UNO's Wampler Selected to National All-Tournament Team

UNO women's soccer sophomore forward Hannah Wampler was named to the 2013 USYSA NationalChampionships Best 11 on Monday.

Wampler was the only player selected to the all-tournament team from her club team, LSC EGA Bravo, which won the Region II championship in July and placed fourth at the National Championships later that month.

NDSU Names Tom Bird Director of Women's Basketball Operations

Tom Bird has been named women's basketball director of operations at North Dakota State University. NDSU head women's basketball coach, Carolyn DeHoff made the announcement today and said Bird will join the staff July 29.

Bird served as the assistant video coordinator for the University of Florida women's basketball program last year. Among his duties were organizing film exchange for all-conference opponents, and also creating a virtual playbook of all practices and games, offense and defensive plays.

Fort Wayne's Saltys Selected to NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

IPFW senior Tim Saltys has been named as one of 31 members of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Saltys, a former member of the men's tennis team, and current member of the men's cross country squad, has joined a committee made up of student-athletes assembled to provide insight on the student-athlete experience. The SAAC also offers input on the rules, regulations, and policies that affect student-athletes' lives on NCAA member institution campuses. 

The Division I national SAAC consists of one student-athlete from each of the 31 Division I conferences. Members are selected by the current Division I SAAC members from a pool of three nominees from each of the represented conferences. Each student-athlete serves a two-year term.

The Division I SAAC reports directly to the Division I Management Council, and two SAAC members participate in each meeting of the Management Council as nonvoting members. It is through this representation on the Management Council and other Division I and Association-wide committees that NCAA Division I student-athletes offer input and assist in shaping the proposed legislation by which their division is governed.

SDSU's Fiegen Signs Pro Contract in Switzerland

Recent South Dakota State graduate and volleyball standout Kelli Fiegen signed to play professional volleyball with Hotel Cristal VFM in Saignelégier, Switzerland.

A four-year letterwinner at SDSU, Fiegen earned all-conference honors three times and Summit Player of the Year honors in 2010 in leading the Jackrabbits to The Summit League Tournament. She finished her illustrious career at SDSU ranked sixth all-time with 1,407 kills, seventh all-time with 107 solo blocks, second all-time with 409 block assists and third all-time with a .326 career hitting percentage. She also spent the last two summers training and competing with the Team USA A2 team.

Fiegen reports to VFM no later than Sept. 1, 2013.

WIU's Gravina Adds Pair to Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

Western Illinois head women's basketball coach JD Gravina announced the additions of

J.D. Gravina (Photo by Inertia Sports Media)

Kierra McCleary and Bailey Beale as assistant coaches on Tuesday.
 
McCleary comes to Western Illinois after a one-year stint as an assistant coach at Lewis University in 2012-13, where she helped the Flyers to a 24-6 record and berth into the NCAA Tournament. 

Beale joined the Leatherneck women's basketball staff as a graduate manager following a playing career at Illinois-Springfield. She captained the Prairie Stars as a junior and senior and holds the school record for three-pointers made in a season. The Independence, Mo. native also earned Second Team All-Conference honors.

NDSU Names Sawyer Assistant Women's Basketball Coach

Halie Sawyer has been named assistant women's basketball coach at North Dakota State University. NDSU head women's basketball coach, Carolyn DeHoff made the announcement today and said Sawyer will join the staff July 2.

Sawyer was a former player at the University of Utah when DeHoff served as an assistant and associate head coach under Elaine Elliott. A of member of back-to-back Mountain West Conference regular season and tournament championship teams, Sawyer was named to the MWC all-Defensive team her senior year.

IUPUI Names Larkins to Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

After hiring Kristin Drabyn in May to fill one of the two vacancies on his coaching staff, IUPUI head women’s basketball coach Austin Parkinson announced today the final piece of his coaching staff for the 2013-14 campaign with the hiring of Lee Larkins.

Larkins joins the IUPUI women’s basketball staff after spending last season as an assistant at IPFW.

Bucks Introduce Wolters to Milwaukee Media

Nate Wolters' new team, the Milwaukee Bucks, introduced him to the local media today. Wolters was joined by the team's other draft choice Giannis Antetokounmpo during a press conference at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Drafted 38th overall in Thursday's NBA Draft the Washington Wizards, Wolters wound up with the Bucks after a pair of draft night transactions.

As part of his whirlwind tour, Wolters also conducted a one-on-one interview with Bucks.com during a team appearance at Milwaukee's Summerfest.

UNO Adds Aduddell to Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

Omaha women's basketball head coach Chance Lindley has announced the addition of Lee Aduddell to the Maverick coaching staff.
 

