47 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(10/10/12 4:01pm)
Sophomore Washida Blackman has been a crucial offensive threat this season for the Mercer women’s soccer team. With one year of experience under her belt, she looks to help lead the team to an A-SUN Championship win, something that the Bears were just short of last season. She’s tallied up one goal, two assists, four points, and 18 total shots so far this season, but she admitted that the numbers alone aren’t going to be what brings the team success. She sat down with the Cluster and talked more about her soccer career.
C: Where were you born?
B: I was born in Barbados, but my family immigrated to the United States when I was two years old.
C: Where did you grow up?
B: I grew up in Snellville, Georgia.
C: How old were you when you started playing sports?
B: I was five years old when I started playing sports. Soccer was the first sport I played.
C: Did you play any other sports when you were younger?
B: I played softball and basketball, but quit to focus on soccer.
C: You saw the field a lot last year as a freshman playing in all 20 games. What was the transition like from high school to Division I?
B: The transition to Division I was a little rough at first because collegiate soccer is played at a faster pace than club soccer or high school. But, after a lot of practices and games, you adjust to it.
C: With last year being your first year, what were some things that you might have struggled with that you worked to improve on going into this season? And what exactly did you do to improve?
B: Last year, I would say I struggled with the physicality of opposing teams, as well as having the full confidence to take players on 1 vs. 1. So, before the season started, I ran more, lifted weights, and worked with the ball. One of my teammates, Stephanie Giangiuli, would also have me practice 1 vs. 1’s against her.
C: How would you describe yourself as a player?
B: I would describe myself as a player who will work hard for her teammates no matter what.
C: What is your greatest memory in soccer?
B: My greatest memory in soccer would have to be from when I was a young kid and my team had been in a tournament, where every game was hard, but we fought and ended up winning the tournament. That is my favorite memory because it was the first time I realized how much I love the game.
C: And the worst?
B: My worst memory would be the senior playoff game for my high school. My high school team was very close and had high expectations of winning the state championship. But, that game day, I had pneumonia and had to standby on the sideline as my team lost.
C: So far you guys have had a really successful season! Describe the chemistry that you have with your teammates that lead to these wins.
B: The chemistry I have with my teammates is absolutely amazing both on and off the field. I know that if I ever needed someone, every single person would be there. That translates onto the field. Everyone’s very supportive and we all work hard for each other.
C: Once you’ve graduated and are done playing Division I soccer, do you still see yourself being involved with soccer or sports in any way?
B: I’m going to be honest, I have no post graduation plans yet. I hope to continue playing soccer, even if it is just for fun.
C: To wrap it up, how do you expect the team to finish this season?
B: Our coach often tells us that how we finish in postseason is up to us; it’s our destiny. I know that if we maintain our team chemistry, as our desire to compete and win, we will win the A-SUN championship.
Despite a few tough losses early on, the Bears have proven that with hard work, the wins will come. This past weekend, the Bears hosted South Carolina Upstate and East Tennessee State only to rack up two more wins, putting them at 8-3-2 this season. With only six games left, Blackman and her teammates know that it is crunch time and they must continue to compete to get a good seed in the A-SUN tournament. Come support their last two home games this season on Friday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct. 14.
(10/10/12 4:01pm)
After three wins and a tie, the Mercer women’s soccer team extended their undefeated streak as they shutout visiting team University of South Carolina Upstate on Friday, Sept. 28th at Bear Field. This would be the Bears’ first conference win of the season.
The Bears showed up for the game sporting their new pink uniforms. It was the team’s annual “Pink Out” game to support breast cancer awareness month. Several breast cancer survivors were on honored throughout the game.
It was evident that Bears had the upper hand in the matchup. They started off fast and maintained impressive offensive pressure for the duration of the game. The Bears tallied up 22 shots while their defense limited the Spartans to just three.
Sophomore Lauren Gassie once again was a pivotal offensive threat when she tallied her team-leading sixth goal of the season just one minute into the game. Gassie took the corner kick and curved in to find the back of the net.
