Hornets Summer Wrap-Up 2K10

It was a quiet off season for Delaware state hornets athletics. There were some new recruiting regarding Equestrian, Soccer, and Volleyball. We have Hornets athletes that have honored by the MEAC and of course football, football, football.

Lets begin with Lady Hornets Equestrian, they were the main story of the summer since Delaware State decided to cut Equestrian last year. According to the July 28 article of The News Journal, after cutting the sport in January, DSU pledged to honor the scholarships of the affected athletes. 15 of the 20 women (including lead plaintiff Caroline Foltz of Dover, Delaware) decided to sue to save the team. The university later agreed to fund equestrian for one more season this coming academic year. Experts says that it will be its last is becoming more unlikely since the school is letting the sport Equestrian stay for one more year.

Now Delaware State is faced with not only budject problems for women sports, but Title IX violations. The University wanted to add competitive cheerleading but the court wouldn't allowed it.

Here is the main problem, Delaware State University female population is 60% but the female athletes are only 44% while the male athletes are 56%. That's a big deference. Can Delaware State University find a way add more women's sports to recruit more females to play sports and cut equestrian without any budject problems? This story between Delaware State University and the Equestrian team is far from over.
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Meanwhile back on June 14 the Lady Hornets equestrian team had recruited six new riders (three English and three to compete for the Western squad): Taylor Scuse, Victoria Keen, Brittany Good, Erin Engard, Brooke Mazjuin, and Lauren Voss. These riders are highly skilled and proved to be a great asset to the Lady Hornets equestrian team.
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Also there was more recruitment in Lady Hornets Volleyball. On June 21, Hornets recruited three new freshmen for the 2010 volleyball season: Middle blocker Brooke Redmon, Sonya Inderbitzen, and Jessica Brocher. These ladies has great skills and have what it takes to help the Lady Hornets Volleyball to another winning season.
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Finally, the Lady hornets soccer team has recruited seven new soccer players from high school: Alexandra Broksy, Kathryn Marie Melore, Elizabeth Olivier, Darcy & Kelly Pelz Butler, and Kaitlyn Schech. These players will provide dept, skill, and knowledge to help the hornets win some good games this season.
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Football season is about to start and the MEAC is expecting the Hornets to finish 7th in the MEAC. The Hornets are a pretty young team this year and might finished with six or seven wins this year. I will explain later on my next blog.

So without further let the 2010-2011 Delaware State Hornets sports season begin. HORNETS!!!

Lady Hornets Softball Season Wrap-Up

The Delaware State Lady Hornets softball team finished the season with a winning record despite losing to Florida A&M in the MEAC Tournament back on May 14th to end the season.

None the less, the lady hornets were picking up some impressive numbers during the 2010 season.

At the plate, Delaware State finished 2nd in the MEAC in batting average (.319), 2nd in hits (410), tied for 1st with Howard in doubles (82), and tied for 2nd with Florida A&M in walks (131).

The Lady Hornets knew what head coach Jeff Savage main goals, get runners on base and scoring runs. Why do you think Delaware State is tied in Howard in runs scored per game (6.17) and 2nd in the MEAC in hits per game (8.54)?

That answer is simple clutch hits equals clutch runs by clutch players. Jeff Savage has seven Hornets batting .300 or better:
-Jo Jo Shields (.306)

-Sherelle Sheppard (.310)

-Andrea Waters (.314)

-Breanne Parr & Janelle Lukens (.328)

-Tawny Reeger (.340)

-Rachel Carroll (.342)

-Chelsea Stern (.354)

-Jordan Reid (.456)

Plus the lady hornets have made 94 stolen bases to lead the MEAC. The reason for that success to apply runners in scoring position to score runs even it mean making sacrifice flies and bunts.

Also the lady hornets pitching staff has improve from the last two season finishing 5th in Earned Run Average (3.44) and find ways to make outs with a fielding percentage of .948 (5th in the MEAC).

I know the lady hornets will be back better than ever and bring home another MEAC Championship next spring.

Hornets Track & Field April/May Wrap-Up

Five April and May events were in the books for the Delaware State Hornets men's and women's track & field team. The Hornets are continuing to make great finishes including making history at Penn Relays.

Let start with the weekend of April 3 at the Florida Relays where the Hornet men had set a school record in the relay time of 3:17.60, nearly a second ahead of runner-up Florida (3:18.47).

