Omon's shot with Buffalo
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Northwest Missouri State running back Xavier Omon got a lot of attention around Buffalo for a sixth-round draft pick this past weekend. And Northwest coach Mel Tjeerdsma said Wednesday that Omon has a great shot to make the Bills’ team.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
For an avid college sports fan in this area, anything that is Northwest Missouri State vs. Missouri Western on the schedule is like opening up presents on Christmas morning.
On Wednesday night, the miserable spring weather for their baseball doubleheader was just like Christmas, minus the glistening snow.
If it were just a few degrees colder, we would have seen the white stuff glistening in the lights of Phil Welch Stadium. Instead, it was a miserable, bone-chilling rain, driven by a wind that whistled through the leaky, rickety press box atop the stadium and making me lose all feeling in my feet and hands. (Insert wailing violin music here.)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
For our last podcast of the 2007-08 year, sports editor Scott Pummell and I sat down with Missouri Western’s new athletic director, Dave Williams. It seemed like a fitting final note for the season considering the vacant AD position made headlines throughout the year and Williams’ vision for Western will begin shaping the athletics department in the near future.
MIAA basketball: A debate that's all academicMonday, March 24, 2008
We hear it endlessly, that nearly constant banter between the supporters of this region’s two universities as they compete, not only on the athletic courts and fields but also in the field of public opinion.
It’s old, venerable Northwest Missouri State vs. the young (although nearly 40-year-old) upstart Missouri Western. Some even consider this a battle of the preppies vs. the thugs, although my dealings with the athletes of both schools have led me to believe that most of the young people in both athletic programs lie somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.
So it was with some interest that I studied the MIAA’s newly released Academic Honor Roll of men’s and women’s basketball as if it were a fresh batch of cumulative season statistics.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Having seen all eight teams and their following of fans on the first day of the South Central Regional Tournament, it is easy to see that Tarleton State deserves the No. 1 seed in this event.
At least their fans do.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
One of the exciting things about being a sports writer on the college level is the glorious travel opportunities.
On a Wednesday or Saturday night one can find himself in such exotic places as Pittsburg, Kan., Kirksville, Mo., or other regional epicenters. (If you don't understand at this point that my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, you should probably just stop reading now.)
So with great anticipation, I made the journey to the South Central Regional Basketball Tournament in Stephenville, Texas.
Yeee-haw, I'm in cowboy country!
Monday, March 10, 2008
The final day of the MIAA tournament left nine schools green with envy.
Now the Northwest Bearcats can party like it’s 2004.
Apparently, titles come in twos.
Sadly, those leads ended up on the cutting-room floor after the Northwest men and women swept the MIAA basketball championships, but Bobby the Bearcat probably summed it up best when he took a broom to the lane at Municipal Auditorium moments after the Northwest men’s 57-51 victory over Emporia State. And I have one more now that Northwest has a football title and two basketball crowns: 2007-08 is the year of the Bearcat.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Tournament time is serious business. We’re talking top button fastened, wear your best tie and grimly assess the day’s successes and failures serious. It’s certainly no laughing matter.
Enter the Emporia State men. Saturday night they became the first eight seed to reach the tournament final in the 27-year history of the MIAA basketball championships. But they represent more than history; they’re doing their part to make tournament time fun.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Knocking down shots under the lights of Municipal Auditorium is nothing new to Mose Howard. He did it during the 2004-05 season as a member of UMKC’s team before transferring to Northwest.
So it was fitting that in the arena he used to call home, Howard played for the first time in more than a month and helped propel Northwest into the MIAA championship game for the first time in four years.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Perhaps the Northwest women should warm up to Olivia Newton-John’s aerobics anthem for Sunday’s MIAA tournament final. Stirrup pants and sideways ponytails aside, the song summed up the Bearcats’ upset of top-seeded Washburn on Saturday at Kansas City’s Ice Box --- aka Municipal Auditorium.
Northwest held a 43-35 rebounding advantage against No. 20 Washburn and forced three more turnovers. Bearcats center Mandi Schumacher didn’t hold back in her postgame analysis.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
In the final press conference of the day, Washburn’s Andrew Meile pretty much summed up the tournament to date following the sixth-seeded Ichabods’ victory over third-seeded Central Missouri.
Random thoughts from Friday at the MIAA tournamentSaturday, March 8, 2008
1) Was Jordan Fithian just having fun, or is he just a little bit different?
In the first half of the game against Southwest Baptist, Emporia State's 6-foot-6 senior forward walked toward the press table with the referee to inbound the ball after a timeout.
The referee pointed out the spot where he wanted Fithian to stand, and Fithian responded, “That's good.”
As if Fithian had a choice.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Northwest Missouri State's women on Thursday did something against first-round foe Missouri Southern that no other team has done this year.
The Bearcats overcame a halftime deficit to beat the Lions.
Friday, March 7, 2008
The MIAA basketball championships needed less than eight hours to produce a shocking upset. Emporia State – ranked 22nd nationally, seeded second and home to the MIAA’s all-time leading scorer – lost 77-70 to No. 7 Truman State on Thursday night.
GAME BLOG: Washburn 78, Western women 63Thursday, March 6, 2008
Chemia Woods and Jessica Mainz earned spots on the MIAA all-defensive team this week and matched up against each other in the first round of the MIAA tournament Thursday.
Ironically, both surpassed their season scoring averages with Mainz getting the best of Woods – 15-12. Mainz, who averaged 6.6 points a game during the regular season, went 5-of-6 from behind the arc.
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