Campus News: November 20th, 2008

From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: When the gun went off to start the 13th Annual Turkey Trot on November 19, students from the Symonds Elementary School were ready. Since early October members of the Keene State swim and dive teams have helped them prepare for the annual fun run around the walking trails at the Keene school. More than 500 people, including students, their families, and the entire Symonds School community participate in the Turkey Trot festivities.

Once a week the Owl athletes, affectionately known as “Big Feet” have teamed up with their “Little Feet” — students in the third, fourth, and fifth grade — in an after-school running and walking club organized by Beth Corwin, a physical education specialist at the school.

“When I came here, there weren’t any after-school opportunities for the kids,” said Corwin, who is in her thirteenth year at the Symonds School. “There was a need for the students to have an alternative sport to those already offered in the community. We wanted to do something different.” Corwin says the program is all about having fun, participating, and loving physical activity.

Piling into the gym after their class day is done, the students meet with their Big Feet, who are assigned to groups based on speed. After limbering up with a few stretches and calisthenics, everyone heads outside for a running game. After scampering around Wheelock Park for 20 minutes, the ringing of a cowbell summons all runners back to the school.

Both members of a masters swim program at KSC, Corwin and Owl swim coach Jack Fabian came up with the running/walking club while brain-storming to find a way for the Owl athletes to work with the Symonds School students.

“When I presented the program to the swimmers and divers, I thought only a few would be interested,” said Fabian. “To my surprise, 15 athletes immediately volunteered. It’s a great experience for the athletes, to promote wellness and to serve as mentors to the students.”

Corwin said the several aspiring runners have sprouted from the program. “Six kids from Symonds have been running all the way through high school and all of them credit this little after-school program with developing their initial excitement about the sport,” she said.

Courtesy Photo: Students from the Keene’s Symonds Elementary School with KSC Swim and dive team “Big Feet.”

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Keene State field hockey and women’s volleyball teams hit the road this week for their opening-round NCAA Division III tournament games.

The Owls captured their fifth-straight Little East Conference field hockey championship on November 1 with a 4-0 win over rival Plymouth State. KSC also won LEC titles in 1998 and 1999. Junior midfielder Erin Dallas, who was named the tournament’s MVP, had a pair of goals and an assist in the finals.“We were fired up to play in the championship game,” said KSC Coach Amy Watson, who earned her 250th career victory. “This team came a long way this season.” (The Owls lost 1-0 to Springfield College yesterday in the NCAA first round.)

The Keene State women’s volleyball team won a five-game cliffhanger over UMass-Boston 3-2 (30-28, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25, and 17-15) to win their first-ever LEC championship on November 2. Facing a 7-1 deficit in the fifth and deciding game, the Owls rallied to pull off the dramatic victory.

“We were down 7-1, but I didn’t see us going down like that,” said KSC Coach Bob Weiner. In his fourth year on the Keene State bench, Weiner felt the key play in the final game came when Sarah Peterson sacrificed life and limb, diving to make a match-saving dig. “We popped the ball up and we turned around and scored on it,” he said. “That was the turning point. We weren’t going to lose after that.”

“It was a perfect ending to a perfect season,” said junior setter Jordan Pokryfki, whose parents made the trip from Alaska to take in the tournament. “We were down in the fifth game and nobody gave up. I thank every single member of the team for that. We’ve been dreaming about this tournament the whole year and, even though we were behind, we weren’t going to let it slip away from our fingers. We wanted it so badly.”

Courtesy photos: KSC field hockey and women’s volleyball teams

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From Recreational Sports: Enter the Pumpkin 5K Fun Run/Walk on Friday, October 24! T-shirts will be given to the first 100 sign ups (once they have completed the run). The race begins at 2:30 p.m. and the entry deadline is Wednesday, October 22 (entries will be taken up until the day of the race, but later entries cannot be guaranteed a T-shirt). Register at the Rec Center. The event is free and open to all KSC students, faculty, and staff.

