The top 10 sports stories of the year

by Rob Peirce
THE POST

If one had to put a label or slogan on Ohio athletics this year, it would probably be along the lines of "David makes a run, but still falls short of Goliath."

Big-name schools came from every corner of the country to compete against the Bobcats.

The football team took on Ohio State for the first time in 97 years, the men's basketball team battled No. 1 Cincinnati, the softball team played a pair with No. 13 Michigan, and the baseball team played three against No. 8 Clemson.

Also, Wrestler Tim Courtad made a dent in the NCAA Tournament, the hockey club won its league, and the women's swimming and diving team finished as Mid-American Conference Champions.

Here are the top 10 stories that stick out in the minds of the Post's sportswriters:

1. Football finally beats Miami

The Bobcats' arch-rivals came to Peden Stadium for a battle. The Bobcats had beaten the RedHawks only one time in the 1990's. Miami also had Travis Prentice, the big, bad Heisman-hopeful running back.

The week before, Prentice ran through the Akron defense as if it consisted of 11 tackling dummies, collecting 411 total yards. The defense concentrated on shutting down Prentice, running back Chad Brinker said.

"They worked real hard in practice that week," he said. "Prentice should be able to make a big impact in the NFL."

But Brinker's 74 yards on one play was more than Prentice's 69 yards in the game. On the whole, Brinker out-rushed Prentice by 98 yards.

Despite this performance and his big run, Brinker said the win belonged to the team.

"I don't believe any particular player helped us beat Miami," he said. "We all came together as a team."

Ohio came away victorious, 40-28. The students were able to celebrate along with the team by bringing down the North End goalpost.

"I really didn't get to see it," Brinker said. "I caught it coming down out of the corner of my eye."

2. Men topple Kent in MAC Tourney

It will forever be remembered as "The Shot."

Forward Sanjay Adell's floater at the buzzer beat the Golden Flashes, 69-68, and propelled the Bobcats into the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament.

What is perhaps most significant about Adell's shot is that he made it after returning from a shoulder injury early in the second half.

Adell broke out of a shooting slump when it counted most. He led the Bobcats with 21 points in the game.

Ohio's 48 percent shooting from the floor also proved Kent Head Coach Gary Waters wrong - the Bobcats could beat Kent without a performance like the one they had Feb. 26. Ohio won that game, 81-71, and shot 75 percent from the floor in the second half and more than 60 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

3. Football stuns Ohio State - for one half

The Ohio Stadium scoreboard told the tale in the first half: Ohio 10, Ohio State 3. Buckeye faithful sat stunned; Bobcat faithful were trying not to wake up from the dream.

An interception by Lance Fields set up an offensive drive that resulted in a three-yard touchdown run by Brinker. Kevin Kerr added the extra point, and Ohio found itself in an improbable situation. The Bobcats were 43-point underdogs.

But they eventually came back to Earth, partially because of a controversial call toward the end of the first half. Officials called a ball that Buckeyes receiver Ken-Yon Rambo appeared to fumble a catch. This continued Ohio State's drive that eventually ended in a field goal.

In one stretch of the second half, the Buckeyes scored 24 unanswered points and won the first battle between the Ohio schools in 97 years, 40-16.

4. (tie) Men's basketball pitted against No. 1 Cincinnati

This game featured the fiery Bearcats coach, Bob Huggins, against his old school. It is a little-known fact that Huggins once played for Ohio.

As Cincinnati's coach, he didn't quite have the blowout he might have expected, although the Bearcats won 73-59. The game started at midnight and was nationally televised on ESPN.

Ohio only took one lead in the game, 4-2, but the Bobcats were never completely out of it until the final buzzer. This was largely because of forward Brandon Hunter's play against Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin. Hunter outscored Martin and matched him in rebounds.

But where Martin didn't produce, Cincinnati forward Pete Mickeal did. Mickeal led all scorers with 18 points and gathered eight rebounds.

In the second half, the Bobcat deficit was cut to six when swingman Steve Esterkamp hit a three-pointer to make it 55-49. But turnovers would eventually spell doom for the Bobcats, as they committed 22 to Cincinnati's eight.

4. (tie) Wrestler stars at NCAA Tournament

Tim Courtad became the third Bobcat in three years to earn All-American status. Courtad, a heavyweight, placed fifth in the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.

Courtad was pinned in the quarterfinal round by top-ranked Brock Lesner of Minnesota, ending a streak of 22 wins.

But he was not done yet. Courtad came back to beat North Carolina's Matt Kenney and John Lockhart of Illinois. Then he fell to Iowa State's Trent Hynek and defeated Bandele Adeniyi-Bada to earn his fifth-place standing.

6. (tie) Baseball team sweeps Bowling Green

Talk about a momentum-builder.

Before the weekend, the second-place Falcons stood above the Bobcats by one half-game in the MAC East Division. Two walk-off victories and two blow-outs later and Ohio was just one game behind first-place Kent.

In games two and four, the Bobcats outscored Bowling Green by a combined score of 19-2. Drama and seventh-inning heroics provided for victories in games one and three.

Right fielder Cory Keylor laced a game-winning double to left field to start the weekend. Catcher Jeremy Johnson blasted a game-winning three-run homer off the hitter's screen in centerfield on the first pitch thrown to him in the seventh inning of the third game.

6. (tie) School hurdle record broken

Women's track and field star Melody Royster broke the record for the 100-meter hurdles - twice in two weeks. The first time, she did it in 14.08 seconds, breaking a 16-year old school record. The second time, she broke her own record with a time of 13.93.

Royster also broke the indoor school record in the 60 hurdles in 1999 with a time of 8.95. She also ran the 100 and 200.

6. (tie) Ice hockey club wins league

The Bobcats might have entered the Central States Collegiate Hockey League Tournament as the No. 1 seed, but their road to another CSCHL crown wasn't easy.

Ohio received a first-round bye. They then beat Eastern Michigan in their first game of the tournament in the last 30 seconds. They then had to take on second-seeded Kent on the Golden Flashes' home ice. But the Bobcats prevailed, 8-3, for the CSCHL title.

They went on to the semi-final round of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Championship, where they fell to Eastern Michigan in double overtime, 2-1.

9. Women's swimming and diving wins MAC

An undefeated MAC regular season was not the end of the line for Ohio. It got to participate in the MAC Championships in its own pool.

The Bobcats, scoring 816 points, dethroned four-time defending champion Miami, who scored 733.5.

Head Coach Greg Werner was named MAC Coach of the Year, and freestyle swimmer Kim van Selm was MAC Swimmer of the Year. Van Selm was part of four relay titles and set MAC records in three individual performances. She and Hollie Bonewit qualified for the NCAA Championships

10. Field hockey team earns first national ranking

Ohio's 3-2 victory against No. 14 Ball State did more than halt the Cardinals' 64-game winning streak in regular season games against MAC teams. It also gave the Bobcats a No. 19 ranking in the STX/National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.

This is the team's highest ranking, and its second in history. Earlier in the year, Ohio broke in at No. 20.

To end the season, the Bobcats fell in the semi-finals of the MAC Tournament, losing to Kent, 4-3.