Also Delaware State also took fourth place in the 1600-meter relay at the Florida meet with a time of 3:06.80.

On that same weekend some of the Hornets participants were at the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric Smith took home first place in the triple jump, topping all competitors with a leap of 14.16 meters (46-05.50) and Tyquan Brown was second in the 400-meter dash (47.77 sec.) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (21.90).

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University of Delaware Open April 11
On the ladies side this event belong to Tracey Fan Fan as she took home top 10 finishes:

-2nd in the 100-meter hurdles (15.08 seconds)

-3rd in the 400-hurdles (1:06.11)

-2nd in the 400-meter relay team (48.27 seconds)

On the men's side, the Hornet men had seven 1st place finishes:
-Ryan Carter was involved in three first place finishes the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.70 seconds, the 1600-meter relay team and anchored DSU's winning 100-meter relay squad.

Carter teamed with Tyquan Brown, Donte Holmes and Kevaughn Laviea to post a winning time of 3:15.95 seconds in the 1600 relay. He was joined by Brown, Larrone Moore and Darius Sivels on the first place 400-meter relay team.

Holmes was the winner in the 400-meter dash. He topped the field with a time of 47.86 seconds while Kelli Thibou took first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.25.

Eric Smith was the top performer in the triple jump. He followed his first place showing with a winning jump of 14.25 meters.

Sivels also topped all collegians in the long jump with a top leap of 6.91 meters.
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April 20
Morgan State Legacy Meet

The Lady hornets may have finished ninth in team standings but they made eight top 10finishes.

Avery Cloud-Klein had the Hornets' best performance, finishing third in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:00.09.

Krystina Muhammad was sixth in the triple jump with a top leap of 11.26 meters (36-11.50 feet). Wendi Clark was ninth in the triple jump (10.54 m).

Dashera Richardson was seventh in the 800-meter run (2:21.28), while Nykeisha Sewell (4111 points), Kristen Johnson (4091) and Tracey Fan Fan (4040), were seventh to ninth, respectively, in the heptathlon.

Victoria McGroary was ninth in the pole vault (2.25 m).

On the men's side the Hornet men finished 4th in the standings while winning three events.

John Sutton took first place in the javelin with a top throw of 53.20 meters (174-06 feet).

Larrone Moore topped the field in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.56 seconds, while Donte Holmes posted a time of 1:52.52 to win the 800-meter run.
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Penn Relays The Weekend of April 23

The Hornet men were making their marks at the Penn Relays after finishing second in the sprint medley relay Championship of America. The DSU team of Ryan Carter, Larrone Moore, Kevaughn Laviea and Donte Holmes posted a time of 3:18.40, trailing only LSU's 3:17.65. The Hornets finished ahead of Texas A&M (fifth), Arkansas (seventh), Louisville (ninth) and Clemson (10th) in the race.

They also finished second in the IC4A 800-meter relay with a school record of 1:23.85seconds just behind first-place Hampton (1:25.85).

It marks the second time that the Hornets have established a school record in the 4x200-meter relay this outdoor season.
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The Hornet Invitational May 1

Talk about home field advantage in Alumni Stadium, both the men and lady hornets track & field team finished 1st in the overall team standings.

On the ladies side, Tracey Fan Fan took first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.95. Fan Fan also ran the lead leg on the Hornets' first place 4x100-meter relay team. She joined Calisa Emerson, Kendra Mayers and Nykeisha Sewell to post a winning time of 47.24 seconds in the 400 relay.

Fan Fan finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.44 sec.), and ran the third leg on DSU's runner-up 4x400-meter relay team. The Hornets were clocked at a season-best 3:48.42 in the 1600-meter relay, 1/100th of a second behind first place Lincoln (3:48.42).

Dashera Richardson won the 800-meter run. Richardson topped all competitors with a time of 2:18.49.

The Hornets had second place finishes from Mayers in the 400-meter dash (56.79 sec.) and Shaquana Neils in the 5000-meter run (28:11.66) while Kristina Muhammad was third in the triple jump (11.38 meters), and Avery Cloud-Klein was third in the 1500-meter run (5:14.53).

On the men's side Larrone Moore recorded an individual win and contributed to two first place relays in the 200-meter dash (21.05 seconds), the 4x100-meter relay (41.25 seconds), and the 4x400 meter relay (3:12.16).

