Baylor student-athletes excelling in the classroom
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
Baylor’s athletic program has developed a well-earned reputation for developing quality student-athletes who embody the best of both those words — “student” and “athlete.”
For years, Baylor’s graduation rates have reflected well upon the department, with the Bears annually at or near the top of the Big 12 in their percentage of student-athletes who earn diplomas. The NCAA has recently also developed what it calls the Academic Progress Rate (APR), and it should be no surprise that Baylor does well in that metric, too.
Baylor’s baseball and soccer programs lead the Big 12 in APR, according to the most recent data released by the NCAA. In all, 11 Baylor squads were above the national Division I-A average for their sport, and 16 of Baylor’s 18 sports scored at or above the national threshold. (Men’s tennis scored slightly lower but is not subject to penalty due to its squad size, and the equestrian program was not tracked since it is only in its third year.)
Programs that fall below the NCAA threshold can be penalized with scholarship losses and a ban on postseason play. But the combination of Baylor’s good numbers on the APR and the athletics department’s excellent graduation rates (over 50 more will graduate this weekend) shows the University really is “Winning with Integrity.”
Sic ’em, Baylor student-athletes!
Baylor tennis teams both advance to NCAA’s third round
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics
Building on already successful regular seasons, the Baylor men’s and women’s tennis teams each took advantage of playing at home to advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 over the weekend. The women will be playing in the tournament’s third round for the fourth straight year, while the men have advanced at least this far in each of the last seven seasons.
The fifth-ranked women beat Oral Roberts and Tulsa; they will face 12th seed Miami in the Round of 16 Thursday at 9 a.m. Baylor defeated the Hurricanes 4-1 in Coral Gables earlier this season. The 10th-ranked men, meanwhile, breezed past Oral Roberts and Texas A&M this weekend. They will take on No. 8 Tennessee this Friday at noon.
From here on out, all matches for both the men’s and women’s tournament will be played at the University of Tulsa’s Michael D. Case Tennis Center. For live updates, ticket info and more, visit BaylorBears.com.
Sic ’em, Baylor tennis!
Hall of Fame hoops coach leaves retirement to join Baylor staff
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics
Imagine former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz taking a job as an assistant under Art Briles, or basketball’s Bobby Knight accepting a position as an assistant to Scott Drew. That’s about what women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey has pulled off in getting Leon Barmore to come to Baylor.
Barmore, who retired in 2002 after 20 seasons leading the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters, was announced recently as the Lady Bears’ newest assistant coach. Barmore took his team to the NCAAs in every one of his 20 years at Louisiana Tech, a stretch that included nine Final Four appearances and the 1988 national championship. He was the fastest coach ever to reach 500 wins, and his .869 winning percentage is still the best in the sport’s history. His entire career — as a player, assistant coach and head coach — has been at Louisiana Tech until now.
It speaks to Baylor’s place on the national women’s basketball scene that a Hall of Fame coach like Barmore would leave retirement to come to Waco. In fact, he said Baylor was one of only two jobs that could have pulled him back into coaching.
Sic ’em, Coach Barmore!
Baylor tennis programs each hosting NCAA regionals
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
It’s been a good three days for Baylor’s tennis programs.
Sunday, the No. 3-ranked women beat #20 Texas to claim the program’s third straight Big 12 Conference Tournament title, while the 11th-ranked men (playing without their top player) upset the No. 7 Longhorns to win the conference tournament for the fourth time in five years. This on the heels of both programs winning the regular season conference title, as well.
The past week’s championships give Baylor’s athletic department 20 Big 12 Championships in the past five years. Only Texas has won more in that period. In all, the Bears have won 29 Big 12 championships in the league’s 12-year history; Baylor won exactly 29 Southwest Conference titles in 81 years of SWC membership.
Monday, the conference announced that the Baylor women had swept the 2008 All-Big 12 awards, claiming the Player (Zuzana Zemenova), Freshman (Taylor Ormond), Newcomer (Jelena Stanivuk) and Coach (Joey Scrivano) of the Year. Zemenova became the first athlete in Big 12 history to be named Player of the Year four straight years in any sport. Three other Lady Bears and three Baylor men were named to the All-Big 12 teams.
Tuesday, the programs learned that, for the third straight year, they would each host NCAA First and Second Round action. The women are the tournament’s No. 5 seed and will face Oral Roberts in the first round May 9. The men were named the No. 9 seed and begin the tournament May 10, also against Oral Roberts. Baylor is one of only two schools to have both the men and women ranked among the top 9 seeds.
Sic ’em, Baylor tennis!
Former softball standout’s health scare rallied Baylor family
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Just for Fun, Alumni, Athletics
Baylor fans know Cristin Vitek as the softball pitcher who struck out an NCAA-record 28 batters in a 16-inning 1-0 win during the 2004 NCAA Regional — the exceptional athlete seen in this picture. But all her athletic achievements meant nothing earlier this year when she spent three weeks in the hospital, her family worried at times if she would even survive.
