Features
During 2014-2015, there have been outstanding Sigma Nu undergraduate athletes who have made major contributions at their schools. Beginning with athletes in last winter’s sports, here is a review of our talented brothers.
David Evans led 31-4 Stevens Tech’s volleyball team to the NCAA Division III championship, the school’s first title in any sport. A first team All-American, he was also named Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, United Volleyball Conference and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. An outstanding student, Evans was also chosen for the Division III Academic All-American first team; won the Irvin “Buzz” Seymour Award as Stevens Tech’s most outstanding student/athlete; and was named Sigma Nu Athlete of the Year in September. Other teammates who contributed to Stevens Tech’s great season were All-UVC second teamer Ryan Seifert (team high 332 kills); Dylan Schlosser (team high 233 digs); Gabe Shankweller (407.5 points); Etan Bennett (128 points); and Ryan Brandon.
Josh Levine
Three Sigma Nu swimmers were good competitors on the Rhodes team. Max Miller placed sixth in two events (1650 freestyle, 200 medley relay) at the Southern Athletic Association meet. Spencer Regelson was on two sixth place SAA relays (200 freestyle, 200 medley). He and Miller were also on the school’s record-setting 800 freestyle relay team. Bakari Williams was named to the SAA All-Sportsmanship Team and was on the sixth place 200 freestyle relay at the SAA meet. Nathan Levengood of Mount Union was named Ohio Athletic Conference Diver of the Year at the OAC meet. He earned 20 points for the Raiders and won both the one meter and three meter events. Competing in basketball were forward/center Alex Peters of Samford and forward Jason Zahaan of Albion. Wrestling competors during the winter included Connor Kim of Cal-Poly SLO and Mark Allen of Mount Union.
Kieron Purcell
The Fraternity’s top college baseball player in 2015 was two year outfield regular Christoph Bono of the 45-16 UCLA squad. He started 58 contests and batted .241 (48 of 199) with a Pac-12 high six triples, 13 doubles, 33 runs scored and 30 runs batted in. Catcher Elijah Ontiveros played in 12 games for the 30-26-1 Cal-Davis team and catcher Ben Carrick was a member of the 32-26 Samford squad. Pitcher Dylan Stoskus appeared in 12 games for the 19-14 Virginia Wesleyan team and pitcher Steven Scott was on the 22-14 Mount Union squad. Members of the 34-16 Washington-St.Louis team were infielders Matt Roffe and Brennan Morell. Jonathan Grainger was a catcher on the University of the South squad.
Louisiana Tech javelin thrower Joshua Cox, who earned All-American second team honors in 2014, competed at the NCAA outdoor meet and placed 15th with a throw of 213’4”. At the Conference USA outdoor meet, he placed seventh with a 212’4” toss and placed fourth (212’4”) at the NCAA East prelim meet. Samford pole vaulter Chris Thrasher did well at two meets, placing third (15’1”) at the Southern Conference meet and seventh at the Samford Invitational (15’5”). Steeplechase runner Taylor Buzzard of Alabama-Huntsville, the school record holder at 3200 meters, had a third place finish in the event at the Tiger Classic. He also ran an 8K time of 28:00.98 at the Gulf South meet and was 12th (26:39.3) at the Choctaw DII Challenge meet. Teammates Tripp Maloy and Danny Collins were also on the squad.
Philip Piper
Four track & field athletes at Washington-St. Louis were key members of their team. Nick Alaniva won the indoor UAA 60 (7.05), placed second in the indoor UAA long jump (21’8”) and was 12th in the pole vault (15’10”) at the NCAA indoor meet. He also earned All-UAA outdoor honors in the long jump and pole vault. Andy Manzanares had a best outdoor pole vault of 14’6”. Jackson Smith had a best outdoor javelin throw of 153’11” while teammate Kyle Martin-Patterson had a best outdoor throw of 149’3”. Ben Zelker of Case Western Reserve competed at four outdoor meets and five indoor meets. His best 100 meter time was 12.16. Distance runners Taylor Jemundson and Mark McAlister of University of the South competed at the SAA outdoor meet.
The Duke tennis squad featured three key Sigma Nu players. Josh Levine, who played in the NCAA tournament, had records of 19-14 in singles and 25-9 in doubles. T.J. Pura was 22-10 in singles and 17-7 in doubles while teammate Dan McCall had records of 9-6 in singles and 11-5 in doubles. Both Pura and McCall were on the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. Seven brothers were members of the Yale squad. Tyler Lu was named to the All-Ivy League first team as a singles player and Photos Photiades had a 17-9 singles record. Other Yale standouts were Jason Brown (9-2 in doubles), James Ratchford and Martin Svenning. A leading player for Butler was Alex Wodmoe (14-10 in singles, 11-5 in doubles). Connor Winkler of University of the South gained All-SAA honorable mention and played in the NCAA Division III tournament. Kenneth Downing of Virginia Wesleyan had records of 10-7 in singles and 10-6 in doubles.
