UMC Football to Host Signing Day Party Wednesday

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston football program will host an official Football Signing Day Party Wed., Feb. 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Crookston Eagle’s Club. Coach Mike Fritze and his staff will officially announce the 2015 signing class and will talk about each player and his overall class, as well as show highlights of the 2015 class. Tailgating food will be served during the event and a cash bar will be available.

NSIC Baseball Preseason Coaches’ Poll

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston baseball team was picked to finish 15th in the 2015 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Preseason Baseball Coaches’ Poll released Thursday by the conference office. The Golden Eagles received 14 votes in the poll. UMC is in their first season under new Head Coach Steve Gust, who is looking to turn around a program that went 1-47 during the 2014 season.

Minnesota State University, Mankato was picked to win the league for the sixth season in a row. St. Cloud State University was picked second, while Augustana College (S.D.) was picked third.

Minnesota State catcher Nolan Johnson was chosen as the NSIC Preseason Player of the Year after earning Daktronics First Team All-America honors last season. Wayne State College pitcher Eric Browning was named the NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year after earning First Team All-NSIC and First Team
All-Region honors last season.

UMC senior pitcher Richie Navratil was picked as a UMC Player to Watch. Navratil returned for his senior season after already earning a degree in Sports and Rec Management. He is currently pursuing a second degree from UMC. Navratil, a native of Blansko, Czech Republic, led the team with a school-record 67 innings pitched on the season. Navratil had 30 strikeouts on the season.

UMC junior first baseman Ryan Haggstrom, an Apple Valley, Minn. native, was named UMC’s Player to Watch in the field. Haggstrom had a breakout season for the Golden Eagles as a sophomore, hitting .359 with 26 runs scored, seven doubles, four triples and 20 runs batted in. In addition, Haggstrom is strong in the field, holding a .989 fielding percentage last season.

The Golden Eagles return 13 players from last season’s roster and have also brought in 16 players, bringing the total number of players to 29, up from just 18 players that finished the season last year, which was the first order of business for Coach Gust. UMC will open the Gust era on Feb. 14 with a pair of games at Wasburn University in Topeka, Kan.

2015 NSIC Preseason Baseball Coaches’ Poll
1    Minnesota State (12)    194
2    St. Cloud State (1)    172
3    Augustana    170
4    Winona State (1)    166
5    Southwest Minnesota State    128
6    Northern State    125
7    Concordia-St. Paul    122
8    Wayne State    119
9    Bemidji State     81
10    Minnesota Duluth    76
11    Sioux Falls    72
12    Minot State    62
13    Upper Iowa    43
14    U-Mary    31
15    Minnesota Crookston    14

UMC Softball Picked to Finish 15th in NSIC Preseason Poll

BURNSVILLE, Minn.– The University of Minnesota Crookston softball program was picked to finish 15th in the 2015 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Preseason Softball Coaches’ Poll. The Golden Eagles are in their first season under Head Coach Don Stopa.

Winona State University was picked to finish first after sharing first-place with Minnesota State University, Mankato in the poll last season. Reining NSIC regular-season champions Minnesota State shared second place with Augustana College, who advanced to the NCAA Central Super Region Championship last season.

Augustana’s Jenelle Trautmann was named NSIC Softball Preseason Player of the Year. Trautman was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Second Team. Minnesota State’s Coley Ries was named NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Ries was NSIC Pitcher of the Year as a freshman.

UMC’s Josee Plante (Sr., 3B, Manitou, Manitoba) and Bailey Braatz (So., RHP, Buffalo, Minn.) were selected as UMC’s Players to Watch. Plante hit .252 with nine runs scored and 10 runs batted in as a junior. Braatz appeared in 15 games last season in the circle with 46.2 innings pitched and 30 strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles will open up the Stopa era Feb. 25 as they take on Minot State University and Bemidji State University in West St. Paul, Minn., in a pair of dome games. UMC will take on Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minot State in two more dome games Feb. 26.

For more information, visit the Golden Eagle Athletics website at www.goldeneaglesports.com.

Follow the Golden Eagles on Facebook at Golden Eagle Sports and on Twitter at @UMCAthletics.

The University of Minnesota, Crookston is an NCAA Division II Institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The Golden Eagle Equestrian team is a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).

NSIC Preseason Softball Coaches’ Poll
1.    Winona State (5)     213
2     Augustana (6)     209
         Minnesota State (5)     209
4     Wayne State     166
5     Minnesota Duluth     162
6     Sioux Falls     150
7     Minot State     137
8     U-Mary     126
9     Concordia-St. Paul     120
10     Upper Iowa     115
11     Southwest Minnesota State     75
12     St. Cloud State     73
13     Northern State     68
14     MSU Moorhead     50
15     Minnesota Crookston     24
16     Bemidji State     23

NDSU's Klieman Named American Football Monthly/Rawlings Football FCS Coach of the Year

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Rawlings Football has named North Dakota State’s Chris Klieman as the Football Championship Subdivision Coach of the Year for 2014. In addition, the annual awards include college coaches of the year for the FBS, Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College.  The awards were given in association with American Football Monthly, the leading resource for coaches everywhere.
 