Thankfully, she is now on the road to recovery and was healthy enough to throw out the first pitch before Wednesday night’s softball game. The Baylor Lariat and Waco Tribune-Herald each ran nice features on what she’s been through; the Viteks shared how the Baylor family immediately sprung into action with prayers for Cristin’s health, plus phone calls, text messages and e-mails of encouragement.
It’s so great to see the Baylor community banding around a brother or sister in their time of need. And in this case, it’s great to see Cristin back up and headed towards full health.
Sic ’em, Cristin, and sic ’em, Baylor family!
Equestrian excels at nationals as host
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
Last weekend, Baylor hosted the Varsity Equestrian National Championships — the second straight year that the Bears have played host. In fact, Baylor will host the championships at the Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex next spring, too.
Of all the NCAA championships, only baseball hosts its championship in the same city every year. Could Waco follow in Omaha’s footsteps? Baylor equestrian fans can only hope so.
In the meantime, there’s plenty of success in the arena to cheer about. Junior Nicole Brown fell two points shy of winning the program’s first national championship over the weekend, losing 162-160 in the Equitation Over Fences title match. (The Waco Tribune-Herald ran a nice feature on Brown here.) Baylor’s hunter seat team also posted its best-ever finish at nationals, placing sixth.
(If you don’t quite get the terminology, BaylorBears.com has a pretty good FAQ here. My wife, a former Baylor Riding Association member, has helped me learn the sport.)
Sic ’em, Baylor equestrian!
Baylor boasts Big 12 champs in men’s and women’s tennis
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
For the fourth straight year, Baylor is home to both the men’s and women’s Big 12 Conference tennis regular season champions. Think about that for a minute; it means that this year’s graduating class in each program has never known anything but winning conference championships!
The No. 3-ranked Baylor women finished the year a perfect 11-0 in Big 12 play, 25-2 overall, with both losses coming against teams that were ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time. The Lady Bears have won four straight Big 12 titles and five out of the last six; over the last four seasons, they have rolled up a conference record of 43-1.
The 13th-ranked men, meanwhile, finished the regular season 5-1 in the Big 12, 19-8 overall. The team tied for the conference title with Texas, landing the Bears their seventh straight Big 12 championship and their eighth in the conference’s 12-year history.
Combined, the Baylor tennis programs have won 11 of the last 12 Big 12 tennis titles over the past six years — a time period that just happens to correspond with women’s coach Joey Scrivano’s start at Baylor and men’s coach Matt Knoll’s promotion to Director of Tennis Operations. Coincidence? I think not.
Sic ’em, Baylor tennis!
Soccer tournament raises money for women’s charity
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics
In her first spring as head soccer coach at Baylor, Marci Jobson took the team’s usual spring scrimmages and added a little something extra: the chance to raise money for charity.
Jobson created the Play for Hope Tournament, held last weekend at Betty Lou Mays Field. Baylor defeated Trinity, TCU and Texas State by identical 1-0 scores, which is good news for the team’s immediate future on the field. But the even better news was the $2,500 in donations that were raised for the DiscoverHope Fund, an organization that works to support women in poverty. The Fund’s creator (and Jobson’s sister), Magdalyn Miller, said the money will go to help women in Peru.
In addition to the games, the team held a soccer clinic for children, with donations going to the charity. What a great way for Baylor to get involved in the community and also give to those in need across the world.
Sic ’em, Baylor soccer!
Briles to enter Texas High School Football Hall of Fame
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
When head football coach Art Briles was hired last fall, much was made of his ability to turn around programs, going all the way back to his days in the high school ranks. Friday, the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame announced that Briles will be inducted into the Hall this May as part of the Class of 2008.
When Briles took over as head coach at Stephenville High School in 1988, the school had not reached the playoffs in over 35 years. In just his second year, Briles got the Yellowjackets into the playoffs; they would not miss the playoffs again during Briles’ 12-year run at Stephenville.
Even more impressive, Briles led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back state championships in 1993-94 and again in 1998-99. After that fourth state title, Briles left Stephenville, spending three years as an assistant at Texas Tech and then five years as head coach at the University of Houston before coming to Waco.
Sic ’em, Coach Briles!
Tisdale drafted by WNBA’s Chicago Sky
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics, Honors
Senior Angela Tisdale became the sixth Baylor player to be selected in the last seven years when the WNBA held its annual amateur player draft Wednesday night.
Tisdale was the 33rd overall pick, going in the third round to the Chicago Sky. A 2007-08 All Big 12 first-team selection and a national player of the year finalist, Tisdale led the Lady Bears in scoring and assists, setting a new program record for career assists earlier this year. She and teammate Rachel Allison each earned honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press.
This is the fourth straight year a Lady Bear has been drafted. Previous selections include Sheila Lambert (2002, 1st round), Danielle Crockrom (2002, 1st), Steffanie Blackmon (2005, 3rd) , Sophia Young (2006, 1st) and Bernice Mosby (2007, 1st). Young and Mosby are still active.
Sic ’em, Angela!
