AAMU Women's Basketball adds three players for the 2014-15 season

NORMAL, Alabama  -- Head women's basketball Coach Semeka Randall announces three more additions to her inaugural class for the 2014-15 season.

Combo guard Jaylan Snowden (Wallace State Community College; Mobile Alabama), power forward Janie Myles (Conumnes Community College; Milwaukee, Wisconsin), and center Deborah Martin (Volunteer State Community College; Jefferson City, Missouri) will provide much needed depth and experience to the roster in the efforts to compete against a highly competitive non-conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference schedule.

Snowden, a 5'8 combo guard finished her 2014 season at Wallace State with a team leading of 4.3 assists while scoring 8.4 points a game. Her efforts contributed greatly for a balanced team and successful campaign at Wallace State with a 27-5 overall record.

"Jaylan's versatility allows her to play the 1-2 or 3 position on the court, but her unselfish nature and pass first mentality will make her most effective in our team schemes," Randall mentioned.

Myles, the 5'11 power forward looks to help shore up the rebounding deficiencies that plagued the team at crucial moments last season.

Myles was named to the California Community College Athletics Association Northern Cali. All-State First Team with averages of 20.7 points, 53.4 percent in field goals, and led the CCCA in rebounding with a 16.2 per game. Her abilities are a welcome addition to a developing front court for the Lady Bulldogs.

"Janie is truly a throwback type player with her abilities to finish at the basket and rebound out of her area which what makes her special," said Randall.

Martin, a 6'2 center from Volunteer State Community College, provides the Lady Bulldogs with some much needed length and athleticism at the center position. Deborah finished her 2014 campaign averaging 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds a contest.

"Deb's ability to defend not only in the post but also on the perimeter makes her a vital piece to what we will try to do defensively nightly," Randall quoted. "Her shot blocking and rebounding will be essential in our efforts to dictate tempo in our games next season."

"All three of these young ladies have the potential to contribute greatly next season for our program. They are great individuals and students but I am even more encouraged that they chose Alabama A&M to complete their degree studies which to me continues to show the appeal of our university.


COURTESY ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Team Champs Saint Augustine’s Men & Lincoln U. (Mo.) Women Headline Division II Outdoor T&F All-America Honorees

2014 Men’s Team Winner: Saint Augustine’s, 112 | NCAA Recap
2014 Women’s Team Winner: Lincoln (Mo.), 64 | NCAA Recap
Championships Video (NCAA): 
Men | Women

NEW ORLEANS  -- The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Tuesday the list of those Division II student-athletes who earned USTFCCCA All-America honors for the 2014 outdoor track & field season.

Student-athletes were honored for their performances at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Allendale, Mich. Those who earned any portion of a team point at the championships earned the distinction, so long as their teams are a member of the USTFCCCA.

The full men’s list can be found here, and the full women’s list here.

Two-time defending national men’s champion Saint Augustine’s led the way with 22 total All-America awards, including six student-athletes who claimed multiple honors, to nearly double-up Ashland’s 12.

Representative of how close the race for the women’s team title was, champion Lincoln (Mo.) and third-place host Grand Valley State both accumulated 18 total All-America honors, followed by runner-up Johnson C. Smith and Southern Connecticut with 10 apiece.

Of the nine male athletes from around the nation who earned at least three awards each, four came from Saint Augustine’s: the nation’s lone four-time All-American in Burkheart Ellis, Jr., as well as three-time honorees Joshua Edmonds, Jermaine Jones and Taffawee Johnson.

Also among the three-time honorees were 100 and 200 meters champion Tim Price of Texas A&M-Kingsville, shot put champion Christopher Reed of Minnesota State, and 400 meters champ Jordan Edwards of Academy of Art.

Romone Hill of Lincoln (Mo.) and Elijha Owens of Ashland rounded out the three-time All-Americans.

Hill’s Lincoln (Mo.) squad and Price’s Kingsville crew both also recorded double-digit All-America honors with 11 and 10, respectively.

While the Lincoln (Mo.) women with three different individuals who earned three All-America awards each in Yanique Ellington, Janae Johnson and Tamara Keane topped the list of nine three-time honorees, it was the Johnson C. Smith duo of Danielle Williams and Samantha Elliot who headlined the multiple honorees.

