For the full athletics update, please visit us on the web at http://athletics.mcm.edu.
ATHLETICS UPDATE Fall Briefs
Football
While the 2008 McMurry football campaign wasn’t a success in terms of the win-loss total, it did provide the future of the program with a lot of experience. Many underclassmen received significant playing time as the season progressed and that experience could prove to be essential for getting wins in the future. Two McMurry players garnered all-conference recognition in juniors Joe Alexander and Josh Clements. Alexander was a secondteam all-conference selection at linebacker as he finished fifth in the conference with 78 tackles, and Clements was an honorable mention all-ASC pick at center after the coaches in the conference voted him as one of the toughest and most consistent offensive linemen in the league. The great news for McMurry is that both allconference players are slated to return for the 2009 season!
Volleyball Cammie Petree returned at the helm of the McMurry volleyball team and the winningest coach in program history guided McMurry to a 19-8 overall mark and an appearance in the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament. A highlight of the season occurred on Sept. 21, 2008, when McMurry swept Concordia Texas to give Petree her 200th victory as head coach of McMurry. Five players earned all-conference recognition. Junior middle blocker Terah Brown won her second-consecutive ASC West Division MVP and was also the offensive player of the year. Sophomore Sarah Anding won the defensive player of the year, while senior outside hitter Erica English and senior setter Shannon Higgins made the second team. Junior outside hitter Danielle Kelton was an honorable mention selection.
Cross Country Both the McMurry men’s and women’s cross country teams had successful seasons in 2008 as the men finished second at the conference meet and the women finished third. On the women’s side, freshman Alaisha Guerra garnered ASC Freshman Runner of the Year honors. Karlie Dieterich joined Guerra on the all-ASC first team as she placed fourth at the conference meet. On the men’s side, McMurry placed four runners on the allconference team. Ken Wheeler, Brad Mullins and Daniel Rudd were first-team all-conference runners and Steven Cantwell was a second-team runner. Wheeler and Mullins later made the all-region team for the third-straight year, which set a school record for the most all-region team appearances. Wheeler also was the second McMurry runner ever (Josh Hufstedler, 1999) to compete in the NCAA National Championship Meet and he had the best finish at nationals as he finished 153rd out of 280 runners with his personal-best time and school record in the 8,000-meter of 25:54.31. Men’s and Women’s Soccer
The future of the McMurry men’s and women’s soccer programs is now under the direction of one coach as men’s coach, Tim Grove, added the women’s soccer head-coaching responsibilities to his duties after the 2008 season concluded. Both soccer programs are looking for improvement in 2009 and some slated returners to the men’s team could help the McMurry men achieve that. Freshman goalkeeper Leeland Karpf highlighted the group of McMurry all-conference selections as he was one of only two freshmen to make the conference's first team. Sophomore midfielder Nathan Perschke was a thirdteam all-conference selection, while sophomore defender Kyle Kallin was an all-conference honorable mention.
Terah Brown
