Army West Point Athletics
Thursday, April 15 - Hope You Did Your Taxes
April 15, 2010 | General
Good morning loyal Army fans and welcome to this Thursday edition of the Black Knight Blog. It feels like it's still Tuesday - this week has flown by with a flurry of activity going on at West Point. Tracy Nelson with you today and hopefully you've taken notice that we seem to be back on track with our blog schedule! Bear with us, it does get a bit tough when we're trying to get a million other things accomplished in a particular day.
Happy Tax Day! I hope the government was kind to you in your refunds. Lucky for me, I did mine a while back. I'm never one to wait until the last minute - and neither should you!
Speaking of getting a million things accomplished, I feel like I have an extraordinary long list of topics that I'd like to hit on in today's blog. I'm all about organization (although my desk would indicate otherwise) so let's give this method a shot ...
Congrats Clint Moore!
Quite possibly one of the highest honors in the country, Army shortstop Clint Moore was one of six finalists for the annual AAU Sullivan Award. Presented annually to America's Top Amateur Athlete, Moore was in some pretty incredible company at last night's awards presentation at The New York Athletic Club. He was joined by his wonderful family (Mrs. Moore is known in our office for her pretty sweet Southern accent and even sweeter cookie-making skills!), our very own Bob Beretta, Mr. Kevin Anderson, head coach Joe Sottolano and a few other VIPs from the ODIA family. Sottolano even missed yesterday's game versus Iona to attend the event - that should tell you just how special this award is. Lucky for him, top assistant Matt Reid improved to 1-0 as the top dog with a 5-4 win over the visiting Gaels on a gorgeous day at Doubleday Field. Congrats to Clint and best of luck to him the rest of this season. You can catch him and the rest of the Black Knights in action this weekend as they host Lehigh in a key Patriot League series at West Point.
Powerhouse Nittany Lions Hit Up West Point Saturday
If you're any sort of volleyball fan, this Saturday is your chance to catch some of the best collegiate volleyball has to offer. Legendary head coach Russ Rose and his three-time defending national champion Penn State will visit West Point for a day of practice/scrimmage sessions with the hometown Black Knights. Army is coming off its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, during which the team was placed at first-round host Penn State's Rec Hall. Although the teams did not meet-up, Rose must have liked what he saw enough to consider a trip to West Point.
While the UConn women's basketball team captured the nation's attention with their incredible win streak, Penn State women's volleyball holds the record - and it's still ongoing. Up to an eye-popping 102 wins in a row, Penn State edged Texas in a thrilling title match, 3-2, last December to become the first women's volleyball team in NCAA history to three-peat.
All sessions on Saturday are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. The first session will run from 9-11:30 a.m. at Gillis Field House. The teams will then break for lunch at the Mess Hall and a brief tour of West Point. The will reconvene around 3 p.m. Also, for those eager volleyball players in attendance, there will be a free clinic following the day's events. It will run from 4-5 p.m. at Gillis Field House. Click here for more information on all of the day's events.
Pommel Horses and Balance Beams and Still Rings, Oh My!
West Point has been abuzz over the last 24 hours as the top men's collegiate gymnastics teams from around the country descended upon the banks of the Hudson for the 2010 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, set to begin in just a couple of hours here at Christl Arena. Tim Volkmann, Mady Salvani and Brian Gunning in our office have put in hours upon hours of work getting ready for this event - so kudos to you guys!
I took a walk up to Christl yesterday to check out what all the fuss was about. I walked in and was blown away by the set-up. It's incredible. All of the apparatuses are built up on platforms, chalk dust flowing through the air and foliage to boot. You would never know that it's a basketball arena.
Army has four individuals that qualified for different events this year. Ty Smith, Jonathan Hoey, Garrek Hojan-Clark and Kip Webber will represent the Academy. For more on them, click here to read Mady's preview. If you know Mady, you know that she thinks each one of these fine gymnasts will walk away with a title. She's probably the most optimistic person I know ...
For those wanting to follow along with the championships' progress, please visit the Arm gymnastics page on www.goARMYsports.com and click on the NCAA button to the right. There, you will find this link, which will be provide score updates after each rotation.
Score updates available here
Best of luck to all of the gymnasts - I feel like I shouldn't say "break a leg" so I'll just go with "don't fall" instead!
Women's Tennis Hungry For More Hardware
Head coach Paul Peck and the Army women's tennis team head up to Hamilton, N.Y., this weekend to Colgate, the site of the 2010 Patriot League Women's Tennis Championships. The Black Knights are probably one of the winningest teams here at West Point and are going for an unprecedented SIXTH title in a row! Needless to say, Peck certainly knows what he's doing apparently.
Army earned the top seed for the tournament and was awarded a first-round bye. The Black Knights will play the winner of No. 4 Colgate and No. 5 Lehigh in Saturday's first match at 10 a.m. Be sure to stay tuned to www.goARMYsports.com for complete coverage, as well as the official Patriot League Championship Page.
Best of luck to the team this weekend!
GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!
I would be remised if I didn't mention the Army-Navy lacrosse showdown on Saturday as a part of the Smartlink Day of Rivals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. Hopefully there's nice weather on tap for the game. I wish I could be there to lend my in-game blogging skills. Alas, they will have to go on without me!
If you can't make it to the game, don't forget you can catch it live on ESPNU at 4 p.m. I'm sure Volk will have his preview/notes posted shortly, so be sure to check back for those.
That'll do it for me today. I suppose I should get going and do some real work. There's always something up next on the to-do list ...