The Bears extended their lead twelve minutes later when sophomore transfer Tess Patton scored her second of the season. Junior Nadja Kolliesuah sent the ball deep into the Spartans’ corner to Sophomore Washida Blackman who fed the ball just inside the Upstate box. This allowed Patton to burry the ball into the goal to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.
Both teams battled for the duration of the half on the slippery field, but the score remained 2-0 at the end of the period.
It didn’t take long for the Bears to execute in the second half. Patton extended the lead to 3-0 within the first ten minutes of the period. Senior Danielle Hesse made a nice individual run at the top of the 18 and cranked on a well-struck shot that the Upstate keeper was able to save. Patton found the ball off of the rebound and buried it in for the final goal of the game.
The final score was 3-0, but the Bears were not finished competing this weekend. On Sunday, Mercer hosted East Tennessee State to finish up the weekend strong with another win.
Patton continued to be a standout player by tallying another goal and an assist in the 3-1 win over ETSU. After only a minute of play, Hesse made a long cross from the near side allowing Patton to head the ball into the net and give the Bears a quick 1-0 lead.
Once again, Mercer dominated the game offensively. The Bears earned nine shots in the first half while the Lady Bucs were limited to just three.
In the 31st minute, ETSU was able to tie up the game off of a free kick from a foul called on the Bears. ETSU’s Samantha Kron was able to bend a ball over the top of the Bears’ wall and past the outstretched arms of junior keeper Nikki Atkinson.
Right before the conclusion of the first half, the Bears gained back their momentum. Patton set up a Mercer free kick and sent a ball that struck the cross bar. It bounced off perfectly for senior P.A. Upson to head into the goal. It was Upson’s first of the year. The Bears got back the lead with a score of 2-0.
In the second half, the Lady Bucs had many valiant attempts at earning another goal, but they were unable to get the ball past freshman keeper Maggie Cropp who took over in the half and made three saves.
In the 70th minute, Hesse put more one in the goal to secure the lead. She struck a long ball from the top of the box that sailed into the far upper corner of the net. Sophomore Brianna Stampler assisted Hesse in the goal.
With the 3-1 win over the Lady Bucs, the Bears were now tied for second place in the A-Sun standings and had a record of 8-3-2. The next contest would be on the road against Lipscomb where they competed through two overtimes but could not jump ahead. The teams drew a 0-0 tie on Friday, Oct. 5th.
The Bears outshot the Lady Bison 23-2 and held an 11-2 advantage in corner kicks at the end of the long 110 minutes. Although Mercer dominated in the offensive statistics, the conclusion of the game resulted in an undesirable tie, yet extended the A-Sun’s longest unbeaten streak to seven games.
Seven different Mercer players had shots in the game with midfielder P.A. Upson tallying up a game-high seven shots in the contest. Eight of the Bears’ shots were on goal, and Libscomb’s keeper was able to make all eight saves.
After the disappointing tie, the Bears wanted to finish off the weekend on a high note and get a win. They continued their travels to Northern Kentucky and extended their unbeaten streak to eight games in the 1-0 shutout on Sunday.
This was the first time that the Bears and Norse met up as conference opponents. The Mercer win moved them into a two-way tie for second place in the league standings.
To continue a recent trend of scoring early on in the game, midfielder Danielle Hesse put one in the goal in the fourth minute. This was Hesse’s fourth of the season, and surpassed her career season high in the process.
For the first time in the last ten games, Mercer was unable to outshoot their opponent. NKU outshot the Bears 15-14, but with the Bears formidable offense, they were able to earn the necessary goal along with the defense keeping the Norse from scoring.
Goalkeeper Maggie Cropp made six key saves in the shutout, which was only one short of her career high.
After defeating the Norse, Mercer has now shutout seven opponents this season, only three shy of what they accomplished last season.
There are only four games remaining in the regular season. Mercer is on the road this coming weekend in Jacksonville, Florida looking for wins against North Florida University and Jacksonville University to clinch a tournament seed.
