Bowling Green State University Athletics
Harris Named MAC Scholar-Athlete Of Week
October 08, 2002 | Football
Oct. 8, 2002
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bowling Green State University football junior Josh Harris has been named the Mid-American Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week, the league office has announced. Harris earns the honor for the second time this fall. The complete MAC release follows...
Eastern Michigan's D'Amelio and Bowling Green's Harris Named MAC Scholar Athletes
Eastern Michigan's Lisa D'Amelio (tennis) and Bowling Green's Josh Harris (football) were named the MAC Scholar Athletes of the Week on October 8, 2002.
D'Amelio (Sr., 3.84, physical education, Melbourne, Australia) was a perfect 3-0 at No. 1 singles and teamed with Rebecca Hawkins to go 3-0 at No. 1 doubles at the Penn State Invitational, posting victories over players from Penn State, Yale and Seton Hall. In her three singles matches, she only lost one set in defeating Margaret Purcell from Yale, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 and then followed it up with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Nicole Cercone of Seton Hall and then wrapped up singles play with a two-set win over Megan Marton of Penn State, 6-4, 6-2. D'Amelio is now a perfect 7-0 at No. 1 singles this year and 6-0 at No. 1 doubles with Rebecca Hawkins.
Harris (Jr., 3.06, interpersonal communication, Westerville, Ohio) threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more as the Falcons moved to 4-0 with a 72-21 win over Ohio in their MAC opener. He completed 19-of-24 passes for 297 yards, and rushed for 85 yards on 15 carries. The game marked his sixth consecutive contest with two rushing touchdowns. The four TD passes tied his career high. BGSU's total of 72 points was the third-highest in school history, and the most points ever scored by a Falcon team in a MAC game. The Falcons scored five TDs in each half, and had 37 first downs (a school record) and 692 yards of total offense (14 shy of the school record). BGSU has had at least 500 yards of offense in each of the last three games. Following the 72-point explosion, the Falcons now lead the nation in scoring offense, averaging 50.8 points per game. Harris maintained his hold as the nation's top scorer (15.0 ppg), and also leads the nation in points responsible for, with 25 per game. He is also the 10th-rated passer in the country (153.33) and is 13th in total offense (282.75). As a team, BGSU ranks second in the nation in total offense (525.0).
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during that week's competition. The winners are selected by one of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.
Female Nominees:
Akron: Jenn Snyder (volleyball, Sr., 3.23, elementary education, Elyria, Ohio) had a team-high 18 kills and 14 digs in a 3-0 win over Toledo on Saturday. For the match, Snyder finished with a .607 attack percentage. On Friday, Snyder posted 11 kills, 16 digs, two block solos and four block assists in a 3-1 win at Central Michigan. With the two victories, Akron moved to 13-3 overall and 4-0 in the MAC.
Ball State: Beth Tatman (field hockey, Jr., 3.87, elementary education, Louisville, Ky.) played a key role on the Cardinals' defensive unit, which posted its fourth shutout of the season -- a 1-0 victory over Miami on Friday. BSU then held off No. 9 ranked Louisville in a 3-2 victory on Saturday in a game decided after two overtimes and a series of penalty strokes. BSU's win over the UL Cardinals is the program's first over a ranked opponent since 1999 and marks the highest ranked opponent it has defeated since the 1997 season. A three-year starter on BSU's defense, Tatman played in both games including nearly all 30 minutes of overtime versus Louisville. She is a two-time NFHCA National Academic Team member.
Bowling Green: Erika Flanders (soccer, Sr., 3.27, art education, Mason, Ohio) allowed just one goal in two matches last week. She went 1-1 with a goals-against average of 0.49. BGSU blanked Marshall on Friday in a 3-0 BG win, then posted over 92 scoreless minutes versus Ohio before the Bobcats scored the overtime match-winning goal (a 1-0 BG loss). The shutout against Marshall was her fourth of the season, tying her own school record. She has recorded four shutouts in each of the last three seasons. Flanders, who holds every BGSU goalkeeping record, now has 14 shutouts in her career. Ohio's goal Sunday ended a shutout streak of 330:24, a new school record. She broke her own record of 266:55, and now owns the top-six shutout streaks in school history. She has 409 career saves (the second-place person on the BGSU career list has 76 saves). On the year, Flanders has a GAA of 1.22. She has played every minute of every match this year. The Falcons are 6-5-1 overall. BGSU, picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches poll, is currently in fourth place with a 4-3 MAC record.
Buffalo: Michelle Kollarova (tennis, So., 3.62, management, Bratislava, Slovak Republic) scored a 6-1, 6-0 victory in singles over Kristen McKay of Canisius at number two and also paired with Helen Lynch to take their doubles match, 8-5, over Anne Nguyen and Andrea Meyer to lead the Bulls to a 7-0 win over their crosstown rivals. Kollarova moved up to the number two slot from her regular number three position with the injury to number one player Karen Maynard. The team victory improved UB's record to 3-1 this season, bettering last season's win total of two.
Central Michigan: Olina Vidarsdottir (soccer, So., 3.52, undecided, Grindavik, Iceland) led CMU to victories over the top two teams in the MAC standings last weekend, Miami and Ball State. She netted two goals against the MAC's top defense (Miami only allows 0.50 goals per game). Vidarsdottir also had the game-winning goal against the Redhawks. Against Ball State, she helped break the scoreless tie, setting up the first goal, and then tallied the game-winner again. She tallied three goals, one assist, and seven points with two game-winners on the weekend. That's back-to-back multi-point games and a point in seven of the nine games she has played.
