Baseball gallery, football recruiting update

Baseball season was welcomed Sunday with mid-30's degree weather and a loss to NCAA Division II West Texas A&M. McMurry will try and rebound with a win Friday at noon against New Mexico Highlands and then will play another game Saturday at noon against the University of the Southwest. Our talented contact photographer, Brian Schmidt, took some photos of the baseball game Sunday and I posted 12 of them on the web site. Check them here.

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The NCAA Division III rules don't allow high school students or transfers to sign national letters of intent. So on the big day when players declare where they are going to college, while it is binding for D1 and D2 schools, a high school athlete who declares they are going to a D3 school can change their minds at any point.

That being said, there were a few football players from around the area that said they would be continuing their playing careers at McMurry, see some of the posts below.

• Abilene Cooper's QB Heslep to McMurry (ARN)
• Albany's RB Hudson considering several D2 and D3 schools (ARN)
• Abilene High's Mosley, Gorman and Brooks plan to attend McMurry (ARN)
• Abilene Cooper's Beck, Lowry and Beall plan to go to McMurry (ARN)
• Huntsville's Collier and Smith speak well of McMurry in decision (Huntsville Item)

Stay tuned ...
--KR

First-Half highlights from McMurry vs. Hardin-Simmons - MBB

First-Half highlights from McMurry vs. Hardin-Simmons - WBB

Men's Basketball Reunion story; McMurry vs. Hardin-Simmons

I'm sitting court-side at Hardin-Simmons' Mabee Complex in preparation for the McMurry vs. Hardin-Simmons women's and men's basketball matchups. I still contend after living here for nearly 20 years that it provides the best college-sports atmosphere that Abilene has. It particularly is good when both teams are highly successful and the student sections from each school give a strong showing. But nonetheless, there have been some great battles in both men's and women's games over the past few years here. The women's game should provide a strong matchup tonight because HSU is fighting to get back in the postseason tournament race. McMurry is fourth in the ASC West while Hardin-Simmons is just behind at fifth and needs to move to fourth to make the tournament in late February.

The other special thing about this matchup is the annual "Kiwanis Club of Abilene Shootout" which benefits the Hendrick Children's Miracle Network. Over the years, the Kiwanis Club in association with both Hardin-Simmons and McMurry has raised over $20,000 to aide the Meek Children's Hospital.

Below are some pictures of the McMurry men's and women's teams making a visit to the hospital. Thanks to women's head coach Veronica Snow for the pictures.





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The McMurry men's basketball reunion featuring teams from the 1998-2001 seasons that combined for a 73-9 record and two-straight NCAA Tournament appearances was a success. Head coach Ron Holmes welcomed back nearly 20 players from that era. They were honored at halftime of the men's game vs. Concordia-Texas Saturday and a meal was held in their honor at the Wingate Hotel following the game.



Sam Waller, McMurry's beat writer for the Abilene Reporter News, was able to catch up with a few players, Holmes and Gerald Coppedge a former assistant. Check his article here.

Stay tuned ...
--KR

June Jones speaks in Abilene; Russell Vanlandingham gets shot as head basketball coach; Eat meat to support McMurry hoops

Southern Methodist University head football coach June Jones and Hal Mumme run very similar spread offenses. Both have coached against each other when Jones used to be the head coach in the WAC with the University of Hawaii and Mumme coached in the WAC as head coach of New Mexico State. Both men have a great deal of respect for each other and Jones spent Thursday and Friday sharing his offensive insights with high school football coaches from around the state. The Abilene Reporter News' Greg Jaklewicz wrote a story on Jones and a side-bar piece on the relationship between Jones and McMurry's head football coach. Check it here.

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Many McMurry fans will remember Russell Vanlandingham, the player. And maybe more remember him as the assistant coach for current head coach Ron Holmes on two different stints (1996-2001; 2005-06). Vandlandingham was the recruiting coordinator for Holmes in The 1999-2000 team went to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight and the 2000-01 team returned to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16. As an assistant coach, he was known for his firey demeanor and his up-tempo, high-substitution offense. After several years as an assistant coach between McMurry, West Texas A&M (DII), and Texas State (DI), he finally got his chance to take the head chair at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio. Catch up with the story written by the ARN's Marc David on his progress during his first season.

** On a side note, Holmes is bringing in the 1998-99, 1999-2000, and 2000-2001 squads for a reunion this Saturday for special presentations at Kimbrell Arena between the women's and men's games against Concordia-Texas. Expected attendees include former all-Americans Daniel Martinez and Alex Denson.

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If you like chicken wings or barbecue and you like McMurry's basketball programs, you have an opportunity to benefit both your stomach and the men and women of McMurry basketball. This Wednesday (Jan. 27), local McMurry basketball fans from Abilene can eat at either Famous Dave's Barbecue or Buffalo Wild Wings, and 20 percent of the bill will be donated to the basketball programs. The trick is, you must download this form, print it out and take it with you.