(10/10/12 4:00pm)
On Saturday, Sept. 29, both the Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Louisville, K.Y. for the Greater Louisville Classic. Both teams set personal bests despite the wet and tough course at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
The event, which is the largest collegiate tournament in the country this year and the site of the NCAA Championships this season, featured over 500 combined men’s and women’s runners. Both teams competed in the “Gold Race.” This would be the first year that the women competed on the top level and only the second year for men. They raced against some of the top cross-country programs from around the country.
Although the Mercer women finished 27th in the tournament and the men placed 29th, those positions rank the Bears as one of the top cross country teams in the country.
In the latest USTFCCCA Division I South Regional poll, the Mercer men moved up a spot and are now ranked No. 13. This remains the first time in head coach Ryan Bailey’s career, and Mercer’s history for that matter, that either team has held onto a regional ranking throughout the fall season.
Once again, Senior Kacie Niemann had the best finish for either squad in the event, taking 80th place, setting another Mercer record and a personal best with a 5K time of 17:53.26. In the Mercer record book, Niemann now holds eight of the top ten finishes all-time, and was the top Atlantic Sun finisher in the race. Niemann commented on the course and her race.
“It was my home course, and knowing every inch of it really helps even if race conditions are less than ideal. I also had friends and family there to push me along when I wanted to give up.”
Along with Niemann, teammate Katlyn Will is adding her name to the Mercer record books. Will finished with a time of 18:10.62 in the meet, which qualified as the fourth fastest time ever for a Mercer runner. She placed 119th overall in the race. Niemann spoke very highly of teammate and training partner, Will.
“It is unbelievably wonderful to have a training partner in Katlyn this year. When workouts seem impossible or I don’t have the mental strength to run like I need to, she is there to drag the best possible performance out of me. I just hope I’m reciprocating sufficiently in return.”
Freshman Lukas Steinheber set the pace for the Mercer men. He finished in 130th with an 8K time of 25:32.55. He has been one of the top runners for coach Bailey this season and like the girls, his efforts this weekend added him to the Mercer record books as fourth place all-time and has the fastest time put up this season for the 8K race.
The next top finisher for the Bears was senior Jacob Law with a time of 26:02.50, leading the team to the fourth fastest average time ever for the program.
The next match up for both Mercer cross country teams will be in two weeks in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. for the Will Wilson Citadel Invitational on Oct. 13.
(09/26/12 9:36pm)
At 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday night, senior Joey Heavner finally sits down to study for his econometrics exam in the morning. Along with most athletes, the Mercer men’s soccer player has quite an exhaustive and busy schedule with a limited amount of time to get his studies done.
The standout soccer player begins his morning at 9 a.m. with a shower to wake him up, then a delicious home-cooked breakfast consisting of an omelet, two pieces of toast, a banana, a cup of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.
From there, he goes to the training room to stretch, rehab, and take care of his body. In his most recent game against Georgia State, Heavner went down with a very unfortunate injury of a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Although his surgery isn’t until Oct. 1, Heaver still must do rehab so that he is at full strength going into the procedure.
“For rehab there is treatment like ultrasound and electrical stimulation, heat and ice, the bike is usually incorporated, and then the most important part is the rehab itself which includes resistance and tension workouts for strengthening,” Heavner explained. “You have to rehab heavily and try to get back quickly.”
Once finished with rehab, Heavner heads to his first class, which begins at 11:00 a.m. When class ends at 11:50 a.m., the academically driven athlete knows that he won’t have much time to study later, so he spends time between his classes and meals in the library. Usually it is just getting a few assignments done for his business classes, but today, it’s studying for the econometrics test that he looks to ace in the morning.
Heavner spent a mere hour of studying in the library before he went to the cafeteria to eat before his next class which would last from 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
After sitting through a long two hour class, Heavner went to the cafeteria one last time before heading to the men’s soccer lounge to analyze film.
Heavner commented on the importance of watching film.
“We watch a substantial amount of our own film for analysis to try and improve what we are doing from game to game. Occasionally we will watch a little bit of an upcoming opponent’s film to try and prepare specifically for something special they can do or take advantage of something they do poorly,” added Heavner.
Soccer is a tough physical contact sport. To dominate on the field, it is very important to work just as hard in the weight room and stay strong. Heavner and his fellow teammates do just that after watching film. Strength coach Derek Rosinski provides the team with a lifting program that is specific to the strength that a soccer player must obtain.