Donte Holmes also took first place in the 800-meter run wit a time of 1:51.86.

Other Hornet winning performances included Kevaughn Laviea and John Sutton. Laviea was clocked at 51.94 seconds to win the 400-meter hurdles, while Sutton had a top throw of 53.09 meters to win the javelin.
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The men's and lady hornets outdoor track & field team has a great season and this weekend they will tried to become MEAC Champions or finished in the top 10 at the MEAC Championships.

Lady Hornets Equestrian Season Wrap-Up

Its been a up and down season for the Delaware State Lady Hornets equestrian team. At the beginning of season, the lady hornets were ready for another great season of competition plus they signing their best recruit.

During the first three months of the season the Lady Hornets fought hard against great equestrian teams like South Dakota State, Texas Christian, Delaware, Auburn, Tennessee-Martin, Kansas State, and Baylor.

When January came, everything changed from good to bad to worst. Athletic Director Derek Bell and the university announced to drop men's tennis and equestrian due to budget problems.

That announcement didn't sit well with entire lady hornets equestrian team so they took immediate action by staging a protest that in from of the administrative building. Also the equestrian team was also taking DSU to court for violation Title IX.

Even though the lady hornets fought hard to keep the sport they love, they also had other competition to deal like Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina, New Mexico State, and Scared Heart.

After all the court room drama and the previous news stories from Delaware news medias were taking place, Lady hornets equestrian will stay for one more year.

Since next year will be their last year of equestrian, the lady hornets will show the Delaware State Athletic department that equestrian will be a competitive team no matter budget crisis they are in.

Young Hornets Shows Improvement During the Spring Game

Yesterday I didn't get a chance to go to Hornets Spring Game scrimmage. But when I read the article from The News Journal about the spring game, the Hornets were finding signs of good progress.

It all starts with Hornets quarterback Anthony Glaud. Glaud was finding his receivers left, right, and the middle of the field were he went four-for-four on a 80yard scoring drive.

Then, it was on to the defense when last year the Hornets keep giving opponents big plays. during the spring game, the defense made two interceptions. One by Chris Johnson and other by Terell Talbert who return that pick for a touchdown.

A lot of backups and starters are filling the right notes, as they expected from a young team, to bring big accomplishments this season.

I still think the Hornets have a long way to go. Even though spring practice is over there is summer practice to deal with before the regular season begins.

Overall I just hope the Hornets continue to build that momentum come summer camps and September.

Lady Hornets Bowling Season Wrap-Up

The 2009-2010 Lady Hornets bowling had a great year and picking up where they left off from last season. With their new coach Ricki Williams-Ellison and the a great roster, the lady hornets finished their season with a record of 98-36.

Delaware State were bowling for strikes, spares, 7/10 splits, and no gutter balls to become MEAC regular season champions.

Delaware State were playing tough opponents such as University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Arkansas State, New Jersey City, Kutztown, and other top bowling teams in the nation.

In the MEAC Tournament, the lady hornets were the number one seed but it wasn't easy to say the least especially in the championship round versus UMES. UMES forces Delaware State to a winner take sudden death elimination game. The Lady Hornets prevail and went on to become the two time MEAC tournament champions.

In the NCAA Tournament, the lady hornets wanted to get to the NCAA Championship and become National Champions. However, it was short stay as the lady hornets as they lost in a double elimination game against number three seed Vanderbilt and number two seed Arkansas State.

The Lady Hornets proved to the MEAC Conference that even though with a new coach and new squad they are here to compete winning bowling games and Baker matches. Come next year the lady hornets bowling team will be stronger than ever.

Pretty Good March For Lady Hornets Softball

It was a good March for the Delaware State Lady Hornets softball. Through 18 games in the month of March the Lady Hornets head into April with a 10-8 record batting .304 and averaging 5.7 runs per game.

The Lady Hornets can find ways to score with their baserunning and putting the ball in play but their pitching needs improvement.

The Lady Hornets pitching ERA is 11.85. Yikes!!! I'm pretty sure their starting pitching can do a lot better espcially in April and May. Already through April 6 the Lady Hornets were swept at the hands of Howard Univeristy.

Can the Lady Hornets continue their winning way or will they will end up in a long slump?