2006-2007 UTD ATHLETIC NEWS Senior Theresa Buckles, a four-year starter for the UTD women's soccer team, was announced as the 2007 Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Men's basketball seniors Martin Salinas and Travis Carruthers were co-winners of the Male Student-Athlete of the Year award. Buckles concluded a four-year career with one of the most successful programs in the UTD Athletic Department. During her UTD career, Buckles won American Southwest Conference all-conference honors three times, including twice making the All-ASC first team squad. In 2006, she also won All-Region honors in her sport. Buckles has been on the ASC Academic All-Conference team three years and was voted to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-District Academic team last fall. During her four-year career, the UTD women’s soccer team finished with a 58-14-8 overall record, qualified four times for the ASC Championship Tournament, and played in three straight heart-breaking losses in the ASC title game. For her career, this student-athlete scored 30 goals and established a new school record with 29 career assists. The contest for the Male Student-Athlete of the Year winner was one of the closest elections in program history. Carruthers and Salinas both came to UTD as wide-eyed freshmen in 2003 with no idea that they would someday become record-setting players on the Comet basketball team, but by the end of their sophomore seasons, both would be well on their way. Salinas got the attention of the ASC opposition immediately as a sophomore, setting a school record by hitting 85 three-pointers during the season and then leading his team to three straight upset wins at the Conference Championship Tournament to claim the school’s first ASC men’s basketball championship. Carruthers was also thrown into the fire that season, stepping into a vacant starting spot at point guard almost by default, then turning into one of the top assist leaders in the nation by the end of his junior year. During their career, Carruthers and Salinas were part of a men’s basketball team that had three winning seasons, four straight trips to the ASC Championship Tournament and finished this season with an 18-8 record, the best finish in school history. In 2006-07, both were named part of the ASC All-East Division teams. The sports included are baseball, softball, tennis and track and field. To be eligible for ASC All-Academic honors, student-athletes must have lettered in the spring 2007 season, be in at least the second academic year at their institution, and carry a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 or better. A total of 33 student athletic trainers and student sports information directors were also honored. ASC 2007 BASEBALL ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE ASC 2007 SOFTBALL ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE ASC 2007 MEN’S TENNIS ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE ASC 2007 WOMEN’S TENNIS ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE ASC 2007 STUDENT TRAINER ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE Rosen was also selected as the NCAA Divisoin III West Region Player of the Year, leading a group of five Comets on the regional squad. Rosen and Jackson were both first-team regional selections while catcher Matt Putman and outfielder Mitch Elliott were second-team regional selections. Outfielder Trent Elizondo was a third-team selection. Putman was also selected for a West Region Gold Glove at his position, after commiting just two errors all season. All five players were seniors on UTD's 2007 squad, which finished 34-13 and advanced to the semi-finals of the NCAA West Regional Tournament. Rosen, a senior from Plano, hit .424 for the 2007 Comets and set 11 UTD school records during his career. Jackson, a senior from Santo, led the Comets with a record-setting .451 season batting average and also found his way into the UTD record book with three new school records. Putman finished the season hitting .402 with 10 home runs. Elliott hit .384 with 10 home runs and Elizondo finished the season at .419. Elizondo, a three-year starter for the Comets and winner of the same award after the 2005 season, was one of 13 members of the UTD baseball team honored on the post-season squads. Five UTD players, including Elizondo, were first-team All-East Division selections. Elizondo, a senior from The Woodlands who transferred to UTD in 2005 after a year at Weatherford Junior College, hit .446 this season with 39 runs batted in while appearing in all 40 Comet games. He was named to the ASC East first team as a designated hitter, and to the second team as an outfielder. In addition to Elizondo, four seniors were also named to the first team All-ASC East Division squad. They were second baseman Brett Rosen of Plano (.419, 23 extra-base hits), shortstop Jake Jackson of Santo (.451, 52 RBI), catcher Matt Putman of Carrollton (.408, 10 HR), and outfielder Mitch Elliott of Euless (.399, 10 HR). Second team selections for the Comets were Elizondo as an outfielder, sophomore outfielder Jake Eisman of Highland Village, and sophomore pitchers Tim Flasik and Jay Johnson, both of Missouri City. Winning honorable mention recognition were senior first baseman Nick Bird of Richardson, senior outfielder Nick Hand of Midland, and junior starting pitchers Mark Cox of Coldspring, Damion Chelakis of Houston and Drew Waggoner of Dallas. >>ALL-ASC EAST DIVISION SOFTBALL Lightfield, a junior from Houston Westside HS, hit .308 and was 11-of-15 on stolen base attempts. Ryan, a sophomore from Frisco, hit .371 for the Comets and set a new school record with nine home runs in the season. She also had nine doubles and drove in a team-best 35 runs during UTD's 16-23 season. Five other members of the UTD squad were named to the ASC East Honorable Mention team. They were (pictured below) junior shortstop Amber Griffin of Richmond, senior catcher Andrina Arenas of Richardson, junior outfielder Lyndsi Ayers of Farmington, NM; and a pair