view pdf version - Alumni - Truman State University

Volleyball Reaches National Tournament;
Sharpe Named Freshman of the Year
Truman volleyball Megan Sharpe
headed to the
NCAA
tournament for the 10th
straight season and 11th
time overall, as the
Bulldogs received the
No. 6 seed for the 2009
South Central regional.
The Bulldogs traveled to
Warrensburg, Mo., and
the campus of topseeded
Central Missouri, for its first-round
match against No. 3 seed West Texas A&M.
Despite the eight-game losing streak
that the Truman football team
endured during the 2009 campaign, it
was the 28-21 victory against long-time foe
Pittsburg State in the season finale that will
give the program momentum to build upon for
next season.
Truman’s schedule was one of the nation’s
toughest as they played seven of their 11 games
against teams that were ranked nationally.
After a 31-13 loss at home against then No.
17 Minnesota State University-Mankato, the
Bulldogs won 54-7 against Panhandle State
(Okla.) at Stokes Stadium.
The ’Dogs were rudely inducted into
conference play the following week as
Nebraska-Omaha scored 14 points in the first
minute of the game and went on to win 38-0
in the league opener.
Injuries plagued the Bulldogs in their next
five outings as Truman used four different
starting quarterbacks during that span.
But despite getting nine kills from freshman
Megan Sharpe, the Bulldogs suffered a 3-0
(-21, -7, -18) loss to eventual national runnersup
WTAMU in the first round.
The Bulldogs finished the season with an
overall 24-13 record and Sharpe was named
AVCA’s National Freshman of the Year. She was
also an honorable mention all-American while
picking up second-team all-conference honors.
Lauren Graybeal (2nd-team), Casey Bruno
(3rd-team), Erin Hattey (HM) and Ashley Petak
(HM) also received all-conference accolades.
Sharpe, Bruno and Petak headline six
starters returning for the 2010 season.
Signature Win Caps Off Football Season
Vannes Emokpae
Starter Phillip Davis returned on Oct. 24th
against Emporia State but the Bulldogs fell in
overtime to the Hornets 30-24 in Kirksville.
On senior day, Pittsburg State came to
Stokes having won the last 21 meetings with
the Bulldogs dating back to 1989.
Truman jumped on the scoreboard first as a
pair of seniors used the wildcat formation to
score a 15-yard touchdown pass. Phil Kenney
tossed to a wide open Albert Coker for the score.
After a one-yard touchdown by Harnish
Ayora, Coker was on the receiving end again of
a 19-yard pass from Phillip Davis to put
Truman up 21-0 in the second quarter.
The Gorillas rallied to cut the deficit to
21-14 heading into the fourth quarter but
senior Vanness Emokpae grabbed an eight-yard
touchdown pass from Davis for an insurance
score with 9:18 left to play.
Pittsburg would pull to within seven again
but the Bulldogs were able to sustain their
longest drive of the season and milked the final
7:34 off the clock for the victory.
Six Bulldogs were named to the all-MIAA
team by league coaches. Senior linebacker Eric
Sternberg was Truman’s only first-team
selection after finishing the 2009 season as the
league’s top pass rusher with 10.5 sacks, 1.5 off
the school single-season record.
Senior defensive back Demetrius Lavant was
a second-team choice while Truman’s offensive
leader this season Vanness Emokpae was an
honorable mention selection.
Also on the honorable mention list were
junior offensive lineman Shea Carr, junior
defensive lineman Ryan Ploesser and
sophomore defensive back Michael Elliott.
Two Women
Qualify for
National Cross
Country Race
Sophomores Anne Ratermann and
Dani Dell’Orco represented the
Truman Cross Country teams at the
2009 Division II Championships in
Evansville, Ind.
Ratermann (67th place) and Dell’Orco
(86th place) were just two of the talented
young runners who helped lead the
Bulldogs to a national ranking and a strong
showing all season long for Head Coach
John Cochrane.
The Bulldogs peaked at 14th in the
Division II Coaches Poll and finished
second in the MIAA Championships
behind Dell’Orco’s third place overall finish
and four all-conference performances.
Ratermann placed eighth in the
conference meet while freshmen sisters
Karen and Cindy Grauel were 10th and
11th, respectively.
The Bulldogs won their first three races of
the season and finished no worse than third
in any team-scored event this past season.
The men also started out hot as they
won the team title in their first two events
of the season behind the strong performances
of sophomore Joey Walls and junior
Adam Kell.
However injuries and sickness plagued
the team down the stretch and the
Bulldogs finished eighth in the conference
meet and 16th at the NCAA South Central
Regional race.
38 Truman Review