Coastal Carolina Department of Athletics 2016-17 Year In Review
CHANTICLEER HEADLINES Coastal Reaches New Heights in the Sun Belt Conference The Coastal Carolina University athletic programs, with the exception of the Chanticleer football team, completed their first season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference in 2016-17. Overall, the year proved to be a successful introduction of Coastal Carolina into its new conference. The conference released the final standings of the Vic Bubas Cup, the league’s annual all-sports trophy, in late May, with Coastal finishing tied for fourth place alongside Arkansas State with 102.5 points. The Chants did not finish far behind the top three teams of South Alabama (119), Texas State (118.5) and UTA (117).
The Chanticleer men’s soccer team captured Coastal Carolina’s first ever Sun Belt Championship.
The Chanticleer men’s soccer and volleyball teams each captured their respective conference tournament titles to advance to the NCAA postseason. It was the seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance for men’s soccer, and third straight for volleyball. Individually, Annie Bothma was the first-place finisher at the Sun Belt Championship in Dothan, Ala., and was named was the conference’s Runner of the Year before winning the NCAA Southeast Regional to advance to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship. The Coastal Carolina baseball team finished the regular season with the Sun Belt’s highest conference record (22-7-1) to capture the top seed heading into the conference championship. The Chants’ College World Series defense unfortunately ended early, as weather shifted the tournament to single elimination and Coastal fell to Texas State in its opening game.
The Chanticleer volleyball team won the Sun Belt East Division and tournament titles.
Overall, Coastal had 32 student-athletes voted All-Sun Belt and seven student-athletes receive indivdual awards in their respective sports, including Bothma (WXC: Runner & Freshman of the Year), Leah Hardeman (VB: Player of the Year), Tahleia Bishop (VB: Newcomer of the Year), Rylie Cox (WTEN: Freshman of the Year), Malene Krolboll Hansen (WGOLF: Golfer of the Year), Billy Cooke (BASE: Player of the Year) and Cory Wood (BASE: Freshman of the Year).
Malene Krolboll Hansen was named the Sun Belt Women’s Golfer of the Year in addition to first team all-conference and all-tournament team honors
An additional eight Chanticleers were voted all-conference from women’s lacrosse, which competes as an associate member of the ASUN Conference. Head coach Kristen Selvage was also named the league’s Coach of the Year as she led the program to its most wins in a season with a 12-5 overall record, and an ASUN regular season title with a 9-1 conference record. Coastal has even more reason to hopeful of the 2017-18 academic year, as the Chanticleer football team begins its first season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference in the newly expanded Brooks Stadium.
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Annie Bothma was the top individual finisher at both the Sun Belt Championship and NCAA Southeast Regional, and was named the Sun Belt Runner of the Year in cross country.