It’s Jessy time!
Newell post
By Jesse Newell
Originally published 02:07 p.m., May 29, 2008
Updated 02:07 p.m., May 29, 2008
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for all year.
Without further ado, I present the second annual Jessys.
These awards go to the “best of” in Emporia State athletics over the course of the 2007-08 season.
Let’s get this party started ...
• Best Picture (Best Game) — Emporia State basketball loses to Northwest Missouri State in “Cellphone-Gate” game.
This wasn’t an ESU victory, but it definitely created the most buzz of the entire sports season.
In a nutshell, it went something like this:
ESU’s Andrew Davison hits a 50-foot buzzer-beater to win the game. White Auditorium crowd goes wild. Officials use replay with no time shown on replay. One official decides to make up his own time using a stopwatch on a cell phone. Basket is waved off. ESU players go nuts. Bearcats win in double-overtime.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fan base more upset about a call — and rightfully so. ESU went all the way to Myles Brand, the NCAA President, to try to get the game’s result overturned.
The cries ended up falling on deaf ears.
I suggest next year that ESU has a “Tom Svehla” night, where people turn in their old cell phones to get a free ticket. The premise is that you turn in your phones so the officials can’t use them to overturn an ESU win.
Not bad, huh?
Others nominated — ESU volleyball sweeps No. 4 Washburn; Keith Hernandez hits walkoff home run against Northwest Missouri State to extend ESU’s winning streak to 35 games; ESU football upsets Central Oklahoma; ESU men’s basketball loses in five overtimes to Midwestern State.
• Best Actor (Best Male Athlete) — Keith Hernandez, baseball.
It’s really hard to not put DeAndre Townsend in this spot, but Hernandez’s numbers were just too good to ignore. He batted .462 with 18 home runs and 80 RBI, and did all that after missing 10 games because of an injury. He also won two National Player of the Year awards this week.
Don’t forget, either, that Hernandez was the Hornets’ catcher, and he also had pretty good defense to boot.
Paging the Kansas City Royals. Your future catcher (who can actually hit) is only a draft pick away.
Others nominated — DeAndre Townsend, men’s basketball; Julian Rios, tennis; Eric Shortell, baseball; Kenton Lonberger, track and field.
• Best Actress (Best Female Athlete) — Jonel Rossbach, cross country and track and field.
A personal congratulations to our first two-time Jessy award-winner. Rossbach won the Jessy last year, and she backed that up with an even better performance this year.
The senior was a three-time All-American (again), and capped her career with her first national championship in the final race of her career.
Others nominated — Michelle Stueve, women’s basketball; Samantha Sheeley, softball; Miranda Campbell, softball; Natalie Villaflor, women’s tennis; Arica Shepard, volleyball; Ting Liu, volleyball.
• Best Supporting Actor — Eric Shortell and Brian Majors, baseball.
I don’t like to choose co-Jessy award-winners, but I feel this one is valid. Hernandez might be considered the best player on the Hornets, but Shortell and Majors were just as invaluable.
Shortell set an MIAA record with 23 home runs to go along with 86 RBI and an astounding 33 stolen bases. He also put on perhaps the best individual performance I’ve ever seen, hitting six home runs in a doubleheader against Northwest Missouri State.
Majors was often the unsung hero, hitting .423. He also was third on the team with 69 RBI, despite being at the top of the order the whole season where it’s tough to get run-scoring opportunities.
Majors also had a 29-game hit streak through the middle of the season, which is a feat that is nearly impossible considering the Hornets played a lot of seven-inning games.
Others nominated — Andrew Davison, men’s basketball; Marvin Lee, men’s basketball; Travis Lee, football; Craig Saalfeld, track and field; Josh Honeycutt, track and field.
• Best Supporting Actress — Natalie Villaflor, women’s tennis
A model student-athlete, Villaflor dominated No. 2 doubles again this year, going 16-2. She was even better at No. 1 doubles, as with teammate Marcela Bayon, she combined to go 17-2.
She also was an Academic All-MIAA selection with a 3.80 grade-point average in Chemistry.
Others nominated — Ida Edwards, women’s basketball; Brittney Miller, volleyball; Brianne Boner, volleyball; April Huddleston, softball; Jennifer Dace, softball; Brooke Kent, track and field.
• Best Director (Best Coach) — Kristi Bredbenner and Bob Fornelli, softball and baseball.
Another necessary splitting of the vote.
Bredbenner worked her young team hard over the winter, and the work paid off with a surprising run all the way to the national championship game. All this happened after the Hornets started the season 3-7.
Fornelli’s accomplishments, meanwhile, can’t be overlooked because of an unfortunate end to the season. His team had an MIAA-record 35-game win streak, and Fornelli orchestrated it all without a pitching coach (Matt Ranson left before the season to become a professional scout).
Double the duties, and Fornelli still made everything look oh-so-easy.
Others nominated — Bing Xu, volleyball; Dave Harris, track and field; Brandon Schneider, women’s basketball.
• Best Score, Comedy — Emporia State 27, Newman 10, baseball, March 19, 2008.
The score doesn’t even tell the story. Because of the run-rule, ESU had only six chances to bat — and still scored 27 runs.
And to top it off, basketball player Jordan Fithian came out of the bleachers in left, put on a uniform and singled and scored a run.
It was that kind of day for the Hornets.
• Best Score, Dramatic— Emporia State 3, Washburn 0, volleyball.
In front of the largest volleyball crowd in school history, ESU took down No. 4 Washburn and snapped the Lady Blues’ 27-match winning streak.
The contest had a postseason atmosphere. One can only hope that excitement carries on to next year, when coach Bing Xu brings back his entire roster.
• Best Costume Design — Emporia State women’s basketball team.
I’ve been told by other media members that the home whites with the Power E on the front are a classic.
I’ll have to agree that they’ve grown on me quite a bit.
• Best Song — “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” by Soulja Boy.
This was played at the Division II Softball championships in Houston, and immediately hundreds of grade-school kids went into the Superman dance while singing all the words.
You’ve gotta love this song.
Clean enough for a national championship, but dirty enough to not be played at Welch Stadium.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by DJrocksthemic (anonymous) on May 29, 2008 at 2:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Crank that indeed, clean enough to be played on three CBS National Collegiate broadcasts this year. Fithians .500 BA has got to be the team tops right?... Royals your 6'6" center fielder is one draft pick away.
Posted by beth (anonymous) on May 29, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So you can have co-coaches and co-"supporting actors" but you can't have a co-player of the year that includes the best player to ever wear a Lady Hornet basketball uniform?
Not that Jonel isn't worthy of recognition (BTW she is a four-time All-American this year).
They both set numerous school records; Michelle set the MIAA record for career scoring; both were multiple All-Americans; both were the MIAA player of the year in their sport; the basketball team won the MIAA championship while the women's track team finished second indoors and third outdoors at the MIAA meet; women's track ended the year tenth in the nation and the Lady Hornet basketball team was ninth in the nation.
Posted by beth (anonymous) on May 30, 2008 at 12:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Looks like the people in the MIAA office have a different idea
http://www.themiaa.com/MIAANewsArticle.a...
Posted by eldiablo (anonymous) on May 30, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What exactly does one get for winning a Jessy?
...I wouldn't be too upset Beth.
:)
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)