Pickett, Britton lead track & field at Hurricane Alumni Invitational

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The men’s and women’s track & field teams competed last weekend at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla., where senior jumper Gabe Pickett earned an IC4A-qualifying mark and senior Anna Pavone placed fifth in a field of more than 30 distance runners.

In the 100-meter dash, freshman Adam Hasan recorded a personal best with his 21st place finish. Sophomore Elijah Hargove and Jamal Williams also posted personal-best times.

The women’s team posted eight Top 5 finishes at the event, including Jenna Dubrow who placed sixth. The top finisher on the day was junior Margo Britton, who placed second in the shot put with her throw of 14.80 meters – her top mark during the outdoor season. Both of the relay teams on the women’s team ran their fastest times of the 2014 season.

Both teams will return to the track this weekend – at home, for the first time this year – at the Owls’ Alumni Invitational on Saturday.

DiPietro honored by Camden Catholic High School

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Softball coach Joe DiPietro has been elected to the Camden Catholic High School Hall of Fame.

DiPietro, who graduated from the school in 1976, returned to be an assistant coach after graduating from Gloucester County College. He became the head coach in 1988 and remained there for 15 years, winning three straight state championships from 1991 to 1993. He is the winningest head coach in Camden Catholic softball history. He left Camden Catholic when he got the head coaching job at La Salle in 2003. He came to Temple in 2008.

Roxas named as one of four Owls to be departing team

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Sophomore guard Meghan Roxas has received approval on her request to transfer and will look to move to another institution prior to the 2014-15 season, according to a report from Bret McCormick of All Star Girls Report.

Roxas was reportedly granted her release from Temple and will begin searching for a new school.

Before the news of Roxas’ intent to transfer, in an interview with junior guard Rateska Brown  –where she announced her own decision to transfer from Temple  – Brown said that former Owls forward Jacquilyn Jackson and two unnamed Temple players would be transferring during this offseason. With Roxas’ release, six players have left the Owls program in the last two years – including Jackson, Brown, May Dayan, Leah Horton and Sally Kabengano.

Roxas declined a request for an interview and a spokesperson for the team declined to comment. Last season, Roxas averaged nine minutes and played in 27 games, scoring 2.4 points per game.

Rowing relocates tent

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The women’s rowing team has temporarily moved its tent to the opposite side of St. Joseph’s boathouse until the East Park Canoe House is renovated.

Before the move, the women’s team was sharing tent space with the men’s crew team. Now with their own tent, coach Rebecca Grzybowski said having the tent closer to the river is more convenient for the team, instead of trotting across the St Joe’s boathouse parking lot to get their boats to the bank of the river.

The Owls look to move into their permanent home within the year.

Amid departures, Owls sign a transfer

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After recent news of guards Rateska Brown and Megan Roxas transferring away from the team, Tonya Cardoza has secured a transfer of her own, signing Georgia Tech freshman guard Donnaizha Fountain to a scholarship.

Per the NCAA transfer rules, Fountain will sit out the 2014-15 season.

Although the Roxbury, Mass. native will not play next season, she joins the Owls’ recruiting class of guards Tanaya Atkinson, Alliya Butts, Khadijah Berger and forward Wendion Bibbins as the Owls’ newcomers for next year.

“I am really excited to welcome Donnaizha to our family,” coach Tonya Cardoza said in the team’s press release. “She hails from my hometown of Roxbury, Mass.”

“She will bring passion, toughness, athleticism, and size at the guard position,” Cardoza added. ” I expect her to make an immediate impact on our team even while she is sitting out her first year.”

Fountain averaged 3.3 points per game in 21 games last year for the Yellow Jackets, primarily as an option off the bench.

She played high school ball at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School, and was once named to the ESPN Boston Super Team as one of the state’s top players.

With the Owls reportedly losing Brown, Roxas, guard Jaquilyn Jackson and one more player not yet named, the Fountain signing could be the first of more to come in the near future.

Three gymnasts to compete in national qualifier

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Evan Eigner. | HUA ZONG TTN

Evan Eigner. | HUA ZONG TTN

The NCAA announced on Monday that three members of Temple’s men’s gymnastics team will compete in the National Qualifying Competition on April 10 at the University of Michigan.

Sophomore Jon Rydzefski and freshman Jakob Welsh will compete in the all-around category, with qualifying scores of 81.150 and 80.650 respectively.
Sophomore Evan Eigner, the son of head coach Fred Turoff, qualified in the still rings with a score of 14.725.
The only Eastern College Athletic Conference team that made the National Qualifiers was William & Mary, who received an automatic bid by winning the conference tournament in Annapolis on March 28.

