Army West Point Athletics
Monday, March 8 - Another Season Comes To An End
March 08, 2010 | General
Good afternoon and my apologies for those eager BK blog readers for a later-than-usual entry. Tracy Nelson with you today. It's been an uncharacteristically beautiful day outside here in the Hudson Valley. With temps reaching the mid-50s and the sun shining over the Hudson River, it's been a pretty drastic change. A little over a week ago, I was snowed in my house for two days and yesterday I went for a really good run outside wearing shorts! Speaking of, I've never really been much of a runner - I just do so for exercise and to keep myself in mildly decent shape (most days!). However, since basketball ended (more to follow ... ) and my spring is a little on the light side only covering women's tennis, I decided that I should try my luck at running a half marathon. I thought about it last year, but of course talked myself right out of it. This year, I'm ready to go! Today is day 1 of training, so I'll try to keep you all updated on how it's going. Between the cadets and active and retired military personnel on post here, if you don't run, you feel pretty lazy in a hurry! I've decided to run back near home in the Buffalo half on May 30. Keep your fingers crossed that I can make it until then!
As I mentioned above, basketball season came to an end for me on Saturday with the women falling at host Holy Cross 57-53 in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. The highlight of the game was undoubtedly junior F Erin Anthony scoring her 1,000th point. She's been a pleasure to watch develop over the last three years. Anthony is the 15th member of Army's 1,000-point club and the sixth to reach the milestone as a junior. Of course, as I'm speaking about this to our very own Mady Salvani on Sunday, I mentioned that Erin scored her 1,000th point on a lousy free throw! Not that free throws are lousy, but she's such a prolific scorer I figured it would come via layup or hook shot or something a little bit more exciting. Mady just sat there and laughed, recounting the fact that Kim Hall (1977-81), Army's first-ever 1,000-point scorer also scored hers on a free throw. If it weren't for the Coach and all of her wisdom, I wouldn't know half the women's basketball trivia that I do now.
The women's season was full of highs and lows, but through it all, the team and coaching staff remained one of the reasons why I love working women's basketball so much. They are just such amazing people and are truly appreciative of people and all that they do for their program. The good news is that this year's team didn't have a single senior on the roster, so next year will be better with another year of experience under their belts. I have to commend this year's juniors - it couldn't have been easy taking on such a load of leadership responsibilities a bit premature. From a few talks with coach Dave Magarity, the staff has been busy and will bring in a sizable number of recruits for next season - of course, some from the USMA Prep School and others direct-admits. It should be fun to see how they fall into the mix.
My life really slows down now, as I mentioned, covering women's tennis in the spring. There's a team without a lack for success, so it's always a lot of fun to follow them. They're 11-6 right now and coming off a 4-1 weekend. The Black Knights have won the last five Patriot League titles and made five-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Army was recently picked to repeat as this year's champions in the preseason poll. They are without a doubt one of the most successful Army teams in recent memory - so if you ever have a chance to check them out, you won't want to miss it!
My "free time" will also be spent taking in as much baseball and lax as I can. On days like today, I would love to be outside at Doubleday watching the boys of summer (or spring I guess in the college game) under the fading sun. Those days aren't far away ... thankfully!
Before I leave you today, I would publically like to wish our own Timothy Volkmann and Brian Gunning very HAPPY BIRTHDAYS! They both celebrated their birthdays last Friday, March 5. I won't go into age details but will leave it to you to figure out who is older ... We have another very important birthday on the horizon later this month, so stay tuned!
Alright, that'll do it for me for today. Only a couple more things to check off my "to do" list and then it's off for training day #1. Wish me luck!