From the weight room, Heavner heads down to the field where the team practices with coach Brad Ruzzo. Practice begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. Heavner looks forward to practice because he can catch a break from the stresses of school.
“Getting onto the field is actually a relief pertaining to all of the stuff you have to do off the field. Once you get on the field or in the weight room or watching film, all that matters is soccer and it’s such a relief sometimes,” says Heavner.
Following the two hours of hard work at practice, Heavner knows his night is nowhere close to being done. He quickly returns to the locker room to take a shower and rush to the University Center to grab Subway so that he can get to the library to study for his econometrics exam.
Finally, at 9:45 p.m., Heavner arrives at the library and begins studying for his difficult classes.
When asked how long it took to study, Heavner responded, “Normally I go to bed between midnight and 1 am, but after studying for my econometrics test, I didn’t get to bed until 3:30 a.m.”
It could be assumed that Heavner sometimes wished he had a less busy or less stressful schedule, but that is not the case.
“I personally would not trade it for anything. I get to play the game that I love and have played since I was little, and get a really good education at the same time,” Heavner admits. “You don’t even realize how busy a day it was until you sit down and write it all out!”
Despite the stress and the little amount of free time, Heavner still boasts one of the highest G.P.A’s on the Mercer men’s soccer team. He is a testament to the term “student-athlete” as he excels both on the field and in the classroom.
(09/26/12 9:33pm)
With conference play just around the corner, the Mercer women’s soccer team looked to add one more win to the record to catch a momentum. They did just that by defeating Jacksonville State on the road on Friday, Sept. 14.
Although play was tough and competitive, neither the Bears nor the Gamecocks were able to score in the first half. It wasn’t until midway through the second half that Mercer was able to jump out to a lead. Sophomore Lauren Gassie passed the ball downfield to senior Danielle Hesse who then proceeded to shoot from the left corner and score, putting the Bears up 1-0. That was Hesse’s first goal of the season.
Jacksonville State stormed back and scored with a game tying goal in the 82nd minute with a cross shot from the left off of a penalty kick.
With a tie score and only eight minutes left on the clock, Mercer knew that they were going to have to capitalize one last time to get the win. Gassie quickly responded and took a shot but it was it was wide right. The JSU Gamecocks took two more shots, but with saves by freshman goalkeeper Maggie Cropp, the score would remain 1-1 until the 86th minute.
With nice individual effort, Junior Casey Barrett scored her first goal of the season by dribbling the ball downfield past a Gamecock defender and shooting to find the back of the net. Mercer controlled the rest of the game and finished with a winning score of 2-1.
The confident Bears knew that their hard work was not done for the weekend. Two days later, they traveled back to Alabama to gain another win against Troy.
Midway through the first half, Barrett finished where she left off on Friday. She took a shot from the far right side off a feed from classmate Nadja Kolliesuah. The effort by the Troy goalkeeper to save the ball failed as it was deflected, putting the Bears up 1-0.
Little time was wasted before Kolliesuah and Barrett connected again for Kolliesuah to bury one in the back of the net. Kolliesuah finished on a nice pass from Barrett inside the box to give the Mercer Bears a quick 2-0 advantage. That would be Kolliesuah’s first goal of the season.
The first half was coming to an end when the Trojans responded from inside the box off a second chance shot. Junior Nikki Atkinson was unable to make the save leading to a halftime score of 2-1.
Going into the second half with a lead, Mercer wanted to continue dominating the game. With an exceptional group effort, the Bears were able to add one more to the board in the 69th minute. The ball bounced around the box when Barrett was able to hit freshman Sydney Brogden with a pass to find the back lower right corner of the goal to score her third of the season and extend the lead to 3-1.
Merely a minute passed when junior Sadie Curry got not only her first of the season, but her first ever collegiate goal. She became the 12th Bear this season to score a goal. With a shot from the far right wing over 20 yards out, the ball flew past the Trojan goalkeeper’s reach and hit the back of the net.
