 in kinesiology. The only player on the team to start every game for the last three seasons, she has started 154 consecutive games to start her career. This season, she had a career-high 35 hits, the third-most on the team. She also had a team-high four home runs and was second on the team with 23 runs scored and 17 batted in. Mattison ranks eighth in school history in fielding percentage at .974, and this season became just the third player in Rhode Island history to record more than 800 career putouts, finishing the year with 847. Jocelyn Mattison
14 QUADANGLES Summer 2013
photos Courtesy URI Athletics