PSAC Athletes of the Week - 14
Swimming
Men’s Swimming Athlete of the Week
Clarion
Connor Cary
Fly/Free
Senior
West Chester, Pa. / Malvern Prep
Connor Cary broke two of his own individual school records, helped a relay team break another, and attained three NCAA "B" cuts in a weekend at the Zippy Invite hosted by Akron. Cary started the weekend by helping the 200 Medley Relay team break the program record with a time of 1:31.36. The previous school record had been set in 2016. From there Cary went to work on individual records, namely his own. He broke his own record in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.08, hitting an NCAA B Cut in the process. He went on to do the same in the 100 Fly, topping his own record with an NCAA cut. He closed the weekend out with a B cut in the 200 Fly.
Women’s Swimming Athlete of the Week
Clarion
Hannah Greenway
Free
Sophomore
Lititz, Pa. / Warwick
Hannah Greenway hit one NCAA "B" cut and came just fractions of a second short of nabbing another, recording the best time of her collegiate career in the 50 Free. Greenway took 15th at the Zippy Invite - a field dominated by Division I opponents - with a time of 23.56, giving her an NCAA qualifying cut. She came up just short of doing so with another strong effort in the 100 Free, swimming a 52.72.
Wrestling
Wrestling Athlete of the Week
Seton Hill
Kane Kettering
174
Freshman
Transfer, Pa. / Reynolds
Kane Kettering got a pin in just 1:08 at 174 pounds in the Griffins match against Kutztown. He got the win over the No. 3 wrestler in the region while wrestling up a weight class.
Women's Basketball
Women’s East Athlete of the Week
Ariel Jones
Shippensburg
Guard
Senior
Lebanon, Pa. / Cedar Crest
In a 3-0 week for the Raiders including a win against nationally ranked 15 Cal U, Jones averaged 24.0 points a game, with 10.7 rebounds per game, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals. She totaled 72 points and 32 rebounds. In the game against Bowie, Ariel Jones led the Raiders with 18 points, added seven rebounds and had two assists as SU rallied to get a 63-56 overtime victory at Bowie to improve to 4-1. Jones scored 13 of her team-high 18 points in the second half, as SU overcame a 16-point deficit in the first half to eventually grab its second victory over the Bulldogs this season. Jones's defense also drew four charges, resulting in offensive fouls and turnovers for Bowie. SU scored 24 of its 63 points off Bowie turnovers. With her 18 points, Jones moved past Cal's Kayla Smith (2096 points from 2006-11) and IUP's Jahzinga Tracey (2102 points from 2005-09) to reach eighth place all-time in career scoring in PSAC history. Against ranked No. 15 Cal U, Jones put up her first 30+ points this season and her first double-double. She helped the Raiders keep the Vulcans to their lowest points this season with 57 points. Jones's 13 rebounds was also a career high. She is now seventh all-time in career scoring in the PSAC, surpassing Sara McKinney of California (Pa.), who reached 2,121 career points. Looking at the +/- statistics, Jones was +19. Jones had 16 points by halftime, including 12 points in the first quarter while Cal as a team only scored 13 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Jones had 4 points but had 6 rebounds. In the third quarter, Jones had 11 points and 4 rebounds and by the fourth quarter she had 8 points and 2 rebounds. Against Slippery Rock, Jones had another double-double and her first back-to-back double-double since 2019 against Jefferson (11/26/19) and Holy Family (12/01/19). She totaled 19 points and 11 rebounds. She added four assists and four steals which are both season highs. Looking at the +/- statistics, Jones was +21. At halftime, SU only led by 4 points and Jones had 4 points and 6 rebounds. In the third quarter, she had 7 points, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. She had 8 points and 4 rebounds in the fourth quarter, which means 15 of her 19 points came from the second half. Jones is ranked 2nd in the league in scoring and 9th in rebound with 8.3 rebounds per game.
Women’s East Defensive Athlete of the Week
West Chester
Anna McTamney
Guard
Sophomore
Plymouth Meeting, Pa. / Plymouth Whitemarsh
Anna McTamney has put together a great stretch of basketball for West Chester, getting things done on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court, helping lead to WCU to a four-game winning streak (including two wins over ranked opponents), and an unbeaten start to league play. Against #22/25 Jefferson in the first game back from Thanksgiving, McTamney had a career day, finishing with 30 points, six rebounds, three steals and a block to help lead WCU past the nationally-ranked Rams. On Friday night vs Mercyhurst to open PSAC play, McTamney turned in another solid effort, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds (three defensive), two blocks, and a steal, stretching the winning streak to three games in a row. On Saturday evening against #15/8 Gannon, McTamney turned in another solid effort, finishing with 14 points, three rebounds (all defensive), three steals, and a block to help lead WCU to its fourth victory in a row. Over this stretch, McTamney averaged 20.0 points per game, 4.6 rebounds per game, and 2.3 steals per game.
Women’s West Athlete of the Week
IUP
Alana Cardona
Forward
Senior
Souderton, Pa. / Souderton
Cardona was one of several standout performers in a 3-0 stretch for IUP. She averaged 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds for the week shooting 55.9% from the floor and 41.7% from three. She chipped in five assists, four steals and three blocks. Recorded two double-doubles in three games, including a career-best 22 points and 10 rebounds against Ohio Dominican (11/23/22).
Women’s West Defensive Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Isabellah Middleton
Guard
Redshirt Sophomore
Leesburg, Va. / Tuscarora
Aided in a 3-1 record for SRU over a two-week span. Ended the two weeks averaging 8.0 rebounds and 6.0 defensive rebounds per game to go along with 2.25 steals and 1.0 block per game. Middleton rounded out her four-game performance averaging 19.5 points and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 41.6 percent from the floor.
