NCAC Weekly Newsletter & Athletes of the Week - 2/27

2/27/2023 5:15:00 PM

Baseball Player of the Week – Ari Fierer, Denison
Denison senior Ari Fierer (Denver, CO/Colorado Academy) hit .700 (7-for-10) during a 3-0 opening weekend for the No. 18 Big Red at the D3 College Showcase. Fierer finished the week with five RBI, four walks, three runs scored, two stolen bases, a double and a triple. The senior went 2-for-2 with a three-run triple and three walks during Denison's 6-5 season-opening win against Berry on Friday. On Saturday, he went 3-for-4 at the plate while pitching the final 1.1 innings of the game giving up no hits, no earned runs, two total runs, two walks and two strikeouts in an 8-3 win over Christopher Newport. To end the weekend, he hit 2-for-4 with one run, one RBI and one walk in a 10-7 win over Susquehanna.

Baseball Pitcher of the Week – Michael Osmond, Wittenberg
Wittenberg graduate student Michael Osmond (Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty) picked up his first win of the 2023 campaign as the Tigers defeated Transylvania, 17-5, in the final game of the Baltimore Invitational. In five-innings, Osmond recorded 10 strikeouts, allowing just one hit, three walks and one earned run.

Men’s Golf Athlete of the Week – Brayden Weiss, Wabash
Wabash junior Brayden Weiss (Superior, CO/Monarch) earned medalist honors and helped the Little Giants tie for the team championship at the Music City Shootout in Nashville, Tennessee over the weekend. Weiss shot an even-par 70 in Sunday's final round after shooting 73 on Saturday. His two-round total of 143 strokes put him three strokes ahead of a group of golfers tied for second with scores of 146. Wabash carded identical rounds of 296 on both days for a final score of 592 and were the only team to shoot two rounds under 300 for the entire tournament. The Little Giants lost the championship trophy to Olivet Nazarene by two strokes in the scorecard playoff.

Men’s Lacrosse Athlete of the Week – Thomas Nelson, Kenyon
Kenyon sophomore Thomas Nelson (Minneapolis, MN/The Blake School) tied an NCAA Division III record for single-game faceoff percentage after posting a near-perfect mark in two Owl wins last week. In an 11-10 season-opening win over Baldwin Wallace, Nelson was a flawless 24-for-24 in faceoff battles, which tied the NCAA faceoff-percentage record at 100 percent (min. 21 faceoffs). His win total, without a loss, ranks as the seventh best in NCAA Division III history. In a 16-8 win over Capital, the sophomore was 19-of-20 on faceoffs, making him 43-for-44 (97.7 percent) on the week. Additionally, Nelson's two-game totals included a team-best 34 ground balls, to go along with two goals and an assist.

Women’s Lacrosse Athlete of the Week – Grace Egan, Ohio Wesleyan
Ohio Wesleyan senior Grace Egan (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) recorded a team-high five goals on five shots in a 17-13 win over Otterbein. Egan scored twice during an early 6-0 run that gave the Battling Bishops the lead for good. OWU trailed, 2-1, in the first quarter when the senior rang up back-to-back goals to put the Bishops ahead to stay. Egan also tallied goals in the second, third, and fourth quarters.

Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week – Shivam Dewan, Wooster
Wooster junior Shivam Dewan (San Jose, CA/California Connections Academy at Ripon) helped lead the Fighting Scots to a 2-0 week after recording four victories. In a 9-0 win over Grove City, Dewan teamed with freshman Namit Mirsa (Pune, India/Suryadatta National School) for a win in the No. 2 doubles flight, 8-5. He later swept his No. 3 singles competition 6-0, 6-0. In the team's 9-0 win against Capital, Dewan and Misra won 8-1 in the No. 2 flight, and the junior later took a 6-2, 6-1 win in the No. 2 singles flight.

Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week – Elizabeth Hoo, Denison
Denison sophomore Elizabeth Hoo (Glenview, IL/Glenbrook South) was a combined 4-1 on the week with wins in both singles and doubles action against DePauw and No. 38 Gustavus Adolphus on Sunday. In a 9-0 victory over the Tigers in the team’s NCAC opener, Hoo won in comeback fashion in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-1) at No. 5 singles, while she and her partner Peyton Oda (Elk Grove Village, IL/Elk Grove) earned an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles. Later in the day in a 6-3 win over the Gusties, Hoo clinched the match with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles, while she and Oda won 8-2 at No. 3 doubles. Her only loss on the week was at No. 6 singles (6-4, 6-1) against No. 18 WashU on Saturday.

NCAC Milestones & Records (Feb. 20 - 26)
Kenyon, Men’s Lacrosse - In a season-opening 11-10 home win against Baldwin Wallace University, Kenyon sophomore Thomas Nelson (Minneapolis, MN/The Blake School) went 24-for-24 on faceoffs and tied, percentage wise, the NCAA single game record (min. 21 faceoffs). His win total, without a loss, ranks as the seventh best in NCAA Division III history.

Ohio Wesleyan, Women’s Basketball – Kasey Schipfer's (Mechanicsburg, OH/Mechanicsburg) 22 points in the NCAC tournament championship game raised her career total to 1015, making her the 18th Ohio Wesleyan women's basketball player to surpass the 1000-point mark.

Wabash, Lacrosse - Freshman attack Quinn Fitzgerald (Indianapolis, IN/Brebeuf Jesuit) tied the NCAA Division III record with 13 goals in Saturday's 21-6 Wabash victory over Concordia University - Chicago. Fitzgerald matched the record of 13 goals in a game set by Ed Ryder from SUNY Oneonta in 1987 and tied by Tim Chapman from Gordon in 2001. Fitzgerald also gave out two assists in the win to finish with 15 total points, tying the NCAC record held by Ohio Wesleyan University's Andy Greaves in a game against Oberlin in 1993. Fitzgerald added five more goals in the Little Giants' 20-12 win at Monmouth College Tuesday evening.

Wooster, Men's Basketball - Sophomore Jamir Billings (Lorain, OH/Lorain) broke the program's 26-year-old single-game record with 10 three-pointers in Saturday's NCAC Tournament championship game. . . Senior Turner Kurt (Cambridge Springs, PA/Cambridge Springs) scored his 1,000th career point between Div. II Edinboro and Wooster in Tuesday's NCAC Tournament quarterfinal win over Oberlin.

Wooster, Men’s Lacrosse - Eric Seideman won his first game as the Fighting Scots' head men's lacrosse coach on Wednesday.

Wooster, Indoor Track & Field - Several program records were broken at the NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships; sophomore Will Callender (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) in the 3,000-meter run (8:40.60), first-year Lorenzo Freeman (Fairburn, GA/Riverwood International Charter School) in the 60-meter hurdles (8.46), junior Dylan Garretson (Newcomerstown, OH/Newcomerstown) in the pole vault (16’ 1.25”), senior Morgan Kromer (Eagle, CO/Eagle Valley) in the pole vault (11’ 4.25”), and junior Ainsley Wiesner (Lake Forest, IL/Lake Forest) in the weight throw (50’ 9.25”).

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