College Notebook

UMO Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2016 to be inducted Saturday

– Women’s volleyball student-athlete Heidi Busch, former Trojan Athletic Director Mac Cassell, women’s tennis student-athlete Lucia Henkle, baseball student-athlete Macon Jones, and former Vice President Jimmy Williams will be inducted into the University of Mount Olive Athletics Hall of Fame at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Lois K Murphy Regional Center as part of the 51st Annual Mount Olive Pickle Classic.

Heidi Busch Kessens ’06 was named an All-American in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The four-time Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (CVAC) first-team all-conference honoree is the all-time Mount Olive leader in five statistical categories.

Dr. Mac Cassell was the athletics director at Mount Olive, a faculty member and golf coach. During his tenure, Mount Olive accumulated eight regular-season conference championships, eight conference tournament championships, and eight NCAA appearances, including an Elite Eight finish for men’s basketball.

Lucia Henkle-Melick ’06 earned first team all-conference honors all four years and was named the CVAC Freshman of the Year in 2002, CVAC Player of the Year in 2005, and CVAC Woman of the Year in 2005-06.

Macon Jones ’00, shortstop for the baseball team, earned All-CVAC honors in 1999 and 2000 and was named the CVAC Player of the Year in 2000. He helped lead the Trojans to CVAC championships and NCAA appearances in 1999 and 2000.

Jimmy Williams served as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement from 1984-1992 and returned in that role from 2014-16. Williams started the Michael Martin Memorial and Handy Mart golf tournaments, which have raised over $2 million for the Trojan Club and endowments to fund scholarships.

UNC: Senior Hayley Carter, the No. 1 ranked collegiate singles player in the country will represent the United States in the annual Master’U BNP Paribas International Collegiate Team Competition December 1-4 in Marcq-en-Baroeul, France. Meanwhile, Alexandra Sanford of Westerville, Ohio, has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on the team. She is ranked the No. 1 player in this class as recently as August 2016 by TennisRecruiting.net, Sanford is also ranked 16th in the world in juniors and 516th overall in the world by the WTA.

N.C. State: Head coach Simon Earnshaw announced the signing of Taylor Bridges, who will join the Wolfpack beginning in the 2017-2018 season. The Chandler, Arizona, native has been ranked as high as No. 30 in the 2017 recruiting class according to tennisrecruiting.net and is currently ranked No. 45 nationally and No. 2 in the state of Arizona.

UNC: The Tar Heels will compete in the NCAA Championship semifinals on Friday, meeting Connecticut at 2 p.m in Norfolk, Va. The winner advances to the NCAA title game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

N.C. State: The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has named men’s head coach Rollie Geiger and women’s head coach Laurie Henes Southeast Regional Coaches of the Year for 2016. The men’s and women’s teams swept the NCAA Southeast Regional Friday in Charlottesville, Va., earning both teams berths to the NCAA Championships held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday. In his 39th year as head coach, Geiger led the men’s team to a Regional title and had four All-Regional finishers. Since 1998, he has won Regional Coach of the Year seven times.

Elon: The women’s team will embark on a journey to Greece from Nov. 18-27 to compete internationally while gaining an incredible overseas learning experience. The teams will travel to Athens, Olympia and Delphi during their nine-day trip as the student-athletes will also complete their learning requirement.

NCCU: After leading the Eagles to their first national ranking as a Division I program with the opportunity to win the conference championship for a third straight year, head coach Jerry Mack has been named as one of 15 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award as the FCS Coach of the Year.

Saint Aug’s: Kiana Clark (Fr./Long Island City, NY) scored 18 points for Saint Augustine’s University in a 99-59 women’s basketball loss to Division I Norfolk State University at Echols Hall in Norfolk, Va. The Lady Falcons will play again in the ECSU Classic on Friday in Elizabeth City. They will square off against Miles College at the Vaughn Center, beginning at 5 p.m.

N.C. State: The team continues its season opening four-game home stand Wednesday night, hosting Hampton on Kay Yow Court inside Reynolds Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The Wolfpack moved up in both national polls during the second week of the regular season, and now currently sits No. 35 in the AP poll and No. 35 in the USA Today poll.

ECU: The Pirates will host its annual Education Day game on Wednesday, Nov. 16 against UNCW. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum.

Elon: Coming off a win over Rutgers on Monday night, the team is set to resume play in the Preseason WNIT on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, on the campus of Central Michigan University. The Phoenix will take on Eastern Washington on Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. before facing either CMU or Furman a day later.

Shaw: The Lady Bears suffered an 82-80 loss to Paine College in front of 926 fans on Tuesday night in its home opener. The loss dropped the team to 1-2 on the season. Freshman Stephanie Custodio (Chino, CA) led the Lady Bears in scoring with 20 points and five rebounds.

Campbell: The Camels jumped to a 25-7 lead and went on to its largest victory margin in the program’s Division I era in a 101-45 win Tuesday over Bridgewater at Gore Arena. Chris Clemons scored 23 of his game-high 28 points in the opening half, while freshmen Damontez Oliver and Cory Gensler added 10 apiece for the Camels (1-1), .

Elon: Steven Santa Ana scored a blistering 32 points, a new career-high for the sophomore guard on Monday night. However, the team was unable to overcome the 49ers as the Phoenix fell to Charlotte, 100-95, on Nov. 14, inside Alumni Gym.

Saint Augustine’s: Shakera Hall and Meghan Mahon capped outstanding regular seasons by making the All-CIAA Teams. Hall garnered first-team honors at right-side hitter and Mahon was a second-team selection at setter. The teams were voted on by the league’s Volleyball Coaches Association and Sports Information Association.

Shaw: Kelly Murphy and Michelle Olmeda-Gonzalez earned All-CIAA First Team honors while Keveesha Wattley and freshman Tapanga Moten received All-CIAA Second Team accolades. In addition, Shaw had two players named to the All-CIAA Rookie Team that included Moten and Aisja Jones.

Duke: The team saw a number of strong performances from freshmen at this weekend’s November North American Cup (NAC), hosted by the United States Fencing Association in Milwaukee, Wis. Eoin Gronningsater finished pool play with a perfect 6-0 mark. Agoston Walter and Ben Stone both received perfect 6-0 ledgers after pool play concluded. Aidan McGinnis completed pool play with a 2-5 mark before winning three straight matches in direct elimination.

Mount Olive: The athletics leadership program took to the ropes course on Sunday at Schenck National Forest in Raleigh. Twenty-two student-athletes tip-toed and swung their way through the high ropes course before finishing with a trip down the zip line. The student-athletes were assembled in groups of two for safety and to help build communication.

Duke: Statistics for the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) released Tuesday by the NCAA indicated that 97 percent of freshmen student-athletes receiving scholarship aid or recruited individuals participating in programs that do not offer athletic aid graduated from the university within six years.

From news releases

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "College Notebook."