BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace winter sport teams are having an excellent season. In fact, a historic winter as both the men’s and women’s basketball teams helped B-W to become the second school in Ohio Athletic Conference history to win regular season titles in the same season. Now both teams have a chance to host an OAC Championship Game the week of February 21–25.
The men’s basketball team has a 20–2 overall record, leads the OAC with an 14–1 mark and was ranked an all-time best third in Division III following a February 8 victory against OAC-rival Mount Union. The Yellow Jackets are the defending OAC Tournament champions and participated in last year’s NCAA Division III National Tournament.
Among B-W’s early highlights are tournament titles at Westminster (Pa.) and The College of Wooster. At Westminster, B-W beat fifth-ranked St. John Fisher (N.Y.) in the first round and set a school scoring record with 133 points in the championship game. At Wooster, B-W beat the second-ranked Fighting Scots, 113–108 in a double overtime thriller. In addition, B-W has twice defeated cross-town rival John Carroll, 92–69, on Jan. 11 in University Heights and 78–56 in Berea on Jan. 25.
Junior preseason All-American Tori Davis (Elyria) was the Most Valuable Player at Wooster where he set a career-high and tournament record with 44 points against the Scots. He leads the OAC in scoring and was the 33rd B-W basketball player to join the 1,000-Point Club. Sophomore guards Brendan Schuler (Fairview Park) and Tyler Sekerak (Corry, Pa.) also have been key. Schuler was the MVP at Westminster and set a school and OAC record by making 13 straight three-point shots over a three-game span. Sekerak was the Most Valuable Defensive Player at Wooster. In addition, seniors Dan Gundert (Wellington) and Keith Aufmuth (Brooklyn) have been named to an all-tournament team. Aufmuth became the 34th member of B-W’s 1,000-Point Club in Feb. 4 win versus Otterbein.
The women’s basketball team also has a 20-2 overall record, leads the OAC with a perfect 15-0 mark, was ranked eighth following a Feb. 8 win at Mt. Union and now has 10 straight 20-win seasons (238-42 record with an .850 winning percentage). The Yellow Jacket women are the defending OAC regular season co-champs and last year’s OAC Tournament champs. They have made an appearance in the NCAA Div. III National Tournament eight of the past 10 years. The B-W women enter February 18-0 against Great Lakes Region foes.
Highlights so far include winning the season-opening Rochester (N.Y.) Tournament and beating both fifth-ranked and OAC-rival Capital in Columbus and 17th-ranked Bates (Maine) in December. The women are two for two against John Carroll to stretch that winning streak to 29 straight.
Leading the way are All-OAC and Academic All-OAC student-athletes Nikki Altenweg (Perry) and Michelle White (Hudson). Altenweg tops the team in scoring and is currently third all-time in school history in steals and fourth all-time in assists.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ended their dual meet seasons with winning records and each contended for an OAC title at John Carroll in February. The men were 8–5 overall and undefeated in OAC dual meets at 4–0. The women, the defending OAC champs (two of the last four years), were 7–6 overall and 3–1 versus OAC teams.
Juniors, Alex de la Pena (Elyria), Luke Grilli (Londonderry, N.H.) and D.J. Mosiniak (Toledo) and sophomore Dave Fournier (Perrysburg) have led the way for the men. For the women, junior Sara Gombash (Perrysburg) and sophomore Ambica Iyengar (India) have led the swimmers. Junior Katie Krzwicki (Brook Park) is the top diver.
The wrestling team finally has a healthy lineup with the return of senior 197-pound All-American Devin Carman (Ashtabula) and junior 141-pound All-American Jared Selover (Wapakoneta). Look for this team to be a force when B-W hosts the OAC Championship Tournament in Berea on Feb. 18.
Senior Bryan Kmetz (Brunswick), who competes in the 285-pound weight class, has led the way. He is 21-2 overall and ranked seventh individually in his weight class in the latest Brute-Adidas Division III rankings. He was the Most Valuable Wrestler at the Rochester Institute of Technology tourney. He has 11 pins or technical falls among his 21 victories. Other grapplers with impressive marks include sophomore 157-pounder Gino Russo (Northfield Center) at 26-4, freshman 149-pounder Muhamed Salem (Westlake) at 17-8 and senior Sterling Sebek (Columbus, Ga.) at 23-6 overall.
Selover, Russo, Sebek, Carman and Kmetz all have legitimate shots at winning OAC titles and advancing to the Division III National Tournament.
The indoor track season began on Jan. 20. The Yellow Jacket women return a strong contingent of veterans from the OAC Championship squad of a year ago and hope to win their second straight OAC indoor title and the 17th in the past 19 years. Leading the way with be All-American long jumper Kara Weaver (Myrtle Creek, Ore.) and 2005 All-OAC competitors: seniors Mary Griglak (Berea), Liz Redd (North Canton), Kim Lammers (Liberty Center) and Angela Gruss (Tiffin) and sophomores Jeanne Osborne (Oak Harbor) and Kristen Paulsen (Oberlin). Freshman Rebekah Paul (Gibsonburg) served notice right away that she’s a force for the future when she won the 300 and 400-meter dashes and led the 1600-meter relay team to victory in her first collegiate meet, earning OAC Women’s Track Runner of the Week honors and leading B-W to an OAC Relay Meet title. The B-W women also won a meet title at the Case Invitational on Feb. 3.
The men will be led by returning All-OAC performers including senior Josh Svenson (Wadsworth), juniors Sean Johnson (Alliance) and Steve Johnson (Canton) and sophomores James Harris-Chappell (Jefferson) and Aaron Apathy (Parma).
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