ENMU Athletics News

By Sara Hill and Adam Pitterman

Greyhounds Claim Academic Excellence Award

Lone Star Conference Interim Commissioner Jay Poerner announced in December that the Eastern New Mexico Athletics men’s teams earned the inaugural Lone Star Conference Academic Excellence Award presented by Balfour.

The Hounds claimed the men’s award, while Texas Woman’s University was the women’s honoree for the athletic departments with the highest collective team GPA among its sports teams for the 2013-14 academic year. The Greyhounds and Pioneers each received $2,500 along with a custom trophy.

Dr. Jeff Geiser, ENMU Director of Athletics, presents the Balfour Academic Excellence award to David Gomez, Josh Lynn, and Zak Barela the coaches of the top three men’s academic teams.

Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

“This award was established to highlight the league’s pursuit of academic excellence while recognizing outstanding academic achievement of LSC studentathletes, individual sport programs and athletic departments,” says LSC Interim Commissioner Jay Poerner. “We are appreciative of Balfour for their support of this award.”

ENMU posted the top team GPA in two sports —football and men’s soccer— including two individuals with 4.0 GPAs. They also came in second in baseball. The Zias took fourth place in the women’s standings.

The award winners were determined by a point system, with points distributed according to finish by sport in which there

is a NCAA Division II Championship after a conference-wide comparison of team GPAs. The member institution with the highest team GPA in each sport was named the sport’s Academic Champion and earned five points toward the overall award. Each sport’s runner-up picked up four points, and third-place earned three points toward the overall award. Any program with a Team GPA of 2.00 or above earned one point. Points for each member institution were totaled by gender and then divided by that institution’s number of counter programs in that gender to arrive at the comparison value.

“Congratulations to our Greyhound coaching staff and student-athletes on this great achievement. We strive to make sure our student-athletes do things in that order: student first and athlete second. We are proud they are excelling both in the classroom and in competition,” says ENMU Senior Woman Administrator Sara Hill.

Greyhound and Zia Basketball Both Compete In Lone Star Conference Tournament

Both the Greyhound and Zia basketball teams reached the Lone Star Conference tournament, with the men’s team qualifying for the fifth straight season and the women returning after a one-year hiatus.

Senior forward, Tori Tucker takes the ball down the court against the Lady Buffs.

Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

The Zias are greatly improved from last season’s squad and have nine wins, which includes five LSC victories. During the 2014-15 campaign, Eastern has continually shown resiliency, including a rally from 22-points down for a road win at Angelo State and the first season sweep of the Rambelles since 1996-97. During the season, senior forward Tori Tucker also earned LSC Offensive Player of the Week twice.

The Greyhounds got off to a quick start and reached the century mark twice for the first time since the 2011-12 season. They also showed a knack for winning close games, as displayed by winning six of their first seven games by eight points or less. Eastern showed its toughness just weeks after a 16-point home loss to regionally-ranked Texas-Permian Basin by defeating the Falcons on their home floor.

Junior Guard, John Gilliam goes up for a shot against UT-Permian Basin.

Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

While both teams were defeated in the first round of the tournament, their studentathletes garnered all-conference team awards as well as all-conference academic team awards. For the Zias, senior forward Tori Tucker and junior guard Sarah Stinnett both earned Second Team All-LSC, while junior guard Jordyn Cooper was chosen to the LSC All-Academic Team. Greyhound junior guard, John Gilliam, was named to the All-Lone Star Conference team as an honorable mention.

Diamond Zias Off to Strong Start

Zia Softball prepares for another win. Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

At the start of the second season under the reign of Zia Softball Head Coach Kristen Soukup, the ENMU softball team stood well over .500 for the first time since the 2008 season, which includes a victory over Heartland Conference powerhouse, St. Edwards. At the forefront of Eastern’s strong start is freshman pitcher Aja Secheslingloff. She posted a win over University of Texas of the Permian Basin, to become the first ENMU pitcher to win her first five decisions of the season. Amanda Martinez has also continued her success from last season and currently is fourth on the Zia career list in stolen bases.

Greyhound Baseball Looking Strong Early On

Greyhound Baseball prepares to take the field. The Hounds won the season opening series against Adams State for the third straight season.

Photo by Sports Fanatic Photography

The Greyhound baseball team started the season strong, with a series win over Adams State and has seen the emergence of senior pitcher Cody Pope as an ace in the rotation. The right-hander has posted a 2.33 earned run average and won two of his first three starts with a 24-5 strike outs to walks ratio. Matthew Burks is also expected to be an impact player again. An outfielder last season, Matthew has been moved to the infield and selected as the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year.

Paul Tate Tabbed as Greyhound Soccer Coach

Early in February, ENMU Athletic Director Dr. Jeff Geiser has announced the appointment of Paul Tate as the new head coach of the Greyhound soccer program. Coach Tate joins the ENMU Athletics family after serving as the men’s soccer coach at McMurry University in nearby Abilene, Texas, for the last six seasons.

Coach Tate becomes the fifth head coach in the history of the Greyhound soccer program and inherits a program that has produced five winning season in the last six years. In the 2011 season, Eastern captured the Lone Star Conference championship.

“Paul Tate is a good fit for Eastern,” says Dr. Geiser. “He has passion for the game of soccer and this manifests itself in his coaching. We look forward to working with him and welcome him to the ENMU ‘Family.’”

In Coach Tate, the Hounds have acquired a coach who has experience in guiding a program to a high level of postseason success. In 2012, he guided the War Hawks to 11 victories, the NCCAA Central Region title and a berth in the National Championship tournament. While at McMurry, Coach Tate oversaw the day-to-day operations of the program, which included recruitment of athletes, team management, fundraising and field maintenance. Over those six seasons, he had numerous players selected for individual accolades at the conference and national level, with some players earning professional contracts to play overseas.

The pinnacle of his playing career came in 2004, when he was a goalkeeper for the Austin Posse of the Independent A League. From 2004 to 2005, he played semi-pro with the El Paso Patriots and Laredo Heat. Coach Tate’s collegiate career took him from University of the Ozarks to Incarnate Word and McMurry University.

Kash for Karen a Strong Success

When ENMU Athletics Administrative Assistant Karen Doherty contracted West Nile Virus last fall, the Department of Athletics started the Kash for Karen campaign to help with expenses. Donations were accepted, while many stepped up to pledge money based on the total points scored by the Greyhound and Zia basketball teams. The teams both reached the conference tournament and combined to score 3,655 points.

The response to the call for assistance was incredible, as $8,000 was raised to assist with medical bills. ENMU Athletics would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who lent a hand. Karen is continuing her recovery and has returned to her position as administrative assistant.