Will Hendrickson
The second-leading golfer on the Delaware team was Kieron Purcell, who averaged 74.63 over 30 rounds. He was second (219, including a 69) at the Cornell Invitational and tied for sixth (221) at the Cape Fear Intercollegiate. Joe Willis of Yale tied for 16th (229) at the Ivy League meet and was elected captain for the 2016 season. Also on the Yale squad were John McNiff, Matt NcNiff and James Park. Brigham Stewart saw action for Butler, averaging 76.9 (low of 70) for 23 rounds and tied for 21st at the Big East meet. Seeing action for Rhodes was Bailey Kimmitt while Connor Maddalena of Albion averaged 80.6 (low of 73) over 10 rounds. Other golfers included Guy Cheatham of Hampden-Sydney and Dominick Schumacher of Rochester.
Lacrosse standout Will Hendrickson saw action in five contests as a member of the 12-6 Duke squad which won it’s first NCAA title. Ten Sigma Nu players were on the 11-4 University of the South lacrosse squad. Chosen for the All-Southern Athletic Association second team were defensemen Matt McJunkin (24 ground balls) and Jake Rubenstein (25 ground balls). Other key Sewanee lacrosse players included Browning Alhizer, Tyler Calnan, Jake Chintz, Peter Eisenbrandt, Wil Friedman, Joe Randazzo and C.J. Richardson. The top fencer at Stanford last spring was epee specialist Harrison McRea, who competed at the NCAA West Regional meet. He led the squad in wins with his regular season record of 38-13. Other spring athletes at Stanford were heavyweight crew members John Cirenza and Max Kohrman. Competing on the Yale heavyweight crew squad were David DeVries and Jack McGinn. At Kansas, Sam Turner was a member of the rugby team.
This fall, the sport with the most Sigma Nu intercollegiate athletes is football. As we go to press, several NCAA Division I schools feature standout players. After starting 12 games at center for Mississippi in 2014, Ben Still opened the 2015 season as the Rebels starter again. Also on the depth chart is second team offensive tackle Sean Rawlings. Quarterback Jerry Neuheisel has seen action for high-ranked UCLA and has been the holder on field goals and extra points for two seasons. Former UCLA starter at offensive tackle Torian White is now starting for Hampton University. Brian Akialis is Butler’s punter for the fourth season after earning All-Pioneer second team honors the last two seasons. Also seeing regular duty again for Butler is linebacker David Starkey, who posted 55 tackles in 2014. Seeing his first action this fall for Butler is wide receiver Thomas Baldwin.
Warren Handrahan
The football team with the most Sigma Nu players (17) this fall is Cornell, whose top player, Luke Hagy, rushed for 754 yards and earned All-Ivy League second team honors in 2014. Also back as starters are wide receiver Collin Shaw (team high 37 receptions in 2014) and linebacker J.J. Fives (36 tackles). New starters this fall for Cornell include nose guard Mike Staples, fullback Julian Gallo and offensive guards John Foster and Dan Morin. The Samford squad, with 11 Sigma Nu players, has several returning standouts from last year, including kicker Warren Handrahan (50 points in 2014), linebacker Josh Killett (54 stops) and quarterback Devlin Hodges. Playing again for Western Kentucky is defensive lineman Kalin Robinson. Through the first four contests, kicker Frank Raggo leads Delaware in scoring with 24 points (six field goals, six extra points). Back on the Stetson squad are offensive linemen Sean Gannon and John Post, both of whom started games in 2014.
All-Southern Athletic Association first team punter Patrick Knight is the leading returnee on the 2015 Rhodes Division III team and was named to the Division III pre-season All-American second team. Teammates who have seen action are offensive linemen Sean O’Brien and Nick Weng. Returning All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference second team offensive tackle T.J. Demos leads a group of five Sigma Nu players on the Rose-Hulman squad. Also seeing action this fall are linebacker Mike Henry, running back Michael Iacono, offensive lineman Doug Bickel and defensive back D.S. Turner-Smith. Members of the Washington-St. Louis team this fall are offensive lineman Brock Workman and kicker-punter Alex Ury. Offensive tackle Andy Rieman saw playing time in two of the first three Mount Union games this fall.
Luke Hagy
Two schools have key Sigma Nu players on their soccer teams this fall. Yale defenseman Philip Piper is team captain and a candidate for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate soccer. Last year’s team MVP Henry Flugstad-Clarke won All-Ivy League second team honors and is back this season. Other returnees to the Yale squad are Henry Albrecht, Max Cook, Lukas Czinger, Tyler Detorie, Cameron Kirdzik and Avery Schwartz. The top returning player at Hampden-Sydney is forward Ryan Turner, the 2014 Old Dominion Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and an All-ODAC second teamer. Other Sigma Nu teammates are midfielder Grant Van Gorder, defenseman Josiah Fleming and defenseman Landon Moss.