Recreational Sports is sponsoring a canned food drive for the Keene Community Kitchen in conjunction with the race. Please bring a can of food on the day of the race. For more information contact Lynne Andrews at landrews@keene.edu.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Eva Fabian (the 15-year-old daughter of KSC swim coach Jack Fabian) and Dan Theleen (top Owl men’s distance swimmer) recently returned from San Francisco, where they competed in the RCP Tiburon Mile, considered one of the most competitive and prestigious open-water swims in the world.

The pair turned in impressive performances in the race, which goes from Angel Island in San Francisco Bay to Tiburon and includes over 700 competitors. Fabian, a member of the U.S. Open Water National team, finished 16th overall and fifth among women with a time of 22:00. She competed in the elite class and bested such world-class athletes as Chloe Sutton, the two-time defending champ who raced at this year’s summer Olympics in Beijing. Theleen, a top competitor for the Owls, placed  sixth in his 19 – 29 year old division with a time of 24:21.

Both Fabian and Theleen said they learned a lot from the experience and hope to return to the event next year. In the meantime, they are back training at KSC’s Spaulding Gym pool. Theleen is getting ready for the Owls’ season, while Fabian is preparing to compete with the U.S. National Junior team in Guam in January.

Courtesy Photo:
Dan Theleen, Eva Fabian

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From Keith Boucher, Athletics: The KSC women’s basketball team would like to thank the campus community for their generous support of our charity car wash last Saturday. The team raised $470 for the BETTYS organization. This group of students and parents is raising money to help improve the facilities at Monadnock Regional High School.

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Stuart Kaufman (Sports Information) has received two District 1 writing awards from College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in the 2008 Fred S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest. The District 1 region includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.

The writing contest has five categories (athlete feature, general feature, coach/administrator profile, event coverage, and historical feature), and the 2007–08 contest drew 388 total entries.

Kaufman received a second place award under “event coverage” for “The Right Track: Keene State Jumper, Runner Win NCAA Titles,” a story about the KSC women’s track team national championships. He received third place under “general feature” for “Blaisdell Knows the Rules,” a story about alum Peter Blaisdell that appeared in Keene State Today.

Courtesy photo
Stuart Kaufman

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Walking used to be a major ordeal for Nancy Bleam. A member of the athletic training staff for the past 12 years at Keene State, Bleam readily recalls a time when, unable to breathe, she had to stop three times while walking down Appian Way.

Bleam has no problems walking these days. In fact, she plans to be front and center on Sunday in Middlebury, Vt., for one of the most important walks of her life — the Walk for a Cure — a fundraiser for polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

Bleam will be among thousands of people who will take part in the three-mile walk that will begin simultaneously at noon at 23 sites around the country. Wearing T-shirts that say “survivor or fighter,” participants will begin their route by walking through a field of flowers, bought in honor of or in memory of someone who has died from the disease that destroys working kidney tissue.

Teaching athletic training classes and helping more than 300 student athletes recover and recuperate from injuries on a daily basis, Bleam began experiencing major health issues in 2006. Twenty-five years ago, she was diagnosed with PKD, the same disease that caused the death of her mother, Evelyn Berry Bleam, and has been found in her younger sister, Monica Roney, and nephew, Justin, who live in St. Joseph’s, Michigan.

She had both of her kidneys removed in July 2007, when doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock transplanted her cousin Jenny’s left kidney into Bleam. “I went from dying to completely new,” Bleam said. “She’s 10 years younger than me, so I got a good deal. It’s a gift I intend to keep.”

After taking some time off to build up her immune system and her strength, she returned to full-time work in October 2007. Bleam, who calls athletic training her passion, says she literally grew up in a training room. Her father, Don, worked for the Detroit Lions, the Baltimore Bullets, and the University of Michigan before moving back to his hometown and working as the athletic trainer at Adrian High School.

Bleam can now walk as fast as she wants and no longer gets winded or feels pain when she is stretching Keene State athletes. She has no dietary restrictions and, except for few anti-rejection pills and a need to take a flu shot once a year, is back to living as normal a life as can be expected, given her life-changing experience.