In the 83rd minute, Troy was finally able to get passed the Mercer defense to get a shot off, but it was high and they were unable to score. The game came to an end and the Bears received the win with a score of 4-1. After two wins and a competitive weekend of play, the Bears returned home only to practice even harder to start off the next weekend’s first conference match-up. With a winning record of 6-3-1, this successful Mercer team knew that the game against in-state rival and conference foe Kennesaw State was going to be no walk in the park.
After the hard-working week of practice, the Bears traveled to Kennesaw, Georgia to play the tough and physical team that they were expecting. Mercer fought the entire game for a win, but after two overtimes, they could only come out with a tie.
Standout player Lauren Gassie commented on the start of conference play.
“Everyone was excited to start against Kennesaw because they are a big rival. Conference is something we have worked for since last spring. We wanted to start out with a win. We knew we had to come out fast and score early. Coming off a strong previous weekend made us even more eager to play.”
Both Mercer and Kennesaw played an extremely aggressive and competitive first half. Each team took five shots, but by the end of the period, the game remained scoreless.
To win the game, the Bears had to push hard and execute. Sophomore Washida Blackman scored her first of the season with a shot to the upper right corner of the goal after a melee from a corner kick in the 82nd minute.
The Mercer defense did everything that they could to keep the score at 1-0, but after a questionable foul call on the Bears with only two minutes remaining, KSU was able to score a goal off of a free kick. That ended the second half with a score of 1-1.
After two ten-minute periods of overtime, neither team was able to execute and get ahead. The end of the game resulted in an unfortunate tie, but the Bears know that is no game to get upset about.
“We dominated the entire game, so ending in a tie was frustrating, especially since their goal to tie the game was a questionable free kick in the last two minutes of the game,” Gassie explained. “At the same time, we played well and still earned a point with a tie. It is early in the season, so we can’t let this dictate our play for future games.”
Their next game is this coming Friday at home against South Carolina Upstate, where they look to earn their first conference win.
(09/12/12 4:01pm)
With a 2-1-1 start to their season, the Mercer women’s soccer team was looking to continue adding wins to the board in the game against Alabama A&M on Friday, Aug. 31. They did just that with a shutout win of 6-0. The pace and play of the game was dominated by the Bears as they outshot the Lady Bulldogs 32-2 on the night. The Bears’ 32 shots were most in nearly a year when they had 34 against Alabama St. last season.
Sophomore Lauren Gassie continued to be a standout player by scoring a free kick just outside of the Lady Bulldogs’ box in the seventh minute. This goal would be Gassie’s third of the season, making her the Bears’ current leading scorer. Alabama A&M’s goal-keeper was under high pressure while the Bears’ aggressive offense fired seven shots in the first 15 minutes of play.
To jump out to a 2-0 lead, a long cross from Gassie was deflected off an Alabama A&M defender into their own net, resulting in a goal in the 30th minute. For the duration of the first half, the Bears had a couple of close opportunities missed, ending the half with a 2-0 lead.
Throughout the second half, the Bears were able to overcome their struggle to find the scoring touch by taking control and scoring four more goals in the second half. With 17 shots in the period, the Bears finished looking much more confident and poised.
Going into the second half, the Bears looked to capitalize their lead. In the 65th minute, Sophomore MacKenzie Stewart scored her first goal of the season with a long shot over the keeper’s head after stealing the ball from an Alabama A&M player.
Not too long after extending the lead to 3-0, another goal was put on the board when Sophomore Rachel Buffalo found the back of the net with a chest pass assist from Senior Danielle Hesse.
A mere three minutes after Buffalo’s goal, Danielle Hesse crossed the ball into the box for Freshman Sydney Brogden to jump up and head passed the keeper into the goal. This would extend the Bears lead to an impressive score of 5-0.
Finally to finish the game in the 89th minute, Freshman Marissa Hartert stole the ball in the box, passed it up to classmate Kailey Bryan to shoot the final goal of the game.
During the game, 15 different Bears recorded a shot and all four of the Bears that scored in the second half garnered their first career goal.
