OU Head Golf Coach Cunningham Heading to U.S. Senior Open

Oakland head men's and women's golf coach Russ Cunningham will be making his first appearance in the United States Senior Open Championship. Although it will not be as a competitor, Cunningham will be caddying for longtime friend Randy Lewis in the 2012 U.S. Senior Open at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich.

“I first met Randy at the 2000 USGA Mid-Amateur Championship,” said Cunningham. “We’ve played several rounds together over the years and in 2009 he asked me to caddy for him at Hawk Hollow for the U.S. Senior Open qualifier, which he finished as the first alternate and later got into the championship.”

The 54-year-old Lewis was named the GAM Golfer of the Decade for the 1990s and Cunningham earned that distinction for the 2000s. Both players have established themselves in the amateur world and Cunningham was excited when he received the phone call from Randy to carry his bag in the 2012 U.S. Senior Open.

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Pair of Leathernecks Earn ITA All-Academic Honors

Two Western Illinois tennis players, Jessica Callahan and Mitch Granger, were recently named 2012 ITA All-Academic Scholar-Athletes. 

 

To qualify for the honor, student-athletes had to maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 during the current academic year, be enrolled in their present institution for a minimum of two semesters and earn a varsity letter.

Calgary Herald Highlights Levins' Road to the Olympics

Photo by Tom Gee (eliterunningphotos.com)

In the span of a couple of months, Cam Levins has gone from just hoping to sneak onto his first Canadian Olympic track and field team to being one of the biggest stories on it.

In between, the 23-year-old from the tiny Vancouver Island town of Black Creek, B.C., has laid down a few eye-popping performances, collected two NCAA titles, and signed a sponsorship deal with Nike — the latter being big news for a runner who kills off a pair of shoes every two to three weeks.

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WIU Women's Basketball Alum Tugba Palazoglu Qualifies for 2012 Olympic Games

Western Illinois women's basketball alum Tugba Palazoglu qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games as a member of the Turkish Women's National Basketball Team. The shooting guard made 'The Fairies of the Net's' 12-person roster to achieve the honor.

Tugba Palazoglu

She is the second Western Illinois women's basketball player in program history to qualify for the Olympics. Her former teammate Zane (Teilane) Tamane was the first, appearing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing with the Latvian Women's National Basketball Team. Turkey opens pool play on July 28th against Angola and faces the United States on August 1st. Turkey will play five games as part of Group A. Eight of the 12 teams will advance to the quarterfinals after pool play.

Palazoglu transferred to Western Illinois after spending two years at Barton County Community College and played at Western in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. As a junior, she led the team with a 38.9 shooting percentage beyond the 3-point arc, was third on the team in points per game with 10.2 and was one of four returners who averaged double-digit scoring.

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