Little things are no longer taken for granted. “This means so much to me,” she said about Sunday’s walk. “I’ve never been able to do it. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to breathe and walk.”

Courtesy photo
Nancy Bleam

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Keene State’s Sabra Hawkes completed her participation in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China (September 6 – 17). The junior placed eighth in her 100-meter heat with a time of 15.75 and finished sixth in the first heat of the 200-meter race with a time of 32.36.

Hawkes, who was born with a mild case of cerebral palsy, qualified for the U.S. team at the Paralympic Team Trials held at Arizona State University’s Sun Angel Stadium. She won the 100-meter dash and placed second in the 200-meter race.

A member of the KSC track team, Hawkes has an impressive list of accomplishments on the track. She earned gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the 2007 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Championships in Atlanta, Ga. She won a gold medal in the 200-meter and a silver medal in the 100-meter at the 2007 ParaPan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a silver and a bronze medal at the 2005 Cerebral Palsy Worlds in New London, Conn.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: The Keene State women’s basketball team will hold its annual charity car wash on Saturday, September 20 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), at the Granite Mobil gas station on West Street in Keene. Donations will go to the “Be True to Your School “(BeTTYS) committee. This group is raising money for facility improvements at Monadnock Regional High School.

The women’s basketball team is hoping that the campus and area community members will support their efforts to improve the learning environment at MRHS.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: The Keene State women’s basketball team will hold its annual charity car wash on Saturday, September 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Granite Mobil station on West Street in Keene.

Donations will go to the Be True to Your School (BeTTYS) committee. This group is raising money for facility improvements at Monadnock Regional High School. The women’s basketball team is hoping that the campus and area community members will support their efforts to improve the learning environment at MRHS.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Keene State men’s soccer coach Ron Butcher called his team’s recently completed trip to Costa Rica a learning experience. Not only were the Owls schooled in the skills by several highly talented club teams, but they were also taught an even worldlier lesson after meeting some of the country’s children.

“When I first went down there, I thought it would be mostly about soccer,” said Shawn Booth, a senior back on the team. “But it ended up being the exact opposite.”

Keene State played four games during their nine-day junket to Costa Rica, a small Central American country located between Panama and Nicaragua. Although team bonding was high on the agenda, the Owls also used the trip to gauge their conditioning and focus as they prepare for their season opener.

It wasn’t all work for the Owls, who attended a World Cup qualifying game between Costa Rica and El Salvador in San Jose. They also surfed at Flamingo Beach, propelled down the zip line in the rain forest, took a tour of the volcano-fed hot springs, and went white-water rafting.

The Owls also performed some community service with their visit to a local center that housed 86 fatherless children who ranged in age from 10 months to 10 years old. Butcher said it was a real eye-opening experience for himself and his players.

“All these kids wanted was to be held, loved, and played with,” Butcher said. “My players were tremendous. For all we did, I will never forget those two hours.”

Many of the players came back from the trip with a list of things they had to work on to have a successful season. But they also returned with so much more.

“As much as it was a soccer trip, it was also about visiting another country and learning about their culture,” said Butcher. “It was a trip of a lifetime for many of these players who have never been anywhere.”

Courtesy Photo
Owl players visit with children at Costa Rican Center

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: While the men’s soccer team got an early start with a trip to Costa Rica last week, the rest of Keene State’s fall teams began their preseason on Monday, August 18. The Owls are hoping that practice makes perfect.

The first day of practice can be a logistical nightmare for the coaches and staff. Eligibility has to be confirmed, physicals have to be taken, and housing has to be assigned. “The key is preparation,” said KSC athletics director John Ratliff. “You need a system in place that enables the athletes to get as much done as possible before they even arrive back on campus.”

Before stepping onto the field, coaches give their players a chance to unwind and catch up with friends. “We don’t get them out and put them through their paces running wise,” said KSC cross-country coach Peter Thomas. “We want them to start forming some bonds with their teammates and get comfortable in their environment.”