Stay tuned ...
--KR

McMurry's Osterman and swim team featured in ARN ... Sports Shorts from the other active teams

The McMurry swim team has a tough mountain to climb every year. Men's and women's swimming are the only two sports of McMurry 19 intercollegiate sports that aren't sponsored by the American Southwest Conference, and as a result the swim team is independent. It doesn't stop there, there are only three other NCAA Division III swim programs in Texas other than McMurry, which makes scheduling an issue. Many times, head coach Bev Ball will take her program to distant states to swim, or the other logical choice is to swim some of higher NCAA programs like TCU (D1), UT-Permian Basin (DII) or Incarnate Word (DII) to name a few. Sometimes, admittedly, swimming gets swept under the rug as far as recognition and coverage is concerned. However, continually McMurry's swimmers are competitive among the NCAA Division III independent teams at the end of the year and constantly, athletes are knocking on the door of swimming at the NCAA Division III meet.

One of the athletes who has a real chance to go to nationals this season, is senior swimmer Craig Osterman of the men's team. Osterman, not only has a famous sister (Kat - the former University of Texas softball pitcher), but he got a little face time on Sunday's Abilene Reporter News. Check out the article by the ARN's Sam Waller here.

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The McMurry track and field team got a boost this offseason when it got several pole vaulters from Abilene Christian Unviersity at the end of the fall semester. Sage Lasater, made an immediate impact as one of assistant coach Brad Parris' vaulters at the season-opening indoor meet Saturday in Lubbock. Lasater, who competed at Texas Tech last season before transferring to ACU in the fall, then to McMurry for 2010, set a McMurry indoor school record and qualified automatically for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in March. Junior Holly Rollins provisionally qualified in the vault as well as men's vaulters Thomas Dimitri and Cory Altenburg. Two-sport standout Gavan Bass (also with football) provisionally qualified in the long jump. Check out the official release here and get the official results. McMurry returns to Lubbock for two days Friday and Saturday to return to the campus of Texas Tech.

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The men's basketball team split this past weekend on the road. What hurts was Thursday's loss to last-place Texas Lutheran. McMurry played without senior point guard Robert Moreno. He was attending his brother's Marine Corps graduation in San Diego, Calif. While TLU is always a hard place to go to and win, it leaves no doubt about how valuable Moreno is to the team. Though he's a hard sell offensively for an MVP candidate, he clearly runs the offense with command and is just as affective on the defensive end as well (17 steals in the last three games). After rebounding to beat Schreiner Saturday, McMurry moves to 7-3 in the ASC surrendering its lead in the ASC West Division to Mary Hardin-Baylor who now holds a 0.5 game lead with an 8-3 record.

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The women's basketball team has caught fire with six-straight wins including four-consecutive wins in the American Southwest Conference. Winning has been in a different style than the teams that made three consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2006-08. While McMurry's shooting percentages are down from years past, it's pesky defense forces a multitude of turnovers, which McMurry has done a good job of turning into points. After a game against Sul Ross State Thursday in Alpine, McMurry will see what its made of Saturday in Brownwood when it takes on nationally-ranked Howard Payne at the Brownwood Coliseum. LaPorsha Alexander continues to have a solid season averaging 15 points off the bench for McMurry. Senior Amanda Peters scored a career-high 14 points against TLU Thursday, congratulations to the senior from Aspermont.

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Many remember June Jones from his coaching years at the University of Hawaii. Texas citizens now know him as the head coach at Southern Methodist University. Jones has the tough task of building a winning Mustang program that was given the death penalty for NCAA violations back in the 1970's. In just his second year, he took SMU a step forward with a 45-10 win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl capping an 8-5 season. He has connections with McMurry head football coach Hal Mumme as Jones is also very successful running a version of the spread offense at both Hawaii and SMU. Jones will, along with ACU head coach Chris Thomsen, join Mumme and his staff to speak to high school coaches at the 3-3-5 Defense / Air Raid Offense clinic in Abilene Jan. 21-23. Read the release here.

** For those of you who are McMurry Sports Insiders and watch our football and basketball broadcasts online, we will not be showing video or audio for Thursday's game at Sul Ross State in Alpine or Saturday's game at Howard Payne in Brownwood. The Internet connections at both places will not allow us to stream the games. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Stay tuned ...
--KR

The "Personal" section - famous relatives

One of my favorite things about the extremely tedious job of writing player profiles is looking to see if anyone has had any relatives play college or professional sports. Often, there are links to other players playing at the NCAA Division I level or athletes' parents played college ball, but every once in a while there are some that really stand out. A couple of years ago, Chris and Desmond Sanders played football at McMurry and are cousins to LaDanian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers. Earlier this season, we pointed out that former McMurry receiver Rae'Shaud Lemon was related to Meadowlark Lemon, the former Harlem Globetrotter, and that tight end Delfonte Diamond's uncle is former NBA great Karl Malone. Today I ran across Kyla Hutson's bio (you'll have to click on her name from the roster) for the women's basketball team. She is a freshman from Celina High School. Likely, her grandfather's cousin was Jerry Mays (pictured) who was a former all-American football player for Southern Methodist University and went on to play in the AFL (before the NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs. Mays played in two Super Bowls on the offensive line and is a member of the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame.

It's a small world afterall.

Stay tuned ...
--KR