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August 27-September 2, 2009 • The Journal Westminster College Blackburn University Maryville University CROSS COUNTRY BY JONATHAN WEBB BY JONATHAN WEBB VOLLEYBALL GOLF WOMEN’S SOCCER FROM PAGE 10 MEN’S SOCCER Contact the writer: Contact the writer: Contact the writer: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] LAILA WESSEL / Journal Archive Sports Editor Sports Editor Caroline Philippone / Journal Archive
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August 27-September 2, 2009 • The Journal Page 9 • www.webujournal.comSPORTS
BY JONATHAN WEBBSports Editor
In just three years at Web-ster University Athletics, Dusty Lopez has seen a marked transformation in his cross country program. Lopez, who saw the program at its most primitive stages, is encouraged by not only the team’s numbers, but also the overall ability of his runners. “It’s a very young group,” Lopez said. “But they’re very enthusiastic, very coachable. We’re off to a good start.” However, Lopez refused to use the team’s youth as a crutch. Instead, he emphasized the gains a young team can make through heightened re-sponsibilities at a younger stage of the athletes’ career. “They’re doing more than I usually ask of freshmen, and they’re doing more than fresh-men anywhere else,” Lopez said. “You don’t have that older leadership around, so they’re forced to step up earlier on.” Freshman Jane McKibben agreed, emphasizing the need for the younger runners to take a lead role in the team’s success. “Being freshmen, since we don’t have too many upper-classmen, we’re going to have to take leadership roles sooner or later,” McKibben said. When he first became head coach of the program in 2007, Lopez did his best to gather enough area runners for a team. Now, he can boast a signifi-
cant recruiting class, one that not only brings in athletes from around the St. Louis area, but also from out of state. “I think the biggest gain we’ve made is installing a cul-ture,” Lopez said. “In other years, you might have had simi-lar numbers, as far as people on the roster. But if you look at the roster, there are more … dedi-cated runners who are here to run, rather than just crossing the street and deciding to be a cross-country runner. So we’ve
grown in that way.” McKibben, who ran for Lindbergh High School last year, is optimistic about the program, despite its youth and small numbers. I didn’t realize it was going to be this small,” McKibben said. But Lopez is a good, personal coach. “He understands what kind of runner you are, so I joined the team for that reason.” The men’s team, while hav-ing a few more numbers than the women, is still very young.
But that means the future is bright, according to freshman Rob Hohensee, who came to WU from Buffalo, Mo. “We’re all really inexperi-enced,” Hohensee said. “Further down, we’ll be really good, be-cause we’ll all start to work ev-erything out — think right, eat right … have everything down.” Lopez added that he is pleased with the strength of the high school programs as-sociated with his recruits, adding to the improved
“culture” of his program. “To be honest, I’m kind of surprised at the level of response we’ve had in places that aren’t just Metro-area,” Lopez said. Lopez mentioned an out-reach to Indiana, where he had expected merely tepid interest, as one of the program’s more successful recruiting trips. The Gorloks open their season in a dual meet against Westminster College on Sept. 1. The team’s first large meet will be the Washington Uni-versity Early Bird scheduled for Sept. 5. Despite his optimism regarding his recruits, Lopez prefers to keep his expectations conservative. “I would really hesitate to single out even a few kids,” Lopez said. “It’s almost impos-sible to predict, because some kids thrive in competition, and other kids might take a few races before they get their feet under themselves.” In preparing his young team for what will represent the first collegiate competition for many of his runners, Lopez stressed a need to keep a long-term perspective. “I’m going in with an open mind, and I’ve tried to instill that in the team,” Lopez said. “They’re here for four years, and their success and failure will not be measured by that first race.”
Youth is served for Gorlok golfersTeam enters fall season without a senior; Belsky names junior Robby Meeh captain
During that run, the team won its first St. Louis Inter-collegiate Athletic Confer-ence championship in 1997. That season still ranks as Todt’s most success-ful at WU, as the Gorloks went 16-2-2, including an unbeaten 13-0-1 record in conference play. Todt garnered his second of five SLIAC Coach of the Year awards that season. It’s that type of consisten-cy that has Todt on the brink of his 200th victory. The Gorloks have been even more predictable in conference play. In SLIAC action, Todt’s teams have had the reliability of a Toyota Corolla. Under Todt, WU has had just two losing seasons in the past 16 years. That degree of depend-ability is the leading cause for Todt’s standing as the longest-tenured coach in the history of WU athletics. In fact, Todt was instru-mental in breaking the mold of WU athletics, which had difficulty recruiting players, let alone win games. In his first years of lead-ing the program, Todt’s col-leagues in the athletics de-partment continued to have a difficult time locating the “W” column. In that first season, the men’s soccer team was the lone WU team to have achieved a winning record for the entire 1988-89 campaign. By comparison, the base-ball team was 5-18, the men’s basketball team was 7-20, and the women’s basketball team did not win a game. The WU athletic program was in its formative stages, and the men’s soccer team became one of the first sports at the school to become a le-gitimate competitor. Todt’s teams, for the most part, have followed his lead by remaining solid, yet out of the spotlight. In his approach to his impending milestone, Todt has moved at a steady pace, averaging about nine wins per season. If not for an injury to Kevin Fann, WU’s all-time leading scorer, Todt likely would have achieved his No. 200 last season. As it stands, Todt will get his first attempt at cracking the 200-win pla-teau as the Gorloks open the season Sept. 1 against Millikin University. Whenever Todt does fi-nally tally his next victory, he will become the second WU coach — in any of the university’s sports — to reach 200 victories. Craig Walston posted a 263-90-1 record in his nine seasons coaching the softball team. After Todt, the closest coach to the 200-win mark is volleyball coach Merry Graf. At 159 wins, Graf is likely at least three seasons from cracking the 200 plateau. Women’s soccer coach Luigi Scire follows close behind, with 158 wins in his 10 sea-sons at WU. Despite an impres-sive milestone on the ho-rizon, Todt apparently doesn’t plan to ride off into the sunset anytime soon. In a story posted to the WU athletics Web site, Todt said he plans to remain at WU for the foreseeable future. “I can’t imagine not coach-ing at Webster,” Todt said. With such a solid track record in his WU tenure, Todt can be sure he isn’t alone in finding that time to be many games — and wins — in the future.
