Lion Pause
Click here to view last week’s athletic highlights and this week’s upcoming schedule of events for Mars Hill University.
Athletic Highlights: April 10 – April 18, 2017
Baseball: The Lions had an impressive week sweeping Lenoir-Rhyne in a three-game South Atlantic Conference series. MHU took their season record to 26-19 overall and 12-9 in the league. Hunter Merrill (Pittsford, N.Y.) hit .545 with one double, a triple and six runs scored. Daniel Vitello (Hollywood, Fla.) hit .500 last week with two doubles and five runs scored. Zac Brown (Albemarle, N.C.), Caleb Edwards (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Tom Mastrodonato (Rochester, N.Y.) each picked up wins for the Lions on the mound. As a team the Lions played excellent defense making only one error in 99 chances against the Bears.
Lacrosse: Junior attack Dima Ferreira (Abingdon, Va.) blasted six goals in two games this past week to lead the Lions lacrosse team to a 1-1 record. In the win against Young Harris College on April 12, Ferreira notched a season-high four goals to help the Blue and Gold pull out a hard-fought 8-5 win. Dima also collected six groundballs over the two-game span.
Softball: Casey Stanek (Winston, Salem, N.C.) compiled a .571 batting average (4-7) over the weekend to help lead the Lions to a split with Queens University of Charlotte. Stanek collected one homerun, an RBI, and three doubles on the afternoon. Starting pitcher Sydney Elkin (Boca Raton, Fla.) picked up her team-leading 7th win of the season in game one of the doubleheader.
Men's Track & Field: On the men's side Brandon Beard (Fairfield, Ohio) broke the old Mars Hill school record in the 800-meter race by more than three seconds (1:53.8) as he captured a third place finish, while teammate Nathan Jones (Lenoir City, Tenn.) finished third in the 10,000-meter event. Gil Gilreath (Kannapolis, N.C.) and Garrett Farrimond (Winston-Salem, N.C.) collected second and fifth place finishes, respectively, in the 3k steeple.
Women's Track & Field: Jordan Bair (New Carlisle, Ohio) once again broke the school record in the pole vault with a jump of 11'4", good enough for a third place finish. Shahnika Williams (Auburn, N.Y.) established new personal bests in the 100-meter (12.68) and 200-meter (26.42), while Christine Foresha (Bremerton, Wash.) had a season best in the 100-meter race at 12.78 and 200-meters at 26.20. The 4X100 relay team, consisting of Williams, Foresha, Bair, and Sydney Britt (Terra Cei, Fla.) finished sixth with a new season best of 51 seconds.
Men's Tennis: Mars Hill finished the spring portion of its schedule in grand fashion, taking down Milligan by the score of 9-0 on Thursday, April 13 at the Mathes Tennis Center. The Lions breezed to victory as each member of the team collected a victory, while also not dropping a single set. Ben Reid (Gloucester, England) did not allow a point in his No. 2 singles match, defeating Daniel Peacock 6-0, 6-0.
Women's Tennis: The Lions dominated Milligan 8-1 on Saturday afternoon to finish off the spring portion of the schedule in winning fashion. Jasha Geerdink (Apeldoorn, Netherlands) swept Abigail Allen 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles slot, while Jade Henke (Perth, Australia), No. 3 singles, and Sophia Pelaez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), No. 4 singles also collected 6-0, 6-0 wins during the concluding match.