Kent State: Jennifer Dreyer (volleyball, Sr., 3.74, case management, Cincinnati, Ohio) averaged 2.69 kills per game on .291 hitting in KSU's three wins last week. She also notched five service aces, 10 block assists and three solo blocks. She is now in second place on Kent State's all-time block assists list with 332. She needs 41 more blocks to take over the number one spot over Becky Neglia, who played from 1995-98.
Miami: Danielle Altiero (soccer, Jr., 3.59, art, Upper Arlington, Ohio) scored the game-winning goal for Miami over Eastern Michigan to propel the RedHawks back to first place in the Mid-American Conference. The goal came off a flip throw-in from the right sideline that sailed into the mouth that Altiero placed the ball into the back of the net while the ball was still in the air to bring the RedHawks' overall record to 9-2-1 and 7-1-0 in the MAC.
Ohio: Rachael Najjar (soccer, Sr., 3.23, art, Columbus, Ohio) provided two goals and an assist over the weekend, including the overtime game-winner at Bowling Green on Sunday. At Toledo on Friday, she scored the second goal and assisted on the third in a 3-0 shutout of the Rockets.
Toledo: Melissa Lesage (soccer, Jr., 3.52, exercise science, Trois Rivieres, Quebec) collected a goal and assist in the Rockets' 2-1 win over Marshall on Sunday. She now ranks fourth in career goals scored at UT with 18.
Western Michigan: Angie Sillmon (volleyball, Sr., 3.23, computer information systems, Plymouth, Mich.) led the Broncos in two road Mid-American Conference wins. She had 14 kills (tied for team-high) and four blocks in a four game win at Bowling Green. Sillmon hit a team high .480 in that match. She had 14 kills and nine blocks versus Buffalo. Her eight block assists ties her for the No. 5 spot in the WMU record book for a five-game match. For the weekend, she hit .423 with 28 kills (No. 2 on the team) 12 blocks (led the team).
Male Nominees:
Buffalo: Geoff Thompson (soccer, Sr., 3.19, History, Clarence, N.Y.) scored a goal in UB's 2-1 win over Marshall to give Buffalo its first MAC victory of the season. Thompson's goal put the Bulls on the board first when he chipped the ball in from five yards out at the 39:30 mark to give UB a 1-0 lead. It was Thompson's fourth goal of the season and snapped a five-game scoring drought.
Central Michigan: Jake Flynn (cross country, So., 3.30, biology, Benzonia, Mich.) won the individual championship and led CMU to the team championship at the Gulden Invitational hosted by Bucknell last weekend. Flynn ran the 8K course in 24:58. CMU is currently ranked No. 19 in the national poll.
Eastern Michigan: David Lusky (football, Jr., 3.36, construction management, Novi, Mich.) had 15 tackles, including four solos and 1.5 tackles for loss to help spur EMU on to its second straight win, this one a 42-34 win over Akron. The junior linebacker led the Eagles in tackles for the fifth-straight week out of six games this season, as Eastern avenged last year's 65-62 triple overtime loss at Akron in the season finale. Lusky currently leads EMU with 68 total tackles, including 28 solos and 6.5 tackles for loss.
Miami: Josh Betts (football, R-Fr., 3.87, business, Butler, Ohio) completed his first career pass attempt to true freshman tight end Tyler Vogel who made his first career reception for a touchdown to claim a 24-21 third-quarter lead for Miami. The play came on a fourth-and-goal trick play against Cincinnati. The RedHawks went on to win the game, 31-26, and claimed back-to-back wins over the Bearcats, for the first time since 1991-92. The Battle for the Bell is one of college football's longest rivalries.
Northern Illinois: Josh Haldi (football, So., 3.94, accountancy, Madison, Ohio) threw for a career-best four touchdowns (21, 7, 36 and 18 yards), all within a 13:59 span in the second period to lead NIU to a 41-29 win over Ball State. The four TDs, marked the most NIU aerial touchdowns since quarterback Scott Crabtree threw for five scores against Nevada in 1993. Haldi hit 13-of-20 passes for 171 yards and no interceptions. He posted the program's best pass efficiency rating since QB Chris Finlen against Buffalo in 2000.
Toledo: John Sainna (cross country, Sr., 3.14, information systems/operation management, Kapsabet, Kenya) crossed the finish line in 25:36 for 29th place on the 8k course to help the Rockets to an eighth-place finish at the 30th annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational at Montrose Beach in Chicago, Ill. The meet, one of the largest in the Midwest, featured 45 men's collegiate teams.
Previous Winners:
Female Week 1 (Sept. 4) - Katie Kuzor, UA (volleyball) Week 2 (Sept. 10) - Andrea Kremer, MIA (cross country) Week 3 (Sept. 17) - Jennifer Nighswander, EMU (volleyball) Week 4 (Sept. 24) - Susan McDowell, BSU (field hockey) Week 5 (Oct. 1) - Jennifer Nighswander, EMU (volleyball) Week 6 (Oct. 8) - Lisa D'Amelio, EMU (tennis)Male Week 1 (Sept. 4) - Maurio Medley, KSU (football) Week 2 (Sept. 10) - Todd Ludden, UB (cross country) Week 3 (Sept. 17) - Josh Harris, BGSU (football) Week 4 (Sept. 24) - Curtis Head, MAR (football) Week 5 (Oct. 1) - Ryan Maarschalk, WMU (tennis) Week 6 (Oct. 8) - Josh Harris, BGSU (football)