of freshmen - outfielder Tawni Ichimura of Plano and first baseman Dawn Wiedeman of Houston. Waterson, a freshman from Houston, took over playing the Comets' No. 1 singles position midway through the season on a team that advanced to the finals of the ASC Championship Tournament. He was a first-team All-ASC East Division selection as well, along with teammates Donald Kasitinon, freshman from Lewisville; freshman Matt Volschenk of Austin and sophomore Kevin Yarnall of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Kyle Faber, a freshman from Arlington, was a second-team selection. On the women's side, freshman Savanah Matlock of San Antonio won second-team recognition while sophomore Sylvia Brownfield of Tomball received honorable mention recognition. Whitt has now won the Coach of the Year recognition for three straight seasons, including one at the University of Texas at Tyler. Salinas, the four-year player from Alief who became UTD's alltime leading scorer this season with 1336 career points, was a first-team All-ASC East Division selection at guard. Eppink, the 6-5 freshman from Spring, was selected the ASC East Division Freshman of the Year. Salinas led UTD with an 18.8 ppg scoring average, adding 89 three-point FG's to his school-record 183. He was a second-team All-East Division honoree last year. Also honored from UTD was senior guard Travis Carruthers of Georgetown, who was UTD's second-leading scorer at 12.5 ppg, hitting 43 3-pointers and among the nation's leaders with 155 assists on the season. Carruthers was named to the ASC East Division 2nd team. Freshman Scott Rodgers of The Woodlands joined Eppink on the five-member East Division All-Freshman team. Rodgers was UTD's top player off the bench, averaging 6.8 ppg. UTD finished the 2006-07 season with a program-best 18-8 record, but was eliminated in the first round of the ASC Championship Tournament in a one-point loss to McMurry Edwards, a freshman from Friendswood, was named second-team All-ASC East Division as well as a member of the ASC East Division All-Defensive Team and All-Freshman Team. Edwards was UTD's leading scorer in her first season, averaging 12.2 ppg on a team that finished 11-5 and advanced to the ASC Championship Tournament for the first time in program history. She also dished out 90 assists and was credited with 46 steals. Junior Ericka Baker and senior Jenna Harris were also honored as honorable mention selections to the All-East Division team. Baker was also selected to the All-Defensive team. Baker, a junior from Copperas Cove, was UTD's second-leading scorer at 11.8 ppg, also averaging 5.8 rebounds. Harris, who posted six double-doubles during the season, had her finest season, finishing with an 8.5 ppg, 7.8 rebound per game average. The rebound average was a school record for a single season >>VOLLEYBALL Coach Marci Sanders was named the East Division Coach of the Year while junior Brittany Fowler and freshman Kyleigh Irish were named the ASC East Division Player and Newcomer of the Year, respectively. Fowler and Irish were also both honored as UTD's representatives on the prestigious, eight-member ASC All-Conference team, which includes players from both divisions. The pair were first-team All-East Division selections along with junior teammate Anna Aronovich. Five Comets earned second-team All-East Division honors, including senior Shelley Paull, sophomore Jessie Harpham and freshmen Patricia Allen, Nealy Mincher and Kathryn Adams. UTD had more all-division honorees than any other ASC school. Sanders, who started the UTD volleyball program just three years ago, guided the 2006 team to a 24-7 record and 15-2 mark against the ASC this season. The Comets advanced to the championship game of the ASC tournament before falling. Fowler, a junior from New Braunfels, was the ASC East Division pre-season Setter of the Year and averaged 8.61 assists per game in 2006. Irish, a freshman from San Antonio, led the Comets with 0.62 aces per game and a total of 334 kills during the season. She is UTD's third consecutive winner of the Newcomer of the Year award. Fowler won the honor in 2004 as a freshman and Harpham was honored in 2005. >>WOMEN'S SOCCER Jackson Named ASC's Top Defender Again RICHARDSON, TX - For the third consecutive year, UTD's Kelli Jackson has been named the American Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year as part of the All-ASC teams announced Tuesday. Jackson, a junior defender from Tulsa, OK, was joined on the ASC All-Conference first team by fellow team captains - senior midfielder Genny Nevit and senior forward Theresa Buckles. Jackson has won the conference defensive award in each of her three seasons at UTD and was the conference pre-season Defensive Player of the Year twice. She was the leader of a UTD defense that gave up just 12 goals through its 14-4-2 season and recorded shutouts in 13 of its 14 wins . In addition, the team captain scored two goals, including the game winner in the semifinal, 1-0 win over Texas Lutheran at the ASC Championship Tournament. Buckles, a four-year starter from Sugar Land, TX, was UTD's second-leading scorer in 2006 with 10 goals and nine assists. She became the UTD career assist leader with 29 total while playing in all but one game during her career with the Comets. Nevit, a senior from Austin, scored five goals and had three assists during the 2006 season. Junior transfer Ashley Carter, the team's leading scorer with 16 goals and 6 assists, was a second-team selection along with three other defensive players - freshman Caitlin Perdue of Austin; junior Lyndsi Ayers of Farmington, NM; and goalkeeper Cat Fox of Lubbock, TX. All seven UTD players honored were either first or second-team selections Lynn , a senior from Rockwall, was UTD's second-leading scorer with five goals and two assists during the 12-6-1 season. Four other UTD soccer players were honored as part of the other all-conference squads. >>ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA |
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