The duo combined for four individual national titles with Williams claiming crowns at both 100 and 200  meters and finishing runner-up by just .006 in the 100-meter hurdles to Elliot, who also took the 400-meter hurdles title. Both received three All-America honors apiece.

Salcia Slack of New Mexico  Highlands also turned in a multiple national title weekend with wins in the heptathlon and the long jump, and a third-place showing in the triple jump.

Rounding out the three-time honorees were New  Haven’s Ada Udaya, Academy of Art’s Keanna Moody and Southern Connecticut’s Shataja Wattely.

The women of the MIAA led all leagues in total awards with 42 to the GLIAC’s 36, while the men’s conference list was topped by the CIAA with 37. That total edged out the Lone Star Conference with 33, the MIAA with 31 and the GLIAC with 29.

COURTESY Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

Lincoln University's Victor Thomas Named USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year

COACH VICTOR THOMAS
Courtesy: Lincoln University Athletics
 

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri  -- The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Lincoln's Victor Thomas as its National Women's Outdoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year. The USTFCCCA announced the honor on Wednesday (May 28).

Thomas led Lincoln to its seventh outdoor national title, and its 11th overall track & field national championship, on Saturday (May 24). The Blue Tigers won both relay events and scored 64 team points to beat Johnson C. Smith, which finished second with 59 points. In the process, Lincoln recorded a nation-best 18 All-American performances, with Janae Johnson, Yanique Ellington and Tamara Keane each earning three All-American awards apiece.

Prior to winning the national championship, Lincoln's first in outdoor track & field since 2009, Thomas coached the Blue Tigers to their eighth consecutive MIAA championship. Lincoln, which had won all four league indoor titles since rejoining the conference, ran away with the 2014 MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship. The Blue Tigers won eight events and recorded 28 top-eight finishes to score 182 points, nearly 80 more than the second-place team, winning their fourth-straight MIAA outdoor championship in the process.

Thomas, who just finished his 12th season as head coach of the Blue Tigers, also coached Lincoln the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2
006, 2007 and 2009.

By Dan Carr, Assistant AD for Media Relations
COURTESY LINCOLN UNIVERSITY BLUE TIGERS ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

SAU's Williams Selected National Outdoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year

Coach Williams Has Captured Two Straight
Indoor  and Outdoor National Men's Head
Coach of the Year Awards.

RALEIGH, North Carolina  -- George Williams of Saint Augustine's University was named the 2014 NCAA Division II National Men's Outdoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Wednesday, May 28, 2014.

"I didn't win it, the kids won it," Williams said. "When you have a good group of kids, anything can happen. I would like to thank my peers for voting for me."

This is the second consecutive year and the seventh time overall that the legendary coach has won the award. In March 2014, Williams was selected the USTFCCCA Division II Men's Indoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year for the second straight year.

Williams was honored Wednesday after guiding Saint Augustine's University to its second straight NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor National Title over the weekend. The Falcons have won the last two Division II Men's Indoor National Crowns as well. The men's and women's track & field program under Williams have combined to win 35 NCAA Division II national championships.

The Falcons won the men's outdoor title by a whopping 112 to 67 score over Adams State University in Allendale, Mich., this past weekend. The winning score was the highest since Abilene Christian scored 115 points in 2000. The Falcons earned 22 All-America honors, which was the most in Division II this year.

The Falcons won four men's events including the 110 meter hurdles by Ty'reak Murray (Sr./Portsmouth, VA), the 400 meter hurdles by Roxroy Cato (Sr./St. Ann, Jamaica), the 4x100 meter relay race and 4x400 meter relay race. The 4x100 team is comprised of Daniel Jamieson (Soph./Windsor, CT), Taffawee Johnson (Sr./St. Ann, Jamaica), Burkheart Ellis Jr. (Soph./Raleigh, NC) and Jermaine Jones (Jr./Wilmington, NC). The 4x400 squad consists of Cato, James Quarles (Sr./Washington, DC), Ellis Jr. and Joshua Edmonds (Sr./Jacksonville, FL).

The Falcons had five second-place and three third-place finishes at the outdoor championship meet. Five sprinters competed in the men's 200 meter finals which is a national record.

