Saint Leo Athletics had a bevy of things happen for them since final exams happened last semester to today. We will be breaking down some of the biggest things that you may have missed since April when the semester officially ended.
The Announcement of a New Sport
Opening up is something that will not reach campus officially until Spring 2020is the announcement of a new sport: Acrobatics & tumbling. For those who are unfamiliar with the sport, it is an evolution of different forms of gymnastics that are scored in head-to-head competitions. The six events include Compulsory, Acro, Pyramid, Toss, Tumbling, and team. This will become the 21st intercollegiate sport at the university and the 12th women’s program.
“I am pleased for Saint Leo University to be among the few and first NCAA Division II colleges to offer acrobatics and tumbling as a competitive sport. The addition will make Saint Leo an attractive option for women gymnasts who want to continue to compete at the collegiate level,” said Dr. Jeffrey D. Senese, the university’s acting president.
Saint Leo will be the 16th Division II school and 25th in the nation to offer the sport.
National Championship Exposure
The Lions had made their presence last season by competing for National Championships. In total, four of the teams – men’s lacrosse, men’s golf, women’s track, and softball – were representing the university.
The men’s lacrosse team ended their season in the National Championship game for the first time in the program’s history. The Lions earned a spot in the championship by upsetting the South Region No. 1 team Lenoir-Rhyne 12-11 and managing to get to Foxborough, to compete for the National Title. Unfortunately, the team ended as national runner-up, but with high expectations now on the team, there can be an expectation of winning for the lacrosse team after such a productive year. In addition, the team saw juniors Philip Buque and Ethan Ticehurst represented Saint Leo in the Canadian Lacrosse Association and Alberta Lacrosse Association 2018 Minto Cup.
Men’s golf sophomores Bas Vermeulen, Oliver Lilliedahl, and Alberto Castagnara, junior Simon Knutsson, and now-alum Riley Goss were sent to Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Muscle Shoals, AL, to tee-off at the Fighting Joe course against No. 3 seed Barry University after earning a spot in the National Championships. The Lions ended up falling 3-2 but with a young core of highly talented golfers, the future is bright for the program.
Women’s track sent then-senior Collett Rampf to represent the university at the 2018 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Charlotte, NC. For the second straight year, Rampf finished in third place in the 3,000m steeplechase. She also finished in 17th place overall in the 5,000m on the final day of the event to conclude her collegiate career.
The softball team was definitely an underdog story as the team ended up making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship Tournament. The team went 2-2 throughout the tournament and knocked off the first and third seed in the tournament. The Lions finished the season with their sixth consecutive winning season, finishing 39-18. Seniors Shyanne DuBois and Ashley Morris were named to the 2018 NCAA Division II Softball Championship All-Tournament Team.
Student-Athletes Excel in the Classroom
101student-athletes from Saint Leo were named as recipients of the D2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Award. In order to be a recipient, the student-athlete must have completed at least four semesters and have a minimum cumulative grade point of average of 3.50 or higher. The Lions were only behind Rollins and Florida Southern with the most recipients from the Sunshine State Conference. Men’s Lacrosse and Men’s Soccer each had 10 people receive the award, while Women’s Swimming saw nine athletes receive the award. Congratulations to all 101 Saint Leo students for keeping a fantastic GPA while competing at a high level.
Tops in the NCAA
There are over 300 institutions in NCAA Division II. Saint Leo was the tops of three statistical categories out of all of D2. In baseball, senior Peyton Isaacson tied for the NCAA lead in saves with 14 saves on the season. However, Isaacson achieved this in 21 games compared to the 28 that Trevor Dudar of Northwest MississippiState had.
Then-senior Kyle Pauwels was crowned the individual champion for shot percentage in Men’s Lacrosse. Pauwels had a .596shooting percentage, which led the nation by over 30 percentage points. The second place player finished at .563. This is not as shocking as it may sound as this was the third time in his collegiate career that he accomplished this feat and his second as a member of Saint Leo.
The Men’s lacrosse team also led the NCAA in shooting percentage at .384, which led the nation by 20 percentage points higher than Merrimack. Shot percentage is calculated by the number of goals divided by the number of shots on the season.