Men's Basketball
Western Division Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Khalid Gates
Forward
Junior
Washington, D.C. / Washington High School & Academy
Khalid Gates led the Slippery Rock men’s basketball team to a 3-1 record over the last two weeks with key regional wins over Daemen, Charleston and Shepherd as well as loss against Shippensburg to help The Rock to one of the best starts in program history. Over four games, Gates scored 18.0 points per game on a .583 field goal percentage (28-of-48) and a near perfect free throw percentage of .846 (11-of-13) in addition to grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game, including 2.3 rpg on the offensive glass. Gates scored at least 15 points in all four games with the highlights being a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double over Daemen and a career-high 26 points in the Charleston win. The Rock’s three victories came by an average of 13.7 points.
Western Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
IUP
Tomiwa Sulaiman
Forward
Sophomore
London, England / West Nottingham Academy
Tomiwa Sulaiman averaged 11 points and nine rebounds over three victories for third-ranked and undefeated IUP. The sophomore posted six blocks and five steals in three victories, and 18 of his 27 rebounds were on the defensive end. Sulaiman then posted 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in hard-fought regional battle win against New Haven on November 26
th.
Eastern Division Athlete of the Week
East Stroudsburg
Carlos Pepin
Forward
Senior
Lodi, N.J. / Lodi
Carlos Pepin led ESU in four wins with 17.5 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. Pepin shot 56.5% from the field and made 17-of-19 shots from the free-throw line, in addition to 12 distributed assists (second on team), four blocks (2nd on team) and six steals (tied for second on team). The senior totaled just four turnovers in 82+ minutes of action on the court and registered at least 16 points and eight rebounds in all four games. He tallied double-doubles against both D'Youville and Pitt-Johnstown.
Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Week
Shippensburg
Dom Sleva
Forward
Senior
McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour
In a 3-1 week that included conference wins over Cal (Pa.) and Slippery Rock, Sleva grabbed a whopping 43 defensive rebounds in four games in addition to six steals and three blocks. Sleva entered the weekend ranked among the Top 3 players in the nation in defensive rebounding. Sleva began the week with 12 defensive rebounds (15 total rebounds), a block and a steal at Seton Hill. He followed that up with 15 defensive rebounds against Bowie State and had 18 rebounds overall, one short of his career high. In the PSAC games, Sleva had eight defensive rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the victory over Cal, last year's regional finalists. Against The Rock, Sleva had eight defensive rebounds and three steals. Sleva was part of a defensive group that limited The Rock to season lows in FG% (.364), points (59) and rebounds (28). Against Bowie State, Shippensburg's defense held Bowie to a FG% of 33.9 and 25.0 percent shooting from three. Sleva produced double-doubles in three of the four games as well, averaging 13.0 points per game in addition to his 12.8 rebounds per game average.
Indoor Track & Field
Men’s Track Athlete of the Week
Shippensburg
Erik Kirk
Sprints
Junior
Coatesville, Pa. / Coatesville
Junior sprinter Eric Kirk got his season started off on a positive note with a pair of impressive individual runs at Bucknell. Kirk won the 60 meters in 6.82 seconds, a new personal best and NCAA provisional qualifier that is .07 seconds off Stephon Brown's school record set at last year's Bison Opener that resulted in a trip to the NCAA National Championships. Kirk also won the 200 meters, crossing the finish line in 22.40 seconds for a time that results in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships automatic qualifier. Capping off a third win on the day, Kirk ran the opening leg of the victorious 4x400-meter relay team – partnering up with Robbie Hrabosky II, Travis Bigham and Quinton Townsend to run 3:26.20. Kirk's 60 time ranks 6th nationally and atop the PSAC.
Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Joshua Gose
Throws
Junior
Lewisburg, Pa. / Lewisburg Area
Gose posted the No. 1 shot put mark in the PSAC and the No. 4 mark in all of Division II at the YSU Icebreaker last week. His toss of 16.80 meters was the best collegiate mark in the competition and finished second overall. That mark is an NCAA provisional mark and ranks higher in DII than any other PSAC thrower at No. 4. Gose also hit the PSAC standard in the weight throw at YSU with a mark of 15.09 meters, good for eighth place at YSU and No. 6 in the PSAC.
Women’s Track Athlete of the Week
California (Pa.)
Divonne Franklin
Sprints
Senior
Philadelphia, Pa. / Archbishop John Carroll
Franklin broke her own school record and all-time PSAC record in the finals of the 60-meter dash while at the Youngstown State Icebreaker on Friday. She placed third in the finals of the 60 meters with a time of 7.40 seconds, which ranks as the third-fastest time in the country this winter. Franklin finished second in the event behind the defending-Horizon League Champion from the host Penguins while breaking the record by three-hundredths of a second. The Philadelphia native also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a league-qualifying time of 24.98 seconds.
Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Slippery Rock
Baylee Blauser
Jumps
Freshman
Parker, Pa. / Allegheny-Clarion Valley
Blauser recorded an NCAA provisional mark and the top performance in the PSAC in the long jump in her very first collegiate competition Friday at Youngstown State. Her leap of 5.83 meters was second in the field only to a Division I jumper from Pitt and is the best in the PSAC and ranks 6th in all of Division II. She also placed fourth in the triple jump at YSU with a leap of 11.27m, which ranks No. 2 in the PSAC and No. 22 in all of Division II.
ABOUT THE PSAC
Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg University, California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University, East Stroudsburg University, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University, Lock Haven University, Mansfield University, Mercyhurst University, Millersville University, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Seton Hill University, Shepherd University, Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University.