The honor caps another banner year for Williams, who has won over 150 coach of the year awards in his dynamic career at Saint Augustine's University, his alma mater. Two weeks ago, Williams was selected CIAA Athletic Director of the Year and CIAA Coach of the Year in four sports - men's and women's cross country, men's indoor track & field and men's outdoor track and field. He was chosen USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Men's Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Head Coach of the Year and CaptainU Division II Indoor Track & Field Winter Coach of the Year. His men's track & field team has won 18 straight outdoor and 17 consecutive indoor CIAA conference titles.

COURTESY SAINT AUGUSTINE'S UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

JCSU's Danielle Williams Named 2014 NCAA DII Women's Outdoor National Track Athlete of the Year

DANIELLE WILLIAMS
Courtesy: Johnson C. Smith University Athletics

JCSU's Danielle Williams has been named the USTFCCCA Division II Women's National Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – On the heels of the NCAA Championships and with the 2014 Division II Outdoor Track and Field season coming to a conclusion; the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced Danielle Williams of Johnson C. Smith University as the National Track Athlete of the Year. Williams is the only female student-athlete at JCSU to ever receive this honor and this is her second consecutive year being selected for the award.

Williams won dual individual titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Fractions of a second were all that separated Williams, a recent graduate from St. Andrew, Jamaica, from becoming the first woman in Division II history to win three track events in the same championships. Prior to winning titles both at 100 and 200 meters, Williams lost out to teammate Samantha Elliott (Kingston, Jamaica) in the 100-meter hurdles by just .006 as both ran 13.05. This was an encore from last year's championships, where Williams won the 100m, 200m, and runner-up in the 100m hurdles.



In 100 meters, Williams would ultimately be a runaway by comparison as she edged out top-seeded Ada Udaya of New Haven by .06 in 11.55. She capped her day in the 200 meters; where she was able to just barely hold off Janae Johnson of Lincoln (Mo.) by .01 of a second in 23.48.

Williams' season also included a runner-up 100-meters hurdles finish at the Penn Relays and CIAA titles in all the aforementioned events.

Three other student-athletes received honors. All-time DII heptathlon record-holder Salcia Slack of New Mexico Highlands – a multiple-time champion herself – claimed the Women's Field Athlete honor. Steeplechaser Tabor Stevens of Adams State and record-breaking high jumper Jeron Robinson of Texas A&M-Kingsville claimed the Men's Track Athlete and Men's Field Athlete award.

COURTESY JOHNSON C. SMITH UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Dan Schumacher Resigns as Chicago State Director of Athletics

DAN SCHUMACHER
Courtesy: Chicago State University Athletics

CHICAGO, Illinois -- Chicago State University Director of Athletics Dan Schumacher announced Friday (May 23) that he has resigned and accepted the same position at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Schumacher's final day at Chicago State will be June 13.

"I would like to thank the Board of Trustees and President Dr. Wayne Watson for giving me this opportunity," Schumacher said. "I especially would like to thank the athletics staff, coaches and faculty for such dedication to their craft. I am a Chicagoan, a South Sider. It was an incredible experience to be part of Chicago State Athletics and the Western Athletic Conference. I wish Cougar Athletics great success."

Schumacher's leadership helped Chicago State earn entrance into the Western Athletic Conference in 2013-14, the Cougars' first conference with an automatic bid to the NCAA postseason since 2006.

In the classroom, the NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores released earlier this month have Chicago State entering next year without a team under an APR penalty for the first time in the department's history.

In competition, several Chicago State teams have made major strides during Schumacher's two seasons as Director of Athletics. Men's basketball won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament and earned a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. It was the first championship and postseason berth for the program as a Division I member. In 2013-14, men's basketball matched a program record with eight conference wins. The squad earned the No. 3 seed in the WAC Tournament, the highest seed by a Division I team in Illinois in their respective conference tournament. Baseball won 17 games in 2014, the program's most wins in 14 years. The squad picked up two wins over city-rival UIC. Women's golf set records for team and individual scoring averages. Men's golf saw an individual win a tournament for the first time in nine years.

