May 1, 2006
Championship Sunday
It's hard to imagine that our athletic program has ever had a more successful weekend than this past weekend. Our spring teams are having great success this year, and our teams and student-athletes won numerous championships and accolades this past weekend.
Our men's golf team hosted the Big Ten Men's Golf Championships at Conway Farms Golf Club this weekend, and won the championship in an ending that couldn't have been scripted any better by a Hollywood screenwriter. We entered the last round in third place, three strokes off the lead. The weather on Sunday was miserable, with heavy rain and strong winds much of the day. Despite the conditions, our team stormed back and won the championship by nine strokes. Our knowledge of the course (we play the course regularly), especially in adverse conditions, was a big advantage for us. Junior Chris Wilson also came from behind to win the individual championship. He birdied three of the last four holes and made a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the championship by a stroke. Head Coach Pat Goss, Associate Athletic Director Brad Hurlbut and Conway Farm's Director of Golf (and former Northwestern men's golf coach) Jeff Mory, all deserve special credit for their roles in helping run a first-class tournament.
Our No. 11 women's tennis team continued its dominance in the Big Ten, winning their eighth consecutive Big Ten tournament title. We lost the doubles point to Michigan in the final, but rallied to win the match 4-2.
Our women's lacrosse team, ranked No. 2 in the country, won two games this weekend to clinch a share of the American Lacrosse Conference championship. Since losing to Duke last month, our team has played inspired lacrosse, and seems poised to defend its national championship.
Junior women's golfer Alice Kim won the Big Ten women's golf individual title. She is the first Northwestern women's golfer to win a Big Ten individual championship. The team finished fifth overall.
In addition, our softball and baseball teams both continued their solid play. Both teams won three of four games on the road this weekend and are both still in first place. Our softball team's magic number for clinching the regular season title (and to host the Big Ten tournament) is one (one Northwestern win or one Michigan loss). Junior pitcher Eileen Canney recently tied an NCAA record with 28 strikeouts in a game.
Congratulations to the coaches and student-athletes of these teams. It looks like May will be a very busy month for our teams. Please check our web site, NUSports.com, for Big Ten and NCAA championship information. We will likely host numerous postseason events.
NFL Draft
For the second year in a row, we had three football players drafted by NFL teams. Barry Cofield was the first player picked in the fourth round by the New York Giants. Both Zach Strief (New Orleans Saints), and Tim McGarigle (St. Louis Rams), were picked in the seventh round. Both teams have new coaching staffs, which should help Zach and Tim's chances of making the team. In addition, Brett Basanez signed with the Carolina Panthers and Mark Philmore signed with the Chicago Bears immediately after the draft. Although I'm sure Brett was disappointed to not be drafted, the Panthers are a great fit for him. They didn't draft a quarterback, and their quarterback, Jake Delhomme, was an undrafted free agent as well.
Wrestling
We hosted the University National Wrestling Championships this weekend. Sophomore Jake Herbert was named the Championship's outstanding wrestler, and is now on the World University team that will compete in Mongolia in June. This placement also qualifies Jake for the senior level World Team Trials. Fellow sophomore Mike Tamillow finished second, and also qualified for the World Team Trials.