PSAC Athletes of the Week - 5/1 Monday, May 1, 2017 2:30 PM Women's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week Julie Friend California (Jr. / Distance) Markleysburg, Pa. / Uniontown Friend broke her own school record in the 5,000-meter run over the weekend while at the Penn Relays. She placed seventh overall behind only NCAA Division I runners and the individual champion from Canada while competing in a field of over 60 runners. Friend posted a time a time of 16:35.34 to eclipse the school mark she set earlier this year by almost eight seconds. The junior standout now boasts the top 5K time in the PSAC this season by over 22 seconds and ranks among the top 10 on the national performance list. Women's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week Tamara Ovejera Shippensburg (Sr. / Throws) Frederick, Md. / Gov. Thomas Johnson Ovejera had a day to remember at the Paul Kaiser Classic, winning the shot put, discus and hammer throws and achieving provisional qualifiers in two of the events. She broke her own school record and set the new meet record in the shot put on a throw of 47 feet, 11 ¼ inches – which moves her to 14th on the NCAA Division II performance list and will hopefully be enough to get her to the national championships in the event. The throw enhanced her school record and PR by 3 ¼ inches. In the discus, Ovejera was just four inches shy of her season best but again attained a meet record with a strong throw of 151 feet, 7 inches. Her hammer throw of 168 feet, 3 inches made it a second season best on the day. She will enter the PSAC Championships as the top-seeded discus thrower and the No. 2 seed in the shot and hammer. Men's Outdoor Track Co-Athlete of the Week Steve Morgan East Stroudsburg (Sr. / Hurdles) Egg Harbor, N.J. / Egg Harbor Township Morgan posted a new season-best in the 110m hurdles at the Penn Relays on Friday, lowering his NCAA DII provisional time down to 14.36 ... that is only four-hundredths off his own school record set in 2015, and Morgan is now ranked No. 16 in all of DII this spring ... he will look for a fourth-straight PSAC title in the 110m hurdles next weekend ... also ran on ESU's title-winning relay team in the Shuttle Hurdles Championship of America Invitational at the Penn Relays ... the Warriors took first place in the event, beating out three DI schools to become only the second DII institution to win a Championship of America race at the Penn Relays in the past 22 years ... Morgan, Mike Matrisciano, Akeim Thomas and Christian Castro completed the event in 58.63, taking over a second off the previous school record of 59.81. Men's Outdoor Track Co-Athlete of the Week Gene Baritot Edinboro (So. / Distance) East Aurora, N.Y. / East Aurora Baritot turned in one of the top performances of the day while competing in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase Championship at the Hillsdale GINA Relays. The sophomore finished first out of 30 competitors, posting an NCAA Division II provisional time of 8:59.50. That is the 15th-best time in Division II this year and betters his own PSAC top time. Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week Brandon Raguz Kutztown (Jr. / Pole Vault) Chalfont, Pa. / Central Bucks South Raguz won an event at Shippensburg's Paul Kaiser Classic on Saturday as he took home the pole vault title by clearing 4.75m (15-07.00) to beat out 22 other competitors. Baseball: Eastern Division Athlete of the Week Chas McCormick Millersville (Sr. / RF) West Chester, Pa. / Henderson In five games, including a sweep of Bloomsburg, Chas McCormick went 12-for-20 in the leadoff spot, scoring 10 runs while hitting four doubles and two home runs. McCormick posted a .636 OBP in the week and went 3-for-3 in stolen bases. McCormick had a hit in all five games, and recorded at least two hits in four of five. He had a double in each of the first four games. In the opener against Bloomsburg, he went 4-for-5 with four runs, a RBI, two steals, a homer and a double. Baseball: Eastern Division Pitcher of the Week Mark Curtis Shippensburg (Sr. / P) Philipsburg, Pa. / Phipsburg-Osceola Curtis shutout the Golden Bears and held them to just one hit and one walk and struck out four to win his fifth decision of the year. The lone hit Curtis allowed was a leadoff single by Collin Bishop in the fourth inning as he faced just two batters over the minimum for a seven-inning game. The right-hander needed just 79 pitches in his complete game effort as he retired the final 12 consecutive batters to secure the 2-0 victory for SU. For Curtis, it was his ninth career complete game and second career shutout. Baseball: Western Division Athlete of the Week MP Buckley Seton Hill (Jr. / 1B) Pittsburgh, Pa. / Pittsburgh Central Catholic Buckley helped the Griffins sweep Clarion by going 7-13 (.538) at the plate. He scored 7 runs and added 9 RBI. He had 3 doubles and 2 homers. Added two stolen bases. Went 2-3 with 4 RBI with 2 runs scored and a double and homer in game 1 vs Clarion. Was 3-5 with 2 runs scored, 4 RBI and two doubles in game 3 win over Clarion. Baseball: Western Division Pitcher of the Week Joe Yourgal California (Sr. / P) Millersville, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic Yourgal earned one win and one save while tossing a combined 9.0 shutout innings of relief last week. He recorded the save in Game 2 on Wednesday after tossing 3.0 innings of shutout relief while scattering four hits at Lake Erie. Yourgal then surrendering just two hits in 6.0 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win in Game 1 of a doubleheader against IUP. Softball: Eastern Divison Athlete of the Week Madison Kelly West Chester (Jr. / OF) (Whitehall, Pa. / Whitehall) Kelly gathered nine hits this week, which propelled West Chester to its fourth straight PSAC Eastern Division crown. The junior batted .473 (9-19) with three doubles. She scored a run in every game except one, tallying five altogether. Softball: Eastern Divison Co-Pitcher of the Week Savannah Nierintz Kutztown (Sr. / P) Clifton Heights, Pa. / Upper Darby Nierintz went 2-1 last week with a 2.14 ERA to help lead KU to a PSAC East title. She also recorded a save in KU's final game of the regular season. She had a 12/1 strikeout/walk ratio. When going against fellow PSAC East Pitcher of the Year nominee in West Chester's Amanda Houck on Friday, Nierintz recorded the nine-inning extra-inning win. On Saturday, Nierintz threw a complete-game win in game one over Millersville and got her third save of the year in game two. It tied the KU single-season save record and moved her into second in school history with six in her career. Softball: Eastern Divison Co-Pitcher of the Week Amanda Houck West Chester (Jr. / P) (Gap, Pa. / Pequea Valley) Houck (27-3) collected four wins this week, which helped her break the school record for wins in a single season and clinch the PSAC Eastern Division crown for the fourth straight season. Houck accounted for 30 innings, while surrendering seven earned runs in the process. She hurled a pair of complete games victories against East Stroudsburg and Shippensburg. The junior suffered her only loss against Kutztown, after throwing eight scoreless innings and allowing two runs to score in the ninth. She also tallied 10 strikeouts for the Golden Rams. Softball: Central Division Athlete of the Week Morgan Cannin Pitt-Johnstown (So. / OF) Jenners, Pa. / North Star Cannin batted .500 (7-for-14) on the week while stealing a base. She impressed with a 6-for-7 outing in a pair of contests against IUP. Softball: Central Division Pitcher of the Week Paige Baker Clarion (Sr. / P) Transfer, Pa. / Reynolds Baker was dominant in the pitching circle last week, allowing just one run – unearned – in three appearances and one start. The senior righthander recorded the first complete game shutout of her career, in the final start of her career, in a 1-0 win over Lock Haven on Friday. Baker allowed just five hits but no runs in retiring the Bald Eagles on 97 pitches. The win against Lock Haven was the first Clarion victory over Lock Haven since April 17, 2010, a doubleheader sweep. Baker also saw extensive action earlier in the week, entering in relief against Mercyhurst on Tuesday and throwing 5.0 innings of one-run ball, though the one run allowed was unearned. She entered in relief in the second game as well and threw 0.2 innings of shutout ball. In total, Baker posted a record of 1-0 with an ERA of 0.00. She had 10 strikeouts and three walks in 12.2 innings pitched. Softball: Western Division Co-Athlete of the Week Paige Hertzog Seton Hill (Jr. / OF) Mt. Pleasant, Pa. / Mt. Pleasant Hertzog helped the Griffins to a 5-1 week to clinch a second place finish in the PSAC West standings. She was 11-21 (.524) with 9 runs scored and 10 RBI. He finished with 4 doubles and 1 homer. Softball: Western Division Co-Athlete of the Week Emily Price California (Jr. / SS) Warren, Ohio / Howland Price posted a .538 average and an .885 slugging percentage over eight games last week, as the Vulcans secured a berth in the PSAC Tournament for the 10th-straight year. She finished with two homers, eight RBI and eight runs scored, while registering a .600 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot. Price reached base seven times in eight plate appearances (five hits, two walks) and tallied four RBI and two runs scored in a doubleheader at Mercyhurst on Monday. The junior shortstop then collected three hits and scored three runs on Wednesday in a doubleheader sweep over Edinboro. Price posted three hits in the doubleheader against Gannon on Friday before closing the regular season with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored in a doubleheader on Sunday versus Seton Hill. Softball: Western Division Pitcher of the Week Olivia Gumbita Gannon (Sr. / P) Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe Gumbita produced a 2-0 record while also picking up her second save of the season. Gumbita tossed 12.2 innings, only allowing two earned runs for a 1.11 ERA. She struck out 15 batters and walked seven. In one relief appearance, Gumbita came in and pitched the final two-plus innings of the PSAC West Division-clinching game against Slippery Rock that the Lady Knights won, 4-2. Gumibta lowered her season ERA to 1.69 and stands with a 15-5 pitching record. Women's Lacrosse Athlete of the Week Chessie Rahmer East Stroudsburg (Jr. / MF) Salfordville, Pa. / Souderton Rahmer had 8 goals, 2 assists, 5 caused turnovers, 6 ground balls and 8 draw controls in 2-0 week for ESU (15-2, 11-1), which extended its school-record winning streak to 10 games and secured the first PSAC regular season title in program history with two wins vs. nationally-ranked teams (17-12 at #12 West Chester, 16-8 vs. #19 IUP) last week ... 4 goals, 1 assist in both games ... 5 draw controls, 2 ground balls in win at West Chester ... even more impressive with 5 caused turnovers, 3 ground balls, 2 draw controls and 0 turnovers vs. IUP ... leads ESU in goals (44) and points (54) from her spot in midfield ... 2nd on team in caused turnovers (35), ground balls (52) and draw controls (44) ... has scored in 13 straight games ... 9 games with 3+ goals this season ... 16 goals, 2 assists, 7 caused turnovers, 11 ground balls, 14 draw controls in 5 games vs. ranked PSAC teams this season (5-0) ... ESU's 15 wins extend school record (12 last season).