SportsWeek =
April 28, 2011
# ?
Trio of CIAA titles for Rams
iPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Women's Tennis
It was a match for the ages when the Winston
Salem State Lady Rams (27-1) took a 5-4 win over
he Shaw Lady Bears to win the 2011 Central
ntercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA)
iVomen's Tennis Championship held Saturday after
loon at the Virginia State University Tennis
Complex. The match, which took nearly four hours,
eatured a titanic battle between the two top
vomen's tennis teams in the CIAA.
In the end, it came down to the number four sin
?les, which went into a tiebreaker in the third set
>efore the outcome was decided. With the first CIAA
:hampionship in school history hanging on the out
:ome of her singles match, WSSU sophomore Kalin
arvis dug deep to take the 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win.
Neither competitor showed an ounce of quit as Jarvis
>attled her way to the victory.
"I had a lot of pressure on me, but I just had to
ake my time and play my game," Jarvis said follow
ng the victory. "I just had to play like I practiced. I
hink I got caught up in everybody cheering and I
ust had to remember to keep the balls on the court."
Baseball
The #3 Winston-Salem State Rams (30-19)
Virginia State University campus in the double-elim
ination tournament. With the win, Winston-Salem
State earns the CIAA's automatic qualifier spot to
the Atlantic Region Tournament.
"It's been our goal from day one to come out here
and be winners in our first year," WSSU junior
catcher Michael Robbins said. "It's all about hard
work. Everybody was working their butts off. Every
time somebody was called on they did their jobs and
now we're champions."
With the win, the Rams completed a very unlike*
ly feat as the team won its first CIAA baseball cham
pionship in its first season back from a 37-year hia
tus.
"Being a first year program, even though I knew
we had the talent, a lot of people didn't give us a
chance to win," WSSU Interim Head Baseball Coach
Kevin Ritsche said following the championship.
"I'm really excited about the way that the way these
guys played and came together and really gelled as a
team."
Softball
With her team still down by two runs in the bot
tom of the eighth inning, Winston-Salem State head
vorked themselves all
he way back from a
irst-round defeat to
vin the Central
ntercollegiate
\thletic Association
CIAA) Baseball
Zhampionship, com
peting a remarkable
:omeback and
mprobable season for
he first-year program.
The Rams defeated
?Jo. 2 Saint
\ugustine's College
-alcons (36-18), 7-6
ind 3-0, Saturday
ifternoon at Whaley
Zolbert Field on the
Coach Kevin Ritsche
coach LaTaya Hilliard-Oray
pulled her team over and had
one simple point to make. "This
is what we do," she said. And
with that, in the midst of what
looked like an improbable
comeback, the Rams made that
improbability a reality, scoring
five runs in their last at-bat to
stun Chowan 7-6 and win the
2011 CI A A Softball
Championship on Saturday.
All we had to ao was believe tne way l believe
in them," said Hilliard-Gray.
In a fitting manner, it was a Lady Ram senior
who came up big for the team to score the big win.
With three runs in and the bases still loaded with two
outs, WSSU senior outfielder Candace Spinks hit a
rocket toward Chowan shortstop Fahren Munro. The
sharp grounder got by Munro for an error and bound
ed into left-center field, allowing two runs to score,
including the game-winner.
Spinks
WSSU Photo by Garrett Garms
Kalin Jarvis in action.
Salem wins track medals
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
The Salem College track team earned three medals at the Livingstone
Classic in Salisbury earlier this month.
Courtney Hedgecock recorded Salem's highest finish ever as she earned
a silver medal in the
1500 meter run.
Hedgecock finished
the race in 5:38, just
two seconds behind
the race winner.
Natali Olveda
earned a bronze
medal in the 800
meter run (2:51).
She also finished in
fourth in the 1500
(5:45). Mackenzie
Schmidt was just
one spot from a
medal when she fin
ished in fourth in the
400 meter run (1:05).
The 4 X 400 squad.
Salem's relays also had a strong day. The 4 X 400 relay consisting of
Schmidt. Akaya McElveen. Steph Hubbard and Tatum Justice also earned a
bronze medal.
New WFU tennis hub takes shape
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Wake Forest University held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for
the new tennis complex that is being constructed to serve as the venue for
the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University, an ATP World Tour
event, as well as the new outdoor home for the Wake Forest men's and
women's tennis teams.
The complex, which is nestled between BB&T Field and the Wake Forest
Indoor Tennis Center, will feature 13 courts with the same Deco-Turf II sur
face as the courts used at the US Open, illuminated
Wellman
Dy a state-ot-the-art lighting system. Temporary
seating will be brought in for the first year of the
tournament, but future plans call for the construc
tion of a permanent stadium.
While construction on the site officially began
in February, this week's ceremony, which was
attended by Wake Forest President Nathan O.
Hatch, Wake Forest Director of Athletics Ron
Wellman, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines and
Don Flow, Chairman of Winston-Salem
Professional Tennis, marked the beginning of a new
phase of the project, which is scheduled to be com
pleted in July,
"This will be as fine of a facility as there is in
the ACC and maybe in all of college tennis. Our
tennis coaches Jeff Zinn and Jeff Wyshner are extremely excited about what
these courts will do for our tennis programs," said Wake Forest Athletics
Director Ron Wellman. "With the tennis complex now joining our football,
basketball and baseball stadiums on Deacon Boulevard, we are making sig
nificant progress towards our goal of making this area the sports entertain
ment capital of Winston-Salem."
The Winston-Salem Open, which will be held from Aug. 20-27, is part of
the Olympus US Open Series and is the last ATP event before the US Open.
Top American players Mardy Fish and John Isner have already signed on for
the inaugural tournament. Tickets will go on sale to the public on May 10.
For more information, visit www.winstonsalemopen.com.
Photos courtesy of CIAA/WSSU
Lataya Hilliard-Gray (above, left) and John Martin (center) are presented with their awards.
Coach of the Year honors go to
WSSU's Martin and Hilliard-Gray
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Head Softball Coach Lataya Hilliard-Gray was
named CIAA Softball Coach of the Year and Head
Women's Tennis Coach John Martin was named the
201 1 CIAA Women's Tennis Coach of the Year.
Hilliard-Gray led the 201 1 Lady Rams to a 25-1 1
record, a 15-1 record in the CIAA and a CIAA
Southern Division Regular Season Championship.
"It's an honor. We haven't been able to win any
thing for so long and coming back in our first year
and getting these accolades are a great accomplish
ment. I owe it all to the team," Hilliard-Gray said at
the 2011 CIAA Spring Sports Awards Ceremony in
Petersburg, Va. "Just competing the way they did
and representing me with all the hard work that
they've done. 1 definitely appreciate what they've
done and I'm looking forward to more as we com
pete for this championship."
Martin led the Lady Rams to a 24- 1 record and a
16-0 record in CI A A play this season.
In his first season as head coach of the Lady
Rams tennis team, Martin has led the team to one of
its best performances in school history with a 24-1
record for the regular season and a 16-0 record in
CI A A play. Under his guidance, the Lady Rams won
the 201 1 CIAA Southern Division championship and
the CIAA Women's Tennis Championships.
St. Aug Men take 14th straight track title
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONIC! F.
Defending NCAA Division II champion Saint Augustine's College took home its 14th straight CI A A
men s outdoor track and field title Saturday on the campus of Virginia State.
The Falcons have won the men's outdoor crown 31 of the last 33 years under legendary head coach
George Williams. They won this year's championship
behind CIAA Field MVP Orolando Duffus, who won the
long jump and triple jump in addition to placing fourth
in the high jump.
Duffus, the 2010 CIAA male scholar-athlete of the
year, scored 25 points for the Falcons, who finished first
with 176.50 points. Johnson C. Smith was second with
119 points and Winston-Salem State was third with 106
points.
The Falcons perform traditionally well in the sprints
and jumps, and this year was no different. Ramon
Gittens won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and
Jason Boyd won the 110-meter hurdles Saturday. The
Falcons were first in the 4x1 00-meter and 4x400-meter
relays. On Friday, Christopher Copeland was the high
jump winner.
St. Aug Phote
The men's track squad celebrates their victory.
Led by Gittens, the Falcons placed four sprinters in the top seven in the 100. Sean Stuart was third
Marquis White was fifth and Julius West was seventh. In the 400, Josh Edmonds was second, Kelly Fisher
was fifth and James Quarles sixth. Boyd also placed fourth in the 200 and GerkenzSenesca was second in
the 110 hurdles. Karym Greaves <Sr../Miami Gardens, Fla.) was second in the 400 hurdles^
The Falcons also won the highest grade point average award in men s outdoor track and field. The team
posted a GPA of 3.57.