Limiting only two shots total, the Bears’ defense came out looking very strong. Junior Nikki Atkinson started in the goal, but freshman Maggie Cropp finished out the second half.
Two days following the shutout win against Alabama A&M, the Bears traveled to Alabama where they had trouble finding the back of the net, leading to an unfortunate loss to the Crimson Tide with a score of 3-0.
Alabama outshot the Bears 30-10, even with the Bears offensive momentum coming off of the impressive 6-0 shutout against Alabama A&M.
The Bears’ offense started off looking pretty good when just 3 1/2 minutes in, Junior Casey Barrett took a shot forcing Alabama’s keeper, Shelby Church to make a save. Unfortunately, the Crimson Tide responded, and just over two minutes later, buried on into the back of the net.
Alabama’s Thersea Diederich forced a turnover in the Bears’ zone and put a nice touch on the ball that sailed over the outstretched arms of Nikki Atkinson making the score 1-0. Less than 10 minutes later, the Crimson Tide would capitalize again.
In the 15th minute, Alabama’s Pia Rijsdijk took a nice feed from the corner to shoot the ball into the back-post, extending the Crimson Tide lead to 2-0. After this goal, the Bears got off only one more shot to finish the half.
Mercer’s offensive chances were limited as Alabama continued to play an aggressive defense for the duration of the second half. This would be the first time this season that the Bears failed to secure a corner kick in a game. So far this season, the Bears have held a 40-4 advantage in corner kicks over their opponent. In this match-up, Alabama had the advantage, 8-0.
Alabama continued to capitalize their lead in the 66th minute when Rijsdijk scored her second of the match. After getting a nice cross from outside the box, Rijsdijk was able to head the ball to the goal after deflecting off of Mercer’s keeper, freshman Maggie Crop.
The final score of the day was an unfortunate 3-0, putting the Bears at a 3-2-1 start for the season.
The Bears’ losing streak continued on Friday, Sept. 7, against an in-state rival, Georgia State. The Panthers scored a goal in the 10th minute of Friday’s contest, and after a furious comeback attempt, the Bears fell just short to lose the match 1-0.
Although the final score doesn’t reflect their efforts, the Bears put up a tough fight against GSU. Mercer actually outshot the Panthers 12-5 on Friday, with 11 different players recording shots in the game, but just could not find the back of the net.
The Bears fell behind early in the first half when Georgia State’s Jordan Young put one in the goal off an assist by teammate Whitney Ravan. It was a nice shot from eight yards out into the upper near post and forced Mercer to play from behind from the start.
The Bears forced pressure on GSU’s defense by cranking out five shots in the period, however they walked into halftime trailing behind at 1-0.
The Bears were provided an opportunity to get back into the game with seven second half shots, five total corner kicks and 10 Georgia State penalties but GSU’s goalkeeper Rebecca Toler was able to make four saves and keep the Bears at a distance.
Ending the game with a loss of 1-0, the Bears knew that going into the next game, they would have to overcome their offensive struggles and find the back of the net on their home turf to add another win to their record.
“Despite these two losses, we still competed with our opponent. They were both solid teams and these games are only going to better prepare us for our more important conference games,” said Sophomore Washida Blackman.
“Once we can minimize our mental errors and execute, we’ll be able to turn what would be losses into wins and finish our season successfully,” Blackman added.
The Mercer women’s soccer team scored early which helped lead them to a 7-0 win over Alcorn State just two days after their unfortunate loss to Georgia State. The Bears’ seven goals is the most they have scored in a single game since downing South Carolina State 12-0 in 2004.
Little time was wasted as junior Nicole Young ran onto a loose ball and fired a shot from 40 yards away just under the crossbar and past the Alcorn State goalkeeper just three minutes into the game.
Two minutes later, sophomore Brianna Stampler had a long strike of her own to put the Bears at a lead of 2-0.
Sophomore Lauren Gassie found the back of the net from a cross pass from junior Jordan Sink which extended the lead 3-0.
In the final three minutes of the period, the Bears stepped up their offensive pressure by tallying three more goals. Sophomore MacKenzie Stewart along with sophomore Tess Patton and freshman Sydney Brogden all contributed to the Bears’ halftime lead of 6-0.