"Over the past four years Chicago State University has undergone a significant transformation and Dan Schumacher has been a vital part of that process," CSU President Dr. Wayne Watson said. "Under Dan's leadership, our athletic department has become an area of strength for CSU. He helped facilitate our move to the Western Athletic Conference, created a culture of accountability that strengthened our NCAA compliance, and perhaps most importantly, worked to create an athletic department that emphasized academic success above all. The average GPA of our student athletes is now 3.24, and for the first time in the department's history we have zero academic progress penalties. I've immensely enjoyed working with Dan, I appreciate his service to CSU and I wish him all the best as he moves to his next endeavor."

The University has named Associate Athletic Director for Compliance Nino Berticelli as the Interim Director of Athletics. Berticelli has over 14 years of experience in collegiate athletics including seven years in athletic administration. A committee will be formed to conduct a nation-wide search for a permanent replacement.

"I came to Chicago State a year ago because I see the great things that can be achieved here," Berticelli said. "Dan Schumacher has built a fantastic foundation for us to not only meet, but also exceed that potential. It's most important now that we continue to stress those same values which have gotten us to this point: academics as a priority, accountability and doing things the right way. I want to thank President Watson for this opportunity, and for his confidence in me to keep this upward trend going."

COURTESY CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

Alabama A&M names Rose Powell Volleyball Coach

ROSE MAGERS-POWELL
Courtesy: AAMU Athletics
 

NORMAL, Alabama -- The Director of Athletics at Alabama A&M University Bryan Hicks has named Rose Magers-Powell, head volleyball coach at Alabama A&M.

A native of Big Springs, Texas, she attended the University of Houston, earning awards such as Most Improved, Best Spiker, and Most Valuable Player of the Southwest Conference. She was a member of the 1984 US Olympic Volleyball team winning the Silver Medal, the highest finishing women's team in United States history.

"We are excited to welcome Coach Powell to the Bulldog family as head volleyball coach," Hicks said. "Her experience as a student-athlete, coach and community leader will continue to enhance our proud volleyball program."

Prior to her tenure at the helm of the RedHawks program. Powell, having one of the finest volleyball careers in American history, has applied her magic to local schools, camps, and collegiate programs. Through her coaching career at Martin Methodist, she has compiled a 367-279 overall record and entered 2013 ranked 11^th in the NAIA in total wins among active coaches.

"Her expertise, high level of competition as a player, and winning attitude will be instrumental in expanding our brand in the volleyball community," commented Hicks.

Following her collegiate stint, Rose played for two years on the USA National Team. During those two years, Rose helped the team achieve a Silver Medal at the Super Three Tournament (China, Japan and USA), a Gold Medal at the Pan American Games, a Bronze Medal at the World Championships, and a Gold Medal at the NORCECA Games.

She played nine years (1984-1993) in Japan as a professional player/coach. During this time she was a three-time MVP, six-time Best Spiker, one-time Best Blocker, and six-time Most Point Maker in the league.

"I am honored to have been given the opportunity to lead a well-respected and proven volleyball program like Alabama A&M," Powell said.

"I would like to thank Mr. Hicks for trusting me and believing in the vision and philosophy that I will bring to the program. As anyone around here knows, the passion and history of volleyball in this area is the best in the country. To be a part of it is truly special."

Before accepting the head coaching position at Martin Methodist, she coached at Lee High School in Huntsville for four years. While there, she compiled a record of 108-50 and was ranked in the top 10 among volleyball coaches in the state.

In her first year at Martin Methodist, she was voted by her peers as the 1996 TranSouth Conference Coach of the Year. Under her guidance, Martin Methodist has turned their volleyball program into greatness. They have competed in numerous TranSouth Conference Tournament Finals and NAIA Regional Tournaments.

During the 2005 season she guided her team to the school's first-ever volleyball TransSouth Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships and first NAIA Region XI Final, thus earning her recognition as the TSAC Coach of the Year for the second time in her career. She also had two players selected as NAIA All-Americans.

In recognition of her brilliant volleyball career, in 2007 Rose was honored as the recipient of the most prestigious award available to volleyball players. She was named to the All-Time Great Volleyball Player Award – an award that has been bestowed upon fewer than 100 players, both men and women.

Most recently, she was able to finish her education, by completing her studies and receiving her Bachelor's Degree in Human Services from Martin Methodist College in 2000. She now makes her home with her husband, Harry, and two sons, William and Brandon, in Huntsville, Alabama.

COURTESY ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION