BEREA, OHIO -- Four Baldwin-Wallace College student-athletes have been named as Ohio Athletic Conference Players-of-the-Week on Nov. 5 for their performances the week of October 29 through Nov. 3.
The four selected student-athletes are football middle linebacker Luke Chronister (Ashland/ Senior), who is the football Defensive Player of the Week; senior 2-time Division III All-American punter Kevin Soflkiancs (Middleburg Heights/ Midpark), who is the football Special Teams Player of the Week; sophomore Vince Colwell (Parma/ Normandy), who is the Men’s Swimmer of the Week; and senior Stephanie Markley (Mansfield/ Senior), who is the Women’s Swimmer of the Week.
Since taking over for injured preseason All-American middle linebacker Paul Burger (Mentor) five games ago, Chronister, an All-OAC and Academic All-OAC selection a year ago, has played like an All-American by making 74 tackles (14.8 per game). He had a game-high 16 tackles in Saturday’s 37-27 win versus Otterbein College and also had a key interception that stopped a Cardinal drive and ran the ball twice on fake punts for first downs. Chronister now has 105 tackles to lead B-W and the OAC. He is just the 11th player in B-W school history to have 100 or more tackles in a single season and. The OAC Player of the Week honor is his second in the last two years.
Soflkiancs averaged 48.2 yards per punt in four attempts and dropped a pair of punts inside the Otterbein 20-yard line, including one that stopped at the one yard line. In his last three games, Soflkiancs is averaging 46.3 yards in 15 attempts against Mt. Union (9-0), Ohio Northern (6-3) and Otterbein (5-4) and has increased his Division III-leading average drom 42.0 to a career-best 43.6. In addition to being a 2-time All-American, Soflkiancs is leading the OAC in punting for the fourth straight year, leading Division III for the third time, is a 2006 ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-American and the 2006 Division III Gilburg Award winner as its best punter and currently is a nominee for the Gagliardi Award which is symbolic of the best student-athlete who plays football in Division III. His OAC Player of the Week honor is the eighth of his career and first this season.
Colwell led the Yellow Jacket men’s swimming and diving teams to wins last week at Oberlin College and at home versus Wilmington College. Against Oberlin, he won the 100-yard backstroke in 51.76 seconds and swam on both the winning 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay teams. In B-W’s win versus Wilmington, Colwell individually won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.10 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 58.58 seconds and swam on the winning 200 medley relay team.
Markley helped the B-W women to a 1-1 record last week. The All-OAC swimmer in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and Academic All-OAC competitor in 2006 and 2007 won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:37.87 and swam on the winning 200 free relay team versus Oberlin. In a win against Wilmington, Markley individually won the 50 free in 26.96 seconds and the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.80 and swam on the winning 200 medley relay squad.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.
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