Todt: Men’s soccer coach nears
milestoneFROM PAGE 10
BY JONATHAN WEBBSports Editor
If experience were a direct ref lection of a team’s success, Andrew Belsky would be in a bind this fall. After graduating two of the more decorated golf-ers in the program, Web-ster University’s golf coach now has a bevy of young-sters to craft his team with. “The early impression of my team is that we’re young,” Bel-sky said. “But I can also tell you our guys are working very hard, and it’s going to pay dividends for us. They’re very excited to be here and they’re going to lay the groundwork.” With captains Allen Heeger and Jason Sullivan leading the way last year, the Gorloks com-pleted their season with a fifth-place finish in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Confer-ence Tournament. This year, junior Robby Meeh has been named the team’s captain, leading a team devoid of seniors. WU has brought in six freshmen, as well as a Meramec Community College transfer. “Robby Meeh has already stepped up,” Belsky said. “And we have another guy, (fresh-man Kyler Scott) who was play-ing Division-I football. So he has the maturity, and he’s the best player we have right now. So while it’s not having Allen and Sully, it’s nice to have those guys this year.” Due to the team’s youth, Bel-sky’s expectations for this sea-son are tempered. “Anybody hopes to get off to a real fast start,” Belsky said. “But there’s the potential out there that we might not. I want us to continue to get better throughout the year. As a team, I’m not sure getting off to a fast start would be the best thing for us.” While he may not expect his team to be among the upper-echelon squads in the early tournaments, Belsky hopes the competition will help to con-dition his golfers for the latter
part of this season, as well as in the future. “It makes me very optimistic that they’re going to get better,” Belsky said. “With these guys working on their games right now, this is where it starts. This is going to be a good core of players for four years.” In addition to Meeh, sopho-more Alex King returns from last year’s team.
King remains optimistic about the team’s leadership, despite being without a senior this year. “(Meeh) has been a great role model for the younger players on the team,” King said. “Also, (junior) Scott Restoff is golfing this year, and he should also add some leadership.” While the team does re-main short on experience,
the inf lux of young golf-ers could allow the team to make quick early strides. While Belsky prefers to retain only moderate expec-tations for this season, King also added that he believes the youthful, yet talented team can be relevant early on. “I think that being so deep and talented is going to be a very important factor in
how far the team makes it this year,” King said. “I re-ally think this team has what it takes to make some noise in the SLIAC immediately.” WU will open the sea-son Sept. 1 against Blackburn College at Timberlakes Golf Course in Staunton, Ill.
LAILA WESSEL / Journal ArchiveJason Sullivan, a captain of last year’s golf team, is a noticeable omission from the younger, new-look Gorloks of 2009. With Sullivan and fellow captain Allen Heeger graduated, WU enters a rebuilding phase, with six freshman. This year’s non-freshmen are juniors Robby Meeh and Scott Restoff, and sophomores Alex King and Dan Greiner. Greiner previously attended Meramec Community College.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
New era begins for cross countryHead coach Lopez is encouraged by program’s ability to recruit runners outside Metro area
Caroline Philippone / Journal ArchiveHead coach Dusty Lopez (right) addresses his team before a practice last season. Lopez, who is entering his third season with WU’s athletic staff, is optimistic about the program’s rapid growth.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Contact the writer: [email protected]
VOLLEYBALL
Tuesday, Sept. 1vs.
Maryville University
Home-7 p.m.
CROSS COUNTRY
Tuesday, Sept. 1vs.
Westminster College
Away-TBA
GOLF
Tuesday, Sept. 1vs.
Blackburn University
Away-TBA
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Tuesday, Sept. 1vs.
Millikin University
Home-5 p.m.
MEN’S SOCCER
Tuesday, Sept. 1 vs.
Millikin University
Home-7 p.m.
