More on Moreno; Swimming back in action; Track to being indoor season

Above are head men's basketball coach Ron Holmes' comments on Robert Moreno being selected as one of nine finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. Also, if you missed the press release on his candidacy, click here. Moreno had eight assists and five steals in an overtime loss to LeTourneau Thursday night. So far in his career, he has 388 assists and 147 steals.

One note from Thursday night's men's game:
• I had initially written in the press release that LeTourneau's win Thursday was the first ever at Kimbrell Arena. However, I was sorely mistaken, the Yellow Jackets' first win came in Dec. of 2007 making it now two-straight wins over McMurry at Kimbrell Arena.

Swim Teams Gear Back Up
• Head coach Bev Ball and crew will head to Sherman Saturday to swim at Austin College and face three other NCAA Division III schools and NCAA Division II UT-Permian Basin. Then, McMurry will play host to two meets on Jan. 16 and 23.

Track and Field starts Jan. 16
It's hard to believe, but it's already time for a little track and field action with the indoor season beginning in Lubbock at the Texas Tech open next Saturday. The men's team, coming off a second-place finish at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in June, will begin life without Hanneus Ollison who was a staple for McMurry track for four seasons. Ollison led McMurry to the first team national championship of any kind in 2008 when McMurry took the outdoor title. Assistant coach Brad Parris said he was excited, among other things, about the large number of talented pole vaulters on both the men's and women's side. As far as men's sprinters who will have big shoes to fill when it comes to Ollison, Parris said head coach Barbara Crousen "always has irons in the fire" and expects them to be solid once again.

Check the McMurry Track & Field Schedule here.

Stay tuned ...
--KR

Leach, Mumme and more

It's been a little more than 50 days since I've blogged last. So, a New Year's Resolution should be to keep this thing a little more updated. So here goes ...

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you know that Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was fired under extremely controversial circumstances last week. If you are a McMurry fan, you also know the connection between Leach and McMurry head football coach Hal Mumme (Click here for a previous blog post with audio from Leach | Click here to view an article on mcmurrypsorts.com).

The Abilene sports media was able to take a very local angle on the Red Raiders' personnel. The Abilene Reporter News' sports editor, Greg Jaklewicz wrote an article on Mumme's view of the Leach situation, view that here (and have fun with the extremely "intelligent" user comments at the bottom of the article). Then, KTAB and KRBC got Mumme's take on the situation, click here to view the video.

In other Mumme news, the Iowa Hawkeye, a newspaper from Burlington, Iowa, caught up with the former Iowa Wesleyan head coach and talked about the "Air Raid" Offense and Mumme's battle with cancer a little over a year ago. Check the article written by Matt Levins here.

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On to basketball ...

• McMurry men's basketball player Robert Moreno (Sr., Brownsville, Texas) was named to the list of finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which honors the best point guards at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. Moreno, led the American Southwest Conference in assists last season, and so far in 2009-2010 he leads the ASC in assists per game and assists-to-turnover ratio. He is one of nine finalists for the NCAA Division III Award, for the complete list, click here.

The Abilene Reporter News' former McMurry beat writer, Marc David, writes a weekly college notebook despite living in Chandler, Ariz. He's done a particulary good job this year of keeping up with former college athletes from Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne, Tarleton State and McMurry. His latest article featured former McMurry women's basketball player and all-American Symbri Tuttle. Click here to read Mark's article.

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I hope that this post gives McMurry fans a more inside look at the athletics program in some respects, please continue to check back for more updates.

Stay tuned ...
--KR