Aduddell joins the Mavericks after spending two years working as a graduate assistant under coach Sherri Coale at Oklahoma. Before that, she was an assistant coach at Trinity University in San Antonio for three years. Aduddell replaces Rebecca Alvidrez, who took the head coaching job at Division II Adams State.

My Championships Experience - Softball Edition

My Championship Experience is a diary blog written by Summit League student-athletes detailing their experiences at each of the 19 Championships. 
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South Dakota senior Kate Snow writes about her experience at the 2013 Summit League Softball Championship: 

Wednesday, May 8
Our journey started this morning by leaving the DakotaDome at 6:30 a.m. so that we would have time to drive up to Fargo, N.D., and eat lunch before our scheduled practice time at 11:45 a.m. We decided to take the scenic route through Fargo while going to the field so we waited to eat lunch until after practice at 1:15 p.m.. We couldn’t check into our hotel right away so we went to Cold Stone to pass the time. By the time we checked in, we went to our rooms to relax before getting ready for the banquet. We got all dressed up and went to the banquet. Everyone looked great! I could hardly recognize people out of their softball jerseys. My coach asked me to do the invocation a couple days ago and since I always do our pregame prayer I figured why not. We all got seated and the introductions began and then it was my turn to go up on stage and pray. Boom, nailed it! Now on to supper. The food was great and we all had a good time. I was really proud of my teammates and the awards we won. After the banquet, we just hung out. We had a team meeting to refocus for our game tomorrow. After being up for over 17 hours I decided to call it a night. 

Thursday, May 9 
We played at 4 p.m. so we could sleep in. Caribou Coffee was at 10 a.m. if we wanted so a group of eight of us went and got coffee and then came back and went to breakfast. We had a couple hours to relax before we left for lunch at Jimmy Johns at 12:15 p.m. Then we came back to the hotel and had an hour to get ready before we had to leave for our game. On the bus we listened to our walk up songs to have fun and pump us up. We got to the field, warmed up, and we ready to go. Since we were seeded third, we played No. 2 Fort Wayne. Game time came and I was the DP in the nine spot. The game started off well as I drove in the first run. I was happy we scored first, but wasn’t going to settle for just that. We didn’t perform as well as we would’ve liked. I think nerves were a big part since this was our first time. But we were going to pull together and come out stronger tomorrow. 

Friday, May 10 
I didn’t set an alarm this morning since we didn’t play until 3 p.m., but I woke up at 9:15 a.m. anyway so I decided to go with Christine (Broders) and Matley (Jones) to get coffee again. After we got back, we went to breakfast with a group of teammates. Not long after that, our team met in the lobby to walk to a sandwich shop across the street. I was still full from breakfast so I saved my sandwich to eat later. We got to the fields early so we could watch part of the previous game. We put our cleats on and began warm-ups. Little did I know, that would be the last time I would lace up my cleats as a collegiate softball player. The game definitely did not go as planned. We didn’t hit the ball as well we would have liked. You could our team was playing tense and was not very relaxed. I was the last out of the game and I absolutely broke down. To know that I would never be able to step on a field with my family of teammates was heart-breaking. For the last five years, I put everything into becoming the player that I am today and to help build the foundation for the team that we are. I couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone. After we shook hands, our coaches talked to us and told us how proud they were of how we did and how our season went with it being our first year eligible for the league tournament.  To qualify and do so well was such an accomplishment. I couldn’t be more proud of my team and everything we accomplished together. After we all hugged it out, I went and hugged my dad and talked to him. He told me how proud of me he and my mom are. They’ve been my biggest supporters, I couldn’t ask for better parents. After we talked to our parents, we gathered back together as a team and decided that we didn’t want to stay and watch the championship game on Saturday. We stayed to watch the 6 p.m. game and it was gut-wrenching knowing that we should’ve still been in it. We only stayed until the fifth inning because it was so windy and cold. Our coaches stayed to watch the games Saturday, but we got on the bus and went home. We finally pulled into town around 12:30 a.m. 

Saturday, May 11 
Since we decided not to stay, we were just hanging out and checked the game tracker to see how the games were going. Later that night, I found out that Lindsey Boyd and I made the All-Tournament Team and I was absolutely ecstatic to get that recognition. I was also very happy to see Lindsey get that award, she is one of the most dedicated and hard-working people I know and she definitely deserves it! As hard as it was to have our season end early, it was humbling being chosen for the All-Tournament Team.

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Don’t forget to check out the next edition of My Championship Experience as it follows the Baseball Championship, May 23-25, the final Summit League Championship of the 2012-13 season.