Lauren Gassie tallied her second goal of the day and team-leading fifth of the season in the second half with a shot to the lower left corner, assisted by Washida Blackman. This extended the lead to 7-0.
The Bears look to keep up this momentum in an away game against Jacksonville State on Friday, Sept. 14th.
Carley Innarino
(09/12/12 4:00pm)
To start off the season, both Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams each had a strong showing in the University of Georgia Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 1. Overall, Mercer finished third.
For the men, Saturday was an improvement on last year’s fourth pace finish in the same 8k race, while the women moved up three spots from their finish in the 5k last year.
Both Kacie Niemann and Katlyn Will had top-10 finishes for Mercer women. Will, an off-season transfer from Alabama, secured the eighth overall position with a 5K time of 17:39.69. Continuing her success from last season, Niemann finished the race with a time of 17:21.54, a near personal record that had her finishing fourth overall.
On Wednesday after the race, Niemann was named Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week. With her impressive 5K time, she finished fourth out of a possible 63 runners.
Niemann commented on how she was going to continue her success for the duration of her senior season.
“Coach Bailey’s training has never failed me, so the plan for the rest of the season is to do exactly what he says, keep my mileage up, feed off the awesome work ethic of my new training partner, Katlyn Will, and give God the glory no matter what happens.”
The remainder of the women’s team had a good showing as well. For their first race with the program, freshmen Kami Orrender and Jenna Gipperich each ran their 5k in under 20 minutes, aiding Mercer in finishing ahead of former A-Sun rival Campbell in the race. As a team, the women finished with a race average of 18:32.10.
Finishing first for the Mercer men was senior Jacob Law, who finished 14th overall with a time of 27:10.69. Transfer student Lukas Steinheber, who ran last year in Germany, appeared as though he would finish first for Mercer as he actually led the race early on. Unfortunately he was not able to keep the pace of his ardent start and finished 19th overall with a time of 27:20.30
The Bears’ freshmen Davis Trexler and Hunter Honeycutt, along with juniors Sony Prosper and Kasib Abdullah each finished within 10 seconds of one another to achieve a team score of 85.
When asked what her thoughts were on the first meet of the season, Kacie Niemann responded by saying, “I was very excited about how the team performed, especially since two freshmen and a transfer were in the scoring top five. Everyone has been working really hard, so it wasn’t really a big surprise.”
To follow up their strong start to the season, the Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams came out with another impressive performance at the Auburn Invitational on Friday, Sept. 7.
The men’s team took home third place among eight teams with 72 points, while the women finished fourth out of 11 teams with 119 points. Besides the strong team finish, there were several impressive individual performances on the day as well.
Kacie Niemann had another successful race bringing home a third place finish. She ran the 4k route with a time of 14:34.9, only four seconds behind the second-place runner and 10 seconds faster than her next closest competitor.
The Alabama transfer, Katlyn Will also finished well with a sixth overall position and a time of 14:53.2. Both Will and Niemann led the Bears and finished among the top 10 runners in the first two races of the season.
Junior Lena Hamvas and freshmen Kami Orrender and Lia Sewell were the Bears’ top five finishers in the race. Their times were 15:42.7, 16:41.1, and 16:51.8 respectively.
All seven of the Mercer men’s team finished within one minute of each other, resulting in a third place finish for the team. Junior Sony Prosper and freshman Lukas Steinheber led the way for the Bears.
Prosper finished in 11th place with a time of 19:51.7 in the 6k race while Steinheber finished just behind him in 12th place with a time of 19:56.9 in just his second collegiate race.
Freshman Davis Trexler finished the 6k with a time of 20:07.8 and only a couple of seconds behind him was senior Jacob Law who with finished with a 20:09.9 time. Trexler and Law took 15th and 16th place respectively. Freshman Hunter Honeycutt was not far behind them in 18th place with a time of 20:12.6 in his second collegiate race. Junior Kasib Abdullah rounded out the Bears’ finishers with a time of 20:35.2.
The Bears will return to action on Sept. 29 at the Greater Louisville Classic in Louisville, Kentucky.