Klieman guided North Dakota State to its fourth straight FCS title, defeating Illinois State, 29-27, in the championship game. It was Klieman’s first year as head coach and he led the Bison to a 15-1 record.
 
The other college winners include:
 
FBS – Urban Meyer, Ohio State – Meyer guided the Buckeyes to a 14-1 record and the national championship, defeating Oregon in the title game, 42-20. Ohio State won their last three games – victories over Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon – with their third string quarterback, Cardale Jones.
 
Division II – John Wristen, Colorado State-Pueblo – Wristen started the program in 2007 and this past fall won the Division II Championship, defeating Minnesota State-Mankato, 13-0, in the championship game. CS-Pueblo finished with a 14-1 record.
 
Division III – Lance Leipold, Wisconsin-Whitewater – Under Leipold, UW-W won six Division III championships in his 8 years as head coach. UW-W defeated Mount Union, 43-34, in December’s title game. Leipold recently accepted the head coaching position at the University of Buffalo.
 
NAIA – Craig Howard, Southern Oregon – Under Howard, Southern Oregon completed a 13-2 record with a 55-31 win over Marion University in the NAIA Championship game. It was the Raiders first NAIA title.
 
JUCO – Brad Smiley, Trinity Valley Community College – TVCC averaged 58.5 points per game in completing an undefeated – 12-0 – season. In the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl, Trinity Valley defeated Coffeyville CC, 27-24.

North Dakota reclaims top spot in national men’s hockey polls

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – For the fourth time since the start of December, the University of North Dakota is the top-ranked men’s hockey team in the nation.

In the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls released this afternoon, North Dakota vaulted into the top spot on the strength of a NCHC sweep of Colorado College last weekend. UND earned 34 of 50 first-place votes in the USCHO poll and 21 of 34 first-place nods in the USA Today rankings.

Second-ranked Boston University and third-ranked Minnesota State also received first-place votes in both polls. Harvard was ranked fourth while UND’s next opponent, Omaha, was ranked fifth in both.

UND (18-5-2, 9-4-1-0 NCHC) will travel to Omaha this weekend to face the first-place Mavericks (15-6-3, 9-4-1-1 NCHC), who own a 1-point edge on UND in the NCHC standings.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

Rk.      School (First place votes)       Record           Pts.         PR

1.         North Dakota (34)                     18-5-2           982            2

2.         Boston University (5)                     15-4-4            933            3

3.         Minnesota State (11)                      19-5-1            931            1

4.         Harvard                                            12-4-2            816            4

5.         Omaha                                              15-6-3            741            8

6.         Bowling Green                                 15-5-4            686            6

7.         Minnesota Duluth                            14-9-1            639            7

8.         Michigan Tech                                  18-7-1            622          10

9.         Miami                                               15-9-0            595            9

10.       Massachusetts-Lowell                    15-7-3            584            5

11.       Denver                                             14-8-1            504          11

12.       Providence                                       16-8-1            448          18

13.       Michigan                                          15-7-0            440          16

14.       Boston College                               15-8-2            337          19

15.       Vermont                                           15-8-2            310          12

16.       Yale                                                  11-6-2            234          13

17.       Colgate                                            14-8-2            187          15

18.       Quinnipiac                                        15-8-1            158          20

19.       Merrimack                                        13-8-3            142          14

20.       Robert Morris                                  17-5-4              98         NR

Others receiving votes: Minnesota 46, Penn State 25, St. Lawrence 17, Western Michigan 9, Northeastern 7, Canisius 5, Bemidji State 3, Dartmouth 1.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

Rk.      School (1^st place)                      Record           Pts.         PR

1.         North Dakota (21)                     18-5-2           497            2

2.         Boston University (7)                     15-4-4            479            3

3.         Minnesota State (6)                        19-5-1            461            1

4.         Harvard                                            12-4-2            379            4

5.         Omaha                                              15-6-3            313            8

6.         Bowling Green                                 15-5-4            310            6

7.         Minnesota Duluth                            14-9-1            305            7

8.         Miami                                               15-9-0            265            9

9.         Michigan Tech                                  18-7-1            240          10

10.       Massachusetts-Lowell                    15-7-3            204            5

11.       Providence                                       16-8-1            153         NR

12.       Denver                                             14-8-1            152          11

13.       Michigan                                          15-7-0            105         NR

14.       Vermont                                           15-8-2              71          12

15.       Boston College                               15-8-2              57         NR

Others receiving votes: Colgate 34, Yale 24, Quinnipiac 19, Robert Morris 8, Merrimack 2, Minnesota 2.