Harding Magazine

Athletics

A winning attitude
Baseball wins 34
Brown, Wess capture Berryhill Award
Warder, Gay drive golf teams
Lacrosse returns to nationals
Two runners go All-America

A winning attitude

By Scott Goode, sports information director

Junior forward Catherine McMenamy's love of basketball is merely one of her varied interests.

For starters, she is an aficionado of opera music. "It is really soothing," she says. "I would love to go to the opera someday. I think I get that from my grandmother; she really likes opera music, too."

Although a native of Canyon, Texas, she roots for the New York Yankees. "I think a lot of my sports background comes from my uncle and dad. They are big Yankees fans."

McMenamy loves to travel, especially to Colorado, and enjoys meeting new people - as evidenced by her communication disorders major, Spanish minor, and dedication to learning sign language.

"If I learn Spanish or sign language, I expand the number of people who I can communicate with,"she says. "What better way to help people than teaching them how to talk."

Her teammates joke that you can ask her about anyone, and she will know the person's name.

But on the Lady Bison basketball team, another passion makes McMenamy a leader on the squad - winning. She is used to it. During three varsity seasons at Canyon High School, McMenamy led the Eagles to a 97-5 record and three Texas Class 3A state championships.

"At Canyon, we had a winning mentality. We won so many games, when we lost, we thought, 'What just happened?'" she says. "I think that is what coach [Tim] Kirby is trying to do here - recruit girls who become upset when we lose. That [attitude] is a big part of having a winning program."

In 2005, she brought that attitude to the University under Kirby, then in his first year as head women's coach after 12 years as men's assistant for the Bisons.

One of the first things that drew McMenamy to the University was trees. "I always knew I wanted to go to a college with trees," she says. "When I got here, Harding just blew all the other schools away. The campus was beautiful. I got to meet the players, and they were so excited about the season. They really sold the school for me. Coach Kirby and [assistant coach] Shane Fullerton were bonuses."

Recruiting a state champion was not an accident.

"One of the best ways to create a culture of winning is to recruit players like Catherine," says Kirby. "We've always tried to find players from teams, either high school or junior college, that have won games. That winning mentality is hard to teach. It is not impossible, but it is hard to take someone who has never won and teach them how to win."

With a winning mentality already in place, McMenamy excelled on the court as a freshman. She ranked second on the team and eighth in the Gulf South Conference in scoring at 14.0 points per game and second on the team with 6.6 rebounds per game. She also earned Gulf South Conference West Division Freshman of the Year honors.

Despite the team's 12-17 record that season, a strong 2006 recruiting class and group of determined veterans then turned the tide of a program that had had only one winning season since 1999.

Led by McMenamy, who received first-team All-GSC honors, the Lady Bisons rolled to 19 wins in 2006-07, the most since 1996-97.

As a result, the team qualified for its first GSC Tournament since joining the league in 2000. The Lady Bisons met University of West Florida in the first round, and McMenamy performed like a player who had had her share of experience in postseason tournaments. She connected on 11-of-19 shots and scored a career-high 30 points in the Lady Bisons' 24-point victory.

Despite a loss to Valdosta State University in the quarterfinals, McMenamy was named to the All-Tournament team.

Unlike some athletes, she has also earned something from others that has little to do with basketball - their respect.

When a recruit visits, Kirby often deploys McMenamy to host the potential newcomer.

"I like to be real with people, and I think that is the way most of our players are," McMenamy says. "That really sells the recruits on Harding. That is what they like and what they get when they arrive on campus."

Women's basketball manager Casi Bailey says McMenamy is "the most caring person I know. I have never heard her complain about anything."

Sounds like coach Kirby found a winner - on and off the court.

Baseball wins 34

The baseball team tied a school record for victories in 2007, finishing 34-22.

Senior left-hander Justin Phillips reached several University milestones, becoming Bison baseball's first All-America honoree. Phillips, the NCAA II South Central Region Pitcher of the Year, posted a 10-3 record with a 1.21 ERA and a school-best 121 strikeouts, which tied for the most in NCAA II this season.

Junior centerfielder Adam Darby was the team's top offensive threat, winning the Gulf South Conference batting title with a .404 average. He also led the team in home runs (7) and RBIs (53). Darby earned All-Region and All-GSC honors.

Brown, Wess capture Berryhill Award

Mary Brown, four-year member of the women's track and cross country teams from Lafayette, Tenn., and Kyle Wess, football team running back from Houston, were honored with the highest accolade the Athletics Department gives - the 2007 M.E. Berryhill Award.

Brown, a biology major and National Merit Scholar, earned First Team NCAA Division II All-South Region honors this season, placing 15th at the regional meet. The three-time All-Gulf South Conference honoree also earned Academic All-GSC and USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors in 2006.

Wess, an information technology major, earned consensus NCAA II All-Southeast Region honors after leading the conference in rushing yards per game with 91.5. He also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in 2006 and is a two-time Academic All-GSC recipient.

Along with a certificate, the two honorees received gold Harding watches.

Warder, Gay drive golf teams

Sophomore Andrew Warder shot an 8-over-par 224 to lead the Bisons to a ninth-place finish in the 13-team GSC Championship, played at Hot Springs (Ark.) Country Club.

Warder's season stroke average of 74.7 was the second-best average in Bison golf history.

The women's golf team placed fifth of nine teams at the GSC Championship. Sophomore Natalie Gay shot 167 to place 16th overall.

All five Lady Bisons scored in the 80s in the second round for a 337.

Lacrosse returns to nationals

The lacrosse team defeated Augustana College 14-4 to take the 2007 Great Rivers Division B Lacrosse Conference Championship. At the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association in Frisco, Texas, the team won two of three games, losing only to runner-up Saint John's University.

Two runners go All-America

Juniors Julius Kosgei and Artur Kern both picked up All-America honors at the men's 2007 NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Kern, a five-time track All-America selection, was third in the 5,000 meters. Kosgei, a seven-time track All-American, placed third in the 10,000 meters and sixth in the 5,000 meters.

Junior Gosia Drazkowska reached the women's outdoor nationals in the 800 meters. She qualified with a time of 2 minutes, 13.48 seconds at the Drake Relays but did not advance past preliminaries at the national meet.