“Sometimes you get players who are a little homesick,” said KSC women’s soccer coach Denise Lyons. “You need to talk to talk to them and make sure they are able to make the adjustment.”

“I think the freshmen can be intimidated by the whole experience,“ said KSC field hockey coach Amy Watson. “It’s different for fall sports because you’re not only coming to a new team, but also a new school and a new home. The first week can be overwhelming.”

KSC women’s volleyball coach Bob Weiner said evaluation can be tricky and time-consuming. “We have 10 new players, so we’re trying to figure out who’s who and what they are capable of doing,” he said. “You have to give players time to acclimate. Some take longer than others.”

While some coaches start off with drills, Lyons’s first practice includes a scrimmage pitting veterans against the new players. “We get to see what we have, and the players get a chance to evaluate their competition,” she said.

Thomas, in the meantime, uses a short time trial for his runners before sending them out on longer practice workouts.

Regardless of their methods, the name of the game is to get ready for the season. The price paid in August could pay dividends in November. “The preseason can be very trying, both mentally and physically, but you have to look at the big picture,” said Watson. “It’s all about motivation and bringing the team closer. A good season starts with a good preseason.”

KSC teams kick-off their fall seasons the weekend of August 30. The women’s soccer team is home against Norwich while everyone else is on the road. The men’s soccer team is at the Salisbury (Md.) tournament, the field hockey team is at RPI, and the volleyball squad is at Gordon College. The Owl cross-country teams begin their season with an Alumni Meet before getting set for a meet the following week at Trinity College.

Photo: Adam Skibek

Junior Lindy Caslin makes a defensive save during field hockey practice.

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: Recently returning from a 10-day, five-game trip to Europe, Keene State men’s basketball coach Rob Colbert said he was initially concerned how his team would gel on the court.

Traveling to Greece and Italy on a tour run by USA Athletes International, Colbert had three of his former Owl players, Travon Little, Kevin Ritter, and Matt Hickey, on his nine-man squad. But with limited practice time, he did not know how the KSC trio would work with the other six players (who came from several New England schools, including LEC rival Rhode Island College, Lasell College, and Mount Ida College).

Colbert’s anxiety lasted until the start of the first game in Greece when his team got together for a pregame cheer. Before heading out on the court, the players got together and in unison yelled out “U-S-A.”

“When they put on that USA basketball jersey everything changed,” said Colbert. “You could see the look in their eyes. They were no longer from Keene State or Lasell; they were Americans representing their country.” The team did America proud, winning all five games on their schedule against competitive club programs made up of lower-tier national players. For the most part, the American team adjusted well to an international game that included a deeper three-point line, a trapezoid lane, and an eight-second backcourt rule.

Surprisingly, communication between players wasn’t much of an issue. Following the games, which took place in the evening due to the oppressive daytime heat, the players would get together for dinner and converse about the games, referred to as “friendlys” because no championship was awarded. Instead of exchanging addresses and numbers, the players swapped jerseys and permission to be on each other’s MySpace or Facebook pages.

Courtesy Photo; KSC players at the Acropolis (Front: Travon Little, Matt Hickey, Kevin Ritter; Back: Coach Rob Colbert)

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From Stuart Kaufman, Sports Information: This summer, KSC coaches hit the road in a new way: Rob Colbert and a squad of graduated basketball players from the Northeast just returned from Greece and Italy, and Ron Butcher will take a group of upperclassmen from his Owl men’s soccer team to Costa Rica from August 13 to 22.

The Owls will play four games against club and reserves teams before returning home and getting set for preseason camp. The KSC men’s soccer team opens up its season at the Salisbury (Md.) University Elmer Lord Soccer Classic on August 30 to 31.

USA Athletes International asked Colbert to put his traveling basketball team together. The 10-member squad included former Owls Travon Little, Matt Hickey, and Kevin Ritter as well as players from Rhode Island College and other area programs. They left on June 30 and returned July 9, playing two games in Athens and Bologna.

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