Spring Sports Wrap-up

Jun 17, 2022 12:00 PM

In the third season of Division II and after more than a year of disruption because of the pandemic, Frostburg’s student-athletes stepped up to shine at this new level, including tournament and championship appearances and a co-championship for Bobcat football.

Acrobatics & Tumbling

Record: 6-5

Highlight: Advanced to the MEC Championship meet as the conference two seed.

Recap: The Acro team had an impressive year for only its second year of competition, as the Bobcats ended the season with two MEC major award winners: Specialist of the Year Alexis Palmieri and Coach of the Year Katie Nunley. The team earned a preseason rank from the NCATA as the No. 15 team in the country. At the MEC tournament, the Bobcats defeated West Virginia Wesleyan in the semifinals by a score of 255.124-243.485 to secure their first appearance in the championship meet. FSU also qualified for 13 of a possible 15 individual event finals and won the most events of all MEC schools with seven. Frostburg fell to Fairmont in the championship meet by just over one point. The Bobcats also had four student-athletes earn All-MEC honors.

Women’s Lacrosse

Record: 10-7

Highlight: Defeated Notre Dame (Ohio) at home to split the MEC regular season championship.

Recap: The Frostburg women’s lacrosse team started off the season with a tough task facing off against two top-25 teams and eventual national champion Indianapolis. After a 1-6 start, FSU found its footing in MEC play and won nine straight games, including a win over Charleston (WV) in the MEC semifinal game. The Bobcats came up just short against Notre Dame (Ohio) in the championship game for the second straight year. Steph King brought home MEC Offensive Player of the Year and Taylor Sindall was named Coach of the Year. In total the Bobcats had 11 All-MEC selections to lead the conference.

Men’s Lacrosse

Record: 11-8

Highlight: Made the ECC Championship game in the team’s first appearance at the conference tournament.

Recap: Frostburg faced off against five ranked opponents on the year, including both participants from the Division II National Championship game. The Bobcats battled through the first half of the season with seven games that were decided by three goals or less. FSU finished the regular season winning six of seven games to earn the two seed in the ECC tournament. Frostburg defeated Molloy 21-6 to advance to the championship game, its first such appearance since 2015. The game was full of momentum swings, with one-seed Mercy keeping the Bobcats out of reach with a final score of 15-10. Senior Jake Bowman and sophomore Jake McCullough earned USILA All-Region selections, as FSU also had six All-ECC team members and the ECC Rookie of the Year in Seamus Kearney.

Men's Track and Field

Highlight: First-year Tom McCoy broke a long-standing school pole-vault record.

Recap: The men’s team had athletes reach top-10 program marks in 11 events throughout the year. The top meet performance of the year came at the Messiah Invitational, where they finished fourth out of 23 teams. At the MEC Championships, the Bobcats had four All-MEC performances, including a pair of second-place finishes from McCoy and Marquise Burks in the decathlon, where he set a meet record in the shot put for the event. Justin Dunklin in the long jump and the 4x100 team of Nathaniel Mesy, Dvonte Clark, Clay Washington and Paul James III were the other all-conference performers.

Women's Track and Field

Highlight: Two throwers finished first and second in the hammer throw at the conference meet.

Recap: The women’s team set top-10 marks in seven events throughout the year, including Makayla Westry setting a new program record in the hammer throw as she won the event at the MEC Championships. Teammate Alexa Bradburn finished second in the event with the third-farthest throw in school history. Bradburn also had an All-MEC performance in the discus, as she had another third-farthest all-time throw. Hannah Muir rounded out the year with the second-best time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in program history.

Softball

Record: 29-18

Highlight: Co-North Divisions Champions, came within one win of playing for the conference championship.

Recap: A tough opening start to the season saw the team lose its first four games of the year, though the team rallied to finish with the most program wins since 2013. The team also set a new program record for conference wins in a season with 22. Jamie Roberts finished as the conference Freshman of the Year and joined four teammates in earning All-MEC honors. Laura Gilford set a new program and conference record for steals in a season with 35.

Baseball

Record: 33-17

Highlight: Nick Trey hits extra-innings walk-off homerun to beat Fairmont and split the MEC North Division.

Recap: The Bobcats baseball team kicked off the season, winning the first seven games on their way to the program’s most wins in a season since 2015. FSU had a 22-10 record in the conference and battled through the end of the season to win three out of four games against Fairmont State to become co-North Division Champs and the number-one seed for the division in the MEC tournament. FSU got the program’s first MEC tournament win in its opening game, defeating Glenville 6-5. The Bobcats had three players named to all-region teams: senior Bryce Jackson, first-year Danny Estrada and junior Ethan Kiple. In total, Frostburg landed seven players on the All-MEC teams.