Brown to transfer, says others will follow

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Junior guard Rateska Brown confirmed last week that she plans to transfer ahead of the 2014-15 season to spend her final year of eligibility elsewhere.

Brown said that, including dismissed sophomore forward Jacquilyn Jackson, three other Owls will be transferring this offseason. Brown said that two of the players do not want their identities revealed yet.

“Yes, I’m transferring,” Brown said. “We always have meetings [with coach Tonya Cardoza] after the season is over about next year or how we had done in the past season, and there wasn’t even the option of coming back next year. It was suggested that I transfer.”

In an interview prior to the 2014 American Athletic Conference tournament, Brown spoke about her displeasure toward her reserve role for the Owls, and she later confirmed that the disagreement on the situation with Cardoza was one of her reasons for leaving Temple.

“I just thought it was going to be a fair season next year where everyone gets to work hard,” Brown said, referring to what she perceives as preferential treatment and favoritism by the Owls coaching staff.  “Whoever is the best at it gets to start, but I had doubts about next year. I had doubts that I was even going to come back, which I’m not.”

Prior to the 2013-14 season, Brown and Jackson were suspended from the team for a violation of team rules. Jackson was dismissed, but Brown returned as the Owls’ main weapon from the bench – averaging 7.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game – and was rewarded with The American’s Sixth Player of the Year award.

During the past two seasons, Jackson, May Dayan, Sally Kabengano and Leah Horton left the team.

Pickett, Janneh highlight Fred Harvey Invitational

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Sophomore Jamila Janneh and senior Gabe Pickett were among the top finishers in the Fred Hardy Invitational in Richmond, Va., this weekend. Janneh broke a 28-year-old school record in the triple jump on Friday, while Pickett placed first among 30 competitors in the long jump on Saturday.

Coach Eric Mobley credited assistant coach Shameka Marshall for the jumping squad’s strong performances.

“It was wonderful,” Janneh said. “It was awesome. At first I didn’t know I broke the school record, I just knew I got the PR. I came over to high jump and Mobley was like, ‘You just broke the school record.'”

Pickett returned from injury last week, after sitting out for the entire indoor season.

“It’s great for him to be back competing,” Mobley said. “He placed very well as well and jumped really far. It’s good to see him back in stride and get him closer to where he left off.”

Looking toward the rest of the season, Mobley said he wants to see his teams perform better in the outdoor conference tournament than they did in the indoor tournament. This is the program’s first year in the American Athletic Conference.

“We want to have a better showing, we’re motivated not to have that feeling that we had during our indoor season,” Mobley said. “Our training has been stepping up. Our individual athletes have been getting after it in practice, and that’s where it starts.”

 

 

Men’s tennis tops UConn

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The men’s tennis team opened its conference schedule on Saturday with a 5-1 victory against Connecticut.

Scheduling was complicated for coach Steve Mauro with the team’s move into the American Athletic Conference.  As a result, the UConn match was the only conference match Temple will play in the regular season.

“I thought we played extremely well in singles and everyone just fought hard,” Mauro said.

With the conference tournament less than three weeks from now, set to begin on April 17th in Memphis, Tenn., Mauro said he hopes the win will serve as a first step in propelling his team toward the postseason.

“We wanted to get a good start in the conference,” Mauro said.

“We were just able to get one conference match before the tournament but we were happy we played it,” Mauro added. “It really validates all the hard work that we’ve done to beat a conference opponent.”

Temple’s record now sits at 7-10 on the season.  Sunday’s match against Quinnipiac was canceled so Temple will next be in action on Thursday against city rival La Salle.

Sacramento State, San Diego State join AAC

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Beginning in 2014-2015 season, Sacramento State and San Diego State women’s rowing programs will join the American Athletic Conference.

Temple’s women’s rowing coach Rebecca Grzybowski said it only benefits the conference with both teams coming into The American.  The conference currently has five rowing programs – Central Florida, Southern Methodist, Tulsa, Connecticut and Temple. Now by adding two more programs to The American, Grzybowski said by winning the conference championship, a team will automatically qualify for the NCAA. This  could only be granted to a conference with a minimum of six teams.

Sacramento State will come into the conference with the most success, winning two Dad Vail varsity 8 titles in 2004 and 2010. As a result, Grzybowski said the level of competitiveness and urgency will increase, as Temple will rarely race against the two teams until the conference championship since they are on the west coast.

Sacramento State and San Diego State are currently members of Conference USA.